日本語でお話ししませんか？楽器であれ、声楽であれ、音楽を身につけるには、毎日練習が欠かせません。外国語での会話も、練習せずに身につけることはできません。一緒に練習しませんか？
If you understood the above paragraph, your Japanese must be pretty good but are you confident in making yourself understood in Japanese?
It took me years before I developed the confidence to make an important phone call in English and/or to speak in front of many people in English. I can do both now but that’s because I have lived in an English speaking country for many years and I’m practising speaking it every day!
My first encounter with a live English conversation was a few decades ago when I became an exchange student in America. Prior to my arrival in America, I exchanged letters with my host mother, so she believed I was already fluent in English. She was totally wrong. Even though I could read and write simple sentences, it took me months to understand simple sentences my host mother was saying without asking her to repeat them and it took a few more months before I felt confident that I could make myself understood in English – although I would be totally embarrassed if I could hear myself talking at that time.
My host mother was so patient. She brought a mirror out to make me practise making “sh” sound. She made me read my US history textbook aloud so that I knew how to pronounce them correctly. She made me repeat sentences until I could say them smoothly. As far as speaking English is concerned, I owe her everything. Without her help, I wouldn’t be living here and writing this webpage!
If you are a non-native Japanese language teacher at any level, I offer Japanese Teacher Support Program as a FREE add-on to this program (limited time only). Please have a look.
You need a partner to practise with
Everything practical – playing an instrument, swimming, cooking, etc. – requires practising. Conversation is like that, except that it requires a partner to practise with.
I had my host mother to practise with in America but when I went back to Japan, I went to an English conversation school to keep up and brush up my speaking skills. I had English speaking friends but I didn’t want to practise with them, because they were my friends. I didn’t want them to spend their time helping me. Also, I don’t think they could help me anyway because I’m sure they didn’t want to embarrass me by correcting my mistakes.
Now, let me be your practice partner! You can talk to me face-to-face using Skype! We can set different topics every week from everyday matters to current affairs so that you can expand your vocabulary. The important thing is we talk only in Japanese! This program includes:
- 30 minutes of conversation in Japanese per session x 10 weeks
- email summery of the conversation (vocab and grammar points, etc.) after each session
Sample topics:
- Yourself
- Family
- Hobbies (Gardening, Cooking, Automobile, Electronics, etc)
- School and/or Work
- Current Affairs (Politics, Financial, International Affairs, etc.)
Or we can do a role play like:
- At a restaurant
- In a department store
- making a complaint, etc.
If you are interested, please email me at EasyJapaneseE@gmail.com!
Conversation Partner Program with Writing Support
Speaking skills are closely associated with writing skills. If you try to write a meaningful passage regularly, not only your writing but speaking skills will improve greatly. If you take up both Conversation Partner Program and writing support service concurrently, you can receive a 50% off discount for the “writing support service“.
If you are interested, please email me to EasyJapaneseE@gmail.com.
