Due to scheduling conflicts I am taking a break from Cafetalk for a few months.  Thank you for learning English with me!  

Notice: Due to a lack of prep time I'm currently only able to accept new ADULT students for free conversation lessons.  Thank you for your understanding!

Hello, I'm Pearl!

With 29 years in performance experience and 14 years experience teaching language, you are sure to get an unmatched professional lesson to suit your unique needs!

About me

I'm originally from Iowa state in the USA.  Iowa is in the countryside, and though I'm used to the bustling of Tokyo by now, I miss the wide open skies of my hometown.

After graduating the University of Michigan with a degree in music performance, I came to Japan and over the past 14 years have taught English conversation, and I have narrated the official Eiken test, and had my voice and singing used in commercials and games.

I studied classical double bass under Dr. Diana Gannett, a student of Gary Karr at Yale.  While in university, I performed on the the Grammy award-winning album "Songs of Innocence and Experience" as a member of the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra.  After coming to Japan in 2006, I have been active as a performer of my own style of classically-inspired improvised music and have performed with Yasuaki Shimizu, Akira Sakata, Seigen Ono, and others.  In 2016, I released a soundscape collaboration with Seigen Ono called "Memories of Primitive Man" on Sony Music Japan, which features compositions for bass, which is comprised of layers of my performing combined with ambient sounds and other recorded material.  

In addition to music, I enjoy cooking, traveling, knitting and studying Japanese!  I have travelled to all 47 prefectures of Japan, and love to talk about what I experienced on my travels as well! 

About my lessons

I have a wide variety of lessons available, including English free conversation lessons using video, voice or text, pronunciation lessons using movies and songs, and English and songs for children!  I look forward to speaking and singing with you in English!