Yuco

Yuco Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Yuco! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. May we ask you to briefly introduce yourself?

A. I have been teaching Japanese for around 10 years now. In addition to my lessons here at Cafetalk, I also stream videos on YouTube about learning Japanese and introducing my viewers to Japanese culture, while teaching Japanese to international students at a Japanese language school two days a week. I enjoy traveling and drinking alcohol. I especially love wine and Japanese sake, and I am also a certified wine expert, Japanese wine advisor, and Japanese sake navigator. I love to come up with alcohol and food pairings, so when I travel, my favorite thing to do is to eat and drink at my destination.

Q. Please tell us more about your hometown and the area where you currently reside.

A. I spent my childhood in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, which neighbors Kobe and is famous for its delicious Akashi-yaki dishes. Akashi City is also known for its longitude of 135 degrees east which is the meridian for JST (the Japanese Standard Time), and is home to the Akashi Municipal Museum of Astronomy and Science, as well as Akashi Castle. I used to love to check out the planetarium at the astronomy museum, which I often visited during school field trips and other events when I was younger.

   I now live in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, which is where I was born. Hamamatsu City is famous for Lake Hamana, which is connected to the sea, and know for its eel farming. Eels from Lake Hamana are soft, rich, and very tasty. Whenever my friends from my student years visit me from Tokyo, we always go to eat eels! They like it so much that they say, “once you taste the eel in Hamamatsu, you can’t eat them in Tokyo!”

   Hamamatsu is also located right in the middle of Tokyo and Osaka, so it is very convenient to take a day trip with the bullet train from either city. Many of my students from the Japanese language school where I currently work leave Hamamatsu for Tokyo or Osaka when they graduate.

Q. What motivated you to become a tutor on Cafetalk?

A. I have taught Japanese to a variety of learners in local Japanese language classes aimed for people living in Japan, and in Japanese language schools for international students, but I wanted to explore ways to reach learners from all over the world, regardless of where they currently live. When I thought about how online lessons could help me with this, and how I could plan individually for learners from various backgrounds, I decided to try Cafetalk, which had a great support system for both tutors and students.

Q. What are you usually up to when you're not teaching on Cafetalk? What are your hobbies and interests?

A. On my days off, I often prepare for my upcoming lessons and Japanese language school classes, while also creating videos for my YouTube channel where I occasionally upload videos for Italian speakers to help students learn the Japanese language and introducing Japan. And, although I only just started, I recently got into Korean dramas and listening to the Korean dialogue is calming, so I started studying Korean on my own. So, watching Korean dramas and studying the Korean language have become one of my favourite pastime activities recently. By learning Korean from square one, I have been able to notice the difficulties Korean speakers have when learning Japanese, and I am hoping to make use of my Korean skills to offer even better Japanese lessons someday. Although, I've still got a long way ahead...lol

Q. A lot of students are probably curious about the atmosphere in your lessons. What can a student imagine a lesson with you to be like? What’s your teaching style?

A. As this is an one-on-one lesson offered online, of course I plan on offering lessons that suit each student’s learning goals, but I would also like to help you learn “Japanese that sounds more native-like” in each lesson. This is why I try to focus on teaching grammar for speaking, rather than just learning the grammar rules. So, first and foremost, my priority is to help you feel that “speaking Japanese is fun,” and then I try to provide instruction that do not stop at “simply fun” but enhance your understanding of Japanese so you can put what you have learned into use.

Q. Which lessons would you recommend to your students?

A. I recommend my free-talking lessons for students who already have a basic understanding of Japanese grammar rules. Even though it is conversational lesson, it is not a mere chat session. Rather, because it is a conversational lesson, lessons will be carried out with a focus on developing “native-like Japanese” skills through conversation practice. I will also send you feedback after each lesson to help you review the topics covered during the lesson, as well as to help you learn any new expressions or vocabulary from the lesson. (I do not send feedback for free-chat lessons where the video is turned off.)

Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for your current and future students?

A. Whatever your goal is in learning Japanese, I am more than happy to help you! Do you want to speak Japanese? Do you want to be able to communicate in Japanese? These feeling alone are all you need, so if you are interested in learning Japanese, why don't you come and join me for a lesson?

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Yuco

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