Articles

ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) An Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a 20-30 minute face-to-face or telephonic interview with a certified tester from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to assess one’s oral proficiency in a certain language. After taking an OPI, the tester will rank one's oral ability in one of four categories: Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior. Furthermore, these levels are divided up into three ranks: Low, Mid, and High, which ...

Hills Learning, which offers Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai and English language classes, moved to a new location at 315 Madison Ave. Suite 900 New York NY on September 1st 2015. They will be having a welcome reception to commemorate the grand opening of their new location. Hills Learning will introduce their language programs and display their new classrooms which have art work and prints created by the Japanese artist, Yasuyo Tanaka. At the reception Yasuyo will be there to ...

Language Education is like a Kaleidoscope                                            March 1, 2014 (Saturday) “Words are ‘living creatures’, so that’s why we don’t lose interest.”, said Sayoko Maeshima, who starts her day by reading 5 to 6 pages of the newspaper. She scours the newspapers looking for information on current affairs and other cutting edge words for her classes. When Maeshima, who likes cooking, says, “I just give out the recipe, if you buy the ingredients and don’t cook, ...

On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 11:15 am to 1:15 pm, you can hear students speaking Korean in Room 1781. Today I got to observe an Intensive Beginner Korean class taught by Hyejin (Sarah) Kim. Although I am proficient in Japanese, I am always open to learning new languages, so this was great opportunity. Before coming to this class, I knew bits and pieces of Korean from friends. I was excited to learn Korean in a class setting rather than a casual setting. In this class, ...

Visiting the Intensive Beginner Chinese Mandarin Course                       Dajiahao! Ever want to start learning Mandarin? I was fortunate enough to be able to hop into an Intensive Mandarin class at Hills Learning that is typically offered every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Today’s class I observed was Intensive Beginner Mandarin taught by Yutong Chen. The class was very small – only two students! Because of the tiny class size, the atmosphere of the classroom is very quiet. Not ...

I’d like to try to post once a month and give some updates about Hills Learning and how things are going at the school. I will start it off by writing a “Director’s Corner”, and soon to follow will be excerpts from our teachers, students, and other faculty at the school that can talk a little bit about their experiences at Hills Learning and how their classes and jobs are going.   I thought it appropriate to start off my post with a picture of myself, my wife and my 7 month old ...

Interview with Jon Hills, Director of Hills Learning. The interview was done by Rolls Andre on 11-05-13, who is responsible for Hills Learning Facebook, and is also an instructor at Hills Learning. 1.When and most importantly why did you start Hills Learning? – Hills Learning was started in January 2009, a tough time for business but a great opportunity for students looking to learn language and choose a new career path. Hills Learning was started because there wasn’t a school in New ...

Entrepreneur Series: Mr. Nem Bajra, CEO of Calsoft Presented by Seiwajuku New York Partnerships for financial success Our partnerships with each other – our vendors, clients, and colleagues – are the most enriching, rewarding aspects of work. In particular, our partnerships with our employees are critical to financial success. Although such relationships are intangible and difficult to quantify, they must be placed at the highest priority if a company wishes to succeed. Nem ...

In this week’s article, we will continue our discussion on how teachers and learners can create a favourable learning environment and benefit from it. The effective learning tip of this week is collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is characterised by interaction and cooperation among learners. This learning approach is based on sharing of ideas and learning from one another. Collaborative learning is made possible through teamwork or in company with other people of like minds. ...

In-Depth Learning versus Surface Learning In this week’s article, we will continue our discussion on how teachers and learners can create a favourable learning environment and benefit from it. The effective learning tip of this week is in-depth learning approach. In-depth learning is characterised by which learners seek to fully understand the meaning of a concept and relate it to daily life. For example, a language learner is eager to identify the meaning and usage of various ...

Learning and teaching are creative, spontaneous and enjoyable. Learning and teaching a language is interactive, experiential and continuous. A favourable learning environment is like a resourceful playground for learners as well as an enchanting stage for teachers. A favourable learning environment is far from given; however, it is created and maintained by both teachers and learners. In this article series, I will try to compare and contrast various learning and teaching styles that ...

The Kimono is perhaps the most famous article of clothing from Asia. Its beauty and mystery will be revealed from our guest speaker, the general manager of Nihon Wasou in New York City, Mr. Fujii. Mr. Fujii and his colleagues will demonstrate the intricacies of the kimono, how to wear one, and the cultural significance of the kimono both to New Yorkers and to the Japanese. Kentaro Fujii has established NIHONWASOU USA, INC. in NY on March 10, 2008 and has served as the president while ...

The easiest way to measure how effective education is is test scores. When students score high on tests it not only makes teachers look good, but schools overall will be more likely to get government funding with higher test scores. Traditionally tests are the easiest way to measure the abilities of a student, but are they effective when learning a language? Take the case of Japanese, and for simplicity’s sake we’ll refer to the main test administered by the Japanese government, the JLPT ...