Like to share some of my Jap Learning Experience & Thoughts (from JCS and Hougang Japanese School)
Hi everybody,
Nice to find such a wonderful thread here.
I like to share some experience of myself learning Japanese and give some insight on Hougang Japanese Language school since i find theres not much info given about the school for people to know.
I studied some basic and intermediate Japanese from JCS many years back but gave up because my japanese teachers left and they were replaced by a mainland chinese. He taught using Mandarin and naturally i wasnt able to follow and stopped attending lessons.
I put my attention on other commitments such as poly, NS, and uni studies but I still felt a strong interest in Japanese culture and part of me felt regret plus some guilt toward my Jap teachers for not completing the language. Back then, I was the youngest boy in my jap class and my jap teachers treated me well. Now i wonder are they doing fine, were they affected by the quake of last year ?
So now I have decided to embrace studying the language again and I am determined to take it to the very end.
Also, i have a strong urge to work & stay overseas. I hope being multi-lingual in English, Mandarin and Japanese with a Bachelors degree will give me some leadway to doing so.
However, all these years of not practising the language has taken its toll, I had to start all over from basics. I am currently studying in Hougang Japanese Langauge School in their Elementary School class.
I really like studying there because they are not profit oriented. The class sizes are not big, so students get more attention from the teacher, fees are very cheap, textbooks and worksheets are really detailed.
They are using Nihongo no Kiso for the past 30 years and have not changed the syllabus ever !! However, whats good about their syllabus is that its really step by step. As long as you take notes and follow the class, you will never get lost.
When you forget, you can always refer back your notes and sheets to refresh, thats the good part. Really contrasted with JCS when they just dump everything at you and for the most part you have to figure it out for yourself. Hougang makes learning japanese easy.
Hougang really builds up your foundation. Thats why you may find you need to take 4 levels of classes with them before they encourage to take only JLPT N5.
Despite these advantages, it is not without its cons too. One major flaw Hougang has is it really has a lack of frequency of classes. Most levels they provide only has 1 lesson per week. You can expect one level to drag on several months before you complete it. I only registered with Hougang because one of their elementary 1 class had a rarity of conducting lessons 3 times a week.
The elementary 2 level I am taking now has twice a week classes. Thats my bare minimum cos i feel once a week lessons really take too long to complete and you simply forget and lack practice if lessons are too stretched out.
Another major, major flaw of Hougang Japanese School is that classes for higher levels such as advanced are scarce. The school often need to wait to have enough students to enrol before opening a class. So after you complete a level, you may find yourself waiting weeks or even months before the school gathers enough students to open a class for your following level. Not Good.
The bulk of the classes they provide are concentrated at the JLPT N5 level and anything beyond that, classes are really limited.
So unless your schedule fits with the school, and you dont mind taking a long time just to finish a level, if not Hougang Japanese School is not the Japanese school for you.
But the most redeeming factor for the school is they really put the welfare of students at heart. Take my case for example. I feel that having classes once or twice a week, the progress is really too slow. Because I had already some foundation in the language, I feel my study progress of the language is hampered by other students in the class, and the time spent learning is constrained with what is taught for that level. Switching to other schools dont help because the study progress is still long and other schools charge much higher for their fees.
I am not getting any younger so I want to learn the language in the most efficient manner of time. The only way to do is to engage a private tutor. But having a private tutor for Japanese will be much more expensive than studying in schools.
Fortunately after much preserverance, I managed to locate a private tutor who is willing to coach me at a very cheap rate. I will have one on one tuleage with 4-6 hours weekly as compared to 3 hrs lesson weekly in a class. My progress will be 2-4 times quicker than those in a class for almost the same rate I am paying for Hougang Japanese School now !!
But i cant be disclosing details about my Jap tutor here since I am currently his only pupil and i want him to put his full attention to coaching me for JLPT =P
Anyway, I wanted to start lessons with my private tutor asap, however he is currently away on a work trip to Japan and will only be back in May. So tentatively, so as to not hinder my study progress, I am studying with Hougang til my tutor comes back in May. But the classes for my level only ends in June, yet I dont want to waste time. I am in the midst of finding a new job also, so I dun know if I can attend the full class til June.
Hougang knows I will be jumping ship and instead of getting me to stay with them, what they did for me was, they actually made an arrangement with me for me to make payment by the number of classes I attend. That way I can maximise my learning and yet avoid paying extra for lessons I do not go for. I cant recall any other japanese school actually allows students to do that. You have to pay for the full course fees for other Japanese schools regardless you attend all their lessons or not.
So all in all, Hougang is a great school for you to consider especially if you are just a beginner. $190 for 40 hour Japanese lessons is really too good a deal to find anywhere. You wont get to lose out even if you find you do not benefit from their classes.
I am eager to start my private lessons and I will come back to post about my study progress from time to time.
I hope to know more who are enthusiastic in learning the Japanese language like me, maybe we can organize learning sessions together to come to practise and share notes together. Thanks for reading !! =)
