Sachi Johnston

Professor

Contact Information

Professor Johnston was born and raised in Japan. She also lived in Singapore for a few years when she was young and traveled extensively in Southeast Asia, where she was exposed to and fascinated by multilingual, multicultural, and multiethnic environments.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in foreign languages (concentration in English) at Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan, Johnston earned a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Southern Illinois University. She started her career as a language educator by teaching various English courses at Tamagawa University and Tokai University in Japan. She also worked as an academic advisor for an intensive English program at Southern Illinois University in Niigata, Japan.

Johnston returned to the U. S. and started teaching Japanese in 2005. Since then, she has taught various Japanese courses in higher education in California, including California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Loyola Marymount University. She has been teaching both online and hybrid beginning level Japanese courses since 2017. She has been active in sharing her online teaching experiences with her fellow language educators whenever possible. For example, she made a presentation at the North County Higher Education Alliance 6th Annual World Language Symposium, MiraCosta College in California.

She is passionate not only in teaching languages, but also in creating safe and inclusive learning environments for all students, where culturally responsive pedagogy is valued.