Teachers and Volunteers
- Josh Collins is from the United States. He's been learning Japanese with us for 2 years before teaching. He is an avid fan of Japanese media and culture, and he believes that has been a major inspiration in his language journey.
- Stephanie Hicks is from the United States. She minored in Japanese in college and has visited Japan numerous times. She has been teaching at Yuwenbon since 2021.
- Elko Fujimoto is from Japan. She is a volunteer helping group classes.
- Sonoko Maruyama is from Japan. She has teaching experience from when she was in college and helped teaching kids.
- Reiko Samos is from Japan. She has been teaching for years and works as a Japanese editor. She will be your online instructor.
Spring Summer and Fall
We have updated our curriculum for our Japanese classes. Every new student will need to take Japanese Fundamentals and Japanese Grammar Foundation classes before they move to more advanced classes, unless they pass a placement test. From there, students can choose what class they would like to take next. We have three core classes, Grammar, Conversation, and Reading. We also offer one on one tutoring for $50 (60 minutes).
Foundations
Japanese Fundamentals (required or placement test)
Core Tracks
Any Basic class can be taken after passing the Japanese Fundamentals and Japanese Grammar Foundation classes or a placement test.
Grammar Track
Japanese Grammar: Basics (prerequisite: Foundation required or placement test)
Conversation Track
Japanese Conversation: Basics (prerequisite Foundation required or placement test)
Reading and Conversation Track
Japanese Reading & Comprehension: Basics (prerequisite: Foundation required or placement test)
*Beyond Basics is a catch all course for students wanting to build on their current Japanese knowledge. Teachers will adapt lesson plans to the needs of the class.
Japanese Foundation, Grammar, and Reading classes cost $320. Conversation classes and the Intermediate class cost $360.
Our textbook Genki 1 Textbook (2nd edition). Students will need to purchase the Genki 1 2nd edition workbook to do homework assignments. Textbooks are provided in class, but students are encouraged to purchase their own for home reference.
Conversation classes use Marugoto by the Japanese Foundation, which you can purchase it on your own here.
Marugoto: Japanese language and culture Elementary1 A2 Activity Book
Conversation and Listening Focused Competences (optional)
Foundations
Japanese Fundamentals (required or placement test)
- Hiragana
- Katakana
- Pronunciation
- Basic typing
- Approximately Genki Chapters 1–4
- Basic sentence structure (AはBです, SOV)
- Question marker か
- Demonstratives (これ・それ・あれ・この・その・あの)
- Possessive の
- Essential particles (は、の、を、に、で、も)
- Basic verbs (present/past, affirmative/negative)
- Basic adjectives
- Question formation
- Numbers, time, dates
- Existence あります います
- Location expressions
- Simple requests and invitations
- 60 minutes classes for 12 weeks
Core Tracks
Any Basic class can be taken after passing the Japanese Fundamentals and Japanese Grammar Foundation classes or a placement test.
Grammar Track
Japanese Grammar: Basics (prerequisite: Foundation required or placement test)
- Past adjective forms
- て-form and its many uses
- Relative clauses
- Short forms
- Expressing opinions (〜と思います)
- Quoting speech (〜と言っていました)
- Giving reasons
- Connecting sentences naturally
- roughly Genki Chapters 5–8 (plus 〜たい and 〜たことがあります if time allows).
- 60 minutes classes for 12 weeks
- Teacher's discretion
- 60 minutes classes for 12 weeks
Conversation Track
Japanese Conversation: Basics (prerequisite Foundation required or placement test)
- Textbook: Marugoto A2 Katsudoo (Orange)
- Units: Topics 1–3
- 90 minutes classes for 10 weeks
- Textbook: Marugoto A2 Katsudoo (Orange)
- Units: Topics 4–18 (rotating by semester)
- Continue through the remaining Marugoto topic
- Students can join any semester after completing Basics since each topic is fairly self-contained.
- 90 minutes classes for 10 weeks
Reading and Conversation Track
Japanese Reading & Comprehension: Basics (prerequisite: Foundation required or placement test)
- Read Level 0 and Level 1 Tadoku readers
- 60 minutes classes for 12 weeks
- Teacher's discretion
- 60 minutes classes for 12 weeks
*Beyond Basics is a catch all course for students wanting to build on their current Japanese knowledge. Teachers will adapt lesson plans to the needs of the class.
Japanese Foundation, Grammar, and Reading classes cost $320. Conversation classes and the Intermediate class cost $360.
Our textbook Genki 1 Textbook (2nd edition). Students will need to purchase the Genki 1 2nd edition workbook to do homework assignments. Textbooks are provided in class, but students are encouraged to purchase their own for home reference.
Conversation classes use Marugoto by the Japanese Foundation, which you can purchase it on your own here.
Marugoto: Japanese language and culture Elementary1 A2 Activity Book
Conversation and Listening Focused Competences (optional)
Guided Practice
We meet on Saturdays 1-2:30pm. You can bring any materials you want to practice with teachers or advanced students. It's free to join. No need to register. Check our Facebook events for any updates on dates.
Fall 2026 Enrollment options
- Japanese Fundamentals: Saturday 11-12 pm for 12 weeks
- Japanese Grammar Foundation: Saturday 12-1 pm for 12 weeks
- Grammar: Beyond Basics: Saturday 12 - 1 pm for 12 weeks
- Reading: Beyond Basics: Saturday 11-12 pm for 12 weeks
- Japanese Intermediate: Tuesday 6 - 7:30 pm for 10 weeks