Nihongo Online School

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Nihongo Online School > Tips for More Effective Studying > [Study Plan with Bon-san]6 Month Plan with 50 Online Lessons Completed

[Study Plan with Bon-san]6 Month Plan with 50 Online Lessons Completed

2024/04/10

Director: Kotaro Muramoto
Principal of Nihongo Online School
In September 2019, he founded "Nihongo Online School". Since then, has been teaching Japanese online lessons, with a total of over 1,000 students.
He has designed an individualized curriculum based on student’s needs and study goal. And is conscious of making the classes speech-centered in order to improve students’ speaking skills.
The school asks students to submit homework assignments worth 2 hours per lesson to improve faster. By supporting students with these features, students are able to efficiently improve Japanese language skills.

Hi, this is teacher Yuki of Nihongo Online School. Today, we introduce study plan for one of our students Bon -san living in Tokyo,Japan studying Japanese. 

Teacher Yuki

Qualifications

Teacher Yuki

Completed 420-hour Japanese language teacher training course
I started my career at a Japanese language school in Bolivia and have been teaching at Nihongo online school since 2019.

Experience

I myself am interested in foreign cultures and languages, so I find it very stimulating to meet students from different backgrounds and share lesson time with them.
I am always happy when students are able to express themselves well in the Japanese they have just learned, and I feel happy to be teaching.

We reviewed, 1. Trial lesson 2. Feedback about Japanese level  3. Study plan  4. Study approach  5. Improvement for this blog.

●Summary


Nationality: HongKong
Age: 30
Occupation: Software Engineer
Reason for learning Japanese: ​​​​​​
I work at a Japanese company, but I often use English, so I don’t have many opportunities to practice Japanese.So, I decided to study Japanese because I wanted to be able to communicate with Japanese people well.

●Trial Lesson Feedback


【Level : JLPT N5  (Level 1 in our level chart)】
※Based on the OPI level criteria, we will evaluate your conversational ability on a scale of 10. If you want to more about conversation level criteria, please check this blog.


・Listening : He can listen if he is asked questions slowly using simple words.
・Speaking : He can speak using simple sentence patterns such as “A is B”. But he cannot conjugate verbs.
・Reading : He can read Hiragana and Katakana accurately.
・Although he knows most of the commonly used Japanese kanji, they are often used with different meanings than in Chinese, and there are many misunderstandings.

※we will evaluate your Japanese ability in terms of Reading, Speaking, Listening aspects.

●Learning Plan Enrollment Course: 50 hours Course


★Lesson (50H)

150 hours sample plan, Bon-san
1Explanation of the class, Greeting, and self introduction in Japanese26Minna no nihongo Lesson13
210 minutes of free conversation 
HIRAGANA Lesson1-2 あ〜き line
27Minna no nihongo Lesson14
310 minutes of free conversation
HIRAGANA 2 Lesson3 た〜は line
28Minna no nihongo Lesson15
410 minutes of free conversation (continue for every lesson)
HIRAGANA 3 Lesson4 ま〜わ line
29Minna no nihongo Lesson9~15
5HIRAGANA 4 Lesson 5 Voiced sound and P-sound, Writing of Hiragana30
Minna no nihongo Lesson16
6HIRAGANA Review31Minna no nihongo Lesson17
7HIRAGANA TEST32Minna no nihongo Lesson 18
8KATAKANA1 Lesson6-733Minna no nihongo Lesson19
9KATAKANA Lesson8-934Minna no nihongo Lesson19
10KATAKANA Lesson1035Minna no nihongo Lesson20
11HIRAGANA + KATAKANA Lesson1136Minna no nihongo Lesson20
12HIRAGANA + KATAKANA ReviewLesson1237Minna no nihongo Lesson20
13Minna no nihongo Lesson138Minna no nihongo Lesson21
14Minna no nihongo Lesson239Minna no nihongo Lesson22
15Minna no nihongo Lesson340Minna no nihongo Lesson22
16Minna no nihongo Lesson441Minna no nihongo Lesson22
17Minna no nihongo Lesson542Minna no nihongo Lesson23
18Minna no nihongo Lesson643Minna no nihongo Lesson23
19Minna no nihongo Lesson744Minna no nihongo Lesson23
20Minna no nihongo Lesson845Minna no nihongo Lesson24
21Minna no nihongo Lesson1~846Minna no nihongo Lesson24
22Minna no nihongo Lesson947Minna no nihongo Lesson25
23Minna no nihongo Lesson1048Minna no nihongo Lesson25
24Minna no nihongo Lesson1149Minna no nihongo Lesson1~25
25Minna no nihongo Lesson1250NS practice

★Homework (100H)

The teacher gives you 2 hours of homework per lesson as follows:

  • Practice reading and understanding long sentences using the reading material on Minna’s Japanese Summary Questions page (after mastering the N5 level sentence pattern)
  • Create sentences using a sentence pattern from the practice book

★Lesson Notes

He often tries to understand Japanese based on English grammar, and it takes him some time to understand expressions that are difficult to translate into English or are unique to Japanese.

Regarding the grammar, he asks questions one by one with skepticism and tries to understand by adding his own interpretation. Corresponding to this, He will be able to solidify his knowledge of Japanese, so we’ll take our time and give detailed explanations.

Also, he often chats about the day’s events and weekend plans, but he often ends up speaking only English, so I change the sentences into Japanese and add key phrases. I try to create more opportunities to speak Japanese, such as asking questions related to the topic of the text, etc. And I write and leave messages in the chat so he could always remember it.

●Learning Approach


Teaching materials: Original text, Minna no Nihongo

Class frequency: 2 times/week (50 minutes)

How to proceed with the class:

① Vocabulary and grammar

Learn using texts. In the episode to check new vocabulary, we talked about things like predicting the meaning of new words by connecting them with words he already knew, and where he had actually heard them in everyday conversation. While expanding the information, we aim to gain input.

② Speaking

For about 10 minutes at the beginning of each class, we have free conversation and talk about today’s date, day of the week, recent events, and this week’s plans. He often ends up speaking in English, so we work together to correct the sentences into Japanese as appropriate.

③Listening

Ask questions using the sentence patterns he have learned so far.Start with a few questions at the beginning of the class, and during the class, we make time to ask questions and answer them such as ”Do you think so?’”or “What do you think about it, Bon?”’ according to the content of the teaching material.

④Writing (Homework)

 As for writing, It wasn’t seem to really need for it based on his needs, so we didn’t particularly practice during class. For homework, have students create sentences using a sentence pattern practice book.

⑤ Reading (Homework)

Once He have mastered the N5 level sentence patterns,practice reading and understanding long sentences using the reading material on the Minna’s Japanese Summary Questions page.

●Achievement 【 Level : JLPT N4 (Level 3 in our level chart)】


① Vocabulary and grammar

 Reached N4 level. In particular, at the N5 level, we spent time learning the te form, nai form, ta form, and plain form, and even in conversations, we used phrases such as “~ています、~てください、~てはいけません、~なければなりません、~なくてもいいです、~ないでください、~たり、~たり”.

② Speaking

N5+ level. He is now able to express what he wants to say using the sentence patterns he knows. Also he’s able to express complex expressions that could only be expressed in English better in Japanese.

③ Listening

N4 level. If the questions use the sentence patterns studied at N4 level, He can answer what he hears at normal speed.

④Reading

N4 level. He was able to correctly answer the Q&A on the reading material on the Minna no Japanese summary questions page, which was written using the sentence patterns I learned at the N4 level.

Overall

He was a complete beginner, having never studied Japanese other than hiragana, katakana, kanji, and simple greetings, but eventually improved to the N4 level. During class, he made sure to thoroughly review their grammar through question-and-answer sessions, and actively used new vocabulary and grammar to output their results.

There were many times when he compared English and Japanese and had trouble understanding them, but I think he was able to put together what he already knew and come up with his own interpretations, so he was able to grasp some aspects of it. His vocabulary increased, and he was able to solve questions about the various expressions he heard in their daily lives in class, and make the expressions his own. We will continue to support his work and life in Japan!

Teacher Yuki

Qualifications

Teacher Yuki

Completed 420-hour Japanese language teacher training course
I started my career at a Japanese language school in Bolivia and have been teaching at Nihongo online school since 2019.

Experience

I myself am interested in foreign cultures and languages, so I find it very stimulating to meet students from different backgrounds and share lesson time with them.
I am always happy when students are able to express themselves well in the Japanese they have just learned, and I feel happy to be teaching.