Tag Archives: English School Franchise

Okamoto School Interim Report (6th year of operation)

This is an interim report on the Smith’s Okamoto school. I took over the Smith’s School of English in Okamoto in July 2006.  It had been in operation since September 2004  (6 years total so far) and it had only a tiny 15 active students at the time I took over.   This month (August [...]

Having a Great Time Owning My Own English School Franchise in Japan

I love being my own boss.  Even though I am teaching English in Japan alone at my English school franchise in Japan, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi, I never feel alone.  I work as a team with Smith’s Head Office.  I also have some other franchisees that I keep in touch with regularly and who I meet at Smith’s seminars or [...]

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 [...]

Another Journey in Time – Nose Myoken-san Temple 能勢妙見山堂

  Earlier this summer I wrote a post about a trip that I took to Myokenguchi 妙見口 see HERE. At the end of that article I promised a return visit, which I did last Sunday. This time we visited Myoken-san, the location of  Nose Myoken-san Temple 能勢妙見山堂, headquarters of the Nichiren Buddhist sect.

English School Franchise – the only choice for me

Two apparently unrelated events happened to me yesterday that really got me thinking about my recent huge changes in life: coming to live in Japan and buying a Smith’s School of English franchised school. First, I visited Smith’s School of English head office in Kyobashi for an owners’ seminar, where I found the friendliness and support [...]

Franchise owners helping each other

This morning I did my first distribution of flyers at Kawanishi Noseguchi Station with the kind assistance of Derek, owner of SSE Tsukaguchi. In fact, it was a lot more than help; he was a great teacher. In return, I’m going to help him with flyers on Friday. Working as a pair made the job [...]

Teaching English or Just Living in Japan is Often a “Special” Experience!

Often when we native speakers are teaching, we get too wrapped up in our determination to teach “real” English to supplant the WASEI EIGO or “Made-in-Japan” English that our students often use without realizing it is not real English.   Yesterday, I was meeting a friend who is a hairdresser in Kobe-Sannomiya and as I had [...]

Sunday Lunch with a Student

This past Sunday my wife and I were invited to a student’s house in Kobe to enjoy a great home-cooked meal.  It was a beautiful September day and my student and her husband welcomed us into their home where we had a great time.  Their home is located on the top floor of a large [...]

Smith’s System Benefits All!

I recently got a new student on a Saturday who I had never met before. She had taken a trial at the Karasuma School but decided to study at my school in Okamoto because it is near her home. That was quite a pleasant surprise and it shows how being a member of a franchise [...]

Phrase Lessons (Second Response to Ed’s Request for a STAG)

As a second stab at working up some sentences to add to those posted by Ed of the Otsu Smith’s School and those added by me earlier. Here are five more sets of sentences. I hope they will be

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