Students often ask me how they can improve their English…while there are shortcuts to learning anything the true secret to learning anything is simple - desire. Obviously talent, hardwork, practice, tests, friends, traveling all help but in the end desire is the one thing that keeps us going when things get tough. Desire isn’t something can really be taught but a good teacher knows how to inspire each student. What works for one person might not work for another.
When I was young I studied Spanish for 8 years and never really got that good simply because I believed I had no talent for languages. I thought it ran in the Shepherd family as my parents both were useless at languages. But in college I did a study abroad program and it changed my life - I could actually speak a foreign language. I simply wanted to learn so I spent time and energy to learn the different Kanji characters and continually asked questions to improve myself or, to put it another way, I had a desire to learn so I did just that.
From that time I’ve realized no language (and any other thing we want) is really tough - it’s simply a matter of wanting it. So for all those out there wondering if you can learn English - you can. But will you?
the secret
Ladies first
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 the guys happily let them go first with a smile. I love making my students happy.
Derek Maeckelburg
スミス英会話のお花見２００８ (Smith’s School Cherry Blossom Viewing 2008)
Several Smith’s Schools are planning to have a fun Cherry Blossom Viewing Party at Osaka Castle on April 6th, 2008. So far the Otsu, Fuse, Horie, Okamoto and Tsukaguchi schools are planning to attend. There should be 6 or more foreign school owners and 35-80 students attending this event from about noon on that day. It should be great fun and a great chance to meet other students who are working to improve their English!
Cherry blossom viewing in Japan is truly a wonderful experience. The big white blossoms when the trees are in full bloom are exquisite. So get out there and enjoy the seasonal beauty.
Warm Weather Is Coming !!
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 past year, I believe we are best-poised to take advantage of new opportunities.
This is one of the best chances to get out there and promote your school. Flyers three mornings a week at your station as the weather permits is strongly advised. Postcard exchange with as many local businesses as you can manage is an ideal way to extend your network in the community. At my Smith’s Schools in Fukushima and Kotoen, I’m getting close to twenty local businesses at each location! It’s easy!
Helping local travel agent with his English
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 speak English quite well, which I really appreciate! While explaining something to me in English, the travel agent used “until” when he should have used “by”. Before leaving the shop, I kindly mentioned this to him and explained the difference between the two. He understood and thanked me for the correction. I was happy to have been able to help him with his English!
Derek Maeckelburg
creativity vs. structure
While every student that comes through the door at Smith’s yearns to speak English smoothly they all start off at different points in their English mastery. Some have studied at other language schools, others have majored in English and some have simply forgotten most of what they learnt back in junior high school. For the higher level students creativity is the name of the game, putting them in different real-life situations that pushes them to utilize their English and at the same time challenge them with new vocabulary. However for the lower level students they need something more concrete which is what the routines help provide. They aim at getting students to say a short story (between 5 and 10 sentences) on a certain topic and then having them ask and answer questions related to the story. This is the basis of conversation - someone tells a story and then others comments on it or asks a question to confirm/enhance the story. Within each routine there are numerous grammar points that need to be explained and discussed which can lead to a clearer understanding of basic English grammar. Once students feel comfortable with the original story then it’s time to branch out and start adjusting them to fit their own lives. It takes time but constant repetition is something that can’t be overlooked for the lower level students.
Adrian
Why would you decide to have a franchise school?
As a person who’s made the decision to do just that, let me review your options from my point of view.
OK, I can work for a corporate school and earn 250,000 to 300,000 a month working about 40 hours a week. I would put on my necktie and go to work when I was scheduled and teach the same boring material every day while not caring much if the students quit since I would not have to go out and pass out flyers on a cold winter morning or a hot humid summer day to get new students. Instead my corporate school would do mass print ads using hundreds of millions of Yen per month from the upfront tuition payments collected from trusting students who join hoping that my school would not go belly-up like the big one that recently did. Actually passing out flyers to prospective students can be fun and reveal a lot about your own character and perseverance.
I can also spend a lot of time going from one place to another and putting up with the noise, lack of privacy and small table space for 3,000 an hour to teach some students at a coffee shop. I think I might starve doing this.
I can try to start up a school by myself with no support staff, no curriculum or training and a website that no one could ever find. Or I could decide to buy a reasonably priced franchise and thereby associate myself with a larger entity with web-presence. This last choice actually allows me to run a business, starting small and building it up by adding students, classrooms and teachers over time. So if I do it myself at first, I could build it to about 80 students with 2 per class on average and should have sales in excess of 960,000 Yen per month. If I hold my costs down, I would clear in excess of 760,000 Yen/month while working 40 hours a week plus a few hours of flyer distribution a week. Not too bad right? It beats 250,000 Yen to 300,000 Yen a month for the same working time and you don’t have to wear a silly necktie and can even wear jeans and a T-shirt if you choose.
Then what if I hire a teacher and build him/her up to 40 hours a week earning 300,000 Yen/month and further build the school up to 160 students? The school should then clear more than 1,320,000 Yen per month. That’s not bad at all considering you’d still be working only around 40 hours a week. While not guaranteed and requiring effort to control costs and acquire and keep students, the math is simple and fairly straight-forward.
Sure it takes a lot of time to build up the school and find a good teacher to support that effort, but is it worth it? I think you will have to agree that it is. Not everyone can do it but for those who have the dedication to see something through, it can be done. It simply depends on how dedicated you are and how hard you are willing to work. I am convinced that Smith’s now provides the best franchise English school system in Japan at the most reasonable price to achieve this level and even higher if more classrooms and teachers are added.
I am not there yet, but I can see that it is within reach. So I am saying why not go for it. That is what Smith’s owners are doing while always keeping in mind that helping our students to succeed in their quest to master English is the way to our own success.
Finnigan’s Bar
I have been coaching one particular “man to man” student for the past year or so. She is a special one and likes to understand everything, and I mean everything, down to the last detail. Three weeks ago I started “Finnigan’s Bar” with her. When she saw it on the board she was completely overwhelmed, so I decided to erase all but the first line (the first week), then add the second line (second week), and so forth…It is amazing what you can do with one line of a routine. “Last night I met up with some friends at Finnigan’s Bar.” “Last night” becomes “Last Saturday, last month, yesterday, the day before yesterday, tomorrow (I’m going to), etc…”Met up” becomes “saw, had drinks with, went to, etc…”Some friends” becomes “my sister, a former teacher, an old friend, my mate,” etc….”Finnigan’s Bar” becomes “in Yokohama, at 10pm, for awhile, by chance,” etc… The “wh” question forms are always there, the vocabulary building is limitless, and it can all be done with one single line of any routine…This is “Pure Smith’s,” and I sincerely hope it stays that way.
jim
Student doing translations for me
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 not want to accept any money for the translating. For her, doing translations for me, exchanging e-mail and doing language exchange, in addition to her regular English lessons, all help her improve her English skills so that’s how I pay her back. She is doing a great job and I really appreciate her help!
Derek Maeckelburg
My International classrooms at Smith’s School of English
I don’t know if this has been mentioned on the soapbox before but it just occurred to me this afternoon while teaching a class at Smith’s School of English in Fuse.
I guess when people read about teaching English at Smith’s School of English, or anywhere else in Japan for that matter, we just assume that we are talking about teaching English to Japanese students only.
But that is definitely not the case!
I have had some very “international” classes over the years.
Thinking back over the past 4 years, in addition to Japanese students, I have also had quite a number of Korean and Chinese students, as well as one Italian/Japanese student, Brazilian/Japanese student, Malaysian student and one Iranian student.
I hope I’ve included them all, but I’ve probably left some out.
And then there’s me! A half-Romanian and half-Italian teacher of English!
Some of my favorite classes have been these “international” types.
Also, if you have the privilege of having higher level speaking “international” types of classes they can be extremely interesting as you listen to students from different backgrounds discovering similarities and differences between them and doing this all in English!
You realize different perspectives on issues; expand your knowledge of the world and often have a laugh together!
In the past I’ve referred to English as the common denominator between people from all walks of life and I continue to see this played out in my classrooms every week.
Just one of the many benefits of being an English teacher in Japan!
Alex Stanciu
Smith’s School of English Horie 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fuse 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
New Zealand
This is a country which I have not had the pleasure to visit yet though I know several of my fellow franchisees have visited, especially given the amount of holidays we have here at Smith’s School of English, and it seems to be a very popular destination for Japanese people as well.
Just today at Smith’s School of English in Fuse I listened to one of my students describe to me how “eager” she is to visit this country for the first time later this year.
“Eager” coincidentally also happens to be one of the words we studied today in our vocabulary lesson.
She is excited at the opportunity to brush up on her English prior to her visit especially because she will be having dinner with people from all over the world at a function she will attend.
Listening to this student’s excitement about going to New Zealand reminded me of another student from Smith’s School of English in Horie, whom I consider a close friend, who is realizing her long-time dream of living and working in New Zealand.
You can read her story here at “Dreams Come True”.
She came back to Japan last Christmas to visit her family and we enjoyed a nice dinner together. I enjoyed listening to her tell me all about her new experiences and challenges living and working in an all English environment.
It’s exciting to know that we, even in a small way, can help to enrich our students’ lives through the study of English at Smith’s School of English.
Alex Stanciu
Smith’s School of English Horie 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fuse 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
Help me, i’m new!
I started teaching the Smith’s curriculum in December, and i have discovered some great lessons. But i know that many of you have been working with this curriculum for a while and probably have some great ideas. I want them! So i wrote an article title “Stretching the Morning” under “English Lesson Plans” explaining my thoughts on how to improve on this already fantastic lesson. So i am setting a STAG challenge for all teachers and owners. The STAG challenge is to post 1 article under “English Lesson Plans” IN THE NEXT WEEK explaining how you stretch or change a lesson to make it easier, more challenging, more instructive or more fun for our students.
March week 1 STAG: write one article this week under “English Lesson Plans”
-Edward, Otsu FC
A Little Inspiration
Last weeks seminar was all about asking yourself what you want in life, and how to get it. And today i randomly found this little gem:
“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.” (unknown)
So grab hold of your life, ask yourself what you want, go out and get it, and be proud. I am.
-Edward
Stretching “The Morning”
We bought our Smith’s franchise in December 2007. When i did training at Kyobashi, Gavin told me “The Morning Routine is a great routine” (not an exact quote), and i thought “yeah, whatever” (exact quote). Anyway, after teaching “The Morning Routine” a few times, i realised that it IS a great lesson. After teaching it a half dozen times, i thought “The Morning Routine isn’t just a great routine, its a foundation on which students can build their language skills and develop confidence in their speaking. When i realised this, i called Gavin and had a very animated discussion about “The Morning Routine” (i think i was raving, talking a mile a minute, jumping up and down). Anyway, i felt like i had struck gold. “The Morning Routine” was like a beginner’s dream come true, and for a teacher and coach, a means to an end. Using “The Morning Routine”, i could turn a beginner into a confident speaker with quite a good range and huge potential for growth within 3 lessons.
Why do i love “The Morning Routine”? Let me explain how i stretch “The Morning Routine” into a foundation for learning, confidence and growth.
Lesson 1: Start with the demo lesson version, sentences 1-7 (up to “dry”) and questions 1, 2 and 5.
Lesson 2: Review 1-7, teach questions 3, 4 and 6. At this point, i summarize how to “stretch” the basic 7 sentences using {in, at, on, with, for, and because}, then practice Q and A with the 6 questions. Sometimes spending a few minutes to look at structures for answering “Why?” questions (Q.4), eg {because i like____, because i am____, because it’s____}
Lesson 3: Review 1-7, introduce 8-14 (up to “put on clothes”), then teach questions 7, 8, 9 and 10. Review 1-14 and practice Q’s. Now i like to introduce conjunctions (setsuzokushi), usually i teach {and, then, after that, next, and *finally}. Explain to the student(s) that using “and” repeatedly is boring (you can perform the morning, emphasizing “and” between every sentence, to illustrate how boring it is). Demonstrate how to use these conjunctions, then have the student practice. Students really enjoy learning ways to sound natural, and usually they respond to this mini conjunction lesson.
Ok. So 3 lessons (give or take, depending on students level), and you’ve done ,most of the morning part 1. Obvously you can continue to introduce more parts, all the way up to the end of part 3. But this is only the beginning. Here are some more ways i like to stretch the morning.
1. After a few weeks of “The Morning Routine”, or after a few weeks AWAY from “The Morning Routine”, i like to suddenly write on the board “The Evening Routine” and underneath start a hint bar with {eat my dinner}. At this point the students are confortable enought with the morning routine, they can make their own “Evening Routine” with little or no prompting. If they do need help, i like to just reverse “The Morning Routine”, eg {wash my face/dry/brush/take off my clothes/put on my pyjamas/go to bed}.
2. I/You/We. Explain these 3 concepts. Then have the student review “The Morning Routine” using {You/Your}. Do the same for {We/Our} and so on. Mistakes happen, but things like “YOU prepare MY breakfast” followed by a “Thank you” are good mistakes, because students realise they have the power to make jokes in english. WOW. My favourite to date has been “I put on YOUR clothes”, at which point i drew a picture of a stickwoman wearing my pants, shirt and baseball cap. Laughter. Try it….it works!
3. Question 3 “Where?” This is a great question to lead from “The Morning Routine” into Prepostions 1 and 2. Like i said, i like “The Morning Routine” as a foundation for learning, and i find it easy to expand from “The Morning Routine” into item lessons, always coming back to “The Morning Routine” after the item and showing how they can use “The Morning Routine” to develop their skills.
4. Question 1 “What time do you….”. For very pink students, it’s obviously very easy to lead into the “time” item.
5. Question 10 “What kind of…..”. (I like pink pyjamas, i like Uniqlo pyjamas, i like silk pyjamas)… leads into “adjectives 1″ item.
6. For fun, i like to act oiut the actions while the student is going through “The Morning Routine”. Mistakes are easily corrected without any TTT. For example, when a student says “I sit on the table”, sit on the table!, or when they say “I brush my face”, act like you are brushing your face! and so on….
So in summary, i love “The Morning Routine”, and i use it with almost all new students, especially low levels and beginners. In january and February i did 7 demo lessons, for 4 of them i did “The Morning Routine”. All 7 students have signed up.
“The Morning Routine”…. just do it. It’s good for everyone. And doing the actions while your student reviews is fun too.
Good luck.
Edward
PS- I just did another trial lesson, used “The morning” again, and am now 8 for 8 with 5 of them “Morning routine” trials! Slamdunk! “The morning” is a winner!
Chinese New Year in Japan
There are a lot of times where a familiar sight or sound in Japan makes me feel just a little bit homesick. Although these sorts of feelings are only natural, it’s much more pleasant if they can be negated or avoided. Either that or quickly bribed with an interesting manga or a trip to one of the major shopping areas in Osaka. Most of the times I’m able to indulge myself in one of my hobbies so that I forget what it is that has made me feel homesick. However, there are occasions where no matter what I do, I can’t get rid of the niggling feeling at the back of my head that tells me I shouldn’t be ignoring these strong sensations. The beginning of this month was one of those times. Holidays and family traditions are very important to me but most of them are well taken care of by the Japanese people who do their best to adopt different cultures and customs into their society. Christmas and the New Year are held in high regards in Japan and celebrated with just as much energy and spirit as any Western country would. But what about the Chinese New Year?
In my family, the Chinese New Year is just as important as the Western one. Well, perhaps slightly more important to some family members. During the Chinese New Year, which usually falls somewhere around the beginning or middle of February – or the first day of the first lunar month- and there are many age-old traditions which must be upheld by every family that celebrates it. This includes the extended family as well, no matter how large it may be. Not only that, but the Chinese New Year is not just a one-day thing neither. The festivities continue for as long as several weeks, allowing for plenty of celebration time, banquet dinners, the handing out of lai see (red pocket money), or lucky money (very similar to the otoshi-dama that is given to children during the Japanese New Year celebrations), and public performances. It is so popular in Canada – a country with a significant Chinese population – that a lot of companies allow their Chinese employees to take one or more days off in order to celebrate. Canada Post also issues limited edition stamps to mark the new animal year, some of which I have in my stamp collection back in Toronto. I myself probably place a greater significance on the Chinese New Year than I do the regular one which begins the new calendar year. It is because of this that I tend to feel homesick during a time of family togetherness and celebration. Plus I miss all the great food, my own share of the red pocket money, and the loud chattering which often turns into jovial bickering. Such fond memories…
Searching for a way to celebrate…
None of my family is within traveling distance where I could just pop in for a visit in order to leech some Peking duck, or my favorite sweet rice cakes (a dessert indigenous to the Canton region), off of them. But even without my family being accessible, I was determined to find a way to celebrate the Chinese New Year - one way or another. I reasoned that it shouldn’t be too difficult to find some location within the main Kansai area where a small Chinese community might exist. I didn’t expect it to be as large as the Chinatown in Downtown Toronto, but even a small little corner with a Chinese bakery and tea shop would appease my craving for a piece of ‘home’. Considering how there are gyoza (fried dumplings) on the menu of just about every ramen shop, I figured that the least I would find in my search was some Chinese food. So it was with great joy that I found Nankin-machi – a miniature Chinatown – located in Sannomiya, Kobe.
Nankin-machi, Kobe
Nankin-machi fills up a sizeable area in the Sannomiya shopping district. It’s been around for approximately 150 years and contains 100 restaurants and shops. One of the newest shops that I found during a recent visit to Nankin-machi was a movie/music shop specializing in Hong Kong DVDs and Cantonese CDs. This was quite a lucky find for me because it means that I can now save on shipping and handling costs from ordering my favorite Hong Kong movies through the internet. Probably the most eye-catching lure of Nankin-machi are the old red buildings designed in the traditional Chinese style, right down to the brightly colored roof tiles. Most of the layout is composed of deep reds, oranges and yellows. And with red being considered a lucky and prosperous color, most of the paper lanterns and New Year decorations also concentrate on that end of the spectrum. All year round, Nankin-machi stands out as a separate entity from the rest of Kobe. This is partly because of the cultural differences, cuisine selection, and atmosphere. Once you enter this quaint little Chinatown, you’ll feel as if you’ve temporarily ventured into a small corner of China. As for the local cuisine, it is very different from what you may get in a regular restaurant serving Chinese food. The dishes incorporate the flavors and presentations of both Mainland China and Hong Kong. As you walk along the streets, you’ll be able to sample Chinese dumplings from the vendors on either side of you, if you can wade through the crowd to get there. Nankin-machi is an incredibly popular place with both Chinese residents and foreigners alike. Every time I feel the need to bask in some traditional Chinese music or stuff myself with dumplings and sponge cake - another absolute favorite dessert of mine – this is where I go. The difference between Chinese sponge cake and regular sponge cake is that the Chinese steam theirs which leaves it very moist and fluffy. I always make sure to buy enough sponge cake to snack on and some extra pieces to take home for breakfast the next day. Other traditional foods include shark’s fin soup, authentic fried rice, tapioca bubble tea (this fun drink originated in Taiwan in the 1980’s and is now extremely popular in Canada), Peking duck, and hot and sour soup.
Chinese New Year festivities
On any normal day, Nanikin-machi is packed with tourists and local visitors. But during the New Year’s festivals, the streets are quickly swallowed up by more people than can comfortably fit within such a small space. There are many festivities that are organized by the Chinese community in Kobe. Some of the more popular ones include the lion and dragon dances, and various martial arts displays. The lively drums, cymbal, and gong make the lion and dragon dances an all-around favorite for spectators who follow the rhythm to the pair of performers who operate the lion costume. With the help of the performers, one at the head of the lion and the other at the rear, the lion is able to jump and spring to and fro, leaping around in an active dance that is enchanting to watch. Getting close enough to see what is going on can be difficult because of the crowds but if one follows the shifting patterns closely enough, it is possible to establish a viewing spot near the front of the roped off stage. Aside from the lion dance, there are kung fu and tai chi demonstrations carried out by local martial arts clubs. These are fascinating to watch as well because a lot of the moves require a great deal of concentration and discipline. The only thing missing from these performances are the firecrackers… but due to the dangerous nature of these, I haven’t seen them being used in a Chinese New Year performance since the early 1990’s. In the place of firecrackers, audio substitutes are used to mimic the sparking and snapping sounds.
Ten Ren’s Tea
In Nankin-machi, there is a world famous tea shop which I always stop by to stock up on authentic Chinese tea. Ten Ren’s Tea supplies high quality teas that are carefully graded and sold in bags or loose tea leaf formats. They sell green, jasmine, oolong, pouching, pu-erh, ti kuan yin, and white tea (which I have yet to try), as well as a few other popular herbal, flavored, and organic types. Ten Ren’s Tea has many locations in Canada as well, including a bubble tea counter, so whenever I pay them a visit for refilling my beloved jasmine and black teas, it feels like I’ve temporarily gone back home. The staff is also very knowledgeable about the teas that they’re selling so they can give some pretty good advice on which tea is the best for you. And if you’re still not sure, they’ll offer you a free cup to try.
Old Hong Kong Restaurant
There are plenty of delicious restaurants inside of Nankin-machi, but the most highly acclaimed one is a few minutes away from it. About an 8-10 minute walk from Sannomiya station is ‘Old Hong Kong Restaurant’. It was awarded the first prize for being the best restaurant in Kobe and boasts an authentic Cantonese cuisine which is on par with that of Hong Kong’s. The reason for this is because the restaurant hires highly skilled chefs from Hong Kong in order to uphold the standard of their dishes. Whether you have the appetite for a lunchtime buffet or a seafood dinner, this is the place to appease your hunger for some high quality Chinese food. Traditional Chinese dim sum (which includes assorted steamed dumplings, pork, seafood, vegetables, puddings, and other desserts) is served with tea during the lunch hour. So for 90 minutes, you can eat to your heart’s content, sampling all that this restaurant has to offer.
Thanks to the people of Kobe supporting this wonderful little Chinese community, I’ve been able to celebrate the Chinese New Year in this home away from home. Being able to watch the lion and dragon dances while listening to the nostalgic music accompanying it was really relaxing. Walking away from the vendors with my hands full of glutinous rice sesame balls (savory sweet desserts), almond flavored jelly (in a dish of course!), cha siu bao (barbecue pork bun), and siu mai (shrimp dumpling) really made the occasion all the more enjoyable. And, even though this next dish did not originate in China (and it still remains a mystery where it came from), I always enjoy a well prepared plateful of ebi-mayo (shrimps in mayonnaise and occasionally decorated with chopped up peanuts). I’d eat them three times a week if I could get away with it. But that would mean more exercising and that isn’t as much fun as eating.
For the souvenir shoppers, there are various goods from China available for sale. You can get yourself some traditional Chinese clothes, masks, statues, slippers, or small odds and ends that will serve as neat paperweights. I like the foldable paper fans with an interesting creature like a phoenix or dragon painted onto them. When not in use, they make a great ornament for display on a shelf. And if you’re daring enough to try on some of the Chinese garb, you can stop by the Kanteibyo Chinese Temple, which is the perfect backdrop for photos of an oriental nature, to take your picture with some friends. Or, you can opt out on the cosplay and just take the pictures. It all depends on just how adventurous you’re feeling.
So, if you haven’t already paid Nankin-machi a visit, now is the perfect time to do so. With the weather being cold and dreary or snowy, a hot bowl of ramen and some steamed dumplings just might make your trip through this Chinese area very warm and cozy. Even if you aren’t into the snacking, the pictures make for good email attachments to send to family and friends back home. You’ll also be surrounded by dozens upon dozens of people with the same intent in mind, making the experience a remarkable bonding one with the Chinese community in Kobe.
staff
For the past few years I’ve run my Smith’s school pretty much by myself - and I was happy. But last year with the disappearance of the biggest English conversation school I felt that it was time to make a move. I immediately started interviewing possible candidates that would mesh well with the Smith’s system as well as bring something new to the table, something fresh. While it did take some time (about 30 interviews) I now have 3 people working along side me and soon I’ll be opening up more times to allow more chance for students to get a quality lesson for a fair price. No matter how good anyone is as a teacher they have a limit simply because of TIME. It’s the one thing that limits all of us. With 3 staff members that means more availability of classes, meaning more students can study, meaning being able to help more people and that’s really what I want to do. Help people.
Adrian
help is just a phone call away
one of the best things about being part of Smith’s has to be the support of both the staff at the head office, the other teachers’ assistance and Mark’s business experience here in Japan. If I have a concern regarding expansion, curriculum, training, staff, etc. I simply pick up the phone. That’s a pretty powerful thing - to know that at any time I can get some solid advice from people that know what I’m going through. It’s one of the things that I feel many small privately owned schools lack. They may succeed but it’s more through trial and error which can be costly for a small business if they’re not careful. In life there are always risk, nothing is 100% guaranteed in business even for the greatest success stories of our time - Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The key is being able to manage that risk. With the TEAM behind me I always know I’m in good hands.
Adrian
My First Seminar
For those of you who don’t know me yet: my name is Edward, my partner Chiharu and I bought Otsu School from Craig and Sonoe. We took-over December 1st and have been loving every minute.
Last Sunday we attended our first seminar at Smith’s Kyobashi. From the beginning, we had a sense of support from Smith’s, and when we needed help, the “team” at Kyobashi is always there. But this Sunday, we learned that the Smith’s “team” is bigger than we imagined. It was so great to meet other owner’s and we had a great sense of belonging to a bigger group. The knowledge, experience and support was unbelievable.
Being our first seminar, we were eager for ideas on how to develop our school. Sooooooo many different stories and ideas were spread around. We scribbled notes as fast as we could, and came away with a few gems.
1. Flyer flyer flyer. I was happy to meet Alex from Fuse and Horie, who seems to be the king of flyering, and whose flyering experience is ….. excessive? But what he said was simple. If you want to grow, flyer everyday, at peak times, consistantly. Hire flyer people, go out in a team, switch it up (team members, flyer types, start and finish times and exit locations). As he mentioned, starting 15 minutes earlier than usual or ending 15 minutes later, you will get people who have never seen you before. The same goes for switching exits.
2. Derek from Tsukaguchi. Seems Derek is the king of staying in a difficult location but making it a good one. Apparently this school was suffering, and the location was in doubt, but Derek came in and worked his butt off to make it happen, and has turned things around (i think i got that right). Anyway….. Derek is a quiet sorta guy, but a good Canuck and hard working. He has lots of great ideas. Events, parties, simple things that make the student feel that little extra personal touch that Smith’s has to offer.
3. The most impressive thing for me……. was going to a Smith’s seminar in Osaka and meeting someone who went to the same High School as me in little nowhere town in BC Canada. It turns out that Don from Katsura in Kyoto, probably the second closest school to ours, is from a city 1 hour from my hometown and went to my high school. Talk about small world! Furthermore, out of about 15-20 people at the seminar, there were 6-8 Canadians! For the first time in Japan, i felt like i was back home, surrounded by people who knew my hometown, had been to places i had been to, knew what poutine is and Nanaimo bars, and so on.
In conclusion: flyer flyer flyer, work hard, keep it simple, and Smith’s School of English, though started by an Aussie, has lots of Canadians!
Edward
I Prefer Smith’s to ……
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 don’t have to pay a lot of money in advance and I get a better teacher, too!
Well, I guess I don’t need to explain why I am proud to be the owner or why I enjoy working there so much! The same can be said for my Kotoen school!
Smith’s seminar and my next event
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 Japan, wants all Smith’s franchisees to be very successful too. I think that is a very good thing. Thank you very much Mark! I appreciate your support!
After the Smith’s seminar, I and some other franchisees went to a restaurant together and had a great time! We agreed to hold an event together at Osaka Castle Park in Osaka in spring (a hanami party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami). We will all bring some students from our schools! I think it will be a great opportunity for my students to meet other foreigners and practice their English skills! I’m looking forward to it!
Derek Maeckelburg
Smith’s Tsukaguchi franchise
Begin with the end in mind
Yesterday we had our first Osaka regional franchisee seminar of 2008.
It was nice to see some older familiar faces of franchisees that have been around for years and also to meet a couple of new franchisees who joined us recently by purchasing developed schools!
A big welcome to:
Smith’s School of English in Kamishinjo and
Smith’s School of English in Otsu!
Welcome aboard and congratulations on your recent new sign-ups at the schools too!
At the seminar we focused again on the usual mission of “Get and Keep” which is the cornerstone of all of our schools and Mark also provided us with an opportunity to do some personal soul-searching which at first felt a bit uncomfortable but after starting to ponder what it is exactly I would like to have achieved within the next year or two, it actually was relieving and educational to put my thoughts on paper.
Beginning with the end in mind and working towards that goal.
Setting Short Term Achievable Goals. Very important.
After the exercise it was interesting to note that quite a few of us share similar goals; therefore it is important for us to work together as a TEAM, offering advice or lending a hand to fellow franchisees.
What I took away personally from the seminar was a need to raise my expectations, and increase my capacity for work by closely examining exactly how I spend my time each day then cutting out the non constructive “busy” time and focusing on what really matters and why I am doing what I am doing here in Japan.
Too often I find myself “busy” with my “busyness” and it’s important to honestly examine what we have produced at the end of the day and with the expenditure of our resources, both time and money.
I think we all will find that we can trim out some of this “busyness” and find a more productive way to spend our time.
Thanks for the advice Mark; truly appreciated!
For those who are interested in trying this activity at home grab a pen and paper then click here:
http://www.sse-franchise.com/soapbox/200610/25/setting-your-price/
Alex Stanciu
Smith’s School of English Horie 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fuse 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
3 “birds” with one flyer
I recently had my first experience at a triple trial in Horie! Talk about a full house!
I was a bit nervous not knowing what to expect or how I would conduct this lesson and gauge their levels within the allotted time.
In they came at 8pm, three young ladies, obviously long time friends who were quite excited at the prospect of enjoying studying English together.
I decided to just follow the same simple steps, taught by head office, which I usually do with a single trial and not try to “invent” something dazzling.
I had prepared sheets of paper, pens and brochures for each student.
One quick call to the office and away we went with some quick introductions and straight into the morning routine.
They were very lively and adventurous so the trial lesson went beautifully!
45 minutes later I had three completed applications to join my school with all 3 deciding to study on the same day at the same time. Nice.
And it all started with me passing out one flyer to one of the girls at one station close to my school.
After that she placed a call to our head office and the secretaries went to work doing what they do best. Selling for us!
They are an invaluable asset to our schools and they have helped me out tremendously over the years!
Thank you for the support!
Alex Stanciu
Smith’s School of English Horie 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fuse 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
Student finds soapbox!
I am a bit slow sometimes to update my soapbox here, though I always have a list of things to write about; however I recently received a big motivator to log on here and write.
A few days ago at a trial lesson at Smith’s School of English in Fuse I asked my student how she found out about the school.
I am always curious to know.
She replied that she searched on the internet, found my Japanese site, then clicked over to our English site, clicked on my soapbox, sat down with her electronic dictionary and began reading my posts!
I was amazed so I asked her again if she really read my soapbox or my other sub pages in Japanese.
From time to time I, as other franchisees, like to create sub pages for our web sites highlighting a special event, or student testimonials, or celebrating a student’s achievement.
Her answer, in very good English I might add, was that in fact she has been reading my soapbox postings in addition to my Japanese website!
I am thrilled and flattered to know that she found them interesting! A big thank you!
I enjoyed the trial lesson very much.
I can tell she has put a lot of time and effort into studying English because she speaks quite well.
She decided to join Smith’s School of English in Fuse in order to maintain her English speaking ability after her former school closed its doors last fall.
I am happy that she decided to join Smith’s School of English in Fuse and I am looking forward to many fun English lessons together.
To my student:
Thank you again for taking the time to read my soapbox and I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon at Smith’s School of English in Fuse!
Alex Stanciu
Smith’s School of English Horie 月謝制のスミス英会話堀江校
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/school/horie.shtml
Smith’s School of English Fuse 月謝制のスミス英会話布施校
Comics and English
Last week, I did a bit of research for one of Smith’s School of English Kyobashi’s high level students. He had requested some information about comic book stores in Japan after a conversation that we had about comic books and superheroes. After hearing about how I had learned a good deal of kanji characters through reading Japanese manga, he had felt inspired to learn English by reading American comic books. He expressed a particular interest in X-Men and had wanted to know if I knew of any book stores that sold X-Men comics in the Kansai area.
I told him about Guild Comics, an English comic book store located in Sannomiya, Kobe. I’d been there a couple of times and knew that they carried quite a few X-Men related comics. But he wasn’t too familiar with Sannomiya so I looked up the address for him on the internet.
This week, he entered the classroom looking all cheerful and excited. When I asked him why he was so chipper, he told me that he was really looking forward to the day trip that he’d planned for himself tomorrow. Where was he going? To the comic store in Sannomiya of course! He asked me to recommend some good comics so I told him that the last comic that I’d read before coming to Japan was Street Fighter by the Udon Crew - a pretty famous artistic group of individuals. I’d met them in Toronto a few years ago and gotten a few awesome sketches off them so I figured that he would probably appreciate their art, as well as the story. So tomorrow he’s off on a comic shopping spree. I can’t wait to see what he comes back with next week!
Reading the Soapbox
I regularly read posts on the soapbox , and there is a always a good balance of helpful posts about teaching as well as interesting points about Japan. A lot of the franchise owners and the part time teachers have a gift of writing that makes the most ordinary subject a joy to read! It’s always an enjoyable time coming in to Kyobashi and logging into the site and having a good read, in any spare time between classes. Often I learn something about Japan I didn’t know previously, and I love learning new things. I’ve seen a few posts on here recently that thank other contributors, and I think this, as well as the soapbox in general, really helps reinforce the great sense of Smith’s School of English community.
Now, for a story.
Recently I caught the train to Sannomiya station, but as I live quite far (from anywhere - in Minoh), it was a long train ride, and by the time I arrived there I was starving. Some instinct guided me to the right side of the station, and I had this idea that a great and affordable steak restaurant would make itself visible to me.
It did - in the form of Steak Land. When I saw the sign I just knew that it was the right place, and after glancing at the 980 yen lunch I headed right in.
I couldn’t remember at all where I had gotten this information from. I must have read Al Bartle’s post on it and absorbed it, and only now looking back through old posts does it become clear to me how I was guided!
So, thanks for your recommendation! It was indeed a great teppanyaki steak meal. I will continue reading the soapbox, especially as the next holiday and festivities come up - I’m sure SJ will post something greatly long and informative for us all to read!