December 30, 2007 – 9:30 pm
English in Japan. Simply put, it is everywhere and nowhere at various levels of correctness and authenticity. It is being used by some Japanese on a regular basis to communicate with foreigners they meet or correspond with through their business or study. It, or some semblance of it, is found on thousands [...]
December 30, 2007 – 6:33 am
Why become a Teacher-Owner of your own English Conversation School in Japan at this moment? Because the largest corporate English conversation school in Japan, which had 60% of the market share went out of business three months ago after a 21-year build-up, and left hundreds of thousands of its students with little to show for [...]
December 28, 2007 – 5:37 am
We teacher-owners of Smith’s School of English are very lucky to be able to enjoy not only the rewards of owning and operating our own schools but also to make a difference in the lives of our students and to really be able to help them to realize their full potential. Unike the teachers at [...]
December 27, 2007 – 5:57 am
I really enjoyed reading Adrian’s posts too. It is great to see that someone has been in this business as a Smith’s owner for over 7 years and still really enjoys it and has helped his students to get great results on the EIKEN and TOEIC. Makes me still feel like an infant with only [...]
December 26, 2007 – 9:21 pm
The downfall of that other company is indeed unfortuate for so many people. And now, another company has been trying to save the day for them, hitting a lot of brick walls, making promises they can’t keep, disappointing many. That too, is unfortunate.
As franchisees, we are the lucky ones. We are kept informed, we keep [...]
December 26, 2007 – 8:27 pm
On December 25th all students from my school, Smith’s Tsukaguchi franchise in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, received Christmas cards by postal mail. All cards included a hand-written message from me, thanking them for studying at Smith’s and wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I also included a Christmas present, a Starbucks [...]
December 25, 2007 – 6:49 am
Boy oh boy…it’s been one heck of a year for me. While there were a few hiccups on the way I feel that 2007 was great preparation for 2008 and beyond. While a few side projects took up some of my time (network marketing and material development) I spent most of the year focusing on [...]
December 25, 2007 – 6:34 am
Another great post by Al Bartle…I completely agree with his comments regarding missing his students. Life just doesn’t feel the same when I can’t hear about their adventures. Walking around Hirakata I do run into a few of them and we chat or sometimes go and grab a cup of coffee (or juice for me [...]
December 24, 2007 – 9:21 am
Well, another great benefit of Smith’s School is the long holidays that we have to rest and spend time with family and friends and travel if we choose. The Christmas-New Year’s Holiday spans 15 days this year (from Dec. 23rd to Jan. 6th). It’s been only two days so far and I already [...]
December 22, 2007 – 11:32 pm
I really enjoyed reading this one written by Craig, the owner of the Ohtsu School. It expresses exactly what we must do to succeed. Become a part of the local merchant family and show the brand. Get to know the people doing business in the vicinity of your school and let them [...]
December 22, 2007 – 10:57 pm
Well, I am planning to have a New Year’s Party again this year. This time I will rent out the cafe below my school for 2-3 hours. I often eat at the cafe during the year and the owner is always very kind and hospitable. It is a family owned restaurant called Cafe DECO and [...]
December 21, 2007 – 9:01 pm
Once the bells are done ringing, everyone gets ready to visit the temples and shrines in order to make pledges for the coming year and pray. As late – or early depending on your point of view – as 4:30am (which is the time I visited a shrine last New [...]
December 21, 2007 – 7:23 am
For the past two years or so I have had a part time teaching job at a city office, teaching two different groups of eight ladies. Because my franchise has been getting busier, I decided to find these ladies another teacher and “retire.” Anyway, I had the opportunity of substitute teaching the class this [...]
December 20, 2007 – 9:42 am
with the X-Mas break rapidly approaching things get hectic…as I teach kids that means some fun and games. Each year I try out one or two new games that I haven’t done before as well as use some tried-and-true ones. That way I can build up my list of games that kids enjoy and at [...]
December 19, 2007 – 4:17 am
ET: Never mind
Using this one point is a bit tricky so we reviewed it carefully to make sure that she was confident with it. She gave me a scenario where her daughter had dropped an expensive vase and she had told her to “never mind” about it.
Routine: 10
I gave this student the 10 questions from [...]
December 18, 2007 – 6:02 am
For most of my students this evening, it was the last lesson of the year and everyone was excited about the coming holiday. So I decided to have a little chat about holiday plans with my 8pm students before moving on to the loop. Since I am not doing anything special myself, I was glad [...]
December 18, 2007 – 5:47 am
Just the other day, Graham and Calvin, two main teachers at my Smith’s School of English franchise in Fukushima, hosted a Christmas Party for all the kids there! It was a huge success: 24 children, 9 moms and a ton of presents and treats.
Everyone had a really great time and I congratulate [...]
December 18, 2007 – 5:06 am
ET: When I was ( ) years old, I took up (A)
The first few minutes were spent on doing a bit of catching up since I hadn’t seen this particular student in a while. She was quite busy with her work and wanted to ask me what I would be doing for the holidays. [...]
December 18, 2007 – 4:33 am
It’s that time of year and the festive season is fast approaching which means that it is time to have a culture clash in class. I remember first being asked by students what I would be doing for Christmas and after replying that I didn’t have anything in particular planned I would get a grin [...]
December 18, 2007 – 3:16 am
ET: Long time no see
My first Tuesday afternoon student came in today with a cheerful smile and all ready to study English. She jumped right into the one point by announcing, “Long time, no see,” just as she sat down. It’s nice to see that she keeps practicing her one points even after [...]
December 18, 2007 – 2:45 am
Before I came to Japan, I was told that the Japanese people don’t celebrate Western holidays or traditions, one of them being Christmas. Is this true? Judging by the drastic increase of people frantically shopping around for presents, the change of standard gift wrapping to festive greens and [...]
December 18, 2007 – 2:30 am
I had a lesson with 2 green and 1 red student last week. I noticed that 2 students had recently joined. Since I hadn’t met them yet I decided to start this lesson with some greetings and introductions. After we all met each other I reviewed last week’s B5 one point “today I feel______ because_______”. [...]
December 18, 2007 – 2:17 am
Just the other day I went to Starbucks (as I think every gaijin does) and I went to order my drink that is no longer on the menu. Here I was speaking my very minimal japanese and then the young lady behind the counter just outright said “Pardon?” I was very suprised and also slightly [...]
December 17, 2007 – 8:57 am
I spent an entire class on “Finnigan’s Bar” tonight because the students were so into it…In fact the class went ten minutes over and it didn’t matter to me…As I was wrapping things up late, one of them asked me to recite the routine at my natural speed so she could record it with her [...]
December 17, 2007 – 2:43 am
ET: You’re kidding
I told the students that I was 90 years old, they both said ‘You’re kidding!’ I was so happy that they got it straight away.
Routine: The Baby
This is the first time these students have done a L&R routines and they did really well. I was very pleased with the students because after going [...]
December 17, 2007 – 12:38 am
I and my students, from all levels, have been having fun using the “Question Word” Cards as prompts for initiating questions. Although this is an Intermediate Item I have found that the word cards can be used with impressive results across different levels simply by creating a framework similar to the routines, where we provide [...]
December 17, 2007 – 12:32 am
I learn ikebana in Nishinomia-Kitaguchi. I prefer Japanese flower arranging to European. Both styles are beautiful but for me ikebana is more peaceful and elegant. Recently my teacher and a lot of other ikebana masters put on an exhibition in Shukugawa. A group of students and I met at Hankyu station and walked there [...]
December 16, 2007 – 8:44 pm
On December 9th, 2007 I, my wife and 2 students from Smith’s Tsukaguchi School in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture went to Osaka City to see Mysteries of the Human Body http://www.jintai.co.jp/index_top.html at Umeda Sky Building. We first had brunch at Starbucks Coffee. We relaxed while having tasty food and drinks. As always I had [...]
December 16, 2007 – 5:50 am
The other day I had a late lesson with three students. They were all working for companies. One is a company director, one is a new employee for a major electronics and one works for a top-rated sports shoe manufacturer. We did a phrase lesson and covered some new vocabulary. [...]
December 16, 2007 – 5:24 am
Recently I noticed that more and more trial students are coming to the school with copies of my web pages. Copies of the main page and the pages for the events are usually included. I always mention that I noticed they had looked at my site. They always say, “Yes, it looks [...]