Monthly Archives: February 2009

My TEAM at Smith’s School of English

スミス英会話奈良西大寺校の講師が書いた記事。日本語はこちらへ On February 22, 2009 we had our first seminar of the year at Smiths School of English and as always it was a very informative and encouraging presentation by Mark Smith. Several topics were covered such as new developments in the system and the general business outlook for 2009, both the positive and the [...]

スミス英会話大津 Teaching Techniques: Eliciting English

スミス英会話大津 日本語のサイト 先生のブログ チハルの部屋 英会話無料レッスン ここです My interpretation of Smith’s School of English Instructor Training 101: becoming a teacher takes years, but to coach students to confidence takes care, support and a good environment. After years of coaching English both at Smith’s School of English in Ohtsu, Shiga and at a big chain school in Kusatsu I have learned that the key to [...]

Movies with a Message

I started receiving emails from Participant Media.  I began receiving their newsletter after I saw the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, on global warming. It has information on very interesting matters. This month the newsletter introduced several movies and books which touch on socially important issues that we as human beings need to be aware of. [...]

New Sign for Smith’s School of English – Okamoto

Wow! That was fun! I just finished making and setting up a new sign on the street in front of my school.  My school is on the 2nd floor above a crepe shop called L’air de Temps and a coffee house named Cafe Deco in Okamoto.  It is a popular spot as it is about [...]

Exam Time at Ikoma

Here in Ikoma, we are having the annual JAPEC test for out kids classes.  It is voluntary for all students, but a large number choose to take the test.  The kids all love it, too.  This year, however, I noticed that the level is substantially higher than last year.  I helped them prepare based on [...]

Franchise owners helping each other

This morning I did my first distribution of flyers at Kawanishi Noseguchi Station with the kind assistance of Derek, owner of SSE Tsukaguchi. In fact, it was a lot more than help; he was a great teacher. In return, I’m going to help him with flyers on Friday. Working as a pair made the job [...]

Quality vs. Quantity

It seems that in life we often have to choose between quantity and quality. As a child my mind focused on quantity – I wanted more toys, more candy, more everything. Why have just one great toy when I could have lots of good ones? In school it was the same way – teachers always [...]

リクウエストをする能力は大事ですね The Ability to Make Requests is So Important!

I think that one of the best lessons in the Intermediate level is the lesson on “Making Requests”.  The students really cannot get too much practice at doing this.  The number and variety of such requests is limitless and makes for a great lesson.  The example list using “verb + topic” is very useful and [...]

Our Welcome to Kawanishi Franchise

Megumi and I want to thank the Mark and the franchise members we met at the seminar on Sunday for all the kindness and enthusiam with which we were met. We already feel that we are members your community. Thanks again John and Megumi

Local Promotion: Hagaki Koukan ( 葉書交換 ) Postcard Exchange In Your Local Area

Smith’s School of English Franchisees – Y’all have to read this!!  This will be of interest to any of you conducting or planning to start a local promotion campaign in your area. A few weeks ago I was approached by two staff members of a large sports complex, actually the largest of it’s kind in Fukushima, [...]

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