Private Lessons

“I am so pleased to have found Noriko-san to help me accomplish my Japanese language goals!  I have been taking lessons with Noriko-san for over three years now, and she has been instrumental on my language journey. I started as a complete beginner, and she has accompanied me step-by-step.  I quickly found out she is a very engaging teacher. Starting with classical methods, she quickly introduced different techniques, methods, and medias to enliven the process, introduce variety to the courses, and maintain motivation.   She adapted to my style of learning, pace, and interests to keep me driven and progressing. She encouraged participation, supporting errors rather than admonishing them. She is lively, kind, and empathetic which makes lessons interesting and fun. Lastly, she is enthusiastic about what she does and is extremely dependable. Her excellent English skills ensure she can support you when required. I look forward to progressing further with her in this beautiful and challenging language! “

ー Grant, Denmark

“Talking and learning with Noriko has been a highlight of my week of a couple years now! We have a great time chatting away and discussing culture, language, hobbies, and what’s going on in life. She’s helped me prepare for multiple JLPT exams, and my speaking has come so so far since I first started working with her. I’ll be going to Japan soon and feel much more prepared after all the studying and speaking. Noriko has also done a fantastic job reacting to how learning Japanese works best for me, and I look forward to learning much, much more! She really cares about her students and that shows.“

ー Ian, USA

“I have had Noriko as a teacher for over two years and I have never been happier with my Japanese level. Before meeting Noriko I had studied the language as a teenager for multiple years but never reached anything higher than lower intermediate. I then took a long break from it but a couple of years ago I decided to restart my studies and I am very glad that I found Noriko. As a starting point, we discussed what my interests, ambitions and proficiency were and Noriko has been great at adjusting her lessons to match those. And how entertaining her lessons are! I just have a great time studying with Noriko, who seems to easily answer any question I throw at her, be it regular grammar or some strange internet slang I came across. I would absolutely not hesitate to recommend her as a teacher.”

ー Calvin, Denmark

“Have you ever encountered a teacher who brought important changes to you in your life? For me, Noriko sensei is not just my Japanese teacher, but an important person in my life! I have been  learning Japanese with Noriko sensei for more than half a year. From simply understudying a few basic words at the beginning of my Japanese learning journey, now I am able to share my daily life in the private lessons with the help of Noriko sensei. I enjoy talking with Noriko sensei on various topics, including little things, personal interests, books and travel experiences, etc. I am very grateful to Noriko sensei for her patient listening, timely grammar correction and supplementary language learning content. Also, when I shared my personal interests with Noriko sensei, she gave me a lot of encouragement and advice, from which I got inspired to start my path of creating a blog. It helps me gradually get closer to my ideal life! I not only saw the enthusiasm, devotion and professionalism as a teacher in Noriko sensei, but also felt empathy and warmth like a friend. Every time I take a private lesson, I always get a lot of energy from Noriko sensei. If you are also looking for such a teacher, I would highly recommend Noriko sensei's private lessons!”

ー Flora, Hong Kong

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my lessons with Noriko. She is engaging, attentive and nimble in her teaching style. We have engaged multiple lesson styles already, including free-talk, discussion on a specific topic of choice (news article, world event, books, etc.), written communication, role-play, and so on. Her demeanor is welcoming and supportive, and I always look forward to her classes and never feel judged or awkward when working with her. Noriko takes initiative in helping me with my learning by suggesting podcasts to listen to, activity introducing/recording new words, offering multiple ways of expressing an idea, and challenging me to talk about topics that I would normally shy away from for fear that my Japanese would not be good enough to handle.”

ー Mark, USA

“It has been over 2 years since I started having Japanese conversation lessons with Noriko Sensei. The content of the lessons has progressed from purely conversational with helpful corrections and guidance from Noriko Sensei, to one that includes shadowing conversation practice, reading Japanese news articles and more recently reading Japanese short stories together. Listening to Noriko Sensei’s podcasts and reviewing the transcripts of podcasts, in addition to lessons with her, have helped me progressed to the next level such that I recently passed the JLPT N3 exams, without much stress at all. Further, I have also joined Noriko Sensei’s Japanese Together network, which I strongly recommend any Japanese language learners to join. You will not only be privy to invaluable content, you will also meet an increasing number of like-minded learners, with whom you can communicate in Japanese, and also participate in various language learning activities and exercises that Noriko Sensei organises each month. I have a great admiration for Noriko Sensei who works tirelessly to create opportunities for Japanese language learners to hone and improve their Japanese language skills.”

—Lenny, UK

”I first encountered Noriko Sensei on Spotify while searching for a Japanese podcast to listen to so that I could learn the language. Noriko Sensei’s podcasts are always interesting and she speaks in a very clear and pleasant tone. When a slot freed up in her schedule I took the opportunity to start lessons with her. At my request, our lessons focus on conversation. She assigns me a podcast and an article as homework and we discuss it in Japanese. Even though my Japanese is still rather basic and I make mistakes all the time or am at a loss for words, Noriko Sensei is patient. She will supply me with the right grammar and vocabulary when I get it wrong.I feel at ease and able to try to continue the conversation in Japanese. Without the lesson, I would have no opportunity to practise; what more with a native speaker.  I always look forward to our lessons. Do support her podcasts also! They are super high quality work.”

—Chris, Singapore

“Taking online Japanese lessons with Noriko-sensei is the best decision I could ever make in order to improve my Japanese. One year of lessons with her have helped me more than five years of monotonous textbook learning. Our lessons focus on conversation, about daily life and current issues, about Japanese culture and language and even about literature. Noriko-sensei is very lively, versatile and encouraging, she adapts perfectly to the level and specific requirements of her students. Her private lessons are a lot of fun, which I value a lot when learning a language, but on the other hand she professionally keeps track of the conversation and writes down useful words and contents creating a document which I can use afterwards for further practice. Whatever your goals are in the Japanese learning experience, Noriko-sensei’s expertise, versatility and professionality will help you achieve everything in the most fun and efficient way. Thank you, Noriko-sensei, for so many interesting conversations, useful tips and motivational messages! ”

— Maria, Germany

“I have been taking regular lessons with Noriko-san for over a year and a half now, and in that time I have been very happy with the progress I have made in my Japanese learning journey. Noriko-san is a patient teacher, and in that time my level has slowly grown from a near-absolute-beginner level, barely able to string a few words together, to my current level where we can freely talk about contents of novels and read them together (granted, still with lots of mistakes on my end but making progress!). Even in English I am not particularly strong at making conversation, but Noriko-san has a unique ability to keep the conversation going smoothly, deftly steering through topics throughout each lesson. Her vast library of outstanding podcasts provides extensive opportunity for discussion. She politely makes appropriate corrections during our conversations and saves them on a google document for later reference. She has built a welcoming community of supportive people learning Japanese from all over the world in Japanese Together, and she regularly holds meet-ups and challenges, and encourages interaction amongst the members. ”

— Jake, USA

“I had a hard time finding a Japanese teacher that I clicked with. But from the first lesson it just worked with Noriko-san. She is very good at providing me with enough challenges that I progress, but not overwhelming me with work. I like to prepare at home and then we can use the lesson to clarify anything I've misunderstood and just use the Japanese to talk about the topic of the homework. Even when I've had a break due to other obligations, Noriko makes me feel at ease and I always can talk more than I expected.

In addition to the lessons, I've done Noriko-san's writing challenges. These have really improved my Japanese as well. She sets the theme and I often need to write about things that I wouldn't have chosen, which means that I get out of my comfort zone and learn more. It also prepares for meeting new people in Japanese because they can introduce any topic and you need to be able to say something.

I can warmly recommend Noriko-san for either the lessons or the writing challenge. Or be like me and do both: your Japanese will definitely improve!”

— Anna, USA

“Mrs. Noriko’s Japanese class is really interesting. Because she teaches more useful vocabularies that can be used more often for everyday life, I think that she is, compared to other teachers, more helpful. Even though I sometimes use the wrong grammar, Mrs. Noriko helps me by correcting my mistakes and turns them into something I can make use of. Because she points out my mistakes and always corrects them carefully, I can totally see the differences between the Japanese language and the Chinese language.

She also gives reading, writing and listening materials (that are written by herself) to me that we go through together, which is, obviously, a really good method for learning a new language. Whilst practicing and doing exercises, Mrs. Noriko always encourages me to impersonate herself, due to the fact that she is fluent in Japanese and wants me to learn new ways of speaking.Therefore, I really think that Mrs. Noriko’s Japanese lessons are sophisticated and helpful.

Thank you Noriko sensei for helping me and improving my Japanese skills while learning with you!”

— Kai, Germany