Category Archives: English School Articles

Smith’s School of English offers what I want

Two weeks ago a student shared with me an entry in her diary and both Jerry and I were quite impressed so we asked her if she would be willing to share it on Soapbox with everyone. Thankfully she agreed. While I have made some minor corrections to smooth things out and impress upon us [...]

Fresh and Fascinating

I recently did a soapbox posting about using a contemporary event with great popular appeal as the subject of a lesson at my English conversation school 英会話, Smith’s School of English, Kawanishi スミス英会話川西校. This made for a really successful and very popular lesson. My lesson featuring the (not quite total) success of Japanese figure skater Mao Asada at [...]

have a little fun

One of my favorite expression is “Laughter is the best medicine.” I suppose I got my humor from my father. He was always a great storyteller and I guess a little bit of him rubbed off on me. While I have some good memories of England as a child I think that to live in [...]

My Japanese lessons – The drama continues…

So as I have mentioned before I have just recently started to take Japanese lessons. I really am starting a square one, therefore, a bit overwhelmed at times. Yes, I have lived in Japan for 2 years and yes, I have seen and learned a small amount of Japanese words since I have arrived. My [...]

choo-choo

People often say that having a child is the greatest gift you can receive. At first it might not seem like it though. The first few months new parents are struggling to adjust to their new lifestyle and trying to figure things out. Slowly but surely somehow you get a handle on things. Our son [...]

Hamburger Night Is Back!

I love the work that I do for Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi  (スミス英会話 塚口校) , my English conversation school (英会話スクール), located  in Tsukaguchi (塚口), Amagasaki City (尼崎市), Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県), Japan.  However at the end of my working week, Saturday night, I love having my wife’s delicious hamburgers! Saturday night is “Hamburger Night”. You can read about [...]

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers

I love that quote. Recently one of my friends wrote it on his facebook status. When I read it I wondered if I was just sitting in the middle of the track. It’s march now and I decided that I needed to reassess the year so far to see how well I’ve really been doing. [...]

The Lesson Sandwich

“Wait a minute,” I said to my friend, “How is the start of an Smith’s lesson like a piece of bread?”

スミス英会話高円寺 How Many English Words Are There?

An often asked question at Smith’s School of English Koenji (スミス英会話高円寺) is “ How many words are in the English language?”, which is similar to asking the question “How many metres are in a piece of string?”
Throughout the world there are over 6500 languages spoken, yet only about 1000 of them have a dictionary [...]

Monkeys… Arashiyama, My Favourite Place in Kyoto

Living in Japan we get a lot of visitors from home. My sister has visited, my parents, friends from home, friends from university, even friends from other parts of Japan. I love showing people around, being their local guide. Giving my friends and family a tour of the places I love and introducing them to [...]

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