Ikuko Komuro-Lee

Ikuko Komuro-Lee (小室リー郁子) joined the Department of East Asian Studies in 1995 after a year of teaching at universities in Japan. She has been teaching Japanese language courses offered at the department. She highly values learning opportunities for students, both outside and inside the classroom environment. She also leads and works with other organizations and extra-curricular activities inside and outside the University of Toronto community. She works closely with local Japanese language teachers and organizes seminars and workshops for teachers in the Toronto area throughout the year. While her primary research field is kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) vocabulary education for learners who speak Chinese, she is also interested in developing textbooks that focus on oral communication. Currently, she is working with a group of Japanese researchers on revising an intermediate/advanced level textbook for listening and speaking skills.

Courses

• Modern Standard Japanese I
• Modern Standard Japanese II
• Modern Standard Japanese III
• Modern Standard Japanese IV-a
• Modern Standard Japanese IV-b
• Japanese I for Students with Prior Background
• Japanese II for Students with Prior Background

Invited Lectures (2019-)

• “Working Towards Kanji Teaching that Goes Beyond Just Teaching ‘Kanji’.” Invited to the 8th International Forum on Japanese Language and Culture: “The Forefront of Japanese Language and Culture Education in Japan and Beyond.” Organized by the Center for Japanese Language and Culture, Osaka University (CJLC). Mahidol University, Bangkok. February 15, 2020.
• “Moji no shidou kara goi no shidou e: kazu yori shitsu no gakushuu ni mukete.” Invited to “Reflecting on Kanji Instruction: How Kanji Can be Learned Particular to a Classroom Environment.” Co-organized by the Japan Foundation, Toronto, the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto and the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education (CAJLE). The Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada. August 17, 2019.
• “What Do and Don’t Learners Who Already Know Languages with Kanji Already Know?” Invited by the Japan Foundation, Toronto. “Online Lecture Series for Japanese Language Teachers.” May 29, 2019.

Workshops (2019-)

• “Gengo-shiyou no jittai o kyouiku-genba ni ikasu shidou e.” (Workshop) Invited by the co-organized event of the Japan Foundation, Toronto, the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto and the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education (CAJLE).
• “Reflecting on Kanji Instruction: How Kanji Can be Learned Particular to a Classroom Environment.” The Department of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada. August 18, 2019.