Noriko Yamashita

Originally from Kagoshima, Japan, I work as a clinical aromatherapist in a hospice on weekdays. Using my experience of setting up and running a Japanese playgroup 15 years ago, I have taught classes at Japanese school, including Year 2 and Year 5/6 (a joint year group) at primary school, and Years 1 and 2 at middle school. I try to make the classes fun and enjoyable in order to get the students motivated to learn. I hope that my students will be able to spread their wings as they go out into the world and approach their study of Japanese language and culture as they would a marathon, i.e., with a long-term perspective and using their own interests of anime, J-Pop, history or environmental issues as a starting point.