Information About Artour - Bloomsbury teacher -

(19 reviews)

Personal Description:

Come to learn any level of Japanese from beginners' and GCSE to IB, A Levels, and JLPT with a PhD-educated Japanese language educator. Benefit from my 28 years of experience teaching school and university students, businesspeople, and lovers of all things Japanese.

Whether you study Japanese for exams, hobby, or work, my objective is your absolute clarity, structure, and efficiency. You will have each and every aspect of grammar, vocabulary, or kanji explained in plain English. I will help you with planning and structuring your learning process, create and achieve your study goals, acquire the most effective kanji and vocabulary memorisation techniques, and make sense of the minutest nuances of Japanese grammar and usage.

Specifically for teaching kanji, you will benefit from my own fun and efficacious method adapted from the Japanese national school curriculum for the needs of non-native speakers. I will guide you through fascinating stories about kanji, their meanings and usage to help develop your kanji knowledge, boost your Japanese vocabulary, and really understand how the Japanese language describes reality.

Building up on my international corporate and academic experience, I provide professional advice on study or work in Japan: how to apply for Japanese scholarships, obtain language proficiency qualifications, or build a Japan-related career.

As a social scientist of Japan, I will feed your Japan fancy with all sorts of exciting books, event alerts, and a plethora of curious and thought-provoking Japanese trivia.

Education:

I studied at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies on the Japanese Ministry of Education scholarship. I have a university degree in teaching Japanese, Level 1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), and the JETRO Business Japanese certificate.
I obtained my MA and PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where I attended 24 courses in Social Sciences, History, Arts, Humanities, and Languages of East and Southeast Asia.
・BA (Hons) in Japanese Studies and Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language
・MA (Hons) in Pacific-Asian Studies (major in the Anthropology of Japan)
・PhD in the Cultural Studies of Japan (conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Japanese migrants in Bangkok)

Over the course of my lifetime education I have been through 5 different education systems internationally and taken over 50 university modules. In addition to Japanese, my expertise covers Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.

Professional Memberships:

the SOAS Japan Research Centre,
the British Association of Japanese Teachers (BAJT),
the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA),
the International Association for Asian Studies (IASS),
the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS),
the British Association of MEXT Scholars (BAMS),
and the Japan Society of the UK.

I also work at the JLPT exam in London.

Teaching Experience:

I have taught Japanese for nearly three decades all around the globe. Hundreds of students have benefited from my help with their GCSE`s, A-levels, IB, JLPT, school or university coursework and examinations. I have also provided full-on individual preparation for Edexcel's Japanese exam as an external student.

Cross-Cultural Training:

In addition to my academic pursuits, I have worked for a number of Japanese multinationals and SMEs around the world. Using that experience as a Certified Cross-Cultural Trainer I provide executive coaching and give interactive workshops on doing business with Japanese companies: the do`s and don`ts, how to gain and maintain trust, keigo (honorific speech), Japanese business etiquette and correspondence, etc. Building on my academic training as a social scientist of Japan and my 30 years of involvement with the country, I also give interactive media-enhanced talks on various aspects of Japanese culture, art, and society.

Translation and Interpreting:

I have been involved in specialist translation and interpreting projects from and into Japanese, having worked with the likes of Toyota Motors, the NHK, Ricoh, and Cendant Moblity.

Polyglot Credentials:

Being a huge language buff and thanks to the international life I have lived, I have a written and conversational command of Chinese, Thai, Laotian, Russian, Croatian, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Spanish, and a few other languages. I make a habit out of picking up the fundamentals of the language when I go on my extended trips to various countries. I can help you develop your linguistic ability and language learning skills like I did that for myself. "After the sixth language, it`s a walk in the park."

Teaching Approach:

Please contact me to arrange a first meeting free of charge to discuss your needs and hopes with regards to Japanese and design the best strategy and structure for your studies. Completely free of charge, no risks or obligations.

Consistency, Clarity, Flexibility:

My approach to teaching is flexible, yet consistent, and friendly, yet rigorous. I build my tutorials on a solid and clear objective-driven structure based around students' short-, mid-, and long-term goals. At the same time, no tutorial of mine is the same, as I tailor each to the student`s specific situation at hand, ensuring the maximum level of efficiency and problem-solving every time.

I use a wide range of hand-picked digital and print learning materials to suit my students` wishes, needs, and abilities in the most efficient way and ensure that their headway is equal across all the language components (reading, writing, listening, speaking, kanji, grammar, and vocabulary).