Misao

Misao-sensei strikes the perfect balance between structure and spontaneity to make learning both effective and fun. With my uneven Japanese foundation from years in Japan and self-study, finding the right curriculum was difficult. Misao-sensei has been of great help in addressing this challenge: she crafted two custom study plans (aggressive vs. relaxed pacing) to address my gaps and support my part-time studies. In class, she deftly senses when I’ve missed a word and smoothly repeats it in English, uses visual tools like whiteboards to clarify concepts (e.g. kanji radicals), and checks comprehension with spot questions to solidify retention. And yet, lessons flow naturally, touching on everything from hobbies to Japanese culture. If you’ve struggled to find a class that suits your unconventional learning path, I suspect you’ll benefit greatly from studying with Misao-sensei too!

I enjoyed learning some new kanji today and seeing how they are used on Japanese products based on the season. Misao-san demonstrates beautiful Kanji with stroke order and count.

Today we had an excellent class and I talked about my trip to Kyoto to learn kintsugi. I told Misao-sensei some funny stories from the trip and she helped me with saying everything in Japanese. We studied past tense, adjectives, and she wrote it in hiragana and katakana so I can practice saying the story to improve my speaking ability. For homework I will record myself reading the stories. ありがとうございます！

The lesson with Misao-sensei was awesome. We started off class with basic conversation and I showed her a book I have of Japanese music arranged for Jazz piano. We then studied how to use modifiers to describe the book. Afterwards, we sang the song Furusato because it was the first song in it. She explained the lyrics and cultural significance. It was a really good way to learn vocabulary, pronunciation, cultural information, and hopefully connect with people musically in the future :) We also talked about art. I appreciate how she customized the lesson based on my interests and uses music. I recommend her classes! ありがとうございます

有難うございました。I learned new vocabulary to describe emotions and enjoyed the conversation, as always! 北海道 sounds like a nice place　ステ期な場所のようです。

I enjoyed the interesting grammar points today, and also learning about ski season in Hokkaido and the Seikan Tunnel. There are so many places I would like to visit and experience in Japan someday!