Kanji Learner's Course Graded Reading Sets, Vol. 1: Kanji 1-100

Content: This is a collection of unrelated sentences that progressively introduce kanji in the order of the main book KKLC (which teaches kanji with mnemonics that I think are the best out there). There are extra features like referencing grammar points as they appear (see the introduction - it has good coverage of textbook references), and including common set phrases. The idea is you first read the sentence without furigana, then check the furigana, then check your understanding with the translation.

You can read this first set free from the author's website, or on the (unrelated to the author) Chase Colburn's Kanji Study App. I ended up buying all of them on the app because it is so convenient to use (and it's the best deal to buy them in just 2 purchases at the time).

Difficulty level: upper intermediate to advanced (N3+). The KKLC system and these graded reader sets (GRS) use complex (often N3+) vocabulary and grammar. In other words, it is not starting from N5 material and working up. The grading is in kanji use only, not vocab and grammar.

(Therefore, for complete beginners: I suggest pairing KKLC with the (Genki related) Kanji Look and Learn WORKBOOK for kanji reading/writing practice at first, then move up to these harder GRS once you can read at Natively level 23+). This is because the Kanji Look and Learn uses vocab and sentences with simple vocab and grammar that gets gradually more complex in line with the Genki (N5/N4) textbooks, or whatever beginner grammar resource you're using.

Process / how to use KKLC-GRS

The author recommends reading them straight through as you study kanji with some strategies for rereading. It's so boring and repetitive, that was not effective for me and I almost abandoned them completely.

Instead, I read the sentences (on the app) as follows. I enjoy this and get a lot from it:

• as a reference to get a quick overview of context when learning a new word (searching the app for a word highlights all graded reading sentences containing that word)
• just reading a few new sentences per day from multiple kanji (you can set the app to automatically mark them as read as you go and then you can easily start with the "first unread").
• using the quiz feature to study recently learned kanji or weak kanji and instead of it using a random word as a prompt, it uses a random or "favourite" graded reader sentence as a prompt.

Here is more detail on my method for reading these in the app (because this dramatically increased my enjoyment and learning compared to the author's recommended method):

I start at the hardest level I've studied (e.g., so if I'm studying kanji in the 300s then choose "set 4"). I'll just start reading at the first unread entry. I like to read sentences just at my sweet spot of learning about one new thing or being just a little challenging a few times, so I leave sentences "unread" so that I know I haven't read them or I want to read them again. I mark them as read when that's the last time I want to see it (it's too easy, too hard, or I've seen it a few times and I don't want to review it again). I mark it as favourite if I want it to appear in a quiz (I can set the filter to prefer favourites). After I read a few entries for one kanji, I'll skip to the next kanji (enter "skip only" so the remaining sentences don't all get marked as read). Once I get bored if I have time I'll stop or go to the easiest level I haven't finished. I'm not bothered about when I "finish" these. It is great practice for reading and although it's not that interesting, it is very bite size and easy to do a few minutes a day. I have transitioned to reading these instead of doing Anki.