Smith’s School of English Ikoma Students Notice Effects of Shadowing I often teach my students the great effect shadowing has on their English learning. In fact we often do shadowing right in class. I’m lucky because I have a big class downstairs and there’s a big room. I use it to teach kids a lot. […]
Question Techniques for Better Conversation
I tend to separate language learning into 2 broad categories: language acquisition and communication abilities. Language acquisition generally follows a progression: vocabulary input, structure development, rules of syntax. Communication ability development tends to be less clear. Since 2007 I have been helping students at my small English conversation school in Otsu to develop overall communication […]
Gagaku at Shoryoe – ancient Japanese tradition
Gagaku (雅楽） is Japanese music more than 1000 years old. The tradition of Gagaku at Shitennoji (四天王寺） in Osaka also goes back more than a 1000 years. It is an important part of the traditional Shoryoe (聖霊会) ceremony. You can watch it every 22nd of April at the temple. The government has recognized it as important […]
