Learning Japanese
The focus of your learning will typically be on speaking and listening as having these basic skills will make it easier to extend your knowledge. The Japanese language uses three different character sets - Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. It is recommended to at least learn Hiragana (it's not as difficult as it looks) as this will increase your understanding of the sounds or phonemes used in Japanese. This can be added to as your learning and confidence develops with the katakana characters and Kanji (Chinese characters) - indeed I can help you learn up to the 2,000 characters in common usage by most native Japanese and more.
All teaching is done through the English language.
Dependent on your needs, we may forego reading and writing if not thought necessary.
Where you require tuition to support your studies for a formal qualification e.g. GCSE/A Levels then we would work within the guidelines of the particular syllabus
Homework
You should only expect limited progress if you depend solely on the teaching activities. I will usually give tasks for you to do between lessons so that you can also be learning independently and reinforcing what you’ve been taught in your own time. The best time to do this is either straight after the lesson or just before the next one.
Text Books
I would typically follow a text-book based structure to your learning and am familiar with most books used in the UK (e.g. Japanese for Busy People, Minna no Nihongo, First Lessons in Japanes), so if you have already started learning with one book, then we can continue with it.
Our recommended course book however is the 'Genki' series and we occasionally use the additional supporting resources e.g. workbooks, tapes/CDs/Videos. Please visit following site to see the details.These books are readily obtainable from major book stores, Japanese book stores in London or online.
Where you require tuition to support your studies for a formal qualification e.g. GCSE/A Level, then the appropriate set books for that syllabus will be used.