If you are an adult and work with Japanese colleagues or you’re planning a future trip to Japan for business, our group Japanese Language Classes on Zoom will help.
We cover business situations even at the beginner levels, but also conversation for after work and getting to know each other.
At more advanced levels we study articles or videos on current affairs and hot topics in Japan.
Our Philosophy: Class is intense! We’re busy working professionals and come to class to study. We use the immersion method – don’t expect to hear much English once class has started. We demand that you learn by preparing for class beforehand, then we practice and expand in the classroom setting. Then review again at home. Expect up to 2 hours preparation each week! More advanced levels include a presentation element.
Class study at JASO is a benefit of membership, so you or your company must be a current JASO member to participate. All membership details at www.jaso.org.
Group Class Information
Small group classes run 8 weeks total, 75-minute classes (10 hrs contact time)
Maximum 10 students. Minimum 4 needed for class to run.
Classes held online through Zoom or Google Meet (Teacher’s choice).
Week 1 starts from Monday September 25, Week 8 finishes Monday November 13, with following week in case emergency make-up needed due to unavoidable teacher cancellation.
Note: If you have a Tuesday class, note that class IS initially scheduled for Halloween.
It is the student’s responsibility to use an up-to-date operating system, camera, headphones and microphone to ensure you can engage effectively and responsibly in the classroom.
Quality connectivity is also the student’s responsibility, not the instructor’s. The instructor will try to make a reasonable effort in case of a student’s connectivity trouble. However, the instructor will not pause, halt or interrupt class in a way that overly impacts other students.
Process
Sign-up online. Select your class. Pay the fee.
We make every effort to ensure you are placed correctly and we will check on new students. We do reserve the right to move you after first class. We also want you to talk to us if you think you need to move.
We communicate using Dropbox. Once assigned to a class, you’ll receive notification that you are added to this class Dropbox folder. Inside this folder is course textbook (beginner levels only), welcome letter, meeting codes to enter class, and class preparation. For Improver level courses, you are required to purchase a textbook separately.
Find a quiet space for class, so as not to disrupt others.
You are always expected to prepare for class in advance. Instructors place class preparation notes in Dropbox several days prior to class. You will receive notification from Dropbox when materials are placed there – you’ll need to set up your Notifications, so keep checking anyway.
Our Levels Structure
Beginner level classes are for students who are new to Japanese, or have only a little self- or class-based study. Plan to start at Beginner 1 even if Beginner 2 or 3 seems more suitable. If you do NOT have a reasonable understanding of the ーて verb form, do NOT sign up for Beginner 6 or beyond.
Improver classes are for those that have studied the basics, and sometimes more advanced Japanese, for a reasonable period of time (often some time ago!). Students have (or quickly re-gain) a comfort with a range of tense use and verb conjugations, but need step-by-step progression to learn, or re-learn these using textbooks.
Intermediate classes are for those who understand and are comfortable using a range of conjugations, and are working on longer, more complex explanations and discussion. Often at approximate JLPT N3 level.
Pre-Advanced classes are for those who are at or close to JLPT N2 and have often worked/lived in Japan for a significant period of time. More complex, discussion-based classes.
Choose your level by signing up. If you’re new, we’ll contact you to check your level before class starts.
Our Classes
Beginner 1
Instructor: Kayo Niimi
Day & Time: Thursday 6pm - SOLD OUT Thursday 7:30pm SOLD OUT
Description: Students will be introduced to concepts around working at a Japanese company including introductions, basic situational cultural expressions and language, pronunciation, and the building blocks of starting to speak.
Students are expected to have very little knowledge of the language. Textbook provided.
Beginner 2 - SOLD OUT
Instructor: Yoshitaka Inoue
Day & Time: Monday 5:30pm
Students should have completed Beginner 1. Textbook provided.
Beginner 6
Instructor: Shoko Parker
Day & Time: Tuesday 7pm
Students should have completed earlier classes, and/or be familiar with the Japanese "-te" verb form. Textbook provided.
Improver 10
Instructor: Tetsuko Sugawara
Day & Time: Friday 6:30pm
Description: Focus is on describing how something is done using "no", emphasis, referring to previous conversation, and actions in progress using "tokoro".
This class will use the textbook Basic Japanese for Expats Book 3. New students should purchase the course text in advance. Study will be Chapters 29 & 30.
Intermediate
Instructor: Ryoko Yamazaki
Day & Time: Wednesday 8pm
Description: This class uses one or more articles on news/culture to study. Students are expected to be able to strive to verbally express ideas in a variety of tenses, link more than one idea in a sentence, and know a minimum of 500+ kanji. All materials provided. Students are on or around JLPT N3, or Japanese 300 college level. Previous recent class example HERE.
Pre-Advanced ONLY 2 places remain (9/15)
Instructor: Ikuyo Suzuki
Day & Time: Monday 6:30pm
Description: This class studies a 45-60-minute video each week on a contemporary business or cultural topic. Students are expected to be able to verbally express ideas in a variety of tenses, strive for more complex sentence structures, and know a minimum of 1,000+ kanji. Students are typically on or working towards JLPT N2 level. All materials provided. Previous recent class example HERE.
Our Teachers
Our teachers are highly qualified and experienced language teaching professionals. You can read about them HERE.
Refund Policy
Course will run with minimum 4 students signing up. If course does not run, 100% of fees refunded. Cancellation after September 20, no refund if your cancellation causes numbers to drop below 4 in total. 50% refund otherwise. Refund processed after classes start. We will communicate with you as sign-up windows close regarding number of sign-ups.
We understand business people sometimes have work commitments that cause them to miss class. Many students end up missing 1 or 2 classes because of work commitments. We price these classes affordably to take this into consideration. We do not give refunds because “work became busy”.
