I have recently been thinking a lot about which is more important for second language learners: pronunciation or grammar. I have also spoken about this to some of my colleagues – most of which are Japanese and have 10+ years experience with the board of education teaching foreign languages. Whilst most had different ideas about [...]
Summer has arrived, well and truly. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground when it comes to the seasons in Japan. It seems to get cold very quickly and then get hot again very quickly. Shivering through my first experience of minus 5 degree temperatures is definitely not a distant memory! So far, I [...]
I have often heard people refer to Osaka city as ‘North’ Osaka and ‘South’ Osaka. So which one is better? That’s a difficult question indeed. One thing I can say with certainty is that here at the Senriyama branch of Smiths School of English the atmosphere is much quieter and peaceful that the often manic [...]
Osaka is a city of many great museums. Many people may often overlook this city as a major Japanese cultural centre, instead focusing more on Kyoto and Tokyo. However, Osaka more than holds its own when it comes to culture. This is especially good news because Smiths School of English is based right here in [...]
Even though the season has well and truly finished, I thought I should write a bit about the snow skiing in Japan. Rather than wait until the next ski season begins at the end of the year! As an English teacher I get to take time off in Japan. I spent the 3 and a half [...]
One of the great things about Japan is undoubtedly the food. It was immediately apparent how much of a food centric culture Japan has, and thus the preparation, cooking and serving processes are all very well refined. Life size model dioramas of the different meals on display outside many restaurants – very cool. I had [...]
I arrived in Hiroshima in September 2010, the first destination in my relocation to Japan. This was the first place I had been to outside of Australia, not counting an overnight stop over in Taipei, Taiwan. The first thing that I noticed was how clean this bustling city of 1 and a half million people [...]
Bad Behavior has blocked 1333 access attempts in the last 7 days.