This month(July) a man came to my school, Smith’s Tsuguchi School http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml for a trial lesson. He mentioned that his daughter had recommended Smith’s to him. His daughter wasn’t even a Smith’s student! I was very glad to hear that people were recommending Smith’s and even happier when he decided to join my school!
I [...]
The Japanese way of life
Perhaps those of you reading are already aware of how healthy Japanese people are on average. But did you know that Japan has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world?
Listen to your mother and eat your veggies!
There are a number of factors that could possibly contribute to [...]
Last night one of my high level students came to class prepared. She was studying the vocabulary in a book which included 3800 words often used in the TOEIC. The words are ranked from 1 to 4 with the more difficult words as Rank 4. She prepared one of those small card [...]
I had a class with 1 orange level student recently. She likes shopping in Namba and Shinsaibashi mainly in department stores. She also enjoys window shopping especially in Keihan mall near her office here in Kyobashi. I noticed that she had already completed the shopping 1 routine. So I chose the shopping 2 routine for [...]
A few months ago a student that I teach at Smith’s Tsukaguchi School invited me, my wife, someone I do flyers with and his girlfriend to lunch at a restaurant at Kobe Fashion Plaza on Rokko Island in Kobe. We had lunch at a buffet-style, organic restaurant there. The food was very good. After that [...]
One of my high level students, who will quit her bank job soon to help out her parents’ real estate business, told me about her plan to study and work abroad in Australia from later this year. She plans to go in November and will take a holiday from my school for about 6 months. [...]
I had a class with a red level student the other day. She turned up a few minutes late and apparently was not in a good mood. I enjoy lessons with this student because she likes to ask a lot of questions and is always very cheerful. But this is not one of those days [...]
In June 2007 a woman who is a research worker at a pharmaceudical company joined Tsukaguchi School. She was going to have to give a presentation in English to a visiting guest at her company on July 2nd. She chose the Man to Man Course http://www.smithweb.co.jp/manto.shtml . She said that she had already written [...]
I have a student here who has been studying with Smith’s Otsu school for over four years. I remember vividly when she first started and arriving with her mother for a trial lesson. At that time she was only 13 years old and wearing her school uniform. She was somewhat intimidated [...]
Here’s an example of one way i like to use the curriculum phrasal cards in my lessons at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi.
Today’s lesson was a red level gentleman who comes as a man to man student.
ITEM – PHRASAL CARDS 436 – 440
I wrote up on the board;
I saw a man [...]
It was June 23rd, 2007. I was coaching a man to man student who has been studying with me over 4 years. She had done all 13 of the Smith’s Routines(stories with questions) and knew them well. I decided to do something I love doing, which is making up my own stories using my imagination [...]
A new arrival
I arrived fairly early (as always) for my first day at Smith’s – last September. I wasn’t sure how much preparation time would be required for my lessons or how many students I would have that day so I thought that it would be better to be unfashionably early than risk something going [...]
I just read a posting by a fellow franchisee, Al Bartle over in Okamoto, about receiving an omiyage from a student recently.
If you’re not sure what “omiyage” means, then check out Al’s explanation here:
http://www.sse-franchise.com/soapbox/200707/04/nice-omiyage-or-souvenirs-from-a-student/
I hadn’t thought of writing about omiyage but after having read Al’s post I realized that I often receive omiyage from students [...]
By Alex
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Posted in Living in Japan, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged お土産, もみじまんじゅう, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東京ばな奈, 東京バナナ, 東大阪市英会話, 紅葉饅頭, 英会話四ツ橋校, 鳥取二十世紀梨
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One of my students just got back from her visit to Hokkaido. She was kind enough to bring me back a souvenir (Japanese=OMIYAGE) of “corn chocolate” which is one of the local products for which Hokkaido is famous. In Japanese this is type of local specialty is called “MEIBUTSU”. Each particular local [...]
Tonight at my Fukushima, Osaka based English school something really interesting came out of my lesson with a very charming 72-year-old dentist: During Let’s Talk ‘Hometowns’ which is a lesson designed to use various methods of inquiry to arrive at an understanding of a new friend’s hometown, he asked, “How many different ways [...]
I have been coaching communicative confidence at Smith’s Tsukaguchi School since April 2002 and have used the Smith’s curriculum from the beginning. When I first started at Smith’s the curriculum was not as huge as it is now.
The older curriculum (the “Core” curriculum) was smaller and consisted of ITEMS and ROUTINES. Most of the [...]
Today I was on working around the classrooms at the Kyobashi School when one of the coaches came out and asked if he could have a word. I said “sure however I am waiting for my four year old daughter to arrive with Mum from pre-school and then I will need to get going and [...]
Today I had a red man-to-man student. This student is an extremely cheerful and bright young lady and she is always a joy to teach.
One thing that I like about this student is that she always takes down notes in her tiny little character notebook. I was curious about what she had been writing in [...]
I have wanted to take a trip around Lake Biwa for several years and this past Sunday I was finally able to. I had heard that it was beautiful, especially the northern part, but without a car it would be pretty inconvenient.
琵琶湖,、 淡海、びわ湖 (The Japanese Name)
http://info.biwako-visitors.jp/biwakonotabi/english/menu.html
Well, a few weeks back one of my students mentioned [...]
By Alex
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Posted in Living in Japan, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged びわ湖, マキノ町, 彦根城, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 淡海, 琵琶湖, 英会話四ツ橋校
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Going to work each and every day is a treat. Each week they come in with a story or something funny that never fails to make me laugh. We often say that laughter is the best medicine but I think this can apply to English as well. If you’re enjoying yourself during class then English [...]