speaking practice & a podcast for every level! learn japanese with tatsuki! 🎙🇯🇵

welcome to the somos community spotlight! 🔦

in this series, we profile the incredible online language teachers from our free to join community. 

a huge thank you and welcome to tatsuki uotani for taking part this month!

let’s find out more about him, his teaching style and his super podcast…!

fast facts 🎉

⭐️ tatsuki lives in cagliari, italy 🇮🇹 and teaches japanese online 🇯🇵 🎉

⭐️ along with japanese, tatsuki speaks italian, english and a little danish! 🌏

⭐️ tatsuki is the creator behind tatsuki's japanese - an awesome podcast supporting students learning japanese!🎙️

⭐️ when he's not teaching japanese, tatsuki loves playing soccer, visiting new countries, watching movies, reading manga & trying vegan restaurants! 

from part-time teaching to students all over the world! 🌍

tatsuki began teaching japanese online whilst looking for a part-time job. like many other language teachers, he started teaching 1:1 japanese classes on italki.

as he progressed, the more interested he became in teaching and the japanese language itself!

now, tatsuki has students from all over the world! they range from 17 to 72 years old! he takes a fun approach to teaching which very much fits the needs of his students!

so what are tatsuki’s students interested in? many of them are learning for fun or to support better understanding of specific interests. for example, to watch anime, visit japan and of course, chat with local people when they get there!

this type of student profile fits tatsuki’s teaching style as he loves to incorporate slang, famous sayings and jokes into his classes!

a fun, speaking focussed approach to teaching japanese 🗣️

tatsuki includes a lot of speaking practice in his classes! he finds it helpful (especially when teaching a new grammar point) to give lots of examples.

this gives his students a chance to get a good grasp of the point and then use it themselves.

after working through a simple exercise, tatsuki will emphasize the new grammar point or learning by asking related questions.

“I chose this style after I had noticed many of my students want to learn Japanese to have some conversations in Japan with local people".

what tatsuki's students have to say...

but what do tatsuki's students think? we asked eric & natalia for their thoughts...

I have really enjoyed learning with たつきさん. He has taught concepts in a way that makes sense to me. Somehow, he always remembers what we worked on, and he continues to expand on that, which really says a lot about how much he cares that I am learning. He follows Genki, but then also sprinkles in real world scenarios that builds upon what Genki is trying to teach. He is patient as well! Even though I make plenty of errors, I never feel embarrassed as he is always encouraging.

eric, student

I have learned new grammar and vocabulary, although it was just 30 minutes. Tatsuki san is very observant, he realised that I was repeating a lot in English one sentence structure and gave me extra grammar to learn so I could become more natural I can't wait to increase my speaking skills with him and start having 1 hour lessons :) I would highly recommend him to anyone.

natalia, student

this process isn't just rewarding for tatsuki's students though! it's very obvious from interacting with him, just how passionate he is about his students and their development!  

I really love to see my students’ progress. Many of my students are complete beginners, so when they become able to talk about what they did in a day in Japanese, I feel very satisfied. Some students sometimes ask me things about Japanese, which I’ve never even thought of and that is also very stimulating. 

tatsuki uotani, japanese teacher

from the classroom to the recording studio, a podcast for every level! 🎙️

one of the most fascinating aspects of tatsuki's approach to teaching japanese is his unique podcast.

many podcast channels cover a wide range of topics, but they almost always choose one specific style and don’t really change difficulties. so, even if you find a podcast that seems good, sometimes it’s too difficult for your current level, or when you get better in Japanese, that podcast is not good enough because it’s too easy. then, you need to look for another one.

so what is special about tatsuki's approach? he picks a topic and records not one, but four episodes to cater for different types of learner!

he records "Beginner", "Intermediate", "Advanced" and "Casual Native" episodes.

In my podcast, it is easy to make a transition from your current level to the next because you can find an episode about the same topic. So, first you listen to the episode of your level to understand what I’m talking about, and if you want to challenge your listening skills, you take the next step. You already have a general idea of that topic, so you can focus on the details to improve your comprehension.

we love tatsuki’s dedication to crafting the perfect episodes for his students, regardless of their level.

he does recognise though that this super thorough approach comes with challenges.

The biggest challenge of making my podcast is the choice of words and grammar points. Sometimes, I don’t want to use certain words because they are too difficult for that difficulty and I need to rephrase it. I pay attention to make it as easy and natural as possible. There are many ways to say something easily, but if it sounds weird, it is not helpful for my listeners, is it?

but what about the content itself? tastuki takes inspiration from japanese food, festivals and holidays!

his latest episodes explore halloween in japan and we’d recommend checking them out!

as the podcast develops and his audience grows, tatsuki is excited about the prospect of giving his listeners the opportunity to make topic requests!

interested in learning japanese with tatsuki?

if you'd like to find out more, feel free to get in touch with tatsuki:

• via his somos profile: tatsuki is one of the first teachers trialling our new, free profiles for online language teachers! check his out here 😊 it shares links to his socials, patreon and of course, podcast!
• you can also contact him by email: [email protected]

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