Notice: This school will be closed from October 27th (Thu) to November 10th (Thu) for remodeling. Please email us if you have any question or telephone us after November 11th (Fri). Thank you.
Here are some frequently asked questions that you may have before taking English conversation lessons. Our goal is to make it easy for even complete beginners to understand and feel comfortable taking conversation lessons. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Do you offer trial lessons? How can I book one?
Yes, we can do 50-minute trial lessons for 2,700 yen. This is a great opportunity to experience our teaching style, meet an instructor and discuss your learning goals.
You can easily book your trial lesson by:
Sending us a message through the inquiry form on our Contact Us page.
Calling us directly on 011-768-8116 during our office hours.
Please let us know your preferred day and time and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
If I’m late and I call the school after my English lesson starts, what happens?
If you call on the day of the lesson, after the reserved lesson time has started, sometimes we can teach you over the phone or on an app like Line, Facebook Messenger, Zoom, WeChat, Kakao Talk, Microsoft Teams, etc. (depending on the situation). Lessons start from the reserved time, not from the time the teacher is called.
Where is the best place to take online lessons?
A quite room is best. Most students either take online lessons from their own homes or from the companies they work at. These days you can almost take an online lesson from almost anywhere. It just depends on your computer, smart phone or mobile device.
* Online lessons are great for people that are not living here in Sapporo, find coming to the school difficult or have a job where the shifts change around a lot.
FAQs: Children’s Lessons
Can I study English with my child?
Yes. If you are studying together is will be counted as a semi-private lesson.
How much does it cost to study with my child?
Our prices are per person. If it’s you and your child, that counts as two students. Click on this link to check the semi-private or group lesson prices.
From what age do children start taking classes by themselves?
Usually by the age of 3 or 4, most children can take lessons without their parents.
Is it important to study English?
Yes and no. It all depends on why and if you want to study.
We believe it is definitely beneficial to study English. Below is a movie from the President of Pearson Language Tests, Mark Anderson, explaining how the trend for more English to be required is unstoppable.
You should be studying about 4 hours a week or more. Try about 2 classes a week with 2 hours of self study — watching movies and repeating what the actors say can help with listening and speaking skills, also write the dialogue from a DVD. You can turn on the subtitles later to check your listening and writing skills.
I find English pronunciation very difficult. What should I do?
Record yourself speaking and listen to difference of yourself and a recorded person, or have a teacher from agreatdream help you with one of the pronunciation lessons.
How can I find out my English level?
We can test you and match your level to study materials.
In a private lesson, it is your choice. We can teach you entirely in English. But if you do have a question, you want to ask in Japanese, it is all right.
If you are in a group or semi-private lesson it depends on the other students. Some students don’t want the teachers using Japanese.
Can you become fluent in English with just one English conversation lesson per week?
The more lessons you take, the faster you’ll improve. However, support from your family is even more important than the number of lessons. For example, listening to A Great Dream’s English songs or reading English picture books together at home helps students remember what they learn more easily. If you don’t practice or review at home, your progress will be slower.
Please tell me more about the lesson fees.
Lesson fees vary depending on the group size and location (home or school) since lessons are customized for each individual. The more people there are in groups, the lower the cost per person. For full details, please see our lesson fees page.
What should I do to improve my English?
You should be studying about 4 hours a week or more. Try about 2 classes a week with 2 hours of self study. Watching movies and repeating what the actors say can help with listening and speaking skills, also write the dialogue from movies. You can turn on the subtitles later to check your listening and writing skills. Closed captions are usually better that the regular subtitles as you can see what actors are really saying instead of just getting an interpretation.
I have terrible pronunciation. What should I do?
Record yourself speaking and listen to the difference of yourself and a recorded person, or have a teacher from agreatdream help you with pronunciation lessons.
Can you teach me English entirely in English?
In private English lessons, it is your choice. We can teach you entirely in English. If you do have questions you want to ask in Japanese though, you can ask questions in Japanese.
If you are in a group or semi-private lesson it depends on the other students. Some students don’t want the teachers using Japanese.
Is each class only one hour long?
No, standard lessons are 50 minutes long. As we need a bit of time to prepare for the next lesson if another student has booked a lesson. The duration of lessons can be set when scheduling lessons though. We can do 1 hour long lessons in some situations.
Testimonials:
Translation: The website offers a lot of free study materials, which I'm making good use of. The online lessons are just as high-quality as in-person ones.
