Foreign Languages and Literatures - Colorado State University

Faculty Profile

Masaka (Mako) Beecken

M.A. TESOL, Colorado State University

Lecturer

Beecken teaches first through fourth year Japanese language courses and kanji (Chinese character) study courses. In the fall of 2004, she taught a theatre workshop in Japanese: “Kabuki Macbeth.”

She also coordinates many cultural events and conducts culture workshops, both at CSU and within the community.

Her research interests include second language acquisition, pragmatic transfer and bilingual education.

She was the 2007 Teacher of the year at community/college/university level for excellence in Teaching, Leadership and Contribution to the Community from the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT).

Beecken presented a paper titled “Culture Merge or Culture Clash? – When Macbeth meets Kabuki” at the Rocky Mountain/Southwest Regional Japan Seminar (2005).

She co-authored the article "An Approach to Instruction of Pragmatic Aspects: Implications of Pragmatic Transfer by American Learners of Japanese," The Modern Language Journal (81, iii, 1997).

Beecken was awarded a “Creativity Award” from the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers (2005) and an “Excellence in Teaching” award from the College of Liberal Arts (2001)
Her proposed “Culture Enhancement Program” has received a total of $29,000 in grants from the Toshiba Int'l Foundation from 2003 through 2005

Beecken conducts an annual “field experience” trip, taking groups of CSU students of Japanese to Japan in the summer.

Her students perform well at the state wide Japanese speech contest and the Colorado Japan Bowl competition.

The Kabuki-style dramatic presentation of “Macbeth” received five awards from the department of Theatre, including the best Black Box Theatre award.


	Faculty Profile Masaka (Mako) Beecken M.A. TESOL, Colorado State University Lecturer Beecken teaches first through fourth year Japanese language courses and kanji (Chinese character) study courses. In the fall of 2004, she taught a theatre workshop in Japanese: “Kabuki Macbeth.” She also coordinates many cultural events and conducts culture workshops, both at CSU and within the community. Her research interests include second language acquisition, pragmatic transfer and bilingual education. She was the 2007 Teacher of the year at community/college/university level for excellence in Teaching, Leadership and Contribution to the Community from the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT). Beecken presented a paper titled “Culture Merge or Culture Clash? – When Macbeth meets Kabuki” at the Rocky Mountain/Southwest Regional Japan Seminar (2005). She co-authored the article "An Approach to Instruction of Pragmatic Aspects: Implications of Pragmatic Transfer by American Learners of Japanese," The Modern Language Journal (81, iii, 1997). Beecken was awarded a “Creativity Award” from the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers (2005) and an “Excellence in Teaching” award from the College of Liberal Arts (2001) Her proposed “Culture Enhancement Program” has received a total of $29,000 in grants from the Toshiba Int'l Foundation from 2003 through 2005 Beecken conducts an annual “field experience” trip, taking groups of CSU students of Japanese to Japan in the summer. Her students perform well at the state wide Japanese speech contest and the Colorado Japan Bowl competition. The Kabuki-style dramatic presentation of “Macbeth” received five awards from the department of Theatre, including the best Black Box Theatre award.