This is what it’s all about! Student testimonials like the following are why we keep doing what we are doing. It shows how different we of the Smith’s School are from the rest. We are the “real thing” for those students in Japan who are really serious about finding a good school and a dedicated teacher! I have translated most of the testimonial down below. I think you’ll see why I am so happy to receive this great testimonial! I am also looking forward to reading about similar experiences by my fellow franchisees.
「Hello」「How are you?」 しか話せず自己紹介もろくに出来ない私は、体験入学に行くことさえも恥ずかしくてなかなか一歩を踏み出せずにいました。また、毎日、仕事の終了時間は遅いうえに週末も仕事が入ることが多いので教室に通う時間の確保も難しい状況で、どの英会話教室を見ても受講料を捨てるようなもの…と諦めて何年も過ごしてきました。しかし、これからの自分の将来には英語は必要不可欠!との思いで、不安に思いながらも体験入学からスタートすることにしました。岡本校のアル・バートル先生は、スミス英会話のHPにも書いてあるとおり、本当に日本人の心に理解のある方でとても熱心で、親切。しかも、生徒のレベルに合わせてくださり、無理な注文まで聞いてくれるので、英会話のみならず受験勉強(長文読解力)のお手伝いもしてもらい、専門的な文献までも数多く読んでくださり、全く読めない私に根気強く付き合ってくださいました。アル・バートル先生のおかげで大学院進学も決まり、これからもっと海外の研究論文を読んだり、現地調査に行ってみたいなと夢が広がりました。
また、スミス英会話では、自分の空いている時間で予約が取れるので、いくら忙しくても続けることができます。なかなか時間を作ることが難しいと思っている方、ぜひ試してみてください。英語が苦手、全然話せないからと思い悩んでいる方にも、ホームページにうそはありません。どんなレベルでも救ってくださいますので、構えることなく始められます。ぜひ、体験入学から始めてみてください。
女性会社員30代
Barely being able to say “Hello, How are you?” let alone to make a stiff self-introduction, I was so shy that I couldn’t even bring myself to take the first step by taking the free trial lesson. I spent years looking at various English schools thinking that it would be like throwing money away given the late finishing time of my job and the fact that I often have to work on the weekends. But, knowing that English is essential for my future, I decided to take the the first step and took the trial lesson and joined that day. Al Bartle, the owner-head teacher of the Okamoto school, is, as is written in the testimonials on the school’s home page, very kind and enthusiastic and truly understands the heart of Japanese students. What’s more he adjusted the level of the lesson to fit my level and even was so kind as to help me to to work on improving not only my conversation level but also my ability to read difficult professional papers and articles to prepare for my graduate school entrance examination. For a person like me who could barely read such articles at all, he worked diligently with me to build up my ability. Thanks to Mr. Bartle’s help I was able to gain acceptance to graduate school and I now have a dream to study more foreign research dissertations and to go overseas and conduct actual field work.
Above is a partial translation by me of the Japanese written by my student. Simply Great!
Alex says
Thanks for putting this up here Al!
These kinds of student testimonials are very inspirational and its exactly why we keep doing what we are doing and its exactly why we are the best at doing it in Japan!
A former student of mine sent me her testimonial a while back and here is a link if you have a moment. Scroll down the screen a bit and you’ll see it.
All in Japanese though 🙂
http://www.smithweb.co.jp/dream.shtml
Alex