choo-choo

March 9, 2010 – 9:30 pm

People often say that having a child is the greatest gift you can receive. At first it might not seem like it though. The first few months new parents are struggling to adjust to their new lifestyle and trying to figure things out. Slowly but surely somehow you get a handle on things. Our son really started communicating with us a few months ago and it’s quite amazing to see just how fast he learns. He now understands various parts of the body (I test him), he understands when we say “No” that he shouldn’t do something (we try not to overuse it), and now can say just a few things – his most recent being “tu tu.” He is a big Thomas fan and while I’m not a huge fan I must admit that the message it conveys is one of helping others and sharing. Now when Thomas toots his whistle I hear this cute little “tu tu.” He has also started saying “Nooooo” with a cute little roll of his face. Copied my gestures for “Where is it?” and “I don’t know” with a shrug of his shoulders and his palms turned up.

We can all learn a lot from children especially with regard to their curiosity – they want to know how everything works. They constantly ask questions, try their hardest (although many give up quickly when they can’t do something) and aren’t afraid of making mistakes. They mimic their parents and other children in both gestures and words. How amazing would it be if all students who are learning a language adopted the same methods?!

It is true what they say, “the simple pleasures in life are the best” and I think that’s one of the great joys of having a child, they remind us just how lucky we all are and how amazing life is.

Adrian

By Adrian | Posted in English School Articles, SSE Hirakata Corner | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Hamburger Night Is Back!

March 9, 2010 – 8:27 am

I love the work that I do for Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi  (スミス英会話　塚口校) , my English conversation school (英会話スクール), located  in Tsukaguchi (塚口), Amagasaki City (尼崎市), Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県), Japan.  However at the end of my working week, Saturday night, I love having my wife’s delicious hamburgers! Saturday night is “Hamburger Night”. You can read about this special night in an earlier post that I wrote by clicking here.

“Hamburger Night” was stopped after my wife got pregnant and went through a tough period of  morning sickness. They call it “morning” sickness, but it doesn’t only occur in the morning. She often felt sick during the day and couldn’t stand certain smells, including that of meat, so cooking for me, including hamburgers, was out.  I ate dinner almost everyday at MATSUYA (松屋) in Tsukaguchi (塚口).  The food there is cheap, quick, easy, tastes good and the shop is near Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi . You can see a photo of a meal there by clicking here (you need to click on “Rotate photo”  three times to see the photo upright). I really like Japanese gyūdon (牛丼) .

My wife’s bad morning sickness period ended a little while ago.  She went back to doing her full-time job, which she’d stopped during that period. She now can eat all kinds of things and can stand smells again, including the smell of meat! Yay! Last Saturday, she made hamburgers for the first time in months.  They were absolutely delicious! On the right you can see a photo of a happy me on that night. Those two hamburgers were huge, but I ate them both up!  (^.^)

I look forward to eating heaps and heaps of tasty hamburgers on Saturday nights for a long time to come!   \(^.^)/

Derek

Smith’s Schol of English Tsukaguchi

月謝制英会話のスミス英会話　塚口校

http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml       尼崎市の英会話スクール

By Derek | Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers

March 9, 2010 – 4:22 am

I love that quote. Recently one of my friends wrote it on his facebook status. When I read it I wondered if I was just sitting in the middle of the track. It’s march now and I decided that I needed to reassess the year so far to see how well I’ve really been doing.  The year of the Tiger. A year which started for me and for many with great hope.  Hope for our businesses, hope for our personal lives and hope for our dreams.  I believed that 2010 was going to be the best year of my life!

2009 was a pretty good year for our business. We had a lot of events, kept most of our students and grew modestly. In a year where a lot of other businesses were not growing at all, we were reasonably happy with our modest growth. 2010 started off with a boom for us. We had lots of trials and more joins by the end of February than we had until the end of May in 2009. Not a bad start! On the downside, we had the biggest amounｔ of quits we’ve ever had. So in the end, we are holding on, but not yet moving forward as we head toward busy season. March so far, has been quiet for us, but other schools seem to be booming so we are hopeful for a great month and fully expecting a great year for the growth of our business. So after some reflection, I am happy to see that our business is not just sitting in the middle of the tracks. We are on track with all Short Term Achievable Goals (STAGs) that we set for ourselves for this year.

It’s hard for a business to stay on track if your personal life isn’t on track, so I revisited my personal goals as well. In 2009, my personal life did not fare as well as our business, so this year’s goals were as much personal as they were business. Last week I felt like I was going nowhere. After reading my friend’s status, I decided that I was definitely just sitting on the tracks. Last week had been  a bad week for my personal goals. I fell off the diet wagon three times . And then, while I was jogging yesterday, I realized that I was running faster, further, easier, than I had since January of 2009, when I messed up my ankle. My body is getting stronger again, healthier and for the first time in a year the balloon i was becoming had let a little air out.

That’s when I realized that sometimes  if you just sit down on the tracks for a moment you give your progress a chance to catch up!

Success is a result of a cummulative effort, so if you fall off the wagon for a day or two, it’s okay. Your effort will catch up.

I still believe that 2010 is going to be a great year for us personally, for  Smith’s School of English Kamishinjo（スミス英会話上新庄校） and for all Smith’s schools!

By Carol | Posted in English School Articles | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Lesson Sandwich

March 9, 2010 – 2:15 am

“Wait a minute,” I said to my friend, “How is the start of an Smith’s lesson like a piece of bread?” Read More »

By les | Posted in English Lesson Plans, English School Articles, Free Advice English Schools, SSE Ikoma | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

A Great Gift From A Student at Smith’s School in Kotoen ( スミス英会話 甲東園校 )

March 8, 2010 – 5:38 am

The Wine Tasting Course at my Smith’s School of English Franchise in Kotoen is taking off and one senior man who is particularly interested in European food brought an extraordinary gift to the classroom the other day.

Although he laments that the economy really isn’t all that great and that it really isn’t very likely to improve anytime soon, he is grateful that his own company is thriving and congratulates all of us on our success at the Smith’s School of English.

He brought not only a bottle of Moet et Chandon, but a 1988 Vintage Dom Perignon Rose to the classroom!!!!   Wow!   Does anyone have an idea how much such a bottle costs??  We are looking for the opportunity to hook up two consecutive Wine Tasting Class hours at Kotoen  to celebrate with!

Enjoy your week!

Martin Werner Zander, Smith’s Partner

マーティン・ワーナー・ザンダー

Owner, Smith’s School of English Kotoen

スミス英会話 甲東園校 仁川 門戸厄神 逆瀬川　ワインテイスティングクラス

By Martin | Posted in SSE Kotoen Corner | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

スミス英会話高円寺 How Many English Words Are There?

March 6, 2010 – 5:23 pm

Changing Skyline Gold Coast

An often asked question at Smith’s School of English Koenji (スミス英会話高円寺) is “ How many words are in the English language?”, which is similar to asking the question “How many metres are in a piece of string?”

Throughout the world there are over 6500 languages spoken, yet only about 1000 of them have a dictionary that contains the words most frequently used by them.

English is a spoken in many countries all over the world, as a first or second language. It is the world’s language for communicating with people, usually business clients, family and friends that live and work in various countries.

It has been estimated that more than 1.3 billion people are studying English at any point in time and yet that number does not include people who use self-study methods to try to gain English proficiency.

People of diverse cultures come together when they communicate in English, in fact the internet has made the world accessible to all people who are able to use the internet. Of recent years the number of people using the internet has grown beyond all expectations and with the advent of social networks such as Facebook, Mixi, Twitter, sites like eBay and Smith’s School of English – Mini Lessons (スミス英会話無料レッスン) then it is no wonder that so many people need to communicate in English.

To reach a proficient level of English communication, students need to master, over a period of time, the ability to read, write, speak and listen. This takes an incredible amount of tenacity and a real desire to master all aspects of English communication.

We at Smith’s School of English are coaches of communicative confidence and to that end we encourage our pupils to embrace English as a hobby and have a lot of fun using it when they attend their weekly lessons, as face to face communication is really the most successful way to practise listening and speaking – it is after all the most natural environment – even more so when we have regular get togethers, for example Friday night gatherings, quarterly dinners, cheese and wine parties etc.

I have digressed from the title of this article because it is a difficult question to answer as actually there is no definite answer, although it is well known that there are more than 500,000 words in the English language. There is one source, Global Language Monitor, which states that there are 988,968 words. The problem is what do we count as a word, for example are all forms of a verb different words. What I recognise however is that you don’t need to know every word in the English language to communicate with the world in English but you do need the confidence to “Have a Go”.

Footnote: The photograph is of Australia’s famous Gold Coast City which as the Engligh language, also changes year after year.

Ken
Smith’s School of English Koenji
スミス英会話高円寺

By Ken | Posted in English School Articles, Franchise Owners' Speak, Living in Japan, SSE Koenji Corner, communicative method, english in japan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Monkeys… Arashiyama, My Favourite Place in Kyoto

March 5, 2010 – 6:07 pm

Living in Japan we get a lot of visitors from home. My sister has visited, my parents, friends from home, friends from university, even friends from other parts of Japan. I love showing people around, being their local guide. Giving my friends and family a tour of the places I love and introducing them to the food and restaurants and sites and sounds of Japan, and in particular Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto, is something that truly brings me joy. Living so far from home, I often miss my family and friends, casually chatting (in casual Canadian English), going out for good food and good times. So when someone from home visits, I love to show them around.

Recently some university friends visited for a few days. So I took them out and showed them around and we did some of my favorite things: karaoke, conveyor-belt sushi, “mochi” rice cakes, and of course I took them to my favorite Read More »

By Edward | Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Ohtsu Corner | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

スミス英会話　布施・東大阪 What’s in a name?

March 5, 2010 – 3:59 am

スミス英会話布施校講師が書いた記事。日本語のメインサイトはこちら

Barb Dwyer, Terry Bull, Chris Cross…

Know anybody by these names? If so, then you may know some of the people who have been given some of “The Most Unfortunate Names” in England and the United States.

How about Dr Payne, Anna Prentice or Carrie Oakey?

Check out this site and have some fun with your students!

http://www.thebabywebsite.com/article.1792.Silly_Names.htm

See how many of them your students can figure out and also why these might be among “The Most Unfortunate Names.”

Doesn’t your heart just go out to that poor chap in Fairmont, Dr Sumey?

Enjoy,

Alessandro “Alex” Stanciu

アレッサンドロ”アレックス”スタンシュー

Smith’s School of English Fuse

月謝制 の スミス 英会話 布施 校

http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/fuse.shtml 英会話 東大阪市

By Alex | Posted in English Lesson Plans, SSE Fuse Corner, enjoyed this a lot | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Importance of English in Japan INC.

March 5, 2010 – 3:24 am

As many have seen over the past few months there has been a plethora of bad news in the media concerning some of the largest companies in Japan; JAL, Honda, and last but not least Toyota. This has happened for many reasons.

What I noticed that this “news” was not exclusive to Japan. It has been “world” news, putting Japan in the spotlight once again, only this time not for the best reasons.

The most recent case involving Toyota recalls in America was quite interesting, because Mr. Toyoda, the grandson of the founder of Toyota was asked to come and speak before congress as well as answer questions about how the Toyota recalls occurred. Of course being the leader of a worldwide company with such a noticeable brand Mr. Toyoda accepted. He did have an interpreter to translate some of his message, but at many times he spoke in English on his own. It’s impressive considering the intense pressure that he must have been under. As many news reports have stated, Mr. Toyoda was speaking before congress on behalf of Toyota Motor Corporation, but many news reports also suggested that due to all the recent bad news concerning many Japanese brands like Honda and JAL. Mr. Toyoda was in fact, speaking for ALL Japanese companies. He had the weight of the whole of Japanese business on his shoulders. Again, I can’t imagine the amount of pressure that he must have felt with so much responsibility on his shoulders, and on top of it spoke in English.

I have a hard time getting up the nerve to speak Japanese to my own wife, Read More »

By Adrian | Posted in English School Articles, SSE Hirakata Corner | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Smith’s 2010 Cherry Blossom Viewing Party スミス英会話大阪城公園お花見

March 5, 2010 – 2:24 am

It’s almost Cherry Blossom Viewing season again and time for the annual Smith’s School of English Kansai Area Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) Party. Cherry Blossom Viewing Parties are common all across Japan as the Cherry Blossom buds open to reveal their oh so delicate and beautiful blossoms. Usually, families, friends or co-workers get together for lunch or dinner parties (sometimes both!). This involves choosing a location (of which every prefecture has many),  organizing travel and food and drinks, and of course the ever important ground sheet (in Canada we call this a “tarp” and use it to protect the firewood pile on rainy days, however in Japan at Hanami season we sit on them, en lieu of a picnic blanket).

As in past years, Smith’s School of English will once again host Read More »

By Edward | Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Ohtsu Corner | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

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