Akamonkai Japanese Language School Nippori Campus — Local services in Tokyo

Please don't go to this school if you're from a non Asian country. They don't care about you. They care about chinese, korean and vietnamese people because they stay longer, so their teaching methods are good for them but not for everyone else. Moreover, if you're not interested in going to University or 専門学校 you're not gonna learn anything useful from them. No conversation hours, just useless little dialogues you have to decipher, no real or useful or everyday japanese at all. And they're using Minna no nihongo, so, yeah, pretty old way of teaching japanse. They're very strict on everything, not open minded at all, and the staff doesn't speak any english. There's an employee at the front office who doesn't speak well and, just to complete the artwork, doesn't know about the procedures for anything and doesn't help you with things like open your bank account or calling the doctor or looking for a new house. At all. I had to go to the main campus and make them scold her to let her give me a hand with a doctor appointment. They place people in different levels but i don't know the criteria because I was placed in a level too low for what i knew, but next level i had classmates who knew less japanese than me. So maybe they're just placing you according to their convenience. They have many students being the cheapest school in tokyo, so they have to fill all the classes. Who cares if you waste money on things you've already studied. Please, give your money to someone who really cares about you and knows...

Akamonkai only relies good reviews and didn’t reply l bad reviews . Is it means they don’t care about students problem or feedbacks? 學校似乎只在乎好的評價，低評價並不給予回覆或改善。

Akamonkai Japanese Language School: Inconsistent Teacher Quality and Unfair Promotion System. Inconsistent teaching quality: The teachers at Akamonkai Japanese Language School vary in their teaching abilities. While some teachers excel in their teaching methods, others are not as skilled. This leads to students not receiving consistent and high-quality guidance, which affects their learning outcomes.

Poor attitudes: Some teachers demonstrate negative attitudes when interacting with students. For example, they may force students to participate in activities even if the students have clearly indicated their unwillingness to join. They are reluctant to provide straightforward answers to students' questions and respond with indifference or ambiguity, lacking respect and support for the students.

Actual situation: Before participating, there is a questionnaire survey where students can indicate whether they want to participate or not. However, even if an individual selects "not participating," the teacher still forces them to participate. If you ask the teacher why, they won't give a direct answer but instead make comments like "that place is beautiful" or "it's wonderful," without explaining why you cannot choose not to participate. They respond with a facial expression that implies "you must participate." Therefore, it raises curiosity about whether the questionnaire survey is just for show. (By the way, outdoor activities last for 8 hours a day, and the round trip on the bus takes 4 hours, with multiple tourist spots to visit, making it impossible to fully enjoy the trip.)

Additionally, some teachers use aggressive methods to motivate students, such as forcefully banging on students' desks, which is unacceptable.

Unfair promotion system:

Lack of clear criteria: The promotion system at Akamonkai Japanese Language School lacks clear criteria, causing confusion and a sense of unfairness among students regarding their eligibility for advancement. The school seems to focus only on attendance rates, assignment submissions, and individual teacher preferences while neglecting the students' actual learning achievements. Forexample: Previously, classmates who didn't pass the final exam and didn't have a chance for a makeup exam were still able to advance to higher-level classes because of good attendance, assignment submissions, and pleasing the teacher. However, in my case, I couldn't advance because I didn't submit the assignment during spring break, even though I met all other criteria (e.g., exams, attendance, class participation). So, I would like to know if it can be explained as follows: as long as assignments are submitted (even if copied), attendance is good, and the teacher is pleased, there is no need for a passing grade to enter a higher-level class. I want to emphasize here that Akamonkai has no clear standards for promotion. In my example, it solely depends on whether the teacher personally wants it or not to decide if a student can advance to a higher-level class.

赤門會日本語言學校：教師素質、態度參差不齊，不公平的晉班制度。 、教師素質參差不齊 一、 質量不一的教學：赤門會日本語言學校的教師水平參差不齊，有些教師教學能力出色，而有些教師則不太擅長教學。這導致學生在學習過程中無法得到一致且高質量的指導，影響了他們的學習成效。 不良態度：部分教師在與學生互動時表現出不良的態度。例如，他們強迫學生參加活動，即使學生事先明確表示不參加。他們不願正面回答學生的問題，反而以冷漠或模棱兩可的態度回應，缺乏對學生的尊重和支持。 實際狀況：參加前有問卷調查表，可以勾選參加和不參加。但即便個人勾選不參加，老師還是會強迫個人一直參加，如果問老師說為什麼。他不會給予你正面答覆，只會說那個地方很漂亮啊、很美啊等等之類的，也不會告訴你為什麼不能不參加，並且用一種『你給我參加就對了的臉』回答你。所以個人很好奇，那問卷調查表是勾好玩的？ （順便一提，戶外教學一天8小時，公車通勤來回4小時，並且有好幾個旅遊幾點要跑，根本沒辦法好好享受旅遊） 此外，有些教師還會使用粗暴的方式激勵學生，例如大力敲打學生桌子，這種態度令人難以接受。 二、不公平的晉升班制度 缺乏明確標準：赤門會日本語言學校的晉班制度並沒有明確的標準，導致學生對自己是否能夠晉級存在困惑和不公平感。學校似乎只著重於出勤率、作業繳交和個別老師的喜好，而忽略了學生的實際學習成果。 實際例子：之前的同班同學期末考沒有過，也沒有補考機會，但是因為出勤率好、作業有繳交、討得老師歡欣，所以有辦法晉級到程度更高的班級。但是個人因為春假作業沒交，但其他的標準都有通過（例如：考試、出勤率、上課回答狀況等）這樣子狀況下卻被告知沒有辦法晉級。所以我想知道是否可以解釋為：只要作業有繳交（用抄的也沒關係）、出勤率好、討得老師歡欣，但是程度不一定要合格！依舊可以進入程度較好的班級。 ...

I studied in akamonkai for abit more than one year, and it is a good experience. Akamonkai has classes for people who just want to learn beginner class japanese, and also people who wants to learn japanese to pass Jlpt and the EJU to get to japanese universities and specialized colleges.

Personally, I took the Jlpt focused classes and I feel like it really helps in that department. The teachers are mostly kind and patient when teaching, although different teacher has different styles of teaching, so some might be a hit or miss for different students.

Overall, I had a fun time and my japanese improved by a wide margin. I only feel that there should be more speaking practice in class, but with the limited time restrained, most of the time was allocated to study to pass the Jlpt exams (focused in grammar, Kanji, vocab and listening). Great...