Teaching Method in Our School
"Remember it is most important to figure out which learning method will work for you."
1. Teach most effectively in English and Japanese
Although ‘direct method’ is one of the standard methods of teaching Japanese in Japan, this method is not employed in our school. We strongly believe that the direct method can be effective only for teaching Japanese to a group of students with different linguistic backgrounds (or people who prefer to learn Japanese playing a ‘guessing game’). In fact, on the contrary, this direct method could make the learning process extremely time-consuming and frustrating, especially for learning such complicated Japanese grammar. Therefore, if the majority shares a common language, naturally, the common language should be employed as needed in order to make their learning process more efficient. This also helps students understand more clearly certain conceptual differences that are often quite difficult to grasp, and ones that Japanese-English dictionaries can't explain (e.g. 'come and go'). However, we also believe that only Japanese should be employed once students have reached the practice stage.
2. Communicative Approach - Totally Student-Centered
Our Japanese Language GYM employs a communicative approach. Our instructor becomes a facilitator to help students practice speaking. At the practice stage, our instructor will provide various role playing situations. Therefore, every student gets to speak constantly while our gym instructor step back and observe, acting more like a referee. Our intensive exercise oriented class will make the students gain confidence in using Japanese language in no time.
3. Use Authentic Material
Students can learn formal Japanese by a textbook, however, as they learn, they often realize that native Japanese speakers’ spoken language is totally different from what they learned in a textbook. Between man and women, formal and informal situation and even generations people speak differently. This is one of the most difficult but interesting parts in learning Japanese. Our school uses authentic material like movies, or TV dramas even in 'complete beginner class' so that people get used to various speech pattern in the early stage.
