Genki Japanese and Culture School

Hayashi Building 2F, Shimizuchō (Kawaramachidōri) 454-1, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyoto, Kyoto 600-8025, Japan
courses

所有课程

Genki Japanese and Culture School 提供以下课程类型:

开始于
¥ 4,494

开始于
¥ 5,720

开始于
¥ 5,720

开始于
¥ 18,131

开始于
¥ 33,708
school
photos

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  • Genki Japanese and Culture School 5/7
  • Genki Japanese and Culture School 6/7
  • Genki Japanese and Culture School 7/7
reviews

评论

67% 推荐率

基于6条评论
5 颗星
3
4 颗星
2
3 颗星
0
2 颗星
0
1 颗星
1
教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
住宿

"Not suited to beginners, disappointing and poor example of adult pedagogy."

Annie Mitchell, 学生表格 澳大利亚

Review of Japanese Genki Jacs



Genki Jacs website promotes absolute beginners classes, where they cater for students “who have never spoken a word of Japanese”. They promote small classes where there is “more attention from teachers, making it easier to focus on students specific needs in an intimate and comfortable environment.”

From these statements, a certain expectation was set regarding the level and pace of the courses offered. More specifically, absolute beginners classes only take enrolements on the first Monday of the month; whcih again, set certain expectations up for what might be offered. My recent experience did not reflect what was promoted and at best could be described as disappointing.

The lack of comprehension of any style of pedagogy, personalized learning, student focused learning tasks and lesson progression demonstrated the inexperience of the teaching staff and overall curriculum focus of the school. Lessons were not adjusted or tailored to meet student needs, showed very limited reflection of student abilities and progression, despite the rigorous and strict adherence homework and data collection.

This was not an environment for adult learners to enrich learning, build skills and understanding, but an imperialist age left over education based on fear and shame. The environment was neither intimate nor comfortable, unless this meant cramped sitting space and tiny rooms.

Perhaps the school is indicative of the entire Japanese Education System and expectations; however, being an international school, catering for students who are from around the globe, it might be expected that a pedagogy aligning with international adult learning would have been implemented, rather than being reflective of the expectations and culture within a local junior high school.

While there was a miscommunication regarding the need to know hiragana before starting; this in no way caters for the promotion of ‘not knowing any Japanese at all’. Simply being able to identify a symbol does not equate to understanding its sound nor how it relates when placed next to other sounds to blend sounds into words. Fluency of sounds is a skill only reached through rigorous repetition, identification, modelling, sight and sound words and vocal exploration. While an adult might be expected to have a quicker uptake of sounds and fluency based on their prior experience of learning to read and speak over several years as a young child, this is not a process that can be achieved in months, much less weeks – and for many adult learners can take many months; dependent up their own phenetic skill awareness and confidence.

Within the first week at the school, the class was expected to have reading fluency of not only hiragana, but the introduction of Katakana. Reading fluency refers to the ability to read quickly, smoothly, easily, and with expression. To read fluently, a reader must understand how the symbols on the page (the letters) are related to the sounds of the language, how those sounds are blended together to form words, what the words mean, and what the words together in a sentence mean. This skill is something that is built over time and practice.



My first week was spent with two other students in the alleged absolute beginner class. Our first lesson saw the teacher write a sentence in hiragana on the board and ask us to read it. In no version of an educative environment would a beginner reader and speaker be expected not only to identify the symbols but to blend and speak them out loud on the first week. The expectations of the beginner class were unrealistic and not in touch with the individual needs of the class, particularly when the range of abilities was so wide. The other two students in my class were clearly advanced, having the ability to write and reading katakana and hiragana, and be able to construct blended sentences using a variety of known words and concepts.



I openly cried in and out of class out of frustration and helplessness as I was shamed and left further and further behind. I was not in a beginner class but with two other students who were confident Japanese speakers and could read fluently. I felt unwelcome and extremely uncomfortable.

At this point, I would like to highlight my strong resilience and adaptability. I draw on a lifetime of high resilience, having experienced personal traumas, deaths, natural disasters and emotional turmoil. I am an experienced and highly skilled world traveler, having backpacked and lived in much of Europe and parts of Asia for over 10 years. I do not say lightly that after a week here, I was planning on leaving and my emotional outbursts were not a case of culture shock or lack of resilience.

The lack of understanding of the mechanics of education was highlighted in every aspect of the class structure. An example was the use of homework for each class. This was not used to assess a students understanding; because if it was, there was no indication that lessons were adjusted to cater for the misunderstandings. On multiple occasions, I was unable to complete parts of the homework and wrote notes on the sheets for the marking teacher to read when it was handed in. These were not addressed, nor were they reviewed. The solution to challenges in keeping up with class content was to give more homework, to the point of it being hours of work outside of the class – and much of it incomprehendable.

The materials were of extremely poor quality. Photocopied sheets were often blurry and writing so tiny, it was often difficult to ascertain what was written. The images were ambiguous and it was often difficult to understand what the activity was requiring.

There was no indication at the school of application of pedagogy of adult learners and adult learning styles. With the website promoting beginner courses suited to a four week commitment, there was little indication that this was the case. It appeared that there were lessons which were rigorously adhered to, with little personalization or room for adjustments or revision.

My highlight of the week was the culture classes; which were well thought out, engaging and varied in activities and interest areas. The tour leaders were interesting and willing to share their experiences and knowledge with the group.

The schools central location is easy to access and surrounded by wonderful cultural spots. While the course facilitators were not teachers and did not draw upon any tools or skills to adapt lessons to suit a range of abilities, they were not unpleasant. However they were not approachable, nor warm. I suspect that it is culturally inappropriate for teachers to build any sort of relationship with students, even adult aged ones. The classes were on the whole ,silent with no encouragement for student input or personalization. This promoted a lack of trust within the classroom, fear and isolation.

While I write this as a reflection of my own experiences, I know that I am not an isolated case as a beginner learner. I am aware that the school caters for advanced speakers and learners and perhaps this is where their expertise lays. I would suggest that this school is not suited to beginners of the language. If they were to continue promoting this, then they might look at engaging a qualified teacher from primary school who teachers learning to read and speak ( 4 – 6 year olds) and engage in some of the pedagogy surrounding phonetic awareness, reading and writing.

I would suggest that if knowledge of Hiragana writing and reading was a prerequisite to enrolling that this be something that i s managed WELL before arriving and done online or in an exam situation or similar.

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
住宿
学习长度
3 周
学习日期
1 Jan 2024 - 26 Jan 2024
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。
Oscar San Jose, Marketing and Sales Manager at Genki Japanese and Culture School responded to this review.
16 February 2024

Dear Annie,
First of all thank you very much for your review.
We are always happy to receive feedback for both the positive and the negative of our courses.
Negative reviews help us keep improving all the time so we are grateful.

Our courses are actually designed for complete beginners who can already read the hiragana alphabet. Learning to read the hiragana alphabet before starting is our requirement for all levels, including complete beginners and that is clearly stated in our website and we always remind everyone when booking.
If a student joins our complete beginner class without that hiragana knowledge then it will be very difficult for them that is why we are always very noisy with the requirement.
Were you not reminded about it by Language International? We did remind them when we confirmed the booking.
If you were not notified at all by them before or after confirming the booking could you kindly write to me at [email protected]?
We want to note though that Katakana is not required before starting at the complete beginner class.
Also the other 2 students in your class were complete beginner level (some students have learned by themselves the alphabets and some basic words but are still complete beginners and cannot join a higher class). The curriculum was not modified at all for them and what you had is our regular complete beginner curriculum.

Learning how to read the hiragana alphabet (not to write it) can be done by oneself through multiple available apps and our Hiragana section in our website which has all the sounds as well with the voices of our teachers and quizzes.
As coming to Japan is a big investment for most of our students we want to start right away into the matter and not using the first class hours with the Hiragana alphabet. That system has made our complete beginner students improve faster and make the most of their time in Japan.

Most of our students are beginners and our curriculum is giving good results for them. We are actually not focused on intermediate students, therefore we are extremely sorry that in your case our curriculum didn't work.

We are very sorry that you thought that our materials were poor, we will look into it and improve them where needed.

Regarding the class sizes, yes they are small but adapted to the maximum number of students in class that is 8.

We are happy that you at least enjoy our culture classes.

We would had liked you to talk to us about this while you were at the school as we could have helped you right then. We apologize if you didn't feel that you could not do so as this is the opposite feeling we want to give.
We try to make our students as comfortable as possible and give them the confidence to talk with us anytime there is an issue or misunderstanding.
We have introduced since the end of January a "First impressions survey" for all our new students to express their issues and concerns right after finishing their first week in order to be able to act right away.

We are again very sorry that you didn't have a good experience with us. We take our students feedback very seriously and will make sure this misunderstanding does not happen anymore.

Yours sincerely,
Oscar

"It was a great place to meet people from around the world and I feel much more confident in my Japanese!"

Andrew WERDEN, 学生表格 美国

The teachers were amazing at teaching. The locations were extremely convinient. However the Tokyo location was hard to find. The classes were well structured and the class sizes were optimal if not a little small. My host family was amazing. You guys are awesome, thank you for this experience.

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
学习长度
1 周
学习日期
26 Jun 2023 - 7 Jul 2023
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。

"Incredible experience."

Christian Ricardo Jimenez Guillen, 学生表格 德国

I like many things about Genkijacs, including the school facilities, location, teaching method, and professors, which is why I rate it 5 stars. Japan's culinary culture is incredible, with thousands of restaurants, but unfortunately, the time between classes is too short to explore these alternatives. However, I did have time to explore the restaurants in the afternoon :). The student attention at Genkijacs was excellent, and the staff helped me with all aspects of transport without any issues.

On the other hand, I was not satisfied with the quality of the department I was assigned to, despite its beautiful location. When I returned to Germany, I wrote to the school with photos to highlight the issues, and they assured me that they would investigate the matter with the service providers. Living in Kyoto was an experience for me, and the quality of the department was an essential part of that experience. If I had to pay double or triple to get better conditions, I would do it without hesitation. For my next visit, I will be more particular about the accommodation.

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
住宿
学习长度
1 周
学习日期
3 Apr 2023 - 14 Apr 2023
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。

"Overall a good experience"

Alfred Makne Poulsen, 学生表格 丹麦

The teachers was very friendly and had different teaching styles.
It's for the most part fast paced learning. We went through around 2 chapters every week.

We followed the Minna no nihongo book.
With about a month interval there's a test we had to take. If you don't pass you may have to take the same month again.

We got homework every day (except weekends) but for the most part not to time-consuming.

But if you want more homework you can just ask

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
住宿
学习长度
23 周
学习日期
5 Sep 2022 - 17 Feb 2023
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。

"II will give 80 marks out of a total of 100. The top up conversational classes are not as helpful as I have expected."

TSE PYH, 学生表格 香港

Some teachers are very zealous to teach such as Keigo San, Kanego San and Yasuko San. Some are not very full-heartedly.

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
学习长度
3 周
学习日期
6 Feb 2023 - 3 Mar 2023
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。

"It was challenging, but very rewarding."

Peter Charles Slaven, 学生表格 澳大利亚

The classes were tough and fast paced, but overall were extremely rewarding. I personally got frustrated at times because the classes are almost entirely done in Japanese and I could not understand what was going on because I was an Absolute Beginner. The teachers are very lovely and helpful. The location is central and great for post class activities.

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我对该学校的打分

教学质量
学校设施
课外活动
学校地点
学习长度
1 周
学习日期
2 Mar 2020 - 13 Mar 2020
您会推荐这所学校吗?
这是一条认证过的评论。这名学生此前曾通过Language International预订了该学校的课程。
housing

住宿

!school 提供以下住宿类型:
homestay

寄宿家庭 - 单人房 - 早餐和晚餐

¥ 1,532
周刊

Homestay - Single-person room - Breakfast and dinner

年龄区间: 16岁及16岁以上
地点区域: Outside the city center of 京都
住宿类型: 寄宿家庭
房间类型: 单人房
膳食安排: 早餐和晚餐 (每周7餐)
设施: 厨房, 洗衣房, 计算机, 无线网路, 免费上网, 地毯, 空调, 暖气, 和 24/7的监督
家到学校的距离: 40 - 90 分钟 坐train or subway
可用性: 一月 - 十二月
到达日: 星期日, 随时
出发日: 星期日, 随时
¥ 1,532
The opportunity to stay with a Japanese host family is the perfect way to immerse yourself in the culture, and practice at "home" what you learned at school that day.

When arranging a host family for you, we try to take into account any needs or preferences you may have, such as smoker or non-smoker, allergies, English ability, and so on. Your host family can act as guides and mentors, friends and companions, and a wonderful resource in your adventure in Japan. They are likely to be the people you become closest to during your stay, which is why we work with a very reputable homestay provider that performs a thorough screening of all host family applicants, to ensure that they can provide a suitable environment to assist your learning and to allow you to fully experience Japan.
student-residence

学生宿舍(校园) - 单人房 - 不含餐

¥ 970
周刊

Kyoto Guesthouse

年龄区间: 18岁及18岁以上
地点区域: In the city center of 京都
住宿类型: Student residence (off-campus)
房间类型: 单人房
膳食安排: 不含餐
设施: 厨房, 洗衣房, 无线网路, 免费上网, 地毯, 空调, 和 暖气
家到学校的距离: 25 - 45 分钟 坐train or subway
可用性: 一月 - 十二月
到达日: 星期日, 随时
出发日: 星期六, 随时
¥ 970
A private room in a guesthouse with both other foreigners and Japanese people gives you the freedom to enjoy the city life freely, but also the chance to make friends. The room includes a bed, desk, and simple living space. Kitchen, toilet and bathing facilities are shared with other guests.
apartment

公寓 - 单人房 - 不含餐

¥ 2,043
周刊

Private apartment - Single-person room - No meals

年龄区间: 18岁及18岁以上
地点区域: In the city center of 京都
住宿类型: Private apartment
房间类型: 单人房
膳食安排: 不含餐
设施: 私人浴室, 厨房, 洗衣房, 免费上网, 电视室, 地毯, 空调, 和 暖气
家到学校的距离: 15 - 35 分钟 坐train or subway
可用性: 一月 - 十二月
到达日: 星期日, 随时
出发日: 星期六, 随时
¥ 2,043
Apartments are conveniently located in the central area of Kyotp, giving you the freedom to enjoy the city.
Apartments are usually Western style, about 20 square meters in size. All apartments have air conditioning, a bed, and are fully furnished.
visa

签证支持

我们无法代表学生申请签证. 但是,学校可以提供您有关您申请需要的资料.

您的录取函将通过平邮免费寄往您的府上。如果想收快递的话,我们将在您报名时收取¥ 6,500。

航班及转机

Please note that we do not book flights for our students. If you are researching airfare costs, we recommend using Kayak.com, a search engine that lets you compare flight options from your home country to 京都 based on your budget, schedule and preferences.

旅行保险

有了语言国际学校的健康及个人财产保险,出国读书可以省一百个心. 如果您与我们预定了课程,你可以购买一份涵盖健康及个人财产损失的国际旅行保险。您在报名前必须购买一份保险。

了解我们更多的保险计划 »

更多信息...
map

地图

Hayashi Building 2F, Shimizuchō (Kawaramachidōri) 454-1, Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto-shi
Kyoto
Kyoto 600-8025
Japan

学校地点

Our school is only minutes away from the wonderful Gion district and just next to the famous Kamo river, making it the perfect place to study Japanese.
Gion district is the most famous geisha district with hundreds of shops, restaurants and teahouses.
Feel the old Japan walking the traditional streets and relax doing picnics on the Kamo Riverside while learning Japanese with us.

questions

问题与答案

有疑问? 您可以从 我们富有经验的学生顾问,Genki Japanese and Culture School 的工作人员及之前的学生获得解答。

询问问题

"I am interested in Japanese Plus Conversation Course and have a question about the price. $612 for one month?"

Santi Sukarmadji, 学生表格 印度尼西亚
Evan Kirby, Genki Japanese and Culture School school representative (Director of Marketing)

Hello!

Our sincere apologies for the late reply!

The Japanese Plus Conversation Course (25 lessons per week) cost is set by week and it is 43,000 yen/week.
Therefore 1 month would be 43,000*4 = 172,000 yen - around 1490 USD (+22,000 (one time fee: registration and materials fee).

I hope this makes it clear!

Yours sincerely,
The Genki Team

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"Hi, I am mature gentlemen, I love to study Japanese language since I use Japanese embroidery machines. Do you teach Japanese for people like me. I am from Australia"

Gamini Ranasinghe, 学生表格 澳大利亚
Oscar San Jose, Genki Japanese and Culture School school representative (Marketing Manager)

Hello!
First of all our sincere apologies for the late reply!

Our courses are suitable for all ages and ways of learning so as long as you are motivated for learning Japanese intensively in small classes we would be a good option for you:)

At the moment there is still a travel ban in Japan so you would not be able to come to study yet, but once it is lifted feel free to contact us!

Yours sincerely,
Oscar

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