This site is for students of Japanese anywhere in the world. The materials are based on the UK Japanese GCSE and A-Level courses and the IB Japanese ab initio Diploma programme, but can be used by anyone who wants to learn Japanese from scratch!
I have been teaching Japanese for more than thirty years both in Australia and the UK, and most recently was the Head of Japanese at Hockerill Anglo-European College until I moved to online teaching in 2020.
Finally I would like to thank the Japan Foundation, London, which has so generously supported the development of these resources.
がんばって!
Anne Rajakumar
Dear Sensei, if one was able to complete your 4 workbooks (along side learning all the vocab necessary), would one be sufficiently prepared for the higher GCSE tier? Do the work books cover all the grammar one needs to know and all the kanji? Thank you
Dear Devi,
The workbooks provide most of the key vocab, and all the kanji and the grammar to achieve a good pass in the Higher Tier Japanese GCSE exams. However, to get the top grades of 7-9, you would need to know some vocab beyond what is given in the workbooks. The best way to do this is to take as many past papers as you can once you have completed all four of the workbooks.
がんばって!
Thank you so much for your reply. Where is the best place to look for past papers? One seems to need a password on the Edexcel website…and I have only managed to find older ones before they introduced the tiers. Thank you again.
Dear Devi,
You can find past papers here (except for June 2023) without a password:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/japanese-2017.coursematerials.html#%2FfilterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FExam-materials
がんばって!
Hello Rajakumar Sensei,
My students and I have definitely benefitted from your dedication to creating such a great resource. Thank you for your generosity in offering your workbooks online for everyone.
I would like to create flashcard sets on Quizlet based on your 4 workbooks. Is that ok with you? Also, I have enjoyed using your particles song which I found on Youtube. I have adapted it to use in class. I am hoping to introduce it in a teacher’s workshop, and I am writing to ask permission to do so. Please let me know if you have concerns. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Thanks for your kind message on my website. I am glad that your students have benefitted from the resources.
I am very happy for you to introduce the materials in a teacher’s workshop – I am a strong believer in sharing resources.
By the way, I have Quizlet lists for the Unit 1, 2 and 3 Workbooks and I am working on Unit 4. Here is the link to the Quizlet lists I have made. It would be great if you could share your lists with me – that saves me from having to make all the final lists for Unit 4L
https://quizlet.com/Anne_Rajakumar
I am also trying to convert the Quizlet Lists into Blooket Games if you have ever used them. The students seem to enjoy them! Here is the link to the Blooket Games I have made so far (please also let others know about these and maybe we can all work together to cover all the material in the workbooks?).
https://dashboard.blooket.com/my-sets
Good luck with your workshop!
Anne
Hello,
I teach Japanese in the U.S., and while searching for resources, I found your website. This is a great site, and thank you for sharing these resources with us. I am wondering if I can use some of your IB book pages in my class. I teach college level Japanese. Thank you very much.
Dear Sumiko-sensei,
I am really glad that the materials are useful for you. I am happy for you to use pages from the books in your class.
Best wishes,
Anne
Dear Rajakumar-sensei,
Thank you very much for your quick response. Thank you also for your generosity. I love the Hiragana pages very much. Thank you again!
Sumiko
Hey there Rajakumar Sensei, long time no speak! I was one of your students back in 2007 at South Wolds. How have you been? I work in Florida now teaching as an elementary school teacher. 🙂
(I did send a message before but it didn’t upload for some reason lol :P)
Dear Stephen,
It is always lovely hearing from students and finding out what they are up to! How exciting that you are working in Florida and that you have decided to join in the education adventure. がんばって!
Anne
Hi, Ronny
I happened to come across some of the teaching materials designed by you / your team which I find really useful. I wonder if you could provide me with some hints as to where I can source some listening materials (for the mock exam or just general practice) for the IB Ab Initio Japanese program, listening scripts which are about 2, 2.5 and/or 3 min as suggested by the IB exam syllabus guideline.
I am still trying to work that one out myself!
Anne
Hi, Anne
I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am currently teaching IB Ab Initio Japanese. It’s actually my first year teaching this subject, and with a new syllabus (to be implemented in May 2020
I happened to come across some of the teaching materials designed by you / your team which I find really useful. I wonder if you could provide me with some hints as to where I can source listening materials (for the mock exam or just general practice) for the IB Ab Initio Japanese program, listening scripts which are about 2, 2.5 and/or 3 min as suggested by the IB exam syllabus guideline.
Dear Stephen,
Good luck with your teaching! I use the excellent listening examinations which have been used in the VCE exam, and are available at the following address:
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Pages/Japanese-Second-Language.aspx
That’s a good place to start!
がんばって!
Anne
Are you Anne from Australia?
Hi Kae! Yes – it is Anne from Australia. It is lovely to hear from you. Where are you living now? Are you still illustrating books?
Raja kuma sensei,
Thank you for a very interesting seminar “flipped learning” yesterday.
You are a dynamic teacher and I wondered how you learned your nihongo yourself.
Dear Yuriko,
Thanks for coming to the seminar last week. I actually learned Japanese initially as an exchange student in Japan for a year, then I studied at university and returned to Japan after my studies for a two year stint teaching English. However I would love to return and have the opportunity to improve my Japanese!
Best wishes,
Anne