Last Friday, I had a big observation lesson (kenkyu jugyou) at one of the Junior High Schools that I teach at and as usual the stress nearly killed me, but it made me stronger. First, here’s a little background information. Observation lessons are quite common in Japanese Schools. The purpose of the lesson [...]
At Smith’s Tsukaguchi School, I recently received a fax from head office, written by Mark Smith himself. On the fax Mark wrote:
“Dear Derek,
We were having a look through trial lesson results and came across some interesting numbers.
8 trial inquiries
8 phone calls converted to trials
6 of 7 trial lessons converted to students, 1 trial lesson [...]
This is a great story to use in a high level student lesson! A DC Judge whose suit pants were lost by a dry clearners sued the dry cleaners and finally after two years his lawsuit was thrown out and he was required to pay the legal and court fees of the dry cleaners [...]
I have one student who is 6 years old and recently returned from Canada. She reads at nearly the 3rd grade level but does not always understand the meaning of what she reads. She can sound out almost any word. Her writing is still in early stages. She has not had [...]
When I wanted to teach “tired of” as a One Point English point, I asked the student if there was anything that she had recently done too much or eaten too often or would like to stay away from for a while. She thought for a while and said “nothing”. That really put [...]
USJ = UFJ?
My first summer in Japan was a mixture of adventure, surprise, and shopping sprees. I’d explored just about everywhere in the main Kansai area within the first two months. Or at least I thought I had until one of my students asked me one day “Have you ever been to USJ?” [...]
Many people ask me what my job is, and I always answer the same thing – an English teacher. However I feel I’m much more than that to my students at Hirakata. I’m their friend, teacher and advisor; or at least I try to be. Obviously I don’t have all the answers but I try [...]
A couple of months ago, I invited one of my students to meet me, my son and his wife at the new cake shop near my school. It is a very nice and stylish place called “Ca Sent Bon” which I am told means “It smells good!” in French. I often stop ask [...]
My Saturday’s at Smith’s Ohstu school are usually busy, and there are not many lessons that don’t have less than 2 students per class. On this occasion I had only one student, this is very rare so I took the opportunity to try the Let’s Talk About It book with her.
Her level is [...]
I woke up in a great mood this past Tuesday! The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect! You really appreciate those kinds of days if you know what the weather will be like in about a month or so when the hot humid summer begins.
I had recently run an advertisement in a local [...]
I guess that it was last year in August that I came up with the idea to have a special event for my students. I had tried doing a “Cafe Time” from about 10:30 to noon for potential students who wanted to practice English and find out about my school. This was fun [...]
Recently i had some friends visit me from America. They stayed with me in my apartment for just less than 3 weeks. I was really glad to see them since we all went to our own corners of the world after graduating college as most people do. June is a pretty busy month. [...]
I had a student study today. She is rather special in that she is one of the first to start at my school back in 1999. She is now a married housewife. Back when she first started studying English she was an OL. After a few years got married and quit [...]
It started out as a humid day and now the sun is out in all it’s glory. The temperature is rising fast. Summer in Japan is just around the corner. In fact it starts tomorrow since today is the 20th of June.
It’s time to get out those T-shirts for the flyer helpers [...]
“Language is no barrier”. This is a phrase I heard once from a lecturer whilst I attended a college seminar with a group of Japanese students on tour from Japan to Australia focusing on international relations.
As I am now working as a part-time website assistant and English teacher at an English teaching franchise in [...]
Excellent! The 6 year old student who I gave the trial to last week will begin studying with me as a private student this week! If you look back at the link to read about my trial with this young girl and her parents you can understand her situation. She [...]
It was one of those Saturdays that I love to come to work on. Today it was pouring with rain. I love these days. I like knowing i can arrive at work, get in a nice full day, and not have to bother about opening and closing and shaking off my umbrella all day long. [...]
I’ve been with Smith’s since the beginning. I used to have a high school job in Osaka, and when I met Mark Smith back in mid-1999, it was a simple decision to open my first part-time franchise in Koshien. I say part time because throughout the entire ownership of my first franchise I kept working [...]
One of my newer students originally told me that her hobbies were reading and listening to music but recently she is saying that coming to my lesson to practice is now her favorite new hobby! Wow! That makes me feel good. She said that after the lesson she cannot wait for the [...]
Life in Japan is great! I have lived here twice. Once from 1978 to 1986 during which my kids were born and this time since last year in June. So I am just completing my first year back after a 20-year hiatus. There have been many changes but Japan still feels [...]
Yesterday, one of my current students had a chance to sit down and talk with another potential student who had just returned from the UK where she worked as a ground staff employee for ANA (All Nippon Airways). My student is now in the process of taking interviews for such ground staff positions and [...]
Very shortly after arriving in Japan, Easter happened. I didn’t really know anyone yet, so my plans mostly consisted of taking the opportunity to eat a vast array of Japanese sweets. At the last minute my partner and I were invited from an acquaintance of an acquaintance to a picnic. Too excited to wait, I [...]
Whenever I meet a new Japanese friend or acquaintance, I am always asked this curious question, “When you first came to Japan, what surprised/shocked you the most?”
Well… there were many things. In the first year alone, I think that more things caught my attention than I could keep track of. And as I [...]
I am an English teacher living I Japan. I am from England in the UK and I married my wife, who is Japanese, about four years ago. We had a baby in March 2007, and these are some things I noticed about having a baby in Japan.
When I found out my wife was pregnant I [...]
“Gessha Sei” is Japanese for “monthly tuition”. It is important for us Smith’s franchisees. We are monthly tuition based schools.
Recently one of the big corporate schools was required to cease entering into contracts which exceed 1 year for six months due to their practices of charging high fees up front for lessons that [...]
Just wanted to share a story that a student shared with me last week and I thought it was pretty cool. Others here have mentioned how we Smith’s School of English teachers become close friends with our students and since we see them often it allows us to learn more about our students lives and [...]
I’ve been living in Japan for about 8 years now and running my Smith’s school franchise for most of that, but I can remember only one summer here. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first and most obvious reason is that [...]
The other night, along my way home, I spotted a yellow display inside the local Mr. Donut. As I got closer, I spotted a great BIG stuffed Pon-De-Lion hanging inside the display. Ever since I was a child I have absolutely LOVED lions in all shapes, colors, and sizes. And in Japan [...]
Today I took the time to visit one of my students who has not been able to take her lessons due to her husband’s tragic accident in Guatemala in February. It seems that he was on the way to the airport in a limo when a truck driving the wrong way in their lane [...]
As I’ve mentioned in past postings I’m interested in continuing to add schools to my small portfolio and this morning I had the chance to meet with Mark Smith and ask for advice over a couple of cappuccinos at Garb Dressing, a local café in Kyobashi which features great desserts!
ガーブドレッシング 京橋 http://www.garb-dressing.com/
I had been looking [...]