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Japanese Kanji for Beginners - Online Group Course - July

£110.00

Kanji - the Chinese characters used in Japanese - can feel intimidating at first. But they’re also one of the most fascinating parts of the language!

Written Japanese uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. While hiragana and katakana are phonetic scripts that can be learned relatively quickly, becoming a confident reader of Japanese means learning around 2000 kanji characters.

Wednesdays 12pm (BST), from 29th July 2026.

This 6-week online group course is designed to introduce beginner-level students to the world of kanji in a fun, practical, and approachable way.

During the course, you will learn:

What kanji are and how they developed
Different ways to read kanji
How to create effective mnemonics for memorisation
How kanji radicals can help you learn faster
Useful resources and strategies for independent study

You’ll also receive a digital and printable Kanji for Beginners Workbook, created by me, featuring practice pages, study guides, and recommended resources. We’ll use this workbook throughout the course, and you’ll keep the reusable download afterwards. You can print the whole workbook, print selected pages, or use it digitally.

This course is delivered in English. You need to be able to read hiragana and katakana to take this course (not perfectly!)

This course is designed at students with little or no kanji previous knowledge. If you are unsure about your level, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to help.

Feedback from previous students:

“This short course was a great start on my Kanji journey. All of the material is well organised and Fran’s teaching is excellent and the lessons are both fun and interesting.” Scarlett, Japanese Kanji for Beginners
“A lovely class that teaches the basic principles of kanji in a fun and interesting way, leaving you keen to learn more!” Kanji for Beginners student

Kanji - the Chinese characters used in Japanese - can feel intimidating at first. But they’re also one of the most fascinating parts of the language!

Written Japanese uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. While hiragana and katakana are phonetic scripts that can be learned relatively quickly, becoming a confident reader of Japanese means learning around 2000 kanji characters.

Wednesdays 12pm (BST), from 29th July 2026.

This 6-week online group course is designed to introduce beginner-level students to the world of kanji in a fun, practical, and approachable way.

During the course, you will learn:

What kanji are and how they developed
Different ways to read kanji
How to create effective mnemonics for memorisation
How kanji radicals can help you learn faster
Useful resources and strategies for independent study

You’ll also receive a digital and printable Kanji for Beginners Workbook, created by me, featuring practice pages, study guides, and recommended resources. We’ll use this workbook throughout the course, and you’ll keep the reusable download afterwards. You can print the whole workbook, print selected pages, or use it digitally.

This course is delivered in English. You need to be able to read hiragana and katakana to take this course (not perfectly!)

This course is designed at students with little or no kanji previous knowledge. If you are unsure about your level, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to help.

Feedback from previous students:

“This short course was a great start on my Kanji journey. All of the material is well organised and Fran’s teaching is excellent and the lessons are both fun and interesting.” Scarlett, Japanese Kanji for Beginners
“A lovely class that teaches the basic principles of kanji in a fun and interesting way, leaving you keen to learn more!” Kanji for Beginners student

Course Dates 2026

Wednesdays, from 12pm to 12:55pm (UK time).

6-week course running from 29th July to 2nd Sept 2026.

Each lesson is 55 minutes long.

Online Course Format

We use Zoom, a simple and reliable video calling platform. To join the class, you’ll need a device with internet access that can support video calls. Since I’ll be sharing slides during lessons, I recommend using a computer or tablet rather than a smartphone for a better learning experience.

If you are joining internationally, please note that the UK time zone during this course will be British Summertime (BST), which is GMT+1.

Lessons are not recorded. If you miss a lesson, please catch up using the materials provided. Some students like to book a one-to-one lesson to review too.

I may ask students to mute yourselves when not speaking, to help cut down on background noise. If possible, keep your camera on, especially during pair or group activities - this helps improve communication.

Step Up Japanese is a fully online school. If you are based in Sussex, UK, I sometimes run informal social events in Brighton for my students. I’d love to see you there!

Course Fee - Summer 2026

£110 (6-week course)

Enrolment

Please enrol by Monday 27th July. Enrolment is possible after this date if there are spaces available, but it will help me to plan if you can sign up by 27th July.

For advice choosing the right course, please book a free 30-minute zoom consultation, or email me .

Class Size

All courses run with a minimum of 4 students and a maximum of 12.

Cancellation & Refund Policy

Full refund if cancelled 14+ days before the course start date
If cancelled within 14 days of the start, a refund will be given minus a £10 admin fee
No refunds once the course has started

Who Can Join?

These courses are designed for adults only. Unfortunately, I do not teach under-18s - no exceptions, sorry.

For help choosing the right level for you, please get in touch to book a free zoom consultation.

About me - your teacher

Fran Wrigley is a kanji enthusiast and Japanese teacher based in Brighton who is not very good at writing about herself in the third person.

I learned kanji as an adult - like you!

I used the Heisig method to learn kanji (it worked for me, but I don’t necessarily recommend it), combined with an attitude of endless curiosity, and a lot of manga and Japanese books.

You can write “Fran” in kanji as 富蘭, lovely kanji which means something like “an abundance of flowers”. Or you can write it as 腐卵, which means “rotten eggs”. I prefer the latter.

My favourite kanji is 笑 (warai; laughter) because it looks like a smiling face.