Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? What is it?
Well, as it turns out, it’s a very healthy diet consisting of grains, vegetables and beans and avoiding highly processed or refined foods. It also seems to be very popular with many Hollywood celebrities including Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, and Joe Pesci.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet and we can enjoy it right here [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in English School Articles, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot, rewarding job change
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Tagged マクロビオティックの, ロッカ カフェ, 健康食の, 大阪 肥後橋, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 自然食の, 英会話四ツ橋校, 長命種子, 長寿食の
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Today a new student started. She works as a narrator and also teaches Chinese. She is very interesting and fun to coach. Her father is Japanese and mother is Chinese and she grew up in China. Interestingly she has been in Japan for two years just like me. Having grown up [...]
Living in Japan, teaching English and also using Japanese everyday, I sometimes wonder why learning English is important for Japanese people. Japanese is a rich and excellent language that is really all Japanese people need to go about their normal daily lives. Of course people have all kinds of personal reasons to learn [...]
I really like Okamoto. There are so many great restaurants near my school where I can meet students for coffee or just have a great lunch or dinner. One such place is La Post. They serve a great lunch for around 1000 Yen. Great salad with proscuitto, pickles and dressing, great [...]
Yesterday I read a nice posting by Carol McBride from Smith’s School of English in Kamishinjo praising the generosity of Japanese people and I have to agree with her 100%!
http://www.sse-franchise.com/soapbox/200807/01/japanese-generosity/
I have been shown generosity in this country so many times I have lost count!
There are some people here in Japan who have done [...]
I love COSTCO in Japan! Last Sunday we had an appointment to go to there with a former coworker of my wife, his wife and his four-year-old boy. He and his wife had wanted to check out COSTCO and my wife had said that they could go with us. They picked us up by van. [...]
By Derek
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Also posted in English Lesson Plans, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged Add new tag, COSTCO, english, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, shopping, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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One of my previous students recently started up a restaurant near the JR ROKKO MICHI Station. It’s a very new and clean place with a nice bright atmosphere. I have taken some students there a few times and we always have a good time. If you are ever out and about in [...]
The post by Chiharu of the Otsu Smith’s School of English brought into focus the fact that owning and teaching at your own franchise English school does not have to be only for native speakers. And this fact might someday be one thing that will drive more Japanese students to work harder to master [...]
I have to admit that I really prefer the rural areas in Japan to the urban areas and I love how quickly and conveniently one can move between these two using the railway system in Japan!
Recently, thanks to a couple of my students and friends, I had the chance to discover some absolutely stunning areas [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in English School Articles, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged お花見, 吉野山, 大和八木駅, 奈良県, 明日香村, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 桜天国, 石舞台古墳, 英会話四ツ橋校, 近鉄大阪線, 飛鳥時代, 高松塚古墳
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The following is based on Smith’s School of English curriculum Routine 4 Lawson’s text and questions.
Going to Starbucks Coffee in Japan
I stand outside Starbucks Coffee thinking about having something to eat and drink for breakfast. I decide to have breakfast there so I go into the shop. I look for an available table. I find [...]
By Derek
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Also posted in English Lesson Plans, English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Tagged Add new tag, english, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, Starbucks Coffee, teaching, コーヒー, スターバックス コーヒー, スミス英会話塚口故, 英会話スクール
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this past week I was able to take a mini break to head up to Niigata and spend some time with the two people dearest in my life - my wife and son. It’s hard to explain just what it feels like to hold your child in your arms and see them sleep (and [...]
I wanted to go to the hospital and speak to an English speaking doctor, so I asked a student of mine, who is a nurse at Itami City Hospital in Hyogo Prefecture, if she knew any English speaking doctors. She said that a doctor who she works with studied in the U.S.A. and probably speaks [...]
One of my students runs her own izakaya at a station near Smith’s School of English Fuse School and recently I decided to check it out.
I had been finishing up some office work at Smith’s School of English in Fuse on a Monday night when my flyer assistant called me up and asked if I [...]
One thing I really enjoy is helping my students discover new places right in their own towns which they have never been to.
I have lived in Osaka for about 4 years now and do most of my commuting by bicycle. It’s by far the most convenient mode of transportation. Cycling combined with my curiosity [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in English School Articles, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged OCATモール, やまや, オーキャットモール, ミナミホリエ, 世界中から食料を輸入する, 南堀江, 家具屋, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 英会話四ツ橋校, 食料品店, 食料雑貨品店
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I often wonder why Japanese students have so much trouble to speak and understand spoken English. When I eat lunch at Cafe DECO, which is just below my school, and I can’t help but be required to listen to some conversations of young college girls. The cafe is not large and [...]
So if you are thinking about what it takes to build a school, take a look at this video. It shows an example of what I have done after taking over an existing school. The Okamoto school has been open since August 2004 and is currently operating well on the KISS principle and [...]
Usually I try and write stories that inspire others but today I thought I’d break the trend to share something a little more private and special: On May 31st Alex Guy Shepherd was born. If you’d like to take a look at his first steps to becoming the next big movie star please enjoy the [...]
My students are used to me asking this question from time to time in class.
I have made it known to all of my students that I am always interested in meeting them for lunch if they have time and our schedules match.
Generally Tuesdays and Thursdays are not good for me because I have a pretty [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in English School Articles, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged Orange Street, カフェ, カフェバー, ミナミホリエ, レストラン, 北堀江, 南堀江, 喫茶店, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 英会話四ツ橋校
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Just like the great post by Alex covering the wonderful time we had with our students in April 2008 at our Cherry Blossom viewing Party, this one shows me and my students having fun at the Halloween part last year. Smith’s School of English offers so much more for students and teachers alike. [...]
Smith’s School of English 2008 Cherry Blossom Viewing Party.
Just a quick update to my earlier posting about our fun cherry blossom viewing party at Osaka Castle Park on April 6th, 2008!
If you click on this link you can see many pictures and comments about this event
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/sub/horie/sub6.shtml or….. check out our video!
This video was a lot [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in Franchise Owners' Speak, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot
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Tagged 2008, 2009, お花見, 予約する, 会社の宴会, 大阪城公園, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 英会話四ツ橋校
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Chiharu and I had an amazing month at our school, SSE Ohtsu.
We started the month with the second half of our first Golden Week at Smith’s. As Don mentioned in “Golden Week Excursion” and Derek mentioned in “A taste of Canada at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi“, Golden week at Smith’s is wonderful and the [...]
By Edward
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Also posted in English School Articles, SSE Ohtsu Corner, a reward in itself
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Tagged edwardiwaskow, english, golden week, nagasaki, ohtsu, otsu, shiga, 大津, 滋賀, 英会話, 英会話、大津、滋賀、長崎, 英会話大津
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Last weekend I had an appointment to go sailing with my friend Tom. We met at Kobe Marina and got onto the yacht. We prepared the yacht to sail and were ready to go at about 2:00pm. We motored out into Osaka bay and then put up the sails, tightened the ropes and had a [...]
On April 6th, 2008 we had our 2008 Cherry Blossom Viewing Party at Osaka Castle Park.
This event was organized by 5 schools and it was a huge success! I think we had about 100 people attend this event.
The weather could not have been more perfect!
Good food, interesting chats, fun games and overall a very pleasant [...]
By Alex
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Also posted in Franchise Owners' Speak, SSE Fuse Corner, SSE Horie Corner, enjoyed this a lot, teaching: why i do it
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Tagged 2008, 2009, お花見, 予約する, 会社の宴会, 大阪城公園, 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校, 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校, 東大阪市英会話, 英会話四ツ橋校
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Last night I had a fun lesson with two students who confess to really needing English ability. One works for a major Japanese pharmaceutical company in research and often has to meet with Americans and other foreigners and use English to discuss his research. The other student is a 4th year university student [...]
By Al Bartle
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Also posted in English School Articles, Fair to teachers, SSE Okamoto Corner, communicative method, english in japan, enjoyed this a lot, high level students, my high level students, my passion: language, students keep coming
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Tagged Coaches of Communicative Cofidence, Dynamic Techniques to teach English, great teamwork, Smith's Cuirriculum
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With my students last night I decided to check if they understood the meaning of the phrase “the medicine didn’t work”. As I suspected, they did not really understand it. I then gave some examples of how it can be used in place of “it was not effective”. I also introduced the [...]
Japan is truly a nice country in which to live. For the most part the people are very pleasant and a lot has been done to make Japan a comfortable, clean and convenient place to live for all residents. I like the U. S. too but it is difficult to [...]
By Al Bartle
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Also posted in English School Articles, Fair to teachers, SSE Okamoto Corner, a reward in itself, english in japan, enjoyed this a lot, rewarding job change, teaching: why i do it
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Tagged スミス英会話岡本, Life in Japan, Smith's School of English, スミス英会話
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Last night I had a great lesson with two of my newest students, a husband and wife. He is a Japanese engineer and she is a Chinese housewife. They are a very nice couple and get along very well during the class. Their participation is great. They are beginners but I [...]
The laughs are abundant at Smith’s School of English. This week my Saturday 3pm lesson included three students who were tasked with miming some activities to get their partners to guess what they were doing and to use the past continuous tense. It never fails that one of the students does something [...]
Students often ask what steps they can take to become better at English. Of course there is no single answer but if I were pressed to give one, it would be to simply “use” English every chance you get. Though there are not millions of native speakers in Japan, there are a [...]
Yesterday’s 2008 Smith’s School Cherry blossom viewing party ( スミス英会話お花見会 ). Was a great deal of fun for all! Excellent weather, beautiful blossoms sometimes fluttering down like snow and terrific conversation were had by all. Students from the Okamoto, Fuse, Otsu, Horie and Tsukaguchi schools got together to enjoy great food, drinks, conversation, [...]