Category Archives: a reward in itself

Student Starts a Restaurant

One of my previous students recently started up a restaurant near the JR ROKKO MICHI Station. It’s a very new and clean place with a nice bright atmosphere. I have taken some students there a few times and we always have a good time. If you are ever out and about in [...]

How to Build a Good School and Provide Good Service for Your Students

So if you are thinking about what it takes to build a school, take a look at this video. It shows an example of what I have done after taking over an existing school. The Okamoto school has been open since August 2004 and is currently operating well on the KISS principle and [...]

An Amazing Month: Nagasaki and Personal Bests

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 [...]

Life in Japan is great!

Japan is truly a nice country in which to live. For the most part the people are very pleasant and a lot has been done to make Japan a comfortable, clean and convenient place to live for all residents. I like the U. S. too but it is difficult to [...]

Broadway Musical; NOT a Day Off at Smith’s!

Smith’s- why do i love thee so? Let me see……. when i “worked for the man” at another English school in Japan and we had a slow day, i would be assigned some boring paperwork or cleaning job. Lately Wednesdays have been quiet at MY school, Smith’s School of English FC Ohtsu

スミス英会話布施 My very eager student at Smith’s School of English in Fuse

I would like to write about a certain very special new student of mine at Smith’s School of English in Fuse who is an absolute pleasure to teach!
She is so focused on the lesson, she asks for time to write down everything on the board, especially the new vocabulary words, she does her best to [...]

The Turning Point

The first year of teaching is always difficult, whether you are working for yourself or for a large company. Working for yourself presents a few extra complications and worries, and I must admit that I didn’t always have a lot of confidence in what I was doing or how I was doing things. [...]

My International Pen Pals

Just earlier today I received an email from a former student of mine who is currently living and working in New Zealand and she absolutely loves it!
I keep in touch by email with countless numbers of students but just today I realized how many “international” pen pals I have developed while teaching at Smith’s School [...]

90 Point Improvement on TOEIC Makes My Student’s Day and Mine Too!

One of my students came for her lesson last night and was very excited to show me he score report for the TOEIC. She made a 90 point improvement and this has been since she started studying with me. This made me feel great too!
TOEIC is quite a hard test for our students. [...]

Golfing in Japan

My husband (and co-owner of Smith’s Azamino), Mike, has recently gotten back into golf, an activity he used to do quite a bit in Canada when he was younger, and one which we didn’t think we could afford to do here in Japan. While it isn’t cheap, it is not unreasonably expensive if you [...]

Catching up in Motomachi

I had the night off on Friday and by a lucky chance was able to meet up with an old student of ours. She had first joined the school when she lived in our neighborhood, then stopped for a while when she moved away to Hayama (in the Miura Peninsula). It didn’t take long before [...]

The Morning S-t-r-e-t-c-h

This evening I met with my pink student for the third time. Three weeks ago he saw The Morning Routine for the first time, and struggled over new words and phrases. After a week off, he was here last week and had a bit of review, then learned a few new questions and phrases. He [...]

What does it take to run your own school?

So, what does it take to be the owner of your own successful school? Well, it doesn’t take too much money but it does take willpower. Now, not everyone has the willpower that he/she thinks he/she does. I asked myself “Do you want to enjoy teaching English? Do you want to [...]

What’s it Like to Buy and Grow a Smith’s School?

Initial Investment Payback in less than 13 months!
So I have now had my Smith’s school for 14 months after purchasing it for 2.7 million Yen in 2006. After starting with only 15 students I now have 49 but 7 are Man-to-Man (Private) which is like having 56 students. The clear earnings [...]

Students Can Network to Help Each Other

Yesterday, one of my current students had a chance to sit down and talk with another potential student who had just returned from the UK where she worked as a ground staff employee for ANA (All Nippon Airways). My student is now in the process of taking interviews for such ground staff positions and [...]

A Family Hobby and Community Feeling

We have several families who’ve joined our school. Sometimes they join together, but often they stagger it.
Our first family joined the first month we were open, 3 years ago. The husband dropped by one evening and rang the bell without an appointment. At that time we had hardly any students, so I was free to [...]

Openhearted Kindness in Japan

My husband and I took a short trip to the Izu Peninsula during Golden Week vacation. Before our holiday break, as is our custom, we discussed holiday plans with our students (our plans and those of our students). A great opportunity to use real English, it’s also a fabulous chance for us and students to [...]

The Best Compliment

Truly the best compliment I have ever received from a student was from our very first student (#001), who of course is still studying with us at Smith’s Azamino and has begun her 4th year with us. (Her son is also a student!)
She is a teacher herself, and therefore understands the value of reviewing one’s [...]

Dreams Coming True for a Smith’s School of English Horie student

A couple of days ago I received a call from Gavin to let me know that one of my students at my Smith’s School of English Horie school had called up the head office to quit my school from July of this year, but that during that phone call she went on and on with [...]

English Teaching in Japan. A Reward in Itself.

April 2007 marks the second anniversary of Smith’s English School here in Hashimoto, Sagamihara City, Japan. Many of the students have begun their second year and, thankfully are quite satisfied with my English teaching!