What a beautiful day it turned out to be for our cherry blossom picnic in the park. The sun was shining and the yakitori was grilling. What better an accompaniment than the greatest of Japanese beers, an Asahi!! So off I went in high spirits ready to kick off the afternoon with some merriment under [...]
January 11, 2008 – 11:15 pm
Isn`t it funny the poeple you meet in this job? It was the first time for me to teach my man to man student at Smiths Kyobashi this year so we spent the first few minutes of the class doing introductions. While we were doing this she asked me where I came from and I [...]
December 18, 2007 – 4:33 am
It’s that time of year and the festive season is fast approaching which means that it is time to have a culture clash in class. I remember first being asked by students what I would be doing for Christmas and after replying that I didn’t have anything in particular planned I would get a grin [...]
October 23, 2007 – 2:44 am
A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Kyobashi Wine and Cheese Party. The highlight of this evening was not only the chance to try a variety of new wines and cheeses but to also have the opportunity to meet and get to know a lot of new [...]
October 21, 2007 – 7:28 pm
Today I had a student who is high level.
ET
We worked through the previous one point rather smoothly and then moved onto the…
ROUTINE
Last week I had covered routine 13 with this student so I took this opportunity to go over reported speech with her to see of she remembered by asking her the last question in [...]
October 8, 2007 – 10:02 pm
I had a high level gentleman today. He is extremely keen and is always fun to teach, taking a digital camera photo of the white board work at the end of the class.
ET
I asked the student whether he remembered the one point from his last lesson and he was easily able to give the answer. [...]
September 15, 2007 – 12:20 am
Today I was ready to teach the item ‘ making requests ‘ to a brand new English school student. As there was no one point from a previous lesson I decided to explore the student`s level a little by getting to know him.
Very soon I realized that the lesson that I had planned to do [...]
September 7, 2007 – 8:11 pm
Today’s English school class was a lesson for 2 students who were pink and orange.
ET
I jumped straight in and asked whether the students remembered their one points from the previous class. Both of the students were able to do it with no problem at all.
ROUTINE
For this part I wanted to review the questions from routine [...]
August 29, 2007 – 6:43 pm
Today was my first Saturday back after a little break. I was glad to see on the schedule that my first student was one that I knew rather well. It allowed us to have a good 5 minute chat about our respective holidays. I was able to tell him about my time back in England [...]
Today`s student was a red level student, who has over the last few months considerably improved in all skill areas. Part of the reason why he has managed to do this is undeniably through his own hard work. I remember when I first taught him and I wrapped up the class and he pulled out [...]
Today’s student was an orange level gentleman.
I had planned to do a routine and then finish with a review of an item.
That was my plan but one of the challenges of being a coach is the unknown and also having to be adaptable and be prepared for each student’s individual needs.
Recently I have been going [...]
Here’s an example of one way i like to use the curriculum phrasal cards in my lessons at Smith’s School of English Kyobashi.
Today’s lesson was a red level gentleman who comes as a man to man student.
ITEM – PHRASAL CARDS 436 – 440
I wrote up on the board;
I saw a man [...]
Today I had a red man-to-man student. This student is an extremely cheerful and bright young lady and she is always a joy to teach.
One thing that I like about this student is that she always takes down notes in her tiny little character notebook. I was curious about what she had been writing in [...]
It was one of those Saturdays that I love to come to work on. Today it was pouring with rain. I love these days. I like knowing i can arrive at work, get in a nice full day, and not have to bother about opening and closing and shaking off my umbrella all day long. [...]
Today`s student was a man to man, pink but with a hint of orange.
ET
The student actually started off the lesson in very good spirits saying that she had seen someone in her gym who looked like me and wondered if it had been me or not. Lo and behold we do both go to [...]
It was the first time for me to meet this student. She is a green level. Prior to this lesson to she had just taken a class with another teacher.
ET – You don’t even lift a finger
From the Smith’s School of English One Point Series
I asked the student whether she lived with her family and [...]
ET
A two person pink lesson. I opened up the lesson by asking ` What`s up? ` I got a blank look from both the students so I wrote this up on the board along with other phrases;
What`s up? Nothing much/Not much/Nothing special/I……..
What`s new?
How are you? Pretty good/Not (too) bad/Not so good/I`m…….
How`s it going?
I then explained the difference [...]
Smith’s School of English Lesson Plan Narrative
Today’s first student was a middle-aged man who is red level. He has been coming to Smiths as a man to man student for a long time and enjoys a challenge in his lessons as well the opportunity to discuss and use his English freely.
ET B.9 - From Smith’s [...]
ET
A3.15 I’m broke
It was my fist time to meet the student today so before jumping right into the one point review I decided to establish trust by asking her what her job was. She answered “I’m …office worker”. OK I thought, a little bit of work will be required getting her to give me [...]