eastside japanese
All lessons are remote
Japanese lessons
About the instructor
Dr. Kaku-MacDonald was born and raised in Japan. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald holds a Ph.D in Linguistics from the University of Ottawa in Canada. She specializes in Second language acquisition and Psycholinguistics. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald taught Japanese language, Japanese culture, Japanese film studies and literatures at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she was an assistant professor. She also taught Japanese language at the University of Ottawa in Canada. During her tenure, she maintained high enrollment rates and high course evaluations both from her peer professors and her students.
Dr. Kaku-MacDonald also taught preschool children Japanese at Ottawa-Japanese-Language-School in Canada and in Sammamish, Washington. She successfully has preschoolers engaged in class and made Japanese language learning fun for the children. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald maintained high evaluations from children's parents.
Dr. Kaku-MacDonald is also involved in promoting the Japanese culture and language. At the request of embassy of Japan in Ottawa, Dr. Kaku-MacDonald oriented English teachers bound for Japan for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Her lecture for JET candidates was about the Japanese education system and how to work with Japanese English teachers in Japanese schools with respect to cultural differences. In addition, Dr. Kaku-MacDonald was involved in Japanese language speech contests, both in the regional and the Canada national contest. Holding certificates closely related to Japanese culture are also some of her assets. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald obtained second-dan in Kendo, which is the martial art of Japanese fencing, and third level in Sogetsu Ikebana which is an art of Japanese flower arrangement. She believes that her enthusiasm for teaching and knowledge of Japanese culture would contribute to enrich students’ learning experience.
Dr. Kaku-MacDonald is passionate about teaching Japanese language & culture and very much enjoys the interaction with students. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald lives in Sammamish with her husband, daughter and boy. She enjoys to play the piano, walking, swimming, cooking, baking and dedicating herself to this Japanese Language School in Redmond.
Dr. Kaku-MacDonald's research combines theories on generative approaches of second language acquisition and probabilistic cognitive learning theory examined through psycholinguistic techniques to understand the mechanisms of second language learning. Dr. Kaku-MacDonald has presented at international conferences, and her papers with her collaborators have been published.