Enrollment Steps

First, it's not easy to find a lesson time suitable for both teacher and student when they live thousands of kilometers apart.

I am a 53-year old European student, and, due to job commitments, I can take lessons only on weekday evenings. With Nihongo-Pro, I had no schedule problems at all, since my teacher lives in the U.S., which gives me many more scheduling options than with teachers living in Japan.

Having tried several languages schools in the past, I really appreciate the high quality of Nihongo-Pro's classroom software. Really well-thought out and extremely easy to use. There were extremely few technical problems, and they were solved very quickly thanks to quick support. The classroom software is always improving and evolving, too, with new features.

Now about teaching: I am really happy about the lessons (several dozen already!) I have taken with Fujiwara-sensei.

Intermediate level is a tough step, where you have to find your way through the intricacies and subtleties of intermediate-level Japanese grammar, as well as spoken Japanese, which differs quite a lot from the "proper" didactic language you learn at elementary level.

At the intermediate level, understanding often depends on nuances and on your acquaintance with Japanese culture. Fujiwara sensei is a wonderful guide: She gives careful thought to how to explain the difficult points of Japanese, and she always works painstakingly to answer my questions, to provide the best examples, to show the differences between similar words or grammatical structures.

When you take private lessons, the quality of human contact between teacher and student is essential. When I take a lesson at Nihongo-Pro, I am pleased to meet both an excellent teacher and a friend.

Since the first contact Steve was very helpful, with prompt reply to my doubts. Then I read some testimonials and asked to have a trial lesson with Fujiwara sensei. Steve was always assisting me through the process, answering my emails right away.

The Nihongo-Pro classroom is very good, the whiteboard is a plus helping the understanding of topics. Even with the geographic distance that separates us from the teacher, it is like we are in a real classroom in person.

I met Fujiwara sensei in my trial lesson, and liked her from that first contact!! Fujiwara sensei is very dynamic and cheerful. Her classes are always balanced with conversation, reading, listening. I could even practice my writing skills through the emails that we always exchange, and she even helped me with sakubun-writing!

Fujiwara sensei cares a lot about my improvement, noticing my weak points and working on them in a very personalized teaching. She prepares the classes very carefully, trying to explain the topics in a very didatic way. Even in the conversation at the beginning of the class, she makes sure that we always learn new vocabulary, the way it is written and used, and she gives me many examples of different ways I can use it.

We try to use Japanese as much as possible. My lessons with Fujiwara sensei are almost all in Japanese, which for sure helps a lot my Japanese skills. After every lesson she sends me review files with the topics that were taught and the new vocabulary. That way, during the class I can focus only on learning without having to rush to take notes because I know she will send it after the class. At the end of each month she sends a report of my monthly progress so I can follow it.

I passed JLPT N3 in December 2014 with a very good score (my reading and listening were 60/60 with a total grade of 164/180), thanks to Fujiwara sensei! My Japanese certainly improved a lot in a very noticeable way!

Moreover, I feel that Fujiwara sensei is more than a teacher—she is a friend!