Posted by Mark Spolsky on September 2, 2010
Effective English learning requires focus on English conversation. The most successful students attempt first to master the spoken English before they concentrate on the written language.
All over the world, many students attempt to do the opposite. They make a mistake and learn English with their eyes. Their learning is based on classroom lectures, grammar books and textbooks.
The key to fluency, to speak like a native speaker and to develop a clear accent is listening to easy and understandable English conversation. In order to master the spoken English students must spend more than 80% of their study time on listening activities.
Just listening is not enough – students must use a particular system of listening. First, they must listen to “easy” English. This means that learners should listen to material that they mostly understand. The general rule is that the student should understand 95% of what they hear.
Understanding is not enough. Students must also have a lot of repetitions. If they hear a new word only once, they will soon forget it. If they hear it 5 times, they will still probably forget it! They must hear new words and new grammar many times before they will understand them instantly and absorbs the language into his or her subconscious. In most cases two hours a day of listening is sufficient to achieve English fluency in short time.
Lastly, before attempting formal speech or written English students should first focus on casual “real English conversation”. This kind of English varies from language textbooks and classrooms. Studying this way, students have an opportunity to learn components of real English speech such as slang, idioms, filler words, sentence fragments, and interruptions. These components are very common and necessary for understanding native speakers and for having proper conversations with them.
I came to the conclusion that learning with natural English conversations is the most effective way to achieve language fluency.
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Posted by Mark Splsky on August 15, 2010
The internet has completely revolutionized the future of learning like never before. Many courses and programs are now diverting from traditional, classroom methods of delivery to semi or completely online modules. As English continues to gain global importance as the worldwide recognized lingua franca, communicative competence in English is extremely important for business, travel, professional and academic purposes. Out of the four linguistic skills, speaking is the only linguistic skill that requires practice with a native or near native speaker for improvement. The rest of the skills, reading, writing, and to a considerable extent listening, can all be learnt and practiced without actual interaction with a native speaker. Thankfully, a wide variety of English speaking course online allow non-native English learners to practice with native speakers.
How Online English Courses Work
Online English speaking courses utilize technology connected to the world wide web. The world is a small global community and the internet offers communication possibilities like never before. Learning and practicing English with an English native speaker can now occur regardless of the learner or speaker’s physical location. Many native speakers offer private speaking conversation classes and tutorial sessions with Skype, using webcams for live interaction with non-native English learners. Many schools employ English speakers to instruct conversation classes utilizing advanced whiteboard software. These companies are usually private language schools, career colleges and sometimes even private instructors themselves.
The Benefits
Because oral skills usually can’t be properly honed without consistent practice with a fluent native speaker, having a native speaking instructor is important. The majority of English learners simply do not have the opportunity to practice with English speakers, so extensive oral fluency practice is impossible. The majority of students must make do with minimal oral interaction with native speakers by speaking to tourists, using English abroad, with visiting professors or foreigners. The solution to this is schedule conversation with an online teacher.
Students can also learn and practice proper pronunciation, syllabification and practice variations of English, especially if exposed to different dialects and variations of English. An online conversation class can also help students learn idioms, cultural customs and expressions that cannot be learnt from textbooks.
What Online Courses Includes
An English speaking course online can be very relaxed and informal or serious and academic. Courses will be centered around discussion of various themes and students will be expected to express opinions and share ideas. Regardless of the type of course, the instructor is expected to adhere to techniques which improve oral fluency; this usually means that student talk times is generally high and teacher talk time is rather low. Students are also expected to interact with each other, making courses fun and motivational. The role of the instructor is reduced to that of facilitator instead of teacher. Still, students should not assume that courses are unstructured; students are generally given a course outline which covers conversational themes and topics that will be developed during the course. Although not a grammar course, the instructor should also review significant grammar points and correct mistakes when required.
How to Enroll in Online English Courses
The world wide web lists thousands of online conversation courses in English that are offered both privately and through academic institutions.
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Posted by Colin Jones on May 26, 2010
According to the National Center For Education Statistics, roughly 1.1 million children underwent home schooling in 2005 alone. That’s a lot of children. Once upon a time, homeschooling used to be an extreme statement – something like a declaration of independence.
It was the conservative Christians who pushed for homeschooling in the 1980′s and legalized it in every State. But these day, average homeschooling student is not religiously motivated.
Later surveys indicate that parents are quite fed up with the public school system where much of the learning is superficial and compulsory. They are also concerned about the negative environment in school, which ranges from drugs and abuse to negative pressure from their peers.
As a result, we have a surprising mix of people who make up the homeschooling world of today. They cut across all religious creeds and all regional borders. Their main aim is providing meaningful and productive learning through a method that strengthens the bond between the various members of the family.
These families all have one main thing in common – a long enduring commitment to the sanctity of childhood. The children of these families are accorded a primary position. Many believe, and, I think, rightly so, that home schooling allows parents to bring up their kids in a more natural and nurturing environment.
Public schools can make a child anxious, diffident and thoroughly nasty. Children who receive their education at home are protected from these damaging, negative influences until they attain an age where they can deal with them.
Home-schooling draws the whole family into the almost religious job of teaching. Everyone has a role to play. Both the parents together form a bond with the children. Any experience can be turned into an educational experience. Both the parents are aware of exactly what is going into their child’s head.
Parents also have a greater say over the kind of religious and moral values that the child is learning. Even watching a film together can become a learning experience. Trips to the libraries, zoos, museums and other places become educational as well as recreational.
A home-schooling family is primarily dependent on the income of one earning member. That means that often outgoings have to be curtailed and proper planning of expenditure is a must. This helps to bring the family members together and everybody becomes involved in the process of saving money.
Just having a parent at home to look after, to nurture and to care for the children brings with it a lot of love and caring. Even the husband chips in and there is just no room for complacency.
Yes OK, problems still do sometimes occur, and there will be many misgivings in your mind, but when you know that your children can always rely on you, and your kids know it too, then homeschooling becomes a richly rewarding experience.
If you are thinking about Home Schooling then please pop along to our web-based resource at Home Schooling Information
Posted by Gail Jones on May 7, 2010
No matter if you are teaching in a traditional school or in a home schooling environment, there will come a time when you will come across burnout. This is something that you must avoid so that your learning progress is not affected.
Here are a couple of useful tips that you can use in order to avoid an occurrence of home schooling burnout:
Know your own limitations. From the very outset, you should already be aware of your limitations and those of your child. You must be capable of doing things slowly sometimes, especially if your child is still very young since you have to bear in mind your child’s capacity to learn. Most students are average learners (obviously), so you will have to take the lessons based on your children’s learning pace. Never expect your small child to read complicated selections nor your teen to get supa-dupa marks in SAT exams.
Try not to adopt strict schedules, as this could put undue pressure on your child. You should simply set an interesting routine for your child to follow. Children spend most of their time doing routine activities like getting up, eating large breakfasts, reading books, practising writing, doing light jobs about the place, etc. You must insist that they finish their routine activities before they can play outside or with the computer. Even these routine activities change from day to day, but you have to make sure that your child follows these routine activities. You can add in occasional incentives or fun activities if they finish their routine tasks early.
You should enjoy home schooling with your child. This is one way you can develop a good relationship with your child and if you and your child can relate to each other, you will find it very easy to handle curriculum struggles and motivation problems later. Aside from motivating and guiding your child, you can also pursue some of your own interests like gardening and cooking. If your child sees you pursuing your own interests, then he or she will also be motivated to do likewise.
Since your child is in a home schooling program, you should not try to imitate a traditional schools environment. Try to use non-conventional means when teaching your child. Home schooling is also about flexibility and creativity, so if you can achieve an easy-going but firm atmosphere, you can more than likely prevent burnout.
Just always try to bear in mind that with home schooling, you don’t have to structure your teaching methods in the traditional manner. You can just do things in an enjoyable manner especially when teaching very young children, so that they learn easily. Ensure you keep the day in the right perspective to prevent burnout. Although your children may forget some of the day’s lessons, that’s all right too because somehow children grow in intelligence as well as in physique.
Of course, your children will always cherish your moments together and remember fondly how well you treated them. The song goes: “… there’s no place like home” and for little students this is the best place to learn their first lessons in life. If your teens are already in high school or in college, they too can still pursue home schooling if they want to. That is also a good decision because you get to monitor your offsprings’ performance.
Parents always look after their children’s best interests, so, if after careful consideration, you still think that home schooling is the best option for your family, then go on with it. Just follow the tips mentioned above to avoid burnout. Have fun activities from time to time to prevent monotony.
If you are thinking about avoiding burnout in home schooling then please pop along to our website at Home Schooling
Posted by qpen on April 19, 2010
From Publishers Weekly
The faculty of the Gotham Writers’ Workshop-which now has 6,000 students not only in New York City but around the world (with online classes)-use an original approach in this how-to: Raymond Carver’s classic story “Cathedral” (reprinted in the book) serves as a basis for their discussion of technique. The contributors are not household names, but all are published authors of fiction. Chapters touch on all the essentials: character development, pacing, dialo (more…)
Posted by Dr. Jay Polmar on January 6, 2010
The mind is an extraordinarily power of which we only use a very small portion. In our book, “Speed Reading in only One Hour” we will show you how to tap some of that unused power and use it for your personal success in high school, college, and life.
Your brain can understand from 10,000 to 50,000 bits of data per minute; one bit equates to one word. Although this information comes from old statistics (1980′s),. based on recently developed speed reading technology, and strides in various types of learning technology, you can achieve phenomenal reading speeds.
In the US the average HS grad, when tested, reads about 250 words per minute. The average US college student reads at an average of about 300 words per minute. But, no matter what your starting reading speed when you are tested, don’t worry, it is only the beginning. Can you imagine what an advantage you will have to be able to read over 100% faster than you had before? 200% 300% — The possibilities are limitless.
We receive information through our five physical senses, (touching, tasting, hearing, smelling, and seeing) and through those senses we make decisions. We make choices and judgments from various factors that the physical senses bring into play. The five physical senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch) are preprogrammed for automatic response.
We learn in many way, not only from physical senses, but through other forms of thought. Most thinking is conscious in nature. Senses, on the other hand, work automatically. An example of an automatic response might be: when a hungry teenager smells pizza, he or she begins salivating. Or was that Pavlov’s dog? Actually, it’s the same! What’s taking place is that the sense of smell (called olfactory senses) has automatically brought up a thought, “PIZZA”, to the brain and mind. The thought may be unconscious.
Sensing food is a physical expression of your sense smell and possibly taste. It is a mental sensation (unconsciously or consciously) through your thought processes. And finally, there seems to be a physical sensation by eating, swallowing, and smiling. To summarize the PIZZA concept here: Mind is where the “action” is — and your body is where your “reaction” is.
Your brain and the mind has awesome untapped potential; I’ll teach you how to tap into that potential by using the course Speed Reading in One Hour, available at speedread.org . I’ll show you how you can be a total success in your college life and beyond.
In one hour, you’ll double your reading speed. We have programs to teach you to read faster Double/Triple Your Reading Speed, Improve Comprehension, Get straight A’s, Learn speed reading todayBe a speed reader now!
Posted by qpen on October 22, 2009
Is your school or district facing increased competition, diminishing resources, changing demographics, media scrutiny, and declining employee retention? How to Market Your School is a comprehensive guide that provides school administrators with the essential tools to create a positive public image; attract students, qualified personnel, and volunteers; and build community support through a strategic marketing effort. Author Johanna Lockhart draws on her extensive marketing and p (more…)
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Posted by Marion Jones on October 10, 2009
by Marion Jones
Do you think that passing time in traditional classrooms is a waste of time? For many people, that is probably true. For example, an exam is due and the pupils are asked to memorize a lot of dates and names. However, after taking the test, they will definitely forget 90% of those dates and names. That’s what the majority of students do when they have tests. If you are one of these people, you will find traditional history lessons boring, so home schooling, which focuses more on the history of the world, will surely interest you more.
Simple memorization by rote is just not enough to know the importance of historically famous people and important events. However, through home schooling in history, you can learn about the different cultures of the past in a different, but interesting way – that is your own way! Through the study of history, you will also realize what is happening in the world today.
If you think that home schooling is the most effective option for your child’s education, you should also be prepared to take on some responsibilities. Since there will be no teacher physically present, you will have to oversee your child’s learning progress yourself.
Let’s say your kid supports a particular sport. You could combine history and home schooling by just putting a map on the wall of your child’s bedroom and mark the location of his favourite sports team. Make sure that you track all the team’s games, scores, activities and schedules. Then, you could go back to history lessons by reading biographies of the different athletes, who had been popular in the particular sport that your child follows. Apart from that, you could also look into the history of that particular sport and discover where it originated, its inventor, and the other things happening in that particular time in history.
For instance, if your child follows baseball, you could teach your child about the history of Negro Leagues, government hearings on the use of steroids, and other favourite pastimes during that time. But remember that you can apply this concept to any interest such as dances and inventions. You can also have conversations with your child concerning current affairs or read interesting historical works and other books. Apart from that, you could also watch documentaries together with the rest of the family. There are various resources that your child can use in home schooling, such as TV, maps, books, a globe, an atlas, and encyclopedias. Due of the exciting adventures that you and your child will read about and see on film, he/she will find it easier to remember the names and dates of the history lessons. After all, education is better when it is done in a fun way.
These methods are recommended if your child is still young, but once your child is older, you must choose an appropriate home schooling program that is suitable for his/her age group. The programs are available at the elementary, high school, and even college levels. You simply have to search the Internet for these different programs. A good thing about these programs is that you can adapt them to fit the needs of your child. However, you must ensure that all the lessons are learned by your child.
Once you and your child decide to go for home schooling, you must be prepared for some changes to take place in your life. The learning environment will now be your home not a school and through the various resources that you can use including the computer and Internet.
Posted by Marion Jones on September 24, 2009
by Marion Jones
In the last decade, home schooling has become extremely popular especially among middle and upper-middle class families. There have been many arguments over the years about home schooling, but teachers claim that there are pros and cons in home schooling but it appears that the former outweigh the latter and therefore, a lot of families are now choosing home schooling over normal schools.
Cultures vary enormously and relationships within the family are affected by culture too. In some cultures, family bonds are fairly strong, but there are also those who don’t have very good relationships with other family members at all. However, by home schooling, family ties are enhanced. Parents will spend enough time with their kids because of the home schooling program and the children will have to listen to their parents as well. Communication is much enhanced and both parties will learn about the importance of both speaking and listening.
Many families opt for home schooling because of its diversity. However, since the cost of home education is a bit more than traditional schools, the financial standing of the family is very important. However, even without thinking about money, many parents will still go for home schooling, because it can guarantee their children’s safety. Public schools often have dangerous situations that can affect kids enormously, but if they are in a home schooling program, they can avoid these situations and their parents will be there to supervise them.
Instead of placing the kids at a public school, many parents prefer home schooling because the learning environment in the public schools is not that conducive. In public schools, very young pupils may experience problems that can affect them socially, mentally, and academically for a long time. Experts who have conducted surveys, claim that children learn better in a safe environment surrounded by loved ones. A further advantage of home schooling is that children can learn according to their ability. You can’t just give a new lesson, if the previous one hasn’t been learned yet. It may take longer, but the results are better.
As stated earlier, home schooling is a tad more costly. However, if you think that you might be able to reduce your child’s educational expenses, you’re probably wrong. Home schooling expenses are almost the same as those of traditional schools. However, if you participate in the forums of the parents of home-schoolers, you will find that there are ways to cut down costs. Naturally, you will need to spend on the resource materials, computer, and internet, but you can also visit external events like cultural do’s, public libraries, etc..
You will get even more cost-cutting notions, if you get in touch with other parents. The Internet provides numerable possibilities and with a bit of research, you can surely discover ways to ease the costs. If you don’t want to hire teachers, then you will have to learn the lessons too, however, you have already studied the various subjects in your kids’ educational program, so you only need to review them. You can get further learning material online or the bookshop and later on, educate your kids.
So, it is obvious, that home schooling is far and away the best option, especially if your child is still rather young. So, it all depends on you and your kid, whether they continue this form of education until they graduate for college.
