How to Teach Japanese Online: Lesson Plans and Tools

October 2026  ·  11 min read

Japanese is a rewarding language to teach online, but it is not a language you can teach well by improvising. Students arrive with three writing systems to learn, a verb system that changes with politeness, and pronunciation that looks easy on paper but is surprisingly easy to flatten into English rhythm.

This guide is for Japanese teachers and tutors, whether you are a qualified teacher moving online or a fluent speaker building a private practice. It covers how to teach kana and kanji over video, how to handle politeness levels, how to align your levels with the JLPT, how to run speaking practice, a ready-to-use plan for the first ten lessons, and homework that students actually complete.

How should I structure an online Japanese lesson?

A predictable shape makes online lessons feel calm and productive, especially for beginners who are juggling a new script. This 50- to 60-minute flow works for most one-to-one lessons:

1. Warm-up (5 min): A short exchange in Japanese at the student's level, even if it is only Ogenki desu ka? and the weather.
2. Script and vocabulary review (5–10 min): Flash a few kana or kanji from last week on screen and ask the student to read them aloud.
3. New point (10–15 min): One grammar pattern or function, such as …te kudasai for requests. Show it in context before you name it.
4. Controlled practice (10–15 min): Substitution drills, sentence building with word cards, or a quick matching game.
5. Speaking task (10 min): A role play or personal question set that forces the student to use the new pattern freely.
6. Wrap-up (5 min): Recap on screen, one correction to focus on, and the homework set before the call ends.

The important habit is to keep the shared screen as the student's written record. Type new words in kana (with kanji where appropriate) and romaji only as a temporary crutch for absolute beginners. If you want a broader framework for the first session with a new student, see our guide to running the perfect trial lesson.

How do I teach hiragana and katakana online?

Hiragana and katakana each have 46 basic characters, plus voiced variants (ga, za, da, ba), the half-voiced pa row and combined sounds like kya and sho. Most motivated adults can read basic hiragana within one to two weeks of daily practice, so treat it as the first milestone rather than a side project.

What works well remotely:

• Teach in rows, not all at once. Introduce the vowel row (a, i, u, e, o) and one or two consonant rows per lesson, then have the student read real words made only from characters they know.
• Show stroke order live. Use a pen tablet, an iPad with a whiteboard app, or a document camera so students see the direction and order of strokes, not just the finished shape.
• Ask for handwriting on camera. Have the student write on paper and hold it up, or photograph it and send it.
• Drop romaji early. Once hiragana is mostly secure, stop writing romaji in your notes. Students who lean on it too long tend to stall at reading.
• Teach katakana through loanwords. Words like koohii (coffee), terebi (television) and the student's own name make katakana instantly useful.
• Set up a Japanese keyboard in lesson two or three. Show the student how to add the Japanese input method on their phone and computer so they can type answers in kana.

How do I teach kanji remotely without overwhelming students?

Kanji is where many learners give up, so pacing matters more than volume. Japan's official list of common-use kanji (the jōyō kanji) contains 2,136 characters, which tells students why kanji study is a long-term habit rather than a sprint.

Practical rules that work online:

• Teach kanji inside words. Learn 日 through 日本 (Nihon, Japan) and 毎日 (mainichi, every day), not as an isolated character with a list of readings.
• Introduce readings as you meet them. Explain that most kanji have on'yomi (Chinese-derived) and kun'yomi (native Japanese) readings, but do not ask beginners to memorise every reading up front.
• Use radicals as memory hooks. Pointing out that many water-related kanji share the same left-hand component turns shapes into patterns.
• Batch small and review often. Five to ten new kanji per week, reviewed with a spaced-repetition app, beats thirty crammed before a test.
• Use furigana as scaffolding. Put small kana readings above new kanji in your materials, then remove them as the student becomes confident.

For a deeper look at review schedules that apply to kanji just as well as vocabulary, see how to teach vocabulary effectively.

How should I teach Japanese politeness levels?

Japanese grammar changes depending on who you are talking to, and students need a clear map from the start. Present it as three layers:

• Polite form (teineigo): desu and -masu endings, as in tabemasu (I eat). This is the safe default with strangers, teachers and colleagues.
• Plain form: dictionary forms like taberu and da, used with friends and family and inside many grammar patterns.
• Honorific language (keigo): respectful sonkeigo raises the other person (irassharu), and humble kenjōgo lowers yourself (mairu). This matters for work, customer service and formal emails.

Teach desu/masu first, because it lets beginners speak politely to anyone. Introduce plain forms around the end of N5 or early N4 study, when students meet patterns such as …to omoimasu that require them. Leave full keigo until intermediate level, except for fixed phrases like yoroshiku onegaishimasu and shitsurei shimasu, which beginners can learn as chunks.

Online role plays are ideal for this. Play a shopkeeper, a manager and then a friend, and ask the student to change register to match.

How do JLPT levels map to a teaching syllabus?

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) has five levels, from N5 (the most basic) to N1 (the most advanced). It is multiple choice and tests language knowledge (vocabulary and grammar), reading and listening. There is no speaking or writing section, so a student who passes N4 may still struggle to hold a conversation unless you build speaking in deliberately. The test is held in many countries, usually in July and December, though some test sites offer only one sitting a year; always check the official JLPT website and your local host institution for dates and fees.

The JLPT organisers no longer publish official kanji or vocabulary lists, so the kanji counts below are the widely used unofficial estimates teachers plan around, not official requirements.

Even if a student has no plans to sit the exam, JLPT levels give you and the student a shared language for progress. If you also teach European languages, the equivalent framework is CEFR; our CEFR levels explainer covers how those levels work.

What should the first 10 Japanese lessons cover?

This plan assumes one-to-one lessons of about 50 minutes, once or twice a week, with 15–20 minutes of daily homework. Adjust the pace to the student, but keep the order: reading first, then sentences, then conversation.

Lesson 10 is worth keeping as a fixed checkpoint. A short recorded conversation gives the student something to compare against at lesson 20 and 30.

How do I run Japanese speaking practice online?

Because the JLPT does not test speaking, many learners can read far better than they can talk. Make sure every lesson has a block where the student speaks more than you do.

• Shadowing: Play a short clip of natural Japanese and have the student repeat it a beat behind. It trains rhythm and the mora timing that English speakers tend to compress.
• Pitch accent awareness: You do not need to teach pitch accent theory to beginners, but point out pairs like hashi (chopsticks) and hashi (bridge) so students know it exists.
• Picture description: Share an image of a Japanese street or konbini and ask the student to describe it with arimasu/imasu and adjectives.
• Register-switch role plays: The same request made to a friend, a teacher and a customer, as described above.

Correct sparingly while the student is speaking. Note errors on the shared screen and go through two or three of them afterwards, so fluency practice stays fluent.

What tools do I need to teach Japanese online?

A Japanese teaching set-up has a few needs beyond a normal language lesson, mainly around writing and script.

• Video platform: Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. Stability matters more than features.
• Handwriting input: A pen tablet or iPad whiteboard for demonstrating stroke order.
• Japanese keyboard input: The built-in Japanese input method on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, set up on both your device and the student's.
• Dictionary: An online dictionary such as Jisho.org for quick look-ups with readings and example sentences.
• Spaced-repetition flashcards: Anki or a similar app for kana, kanji and vocabulary between lessons.
• Graded reading: NHK News Web Easy, which publishes simplified news with furigana, is a good bridge for intermediate students.
• A lesson and homework platform: Somewhere to keep lesson materials, set homework and track progress, so you are not juggling folders and email attachments for every student.

On that last point, platforms like Derstina combine ready-to-teach lessons, student games, homework and progress tracking in one place, which cuts weekly admin once your timetable fills. For a wider comparison, see our round-up of the best tools for online language tutors.

What Japanese homework do students actually complete?

Short, daily and specific beats long and weekly. A beginner who does 15 minutes a day will progress faster than one who does two hours the night before the lesson.

• Kana writing sheets: One row per day, written three times, photographed and sent to you.
• Flashcard reviews: A daily spaced-repetition session for kana, kanji and new words.
• Voice messages: A 30- to 60-second recording answering a question from the lesson, such as "What did you eat yesterday?"
• Sentence building: Five sentences using the new grammar point, typed with a Japanese keyboard.
• Mini-diary: From around lesson 8, three lines in Japanese about the day, using -mashita.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should beginners take to learn hiragana and katakana?

With 15 to 20 minutes of daily practice, most adult beginners can read basic hiragana within one to two weeks and katakana within a further one to two weeks. Reading speed takes longer, so keep reviewing kana in every lesson for the first month. Introduce both scripts before moving into heavy grammar so students are not dependent on romaji.

Should I use romaji when teaching Japanese?

Use romaji only in the first two or three lessons, while the student is learning hiragana. After that, write everything in kana and kanji, adding furigana where needed. Students who rely on romaji for too long usually find reading much harder later.

Which politeness level should I teach first?

Teach the polite desu/masu form first, because it is appropriate with almost anyone a learner will meet. Introduce plain forms around the end of N5 or the start of N4 study, when grammar patterns start to need them. Save full keigo for intermediate students, apart from fixed set phrases.

Does the JLPT test speaking?

No. The JLPT is a multiple-choice test of vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening, with no speaking or writing section. Students preparing for it still need regular speaking practice if they want to use Japanese in conversation, so build a speaking block into every lesson.

How many kanji should students learn per week?

Five to ten new kanji a week is a sustainable pace for most part-time learners. Teach each one inside common words, review it with spaced repetition, and recycle it in reading tasks.

What equipment do I need to teach Japanese online?

You need a reliable video platform, a good microphone and a way to write by hand on screen, such as a pen tablet or an iPad whiteboard. Set up a Japanese keyboard input method on your devices, and use a spaced-repetition app and a lesson platform for review and homework between sessions.