September 30, 2007 – 8:35 pm
I think holding events for students outside the classroom is important. Students can have the chance to meet students they may have not met before, use their English outside the classroom and above all, have lots of fun! On top of that, I can have fun too doing stuff like eating delicious food in [...]
September 18, 2007 – 8:46 am
Christmas Party 2006
In December 2006, Smith’s Kyobashi School invited Smith’s Tsukaguchi School to their Christmas party (photos http://www.smithweb.co.jp/sub/tsukaguchi/sub5.shtml) . The party was held at a restaurant called Garb Dressing in Kyobashi, Osaka. I attended with some students, a friend of a student and my wife. There were teachers and students from some other [...]
September 1, 2007 – 12:05 pm
I believe we have an excellent English school curriculum at Smith’s that focuses on things students need work on. I always try to use the “loop”, which is the overriding format for every lesson. It works very well and I use it at Smith’s Tsukaguchi school http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml . I was taught the loop at [...]
August 10, 2007 – 8:34 pm
Last night at Smith’s Tsukaguchi, I was saying goodbye to a student in the entrance when she told me that she enjoyed my lessons. This made me happy.
I really like it when students tell me that they enjoy my lessons. Some tell me I am a good teacher and of course I like that too! [...]
One of my students at Smith’s Tsukaguchi http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml told me he had bought a mini remote controlled helicopter called HoneyBee that you fly indoors. He also told me he had told a coworker about it and that his coworker had also bought one and was enjoying it very much.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Micro-Remote-Control-Helicopter/dp/B000MQKQ0G/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2/202-1630777-4165425
It sounded like a lot of fun! [...]
A little over two years ago I asked a student who had been studying with me for some time if she would be interested in doing language exchange(Japanese-English) with me. She said “yes” and we got started. We have now been doing language exchange for over 2 years, meeting once a week for usually a [...]
Last spring a student who has been studying over 3 years with me at Smith’s Tsukaguchi School was staying at a hospital in Sakai City, Osaka http://www.city.sakai.osaka.jp/foreigner_en/iryou/iryou1.html . She was recovering from an operation. Her sister, also a student at my school who has been studying at my school for over 4 years, mentioned that [...]
I love the Smith’s holidays and the freedom I have to take extra holidays as a Smith’s franchise school owner. The 2007 Smith’s holiday calendar contains 86 days off http://www.sse-franchise.com/calendar2007.shtml . I think that’s amazing. Smith’s is the front runner regards time off for privately owned schools. I can as a school owner control my [...]
I just came back from PIERROT, a hair salon where I get my haircuts. The owner owns 3 shops. I go to the one in Tsukaguchi http://www.hair-magic.co.jp/salons/honten/index.php .
It’s less than 10 minutes by bicycle from my school, Smith’s Tsukaguchi School http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml .
The staff there is very friendly and the service is great. They [...]
My father once told me that the most important thing in life is your health. I absolutely agree with him. If you don’t take care of your body, you will eventually pay for it. That’s a fact.
I am 33 years old and I realize that I can greatly reduce my chances of developing health problems [...]
This month(July) a man came to my school, Smith’s Tsuguchi School http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/tsukaguchi.shtml for a trial lesson. He mentioned that his daughter had recommended Smith’s to him. His daughter wasn’t even a Smith’s student! I was very glad to hear that people were recommending Smith’s and even happier when he decided to join my school!
I [...]
A few months ago a student that I teach at Smith’s Tsukaguchi School invited me, my wife, someone I do flyers with and his girlfriend to lunch at a restaurant at Kobe Fashion Plaza on Rokko Island in Kobe. We had lunch at a buffet-style, organic restaurant there. The food was very good. After that [...]
In June 2007 a woman who is a research worker at a pharmaceudical company joined Tsukaguchi School. She was going to have to give a presentation in English to a visiting guest at her company on July 2nd. She chose the Man to Man Course http://www.smithweb.co.jp/manto.shtml . She said that she had already written [...]
It was June 23rd, 2007. I was coaching a man to man student who has been studying with me over 4 years. She had done all 13 of the Smith’s Routines(stories with questions) and knew them well. I decided to do something I love doing, which is making up my own stories using my imagination [...]
I have been coaching communicative confidence at Smith’s Tsukaguchi School since April 2002 and have used the Smith’s curriculum from the beginning. When I first started at Smith’s the curriculum was not as huge as it is now.
The older curriculum (the “Core” curriculum) was smaller and consisted of ITEMS and ROUTINES. Most of the [...]
At Smith’s Tsukaguchi School, I recently received a fax from head office, written by Mark Smith himself. On the fax Mark wrote:
“Dear Derek,
We were having a look through trial lesson results and came across some interesting numbers.
8 trial inquiries
8 phone calls converted to trials
6 of 7 trial lessons converted to students, 1 trial lesson [...]