ISI Language School Tokyo-Takadanobaba Campus — Local services in Tokyo

Firstly, I will say there are some good teachers at the school. When I was getting frustrated understanding some of the grammar points they would take the time to work with me so I could keep up with others in my class. That's the only good thing I can say from my perspective.

I cannot speak for other Japanese language schools, but there are problems with ISI that hopefully they will rectify in the future so that others have a better learning experience than myself.

1. Placement - Taking a placement test before starting class is understandable. However, the big problem with placement is that they lump students into one class afterwards. There are obviously some students who have some experience learning Japanese beforehand, so they catch onto things rather quickly. Meanwhile, others who have not learned it formally, like myself, are already behind. It would be best to put those students with some Japanese knowledge, even beginners, in a separate class and put absolute beginners in another class.

2. Pace of lessons - Learning a new language is something that takes time because of the specifics (verb conjugation, grammar, etc.). However, ISI fails to consider that not all students acquire a new language at the same pace. From the very start of lessons, you are overwhelmed with so much grammar and vocabulary. The process goes that you learn three lessons in the books - a mix of grammar and vocabulary - then you take tests to see whether you have understood everything from those lessons while you are learning the next three lessons. This is hard because the school is teaching new information while you're trying to understand what was taught previously. On average, about two or three days is spent on each lesson, and they expect you to understand it while they move on to the next one. ISI would serve itself better to organize classes for students that need to take their time learning the language while at the same time organize an accelerated class for students that want to learn things quickly. Even after 18 months at ISI, I feel I am still behind even though I am at N3 level now.

3. Meeting students' goals - So every student studying at ISI has their own reason for learning Japanese. Some want to study at a Japanese university or vocational school. Others want to find employment at Japanese companies. Then there is someone like myself who wants to learn the language to assimilate to my new surroundings and later on start my own business. The classes don't exactly fit everyone's needs.It would be wise of ISI to organize classes that are tailored to the students' desires for learning Japanese. While I have learned some things, I feel the lessons did not meet my desired goals.

4. Testing - This is something that every Japanese language school needs to remedy. They put too much emphasis on tests. Yes, you want to make sure that the students are getting a good understanding of the content, but piling on tests every week does not help. In addition, pushing students to take the standardize tests when they are not ready does not help. Encouraging the students to take the tests when they are ready would be much better than what's done currently.

5. Evaluating student progress - ISI does not provide any feedback at all. Ultimately, the student has to determine where they are at in their language learning journey and whether they should move on or repeat a specific level. You could simply sit in a class, do nothing, and move on to the next level because no one at the school monitors your progress. Some teachers don't even take notice of students that are struggling, pull them to the side after class and discuss with them their problems (luckily, I had two teachers notice my struggles).

Ultimately, it's up to you whether you want to attend ISI, but I can say it was a stressful experience for me. I will continue learning Japanese on my own, and take the JLPT tests...

I don’t think you could pick a worse and more unprofessional school in all of Japan.

For three weeks in a row I have lost attendance due to an incompetent teacher not informing me of the correct classroom to go to for my JLPT Wednesday class.

The first week my teacher sent me to the wrong room and the receptionist wouldn’t help me so I lose attendance once it reaches 1:10pm because nobody helped. The second week there is a different room for a test my teacher never told me about so I lost attendance again. The third week my JLPT classroom had moved which I wasn’t told about again so I go to reception and only find out after 1:10pm so I’ve lost attendance again.

The school refuses to amend my attendance despite admitting it was their fault and the teach Hosaka. They refuse to refund the money I have paid for these lessons. They refuse to punish the teacher responsible for this or the receptionist who wouldn’t help me the first week.

So I’m the only in this situation punished through loss of attendance despite coming to school each time.

Despite having many problems with this school I haven’t had a teacher or school previously throughout my life who can’t tell me the correct classroom to go to never mind three weeks in a row.

On top of all this I’m losing attendance for a class I don’t even need to be in since I have no interest of taking JLPT but I was forced into this class anyway.

You can’t have time off if you’re literally sick or injured as it impacts attendance which is insane as during Covid you could join lessons by zoom and that somehow counted as attendance.

On days where it’s doing something like a school trip and not at the school you’re forced to go anyway because of attendance when we went to a theme park last year I had recently injured my leg and could barely walk and my teacher still told me I had to go TO A THEME PARK WHEN I COULDN’T WALK PROPERLY.

Passports and ID cards (which you’re required by law to have on your person at all times)are confiscated illegally during visa renewals as they think that replace. When you find out what they’re doing is illegal and ask for it back they become upset at you because it might slow them down when picking up the visa so instead they lie about when the pickup date is and keep your ID and passport for a couple more weeks and will only respond to you if you have to threaten to contact the police.

The teachers are much too invasive with questions and way too touchy, as recently as Monday just gone I had a teacher grab my shoulders and shaking me whilst shouting “gambatte” for no apparent reason. Basically most teachers I’ve had are quite creepy or come off as complete social rejects.

Toilets are not cleaned regularly and may the same persons feces stuck to the toilet for a few weeks. There is no hot water available in toilets despite they having cared or pretended to care about corona virus so much.

Often you think where does the money of so many students actually get spent because it isn’t spent on quality facilities, materials or teachers.

Don’t waste your money that’s all they care about here, the teaching consists of reading from the books which you can do yourself for the price of the books and you can probably find much more helpful books than the ones they give here.

The grey haired translator to English is unbelievably rude and has no respect for the...

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT CHOOSE THIS SCHOOL!! When it comes to your money they are very pushy. During the school period they push you ad nauseum to attend some university or private school with which they have contact. Will they take commissions? But if you don't pay (for example their bank charges) they become very insolent and insistent, I have had on a few occasions that the staff seemed annoyed at having to do their job, even one member of staff who spoke English, when faced with two important questions , from his English is switched to Japanese, giving no explanation to my problem, even if they see you in difficulty, you will not receive English language support on many occasions. When it comes to asking for a service that is rightfully yours, they are very insufficient and incompetent, but above all rude, they speak to each other in Japanese as if you don't understand what they are saying. Their staff also speaks Chinese and Korean, but you can hardly find a person who speaks English. Very few teachers are able to explain and teach, in 90% of cases, you are forced to research everything yourself, which means you can do without going to school, right? School shifts cannot be chosen, so if there are problems they do not help the student, not even if they concern health. It is a school exclusively for Chinese, a Chinese will always be treated better than a Westerner, just look at their website, most of the sponsored students are Chinese. If there are problems among students, teachers don't lift a finger to solve the problem, even if it ruins the spirit of the class, they don't care. Don't be fooled by what they say about visas, they tell a lot of lies, some of them really know nothing about how a visa works, but they will tell you lies to point you in their direction. Don't even reveal your personal information or future plans, they use your information to push you again and again to attend universities or private schools, as soon as they realize that you won't choose one of the two options, the pressure on your visa will begin, the lies will be annoying . In many lessons a lot of time is wasted, often the excess time is not used to explain old topics or to train listening. Dialogues in class with your classmates are useless because you won't get real feedback from the teacher. Furthermore, on the days in which this school does not offer educational activities but recreational activities (going to the amusement park or a park) your absence will be like a day of absence from school (unfair since there are no educational activities). Even if you are always present for 6 consecutive months, the day you take a day off, they call you, even in a very rude way, in which you will have to give a justification (the most useless justification in the world because you can lie about the real reason and above all does not cover you for the day of absence). Really if you care about your money don't choose this...