Template:Volunteerinfobox Kenji Yamada
Country	Albania
Years:	2007-2009
Site(s)	Peshkopi, Albania
Program(s)	Education
Assignment(s)	English Teacherwarning.png"English Teacher" is not in the list of possible values (Agroforestry, Sustainable Agricultural Science, Farm Management and Agribusiness, Animal Husbandry, Municipal Development, Small Business Development, NGO Development, Urban and Regional Planning, Primary Teacher/Training, Secondary Teacher/Training, Math/Science Teacher/Training, Special Education/Training, Deaf/Education, Vocational Teacher/Training, University Teacher/Training, English Teacher/Training (TEFL), Environmental Education, National Park Management, Dry Land Natural Resource Conservation, Fisheries Fresh, Ecotourism Development, Coastal /Fisheries Resource Management, Public Health Education, AIDS Awareness, Information Technology, Skilled Trades, Water and Sanitation Resources Engineering, Housing Construction Development, Youth, Other) for this property.
Kenji Yamada started in Albania 2007
Hajenso
Education in Albania:
Michael Miller, Kelly Alan O'Keeffe, Justin Parmenter, and Hajenso
Other Volunteers who served in Albania
Ken cantrell, Steve Fields, Michael Miller, Ben Neimark, Kelly Alan O'Keeffe, Justin Parmenter, Cristina Prado, and Hajenso
Projects in Albania
Hope for a Better Future - Youth Camp, Outdoor Ambassadors Summer Program, Peshkopi School Library Investment Project, Saranda Regional Directorate of Cultural Monuments, and Summer Camp (Albania)
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I love wikis. I hope this wiki really takes off. It would increase our effectiveness to share information this way, openly and across the board. Applause to whoever started it.

[edit] Personal background

I was born in Tokyo in 1983. My dad is from Osaka, Japan and my mom is an American of mostly English and Irish ancestry. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and majored in Linguistics at the University of California, Davis.

When I lived in Davis, I produced a political opinion show on Davis community radio for a year. I'm trying to get a community radio project going in Peshkopi now, and I've finally found a few people who seem interested enough to put some time into it.

[edit] Peace Corps background

During pre-service training I lived in the village of Kuqan near the central city of Elbasan, where there were also four other trainees. My PST host family was great and I still visit them from time to time. After PST I lived here in Peshkopi with another host family for the required 4.5 months. They were nice, but we didn't click quite as well. I haven't visited them since moving out, but we say hi when we see each other in town.

[edit] Living conditions

I live alone in a one-room apartment in the center of my town, with running water, a mini-fridge, western toilet, electric stove, gas heater, and dialup internet for the approximate equivalent of 60 cents an hour. Life is pretty comfortable for me materially speaking. One hardship, I have to go to the capital, Tirana, (about a 5-6 hour trip) if I want ketchup.

[edit] Work

I co-teach two classes of fourth-year students and two of first-years every day M-F at the local foreign language high school. Classes are only a little over 20 students each, and we are working with a pretty good textbook (Opportunities, published by Longman).

I also work with a small group of grade-school English teacher on Saturdays and Sundays. A lot of them are taking an English course from the University of Tetova in Macedonia (we are very close to the Macedonian border), so I help them with that a lot.

[edit] Counterpart

My official counterpart is the Educational Inspector for Foreign Languages for the qark (region) of Dibër. He's around the age of my parents, maybe a slight bit younger. He speaks French and Italian fluently and I'm helping him learn English, while he helps me learn French. We get along great.