Ray

Ray was very friendly and made me feel comfortable trying to speak Japanese. The trial lesson used graded reading material and shadowing-style practice. I liked that he kept things mostly in Japanese while still making it approachable. It was a positive first lesson, and I'd be interested to see more of his teaching style. I can see his experience in making comprehensible input material in the way he teaches. Given that's where I first saw him as a teacher it made sense haha.

I've had 6 conversation practice sessions with Ray now and I really enjoy talking to him. He is friendly, speaks at a pace that matches my beginner level, and is very patient as I try my best to speak. His English is excellent, so if I struggle with how to say something we can temporarily switch to English and back to get me unstuck. The most important thing for me is that with a combination of talking to Ray and practicing short monologues by myself, I am overcoming my speaking anxiety and noticing real improvements in my ability to express myself.

My Trial Lesson with Ray was fun! He's also very encouraging and patient. We went through introduction and basic phrases and he helped me a lot with my pronunciation of certain words and was great at explaining the why's when it comes to grammar.

もう一年以上、Rayさんのレッスンを受けています。最初は言いたいことが全然出てきませんでしたが、Rayさんは本当に優しくて、いつも応援してくれました。 雑談でも真面目な話でも、Rayさんとなら落ち着いて、自分のペースで話すことができます。 特に、友達のような自然な会話力を身につけたい方におすすめです。Rayさんのおかげで、私の会話力は確実に向上したと感じています。

I have really appreciated my conversation practice sessions with Ray. My Japanese comprehension is decent, but my ability to produce speech is really bad, which is why I started doing italki. Ray is very patient with me while I struggle to put together a coherent sentence. When I’m completely stuck he helps with how to say what I want to say. He is cheerful and fun to talk to, even though I’m not really able to express myself yet. I’m sure with more practice I’ll get better!

Super friendly and patient. Looking forward to our next chat!