Often lesson plans may seem like just that – a plan for a lesson, but there’s nothing more exciting than a lesson plan that has been put to the test and comes out on the winning end!
Shimokitazawa Smith’s youngest student had the pleasure of seeing the results of a successful lesson plan. Let’s call [...]
There’s not one person I know that doesn’t suffer from some sort of stress…studying English shouldn’t be one of them. In fact it should be just the opposite - in my classroom laughter’s heard in practically every class. It’s kept light and enjoyable as much as possible but that doesn’t mean I’m not strict nor [...]
One higher level student took it upon herself to write her life stories in both English and Japanese and share them with her family. She wanted to show everyone that you can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it. In her first book her writing was good but simple. Her [...]
There must be something in the water here in Hashimoto! I am about to lose three great students (temporarily I hope) due to…Well they are all expecting babies!!!
“H1″ is due in May but I think she will deliver sooner than that! She has been with me for about a year and her improvement [...]
Every one of my regular 6pm students knows that if they come a little early, they can watch the last couple matches of the Sumo Basho with me before their lessons. After the last basho, students got to know my love for sumo, and every 6pm student last week and this week came early and [...]
Not the most exciting thing, but i noticed some other schools have some great location shots, and as we recently had new signs installed, i thought it would be nice for other schools to see what we look like now. As our school is on the 8th floor (the penthouse as it were), we need [...]
I am pleased to introduce my new semi-F/T teacher, Michael Bosman from Australia to my Smith’s School in Fukushima. Michael is a professional teacher in New South Wales and I am very pleased to welcome him to the team. He will assume most of the teaching hours while Graham and I each keep [...]
March 30, 2008 – 12:47 am
What’s different about Smith’s School compared with the multitude of English conversation schools in Japan? Bottom to the top it’s totally different. It’s truly a breath of fresh air. No stale lesson plans, no stiff teachers looking truly uncomfortable in ties, just a down-to-earth well thought out curriculum which provides what Japanese [...]
Hi there all.
Business:
Just a quick note to let you know that after considering requests from within the franchise group comments have now been enabled here on the soapbox.
We / I really appreciate your efforts in brining news about Smith’s and Japan to the public with the SoapBox and trust this new function further supports your [...]
There is no doubt that being able to ask questions gives you control of a conversation and I therefore like to encourage and work with students to get them to speak up and take control of their English conversations.
The Smith’s School of English curriculm, and the training that is given to the coaches of [...]
March 23, 2008 – 10:32 pm
The first year of teaching is always difficult, whether you are working for yourself or for a large company. Working for yourself presents a few extra complications and worries, and I must admit that I didn’t always have a lot of confidence in what I was doing or how I was doing things. [...]
I am a great supporter of the Smith’s School of English curriculm. There are many items that I enjoy using as a Coach of Communiative Confidence which are appreciated by Smith’s School of English - Koenji students, one of which is Adjectives 2. The students always participate with enthusiasm and learn alot about describing [...]
Another great item in the Smiths School of English curriculm is Injuries 1. Again it assists students to improve their communicative confidence and provides them with new words for their vocabulary - words that are important for travelers overseas who find themselves needing to visit a doctor, dentist, hospital etc. It is simple enough [...]
March 23, 2008 – 12:59 am
English in Japan is everywhere but at the same time it’s not. In many cases it exists in varying degrees of correctness as decoration on T-shirts and so on, or the “OPEN” and “CLOSE” signs on the stores. From this you can begin to see that there is a real need for Japanese to seek [...]
March 23, 2008 – 12:04 am
So what is good about the Smith’s opportunity? Well, in my case, it allowed me to come back to Japan on my own terms and not at the whim of the company for which I was working. It allowed me to bring my wife back to be near her aging parents and my [...]
Not much to do with Smith’s School of English, but all to do with my personal life here in Japan…My daughter’s high school volleyball team (Yamato Minami) qualified for the national tournament and won their first game today…Yoyogi Stadium…Will be on tv (Fuji TV) at 12:30 tonight….Next game is this Saturday and I will be [...]
It’s springtime again, which means a time of great opportunity for those of us in the Eikaiwa industry. For most of us in the Smith’s system that means setting our Short-Term Achievable Goals to get the ball rolling and drum up some business.
My S.T.A.G. for the spring is a pretty simple one. I [...]
March 17, 2008 – 12:09 am
When I started working in the Smith’s system about 6 years ago, there wasn’t a Smith’s Japanese web site, so I used to get most of my students from flyers that I handed out at train stations. Thanks to Smith’s head office, my school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture now [...]
March 16, 2008 – 11:59 pm
One of my favourite things in my classroom is a cork board which hosts dozens of pictures from around the world. I have a passion for photography and travel, and a few years ago I realised that the bare walls of the Nagaokakyo school were the perfect canvas for displaying some of my favourite travel [...]
With my red man-to-man student on Saturday, I covered the lesson on imperatives. I always get a kick out of the pictures in the Smith’s curriculum. In case of many of them, no imperative warning could possibly save the person shown from sure death or severe injury. A steel I-beam falling from [...]
She has been with me for about six months now. Initially a very shy student who would not initiate a thing in class. She just returned from a 10-day business trip to India and now she is “on fire.” Like “night and day” I say. It is amazing what a trip abroad [...]
Just earlier today I received an email from a former student of mine who is currently living and working in New Zealand and she absolutely loves it!
I keep in touch by email with countless numbers of students but just today I realized how many “international” pen pals I have developed while teaching at Smith’s School [...]
As strange as this may sound…… on Australia Day we have a special event night called “Canada Event Night”! This was unplanned, obviously i am not aware of Aussie holidays. Anyway, we had a very multicultural event night, including Canadians, Australians (my flyer guy), Brazilians and of course Japanese! We had fun playing trivia and [...]
Spring is my favourite season in Japan. After the cold winter, it’s wonderful to get mild weather and to start wearing lighter clothes. I had been wearing a down jacket during the cold period but yesterday I switched to my lighter Smith’s School of English jacket. I prefer wearing it to the down jacket because [...]
Today, 6 of my students, my wife and I went out to have a bowling and karaoke party in Kobe. During this time, each student sung songs in English and lo and behold one of my quietest students belted out several songs with a voice I could not believe. Singing Backstreet Boys, Billy [...]
A 20-year old boy, who will remain nameless, joined my school two months ago to prepare himself for living in the United States for a year. I call him Sly Stone. Why? Well, for those of you old enough to remember the band “Sly and the Family Stone” would understand because he has a very [...]
Yesterday I had two new students who are beginners (pink), but as everyone knows all Japanese students are false beginners. If they were complete beginners they would be like our kids students who cannot read. With a little bit of prompting, they soon become able to handle the grammar forms being taught and [...]
Most successful schools in Japan have good teaching materials whether it’s a textbook, flashcards or other various materials. A good school knows there can always be improvements but it’s important that teachers working for a school know how to use their schools’ system first and foremost. Too many teachers think they always know better and [...]
Students often ask me how they can improve their English…while there are shortcuts to learning anything the true secret to learning anything is simple - desire. Obviously talent, hardwork, practice, tests, friends, traveling all help but in the end desire is the one thing that keeps us going when things get tough. Desire isn’t something [...]
When group lesson students finish their lesson at Smith’s School of English in Tsukaguchi and all head towards the exit to leave, I sometimes say “ladies first”, inviting the ladies to go before the guys. In Japan, it is men first, so to hear me say that to them seems to make them happy, and [...]