Sumito

I had some technical issues before the class, but Sumito Sensei was incredibly understanding and kindly added the lost time back once everything was up and running. Today's lesson was excellent. I shared a story about recent events, and Sumito Sensei listened attentively, taking notes without interrupting, which really helped maintain the flow of the conversation. At the end of the session, he asked me to reflect on my own performance before going over his notes. I really appreciate how Sumito Sensei allows me to speak freely and provides corrections afterwards. This approach boosts my confidence and encourages me to engage more in conversations.

Yet another incredible session! Sumito sensei challenges me, pushing me to explore and articulate situations in detail, a skill crucial for enriching conversations. He guided me in crafting sentences that flow more naturally. It was super fun and challenging today! ありがとう！

Sumito-sensei does a phenomenal job locating general areas in my language usage that need improvement, and also pinpointing specifics I need to focus on to be able to competently use Japanese in my everyday life. As a teacher myself, I understand that I'm a difficult student because I have no formal Japanese language schooling so my knowledge base/ability level is extremely inconsistent. I've taken a fair amount of classes on Italki (at this time, more than 100), and I can honestly say that while every teacher has been helpful in their own way, Sumito-sensei's lessons have given me the most tangible/usable progress in the shortest amount of time. Learning Japanese on your own is overwhelming for a number of reasons, one of them being that it's difficult to find honest feedback on your Japanese that's not basic text-book Japanese based. Sumito-Sensei's feedback is honest, practical, and very helpful. I highly recommend Sumito-sensei's lessons if you want to be able to speak naturally.

This was only a trial lesson, but Sumito-san provided a detailed lesson plan as well as a thorough overview of the kinds of methods he uses in his classes! I was shocked and amazed to use his self-made study tools which are efficient, easy to understand, and quite effective! Plenty of opportunities to talk and flex the output muscle. I am definitely looking forward to future lessons!

Sumito is a great teacher! His lessons are always organized and well thought out. Sumito's lessons emphasize the natural way that Japanese is spoken and he teaches techniques on how to speak more naturally. His lesson material is interesting and I always learn new grammar or vocabulary every lesson that is actually used in Japanese conversation. He's also very encouraging and very patient when I make mistakes. I always enjoy learning with Sumito!

Always a great lesson with Sumito sensei. He is very good at finding different activities and lesson ideas to help with learning grammar as well as speaking and reading. I highly recommend him as a teacher.