Started October 2024. Finished June 2026.... Stay tuned for me finishing workbook two when I'm in my Thirties.
This is a companion workbook to the 'Kanji In Context' textbook. You learn the kanji from the base textbook and this companion workbook has phrases and example sentences using the learned Kanji and requires you to write the Hiragana to confirm you understand the reading.
Workbook 1 covers chapters 1 through 94 of the base textbook. Workbook 2 covers chapters 95 to 156.
While this companion workbook is useful (and I think the base textbook is brilliant); the workbook lacks quite a bit. Firstly, there is no writing practice. You only write the Hiragana. I used a separate notebook where I practiced writing the kanji myself to supplement this. Secondly, you are only required to write the Hiragana. There is no confirmation of what the target words mean in English, and the answer sheet does not say either. Again, I would write the English meanings and then check myself, which is fine, but other Kanji textbooks, namely 'Kanji Look and Learn' have both of these aspects in their workbooks. Unfortunately, Kanji look and Learn only covers 520 Kanji. This workbook alone has got me to over 1200.
I do think the selection of example sentences is very well thought-out and useful.