Organising Team 2022

Beth leads the Future Leaders project in the Schools of Politics, Philosophy, Language and communication at the University of East Anglia. She is a passionate advocate to give young people a voice and give them the insight, skills and confidence to lead on instigating positive social change.  

She brought World Speech Day to the UEA and to the Netherlands 

Also, she is the main organizer for the first ever National Political Speech Competition for UK students.

Mark has been Director of the Centre for Foreign Language Study at Durham University since October 2013. Committed to extending language ability across all sectors of society, he is currently (2019-) Chair the Association of University Language Communities in the UK & Ireland (AULC), having previously been Vice-Chair (2015-17) and Secretary & Treasurer (2017-19). Mark is also a member of the Coordinating Committee of Cercles, the confederation of language centres in higher education in Europe.

In 2016-17 Mark led the Language Learning Frameworks project, supported by the British Academy and in collaboration with 15 University partners. This project developed the first set of recommendations for language course design, aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), in terms of input study hours for language courses of different durations and intensity in the 10 most commonly taught languages in the UK. He continues to work collaboratively with a range of colleagues across the language sector in the UK, Europe and elsewhere.  He is active in promoting world languages across UK language centres.

Consultant of Cross-Cultural Management &

English Communication in business 

Worked for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT, Japan), the OECD (Paris) and SITA (Geneva) with colleagues from 230+ countries and territories. Developed competence in business English through various experiences including lay-off in Switzerland and being the only Japanese at work for 30 years in Europe. Back in Japan since 2018, working to open more the Japanese society to the world. Created and running «the Global Citizen’s Forum» (Monthly online seminar), since 2017. 

Member of Toastmasters club, since 2015. Global Liaison Manager for Japan (2020-2021), Finalist of the national speech contest (2020)

A Japanese Language Advisor at the Japan Foundation, London, designing and organizing seminars for teachers. This judge is a selection committee member for finalists of Japanese Speech Contests for university students and secondary pupil's events. This judge also performs classes for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) at the Japanese embassy. 

First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in the UK. She is responsible for education and sport. Before assigned to the current position, she has been working for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) for nearly 20 years. 

Ayako is an experienced manager of international educational projects and previously worked as the Education Projects Manager for the British Council in Tokyo, Japan between 2009 and 2019. Since Ayako left the British Council, she has developed digital skills at a professional level, including web development and computer programming skills. She is now involved in multiple online educational projects, bringing people from different backgrounds together.

Kenshi was graduated from The University of Tokyo, having majored in Electric Engineering. 

He Joined Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., and had been engaged in underground and submarine projects all over the world as power cable engineer. 

After 36 years, he established a venture featured in wind power business and constructed 

windfarms at two locations in Japan. 

Since 2014, he has been working as a wind power consulting engineer and served as a technical 

advisor for two wind power developing companies. 

Since 2010, he joined Toastmasters clubs and served as Finance Manager for District 76 (Japan)

in 2020-2021. 

In 2019, he became the Finalist of International Speech Contest.

A current English lecturer at Asia Pacific University in Beppu City, Kyushu. Prior to this, he worked for Oita City Board of Education as an English teacher across eleven municipal schools. In this role, he worked closely with students in preparation for annual speech and recital competitions at the prefectural level. As a student, he read for an MSc in Japanese Studies at Pembroke College, Oxford, focusing on translation of Meiji period literature. 

She has worked for many years as a lecturer and teacher of English in the UK. At the same time she has coordinated university Pre-Masters programmes, helping international students to improve their English language and academic skills. She has a degree in modern languages and a Masters in English language teaching. She is very interested in helping students to increase their communication skills and confidence.

Stephen was educated at U.C.L., where his Ph.D. was on Goethe's poetry; at Birkbeck College, London, where he completed an M.A. in French; and at the University of Southampton, for teacher training. He taught modern languages at large, independent secondary schools in London for twenty years.

Recently returned to London from three happy years teaching English in Oita, he is studying once more, this time towards qualification as a psychologist. When not spending time with his young family, he enjoys music and literature of all kinds, long urban walks and incompetent home maintenance.

Started teaching Japanese at a secondary school in Croydon in 1999.  Since then, has been engaged in Japanese education in the UK, having taught at SOAS and KCL for about 10 years.  Also conducted sessions at the Japan foundation, including on  ‘contemporary Japan’ and refresher courses for new teachers of Japanese.

Recently spent nearly 3 years in her home prefecture Oita, during which time she taught at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, and came back to London in May 2021.

I’m a sophomore at Sophia University, currently majoring in global studies. I have previously given an English speech as a participant of the WSD Japan 2021. That was a big turning point for me and now I belong to the ESS speech section in the university to work on giving speeches. I am very happy and grateful to be involved as a mentor in WSD Japan this year. I will do my best to provide the wonderful opportunities for each speaker to deliver what they think in their own ways regardless of language skills. I am looking forward to supporting speakers and communicating with everyone! よろしくお願いします！

PhD Student at The University of Melbourne / 

メルボルン大学の博士号学生

I’m a second-year student at Sophia University, majoring in psychology. I participated in WSD Japan 2021 and gave an English speech. It’s a pleasure to be a mentor at this event. I look forward to working with speakers and mentors and hearing everyone’s speeches!! よろしくお願いします！

I graduated from Durham University last year with a BA in Anthropology. I participated in WSD Japan 2021 and was chosen as the winner in the Japanese speech category. I loved participating and I'm excited to return as a mentor this year. I'm happy to speak to the new participants, and I hope I can help everyone create a speech that resonates both personally and to a wider audience! よろしくお願いします！！ 

Durham University

y1, Computer Science