Kaoru Yamamoto

I already had more than 50 lessons with Kaoru and I take so much out of each lesson. Kaoru is positive, optimistic, patient and motivating. Kaoru always responds to my wishes and implements them so quickly in our lesson that I am surprised every time. So I was able to prepare perfectly for my Japan trip, for an event, for concerts etc. and thanks to her I also passed my JLPT exam last year, where she continues to help me with grammar for the next exam. In class, Kaoru encourages you to speak Japanese too, and gives you enough time to think and also helps you along. I am not afraid that I might say something wrong or make mistakes. Like, you only learn from mistakes, right ;-) Learning Japanese on my own is not easy, but with her help it is much more fun and within a year I have learned so many new things that I would not have learned from a textbook or anywhere else. I can recommend Kaoru to anyone who is tired of boring textbooks and who needs some support in their self-study.

This is the 2nd lesson I've had. I've had about 9 italki teachers, both professional and community tutor, and no one has been bad but I can confidently say that Kaoru pays the most attention to detail by far of anyone I've talked to. She'll make specialized lessons based on your interests and will actually type out what you say so that you have a record of your mistakes and how to correct them, along with any new words or sentence suggestions.

Those lessons help me so much with self-study. They are super fun, interactive, informative and fit my needs perfectly. Every week I look forward to the lessons and they always leave me feeling like my time was well invested! I learn a lot - each lesson has enough structure to prevent me from feeling lost but enough flexibility to keep it entertaining and interactive. They are just perfect for me. Thank you so much, Kaoru-sensei! ^^

Another great, dense lesson. Kaoru is on top of everything, be it what was discussed in the previous lesson, jumping into any grammatical topic that may come up, and always keeping the lesson moving. She always challenges without letting you get hung up on your mistakes, and provides ample feedback for you to reflect on between lessons. Cannot wait to see how much my abilities continue to grow with her lessons!

I'm so glad to start lessons again with Kaoru 先生!! I surprised how quickly she made a lesson with the song a requested. I'm actually studying Japanese at my university in Japan but the fast pace can make it difficult to speak on the spot, since I crammed in a lot of what I learned. By reviewing with Kaoru, I'm already positive that I will be able to soon speak more easily, think less, and learn some new songs for karaoke as well. From learning Japanese from many different sources so far. Kaoru 先生 is still my #1 recommended teacher!!

Kaoru is an excellent, patient and encouraging teacher. I have done a lot of haphazard self study, and Kaoru has demonstrated she knows exactly how to draw out what I know, solidify my understanding. At no point in the lesson did she let the lesson hit a brick wall, which I really appreciated. I greatly look forward to continuing to receive her instruction.