Description
Teen’s Beginner Japanese courses are for—you guessed it!—teenagers who want to speak or read Japanese with confidence. You’ll be surrounded with Japanese from the very beginning so you can see everything in context (and it’s all about context when using Japanese).
Each course has a goal you can reach in 2 months: Teens’ Beginner Japanese II teaches you to describe objects and actions with basic sentences.
Having both run a Japanese language exchange group and overseen volunteer Japanese interpreters in the Anime Central’s Guest Assistants Department for 7 years, I came to really understand what and where people were getting tripped up. And, it all came down to speaking Japanese. (This is true even if you don’t plan on speaking Japanese. Want to watch anime? The characters speak. Want to read manga? Your brain ‘speaks’ the words to you as you skim.)
This is because we want to connect with people, whether that’s through the things that our favorite artists make or by becoming friends with people that like the things we like. So, I put these courses together with that in mind.
You’ll build the cornerstones to keep your sentence structure in tact.
You’ll do interesting cultural activities that help you think like a Japanese person.
You’ll start to pick out Japanese when you see or hear it.
But don’t just take my word for it:
Ruby very much enjoys your teaching and has learned a great deal already.
Michelle F.
[My son] is in his second year of Japanese class at his high school! Thank you so much for giving him a start that made him want to continue learning Japanese!
Whitney B.
Frequently asked questions
Please see the Additional Information tab for pricing and location.
What if my child is a total beginner? They’ve never studied a language before.
They’ll need to take the Kana Course first so they can read and write a little.
What if my child has been studying on their own and/or has taken Japanese classes?
It’s awesome that your child is really into learning Japanese! How well do they know hiragana and katakana? If they can’t recognize at least half of the 92 characters, then they should take the Kana Course first.
If your child is good on the characters, which course would be next for them based on what they’ve already learned? Let them skim the course topics and take the placement test at their level.
Are the classes live?
Teens’ Beginner Japanese courses are online courses. They are currently taught live, in real time.
Is this an in-person course? My child can’t do any more online classrooms.
If there are enough people asking for in-person classes, then I’ll look into offering them in Chicago, Illinois.
What’s the class size?
There are no more than 10 students present at once.
How do I know if this class is right for my child?
If you want to try a class, choose the Trial class Attending class option before adding to cart. This will let them take the first class in each session.
When can my child start?
See the session dates at the top of the page. There are 6 sessions offered every year.
If your child misses the first class, they can probably still catch up if they come to office hours, do the worksheets and send them to me for feedback. I wouldn’t recommend joining in the middle unless their placement test shows your child has a good grasp of the things we’ve already covered.
What if my child can’t attend some of the classes?
If your child needs to miss certain days, there are so many ways for them to stay on top of the material:
- Come to Office Hours.
- Drop questions in Discord.
- Watch the video.
- Do the worksheet(s) from the missed lesson.
- Read through the class notes, if there are any, sent to them.
- Keep an eye out in class. Everything we learn builds on top of things from previous classes so definitely plenty of review.
If your child needs to stop half way through the live session they’re signed up to take, please let me know as soon as you know so they can continue from where they left off in a different session.
Is there a textbook? Is there homework?
There isn’t a textbook but there is the workbook I designed specifically for this course. The workbook pages are linked through the Course Curriculum you get access to when you sign up.
We’ll try to do most of the worksheets in class but you may have a little bit of homework.
How long do we have access to the videos?
You get lifetime access for the lifetime of the video course. All updates are free.
How can my child get the most out of the lessons?
Encourage them to
- repeat what they hear me say.
- read the words out loud as they practice their writing.
- practice what they’ve learned in class by finishing the worksheets outside of class and sending them to me for feedback.
I’ve seen a huge difference between how well and how fast students pick up the Japanese when they do the worksheets and ask me to look at them versus when they don’t. If they’re asking questions, figuring out the things that confuse them, then it gets easier and easier because Japanese has a lot of rules and patterns that repeat across the different grammar.
My child is really shy. Do they have to participate in class?
If you mean, do they have to have their mic on? Then the answer is no, they can be muted.
But, yes, they should participate by
- repeating the Japanese on their side of the screen.
- copying what I’m writing or at least practicing what they can while we work on the worksheets together.
- answering my questions on their side of the screen to see if they know it.
Is there an age limit?
Children 11 and older can take the class.
10-year-olds might be okay in the class; I’ve had mixed results letting 10-year-olds take this course.
If you know your child doesn’t have the study habits needed to practice or review outside of class, try the こどものにほんご Japanese for Kids classes. These take all the work out of learning Japanese by merging it with everyday life.
