✅Feel free to include

• What you enjoyed about the course

• Skills or knowledge you gained

• Your favorite part of the class or learning experience

• How the course helped you grow or succeed

• Advice you'd give to future students

• If you had a friend who was considering taking this class, what would you tell them and why?

⛔Please avoid mentioning:

• Specific class policies or exceptions (e.g., make-up exams, extensions, grading changes) — because policies may change in future semesters, we want to avoid setting expectations that may not apply later.

• Private or personal information about yourself or others

• Detailed complaints or concerns (please share those privately instead)

You’re welcome to write just a few sentences or a short paragraph. You can include your name, initials, or stay anonymous—whichever you prefer.

To start your testimonial, click the yellow circle with the + icon at the bottom right corner.

She makes it fun and the class keeps moving quickly, but she covers things thoroughly because she has lots of energy.

We always wanted to do our best, and please her to show her how much we were learning. And I felt that because she was so devoted to us that we worked hard as students.

I already have my bachelors degree and I am also a teacher, and so I really appreciated her teaching style, preparation, kindness and upbeat spirit. Sometimes she would play music before class started, which made it fun as well.

I can read and write and have a great conversation in Japanese now thanks to this class!

I would highly recommend Tsuboi Sensei and this Japanese class for anyone who is interested in exploring a new language in a fun and stimulating atmosphere.

(I have already signed up for Japanese 2 because I would like to take Japanese 3 with Tsuboi Sensei!)

Phillip (Japan 1 student)

お疲れ様でした！！

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ジョイちゃん

Japanese 1 (and the Japanese classes beyond the first) is an imperative part of the culture of success at SMC, the #1 community college for transfers. By keeping such classes, it adds that bit of edge that's necessary for SMC to remain a competitive school to beat for other colleges.

If you're considering this class, I'd recommend checking in daily with the coursework. Even 15 minutes going over vocab helps immensely. Don't set it and forget it, you'll need to be an active participant. Ask questions, and throw yourself into trying to communicate in a new way. And, don't feel afraid to be embarrassed. Learning a language means you will make mistakes, but take it in stride as it's a part of the experience.

-Esdras Munoz

The professor helps you access a lot of additional supplementary material beyond just the textbook and workbook that helps you cement what you're learning and avoid common pitfalls that might happen from trying to learn how to read, write, and speak Japanese all on your own. The class can sometimes be challenging, but the professor herself is very forgiving (sometimes too forgiving, in my opinion) and will engage with you a lot if you engage with her and the class a lot. It is very much a "You get what you give" kind of class, where if you are genuinely curious about the language she will help as much as you need.

I will say, though (and this really goes for any sort of language class), that if you genuinely want to learn & improve at the language you should try to take the course in person (if possible) as it can sometimes be a little awkward and unaccountable to take a language course over Zoom. Either way, she does a great job encouraging people to engage with the class as much as it is within her means, even over Zoom. Also, this class is very fundamentals focused, so you won't be able to say anything too complicated by the time you're done with the class, but you definitely won't be confused by the time you take Japanese 2.

All in all, I would recommend this course!