Student Reviews :
Japanese Challenge
Pei Shuan, living in Singapore
”What I love about this speaking challenge is the inclusive and supportive learning environment. I was given plenty of opportunities to speak and Noriko sensei's feedback is always prompt and kind. I was constantly challenged to go beyond my comfort zone and explore higher-level language usage. Apart from improving my speaking, I also picked up many new vocabulary and grammar points along the way. I highly recommend this challenge if you wish to improve your speaking skills! Thank you Noriko sensei for creating this challenge!”
Austin, living in the USA
”As thoughtful as she is funny, Noriko will keep you thoroughly inspired on your Japanese journey. She emits positivity in such a friendly way that influenced me to finally feel comfortable making necessary mistakes in order to continue to make big improvements. Prior to these last ten weeks, I couldn't have imagined the confidence and fluency that I've gained through these challenges!”
Susan, living in Japan
”I am so glad I had the chance to work with Noriko Sensei. She is a passionate teacher You can sense she loves teaching Japanese, and it is reflected in how she prepares the content. Fun, conversational and practical. You can use all her teaching right away. She is supportive and empathizes with you, as a student. She celebrates your wins and gently corrects your faults. She is a brilliant teacher. Learning Japanese with Noriko sensei is a joyful experience. Thank you, Noriko Sensei”
Mary, living in the USA
“I loved Noriko’s Speaking Challenge. I found the tasks a pleasure to do. I loved listening to the recordings of the other students to pick up vocabulary and phrasing and the feedback give. By Noriko sensei was very helpful. Her comments were very supportive!”
Maria, living in Germany
“ 日本語のコースはいっぱいありますが、発音のクラスはあまりなくて、特に自然な会話のコースがめったにありません。このコースは日本語が自然に話せるようになりたい人には完璧だと思います。練習はディクテーションや音読や写真について話など、いろいろありますので、ものすごく役に立って、勉強になりました。それに、特に役に立ったのは、のりこ先生の訂正とコメントでした。”
Michela, living in Italy
“Noriko sensei is a friendly and nice teacher, very effective in using the reading challenge as a tool to improve our Japanese language skills. Noriko sensei let us free to pick up a book which inspired us, and this is very important to keep us involved. Also setting a reading goal is so beneficial because it helps us stay motivated and provides a sense of accomplishment when we achieve it. Thanks to Noriko’s creativity we had a unique learning experience every week. And the chance of sharing our reading journey with the community made us enjoy and appreciate others’ progress. Why don’t you join us on the next Noriko’s reading challenge?”
May, living in Hong Kong
“I am not good at reading books and this is my first reading challenge. I am amazed that I was able to accomplish all the tasks through the end. Through this challenge I was able to find contents that suit me and established my own reading habits. If you also want to establish a feasible reading habit, this reading challenge can definitely help you.”
Pei Shuan, living in Singapore
“I manage to complete reading my first few Japanese short stories by participating in the Reading Challenge. The weekly mini tasks and interactions with other members made this Challenge fun. I have learnt alot more new vocabularies as compare to just reading textbooks! I would highly recommend this activity in Japanese Together.”
Maria, living in Germany
“Noriko-sensei creates interesting activities to keep her students motivated and enhance the fun of learning a language. For me, one of the most enriching and fun activities this year was the Reading Challenge. The participants had to choose a book and set individual goals to achieve their own reading challenge. Once a week we met online to talk about our reading experience, sharing our feelings and learning a lot from the others. Reading every day for one month has brought a lot of improvement in my Japanese level and personally, as someone who loves books, I will keep reading every day as a method to improve my Japanese in an enjoyable manner. Great thanks to all the members of this community and specially to Noriko-Sensei for keeping our spirits high and coming up with such great learning activities.”
Elea, living in Mexico
“The reading challenge came at a perfect moment for me: In my summer vacation, my Japanese reading routine had collapsed, and I needed some motivation to get back on track. Noriko’s reading challenge worked perfectly. I reestablished my routine, I’m happy with the progress I made and am confident the I will keep reading like this even after the official challenge. Being a member of Japanese Together helps me a lot to stay motivated and to keep practicing my Japanese. 諦めないでください！頑張りましょう！”
Sarah, living in the USA
“Joining Noriko's Challenges is such a great way to motivate yourself to stretch and grow in your study and use of Japanese. Her encouragement and feedback are so helpful, and the community of learners provides a whole extra layer of interest and motivation. The Reading Challenge in particular is great because it helps you make reading a habit. Also, getting to read other people's reflections on their chosen texts and talk about them in the Meetups is a lot of fun- and good conversation practice!”
Ling, living in the USA
“I really enjoyed participating in Learn Real Japanese with YouTube Challenge. I have learned a lot from the contents and the detailed feedback Noriko 先生 provided. I like how she picked a good variety of videos with different themes and levels, which were great for learning both the Japanese language and culture. I highly recommend the challenge and would love to do it again in the future!”
Bronwen, living in Canada
“Noriko sensei's challenges are always amazing. Noriko sensei is a creative, passionate Japanese teacher, and her work with the Japanese Together community and her Japanese challenges really reflect this. Every time I have done a challenge with Noriko Sensei, not only have I felt that my Japanese greatly improved, I have also had a lot of fun and learned valuable new studying techniques and resources. Thank you Noriko sensei!”
Marilyn, living in Canada
“Noriko-san's challenges are always definitely a challenge, but fun! Her feedback is particularly useful. The comments are thorough with lots of tips on vocabulary and grammar points to review. What I liked about this challenge was the option to record the essay and get feedback. This shadowing exercise was helpful for both pronunciation and to learn new vocabulary. The deadlines were maybe a little too short, but on the other hand, that is what makes it a challenge! Sometimes if the deadlines are too long, I can really deliberate over the essay, think too much about it and try to make it better. But it's never going to be perfect, so maybe it's better to just to do it, and send it off! Thank you Noriko-sensei for another great challenge! I look forward to the next one.”
Aki, living in Taiwan
“素晴らしいトピックを設定してくれました。書くのに時間がかかりますが、締切があるので、短期間で日本語を書く能力が大幅に向上しました。締切があるとやはりライティングに集中できますね。また、先生からのフィードバックや発音の指導を受けることができたので、参加してよかったです。来年もこのようなチャレンジがあれば、絶対にまた参加します。”