Nakama 1: Introductory Japanese
Yukiko Abe Hatasa, Kazumi Hatasa, Seiichi MakinoUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is known nationwide as one of
the premier Japanese methodologists in the United States and as an experienced
coordinator of large teacher-training programs. She has served as the coordinator of
the Japanese language program at the University of Iowa and is currently professor
of the Department of Teaching Japanese as a Second Language at Hiroshima
University, where her primary responsibilities are teacher training and SLA research.
Professor Kazumi Hatasa received his Ph.D. in education in 1989 from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently a professor at Purdue
University and Chair of Department of East Asian Languages. He was Director of
the Japanese School at Middlebury College from 2005 to 2018. He is recognized
internationally for his work in the development of instructional software and online
resources for the Japanese language. He has also been active in incorporating
traditional performing art in language instruction.
Professor Seiichi Makino is an emeritus Professor of Japanese and Linguistics at
Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1968 from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an internationally prominent Japanese
linguist and scholar, recognized throughout the world for his scholarship and for
his many publications. Before beginning his tenure at Princeton University in 1991,
he taught Japanese language, linguistics and culture at the University of Illinois
while training lower-division language coordinators. He is an experienced ACTFL
oral proficiency trainer in Japanese and frequently trains Japanese instructors
internationally in proficiency-oriented instruction and in the administration of the
Oral Proficiency Interview.