During the Smith’s Golden Week holiday, I took a break from my enjoyable work at my school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi in Tsukaguchi, Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, and made a trip to Canada with my wife. We stayed with my parents in my hometown and had a great time. We saw family and friends, ate great [...]
There is a cute little bakery near my English conversation school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi, and my home in Tsukaguchi, Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. It is called Feinbrot. They make absolutely delicious croissants and other things there. I love going there on Sunday mornings, picking up some croissants and pastries, then biking back home to have them [...]
On April 6, 2008 Smith’s Tsukaguchi, Okamoto, Fuse, Horie and Otsu schools held a cherry blossom viewing party(hanami) together at Osaka Castle Park in Osaka. We had a great time! My school brought 23 people and a total of over 80 people attended the event! I arrived early in the morning (at about 7:00am) and [...]
Last week I gave a free trial lesson at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. My trial student joined! I asked her how she had found out about my school. She said that she had first seen me doing flyers at Hankyu-Tsukaguchi station and had received a flyer there two [...]
March 17, 2008 – 12:09 am
When I started working in the Smith’s system about 6 years ago, there wasn’t a Smith’s Japanese web site, so I used to get most of my students from flyers that I handed out at train stations. Thanks to Smith’s head office, my school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture now [...]
Spring is my favourite season in Japan. After the cold winter, it’s wonderful to get mild weather and to start wearing lighter clothes. I had been wearing a down jacket during the cold period but yesterday I switched to my lighter Smith’s School of English jacket. I prefer wearing it to the down jacket because [...]
When group lesson students finish their lesson at Smith’s School of English in Tsukaguchi and all head towards the exit to leave, I sometimes say “ladies first”, inviting the ladies to go before the guys. In Japan, it is men first, so to hear me say that to them seems to make them happy, and [...]
Today I bought some airline tickets and travel insurance to go to Canada with my wife during a coming Smith’s School of English holiday. I bought them a local H.I.S. travel agency, not far from my Smith’s School of English in Tsukaguchi, Amagaski City. The service is excellent and one of the staff members can [...]
A student of mine at Smith’s School of English in Tsukaguchi, who has been studying with me for about 4 years, does all of the English to Japanese translations on my school’s web site for me. We also do language exchange and exchange e-mail in addition to her lessons with me at Smith’s. She does [...]
February 25, 2008 – 12:46 am
Yesterday I attended a Smith’s seminar at the Smith’s head office in Osaka. It was great to see fellow franchisees there and talk with them. As always, I had a great time and learned very interesting things from Mark Smith. He really cares about our success. Mark, who is already a very successful foreigner in [...]
February 18, 2008 – 8:25 pm
Last Sunday I and my wife went to Splendido, an Italian restaurant on the first floor of The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Umeda, Osaka http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Osaka/Dining/Splendido/Default.htm . We sometimes go there for the Italian Buffet which is on Sundays between 11:30am and 2:00pm. We love going there because for a reasonable price, we can enjoy many [...]
February 5, 2008 – 11:29 pm
Cell phones in Japan are amazing. With my cell phone I can send email messages, access the internet and take quality photos, amongst other things. If I wanted, I could get a cell phone with TV! Now for me, being able to send email messages from my cell phone with nice pictures is the best. [...]
January 26, 2008 – 11:04 am
A few days ago I biked to a new Starbucks Coffee shop at Tsukashin, a shopping center conveniently located in Tsukaguchi not to far from home and my school, the Smith’s Tsukaguchi franchise. I had what I usually order at Starbucks Coffee, which is a cinnamon roll, scone and “tall” coffee. As always, all were [...]
January 11, 2008 – 7:34 pm
A man to man student who has been studying with me for over 4 years gave me some compliments the other day. She said that if her teacher hadn’t been me, she wouldn’t have gotten to where she is today with her English. She also said that she was lucky to have met a great [...]
January 7, 2008 – 3:39 am
On November 23, 2007 I went to Kyoto City with some students, a student’s wife and my own wife to see the Japanese Maple color change. A student who went filmed us with his video camera and took some pictures. Later he prepared a DVD with the videos and pictures on it. Yesterday he biked [...]
December 26, 2007 – 8:27 pm
On December 25th all students from my school, Smith’s Tsukaguchi franchise in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, received Christmas cards by postal mail. All cards included a hand-written message from me, thanking them for studying at Smith’s and wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I also included a Christmas present, a Starbucks [...]
December 16, 2007 – 8:44 pm
On December 9th, 2007 I, my wife and 2 students from Smith’s Tsukaguchi School in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture went to Osaka City to see Mysteries of the Human Body http://www.jintai.co.jp/index_top.html at Umeda Sky Building. We first had brunch at Starbucks Coffee. We relaxed while having tasty food and drinks. As always I had [...]
November 26, 2007 – 11:24 pm
It is normally rare to hear Japanese people say something to me in English outside my school, but over the last 4 days Japanese people said something to me in English 2 times! That’s amazing! The first time was last Sunday at a Starbucks Coffee shop in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. I, my wife and [...]
November 18, 2007 – 8:23 pm
Last Saturday after work I and my wife went to the movies with a student of mine. He had invited us and we had happily accepted! He picked us up in his car. We went to MOVIX ROKKO on ROKKO ISLAND in Kobe. We watched The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon. http://thebourneultimatum.com/ It was [...]
November 13, 2007 – 11:33 pm
I do flyer exchange with some local businesses such as a travel agency, an Okonomiyaki restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, a hair salon and a piano school. Some, like the hair salon and Okonomiyaki restaurant, have even let me put up laminated Smith’s posters on their walls. How nice!
I get my hair cut at the [...]
November 8, 2007 – 2:13 am
I often go to Starbucks Coffee at a shopping mall (a “Carrefour”) in Amagasaki City by bicycle. As I am a regular customer, some of the staff know me. Recently one of the staff told me(in Japanese) that the shop there would be open until November 11th then closing and that a new shop would [...]
November 6, 2007 – 10:48 am
My wife works in a dental clinic. One of the staff, a Japanese lady, will be getting married soon in Japan. She has a sister that lives in Canada who is married to a Canadian man. Her sister will be coming to her wedding in Japan with her Canadian husband, who doesn’t understand Japanese. The [...]
November 1, 2007 – 11:42 pm
Today I will give my first lesson at 4pm. I started the day by doing some flyers in the morning, then I was free to do what I wanted until 4pm. I slept a bit then biked over to a mall about 15 minutes from home. I took my time. The weather was great and [...]
October 29, 2007 – 2:26 am
Last week a student of mine asked me for a brochure to give to her friend who is interested in studying English. Great! Then today, another student showed up to her lesson with a friend of hers, who asked for brochures for her and her friend, who are interested in studying English too! Wow! Today’s [...]
October 24, 2007 – 11:40 pm
It has been a great day today so far. First I got up a bit before 6:00am, had breakfast and went out and handed out flyers at a train station from about 7:10am to 9:00am. As always I greeted people with “good morning”, ” hello” or “how are you”. Some people kindly replied and that [...]
October 22, 2007 – 12:04 am
Halloween is part of my culture in Canada and so I decided to put up some Halloween decorations at my school for my students and me. I bought a real-looking plastic jack-o’-lantern, which I put in the entrance. Next to it I put a goblin puppet that laughs when you squeeze the mouth inside! This [...]
October 17, 2007 – 9:53 am
On October 14th I and my wife attended the latest Smith’s seminar in Osaka with a couple dozen fellow Smith’s franchisees. Smith’s seminars are great. I get a chance to talk with fellow franchisees/coaches of communicative confidence from different Smith’s schools and hear about the latest news in the system. Seminars also remind me [...]
October 10, 2007 – 11:32 pm
Last year and this year were incredible years for my school regarding new student signups. I couldn’t have done it without the Smith’s head office team and system and support from students and family. I thank all for helping me to reach this point in my life. A special thank you to Mark Smith, a [...]
September 30, 2007 – 8:35 pm
I think holding events for students outside the classroom is important. Students can have the chance to meet students they may have not met before, use their English outside the classroom and above all, have lots of fun! On top of that, I can have fun too doing stuff like eating delicious food in [...]
September 18, 2007 – 8:46 am
Christmas Party 2006
In December 2006, Smith’s Kyobashi School invited Smith’s Tsukaguchi School to their Christmas party (photos http://www.smithweb.co.jp/sub/tsukaguchi/sub5.shtml) . The party was held at a restaurant called Garb Dressing in Kyobashi, Osaka. I attended with some students, a friend of a student and my wife. There were teachers and students from some other [...]