Japanese beginners: short introduction

Hisaka is a passionate educator of all ages, bringing over 15 years of experience in teaching Japanese language and culture to CityLit. Growing up in Tokyo, Japan, Hisaka initially came to the UK for postgraduate study, specialising in Education. Following a stint working in the City, Hisaka’s focus moved to her love of teaching, becoming a central figure Japanese language learning in the UK through teaching in secondary schools and in adult education. She has also presented training seminars at Japan Foundation, volunteered for the Japanese In Your Classroom Programme of the Japan Society in both primary and secondary schools and is an accredited GCSE/A level subject expert to Ofqual.

Noriko came to London to do sociolinguistics research on linguistic politeness. She has taught Japanese language to adults and university students throughout her research years. After completing her thesis and degree, pondering the next direction, she has realised that she has had more joy teaching Japanese and meeting people who love learning Japanese for a variety of reasons. So she decided to continue to teach Japanese as her main occupation. Noriko also works as a public service interpreter. She is honoured to help people in different circumstances in life by helping their communication. City Lit has recently given Noriko new challenges of teaching some unique courses. One is to teach the basic Japanese and apply them to objects and inscriptions held at the British Museum. The other is to let student encounter numerous onomatopoeic expressions in Japanese.

Kiyomi started teaching Japanese in 2002. Since then, she has taught Japanese in the adult education sector at the various institutions and universities. She joined City Lit in 2013 and she has been teaching at all levels, from Beginners to Advanced classes. She is also working as a writer for a Japanese free paper where she writes about cultural information for Japanese people. She enjoys working both as a language teacher and a writer, as she likes to deepen her understanding of Japanese in its basic form, as well as developing her use of the language creatively. She’d like to spread her passion for the Japanese language to learners and believes that learning about a different cultural perspective is just as important and enjoyable as learning about the language itself.