Smikell Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Hoping the Hive can help me or offer advice.... I signed my son up for a Japanese I class this year. I had read some good reviews on the teacher and provider, but our experience has not been great. My son is doing very well in the class---he has an A. However, he is a bit discouraged and does not want to continue with this particular instructor. The technology has been frustrating on the teacher's part. He seems to have internet trouble almost every class and has difficulty navigating Zoom. Even more concerning are the teacher's snarky comments and overall grumbling. It's not just me---the class had about 14-15 kids at the beginning of the year, and half of them have dropped out. I paid a full year of tuition up front, and since my son was doing well, we decided to stick it out. Ugh---regret, regret! I think the easiest thing to do would be to simply change providers. I have read good reviews about the WTMA Japanese instructor. Understandably, my son is gun-shy and does not want to find himself stuck in an unpleasant class for another year. He is requesting some sort of online program that he could pursue on his own. We could possibly hire an online tutor to supplement and work on conversational skills. Just wondering if anyone has used something like this or has any advice. He was so excited about a formal Japanese course this year (he had actually done quite a bit of self-study the preceding year). I would really love to find something to get his spark back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 If the cost is manageable, I definitely think you should do it. We had something similar happen with my ds last school year. Once I exercised my power as homeschool administrator, by pulling the plug in the class and working with him to come up with a plan, it was such a weight off. So much relief. You just need a plan for this semester, and the one you have outlined, self study and a tutor, makes sense. The only caution I have about the self study is be clear what the deliverables will be, weekly tutoring, 4 lessons a week, whatever. We always have problems in our house with procrastinating on the home-administered classes. Are you thinking of the WTMA Japanese for next year? Maybe WTM would let your ds observe a couple of classes this semester to see what he thinks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 If it's that bad and he really likes the subject and it won't kill you financially, I would cut your losses and run right now. I've heard that Hill's Learning is really good for Asian languages and they have short term sessions. Or I'd get a tutor. Or just finish with some other resources -- though I'd be a little more hesitant about that if he's going into a class next year. And I would urge him to go into a class next year. Get somewhere new. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 If he wants a self-paced online program, I've heard good things about https://www.nativshark.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedogfarm Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Hill's Learning, posted by Farrar looks great! I went through this twice with my kids. One wanted to discontinue German online after the second year. We tried Latin (ugh!) because dc didn't want to do an online course. The pandemic was good for one thing - a local person was slated to finish their Masters in Germany and couldn't return because of the pandemic. She posted on a local listserv that she was offering one-on-one tutoring, and she was a godsend! It wasn't cheap, but my kid became fluent in German in less than two years and will now minor in German in college. dc was very, very well-prepared for college-level German. My other kid took three years of Japanese online and loved it. But she saw other dc become fluent in German and realized she was not developing fluency in Japanese in spite of her hard work. She asked to d/c online classes for the fourth year to pursue improving her conversational skills. I naively thought that it would be easy to find a Japanese tutor, especially since our local college has a good Japanese program. Yeah, right. Turns out, those students sought out online one-on-one instruction prior to studying abroad in Japan. Sigh. So that's the route we went and dc is very happy to find a great conversation tutor. It's not quite the same rigor and comprehensive teaching style of private tutoring, as we experienced with the German tutor, but dc has been working through the remainder of the Japanese textbook on her own so she doesn't feel like she is missing that aspect. And it is much more economical! So, to me, the bottom line is to not let the online class kill your kid's love for the language. There is nothing wrong with dropping the class and finding a way to finish up the year so you can give full credit for the year. Then figure out a way forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 We found a good online conversation class as a supplement to other materials... Check out Meredith's classes. Very friendly. https://www.artplaylearn.com/about-us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 I would take a step back and have him read Japanese The Manga Way to bring back the enthusiasm. Then you can look at classes for the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reader411 Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) Somewhat similar, we had to drop a course second semester I had paid for in advance. DC was overwhelmed with other course work and the class was just so-so. What helped me bite the bullet and make the change was acknowledging that having DC finish the course wasn't going to actually improve the situation and the money was already spent. That teacher sounds terrible, btw. I would not have him continue. Edited February 19, 2023 by Reader411 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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