My Japanese classes/lessons included practices to develop skills of speaking, reading, listening, writing (including essays), interacting, and constructing/performing students’ own  dialogues by pairs/groups or by oneself and learning Japanese used in travelling in Japan. Speaking practice sometimes used the pictures, concepts or topics from the brochures of the Japan National Tourism Organizations, Nichigo Press, Daily Telegraph etc. Also, understanding and analyzing Japanese culture are important part of the course.

My Intermediate 3 finished the course on 20 August. All the students expressed their wish to continue to go on to the next level after some break. (That is nice to hear!) By the end of Intermediate 3, they finished Unit 3, Japanese for Busy People Book 2. Also, I used a few units of a travel and life experiences orientated textbook, Real Life Japanese + cd (by C. Dibble & S. Matsumoto, 2001, UNICOM) and for application, the students were able to speak similar sentences introduced in the dialogues in that book (the same applies to the learning with Japanese for Busy People, Bk 2). In addition, they enjoyed Japanese traditional bon-odori, bon-dance with use of a cd of a collection of exciting and beautiful songs for bon-dance. (I taught this bon-dance with use of cd in other lesson too that was very useful and fun!)

As for my students for weekly tutorials, one of them, who is a busy company executive who is very committed in learning Japanese, finished Unit 3, Japanese for Everyone (he likes that book). Also, he studied up to the middle of Unit 4, Genki Book 1 (esp. for the preparation of taking a Japanese course for 2 weeks late September. I used a few units of above mentioned textbook/cd, Real Life Japanese.

Another tutorial student is currently studying early Unit 7, Genki Book 1 and a few practical units of Real Life Japanese. She is so active in thinking about the concepts of Japanese culture and she has many experiences with Japanese people. If I talk about something, her responses and analytical observations are sometimes thoughts-provoking and quite interesting. And she loves kimono! (So do I!)

Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson

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