As an English Teacher working in Japan I move around by train. I used to drive my car around however found that in most cases the trains are faster and much, much cheaper. Most train companies (perhaps all now) offer monthly rail passes or Teiki as they are known here. The railways do of course also [...]
As an English teacher at Smith’s School of English I have a terrific amount of time off every year. Counting, Sundays, Public Holidays and the traditional big three Japanese Holidays, “Golden Week”, “Obon” and “Oshiogatsu”, Smith’s head office and all Smith’s English schools will close down for 85 days in 2010. Sure we have to work Saturdays and yes it [...]
What do Cicadas have to do with English teaching in Japan? Not much at all really but they do mean summer is here. Summer means many different things to many different people. To me at the top of the list summer means cicadas. Did you know that there are about 2,500 known species in the world. [...]
I have been teaching English in Japan now for many, many years. In fact I taught my first lesson with Smith’s School of English back in 1996. In those days I was teaching in Higashi Osaka and these days I teach in Smith’s School of English Kyobashi and Fukushima. After all this time some people [...]
At Smith”s School of English our job is to Coach Communicative Confidence. English Conversation is our tool. We have a challenge. A recent survey of 6,173 students performed by Japan Youth Research Institute found that only 30% of Japanese High School students like to participate in classes where they are asked to talk and that 70 [...]
Hi this is Mark from Smith’s Kyobashi School. (スミス英会話 京橋) It was great to see John’s post about the Nishinomiya Boat Show and although I didn’t actually catch up with John on the day I am sure we were there at the same time. This boat show was scheduled to coincide with the last day of the [...]
There is no doubt that Japan is having trouble with it’s economy. Evidence is obvious and abundant. One sure sign is the ever growing number of empty shop fronts another can be taken from the very words of our English language students within each and every Smith’s School. At Smith’s Kyobashi we have our fair [...]
英会話 Eikaiwa, to me will always be fun. Yes, it is true, it is a study but first of all I enjoy teaching Eikaiwa. I remember a long time ago reading a statement that said “Find a job you love and never work another day in your life” For me that love is Eikaiwa and [...]
English Progress, English translate = English School and STAG. 英会話 上達, 英語訳 = 英語学校 I have been told that many of Smith’s students are reading these English blog pages recently. This of course makes me very, very happy. Today I have written an article for our students. Of course the suggestions made herein may be [...]
At Smith’s we all know we have used for many years the letters CCC. To Smith’s School of English staff these letters mean “Coaches of Communicative Confidence.” Today as I prepared the next school owners seminar I realized that we have now been Coaching Communicative Confidence to many thousands of Japanese for more than 13 [...]
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