Monthly Archives: October 2008

スミス英会話岡本校の生徒と教師が英語で楽しい時を過ごしました Smith’s School of English – Okamoto holds another fun “Night Out” Cafe Event

This week on Monday night I noticed that no one had reserved the 9:00 p.m. lesson time, so I decided to hold a “Night Out” free talking session with as many students as would like to attend.  I emailed many students and was happy to have 6 students attend.  As you can guess, students are [...]

Astronomy Trips to Kyoto and Lessons at Smith’s School of English Kotoen スミス 英会話 甲東園 校

Hey everyone!  Most of you readers probably know by now that my idea of a big telescope is a lot different than most!   I have been interested in astronomy all my life and have made a serious hobby out of testing and writing about state-of-the-art astronomy equipment in Japan.  Anyone interested in buying astronomy equipment at [...]

Easy Advertising  手軽に広告

I love this time of the year in Japan. It’s not too hot or too cold, but just right. These days the temperature varies between about 16 degrees and 26 degrees Celsius and it’s often sunny in the daytime. At night, it cools off and is very comforatble for sleeping. Today before work, I rode [...]

Telephone Conversation Practice: Essential for those working in business

Several of my higher level students have asked me to help them to practice telephone conversation as it is very difficult not being able to see the other person when they are speaking. Seeing the person while talking certainly aids understanding. So to give my students practice in doing this, I have started to list [...]

What’s up?

The other day a student came into the waiting room and was greeted by one of my part-time teachers with a “Hi. What’s up?” as they had met before. My student seemed a little shocked and didn’t know how to respond. Overhearing the conversation I thought that I had better go over it with her [...]

The power of Ghibli

Back when I was still living with my family in Canada, I made it a habit to regularly watch any new anime titles that I could get my hands on. When anime really started to become popular about 10-12 years ago, I was always on a quest to find a good video or DVD to [...]

Are We Recession-Proof?

Yes, I think we are. I worked for a large company here in Japan when the bubble burst. Students kept joining regardless of the large fees they had to pay… That was surprising to me…But I think those days are coming to an end, and this is why we are special…We are Smith’s…We require our [...]

Notes on Note taking, Learning English スミス英会話大津膳所石山

スミス英会話大津の日本語のサイトはここです。 千晴の部屋はここです。英会話無料レッスンはここです。 Keen and creative students can both impress and inspire. As well as teaching students new things about the English language and coaching them to become confident using English, part of our job is to

How to Personalize your School スミス英会話大津石山膳所

スミス英会話大津の日本語のサイトはここです。 千晴の部屋はここです。英会話無料レッスンはここです。 Not personalized for you, but personalized for your students. Another thing I picked up from my part-time work at SSE Nagaoka was this great idea:

the joy of conversation

The greatest thing about my job is a sense of discovery and mystery. We’ve all had jobs that consisted mainly of the routine. Once you’ve mastered the routine, things tend to get a bit on the dull side. Being a conversation teacher means that no two classes are the same as no two students are [...]

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