January 21, 2008 – 4:41 am
Today I really took notice of a bit of interesting culture that has gradually and naturally worked its way into our lobby here at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi. For at least as long as I’ve been here there has been a rather cute bear sitting in a basket perched ontop of the counter in [...]
January 17, 2008 – 10:56 pm
Recently I was asked about the process for including photos in Soapbox posts. I figured why not post it up here so everyone can benefit? It’s as quick and easy as making links in your post once you know the process.
It’s important to note that the pictures that can be added to Soapbox [...]
September 11, 2007 – 12:55 am
I’m just sitting here in the lobby of the Kyobashi English school doing some work at the computer and two students come in for their 5 O’Clock class. They don’t usually come at this time of day so I was a bit surprised and also happy to see them. After chatting with them [...]
September 8, 2007 – 9:16 pm
The recent Thursday, September 6th 2007 curriculum training event at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi head office was a huge success. This one was set on a weekday in the morning to accommodate those who have other obligations during our regularly scheduled weekend events. It was attended by a tight, focused group of [...]
September 3, 2007 – 2:03 am
One Point – Bless you.
Easiest One point to review in my opinion. After greeting the student I simply sneeze. The English school student immediately responded with the last lesson’s one point: “Bless you.” She has a smile on her face from passing the impromptu quiz and I know that we started the lessons [...]
August 31, 2007 – 12:56 am
Last Monday I had a great time going on a picnic with some students and another staff member, Tim, from the Kyobashi School. We were all able to take the day and go out to a natural river area as it was a national holiday. This is actually the [...]
August 23, 2007 – 7:25 pm
Yesterday I had the opportunity to coach a lesson for a student on working through Smith’s Travel Course. This is one of three short term courses that are focused on one specific area of English conversation. This particular student will be traveling abroad at the end of September so she has a specific [...]
August 3, 2007 – 10:35 am
The July 29th Smith’s School of English seminar took place as planned in the Tokyo area. This event was hosted by the owners of the Azamino School. Not only did they make their school area available for head office staff and other school owners to gather, but there was [...]
Recently i had some friends visit me from America. They stayed with me in my apartment for just less than 3 weeks. I was really glad to see them since we all went to our own corners of the world after graduating college as most people do. June is a pretty busy month. [...]
Hello all,
Yesterday I took a day off!
Some friends of mine are visiting from America for a few weeks so I rearranged my schedule a bit in order to show them around. It’s pretty nice that I was able to do so with relatively little notice. Thanks office staff members and Kyobashi coaches for [...]
Just finishing up here at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi tonight.
One of our coaches just finished telling me about how enjoyable one of here lessons was in particular today, that’s just nice for me to hear. Apparently this student is going to interviews to work as a secretary and had lots to say about it [...]
Hello,
Gavin here. We’ve just received our own soap box here at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi. I’ve been working here for about 2 years now and as time passes I continue to enjoy the relaxed, professional environment more and more. Kyobashi is the location of the Smith’s School of English franchise system head office, but [...]
Clarity
Franchisees gathered together at Smith’s Azamino for the March Seminar held in the Kantou Area. We at head office are extremely pleased to see that the system has grown to the point where repeat seminars held at different locations are a standard fixture in our system. The main topics for discussion were largely [...]
ET
A1.57 We’re behind schedule.
I always enjoy drawing out my ET in a natural conversational manner. It might be a bit non-standard, but for this particular One Point I start the lesson off with a bit of chat. I ask about the students’ days and one student tells me that it was another [...]
March 16, 2007 – 11:38 pm
After a much deserved Christmas break, and some time to get back up to speed with the English Coaching business, Smith School of English Franchise owners gathered together on February 25th for our first seminar of 2007 held at Smith’s Kyobashi, Osaka head offices. Feedback and requests from the floor showed us that everyone [...]
January 16, 2007 – 5:10 am
Gavin Bielski (Teacher, Smith’s School of English - Kyobashi)
Teaching English in Japan has been an incredible learning experience for me. I studied Japanese in Colleges including Kansai Gaidai so I have some idea what it’s like to work toward not only grammatical understanding, but actual functional mastery of a foreign language. I had [...]
October 16, 2006 – 7:32 pm
Smith’s School of English holds eight training events per year. These events are free to Smith’s English school franchise owners. If you are not a franchisee and wish to attend please contact Smith’s School of English for an invitation.