Duane P. Flowers, PhD
Early Years
Duane Flowers was born on March 17, 1962 in Panama City, Florida, USA which is located on the panhandle of northwest Florida on beautiful St. Andrews Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Panama City is known as a popular year round tourist location, offering a comfortable climate and friendly atmosphere. Duane grew up as the oldest son of an electrical engineer and nursery school owner/teacher in New Milford, Connecticut, a scenic and spacious town rich in American history and culture, attending Hill and Plain Kindergarten, John Pettibone Elementary School, Schaghticoke Middle School and New Milford High School before pursuing higher education at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) where he majored in International Relations while following a Pre-Law Curriculum. During his final year at UCONN he moved to http://www.ci.la.ca.us/ Los Angeles, California] and transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he redirected his studies towards language education, earning both Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Award of Completion Certification.
Los Angeles
From 1984 to 1994 while living in Los Angeles, Duane undertook a variety of work experiences. After a year in the telemarketing department of Investors Business Daily Newspaper he moved to the telemarketing department of the now defunct National Association of Small Business (NASB) where he quickly moved up the ranks and into the executive accounting offices. When NASB went out of business he joined the accounting department of Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott, a prestigious LA Law Office where he worked as an accountant and paralegal and then he moved to the Law Offices of Hecker and Harriman (currently the Hecker Group) as a docket clerk, paralegal and MIS manager. With this inside knowledge of law firms and the computer systems needed to run them, Duane finally struck out on his own with the now defunct Tech Support Systems (TSS), a computer consulting firm for law offices. While developing TSS, Duane began teaching English part time and eventually left the company to his partners and struck out to teach English full time in Japan.
Japan
After moving to Hashimoto City in Wakayama, Japan in 1994 a beautiful town located at the foot of spectacular Mt. Koya, Duane founded the Purple Dolphin Language Academy in a spare bedroom in his house. As popularity and demand grew he was forced to expand and wound up at the current location... quickly establishing itself as one of Japan's premier language schools. To keep his education and offerings current, Duane continued his education by matriculating a Master of Arts (MA) Degree and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in TESOL from Hawthorne University. This was done by distance learning so that Duane could continue teaching and apply what he was learning directly in his classes. When Anaheim University opened its doors, Duane was one of the first students to enroll and the first to graduate with a Master of Science degree in TESOL, where he had the opportunity to directly study with Dr. David Nunan, one of the world's foremost authorities on language learning and teaching. Duane describes this as one of the most demanding, yet rewarding experiences of his entire life. Says he, "David Nunan is not only an expert, he teaches his students how to become experts in their own right and effortlessly and completely draws out the best in everyone he teaches."
With MA, MS & PhD Degrees in TESOL, Duane considered himself as having about as much education in the field as was needed... now all he had to do was stay current which he spends a great deal of his time doing. In order to make the Purple Dolphin Language Academy the best that it could be, he continued his education with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing, which he also achieved from Anaheim University. With an MBA in Marketing and 12 years of experience in operating a language school, Duane was immediately sought out as one of the nations leading experts in the field which led to the establishment of Flowers Consultancy, a consulting firm dealing mainly with the issues and challenges facing language school owners and operators in Japan.
Family
On August 13, 1996 Duane was married to Yumi Chikamori at the Maria Lanakila Church in beautiful Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, (the most popular tourist destination on Maui). Yumi and Duane met while she was in California studying cosmetology at Santa Monica College and together they greatly enjoy traveling, cinema and scuba diving. On November 28th, 2000 they were blessed with the arrival of Nikki Alyssa Flowers and on March 14th, 2004 they were further blessed with the arrival of Raymond Duane Flowers. Nikki enjoys swimming, piano, ballet & baton while Ray enjoys swimming, dancing, painting and the adventures of UltraMan.
Current
In addition to his seasonal consulting practice, Duane currently enjoys Reiki, Aromatherapy and Yoga (both for relaxation and spiritual development), trading stock options, several Internet based businesses, playing Guitar, and Scuba Diving as well as the development of a new language learning CD course entitled Ima Nanigo and Reiki Blog dedicated to traditional Japanese Reiki mastery. Several books are also in the works as well as articles being frequently published on-line.
Duane's Homepage is located at DuaneFlowers.Com
DuaneFlowers (talk) 14:50, 9 March 2008 (UTC)