Private Japanese Lessons × Asao Language School

Hi everyone!

This is Masa. How are you?

Thank you so much for joining us last Sunday :)

It was fun, wasn't it? We hope you all enjoyed it!

As always, a big thank you goes to the event organiser, Stefanie san and Hitoki san from World Unite. They prepared lots of fun activities for us to keep us entertained throughout the event.

The weather was fantastic on the day :)
Yoyogi Park was full of families with children, couples and groups of youngsters as well as visitors from abroad. It seems like an ideal getaway while exploring Shibuya, Harajuku and Oomotesandou, which can be quite overwhelming sometimes.

If you are visiting, bringing a picnic sheet is recommended. And also make sure to take drinks with you. I did not see many benches. There were no vending machines either inside the park.

You can easily spend a couple of hours there, taking a stroll, basking in the sun and all. Apparently, you can enjoy Sakura during the ohanami season also :)

Please see the list of events that the park hosts. 

https://www.yoyogikoen.info/

After that, we visited the famous Meiji Jinnguu Shrine where the Emperor from the Meiji era is enshrined.

https://www.meijijingu.or.jp/

We are fixing our November event right now. It will most likely be a half day trip to Odawara on Sunday the 24th :)
We had a trip there before and it was fantastic. The photos from our previous trip can be found here. https://www.meetup.com/asao-language-school/photos/30515167/
If you are interested, please join us!

My TikTok project still continues :) I am having a live everyday. We are currently working on N4 grammar reviewing quizzes. During my live, your questions and requests, related to the tpoic of the day or not, are always welcome. If you are interested, please join us :) https://www.tiktok.com/@asaolanguageschool

Thank you so much for joining us for the October event and hope to see you in November again!

Stay tuned :)

Masa

▶︎Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

▶︎Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

▶︎Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/japaneselessons

▶︎Aiko's Blog
https://note.com/fine_gnu509

Hi everyone

How are you?
This is Masa.
How's everything going?

We are asked about the textbooks we recommend so let's start building a list and update it as we go :)

There are basically two types of books available. One of them is for general study and the other for JLPT preparation. And, they are either more of a classroom material or can be used for self study.

The most used in schools are the following two books.

みんなの日本語 series (general study - classroom material)
https://amzn.to/4ew93CJ

げんき series (general study - self study material)
https://amzn.to/47YbMT7

Available for free online is:

いろどり series (general study - classroom material)
https://www.irodori.jpf.go.jp/starter/pdf.html

General Japanese study books are:

中級へ行こう series
https://amzn.to/47Yvm1r

中級日本語カルテット series
https://amzn.to/3NdmlrM

上級で学ぶ日本語 series
https://amzn.to/3XVsuOz

上級へのとびら series
https://amzn.to/4dH8QLL

JLPT Preparation books are:

日本語総まとめ series
https://amzn.to/3YptiwF

Try! series
https://amzn.to/3Ydyfs1

新完全マスター series
https://amzn.to/4ezrDtZ

スピードマスター series
https://amzn.to/3NiWor0

Conversation Practice books are:

シャドーイング日本語を話そう! series
https://amzn.to/3ZT40Ik

BJT Preparation books are:

BJTビジネス日本語能力テスト series
https://amzn.to/4gYVZb0

Understanding grammar helps you to structure sentences, from very basic to highly advanced.

The foundational grammar is introduced at N4, and the N3 grammar is generally a combination, tweak, synonym, alteration and short form of the N4 grammar. Teachers do not want you to miss out on them. Hence, they usually recommend grammar books when asked in lessons.

If you are already confident about the N4 and N3 grammar, reading comprehension books are recommended. They help you review them. In essence, unless you are familiar with the grammar, vocabulary and sentence construction, you can neither understand the overall context nor the messages implied between the lines.

Experienced teachers will know what book to recommend in or after the first lesson with you. Please make sure to let them know the history of your study, your thoughts on JLPT, the purpose of your study as well as your short term and long term goals :)

I hope this information helps!

引き続き宜しくお願い致します。

Masa

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/japaneselessons

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@asaolanguageschool

Hi everyone,

How are you?

This's Masa. How's everything going?

I've got a couple of updates to share with you today :)

1.
Thank you so much for joining us for the September event, a day trip to Enoshima. We hope you enjoyed it! As always, a big thank you goes to Yurika san and Stefanie san from World Unite https://www.world-unite.de/en.html, who organised the event for us.

We will be sharing the clips of the day later on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage If you have a chance, please have a look!

For the October event, we are having a picnic in Yoyogi park plus a visit to the NHK Museum. As always, everyone is very welcome to join us. Looking forward to seeing you then :)

2.
My Tiktok project is still going on. https://www.tiktok.com/@asaolanguageschool that I have a live stream everyday. We have been going through the grammar points from the following JLPT N4 Grammar and Reading Comprehension book.

https://amzn.to/3ZIq5Jt

It is great that the number of interactions has been increasing during the stream :) Your questions and requests, whether they are related or unrelated to the topic of the day, as well as general comments are always welcome. I focus on N4 grammars but you can ask me anything at all regardless of the levels. Please feel free to join us!

3.
Regarding our lessons in person, as you know that we have stopped using our old classrooms in Shin-Yurigaoka and Shinjuku. This was because we wanted to improve our general service quality. The idea is to see if we can offer better accessibility to the lesson location with a more flexible lesson schedule. For that, instead of having fixed locations, we could travel to the locations of your choice. So far, we have been using rental classrooms which are absolutely everywhere in the Tokyo region and it is working very well :)  

In our community, there are lots of quality teachers who are available at different times and on days in a variety of locations. If you would like to try our in person lesson at your preferred location, all you need to do is to let us know the name of the train station and we will arrange the rest for you. (If it is in Shin-Yurigaoka and Shinjuku, we will be happy to cover the rental fees.) Those classrooms can be found on the following websites.

https://www.instabase.jp/

https://www.spacee.jp/

https://www.spacemarket.com/

We have been establishing corporate arrangements with those platforms, aiming to bring the prices down :)

4.
The Photo is from Taito Shimizu sensei, one of our Top Teachers and here is his introduction :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1YBNcByxTv/

Taito sensei, who is originally from downtown Tokyo, is a full time Japanese teacher as well as a writer. His previous work as a writer includes writing news articles for a local newspaper in Hokkaido for 5 years. Through which, he established a strong relationship with the indigenous Ainu community as well. In the past 9 years, he has been working as a full time Japanese teacher with us as well as a freelance writer for industry magazines, newspapers, museums, public offices, government projects and so on. He also helps the Ainu community to promote their culture on the mainland. He is available for lessons both online and in person. He specialises in various types of lessons ranging from General Japanese, Academic Japanese, Business Japanese to Exam Preparation. If you are interested in trying his lesson, please feel free to let us know at asaolanguage@gmail.com

That's it for today!

See you all in October :)

引き続き宜しくお願い致します。

Masa

Private Japanese Lessons on Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

Private Japanese Lessons on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/japaneselessons

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/asao_language_school

Hi everyone,

How are you?

This is Masa. How's everything going?

I cannot believe that almost a month has already passed since my last post...

I hope you enjoyed your summer vacation and managed to get back into the routine without hiccups :)

Today, I would like to share with you the following information :)

1.
How did your JLPT July exam go in the end? I'm sure you learned a lot in preparation regardless of the actual result.


If you are taking the next one in December, the application deadline is 17:00 on Thursday 12 September, so don't miss it please.

2.
Our Mock JLPT Online system has been updated. One of the main improvements is that after taking the exam, now you can have a list of 50 reviewing questions based on your performance.

If you are interested to find out more, please contact Yuka sensei at yuka.asaolanguage@gmail.com or send her a dm on Discord please.

3.
Just in case there are those who are on Japan's Specified Skilled Worker Program needing to prepare for JFT-Basic, we are now offering Mock JFT-Basic Online.

Again, if you are interested, please let Yuka sensei or me at asaolanguage@gmail.com know please.

4.
For this month' event, we are going to have a day trip to Enoshima, from 11:00 to 16:00 on Sunday 22 September :) It is going to be another fun time together so if you are interested, please join us!

5.
World Unite, the company that now we collaborate with for monthly events, are asking us if we can provide group lessons at their classroom in Kiba. Here are the details.

Level:
Beginners - Elementary

Topic:
Speaking and Listening
Role-plays
Conversational / Practical Japanese
Basic Grammars

Location:
World Unite Japan in Kiba
(15 minutes from Tokyo Metro Kiba station)

Course duration:
From Monday 07 October until Friday 01 November
(Booking accepted from 1 week)

Lesson duration:
45 minutes per lesson

Time table:
From Monday to Friday
09:00 - 09:45
09:55 - 10:40
10:50 - 11:35
11:45 - 12:30

Their classrooms are located on the ground floor and their shared accommodation is on the 3rd floor. If you are interested in staying there. You can do so too :)
I have been there myself and looked around their facility. It is basic but with all the mod cons. If you want to find out more, please let me know.

6.
My TikTok project has been making progress as well. We are currently working on a JLPT N4 grammar book called にほんごチャレンジ.
We go through the book unit by unit. If you are interested, here is the link to the book and my live streaming account on TikTok.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=4872177568&i=stripbooks&camp=247&creative=1211&linkCode=ur2&linkId=b98babb10887664d2118bd133cc7af1d&tag=asao09b-22

https://www.tiktok.com/@asaolanguageschool

6.
The Photo is from Haruka Ikuta sensei and here is her introduction :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpLFNOiSzzo/?img_index=1

She has learnt the theory fully and has actively been teaching with us both in and out of our Discord community. She is passionate about language acquisition and intercultural communication. If you come across her name, please say hello to her :)

That's it for today!

引き続き宜しくお願い致します。

Masa

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/japaneselessons

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

Hi everyone,

How are you?
This is Masa.
How's your summer holiday going?

Thank you so much for joining us for our August event, a trip to the city of Kawagoe yesterday! Hope you all enjoyed it :)

As always, we had a great trip with fantastic company, though the weather condition was quite challenging. The outside temperature actually went up to 39 degrees in Saitama!

The clips of the day will be posted later on our official Facebook page :)
https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

And, here is the itinerary we had.

11:00 AM – Meet at the station, introduce each other and divided into 2 groups (one with me and the other with Aiko sensei)
12:00 AM – Visit Kumano Shrine https://www.kawagoekumano.jp
12:30 PM – Explore the main street and have lunch at Fukuya https://tabelog.com/en/saitama/A1103/A110303/11010480/
3:00 PM – Visit Hikawa Shrine https://www.kawagoehikawa.jp
4:30 PM – Visit Dagashi Yokochou https://koedo.or.jp/spot_003/
5:00 PM – Rice cracker workshop https://www.juunintoiro.com/
6:00 PM – Finish the event on the main street

If you have already visited all the main touristy spots in Tokyo, a day trip to Kawagoe can be a great alternative choice. There are lots of restaurants, bars, cafes and souvenir shops on and off the main street. But, they are full of visitors. To avoid queuing, having lunch away from the main street is recommended :)

Also, there are lots of vending machines around but you will find no convenience stores once you leave the train station so please be careful. You want to make sure to stay hydrated. I enjoyed a couple of craft beers on the street and ended up having a cramp because of dehydration. Please be easy on them. There is also a spot where you can sit and rest. It is open to the public so please use the space wisely and do not end up like me! https://www.city.kawagoe.saitama.jp/welcome/kankobenrijoho/kanko32021.html

If you are planning to visit Kawagoe yourself and have questions, please let me know. I will be delighted to help :)

Stay tuned for the September event!

See you then!

Masa

︎Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@asaolanguage