Peter Cassidy, a graduate of Columbia Teachers College (Tokyo campus) and one of the founding members of its Writing Center, has been working with young learners in Japan for over ten years and is currently teaching pre-kindergarten children at Mitsui Gardens International Preschool. His interests in language learning for children and how language policy may affect second language acquisition has lead Peter to publish his findings from an action research project entitled "Respecting L1 use in L2 learning contexts." This interest has also contributed to a recent publication of his first children's book "Cole the Mole and a Whole Lot of Hole," the first of a trilogy, which highlights autonomy and intrinsic motivation while also teaching prepositions and phrasal verbs of motion.