Donguri Kai

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Donguri Kai continues to provide Japanese education through online classes for children from kindergarten to elementary school. Class meets in a live online classroom once a week to fortify reading, pronunciation, conversation, and communication in Japanese. Teachers interactively guide students to enhance their communication skills.  Students interact on-screen to stimulate and encourage each other through various learning activities.

Spring Session (10 Class Session)- Registration is now open!

ONLINE CLASSES: Week of April. 05, 2021 to June 14, 2021

Level 1  Teacher: Kaoru Fairbanks
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 4:00 -4:30 pm

4/6, 4/8, 4/13, 4/15, 4/20, 4/22, 4/27, 4/29, 5/4, 5/6, 5/18, 5/20, 5/25, 5/27, 6/1, 6/3, 6/8, 6/10, 6/15, 6/17

This class is for children in between Kindergarten and 2nd grade. Students learn Hiragana/Katakana vocabulary, basic greetings, and conversational phrases.

Level 1 textbook required prior to start of class:

Level 2  Teacher: Tomoko Hanna
  Wednesdays or Thursdays, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Wednesdays: 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/19, 5/26, 6/2, 6/9, 6/16
Thursdays: 4/8, 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3, 6/10, 6/17

This class is for children in between Kindergarten and 4th grade. Class for students who are able to follow instructions in Japanese. Students learn to make a sentence with the focus of tense and exercise conversations.

Level 2 textbook required prior to start of class:

Level 3  Teacher: Kaori Tabion
 Thursdays, 3:45 pm – 4:15 pm

 4/8, 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3, 6/10, 6/17

This class is a 30 min class

This class is for children in between 1st grade and 4th grade. Class for students who are able to follow instructions in Japanese. Students learn Kanji and make paragraphs and practice presentation.

Level 4  Teachers: Kaori Tabion & Yuri Yamanaka
Thursdays, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

4/8, 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/20, 5/27, 6/3, 6/10, 6/17

This class is for children in between 2nd grade and 4th grade. Class for students who independently utilize the Japanese language. Through group and individual projects, students build effective multilingual communication skills.

Meet the Donguri Teachers

Kaori Tabion: After 10 years of working in the healthcare industry, Ms.Tabion started a study group teaching Japanese to her own kids and their friends. In 2017, she opened Donguri Kai at JASC and has been teaching Donguri classes. She is a member of an international research community of kanji teaching methods in multilingual children at Learn Japan.

Kaoru Fairbanks: I moved to Chicago in 2019 and I am the mother of three children, all who whom speak Japanese and English.
It can be said that, “Japanese is one of the most difficult languages to learn for native English speakers.”  ”For my class, I devote myself to creating an environment where students learn Japanese in a fun way and without any difficulty.  My biggest goal is to have students enjoy and want to continue learning.”

Tomoko Hanna: I have been teaching English and Japanese to adults and children since 1995. As a mother of two who speaks the two languages, I deeply understand the need for bilingual education in the U.S. Currently, I sub Tampopo class, and teach Baby Tampopo class and Japanese program at Banner Preschool.

Yuri Yatsuda: Ms. Yatsuda is a resident of Chicago since 2010, and a mother of two children. In 2016,  she and Kaori Tabion founded a small Japanese study group for her own children and their friends, and taught them Japanese for 3 years. In 2019,  she began teaching Japanese at Donguri program. Her goal for teaching is to deliver a Japanese language program that makes children motivated and excited.

*REQUIREMENTS: Online device (PC, Tablet), Internet access and printer

If you have questions about the status of your membership please contact the office at jascinfo@jasc-chicago.org or 773.275.0097.  Use this form to become a member or renew your membership.