About us
.png)
.png)
What do you like about Japan? Anime? Drama? Nature? Culture?
Would you like to talk together about your favorite Japanese thing?
Teacher
Yuko Nadani
Japanese teacher
🌸 Nice to meet you. I'm Yuko Nadani! 🌸
Hello! My name is Yuko Nadani, but please call me Yuko.
I have been teaching Japanese since 2018.
At a Japanese language school, I teach international students, technical trainees, and corporate trainees.
On italki, I teach foreigners living in Japan, their children, engineers and businesspeople working in Japan, as well as students living overseas.
Meeting people from all over the world who say,
“I want to study Japanese!”
has made my life fun, inspiring, and full of meaning.
In my lessons, I love talking about cultural differences between your country and Japan.
I learn something new every day!
Each student has a different goal, but everyone shares the same feeling:
“I want to speak Japanese better and learn more about Japan.”
And almost all of them say,
“I love Japan.”
Seeing my students’ Japanese improve step by step makes me so happy —
that’s why I love being a Japanese teacher.
But actually, it wasn’t always this way…
Changing My Way of Working
Before becoming a teacher, I worked as an office clerk at a small company.
I spent all day in front of a computer, from morning to night.
My eyes were tired and red, my shoulders hurt, and by the end of the day, I was exhausted.
I started wondering, “Can I really keep working like this forever?”
I wanted to work more slowly and happily.
One day, I found an ad online that said:
“Would you like to become a Japanese language teacher?”
I remembered that when I was a child, I wanted to be a teacher.
And I thought, “If it’s Japanese, maybe I can teach it!”
So, I entered a specialized school to study how to become a Japanese teacher.
My Journey to Becoming a Teacher
As soon as I started studying, I thought,
“Oh no!” 😅
I realized that speaking and writing Japanese is completely different from teaching Japanese.
I had to learn about Japanese as a foreign language,
and I needed to understand what kind of language Japanese really is — from the beginning.
I studied linguistics, phonetics, and psychology — subjects I had never studied before.
It was difficult, but I enjoyed it!
It felt like I was back in college again,
and I was excited every day to learn something new.
A New Challenge — Studying in the U.S.
Later, I studied English for three months in Boulder, Colorado, USA.
I wanted to improve my English because I knew it would help me teach Japanese better.
It was not easy —
I couldn’t always understand what my teachers or classmates were saying.
But my life there was exciting and full of new experiences:
beautiful university buildings, huge supermarkets, giant hamburgers,
bike rides to Twin Lakes, and the amazing view of the Rocky Mountains.
Even now, I sometimes think, “I want to go back!”
Still Learning, Still Growing
After returning to Japan, I started teaching at a Japanese language school.
I soon realized that I still had a lot to learn as a teacher.
While working, I also studied at a distance learning university to deepen my teaching knowledge
and earn my bachelor’s degree.
I woke up at 5 a.m. every day to study before work,
and after three tries, I passed the Japanese Language Teaching Proficiency Test.
It was a tough journey —
but I didn’t give up, because I discovered how deep and fascinating Japanese language education is.
Through my students’ questions, I learn new things about Japanese every day.
I enjoy researching better ways to teach and finding good textbooks.
And above all, I love seeing myself grow as a teacher.
Let’s Share the Joy of Learning!
From now on, I want to continue supporting people around the world
who are learning Japanese.
Let’s study cheerfully, enjoyably, and patiently together!
Learning Japanese can open new doors in your life —
and it makes mine richer too.
Thank you for reading to the end.
I’m looking forward to meeting you in our lesson! 🌸