I am a native speaker of Japanese. I was born and raised in Kanagawa, Japan. I earned a BA (Phi Beta Kappa, 4.0 GPA) in Teaching Japanese as a Second Language from University of Hawaii in 1999. Since then, I have been teaching / tutoring Japanese to adults, middle, high school students, college students. I live in Hawaii. I stay in Azabujyuban in Tokyo for 5 months / year. We can meet in person while I am Tokyo and switch to Zoom while I am in US.
I taught at Phillips Academy Andover in MA, Mid-Pacific Institute (I.B. exam AB Initio class), "Upward Bound" at Windward Community College. a Japanese language school for children in Hawaii, and Academia Language School in Honolulu. I worked for Panasonic in MA and provided Japanese and cultural awareness lessons to its employees. I give language lessons to employees of a local IT business and I was a substitute teacher at Punahou high school in Hawaii for over 15 years.
I have been giving private lessons to various professionals (businessmen, military officers, real-estate agent, doctors, flight attendants, retail employees), retirees and college / high /middle school students. I "rescued" many UH, Punahou, Mid-Pac. KCC students. Nearly all students, whom I tutored for an entire semester, earned an A. I also prepared high school students for the I.B. Japanese exams and gave lessons to homeschooled students.
1. Beginners: You and I choose a textbook(s) and I make teaching materials based on each student's needs. Examples of textbooks used: "Japanese for Busy People, ""Tobira," " NIHONGO FUN&EASY," "Genki," "Musubi," "Hakase" "Minna no Nihongo," "Nakama," "Adventures in Japanese." I personalize the contents based on each student's needs and goals.
2. Intermediate and advanced students: We have more options. I suggest and discuss with prospective students ways to help them reach their goals. I use different teaching materials and teach each student differently. Students and I "develop" / modify curriculum together according to their needs.
3. Job-specific language training, job interview practice etc. can be arranged.