Recently a good friend of mine (Shawn) who is affiliated with the United States military here in Japan was able to rent a cottage located at “Tama Recreation Center,” a nice natural hideout and escape from the Tokyo concrete! For 85 US dollars (cabin rental, not per person) four of us stayed in a [...]
The other day at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi, I asked 2 students studying in the same class when their birthdays were. One of them said “today” (July 28th) and the other said that hers was on July 30th! We laughed because his birthday was on that very day and because their birthdays were so close [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged Add new tag, english, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, teaching, スミス英会話塚口, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話, 英会話スクール
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Hello everyone!
My wife, Yoko and I often go on road trips in Japan and my SUV has rolled over 30 prefectures on as many secluded mountain roads as the navigator and road atlas can help us find. We have become very familiar with countless gorgeous and unusual parts of this country that get absolutely NO foreign [...]
On Sunday July 27, 2008 we had our Smith’s School of English Barbeque Event at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park in Osaka.
The park staff there is wonderful in arranging everything and making sure you are at your table on time and out of there when your time is up!
They really have a nice setup for having [...]
SOME STUDENTS AT DON BEI in June.
SEPTEMBER 7th GET TOGETHER
SMITH’S SCHOOL OF ENGLISH – KOENJI
BY DEMAND WE ARE ARRANGING TO HAVE ANOTHER GET TOGETHER OF
STUDENTS AND THEIR FRIENDS ETC AT IZAKAYA DON BEI - KOENJI
IT WILL START AT 6:00 PM ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7th, AND INCLUDING DRINKS AND FOOD WILL COST 3,000 YEN [...]
On Sunday, July 27th, 2008 Smith’s Tsukaguchi, Okamoto, Ohtsu, Fuse and Horie Schools held a joint barbecue event together at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park in Osaka, Japan. It was our second event together. We enjoyed some nice food and played games in English. We had a great time!
We should do more events together! It really is [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged Add new tag, barbecue, english, franchise, hamburgers, Japan, jobs, Osaka, Smith's School of English, teaching, Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, スミス英会話塚口故, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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Last Friday I took 3 of my students out to lunch. It was to celebrate a few different things. “M” is heading over to Canada for 3 - 6 months to further improve her English speaking skills. She has been a student of mine since the very beginning. She has become a friend who I [...]
Hello - My name is Helena and, along with my husband, we own Smiths School in Nakamozu. I wanted to share my experience of living in Japan and in particular being a mum. If there are any Smith’s teachers out there thinking of starting a family I hope this will help!
When we first moved to [...]
At SSE Otsu, some students have a little difficult time, asking questions or saying anything such as “Really?” to keep the flow of conversation. Then, my thoughts flashed back to my high school days. I was taking English conversation lessons and every week I found myself stumbling over a word and decided not to say [...]
Hello, everyone!
Since late April I have been wearing the Smith’s T-Shirt at least 3 days a week. Of course, at the very least it is important to wear it when you’re out doing flyers or postcard exchanges. But recently it sure has been hot and we are very fortunate to have jobs that [...]
Although the lessons are the core of what we do at Smith’s School of English, we also like to give our students other chances to let the English they are learning really “live”. So we often have special events and invite our students, their families and friends. Japan has so many great attractions [...]
When I first moved to Japan, the thing I missed most was the live music scene that I enjoyed back home in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. But I have been slowly uncovering the ive music scene in and around Kyoto, as has Jim in Tokyo. Many annual festivals feature free live outdoor music, such as Taiko [...]
By Edward
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Posted in Living in Japan, SSE Ohtsu Corner, english in japan, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged arashiyama, english, esl, kyoto, live, music, ohtsu, otsu, shiga, 大津, 大津英会話, 嵐山, 嵐山英会話, 滋賀, 滋賀英会話, 石山英会話, 膳所英会話, 英会話, 英会話大津, 英会話嵐山, 英会話石山, 英会話膳所
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A heartfelt congratulations to Haruna and her husband on the birth of their son! The second of three summer “Hashimoto Babies!”
jim
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sse-franchise.com%2Fsoapbox%2F200807%2F21%2Fbaby-number-two%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Baby+Number+Two%21′;
addthis_pub = ’ssefranchise’;
“K” is a 24 year-old boy that took a trial lesson with me about a month ago. He was so nervous that he made ME nervous. I put him in “Pink Level Only” because I was sure he couldn’t cope in a group lesson… He joined, to my surprise… He came for his [...]
At a seminar that we had in Osaka, Mark Smith, founder of the company, mentioned that we (the franchisees) are Smith’s. We are, and the future of the company depends on us.
Derek
Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi
What I have to say about it.
＜スミス英会話は“一丸”です！＞ ２００８年７月１９日（土）
スミス英会話の創設者であるマーク・スミスは各校のオーナー・講師のセミナーで私たちに言いました。 「スミス英会話は家族のようなものです。 私たちの将来は私たち一人ひとりの頑張りにかかっています。」
デレック
スミス英会話塚口校
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sse-franchise.com%2Fsoapbox%2F200807%2F19%2Fwe-are-smiths%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘We+Are+Smith%26%238217%3Bs%E3%80%80%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B9%E8%8B%B1%E4%BC%9A%E8%A9%B1%E3%81%AF%E2%80%9C%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%B8%E2%80%9D%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%EF%BC%81′;
[...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged Add new tag, Englishh, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口、英会話スクール
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A few months ago one of my students mentioned to me that she would be traveling to America in a few months and asked me if I would help her to finalize all of the reservations with the hotel, tour bus and rental car by phone.
She would gather all of the information by herself [...]
By Alex
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, a reward in itself, enjoyed this a lot, teaching: why i do it
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Tagged 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, 月謝制英会話短期旅行基礎英語コース(マンツーマン）, 月謝制英会話短期電話基礎英語コース（マンツーマン）, 東大阪市英会話, 短期月謝制コース, 英会話四ツ橋校
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Well, it is time again for another fun joint Smith’s Event. Five Smith’s schools are planning to hold another fun event on July 27th. Fuse, Horie, Tsukaguchi, Otsu and Okamoto Schools will participate in this event this year. We are hoping that it will be as much fun as the Cherry Blossom [...]
Hey everyone! For those interested in wine and a little familiar with Canada have probably heard about the famous, semi-desert region in South-Central British Columbia called the Okanagan Valley. This area gets almost no rain and temperatures easily reach 40 degrees and bone dry in summer!! Not bad for Canada, eh?
The Okanagan has many pristine fjord lakes [...]
Adrian told me how he does the routines and I have been using his technique more and more with the students and though they complain a little at first, they also laugh and seem to have a good time. Having to start over from the beginning every time they make a small mistake makes [...]
As you might have read in my previous posts - I’m a big believer in homework. Getting students to touch English outside of the classroom isn’t just important, it’s necessary for improvement. So each week, regardless of the students level, I ask them to do something for me. It could be few sentences, write an [...]
Last weekend I went to play golf in Mie prefecture with three SakaiHigashi Smith students. We are all golf enthusiasts and often discuss the finer points of the game during lessons. As we all live in the Sakai City area we decided put our money where our mouths were and play for the Sakai Cup. [...]
I recently organized a murder mystery roleplay for my higher level students. It was on a Sunday morning and it worked really well. If anyone is interested in organizing a similar event then I would be happy to help. After the roleplay, we went for lunch and I introduced a lot of [...]
Whenever friends come to visit in me in Japan, I love the opportunity to get out and about with them to show off this wonderful country. The culture, food, fashion, friendliness, size, shopping………I could go on! It has not failed to impress yet, with some friends now making annual visits. It is always great to [...]
…why some people don’t write a post every now and then…I wish more people from the Kanto Area would have something to say…Surely there is something to say…
jim
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sse-franchise.com%2Fsoapbox%2F200807%2F13%2Fsometimes-i-wonder%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Sometimes+I+Wonder%26%238230%3B’;
addthis_pub = ’ssefranchise’;
It is amazing at the types of people we come across. Yesterday I had a trial lesson with a man who works in Akihabara (the “Electric Town” of Tokyo). He is in the import/export business of musical instruments and plays the bass. My first career was also in music as a trombonist. [...]
Last Wednesday I went to a Japanese class I attend on Wednesday mornings in the city that I live in, Amagasaki City in Hyogo Prefecture. As always, I took a bus from a bus stop near my home to Hanshin Amagasaki Station. When I got on the bus, I said good morning to the bus [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged english, franchise, franchises, Japan, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 兵庫県, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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Today I had a really fun lesson with my “Very Eager Student!”
Recently we had just finished studying the various ways of telling time and what we each do at certain times on certain days so today I decided to use the game of battleship to have some fun and review these two points.
The grid [...]
Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? What is it?
Well, as it turns out, it’s a very healthy diet consisting of grains, vegetables and beans and avoiding highly processed or refined foods. It also seems to be very popular with many Hollywood celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, and Joe Pesci.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet and we can enjoy it right here [...]
By Alex
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Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot, rewarding job change
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Tagged マクロビオティックの, ロッカ カフェ, 健康食の, 大阪 肥後橋, 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, 自然食の, 英会話四ツ橋校, 長命種子, 長寿食の
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As most English teachers will agree, there really is no substitute for hard work if you want to master a language. Sometimes from some of my students I get the feeling that what they really want is some kind of magic pill or shot that, when administered, would enable them to start speaking like a [...]
One of the greatest things the internet offers to me is CHAT. I absolutely love it. I can write short messages while I’m doing something else (I’m actually chatting with a student as I type this) and take my time in answering people’s questions and queries. With my parents being thousands of miles away I [...]