Private Japanese Lessons × Asao Language School

Hi everyone,

How are you?
How's everything going?

First of all, thank you so much for joining us for our very first event of the year, 2025 Shinnnennkai - Mochi Pounding last Sunday :)
We had fun, didn't we?

Special thank you goes to Ryo san from Takasugi Atelier, https://www.takasugi-atelier.com who supported us getting the food ready throughout the event, Stefanie san from World Unite!, https://www.world-unite.de/en.html who provided us with the venue and Taizou san from Fujita Dougu, https://fujitadougu.com who supplied us the equipment.

We were only able to make it happen because of their support. So, once again, we would like to thank everybody for their support :)

Both the clips of the day and the details of our March event coming up will be shared on our Facebook page in due course.

If you are interested, please follow us on https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

Now, we have a couple of items to talk about today.

1.
Did you find out about the December JLPT result?
To those who managed to pass it, Congratulations!
To those who didn't, I'm sorry... Let's get ready for July!
Please make sure to let your teacher know your result and discuss it with him/her.
This is an important process to have, putting your 2025 study plan into perspective :)

2.
We have been contacted by a recruitment company called J-Styles who runs https://worholicareer-recruit.com/

We briefly discussed the idea of having a potential collaboration in the future :) It would be great if we could start offering job opportunities on top of language learning opportunities to our community members :)
According to the CEO, those who wish to apply for the listed jobs need to have the permission to remain and work in the country as well as JLPT N2. We are going to explore the idea a little bit more.

3.
My TikTok project, https://www.tiktok.com/@asaolanguageschool which started on the 1st of February last year, marked 1 year last week :) Thank you all so much for the support! This community welcomes people from different walks of life, but with a shared interest :) I am so glad to see that it has grown to be like that where everybody comes up with questions and requests, interacts and shares knowledge and experience with one another. Without your enthusiasm and love towards learning, I could not possibly last this long...so, thanks a million! I hope what I do here continues to help you all keep going with your study and ultimately serve a purpose of achieving your goals in Japan and back home!

Masa

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

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

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

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year :)

新年明けましておめでとうございます。

How are you?

Are you enjoying your winter break?

We've got a couple of updates to share today :)

1. Thank you so much for participating in the online bounennkai from last December!

Aiko sensei and I were supposed to do a live streaming on TikTok to announce the prize winners but could not get round to it. When she is back from Taiwan, we will do that, so stay tuned :)

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

Our first event of the year will be a mochi pounding as the Shinnnennkai. It is going to take place on Sunday the 2nd of February :) We are fixing the venue at the moment. We usually rent a place in Shinjuku but there might be a slight chance that we use the event space at World Unite, https://www.world-unite.de/en.html in Kiba on the Tokyo Metro Tozai line.

2. We have been contacted by Baycrew's Group, https://baycrews.co.jp/ They are asking us if there is anybody interested in working part time in their restaurant business. What we know so far is that they are starting a couple of new restaurant brands that offer an English speaking environment hence the candidates need to have a good command of English. We are supposed to have a meeting soon to discuss the details so we will probably be following up on this :)

3. Yuka sensei on Discord started to offer Mock JFT Basic Online as well as Mock JLPT Online. https://www.jpf.go.jp/jft-basic/e/index.html If anybody is interested, please contact hr at yuka.asaolanguage@gmail.com

That's it for now.

今年もどうぞ宜しくお願い致します!

Masa

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

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

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

Hi everyone

How are you?
How's everything going?

First of all, a massive otsukaresamadeshita goes to those who sat the exam :) How did it go?

With everything else that goes on in December on top of the exam, you must be feeling a bit burnt out. If you can, please take a moment to have a well deserved rest. And, whenever you are ready, please share your feedback with us, teachers :)

Waiting for the result to come out can be a stress but remember? Confidence is built by continuing what you have decided to do. And you did exactly that :)

All that effort that you have put in is bound to come to fruition eventually, so no matter what, let's look forward to the result :)

Thank you also so much for joining us for our November event, exploring Goutokuji! Here are some of the clips from the day :)

https://www.facebook.com/asaolanguage

Now, the final event of the year, 2024 Online Bounennlkai is coming up, from 21:00 on Saturday the 14th :) 

We are designing a private party room only for us, which you can pop in and out anytime you like. We are inviting everybody who enjoys learning language and culture.

Every participant will receive a language quiz, we get together and figure out each other's quiz, talking to each other in a mix of Japanese and English :)

This is one of the most popular events we have so do not miss it!

Like every year, our dear friend Ryo Takasugi san from Takasugi Atelier has prepared generous prizes for us!

https://www.instagram.com/takasugiatelier/

Bronze Prize:「at leafs 無肥料無農薬栽培のお茶セット」
奥松阪オーナーが自ら育てた無肥料無農薬栽培のお茶の全種類詰め合わせセット

https://takasugi-atelier.stores.jp/

Silver Prize:「奥松阪お菓子の詰め合わせセット」　
奥松阪で人気のお菓子の詰め合わせギフトセット

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxKXiZeBbPm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Gold Prize:「Stay奥松阪無料宿泊券（4名様まで）」または「松阪牛カタログギフト」

https://www.airbnb.jp/rooms/1189239379816276289?source_impression_id=p3_1733390131_P3QGhEjI40KipJ4D

https://www.matsusakamaruyoshi.jp/c/gr1001/gr100108/gr10010801/catalog-n-gc

(The names of those who manage to figure out the answer of their language quiz will be put in a prize drawing box for a lottery.)

We will broadcast the lottery and announce the prize winners live on TikTok :)

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

(If you win the lottery but are based abroad, you can get to choose whether to receive the prize or an e-voucher that is worth the same as the prize.)

If you are interested, please send your name and email address to asaolanguage@gmail.com
We will send you the link to enter the venue and your language quiz!

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Stay tuned :)

Masa

Discord:
https://discord.gg/t6NkjmqUE7

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

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

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