Monday, 5th September, saw the first of the Tsukishima Open Class days.

We basically opened the doors to anybody between 2:30 and 5:30 and ran three hour long sessions where the students were exposed to a series of book readings, English songs and a craft activity.
The turnout was great and we had about 30 students plus mothers atend the sessions.

As expected there were a few areas where we might be able to improve the flow of events so we now have 4 weeks or so before the next one!

A big thank you to all of those involved directly and behind the scenes on Monday.

I post no messages for 27 days and then all of sudden I'm posted 3 in day!

This concerns an opening at our school in Kasai and is due to the regular teacher deciding it's time he moved on to greater personal challenges. Well after over 4 years with us, I can't hold it against him, especially in an industry where the average staff turnover is probably about 6 months!

So if your an experienced childrens teacher, or feel you can make a good go of it, and are available Friday afternoons and early evenings please feel free to apply.

Further details can be found on our recruit page.

Finally got around to getting the two most recent crossword puzzles onto the website. These were originally intended for the student's newsletters but with the software from EclipseCrossord making it so easy to publish on the web it seems they deserve a wider audience. Here are the details of each crossword:

Past Tense Crossword Puzzle This puzzle test your student's knowledge of irregular past tense forms as they covert from the simple form. (15 clues)

Weather Crossword Puzzle How well do you know your weather vocabulary. Ten sentences need a suitable weather word to complete this puzzle. (10 clues)

Remember that all the crosswords have a free printable version so even if your student's don't have access to a computer please feel free to print them off a copy.

Altough most people take a break in the summer, especially from the stifling heat and humidity of Tokyo, we've been busy working behind the scenes to get ready for the autumn season. Over the next few days expect to see more entrys to the blog as we update you with the latest developments.

Firstly we're in the final stages of preparing to open a classroom in Waseda. The important point here is the word 'classroom'; this will not be a fully fledged school as such and is designed to be a one man show but as a member of the englishpool network will benefit from the marketing and systems you'd expect from a real school.

For a sneak preview of the flyer take a look here: Waseda Flyer

Even though I haven't updated the blog in a while rest assured I've been busy!

Loads of new things happening with englishpool but for this entry I'll concentrate on the new logo.


As you can see it takes the 'e' and 'p' from englishpool and uses them in a new leaf design. Hopefully it represents how englishpool will grow.

Now we have a real logo, it's a case of applying it to all the stationery, signs etc...