No- not the British Broadcast Corporation. I am being featured on a profile piece on Biwako Broadcasting, the local cable network in Shiga prefecture. I thought some of my students and friends might like to catch it live. I don’t know if the channel is available everywhere in Japan or only in Shiga, but don’t [...]
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 [...]
Yesterday, one of my long-time students showed up with a short essay she wrote about her experience the past weekend. I want to share it because it is quite impressive. There wasn’t much to correct. It was nearly perfect. Wow! Very impressive! I like to think that several years of studying with me has helped [...]
Language is an important tool. Yes, it is just a tool but as you know having the right tool makes all the difference! You can spend hours trying do something but if you have the right tool, you can finish in minutes. Being able to speak the language when you go travel somewhere or join [...]
As an English teacher in Japan, students often ask me why they can’t seem to become better at speaking English or cannot improve more quickly. There are many obstacles but the most important reason is
Life in Japan is actually very good. I can’t imagine a safer and better place to live. Since the major earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, I have gotten so many emails from friends in the U.S. And they worry so much about me and my family. It is heartening. But actually, Japan is a [...]
As more and more Japanese companies are now requiring both existing and future employees to achieve a significant T.O.E.I.C score, the Smith’s School of English website is providing T.O.E.I.C lessons for all concerned students of the English language. For the latest T.O.E.I.C lesson press HERE. These lessons are professionally constructed by Al Bartle from Smith’s [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
There are many skills students musts learn to be able to really communicate in English. They have to be able to explain about themselves in English and describe their homes, family and their environment in English. Surprisingly this requires
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