Artour

I am a PhD-educated social scientist/lecturer, a professional Japanese language educator with a university degree in teaching, and an academic skills trainer. I have 27 years of experience teaching all levels of Japanese and 11 years of teaching Social Sciences and Humanities for GCSE's, IB, A Levels, JLPT, university courses, and adult learners. As an Academic and Study Skills Mentor, I have helped hundreds of graduate and postgraduate students in Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities successfully complete their university coursework with the best possible grades and equipped them with study skills to ensure they maximise the benefits and opportunities of their degrees.

I have worked as an academic and pastoral mentor at my university for over 8 years and 11 years as a private Social Sciences tutor. During that time, I have successfully helped students with hundreds of written assignments such as

essays,
dissertations,
book and article reviews and précis,
reaction papers,
research proposals,
core chapters,
literature reviews,
individual research projects, etc.

for all faculties across Social Sciences, History, Arts, and Humanities at the UK universities, including but not limited to:

Anthropology and subdisciplines
Sociology and subdisciplines
Japanese language
Political Science
Economics
History
Cultural Studies
International Relations
Law and Legal Studies
Religious Studies
Media and Communication Studies
Migration Studies
Gender Studies
Area Studies
Art History.

I work with both young students who struggle to cope with their coursework and university life in general as well as with mature students who are back in education after a long gap and need help to get back in the saddle.

I develop and give interactive workshops on Academic Study Skills such as

academic writing,
working out research questions and research methodology,
finding research sources for your assignments,
developing theoretical approaches,
planning and structuring written assignments,
referencing, paraphrasing, and avoiding plagiarism
best reading and note-taking practices,
developing critical and logical thinking,
structuring academic argument,
exam techniques,
workload and time management,
and mental and emotional health maintenance.

With particular reference to Japanese language learning, I can help you plan and structure your learning process, kanji and vocabulary memorisation techniques, make sense of Japanese grammar and usage, develop writing and conversational skills. I can explain the minutest nuances of Japanese grammar patterns or kanji/jukugo meanings in plain English and ensure that you know how to use them correctly. Specifically for teaching kanji, I use my own method adapted from the Japanese national school curriculum for the needs of non-native speakers. It is built around continuously mindmapping kanji and their combinations to help develop your kanji usage, boost your Japanese vocabulary, and really understand how the Japanese language describes reality.

Building up on my international corporate and academic experience, I provide life-coaching advice on career and academic development. Specifically for Japanese learners, I consult on how to apply for Japanese scholarships and JLPT exams, study or work in Japan, or build a Japan-related career. I have been through five different education systems myself and I am very attuned to the difficulties international students may have with dealing with the UK higher education. I provide tailor-made assistance for each individual student suiting their educational and cultural background.

Education:

I studied at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies on the Japanese Ministry of Education scholarship and have a university degree in teaching Japanese, Level 1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), and the JETRO Business Japanese certificate. I obtained my MA and PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where I attended 24 courses in Social Sciences, History, Arts, Humanities, and Languages of East and Southeast Asia.

Professional Memberships:

the SOAS Japan Research Centre,
the British Association of Japanese Teachers (BAJT),
the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA),
the International Association for Asian Studies (IASS),
the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS),
the British Association of MEXT Scholars (BAMS),
and the Japan Society of the UK.

I also work at the JLPT exam in London.

Education:

BA (Hons) in Japanese Studies and Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language
MA (Hons) in Pacific-Asian Studies (major in the Anthropology of Japan)
PhD in the Cultural Studies of Japan (conducted ethnographic fieldwork with Japanese migrants in Bangkok)

Tutoring Experience

Over the course of my lifetime education I have been through 5 different education systems internationally and taken over 50 university modules. My expertise covers Social Sciences, Languages, Arts and Humanities.

Japanese Language Instruction:

I have taught Japanese for over 25 years for their GCSE's, A-levels, IB, JLPT, university examinations, and business and hobby purposes. I have successfully helped numerous hundreds of students with their school or university coursework as well as provided full-on individual preparation for Edexcel's Japanese exam as an external student.

Cross-Cultural Training:

In addition to my academic pursuits, I have worked for a number of Japanese multinationals and SMEs around the world. Using that experience as a Certified Cross-Cultural Trainer I provide executive coaching and give interactive workshops on doing business with Japanese companies: the do's and don'ts, how to gain and maintain trust, keigo (honorific speech), Japanese business etiquette and correspondence, etc. Building on my academic training as a social scientist of Japan and my 30 years of involvement with the country, I also give interactive media-enhanced talks on various aspects of Japanese culture, art, and society.

Translation and Interpreting:

I have been involved in specialist translation and interpreting projects from and into Japanese, having worked with the likes of Toyota Motors, the NHK, Ricoh, and Cendant Moblity.

Polyglot Credentials:

Being a huge language buff and thanks to the international life I have lived, I have a written and conversational command of Chinese, Thai, Laotian, Russian, Croatian, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Spanish, and a few other languages. I make a habit out of picking up the fundamentals of the language when I go on my extended trips to various countries. I can help you develop your linguistic ability and language learning skills like I did that for myself. "After the sixth language it's a cinch."

Tutoring Approach

I am happy to set up a first meeting pro bono to discuss your needs and hopes with regards to Japanese and design the best strategy and structure for your studies. That will be free of charge, no risks or obligations.

Consistency, Clarity, Flexibility:

My approach to teaching is flexible, yet consistent, and friendly, yet rigorous. I build my tutorials on a solid and clear objective-driven structure based around students' short-, mid-, and long-term goals. At the same time, no tutorial of mine is the same, as I tailor each to the student's specific situation at hand, ensuring the maximum level of efficiency and problem-solving every time.

Teaching Japanese
I use a wide range of hand-picked digital and print learning materials to suit my students' wishes, needs, and abilities in the most efficient way and ensure that their headway is equal across all the language components (reading, writing, listening, speaking, kanji, grammar, and vocabulary).

Based on nearly three decades of teaching experience, I can explain my students any aspect of Japanese grammar, no matter how minute or obscure, in plain terms and enable its immediate practical usage in writing and conversation. For the most daunting task for every student of Japanese, learning kanji, I give my students full support in maintaining a rigorous and efficient kanji study schedule as well as in-depth explanations of each kanji's stroke order, on and kun readings, meanings and jukugo combinations, reflecting when necessary their Classical Chinese origins and cognates in Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese; making sense of kanji by extensive mind-mapping this complex multidimensional signal system.

Teaching Social Sciences:

For teaching Anthropology and Sociology, I use the Socratic approach to help students develop an active understanding of their subject. That means supporting them closely towards finding their own answers, refining their own analytical skills, and ultimately gaining the full ability to crack any exam question or essay topic. Both Sociology and Anthropology require expanding the student's world outlook, developing both an analytical mindset and a broad knowledge base across research topics and approaches. To that end, I see my student as a star in their life project and myself as a technician behind the stage ensuring that she or he realises their potential and achieves their purpose in life.

Teaching Russian

Upon request, I offer help with advanced level conversation and writing skills, pronunciation and diction.