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Udemy online learning platform
I’ve been using Udemy, an online content delivery platform, to learn more about Excel, mac OS, and Windows 8. I think the site has a lot of potential for both teachers and learners, so I am going to...
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Roomba the robot vacuum
A couple of months ago we made one of the best single decisions we have ever made at Cambridge English. It wasn’t a business decision or an educational decision, but rather, we decided to buy a robot...
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If I ruled the world… the JET Programme
So the story I wrote about yesterday seems to have caught the eye and the imagination of people I know. I have yet to see a positive response, even among former JETs. There are various reasons for...
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Self-access centres in private language schools
I have always wanted to have some kind of self-access centre (room?) at Cambridge English. I feel it would offer a lot of value to some students, as well as make what we do more effective. The room...
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To Do Lists and Project Management: Trello
Recently I have been playing with a great free online resource called Trello that is designed to help teams work together on projects. There are two main things I do on the site: manage my to do list...
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Taking Students Overseas
I just returned from our second overseas study trip with young learners. It was one of the most exhausting things I have ever done, and involved a large amount of stress for a relatively small return....
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Taking Students to Europe (2013)
After the (semi-)successful study trip to Australia’s Gold Coast in 2012, we decided we wanted to do something similar this year. In Australia, the best things we did were as a group, and the worst...
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Taking students to summer camp in the US
This is a guest post (the first on this blog!) by a friend of mine, Ryan Hagglund. He has an extremely promising variation on the usual study abroad trip that I thought you would find interesting....
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Self-publishing on Kindle
Last weekend I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time: I sat down and wrote a short book, edited and formatted it, and published it on Kindle through Amazon. It really was that easy....
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Eikaiwa School Field Trips: Summer at the Zoo
Every year we organize some kind of optional summer event for our students. Past events have included ice skating (feels weird to put on sweaters and gloves in August!), outdoor games, playing in a...
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Work the System – book review
(I reviewed this book previously on my book reviews blog, but am re-posting here as I think it might be helpful to readers) Work the System, by Sam Carpenter, is a book with a very simple premise: it...
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GUEST POST: Do Or Die
Securing your future in EFL Today I am extremely pleased to feature a guest post from Mark Kulek, a school owner from Gifu. Mark is a great guy, a passionate educator, and, as you’ll see from his post...
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Extensive Reading for Secondary Students
I’ve been wanting to write this post for a long time. On April 1st this year the language school I help out at started a new section called Cambridge Academy. Getting ready for this and implementing it...
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Sponsoring a Teacher Visa in Japan Part 2
Wait, that was it? As Trevor rightly pointed out in Part 1, applying for a visa as an English teacher doesn’t really involve sponsorship, but I wanted to keep the title the same for the second post....
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British Hills in Fukushima
Some corner of a foreign field… I finally had the chance to visit British Hills in Fukushima last weekend. If you are not aware of British Hills, it’s basically an ‘English village’ run by the Kanda...
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Cambridge Academy (six months in)
Extensive Reading for Secondary Students Part 2 Well, we’ve been running the Cambridge Academy for about six months now. Academy classroom Cambridge Academy (see previous write-up here): so far so...
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Selling a Language School in Japan
But what’s it worth? Many people in Japan think about opening their own English school. Some people actually do so. But what is the end game? What happens when you no longer want to operate your...
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Cambridge Academy: December 2016 Update
Academy beginner book section (YL0.1-0.7) You can read about the Cambridge Academy in previous posts: Extensive Reading for Secondary Students (April 2015) Six Months In (September 2015) Year One...
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Cambridge Academy: Year Four and Five
It’s all coming together. Or is it? You can read previous Academy posts here: Extensive Reading for Secondary Students (April 2015)Six Months In (September 2015)Year One (February 2016)Looking at Year...
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