Category Archives: rewarding job change

Happy Australia Day!

Today, being January 26 marks Australia Day, the day when the British first fleet arrived at Sydney in 1788 and proclaimed British sovereignty. Japan and Australia have developed a healthy and rewarding friendship over the years and today they are strong partners in areas of trade, tourism and cultural exchange. Many young people from both [...]

Welcome and impressive email from a former student!

Hello everyone, I got a very nice email from an old student who moved to Tokyo from Kobe last year.  He shared a very funny story about conducting business in China so I asked his permission to share his email and he agreed.  What makes this student so very special is his great effort to [...]

Nice to hear English in Japan!

About a month ago I experienced for the first time in about 5 years a Japanese shop assistant in a McDonald’s hamburger shop in Umeda, Osaka speaking to me in English. “Good afternoon Sir, Would you like to see the English menu?” Although I have no problem to use Japanese everyday as I have been [...]

スミス英会話高円寺 Living in Japan

Over the last five or so years I’ve often been asked why I live in Japan when Australia is such a beautiful country with many clean beaches &  mountain retreats close at hand. In addition it has a climate that encourages outdoor activities including a large variety of sport such as golf, tennis, cricket, soccer, [...]

Small but fun New Year’s Get-together!

On Feb. 1, 2011 I suddenly had a cancellation of my 9:00 p.m. man-to-man lesson so I quickly sent out invitations to many of my students.  Of course I knew that, being such short notice, I would not get many ‘takers’.  But happily three of my students joined me.  We had a very nice time [...]

Merry Xmas …. and thanks!

As our last day of coaching commences, it is a good time to look back over the year and give thanks to the many people who make Smith’s School of English such a rewarding and satisfying experience. On behalf of all Tsuruhashi students, I would like to give a big hearty thanks to people such [...]

Steps to Learning to Speak English

It is important for students of English to think about what the steps are deeply themselves in the very beginning before they set out to acquire good English skills.  We as teachers, or as we prefer to call ourselves “coaches of communicative confidence”, can list up the steps and tell the students that these are [...]

McCartney or Lennon?

At Smith’s School English in Okamoto スミス英会話岡本校, in two weeks we will be exploring the question of which Beatle was the most prolific and best songwriter, McCartney or Lennon.  There was a great post on Yahoo about it. ‘Was it John or Paul?’ As you may remember

At Smith’s “TEAM” Really Does Happen!

This week, which was quite busy with a few trials, walk-in inquiries and the usual full load of lessons, I got a special surprise.  When I called in to ask about a student’s lesson, I was informed that a student who had taken a trial at Smith’s School of English -Fukushima (スミス英会話福島校)had decided to join [...]

Time for a nice break!

Last week, John of the Kawanishi School and I went to Ashiya to find a coffee shop and found a nice Italian style shop with outside seating.  With the nice weather these days and nice artistic cafe late (this one had the patter of a leaf in the froth), we could really enjoy a nice [...]

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