Hajimemashite.

I am Keiko and I have two children. I was born and raised in Japan. I grew up in the Tokyo area, so my Japanese pronunciation is standard.

I lived in Illinois USA for 3 years, Hague the Netherlands for 4 years and have lived in California USA since 2012. I like watching sports programs such as tennis, golf, football, baseball, hockey, basketball etc...

I love to cook for my family. I am proud that my children grew up with my homemade meals. The bento-box is my specialty. I made this every morning for 12 years.

Japanese is my first language and native country, so I am able to teach you about Japanese language and customs simultaneously. I will make your lessons both enjoyable and modify them for your specific needs.

I completed the Boat People Assistance Association training course for teaching Japanese to foreign people in 2001.

In Japan, I was a member of the Boat People Assistance Association for Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian people.

I taught Japanese to them as a volunteer teacher from 2001 to 2005.

In the Netherlands, I have experience in helping the expatriate students at the Japanese School in Amsterdam as an assistant teacher in the Saturday program from 2006 to 2009.

In the US, I have taught Japanese as a professional tutor since 2012.

In my experience, adults wish to learn Japanese for a variety of different reasons.

Preparing for a vacation or business trip in Japan and preparing for their exam is the most popular motivation.

I want them to concentrate my lesson, so I will make the lesson plan which is within 5 times.

It works very well to them so far. They visit Japan several times and I am glad they also return to my student.

I also have helped my students who have the plan to visit Japan. I have given them the ideas where they want to visit and how to spend their time there and many wish to visit Japan again.

My specialty is good for the kids who are over 6 years old. I've taught them Japanese as a private tutor and a online tutor. I didn't expect that Kids would be good for online lesson when I started to teach Japanese at Verbalplanet. But they enjoy the lesson with me, and could speak Japanese very flexible. They want to talk to me about their daily activity in Japanese, and the same time they want to know new words. This process is very natural and they can increase the vocabulary. I am strict about the particle when they make the sentences, so they don't struggle with the particles.

In my lessons with children, I utilize cards, pictures, paper dolls, and a whiteboard. I provide original texts that I customize for every child. Some of the children I've taught had previously gone to Japanese schools but found it confusing because they couldn't understand what was going on the classroom. Now they love their Japanese lessons and tell me 'I like speaking Japanese’.