02 9283 9892 and 0410 397 017 
info@sydneylanguagesolutions.com.au
Japanese for Beginners 1
$310 + GST = $343
27 November 2024
14 January 2025
Teacher: Ayano Kishi
Ayano has majored in Applied Linguistics for her BA and MA, and has worked as a language teacher in Japan and Sydney. She has an extensive teaching experience including from beginner to advanced classes and corporate trainings. She has a genuine interest in language itself and loves analysing the way language works in establishing communication in a various contexts. She also has a great understanding in 'Second Language Acquisition' which explains how our brain processes language learning as a grownup. This enables her to design her lessons effective and help students to achieve their goals in the fastest and the most fun way. She believes that language learning is not just acquiring a skill but a social activity which connects individuals to the new world and she enjoys being a part of her students' journey.
Teacher: Toshiko Jackson
M.A. in Asian Studies that includes Advanced Studies for teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language, Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics, Graduate Diploma in Japanese Applied Linguistics, Diploma in Education and BA in Arts. (All postgraduate degrees are from Monash University.) She has a publication in “Australia Language Matters”, ANU, on teaching methods in Japanese. Her M.A. thesis (32,000 words) was on Japanese corporate management and its car manufacturers’ overseas activities. It earned H.D. at Monash University.
Toshiko Jackson has been teaching Japanese language and culture in Australia for 26 years. She has taught in schools, coaching colleges, TAFEs, universities and corporate courses in Sydney and Melbourne in part time, full time and casual roles. Also, Toshiko has taught all Stages of HSC, Business Japanese for 4 Japanese multi-nationals’ training courses, the University of Sydney and RMIT. She taught for the Japanese Proficiency Tests, Levels 1 to 4. She was the Depart Coordinator of L.O.T.E. and Japanese Course Coordinator for the Certificate IV at Language Centre, Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, Melbourne for 7 years until the end of 2000. Additionally she was an interpreter and worked for translation in Melbourne for a few years. She migrated from Japan to Australia 31 years ago.
Teacher: Mizuki Kayanuma
I am currently in the Bachelor of Arts (Major in Japanese & Minor in Chinese) with Bachelor of Education (Secondary) at Macquarie University. I have been teaching HSC format Japanese continuous, extension, and heritage level as well as a university student who has taken Japanese as their major in a private tutor. I will try my best to listen to individual students' feedback and point outs about my classes, I want to create the most joyful class with all the students.
Student Testimonials
“Excellent! I will come back here again if Yujin Choi teaches more classes” (Priyanka, Japanese Beginner 1 Student, September 2024)
“Yuji is an excellent teacher. I like every class of Yuji. I will enroll this course again in the future” (Mei Sung, Japanese Beginner 1 Student, September 2024)
“Aiko is very caring and every class is well structured.. I liked that we have fund and learn basic Japanese language and about the culture.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2024 Intake)
“Sensei Aiko made the class very interesting by using interactive activities in where the whole class can participate. My classmates are also very warm and friendly.” (Leizl, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2024 Intake)
“Aiko is friendly. I liked the learning environment and interactive class learning.” (Florian, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2024 Intake)
“I liked that we learnt the sentence structure and our sensei was amazing.” (Andrew, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2024 Intake)
“Mizuki has very postive attitude/approach. Good learning environment.” (Andrew, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“The tutor was great.” (Marlec, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Very enthusiastic. The depth of the content was fantastic and represented great value for money.” (Ben, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Each week was covered around a particle and then we used that particle in a variety of different ways.” (Will, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Mizuki is great. We had the wide range of topics covered, and very useful for practical application of Japanese as a trip or for living there.” (Charlotte, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Love the fun learning atmosphere and interactions.” (Wyatt, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Relaxed vibes – Pleasant teacher – Good classmates” (Rebecca, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“I love generating sentences to images across a wide vocabulary.” (Nathan, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Aiko sensei explained an taught very thoroughly.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2024 Intake)
“The course was good, fun, and detailed.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2024 Intake)
“Aiko is very friendly and patient with good energy.” (Philip, Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2024 Intake)
“Aiko was an amazing teacher, and made each class fun! I liked that we learnt the basics needed for tourist travel in Japan, Hiragana symbols and things like how to write my name. Great course, good price, would definitely return.” (Teri, Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2024 Intake)
“I really like the interactive practice.” (Harley, Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2024 Intake)
“Lots of dialogue practice, engaging, useful for when going to Japan.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Great preparation. Put lessons in real life context. The ability to listen to Japanese songs or shows with interest.” (Lourdes, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“She is very attentive and patient with students, explains things very well.” (Nicole, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Ayano’s teaching style, enthusiasm, encouragement, patience and depth of knowledge.” (Benjamin, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Everything was great: classmates, teacher, course plan, language.” (Hades, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Fantastic teacher. The interaction and opportunity to practice the lesson concepts.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“Great and energetic. Teacher was friendly and lots of direct communication.” (Marvin, Japanese Beg 1 Student, January 2024 Intake)
“High energy and cheerful – brings life and fun to her classes. Practical – good to practice conversations.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“It deepened my knowledge in Japanese grammar and expanding my vocabs.” (Anh Thu, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Great classmates. Teachers taught well.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Tutors were great. Interactive lessons; friendly atmosphere; scenario based dialogue.” (Jessie, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Teachers are friendly. Ease of asking questions, allowing us to learn what we thought were important phrases.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Being able to practice conversing in Japanese with my team mate. Teachers are accommodating and knowledgeable.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Both have good personalities which make it fun and interactive. I liked learning Japanese easily and the sensei made it fun.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“How interactive the course was and how friendly the tutors were.” (Adrian, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Very fun and interactive. Very comprehensive and informative. Great teacher. Focus on sentence structure.” (Angela, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2019 Intake)
“Practicing speaking with other students or writing Hiragana. Ayano was super awesome, engaging teacher.” (Julia, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Engaging and laugh. The content is very practical.” (Christine, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Ayano-san is perfect. Course was delivered in an interesting way. Ayano was always encouraging us.” (Siyi, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Course was fun well explained and constantly engaging.”(Aaron, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Best sensei.” (Teagan, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Thank you for everything. Overall, it was always fun, good atmosphere, fun teacher and always engaging.” (Brandon, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2019 Intake)
“Ayano is very nice and friendly.” (Iris, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2019 Intake)
“I learnt conversational Japanese that I can use when I go there.” (Kim, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2019 Intake)
“Small class, informal so able to ask questions easily and practical content.” (Sharyn, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2019 Intake)
“Toshiko is very enthusiastic and always happy with full of knowledge.” (Bryan, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“She was amazing and full of knowledge. The small class size allowed more attention during class.” (Kham, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“I loved her enthusiasm and activities.” (Claire, Japanese Beg 1 Student, September 2018 Intake)
“She’s a really good teacher. I really love her. It was really fun. I learnt a lot with Ayano sensei.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“Very down to earth and funny.” (Terence-Kent, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“Ayano makes the class fun for us to practice our Japanese.” (Yi, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“She is awesome. I would love to continue on level 2 with Ayano please.” (Romina, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“Great learning environment.” (Roy, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2018 Intake)
“Ayano’s way of teaching was very effective.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, July 2018 Intake)
“She made the class very fun and interactive. It was fun and interactive and Ayano taught us patiently.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, July 2018 Intake)
“The lessons were really fun. I would like to do Beginner 2 with Ayano. Ayano explained everything clearly and in great details. She has great knowledge of how languages work generally.” (Katie, Japanese Beg 1 Student, July 2018 Intake)
“Ayano san has a very interesting teaching method. It was very fun.” (Preeti, Japanese Beg 1 Student, July 2018 Intake)
“Naoya was great and took a lot of time to prepare the lessons. He spent a lot of time answering all my random questions.” (Jeremy, Japanese Beg 1 Student, June 2018 Intake)
“Naoya is kind and patient. The course is useful with interesting information.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, June 2018 Intake)
“Very patient, always took time to answer whatever question we had. I liked all of it, the openness to discussion was good and I learnt a lot about sentence structure which I’d struggled with previously.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, June 2018 Intake)
“Topics are useful for both people interested in Japanese and those travelling there. Naoya is a fantastic teacher!” (Amelia, Japanese Beg 1 Student, June 2018 Intake)
“Ayano keeps things interesting and very interactive. I liked the revision sessions of previous lessons at the start of class.” (Kook, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2018 Intake)
“I am very happy with Ayano’s teaching style.” (Ree, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2018 Intake)
“Ayano was very friendly. I liked the speed of learning and friendly people.” (Callan, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2018 Intake)
“Ayano is my favorite teacher. I liked how well structured the lessons were.” (Molly, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2018 Intake)
“Ayano was a helpful teacher and I liked the amount of knowledge she delivered.” (Linan, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2018 Intake)
“Ayano was really good and class size was small.” (Jack, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2018 Intake)
“Sensei Kishi is always making every class fun and interactive and everytjing was excellent.” (Nathaniel, Japanese Beg 1 Student, March 2018 Intake)
“Naoya was very patient and motivates students to learn. Pleasure to have him as a teacher.” (Kiana, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2018 Intake)
“Interactive participation with proper topics each week.” (Coco, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2018 Intake)
“Naoya was engaging and encouraging. We always felt welcomed.” (Laura, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2018 Intake)
“Naoya was energetic and engaging. We had fun lessons with good discussion. This course was well structured and good for beginner level.” (Matthew, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2018 Intake)
“Naoya was very responsive and friendly.” (Ricky, Japanese Beg 1 Student, February 2018 Intake)
“Good teacher and perfect pace.” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2017 Intake)
“Toshiro was really nice and patient.” (Amelia, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2017 Intake)
“Toshiro san was really good.” (Peter, Japanese Beg 1 Student, August 2017 Intake)
“Very good tutor. Interesting teaching method” (Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2017 Intake)
“Great opportunity to meet a lot of new friends. I love all the activities during the class” (Uyen, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2017 Intake)
“Manami-san is AWESOME. She is the best!!!” (Linh, Japanese Beg 1 Student, May 2017 Intake)
“I loved the race to the board game and starting each lesson with revision and information about Japan” (Hanan-Gabriella, Japanese Beg 1 Student, April 2017 Intake)
“Toshiro was fantastic – a great teacher who encourages questions and learning” (Japanese Beg 1 Students, April 2017 Intake)
“Well-prepared class and Toshiro is a great teacher. I enjoyed this course very much” (Kevin, Japanese Beg 1, April 2017 Intake)
“Toshiro was a great teacher! Looking forward to doing Beginner 2 with him” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, April 2017 Intake)
“The tutor is very kind, patient and knowledgeable. She used cultural lessons as well as language lessons” (Lauren Japanese Beginner 1 April 2016 Session)
“The course material is very informative and well prepared. Tutor has very good teacher experience and knowledge.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, May-July 2014 Session)
“I liked the variety of study materials in the class. Not just handouts but we also learnt songs and given Japanese articles to look at.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, September-November 2012 Session)
“The teacher was fantastic! Her enthusiasm was so much fun.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, September-November 2012 Session)
“Toshiko was knowledgeable and passionate about Japanese. Her enthusiasm and education make the course very pleasant.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, July-September 2012 Session)
“Toshiko is very professional and knowledgeable. The overall course structure is good! ” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, July-September2012 Session)
“I like the relaxed nature of the class and class participation. Toshiko is wonderful! :)” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, July-September 2012 Session)
“Small class size; the course was paced pretty well, any more faster and I would have felt lost.” (Japanese Beginner 2 Student, June-August 2012 Session)
“Sensei Toshiko is a native speaker and has many years of experience. She is friendly and made sure to include a variety of activities. She also provided a variety of useful handouts from different sources.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, March-May 2012 Session)
“Toshiko Jackson is a very engaging teacher. I like listening to her experiences and her classes are very challenging.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, March-May 2012 Session)
“I would like to let you know that Ms. Chie Shattel was an exceptional teacher and she really helped me in learning the language before I had to go and answering the many questions that I had in regards to terms etc that will be useful to me in Japan. She is a very good teacher and a nice lady aswell, I am very grateful to you and to her for having me in the class, I really enjoyed it and am sorry I could not complete the rest of the course.” (Joe McKenzie, February-April 2012 Session)
“I have enjoyed the course and need to study more. The course is quite good value for money. The teacher is very good and gives a lot of attention and time for students. She is also knowledgeable and patient.” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, April-June 2011 Session)
“Chie is a great teacher to teach Japanese” (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, 2010 Session)
“I am finding the Japanese course very interesting and hope to complete this course and go onto part 2 as soon as possible. I think the teacher covers a large amount of learning material in the 2 hours of the class and does a great job of giving the class as much information as possible in the time available. I am really enjoying the Japanese for beginners course, I find Katsumi to be a very good teacher. I would recommend the course to anybody wanting to learn Japanese.” (Steve, Japanese Beginners 1)
“Thank you for the excellent private Japanese tutoring at Sydney Language Solutions! My tutors were well qualified, extremely helpful, and great teachers. I learnt Japanese faster than I thought was possible, thanks to their excellent teaching methods. The admin staffs were also extremely friendly and helpful.” (Sandra, Japanese Beginners)
Using anecdotes and cultural/historical examples to contextualize the topics was amazing. The overall course was great. (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, George, 28 March 2024)
The course was lovely, the classes were small, and all the students and teachers were passionate. (Japanese Beginner 1 Student, Annika, 28 March 2024)