Sumito

Sumito-sensei offers a unique and interactive approach to help you improve your Japanese language skills. Here's an overview of our session format: 1. Personal Anecdote: I begin by sharing an interesting recent experience from my life. Sumito-sensei attentively listens and responds, allowing me to take the lead in the conversation. Sumito-sensei takes notes on what I’m saying. 2. Feedback: We review how my Japanese sounded. Sumito-sensei provides feedback on my grammar and vocabulary usage, pointing out areas for improvement. 3. Applying Suggestions: I incorporate Sumito-sensei's suggestions and recommendations into my speech. We continue refining the anecdote. 4. Lesson Notes: After the session, Sumito-sensei sends me the notes he took during the lesson, for me to review. This iterative approach makes learning Japanese both effective and enjoyable. With Sumito-sensei's expert guidance and personalized lessons, I am steadily improving my Japanese skills!

Sumito-sensei does a phenomenal job locating general areas in my language usage that need improvement, and also pinpointing specifics I need to focus on to be able to competently use Japanese in my everyday life. As a teacher myself, I understand that I'm a difficult student because I have no formal Japanese language schooling so my knowledge base/ability level is extremely inconsistent. I've taken a fair amount of classes on Italki (at this time, more than 100), and I can honestly say that while every teacher has been helpful in their own way, Sumito-sensei's lessons have given me the most tangible/usable progress in the shortest amount of time. Learning Japanese on your own is overwhelming for a number of reasons, one of them being that it's difficult to find honest feedback on your Japanese that's not basic text-book Japanese based. Sumito-Sensei's feedback is honest, practical, and very helpful. I highly recommend Sumito-sensei's lessons if you want to be able to speak naturally.

Honestly, I was very skeptical about taking virtual Japanese classes again. I had wildly varying levels of success with online teachers in the past, so I took lessons from Sumito-sensei as a last resort. I needed to improve my Japanese because I'm now living and working in Japan. Fortunately, he is an extremely patient, approachable, and skilled teacher. Even after just one lesson, I feel more comfortable speaking my target language. The quality of the lessons themselves is unmatched. They are structured and tailored to your level, and Sumito-sensei truly makes the most of every minute of instruction. I now feel confident that I will achieve my learning goals in record time. I 100% recommend his classes without reservation.

Great class as always!

Another good lesson with Sumito Sensei. I learn so much when working together through the writing portion of the lesson.

Learning conversation and the Japanese language as a whole outside of a text-book is Sumito Sensei's highlight in my opinion and I am quite glad of how an hour of practice with him has helped me change my outlook on how to speak Japanese.