At my Smith’s School in Fukushima, there are half a dozen guys who come and study together, sponsored twice every week by their employer. The lessons are always very animated and enjoyable because they are so competitive with each other. It is clear that they enjoy their jobs and are very happy working together.
The other [...]
Hello, everyone.
As partner to Mark Smith in the Smith’s School of English company as well as a multiple Smith’s Franchise owner, I habitually read the SSE Soapbox and do so with great pleasure. It is obvious our Smith’s Franchise Team is very happy and that everyone enjoys their work very much.
Most of us like to write [...]
Everyone, I just wanted to let you know that Michael starts semi-F/T as my manager at the Smith’s Fukushima school, just as Heidi is my F/T manager at my Smith’s School in Kotoen. Michael will attend the Curriculum Training Seminar on Routines at Head Office Thursday April 10th and I urge all of you [...]
I am pleased to introduce my new semi-F/T teacher, Michael Bosman from Australia to my Smith’s School in Fukushima. Michael is a professional teacher in New South Wales and I am very pleased to welcome him to the team. He will assume most of the teaching hours while Graham and I each keep [...]
At long last it appears winter is on the way out. That’s good news for all of us, in part because Japan is such a nice place to be in the spring. But also people will renew their feeling to study and learn and, considering the changes the industry has experienced in the [...]
February 25, 2008 – 7:23 am
Last week I started the ‘B’ section of the 1-points with a class I’ve been teaching for some time at my Smith’s School in Fukushima. It was refeshing and satisfying to hear the following direct quote produced by one of the charming students:
I prefer Smith’s School in Fukushima to other English schools because I [...]
February 17, 2008 – 7:25 pm
Valentine’s Day has come and gone once again and it always amazes me how much more intense the chocolate-buying process has become. I went into the special event floor of two major department stores and was completely overwhelmed by the number of women in the process of choosing the right chocolates for their favorite [...]
February 10, 2008 – 5:44 am
In reference to the Smith’s Curriculum 1-point, I’d love to work at my Smith’s School in Kotoen everyday but I can’t because my other Smith’s Franchise in Fukushima is also very busy and requires the same amount of due diligence.
Both of my schools are wonderful places to work at largely because of the wide variety [...]
December 18, 2007 – 5:47 am
Just the other day, Graham and Calvin, two main teachers at my Smith’s School of English franchise in Fukushima, hosted a Christmas Party for all the kids there! It was a huge success: 24 children, 9 moms and a ton of presents and treats.
Everyone had a really great time and I congratulate [...]
September 25, 2007 – 1:38 am
Everyone! Take a look at your calendars for September and October! You’ll see that THREE Mondays are taken out for holidays! Of course this is great for many, but your Monday students might worry about getting their lessons in!
Encourage all your students to ask for and take their make-up lessons. They [...]
September 17, 2007 – 4:26 am
Recently the cutest little thing happened at both my Smith’s School Kotoen and Fukushima Franchises. At both schools, I was working on a supplementary practice lesson which reviews and solidifies the use of present perfect continuous tense in daily usage.
Both students had commented several times that they thought the tense was very difficult and [...]
August 25, 2007 – 5:24 am
At my Smith’s School of English in Fukushima, I feel very fortunate to have an extra large, 1.8m-long whiteboard and with many colored markers, it is an enjoyable mission to fill the entire board during the lesson.
One of my incredibly charming Monday night students has the most interesting study habit. She takes out [...]
August 15, 2007 – 7:50 am
A week before the Obon break, one of the students at my Smith’s School of English Fukushima franchise in Osaka was having a little difficulty with one of the 1-points in the B-section: When I was ______ years old, I wanted to ______ but I couldn’t because ______ . Well, after modeling a [...]
Recently, I met a student at my Smith’s Kotoen franchise for the first time. He is a mature, professional man and although I have met him only once, he seems to be very intelligent and quick to learn.
I started out a little different than usual as I had been informed this man has been [...]
I used to have a student at my Smith’s Fukushima School whose family originally came from Kumihama-cho in the north of Kyoto. I was up there this weekend to look at Kinosaki Onsen, Amanohashidate and take in the fireworks festivals at Ayabe and Maizuru. It’s so pleasant along the Sea of Japan Coast.
The [...]
This weekend has our first national holiday since Golden Week and it marks the beginning of Festival Season which Yoko and I revel in every year.
One Monday student at my Smith’s School in Fukushima was quite disappointed last week to learn that lessons would be canceled for the holiday. You should have seen the [...]
Today Heidi had a trial lesson at Smith’s School of English Kotoen which made us feel really good. A wonderfully charming potential student came in to meet with us. The reason she phoned up Smith’s for her Trial Lesson was because she liked the way we said, “Good morning! Thank you and [...]
Tonight at my Fukushima, Osaka based English school something really interesting came out of my lesson with a very charming 72-year-old dentist: During Let’s Talk ‘Hometowns’ which is a lesson designed to use various methods of inquiry to arrive at an understanding of a new friend’s hometown, he asked, “How many different ways [...]
I’ve been with Smith’s since the beginning. I used to have a high school job in Osaka, and when I met Mark Smith back in mid-1999, it was a simple decision to open my first part-time franchise in Koshien. I say part time because throughout the entire ownership of my first franchise I kept working [...]
Hello, everyone!
Those who know me wouldn’t be surprised to see pictures of me with giant, cutting edge telescopes standing around everywhere. Neither would anyone be shocked to hear me talk about them like I was possessed nor roll their eyes to see me sitting in Star bucks with my third double espresso trying to solve [...]
It took me a long time and a lot of experience in business to realize the profit and lifestyle potential in multiple school ownership within the Smith’s School of English franchise system. For many years I ran just the one franchise and that was Smith’s School Koshien however I sold that school on to a [...]