November 11, 2008 – 10:41 pm
Little Akira is making a short sentence and stops in the middle of a sentence. He pauses for a while and gives up. What happened? He wanted to express a number but couldn’t. He hasn’t learned numbers yet.
Children love numbers and counting, especially when they are younger. They know it gives them power over their [...]
November 2, 2008 – 6:00 am
Last week I handed out some flyers at Hankyu Tsukaguchi station near my school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi School in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. It was a cool morning, perfect for doing flyers. I wore my Smith’s jacket and Smith’s cap. While the Smith’s Japanese web site is great way of getting people to come [...]
October 20, 2008 – 12:03 am
I love this time of the year in Japan. It’s not too hot or too cold, but just right. These days the temperature varies between about 16 degrees and 26 degrees Celsius and it’s often sunny in the daytime. At night, it cools off and is very comforatble for sleeping.
Today before work, I rode my [...]
October 18, 2008 – 6:49 am
Keen and creative students can both impress and inspire. As well as teaching students new things about the English language and coaching them to become confident using English, part of our job is to
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addthis_title = ‘Notes+on+Note+taking%2C+Learning+English’;
addthis_pub = ’ssefranchise’;
By Edward
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Posted in English Lesson Plans, English School Articles, SSE Ohtsu Corner, english in japan, the basics
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Also tagged note taking, teaching, 大津, 滋賀, 石山, 膳所, 英会話, 英会話大津
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October 14, 2008 – 6:05 am
Have you ever struggled with having 2 students of obviously different ability level? Today I had a lesson with a low orange (mid-level beginner) student and a high red (high-level mid-range) student. The lower level student is a restaurant manager who studies for fun and has been studying with us for only 3 months; the [...]
By Edward
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Posted in English Lesson Plans, English School Articles, SSE Ohtsu Corner, a reward in itself, the basics
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Also tagged how, how-to, howto, teaching, TEFL, TESL, to, 大津, 滋賀, 石山, 膳所, 英会話, 英会話大津
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October 5, 2008 – 8:39 pm
On October 5th, 2008 Smith’s franchisees from the Kansai area gathered in Osaka for another Smith’s training seminar. I always enjoy getting together with other franchisees, whether at seminars or at joint events with students. Smith’s seminars allow us to learn how to further improve our lessons using the Smith’s curriculum and also how to get [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged English schools, franchise, franchises, Japan, jobs, schools, teaching, スミス英会話, スミス英会話塚口校, セミナー, トレーイニングセミナー, 尼崎英会話, 月謝制の英会話, 英会話スクール, 英会話トレーイニングセミナー, 英会話塚口, 英語の先生塚口, 関西英会話
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October 2, 2008 – 12:22 am
Recently Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi School recently enjoyed a bowling and karaoke event with the Smith’s Okamoto and Fuse schools. We had a great time! You can read about it at
I am now thinking about the next event for my school. Perhaps going somewhere to enjoy the Maple leaf color change would be [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged franchise, franchises, Japan, jobs, schools, Smith's School of English franchises, teaching, エベント塚口, カラオケ, カラオケ塚口, スミス英会話塚口校, ボウリング, ボウリング塚口, 尼崎市英会話, 月謝制の英会話, 英会話エベント, 英会話スクール
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September 23, 2008 – 3:14 am
On Sunday, September 14th, 2008 I went grape picking in Okayama Prefecture with my wife, her cousin, her mother and her mother’s friend. We had a great time!
Here’s a picture of me picking some grapes.
２００８年９月２３日（火）
９月１４日の日曜日、私は岡山までぶどう狩りに行きました。 それは私の妻、妻の従姉妹、妻のお母さん、そしてお母さんの友達も一緒の、にぎやかでとても楽しいぶどう狩りでした。
上の写真は私がぶどう狩りを楽しんでいるところです。
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addthis_pub = ’ssefranchise’;
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged franchise, franchises, grape picking, Japan, jobs, Smith's School of English, Smith's School of English Tsukaguchi School, teaching, ぶどう狩り, ぶどう狩り岡山, スミス英会話塚口校, ピオーネ, ピオーネ岡山, 英会話スクール, 英会話スクール塚口, 英会話塚口
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September 10, 2008 – 10:47 pm
Things are rolling at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi School. Last week I gave three trial lessons and one student joined right away. This week I have two trial lessons on my schedule. I gave one on the 9th and she joined the next day! I’m going to give another one tonight! Fantastic!
The two students [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged franchise, franchises, Japan, jobs, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 塚口, 尼崎, 月謝制, 英会話スクール
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September 5, 2008 – 10:30 am
Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi enjoyed holding a barbecue event with the Okamoto, Horie, Otsu and Fuse schools on July 27th, 2008 at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park in Osaka, Japan. My school’s group was made up of some students, their friends and family, my wife, her cousin, a person who works at her workplace and me. At [...]
By Derek
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Posted in SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged franchise, franchises, Japan, jobs, schools, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 塚口, 月謝制, 英会話スクール
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September 1, 2008 – 11:52 pm
September is when a lot of students go back to school after their summer holidays and after the August obon holiday when many Japanese have a holiday. It’s a great time to put some extra effort into promotion to get new students. I will be handing out flyers and dropping flyers into mailboxes in Tsukaguchi. Yesterday I [...]
August 25, 2008 – 8:38 pm
It has been quite a hot summer. Recently the temperature has begun to drop, which is very nice. It looks like autumn is on the way! I love autumn. In Canada the Maple leaves change color. Japan also has its own species of Maples, or Momiji, whose leaves also change color. Last year, my school, Smith’s School [...]
August 17, 2008 – 11:53 pm
I’ve just finished enjoying the Smith’s Obon holiday. While I really enjoy working at my school, Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi, it was great to take a break. I watched a bunch of movies at home on Cable TV, went out shopping with family, went to my sports center, TIPNESS to do weight training and [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged Add new tag, franchise, franchises, Japan, jobs, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 尼崎市, 尼崎市英会話スクール, 英会話月謝制
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The other day at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi, I asked 2 students studying in the same class when their birthdays were. One of them said “today” (July 28th) and the other said that hers was on July 30th! We laughed because his birthday was on that very day and because their birthdays were so close [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged Add new tag, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, teaching, スミス英会話塚口, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話, 英会話スクール
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On Sunday, July 27th, 2008 Smith’s Tsukaguchi, Okamoto, Ohtsu, Fuse and Horie Schools held a joint barbecue event together at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park in Osaka, Japan. It was our second event together. We enjoyed some nice food and played games in English. We had a great time!
We should do more events together! It really is [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged Add new tag, barbecue, franchise, hamburgers, Japan, jobs, Osaka, Smith's School of English, teaching, Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park, スミス英会話塚口故, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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When I first moved to Japan, the thing I missed most was the live music scene that I enjoyed back home in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. But I have been slowly uncovering the ive music scene in and around Kyoto, as has Jim in Tokyo. Many annual festivals feature free live outdoor music, such as Taiko [...]
By Edward
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Posted in Living in Japan, SSE Ohtsu Corner, english in japan, enjoyed this a lot
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Also tagged arashiyama, esl, kyoto, live, music, ohtsu, otsu, shiga, 大津, 大津英会話, 嵐山, 嵐山英会話, 滋賀, 滋賀英会話, 石山英会話, 膳所英会話, 英会話, 英会話大津, 英会話嵐山, 英会話石山, 英会話膳所
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Last Wednesday I went to a Japanese class I attend on Wednesday mornings in the city that I live in, Amagasaki City in Hyogo Prefecture. As always, I took a bus from a bus stop near my home to Hanshin Amagasaki Station. When I got on the bus, I said good morning to the bus [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged franchise, franchises, Japan, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 兵庫県, 塚口, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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I love COSTCO in Japan! Last Sunday we had an appointment to go to there with a former coworker of my wife, his wife and his four-year-old boy. He and his wife had wanted to check out COSTCO and my wife had said that they could go with us. They picked us up by van. [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English Lesson Plans, Living in Japan, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged Add new tag, COSTCO, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, shopping, Smith's School of English, teaching, スミス英会話塚口故, 尼崎市, 英会話スクール
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The following is based on Smith’s School of English curriculum Routine 4 Lawson’s text and questions.
Going to Starbucks Coffee in Japan
I stand outside Starbucks Coffee thinking about having something to eat and drink for breakfast. I decide to have breakfast there so I go into the shop. I look for an available table. I find [...]
By Derek
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Posted in English Lesson Plans, English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Tsukaguchi Corner
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Also tagged Add new tag, franchise, franchises, Japan, schools, Starbucks Coffee, teaching, コーヒー, スターバックス コーヒー, スミス英会話塚口故, 英会話スクール
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Chiharu and I had an amazing month at our school, SSE Ohtsu.
We started the month with the second half of our first Golden Week at Smith’s. As Don mentioned in “Golden Week Excursion” and Derek mentioned in “A taste of Canada at Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi“, Golden week at Smith’s is wonderful and the [...]
By Edward
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Posted in English School Articles, Living in Japan, SSE Ohtsu Corner, a reward in itself
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Also tagged edwardiwaskow, golden week, nagasaki, ohtsu, otsu, shiga, 大津, 滋賀, 英会話, 英会話、大津、滋賀、長崎, 英会話大津
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