Learning Japanese
Testimonial from a current student
I studied Japanese at university and was a bit rusty when I started with Noriyuki 2 years ago. He assessed my level at the first lesson and started me just where I left off.
From the moment I started taking classes from Noriyuki, I knew I'd found the right Japanese teacher. Teaching Japanese is Noriyuki's full-time profession, not a side job, and it shows. His approach is the perfect combination of being structured yet flexible - structured because he's very organized and thinks through what each lesson should focus on, but flexible because he tailors the lesson to each student's individual needs. He achieves this because he has a wealth of teaching materials, whether it's a mid-level textbook, a listening CD, or anything else. (I think he knows every book that's ever been written about learning Japanese!) Need practice with conversation? Noriyuki knows the right book and listening materials to use. Need help with a particular grammar pattern? Noriyuki can pull out plenty of examples and review them with you. On top of that, he's in tune with all of the Japanese cultural events in London (including a bit of sake tasting), which only makes the lessons more fun.
If you're looking to learn, improve or maintain your Japanese, you simply won't find a better teacher than Noriyuki.
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.
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, Genki etc.), so if you have already started learning with one book, then we can continue with it.
Our recommended course book however is "Japanese For Everyone - A Functional Approach to Daily Communication" by Susumu Nagara (Gakken) with its Workbook, Kanjibook and Tapes and we occasionally use the additional supporting resources e.g. listening and task based materials, such as "楽しく聞こう” or "にほんご きいて はなして".These textbooks are obtainable only from Amazon for relatively low prices, though the workbook and kanji book for "Japanese For Everyone" are out of print but second hand books are still available from Amazon UK. Please check the Learning Materials section of this website.
Where you require tuition to support your studies for a formal qualification e.g. GCSE/A Level or JLPT exams, then the appropriate set books for that syllabus will be used.