The Producers
- Editorial Consultants: Chris Benderev & Marcus Springer
- Graphic Design: Eoghan Mc Carthy
- Web Design: Sho Newman
- Web Translation: Yuna Iwamoto
- Transcript Translation: the kind translators at MyGengo.com
- Transcript Translation Editor: Mai Abe
- Writer, Executive Producer, Sound Engineer & Director: Sonia Paul
Editorial Consultants: Chris Benderev & Marcus Springer
Chris Benderev is the most awesome Bulgarian-Greek-American you’ll ever meet. He’s held internships at KPCC Public Radio in Los Angeles, KQED Public Radio in San Francisco, and NPR in Washington D.C. Chris studied Japanese during his high school and college years and visited the country as a teenager. He earned his B.S. in Neuroscience from UCLA in 2009. He currently works as a Production Assistant at NPR.
Marcus Springer is an American ALT who works in teacher in-service training for the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. He earned his M.A. in Bicultural Bilingual Studies-ESL from the University of Texas, San Antonio, and has a rich and varied background in language education, college access, and Japanese language and culture. His project on Action Research, a series of research workshops aimed at improving language teaching in Shizuoka, was the recipient of the 2011 Suruga International Institute Research Grant. Other research interests include the relationship between language, culture, and identity, as well as language assessment. He is married to a beautiful Japanese woman. They have one daughter together.
Graphic Design: Eoghan Mc Carthy
Eoghan Mc Carthy lived and worked in Hokkaido, Japan, for four years before moving to Shizuoka last fall to work as a city ALT. He pretends not to know how to play the guitar, but he’s actually really good at it. He studied graphic design while he was in university and is currently preparing for the JLPT Level 2. He hails from Dublin, Ireland.
Web Design: Sho Newman
Sho Newman currently works as an ALT for Shizuoka City. A self-described “half-Japanese Jew,” she was born in Israel and grew up in Utah in the United States. She taught herself web design while working as a lab researcher. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Utah in 2010.
Web Translation: Yuna Iwamoto
Yuna Iwamoto is a Japanese photographer who has lived in Shizuoka all her life. She continued to teach herself English after studying it in junior high and high school and now speaks it better than some native speakers do. She has an adorable son who recently turned a year old. You can view some of her photography here.
Transcript Translation: the kind translators at MyGengo.com
Transcript Translation Editor: Mai Abe
Mai Abe is the most energetic Japanese person ever! She has lived in Shizuoka City all her life, except for three years when she lived in Oceanside, California. While in California, she received an AA degree in Hospitality Management and worked as a counselor for international students. Mai also has experience teaching English to junior high and elementary school students in Shizuoka City. She attended culinary school in Hamamatsu City and currently works in Yaizu City, Shizuoka. She loves eating and going to the gym.
Writer, Executive Producer, Sound Engineer & Director: Sonia Paul
Sonia Paul is an American teacher and journalist. Before coming to Shizuoka City as an ALT through the JET Program, she held internships at India-West Publications and KQED Public Radio. She earned her B.A. in English from UCLA in 2008.
While at UCLA, Sonia studied abroad in Delhi, India, and produced her own radio series about American and international students who had studied abroad–all of which provided good fodder for “Shizuoka Speaks.”
Sonia really likes ice cream. Her family is from India and the Philippines.
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