This site is for students of Japanese anywhere in the world. The materials are based on the UK Japanese GCSE syllabus 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 have been the Head of Japanese at Hockerill Anglo-European College for the past nine years. I am now looking forward to a new challenge, when I will be swapping the classroom for online teaching.
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
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