Mission Statement

Hi, I’m Ian Davidson. I am the president and owner of IDEA. It has been 19 years since I first came to Japan as a travel bugged graduate of teacher’s college in Canada. I carried my mountain bike, my golf clubs and my phrasebook through Narita airport, transferred on to Haneda, down to Oita, across the bay by hovercraft, into the hills by train and ended up at a small school in what is now called Bungo Takada. It took me about 5 minutes to realize that the promised 1 year to my parents was not going to be nearly enough time to explore this country called Japan. The language barrier I thought existed melted on my first morning in the country store as I bought some funny, green pickle- like things for breakfast from a smiling, very chatty older lady. I spoke almost no Japanese and she definitely spoke no English but we communicated with no trouble at all. Why? We wanted to communicate. I was hungry! She was trying to make a buck!
I believe everybody will do something only if they truly want to. So it is our goal at IDEA to get our students to want to learn. How do we do it? We try to make every lesson fun and to give our students every opportunity to be successful in speaking English. Whether it is for work or play, for school or travel, IDEA can help you speak. We are constantly looking for the best materials, ideas and ways to facilitate your learning and to ignite a passion for communication in you. We use a mix of new and old teaching practices to motivate and we have a system that is geared towards the individual learner’s needs and wants. We have built a system that offers every kind of lesson possible and are always adapting to our student’s needs. I say to all of our teachers that if you have inspired your students in any way to try to learn more then you have succeeded. Our student’s success is not only seen in high test scores and good jobs but in their smiles as they walk out the door of IDEA.
I fast forward to today in my mind after having spent the last 17 years in the classroom with students of all ages, having guided many trips to English speaking countries, having introduced so many children and adults to the joys of speaking another language and of spending time outdoors and I still feel like I’m travelling every day in life. The thrill of meeting new people, of learning something new about this country and of learning new words never gets dull. With my family on the ski hill, at the lake, at IDEA – my passion for learning has continued to this day and I am thankful to my past teachers who have inspired me. I sincerely hope that we at IDEA get a chance to meet you and to help you live an inspired life!

Sincerely,

Ian Davidson
President, Founder