Get Your Restaurant Menu Right

サインボードは正確に

前に英語でブログしました。ここで。

海外のお客さんがあなたの店に来た時、英語のサインボードがあれば、とても親切です。英語の間違いがあれば、あなたの会社のイメージが下がる可能性があります。外国人にとって上記のような間違いはとても記憶に残る出来事です。

例えば、下の二つの写真を見てください；

このサインボードにふたつのスペルミスがあります。‘plese’ (please) と’quiently’ (quietly)は違います。お客さんたちは苦笑し、あなたの会社はレベルが低いと見なされます。

‘be’動詞のミスは子供の間違いっぽく見えます。海外のお客さんは意味は分かるけれどイメージは良くないです。

このような間違いは簡単に防げます。LGCのサインチェックサービスを使えば安く正確な英語を教えます。その上、ナチュラルな英語の他の提案をします。例えば最初のサインボードのオプションは"Please respect other guests and refrain from making loud noises."他のお客さんをリスペクトとし大きい声を出ないでください。‘　二つ目のサインは、It is safe to drink this water, please enjoy!"　「この水は安全だから、飲んでください。」

私たちのサービスにご興味がある方はご連絡ください。

The path to a memory

Harumi came across the word 'confound' in her book. She had no idea what it meant.

She would typically pass it over and try to get by without understanding but this time she decided to dig into it.

First she made a note in her book, opened up her dictionary app and looked up the word in Japanese. She wrote it down.

She had heard that it is good to try to study in the native language as much as possible so she looked it up in an all-English dictionary as well. She made a note.

The next morning it was out of her head. She was determined to start growing her English skills, so she picked up her notebook and looked again. There were about 4 such words she had written so she took some time to look at them all.

That day in English class the teacher asked one of the boys, Tomoharu, a question and he looked confused. She saw her chance and she chimed in, " Tomo-kun is confounded."

She got a reaction which made her feel good. Her classmates blinked at her in confusion and the teacher looked surprised, then grinned.

Her experience had ensured she would remember the word. She had made a memory.

Effort is an under-rated gateway to success, especially in study and work.

Broadening experiences

On a personal note, I really feel that I enjoyed a large growth as a language facilitator over the last 5 years. By taking on new experiences and prodding the English language from different angles and opening up to new experiences, we can grow our awareness and become better teachers, coaches and vessels that help to transport our charges through language acquisition.

The 4 and half years I spent as an instructor working from within a Japanese company helped to give me a more practical experience of how English is experienced in an international company. I could find some areas that English training could be useful that I hadn't considered before and how to prepare my students better for international communication or travel. COVID 19 really shifted that whole scene, which I have touched on before, but business travel is still needed.

One of the most unique experiences I took on in that time frame was developing a curriculum for an English Communication School that wanted to operate in a VR environment using Microsoft's ALT Space. Sadly as my contract finished, Microsoft shuttered their venture into the metaverse and when I offered to adapt my plan to a different platform, the company did not seem interested.

We used the MEXT website as a reference and found the target vocabulary and grammar points and developed a fun program for grade 3 students. One idea was using mini stories to illustrate the targets to kids in a fun way. I was able to record the voices for the characters and it was really fun to develop.

The best experience helped me to finally collaborate with my sister on something.

For the program we wanted to use songs, but the staff said that due to copyright issues, it was difficult, could you make songs? Sure! I thought up lyrics in each unit as I made the course plan and after that was done, I set out to think up a tune. With my iPhone, I recorded some sketches that fit the rhythm and the lady in the staff actually had some musical skills so helped fix them so they were more technically sound. They wanted to use an AI singer but I suggested using my sister as the singer as she has some experience with singing. I was quite proud of the results. Unfortunately only about half of my songs were recorded.

The first two songs had a few hits in the first few weeks, but seemed to stop getting interest soon.

Every program needs a hello song. We used a traditional tune but it still came out alright.

Sadly, I thought this last song was the best one but it had only 230 hits. I learned a lot about naming. If I named the song Colour and fruit song, it would have 1000 times more hits.

That was a great, fun experience and I learned a lot about thinking about an entire language training program, even if it was just for 3rd graders.

Get it right and make the right impression

When you are trying to communicate with your guests, it's great that you want to help your foreign guests feel at home by using English. However if you put the wrong words out there, it sticks out to your foreign guests and can do more harm to your brand image than it does good.

For example here are a couple of pictures;

This picture asks us to eat 'quiently' unfortunately 'quiently' is not a word. 'Quietly' is likely the target. Now, your foreign guests are having a chuckle and the importance of your message is diminished.

This water be good to drink. 'Be'? I have some elementary school students that can see the mistake, 'is' would be correct. The grammatical error may not stop people from drinking the water, but it, again, affects your brand.

It's easy to avoid such mistakes by checking your English beforehand. If you use our sign checking service, it will not only be done at a reasonable cost, but we can offer some more suggestions that might add a more authentic, native voice to your signs. For instance the first sign could be, "Please respect other guests and refrain from making loud noises." The second sign could be, " It is safe to drink this water, please enjoy!".

Let us know if we can help you.

Put the test mentality behind you

I was aware of the big problem in Japan before seeing my own children battling through it. It hinders language students from the beginning. It remains, wrongly, the criteria that companies use to gauge success.

Japan's education system is anchored around a focus on tests. Every course, every textbook is centered around the students taking and passing exams. It is very common that the children will go to cram schools called juku, where they essentially are trained the ins and outs of how to pass the tests to get to the next tier of education. And this stands in the way of their ability to actually speak the language that they speak, because schools don't set a curriculum based on activating the language they use.

This continues on to the adult level. TOEIC, the Test of English for International Communication is the standard that companies and some institutions measure people's ability to communicate. Which means that company workers are bound by a similar constraint of a system focused on the wrong thing, the ability to actually speak. I have taught students with strong TOEIC scores in the 700's (990 is best) but are unable to string together a few sentences. Similarly I have taught students in the 400's who manage to communicate consistently. It is just not the right focus.

English training, or any language for that matter, needs to be centered around a focus on actually speaking and relaying information. Classrooms need to be loud with students using the target language in structured, productive, activities. And it needs to be the students' voice you hear the most, not the teachers'. Activating and getting practical experience can help push Japan towards a stronger average level of proficiency. Japan is ranked at #87 in the world in the global English proficiency rating (LINK), which is labeled as 'Low Proficiency'. It would help to see this over-reliance on tests change from the Elementary level, but as trainers of Adult Speakers we can make a difference by giving our students every chance to speak, but ensuring that the lessons are productive and there is always a takeaway.

I should qualify that tests are not all bad. They do provide a motivation to study and some people really grow their vocabulary trying to do well in their tests. Also companies do need some way to measure people's progress, especially if they are spending money on English training programs. But the current test systems are insufficient and there needs to be a way to measure people based on their ability to communicate. I don't have the easy answer to this, but my eyes are open to how we can achieve this. Either way, for now, I am focused on improving the opportunity to speak while ensuring the students have multiple takeaways from each class.

Don't overdo it!

It's important to commit to our work or our studies and exert a maximum effort. But it's also important to take a step back, breathe and assess what we are doing. Make sure you have ME time, whether it is to sit down for a coffee, go to a hot spring, go for a walk, hit a punching bag or just sleep in on Sunday.

Here are some simple expressions talking about relaxation and stress;

Don't overdo it - Make sure you don't work too hard. Take care of yourself.

Hang in there! - The Japanese have an expression 'ganbare' which they always say. If you are going through a tough or busy time, do your best!

Take Five - Take a break

To ride out a storm- remember the movie Forrest Gump when Lt. Dan sat on the mast of their boat while the storm pelted them? He fought through the potentially damaging situation and came out ahead. That is what this means.

Dragon Stew Teaching

When I was younger I really thought the story of Dragon Stew was quite clever, and the solution to the problem was so simple that it was genius!

If you don't know the story (and I may get a fact or two wrong as it has been years), the basic idea is that a King declared that he wanted to eat Dragon Stew and he tasked his people with catching a dragon. The dragon was caught and was getting prepped to be cooked in the stew. When it came down to the crucial moment, the dragon was desperate for his life and he talked the king into allowing him to cook a meal for him. He asked the king what he liked and he listened carefully and he used the information he had learned to make an absolutely delicious meal. The dragon managed to secure the job as the king's personal chef and he did so by listening every day and making exactly what the king wanted. Win/win. The dragon lived and the king got his 'dragon stew', though in the end that meant it was a stew made by a dragon. Apologies if I have mixed up some details of the story (let me know in the comments!).

Subconsciously, this has bled through into my philosophy as a teacher. There are, of course, non-negotiable staples that need to be in the classes I teach but beyond that, we need to know how we are going to please our students. How are we going to make our lesson time productive and useful for them? The answer is in their words, in their mannerisms in their consistent mistakes. Pay attention, take note and adapt your curriculum to those needs. Put aside your ego or the sense of entitlement your years of teaching affords you. We should always be developing and growing as teachers, this is how we keep our job and our lessons fresh.

On top of that, you can avoid being eaten. :-)

So, what are the differences between face-to-face and online lessons

I will say right off the bat, that I am not against teaching English over Zoom. If there were no video conferencing options during the pandemic, I would be in a really bad place right now. There are many good tools that flow smoothly, especially the Whiteboard which is such a great tool to use in class. There are also Breakout Rooms and Polls which can be useful in classes. These features exist in Teams, but I have found them more difficult to find and activate, so Zoom is my tool of choice there.

But face-to-face?

Live!

There is just something so refreshing and so much more crisp about a lesson in the same room. Students seems to communicate and connect more with the teacher, everyone looks more comfortable and the classes just go more smoothly. Not even considering the occasional Internet connection issues that are experienced, things just seem to flow that much better! A teacher can make more dynamic use of the teaching environment, alternating between sitting, standing and whatever falls in between the two. When LGC started some lessons with a new client this year, I felt like I was coming home after a long absence. It was so refreshing! Everyone seems to connect better and the students are completely free of temptations to be distracted (I have caught a number of students with their televisions on as background noise in the Zoom era). It just feels like the right way to do classes.

Of course, we can do both types of classes and the students always get full effort from the teacher, but it was just so great to get back into the classroom again. If you are in Hamamatsu, where we are based, or nearby (Toyohashi, Kakegawa, Iwata, Fukuroi), you can take advantage of our experience, dedication to teaching and enthusiasm for making a difference with in-person classes. If you are elsewhere, we can still work out online lessons or I am open to offers of short programs within reach of a Shinkansen!

Enjoy every moment

I heard some sad news today. The kind of news that will dramatically alter the course of a long time friend's life. But without getting into specifics, a lot of soul searching comes from it. The takeaway is that we should make every effort to make the best of every moment of our life.

Say thank you to anyone who makes an effort. Tell your family you love them. Hug your kids. Pet your cat on the head when you pass her. Stop and smell a beautiful flower. Take a picture of that interesting scene you pass that leaves an impression on you. Most importantly, go after what you want.

If you want to learn a language. Do it. Do it properly. Do the boring memorization and then activate it. Make opportunities to speak in that language. Don't be shy. Help a stranger or join a social group. Stop worrying about being perfect and focus on improving your communication abilities.

Life is short. The little things we worry about, are they that big? Was it a big deal that you made a grammatical error when speaking? What does matter is the connections that we have made, the appreciation of life and satisfying our curiosity and desires.

Life is short and unpredictable. Be prepared to make the most of everything you experience.

Happy 2025

Hi, everyone! It's already a month and a half into 2025 and I am just updating now! 2024 was such a busy year and that spilled over into this year as well, but that is just an excuse. Like with studying a language or skill, it is important to stay focused and dedicated to what is important.

We are still in business and we are working to help LGC's clients with growing their language skills or addressing needs in establishing business links into Japan.

I have never talked about where we are based or what areas we serve. As far as face-to-face lessons go, we are based in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka so are able to service businesses in the outlying area. Naturally, online is always an option anyway.

We are always at the ready to work with you, so never be shy to contact us and let us know what you need!