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With an outstanding background as a professional English language instructor and over 13 years of teaching experience, Joseph Pielech brings both his passion and his expertise to the classroom, helping you believe & achieve!

 

A native of northern New Jersey, Joseph Pielech joined the St. Mary College/Nunoike family in the spring of 2002 after completing undergraduate and graduate studies at West Virginia University. As an undergraduate, Mr. Pielech majored in linguistics and philosophy, (B.A., 2000, summa cum laude), and minored in psychology and history. His graduate work was in linguistics and psychology (M.A., 2002, summa cum laude) which culminated in a thesis which explored frame semantics. As a graduate student, Mr. Pielech taught both Introduction to Linguistics courses and various classes in the Intensive English Program. Mr. Pielech regularly teaches American and Japanese literature, psychology, philosophy, Zen and culture courses. He specializes in content-based instruction and champions metacognitive instructional methodologies which require students to not only be active and engaged in their own learning but also foster a classroom culture that consciously, deliberately and enthusiastically encourages learners to reflect on their own learning in order to transfer or adapt learning to new contexts and tasks. When not in the classroom, Mr. Pielech will most likely be found in the kendo dojo. Although he has been active in sports his entire life, his deepest and most sincere passion in life is kendo. Currently, Mr. Pielech holds the rank of kendo godan. He has been very fortunate to have regular practice with some of the most famous and well-respected kendo masters in the world and under their tutelage, Mr. Pielech has not only grown and matured as a person but also has gained unique and privileged insight in Japanese culture, psychology and education. In addition to the joyous anguish he finds daily in the dojo, Mr. Pielech enjoys walking the ancient pilgrimage route of Japan and finding refuge in the subtle pleasure of washoku.

AboutJoseph

What some happy English students say:  

He always gives us a unique perspective on matters

- Miri

He is full of life  lessons and interesting stories

- Ryoko

We learned so much from him

- Kazuki

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