Hello,

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm probably going to Japan for a few months on a short-term stay visa to study Japanese.

I was looking for schools I'd be able to start any time (rather than the set term start times most schools seem to have), but haven't found many options for that.

So now I'm also thinking about private lessons. Has anyone taken private lessons in Tokyo? I've seen some schools that offer them, but unfortunately they're pretty expensive. I'm aware private lessons will usually cost more than group classes, but I'm sure there's a range of prices, so I'd like to see what my options are.

In the U.S. I always found teachers through Craigslist. Anyone know of sites like that where I could look?

I also saw that thread on here that mentioned the Japanese volunteer network, or something like that, where a lot of wards had weekly cheap/free lessons that often ended up being one-on-one. I'm definitely going to be checking some of those out, it'd just be great to have a teacher to meet with consistently, and possibly more often.

When I was living elsewhere in Japan, I found private lessons at a local international activities center that were ridiculously cheap (maybe similar to the Tokyo volunteer stuff, but you could schedule your own). Has anyone heard of that kind of thing in Tokyo?

Thanks for any suggestions! I'll also keep searching myself and post anything useful I find here.

kurukuru Wrote:Hello,

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm probably going to Japan for a few months on a short-term stay visa to study Japanese.

I was looking for schools I'd be able to start any time (rather than the set term start times most schools seem to have), but haven't found many options for that.

So now I'm also thinking about private lessons. Has anyone taken private lessons in Tokyo? I've seen some schools that offer them, but unfortunately they're pretty expensive. I'm aware private lessons will usually cost more than group classes, but I'm sure there's a range of prices, so I'd like to see what my options are.

In the U.S. I always found teachers through Craigslist. Anyone know of sites like that where I could look?

I also saw that thread on here that mentioned the Japanese volunteer network, or something like that, where a lot of wards had weekly cheap/free lessons that often ended up being one-on-one. I'm definitely going to be checking some of those out, it'd just be great to have a teacher to meet with consistently, and possibly more often.

When I was living elsewhere in Japan, I found private lessons at a local international activities center that were ridiculously cheap (maybe similar to the Tokyo volunteer stuff, but you could schedule your own). Has anyone heard of that kind of thing in Tokyo?

Thanks for any suggestions! I'll also keep searching myself and post anything useful I find here.

It's probably extremely difficult find a school without a fixed class schedule.
It'd be impossible to commit to a study schedule if the students didn't enroll
at nearly the same time.

Maybe if you can find some community organizations that give japanese lessons.
I'll try to see if I can find anything.

Also, the Japanese school/work year begins in April. So February and March are when programs are ending.

This website has listings for private japanese teachers in Japan:
http://www.benkyonihongo.com/

Here is a volunteer group that gives free Japanese lessons in Tokyo:
http://www.tnvn.jp/
NOTE: Link to English page is on the top upper right section of the page.

Yeah, I've been getting the sense that almost all schools are going to have set terms like that. I used to teach at an English school here in the U.S., and students could start any time, so I thought it might be similar in Japan, but I guess not. That's OK, though; the private lesson option is pretty appealing to me.

chamcham, thanks a bunch for the links. That's the volunteer group I was talking about. I'll definitely try that. And those listings for private teachers are exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

Does anyone know of any other classifieds/listings for private Japanese teachers/tutors?

I'm now considering both Tokyo and Kyoto. I've checked Craigslist and come across a few other sites, but nothing too promising yet.

I know a lot of schools have private lesson options, but they're pretty pricey, so I'd like to find something else.

Thanks!

This site has been recommended to me:
http://www.labochi.com/