Study at the University of Idaho in Japan

If you are willing and ready to dedicate yourself to learning Japanese, KCP is the place for you. The courses are very intense; the professors really push you to do your best, but they give you lots of tools to do so, and they are always there to help. KCP focuses on all aspects of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening, plus the social context. Plan on lots of practice outside of class! Takatsu-sensei and Suzuki-sensei were both excellent teachers. They had very strong teaching styles, and both were good at explaining things clearly. They know what English-students need to understand in order to grasp Japanese, and they can explain all that simply to us, in Japanese! Their humor really helped make class engaging and fun. They knew how to handle themselves and get students to take part, which is the key. I really liked that they brought the class together as a group. Instead of just studying on our own during class, we interacted very frequently with one another. Sitting in a semi-circle really encouraged that.

In language class, Suzuki-sensei’s kindness and patience helped lower my stress; I did really well when she was teaching. Other teachers could tell I was struggling and hovered around, trying to be helpful, but that made me more nervous. Suzuki-sensei knew how to offer me help at the right times without hovering. I loved that KCP had a teacher that fit my personality. Using Japanese as our common language to talk to classmates from all over the world—who were at my language level—was very enriching. I studied on my own before I started at KCP, so I learned some of the grammar rules and how to write, but when I was immersed in Japanese in and out of class, my language fluency absolutely exploded. It was a great feeling. KCP has excellent support for us students—the fun, extremely helpful English-speaking staff plus a kind, wise English support teacher. The Japanese teachers made themselves available to help students both after class and in the offices. I felt well-guided.