Kaoru Yamamoto

I already had more than 50 lessons with Kaoru and I take so much out of each lesson. Kaoru is positive, optimistic, patient and motivating. Kaoru always responds to my wishes and implements them so quickly in our lesson that I am surprised every time. So I was able to prepare perfectly for my Japan trip, for an event, for concerts etc. and thanks to her I also passed my JLPT exam last year, where she continues to help me with grammar for the next exam. In class, Kaoru encourages you to speak Japanese too, and gives you enough time to think and also helps you along. I am not afraid that I might say something wrong or make mistakes. Like, you only learn from mistakes, right ;-) Learning Japanese on my own is not easy, but with her help it is much more fun and within a year I have learned so many new things that I would not have learned from a textbook or anywhere else. I can recommend Kaoru to anyone who is tired of boring textbooks and who needs some support in their self-study.

Those lessons help me so much with self-study. They are super fun, interactive, informative and fit my needs perfectly. Every week I look forward to the lessons and they always leave me feeling like my time was well invested! I learn a lot - each lesson has enough structure to prevent me from feeling lost but enough flexibility to keep it entertaining and interactive. They are just perfect for me. Thank you so much, Kaoru-sensei! ^^

I first booked sessions with Kaoru last year to answer questions about the fine details of a text I am reading in Japanese, and was really happy to have the chance to book her again for a different text. I need specific answers about intricate nuances, and I have a lot of questions. Kaoru answers concisely, then in more detail as needed until my understanding is robust. She also speaks as quickly as I can keep up with, only slowing down when I indicate I've missed something. Not only is this useful listening practise for me, it also speeds up the process dramatically - I always get through 2-3 times more questions with Kaoru than I would expect, and my understanding ends up just as solid. Kaoru is very efficient, but also relaxed and easy to talk to. She leaves me space to ask about the same tricky point over and over for 10 minutes, to fall silent while I need a moment to think, and to laugh or vent or chat. Whatever I need, she picks up on and responds to perfectly.

This is the 2nd lesson I've had. I've had about 9 italki teachers, both professional and community tutor, and no one has been bad but I can confidently say that Kaoru pays the most attention to detail by far of anyone I've talked to. She'll make specialized lessons based on your interests and will actually type out what you say so that you have a record of your mistakes and how to correct them, along with any new words or sentence suggestions.

Kaoru was as incredible as ever with helping me parse an advanced Japanese text! We have finally gone through it all, so today I asked mostly review/follow-up questions on points we have previously covered. I knew that might be boring or even frustrating for her, but Kaoru remained just as positive and energised as if we were covering new material. I'm always grateful for Kaoru's willingness to reword explanations, come up with new examples, and dig into the weeds for as long as it takes for a concept to click. Asking her today to rehash points we just covered in detail several days ago, I appreciated it even more. Kaoru's help is so reliable and efficient that I have gone from booking her on a case-by-case basis to a regular weekly lesson. I know I will always have questions from whatever Japanese I have read that week, and I already love having an hour with Kaoru to look forward to. 先生、これからもよりしくお願いします！

Kaoru-san is encouraging and engaged and always makes me feel excited about learning. Thank you for all your help!