Retiring in 3 years time

Hi all,

I have made a decision to retire in 3 years time. I will be moving to US/Europe to continue to work on my IT skills.

Recently, i made a very cruel decision to expel 2 of my students. One of them  has been with me for 2 years. He does not paying attention in class and always miss lessons. If you are one of my students, you would know that i always stress that determination, commitment and exposure for the language is important. This is one of the best way to move up to proficiency.

The other student of mine, i can only say it is the wrong time that he joined. His plate of commitment suddenly became very full with his family commitments. When he did not contact me for a long period of time, i decided that it is time to drop him.

In big schools like Ikoma and Bunka, the admin staff takes care of all these cases, leaving the teachers to just concentrate on teaching. But for me, i do everything.

I treat every student like family. Like a father who cares for his kids. Some of my new US students said this about me.

“I just wanted to drop by as a current student of ケン先生 to offer my recommendation if you are interested in his program. I’ve been his student for a couple of months now, and we have weekly lessons over Skype (I’m in America, 先生 is based in Singapore). As a teacher, he is very supportive and understanding, and he genuinely wants you to learn, apply yourself, and do well. He has access to many different types of teaching materials, so he can personalize your lessons to fit your needs and weak spots, as well as strengthening what you can already do well. On top of that, he’s friendly and approachable. ”

“I wanted to chime in on this. I actually learn with ケン先生 and I absolutely love it! It’s a ton of fun and he is extremely knowledgeable. We get to have our chats over Skype as well as graded homework that he expects me to do.

One of the most amazing things to me is how he knows almost every single chapter of each one of the books he uses to help you learn. I wanted to learn about 丁寧語 he told me (without even checking) go to chapter 10 (was supposed to be chapter 20). I’m curious about 名詞＋があります, same thing, he knows the chapter. Not only that, he also explains it in a way that makes it easy to understand and actually use it. I currently live in Japan and I find myself using Japanese more and more because of the confidence in my abilities thanks to ケン先生。

The one last thing I can say about this is that he honestly wants people to learn. You can tell with the amount of material he has compiled (as well as written himself). It doesn’t matter what your level is, he will have something to help you and a path that will make you a better Japanese speaker. It’s as clear as day this is his passion because of how excited he gets when he sees you progressing. I highly recommend that you all try him out if you can! ”

My disciple, who trained under me said this when he heard that i am retiring.

“ちょっと残念だと思います。シンガポール人に日本語を教える教師としては誰にも負けないとおもっています。”
(I think its a pity. I think that you don`t lose to another when it comes to teaching Japanese to Singaporeans)

Work at the travel agency has also gotten very busy, since i am helping out with the IT operations there.

If you are a teacher reading this blog post, i think you would know how i feel.

I am very grateful that all my students, who i got to know through these 11 years. They helped me to become the teacher that i am now. I also want to take the chance to thank April先生、a native Japanese teacher that i got to know about 2 years ago. She has been giving me a lot of support in terms of grammar knowledge. Also, 水野先生 from Japanese Online, the one who helped me with my N1 studies.

I will be embarking on a big project to do a online grammar guide during these 3 years, so please continue to give me your support.

If my website has benefited you, please drop me an email at admin@learnJapanese.sg
I would like to give you something small as my way of saying thanks.

よろしくお願いいたします。
ケン