Tag Archives: English in Japan

Nice to hear English in Japan!

About a month ago I experienced for the first time in about 5 years a Japanese shop assistant in a McDonald’s hamburger shop in Umeda, Osaka speaking to me in English. “Good afternoon Sir, Would you like to see the English menu?” Although I have no problem to use Japanese everyday as I have been [...]

It’s time to take action! The New Year is not…

Well, a new year has arrived!  Now is the time to decide what you want to change in your life, what you want to do differently, what new adventure you want to embark on, what new skill you want to acquire or what new business you want to start. I have been working at this [...]

If I were a a young Japanese person

Every day I see thousands of young people here in Japan, near the station and near my school (many are university students). Some of them are studying English or other foreign languages with the intent to become good communicators. I think that these young people are very wise because more than at any time in [...]

Japan has Many Good English Speakers!

This morning while distributing flyers to promote my English school in Kobe (スミス英会話岡本校) I talked to one woman on the street near the station who spoke English quite well.  She said in English that I was ‘exaggerating’ when I commented that she spoke English well.  Again, as has happened many times recently, I realized that [...]

Is Good English Communication Skill Getting More or Less Important for Japanese?

Really, the answer to this question is quite obvious and the fact that students continue to sign up and make great strides is proof of it. The ability to communicate well in English will most certainly continue to grow in importance year by year and I think this trend is already accelerating with the current [...]

Fresh and Fascinating

I recently did a soapbox posting about using a contemporary event with great popular appeal as the subject of a lesson at my English conversation school 英会話, Smith’s School of English, Kawanishi スミス英会話川西校. This made for a really successful and very popular lesson. My lesson featuring the (not quite total) success of Japanese figure skater Mao Asada at [...]

Reading リーディング- An Effective Homework Practice

Recently there have been some articles written on the Soapbox about different approaches to homework. I agree with the other Smith’s Ekaiwa Franchise スミス英会話teachers about the importance of a little practice each day to maximise the students who are studying English in Japan.You can read about some of the other homework suggestions here….  toeic-listening-practice-videos diaries   Something that I [...]

Spring and Autumn BBQ’s – Sakai City. 春・秋 BBQ 堺市

スミス英会話堺東・なかもず校講師が書いた記事。日本語のメインサイトはこちら→(スミス英会話堺東校)(スミス英会話なかもず校)   Last Spring Smith’s School of English Sakai Higashi held a barbecue in one of Sakai City’s many beautiful parks, Oizumi Ryokuchi(大泉緑地公園) . Oizumi Ryokuchi Park is a large, forested park with 320,000 trees. Evergreen, deciduous, and flowering trees exist in near-natural surroundings along with many wild birds and insects. The park stretches over [...]

How to Practice English 英語上達のための “質問練習”

Since there are many students who read this blog, I have included here one useful way to improve your English conversational ability.  I have also posted this in the Japanese soapbox for students who want to read about it in Japanese. Click here for Japanese –>英語上達のための “質問練習” There are many ways to improve your English [...]

Elections in Japan

I’m sure you all know that Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has called a general election for August 30th. This means that we will see numerous local politicians and their supporters making speeches and handing out flyers at the stations where we are handing out flyers for our English schools. (Interesting use of present continuous). [...]

Bad Behavior has blocked 320 access attempts in the last 7 days.