Japanese with Erika M.

Minasan konnichiwa! My name is Erika. I was born and grew up in Saitama Pref., Japan. For those of you who don’t know where it is, Saitama is Tokyo’s neighbor to the north. The movie “Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)” directed by Hayao Miyazaki is actually based on hills in my hometown! I moved to San Diego, CA in 2013 after I received my first MA in Literature. I went to San Diego State University and earned my second MA in Applied Linguistics in 2015. I also earned Advanced Certificate in TESL/TEFL from SDSU, which helped me reassess my perspectives on teaching and learning. I have been teaching Japanese both in Japan and the US for almost 10 years, and have teaching experience at San Diego State University, Grossmont College, and University of California San Diego Extension besides private lessons as well as business/medical translating. I always enjoy teaching and love helping my students learn new culture! ***Lesson Details*** All levels are welcome, though many of my students are intermediate-advanced levels and usually students are already able to read and write hiragana and katakana before they start taking lessons. I assess your proficiency level based on my experience as a teacher and a linguist. According to your learning goals, I tailor a teaching plan so it meets your needs and objectives of studying Japanese. What would you like to learn, the language itself or the culture as well? Here are the main lessons I offer to students: - Conversational Japanese (business, academic) - Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) preparation - Writing support (business, academic, or personal) Conversational Japanese lessons are aimed at improving your listening and speaking skills while working on increasing your vocabulary. We also review grammar points if necessary. This will help you pick up cultural and social cues in everyday conversation. The JLPT preparation and writing support courses are mainly for advanced students, who wish to achieve higher goals. The test is taken not only by students who want to study in Japan but also by people who want to measure their progress in Japanese. It’s very useful for you to set a learning goal, so you have direction in your studies, motivation to continue, and measurable results that you can check to review your progress. For all lessons, I choose teaching materials that students would be interested such as Japanese News websites or short videos depending on their learning goals. If you've been working on and are going to learn with me regularly using the book you have and if I don't have it, textbook fee will be charged. ***PLEASE READ!!*** - 48 hours notice for cancellations and reschedule. - If you would like to have a lesson outside of the listed hours, please let me know. I will try to accommodate your schedule. - If you would like to use a textbook that I don't have, additional fee will be charged.