Yes, I earn my living teaching Japanese, but the last thing I want you to do is wasting money on extra lessons. Here are some tips for young students who are struggling with learning Japanese.

1. Get maximum out of available resources
   Sometimes I see students jumping off to take extra lessons (bijles), but stop right there before you spend any extra money. Have you been doing all the tasks your teachers have designated? Have you listened to the audio supplement, checked the extra grammar list or done all the questions in the text book? Have you talked to your teacher or mentor about what you are struggling with? You’ve already paid for tuition and books. Get maximum out of it.
2. Study techniques
   If you feel like you spend so much time studying, but your grades are not going up or remember very little after the exam? There may be a problem with HOW you study.
   I strongly recommend to check out the YouTubes videos of Ali Abdaal. He has loads of useful study en productivity tips. Reflect on how you’ve been studying. ACTIVE RECALL and SPACED REPETITION are the key.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE
3.  Output, output, output
   Output is especially important with language study. I think most of you are learning Japanese because you want to be able to communicate, right?
   Take every chance to OUTPUT what you have learnt. Memorizing words or learning grammar is just a beginning. If you don’t have any Japanese friends, use Twitter, Instagram or any SNS which will connect you with people who are willing to communicate in Japanese.
   Before the exam, you can meet up with your classmates to practice grammar questions and conversation in Q&A style.

Good luck with your exam, and hope you will not be spending too much time and money on studying Japanese!  But if you desperately need help, I am here to support your study.

Fumiko sensei