7 Tips for Networking Even When You Dont Feel Like It - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / 7 Tips for Networking Even When You Don’t Feel Like It - Introvert Whisperer 7 Tips for Networking Even When You Don’t Feel Like It As an introvert leader, it’s no mystery to you that you need to expand your network. Nevertheless, that knowledge has done very little to prompt you to do anything about it â€" has it? It’s a lot like losing weight. You know you should be exercising and eating right, but you just never get around to doing the right thing for yourself. I could get into all the various reasons why this is your situation, along with scores of others out there just like you. The important thing, though, is what are you going to do about it? (Like this thought? Tweet it!) I might also point out that while your introverted tendencies play a part in your lack of expansion, they’re not the only reason. Let’s look at some things you could do right now to start your networking expansion project: Tip #1: Start Small The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. When you’re done reading this article, get up and make contact with someone. Tip #2: Avoid Overwhelming Yourself One issue we introverts have is allowing things like networking to overwhelm us, and that tends to shut us down before we ever get started. Don’t plan to parachute into a networking event you dread going to. Just extend yourself at your place of business. Get to know a vendor or customer better. Tip #3: Enjoy Yourself If you only look at the grim aspect of meeting strangers, you have a right to avoidance. Think about this: everyone you know right now, other than your family, used to be a stranger to you. Think of this as going in search for a new BFF. Tip #4: Hang a Sign Around Your Neck OK, not a real tip but thought I’d toss that out to see if you were paying attention. Tip #5: Don’t Take Things So Seriously Introverts can tend to over-think things, especially things we don’t know very well. Remember if you have a history of someone not calling you back or not acting interested in you when you met them â€" it’s not about you! Don’t take their behavior personally. Tip #6: Script Out Your Greeting Because we like to plan and to be thoughtful, write out several different things you could say to start conversations. Practice these in the car on your way to an event or in your office before you meet someone new. It will improve your confidence by knowing how to get started. Tip #7: Make a Plan With something open-ended like networking, you will probably keep doing nothing if you haven’t thought through what you want to accomplish. Your plan should have a target of how many people you want to develop relationships with (you define what that might look like) and your activities that will get you there. Put these activities in your calendar to help you stay accountable. Networking may never be the most fun thing you do, but the outcome of new relationships will be very rewarding in countless ways. Start today. Go to top What’s your biggest obstacle when it comes to networking? Share your thoughts in the comments! Image: Flickr Bottom-line â€" I want to help you accelerate your career â€" to achieve what you want by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my 4 Building Blocks to Relationships eBookâ€" the backbone to your Networking success and fantastic work relationships.   Grab yours by visiting: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential.

The Bass Guitar Guide

The Bass Guitar Guide What You Need to Know About Bass Guitars ChaptersWhat Role Does a Bassist Play in a Band?The History of the Bass GuitarThe Most Famous BassistsThe Top 10 Basslines“The bass, no matter what kind of music you're playing, it just enhances the sound and makes everything sound more beautiful and full. When the bass stops, the bottom kind of drops out of everything.” - Charlie HadenLearning to play bass doesn’t mean just playing the notes. It’s also about getting the rhythm right.  Bassists are often under-appreciated and thought to play a passive role behind the guitarists. However, the bassist and drummer have the leading role in the band.Did you know that the oldest form of a guitar-like instrument dates back 3,500 while the bass guitar has only been around for a century?Here are some of the most important things to know about the bass guitar. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12) £18/h 1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsWhat Role Does a Bassist Play in a Band?Unlike what people often wrongly think about bassists, they’re just as important (if not more) as the guitarists in the band. Bassists are rarely in the limelight. (Source: Free-Photos)Whether they’re playing acoustic or electric bass, this instrument is a hugely important part of any band along with the drummer, guitarist, and singer.The bass provides depth, rhythm, groove, and the driving heartbeat of the song.  It keeps time, plays cool riffs, and helps guide the whole band.  Thus, the bass plays an essential role in a band.Imagine a rock, pop, metal, or jazz song without any bassline.  Let’s break the stereotype right now: you don’t learn the bass guitar because you aren’t gifted enough to play the guitar.The bass isn’t a poor version of the guitar. They are two similar and related instruments.  A guitar has six strings that are commonly tuned to E, A, D, G, B, E. The bass has four strings tuned to E, A, D, G.Bass strings are tuned in fourths, which means there are four notes between each string, e.g. E to A, A to D, D to G are all four notes apart. The bass strings are also tuned an octave lo wer than the corresponding strings on a guitar.The bassist is there to provide the rhythm and they need to be in perfect time, have a great sense of rhythm, and keep. They need to hit the notes in perfect time with the drummer so that the guitarist and singer can follow along.In fact, the first note played tends to be the fundamental note of a chord (which can tell the guitarist which chord to play). If they don’t have a great ear, they can always see which note the bassist is playing.The bassist (along with the drummer) provides the rhythm and looks over the melodies.Find out more about the role the bass guitar plays in bands.The History of the Bass GuitarThe modern history of stringed instruments dates back to the harnessing of electricity. The bass guitar evolved from the double bass but is used very differently. (Source: tatlin)Do you know the history of the bass guitar?Until the middle of the 20th century, jazz and classical music used acoustic instruments.  Swing and jazz bands would play louder and louder in order to be heard in the street. Double bass players complained about how little sound their instrument made and how hard it was to transport. Luthiers and manufacturers started putting increasingly-better prototypes together.In 1910, the Gibson Company created the first acoustic bass. In 1933, the American Paul Tutmarc created the first electric bass ever, the Model 736 Bass Fiddle, with a short-scale neck, a small electromagnetic microphone, and a solid body. A solid body improved the sustain and amplification of the sound. It was designed to be played horizontally and had frets to make it easier to play in key.  The bass was actually originally designed to be played with an amplifier.The next major invention came in 1951 when Leo Fender created the Precision Bass, the first widely used electric bass. Its name comes from the fact that it had frets (allowing for precision playing).The Jazz Bass was released 10 years later and flooded the market. With two pickups and a thinner neck, it had a new sound which was very popular amongst musicians. The world of music was turned upside-down in the post-war boom of the 50s, and by the 60s, music like rock ‘n’ roll, pop, and hard rock was appearing.There are plenty of manufacturers who now produce bass guitars:GibsonIbanezEpiphoneESPFenderHarley BentonJacksonRickenbackerSandbergThe hippy wave ensured that the electric bass would never go out of fashion.  Woodstock was the hippy counterculture’s shining moment in 1969. At the time, plenty of artists were using electric basses in their music: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Animals, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Doors, and la ter AC/DC, Nirvana, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pantera, etc.  Preamps started to be included in the 1960s to boost the high and low ends.In the 70s and 80s, the bass underwent changes to improve its suitability to certain types of music; fretless models, improved sound, new amps, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 8-string models, and acoustic basses.Find out more about the history of the bass guitar.The Most Famous BassistsThere have been plenty of great bassists throughout history. There are so many talented bassists! (Source: Simone_ph)From Paul McCartney (The Beatles) to Cliff Burton (Metallica) via John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) or Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), there are plenty of bassists around to inspire you.Here’s a non-exhaustive list:Cliff Burton, Metallica (1962-1986): Known for his rhythmic and harmonious approach to bass playing.Micheal Balzary, aka Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962- ): One of the founders of the band and famous for his use of slap bass.Paul McCartney, The Beatles (1942- ): On songs such as Love Me Do, Ticket to Ride, Help!, Penny Lane, and Let It Be.John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin (1946- ): One of the most famous bassists in the history of rock music.Roger Waters, Pink Floyd (1943- ): A founding member of the band and composer of songs including Dogs, Comfortably Numb, Money, Wish You Were Here, Have a Cigar, Welcome to the Machine, Shine On You Crazy Diamonds, In the Flesh? Another Brick in the Wall, Mother, Empty Spaces, and Hey You.Jaco Pastorious (1951-1987): Known for his solo work.Rex Rober Brown, Pantera (1964- ).Tom Hamilton, Aerosmith (1951- ).Duff McKagan, Guns N’ Roses (1964- ).Marcus Miller (1959- ).You can also find bassists like Tim Commerford from Rage Against the Machine who played on Killing in the Name.The Top 10 BasslinesWould you like to hear some of the best basslines ever written?Here are 10 songs with great basslines for playing on electric bass guitars. In some cases, a song would be nothing without the bass part. (Source: egonkling)There’s a little of something for everyone in this list.Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild SidePantera - Five Minutes AlonePink Floyd - MoneyMetallica - OrionThe Jackson Five - I Want You BackThe Beatles - Come TogetherQueen (feat. David Bowie) - Under PressureQueen - Another One Bites the DustRed Hot Chili Peppers - Can’t StopRed Hot Chili Peppers - CalifornicationLooking for more?The YouTube channel CoverSolutions has tonnes of freely accessible videos to help you play along with and get better at.  This channel is a veritable goldmine for aspiring bassists and you can watch the bass being played as well as the tablature showing you what to do.  There are also videos for drummers and guitarists, too.If you'd like more help learning the bass guitar, consider getting private tutorials from one of the tutors on Superprof. They'll offer one of three main types of private tutorials and it'll be up to you to ch oose the type of tutorial that's best for you and your budget.Face-to-face tutorials are your traditional private tutorials between the student and a tutor. They're great if there's something specific you'd like to learn as the lessons will be tailored to you and your learning style. However, this bespoke service comes at a cost, meaning that this type of tutorial is usually the most costly.Online tutorials are also just between a single student and their tutor but their tutor won't be there in the room with them. Instead, they'll provide their tutorial over webcam. While this isn't always ideal for hands-on subjects, if you have a decent mic, a talented tutor can teach you how to play bass without even being in the room with you.Finally, you can also get group tutorials. With several paying students attending the tutorial, this type of tutorial tends to be the cheapest per person per hour. Of course, the tutor's attention is also divided amongst the students and they won't be able to tailor the lessons to a single student. However, in the beginning, this might be a good option as everyone needs to learn the basics and you don't want to spend too much money on a new hobby if you think you mightn't stick at it.Luckily for you, many of the tutors on Superprof offer the first hour of tuition for free. This is a great way to get to know your potential tutor, ask them about their teaching style, experience, and qualifications, and iron out the finer details of the kind of tuition you'd like.

ACT Registration Online ACT Prep Online Tutoring Tutorpace

ACT Registration Online ACT Prep Online Tutoring Tutorpace There are two ways to register for ACT test. Online registration is the fastest way to know if preferred center has a space available for you. You can also register by mail if you are younger than 13 or can not pay by credit card. ACT Test Registration ACT, also known as American College Testing is the recognized test taken by high school students to continue their academic education in college level courses. To get into colleges and universities in the United States, students take ACT tests whose results are sent to their desired colleges as it shows the academic knowledge of the respective students. ACT test paper consists of 4 sections: English, Mathematics, Reading and Science. Few colleges and universities expect students ACT scores along with their writing scores and hence there is the optional Writing section for all the students who prefer to take it along with ACT test. The English section consists of 75 questions and the total time given to complete this section is 45 minutes. In this section, students are tested on their grammar and rhetoric skills such as punctuations, organization of ideas, sentence structure etc. The Mathematics section consists of 60 questions and the time given here is 60 minutes. Students here are tested on their mathematical knowledge learnt so far, however the questions are not complicated and they are just related to the basic concepts. The Reading section measures reading comprehension skills of the student and it has 40 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. Science section tests the reasoning ability of the student and it has 40 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. In the Writing section, students have to write their opinion about a given issue and the time allotted to write the essay is 30 minutes.

What Salary Can You Expect As An Accountant

What Salary Can You Expect As An Accountant What Is The Average Accountant Salary In The UK? ChaptersAccounting TechnicianChartered AccountantsFinancial AdvisersInvestment AnalystsFinancial TraderChief Financial OfficersAs a base note, we will start by mentioning that the average UK salary is £27.271 a year ( £39,476 in London).How does that compare against accountants' salary?Well, it's hard to say since the term accountant is so vague and could include so many different job titles.According to available data, accountants in the UK earn anywhere between £28,630 to £400,000 a year, depending on qualifications, industry, company size and sadly also depending on gender.It will also depend on the kind of accounting job you wish to do: public accounting, finance accounting, general accounting,   corporate accounting and so on.The accounting sector seems to be above the national average (18.4%) when it comes to the disparity in salaries between men and women.   In practice accountancy, the variation is about 19.2% or roughly £10,000 a year. In the industry sector, the gap inc reases to 24.4% resulting in a difference of more than £16,000.Despite women earning a lot less than their male counterparts, surveys have found that female accountants were more likely to hold a professional accounting qualification. So make sure to know how much the position you're interviewing for should be paid and do not sell yourself short.If you just received the very prized title of Chartered Accountant, you will almost certainly already have a few years of work experience behind you. However, you might be tempted to get an accounting job in another industry or apply to another company. Let's look at different accountant jobs and their salary range expectations.Accountants often prepare financial reports about their clients' portfolio or company's financial health.every  internal auditor within the company.Some chartered accountants also specialise in forensic accounting, in which case their role will be to detect and prevent fraud and deal with financial irregularities as they appear.In the beginning, salaries remain pretty low even for Chartered Accountant, but after two to four years, following your qualification, it will be time to renegotiate. At that point, the average Chartered Accountant can expect to earn around £56,000 (including bonus).After five years of experience, a Senior Accountant average salary goes up to £90,200 with an additional bonus of around £20,600 with variations depending on which accounting firm is hiring you.world  news, as war, natural disasters or political tensions can affect the performance of a company's stock.Most investment analysts are based in London, where they usually earn between £28,000 and £40,000 a year to start with. During their first three years on the job, Investment Analysts can expect to get a yearly bonus ranging from 10 to 100% of their actual salary.With five to eight years experience you could expect to earn between £65,000 and £100,000 a year as a Senior Financial Analyst with a bonus betwe en 40 and 150% of your salary.At Senior level, salary reach over £110,000 and typical bonus are up to 200% of your salary.In spite of their heavy workload, accountancy tutors London still make time to give lessons in accounting!Financial TraderWorking directly with Investment Advisers, a Financial Trader is in charge of selling or buying shares, bonds and assets for investors.Responsibilities for such a position includes executing trades according to client's orders, informing your clients of market movements and possible investment opportunities or gathering information about companies' valuation.Most Traders work long hours to be able to follow the market or their niche product, and this kind of work is usually demanding as trading on international market can be hectic, and the stress of managing large amounts of money can somehow be stressful.However, the strains of this career are largely compensated by the salary a Financial Trader can expect to earn.At the beginning of your c areer, you could be earning between £26,000 and £32,000, not including commissions (which can add up quickly).Experience traders can make between £45,000 and £150,000 a month depending on your employer or the type of market your trade on.If you reach the level of Associate Trader working in a top-tier bank, you could earn around £140,000 and if you specialise in a more lucrative niche market, traders making around £230,000 a year are the norm.You may need an accounting online tutor to master all of the concepts required for this position...Being a Financial Trader can be frantic and staying on top of every changes and trend  is a key to success.Chief Financial OfficersThis job is one of the highest ranking positions in a company hierarchy, and as a CFO you will be the senior assistant to a company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO).Your job is to oversee all of a company's finances and operation to ensure that the treasury, economic strategy and forecasting are all respected and that your company is on track to meet its yearly financial targets.You will also have to report to key shareholders, usually represented at a company's board, about what is occurring regarding the company's financial position.CFO's are crucial to the success of a company, in maintaining its financial health, identifying potential threats, ensure compliance with all current regulations and finding ways to increase profits.Salary wise, the national average for CFOs in the UK is around £115,000, but given the seniority of such a position, it takes years of experience and dedication before reaching such a job.In London, this average goes up to £128,000, but some famous British companies pay their CFOs much more than that:Wire and Plastic Products - WPP, the biggest public relation company in the world, based in London. The company's CFO, Sir Martin Powell, makes more £48 million a year.Reckitt Benckiser Group, a consumer good company owning brands such as Dettol, Strepsils and Airbor ne, pays it CFO, Rakesh Kapoor, £14.6 million a year.The RELX Grup, an information and analytics company based in London, has been paying its CFO, Erik Engstrom, £10.6 million a year.Whatever the career path you choose to follow, auditor, accounting manager, public accountant, tax accountant or financial manager, a degree in accounting will open many doors.It is an excellent tool for entrepreneurs to make sure they succeed in their business endeavours, but it is also a prized profession in the banking industry and the consultancy sector.It is also the safest job in the world, both in term of job security and physical safety.If you are a freshly certified or chartered accountant, it might worth looking at current vacant positions in major accounting firms such as Deloitte, Ernst Young, Robert Half International or PWC.

English Collocations with Crime Learn English with Harry

English Collocations with Crime Learn English with Harry Here we’re going to look at 10 collocations with crime. What English expressions can we use when people commit a crime?You will learn the meanings of English collocations:cut down on crime, white-collar crime, violent, juvenile crime, to commit a crime, to combat crime, to turn to crime, alleged crime, and petty crime, and I’ll give you some examples.To complete your vocabulary on crime and punishment, you also need to learn crime and punishment vocabulary. English Collocations with Crime TO CUT DOWN ON CRIMEMeaning: When we cut down on crime, we want to reduce the rate of crime.Example: The police are putting effort into a plan to cut down on crime.Meaning to reduce the rate of crime.That might be to reduce the rate of crime or to cut down on crime in particular arrears, locations in the city centre, or in the suburbs or it might to cut down on particular types of crimes serious crime, or other smaller crimes like house burglaries or car thefts or as we have a lot of problems in London at the moment knife crime.So the police are putting in plans or actions plans where they will try to cut down on different types of crimes.WHITE-COLLAR CRIMEMeaning: White-collar C-O-L-L-A-R is the colour of the shirt, or white-collar shirt, which usually indicates management. White-collar crime is a collocation to describe financial crime, typically committed by a business person or public official. When somebody might take money from a company, or somebody might embezzle money   and take it without people’s knowledge.Example: It is also clear that white-collar crime is on the rise and, for various reasons, is far more difficult to detect.They might, as they do now, take money from people’s accounts through some type of phishing or trying to get people’s account details and fraudulently take the money and transfer to their own accounts. So this is referred as white-collar crime.Nobody gets physically hurt with white-collar crime but people can lose a lot of money bad advice, bogus investments, and other issues related to that topic of white-collar crime.  VIOLENT CRIMEMeaning: this is a type of crime with violence; a crime when somebody is physically hurt. For example, if you’re attacked at the street, pushed to the ground, or youve beaten up.Example: Reasons for violent crime in these areas are mainly alcohol and firearms misuse combined with youth unemployment.There are also other violent crimes, of course, which could be somebody attacking their partner or their children, and these could also be regarded as violent crimes. Violent crimes can take place after a football match where groups of fans from one team attack the individuals, or an individual, from the other team, and these attacks could be with violence, or regarded as violent crime.JUVENILE CRIMEMeaning: the juvenile crime is the crime committed by young people; these are young people committing certain types of crime. These types of crime may not be so serious. For example, they could be spraying graffiti on bus stops, or people’s doors, or things like that.Example: Juvenile crime rates have seen a promising drop in recent years, compared to the spike in the 1990s.There could be a juvenile crime of shoplifting. When they go to a store, and they take some products without paying for it, obviously, but also without knowing what they’re doing. It might be a game to them, but it’s quite a serious situation, so it’s regarded as an act of juvenile crime. And for juvenile crimes usually, the courts have lesser sentences. It might be a warning, or some type of misconduct warning, but they usually don’t go to prison, unless somebody is a repeat offender, meaning they do it time and time again. English Collocations with Crime TO COMMIT CRIMEMeaning: to commit means to carry out, or simply to do.Example: The police are interested in finding a person who committed a crime last night.Or they’re trying to encourage young people to take up some sports or other activities, they don’t get encouraged by other people to commit crimes.So to commit is the act of doing, the act of carrying out that particular crime.TO COMBAT CRIME = TO TACKLE CRIMEMeaning: again, as we’re talking about crime, obviously, a lot of references to police, and police forces, and government actions and laws, so these come together to try to combat crime. Meaning, to reduce the crime rate.Example: In order to combat crime, the police forces have introduced many initiatives.The government has announced an increase in police on the streets in an effort to combat/tackle an increase in crime rates.Everything is done to combat or tackle crime.  TO TURN TO CRIMEMeaning: we use this collocation when we’re referring to something that people might be encouraged to do, or something they might decide to do out of boredom, out pressure from a peer group. To turn to crime means to start doing some criminal activities. Initially small crimes, they lead onto the bigger and more serious crimes.Example: The boy turned to crime because he had no parental supervision.Those children without strong parental supervision are more likely to turn to crime than those children who do.Those children who have a lot of sports or extra-curriculum activities at school are less likely to turn to crime in the future.ALLEGED CRIMEMeaning: crime that is not proven; it is understood that something happened but we have yet to prove it.Example: The alleged burglar was seen entering the building.They someone entering the building, they are not sure if it was the man they’re now looking for, and hence, until they prove it, they refer to him as an alleged burglar, or, in this case, we refer to an alleged crime. Was it a crime in fact? It could have b een a mistake, a mistake in identity.Until it’s proven, it’s not a real crime, but it is an alleged crime. Meaning, they believe it is a crime, or it’s understood to have been a crime.PETTY CRIMEMeaning: small or insignificant or not so serious crime. And petty crime often can be described as things like shoplifting by young kids, spraying graffiti at bus shelters, taking apples from somebody’s apple orchard, or something like that. These would all be petty crimes, usually, they don’t carry huge punishment.Example: Two people responsible for numerous petty crimes over the last four days were caught yesterday.So petty crime something small, minor, insignificant, something not so important.There you have the collocations related with crime. Listen to English podcast Speak Better English with Harry on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

General Test Anxiety - Private Tutoring

General Test Anxiety BobbiM Apr 17, 2014 Ya we know, tests can be scary. Test anxiety is similar to writing and math anxiety except it is a feeling of stress when studying for or taking an exam, regardless of the subject. You might worry about the types of questions that will be on the test, forgetting about and missing the test, or studying the wrong material. Students who experience test anxiety are often paralyzed with fear when faced with a test situation and they end up missing questions they knew. Many different experiences can lead to test anxiety. It might be caused by past test-taking experiences, such as blanking on answers, or failing an exam. It could also be caused by inadequate test preparation. If you know that you are not really prepared to take an exam, its natural to be anxious about it. Test anxiety can also be caused by competition with your friends or classmates. If you are focusing on how others are doing, you might cause yourself undue stress. In addition, test anxiety can be caused by a lack of confidence in yourself as a learner. When students feel that they are not good learners, they tend to scone more anxious about testing situations. If you find that you are talking negatively to yourself about you ability to learn, you may actually be causing yourself greater anxiety. Coping with test anxiety. To cope with general test anxiety, try the following suggestions: -Be prepared. If you monitor your learning to the point where you know which concepts you understand and which concepts are giving you problems, you will feel more confident. Allow enough time for studying, but also have all of the things you need ready for the test. Do you need a pencil, calculator,, notes, or anything else? You dont want to be tracking these things down right before the test, so be ready to go the night before. -Understand the task. Talk to the professor about what the exams will be like. Even better, try to look at some of the professor sold exams. Examining retired tests will give you an idea of what kinds of questions the professor asks and will also help you become familiar with the professors questioning style. It is also a good idea to talk to the professor or to students who have taken the class about the content and format of the exams. -Arrive to take the test a bit early. Get organized and practice some deep breathing techniques to relax. Take a few deep breaths; think of something you find comforting-the sound of the ocean, a walk in the woods; concentrate on and relax each of your muscle groups. -Have an approach in mind. If you find you blank out in exams, try to make jot lists as soon as you get the test. Read each question and just jot down everything you know about it in the margin of the test. Dont look at any answers if it is a multiple-choice type test, just write everything you know before you blank out. -Focus on you. Ignore other students who finish the exam before you. Just because they finish before you does not mean that they know more than you do. It might be that they are done so early because they dont know the answers. But either way, dont worry about what other students are doing. -Get help controlling your anxiety. There are usually several resource areas on campus that can help you. You might need some tutoring in course content, or some counseling to deal with your anxiety, or you might be eligible for alternate testing situations such as increased time for tests. -Visualize your success. Think about how well you will do before you walk into the test and remind yourself that you are well prepared and ready to go as the test is being handed out. The more positive you can be, the less anxiety youll feel. Excerpt from  College Success Strategies  by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh.

Ghars Bilingual School

Ghars Bilingual School Ghars Bilingual School Why Ghars: Ghars plants in education yields spirits that are: Unique in their solid Islamic beliefs. Capable of creation and development. Benecial for themselves and others. Stable in facing changes. Ghars Mission: Ghars aim to instill Islamic values and educational skills to build unique and creative individuals who value themselves and others. Ghars Vision: Building an aware generation with positive personalities that will assist students to be independent learners and unique in their Islamic values. Ghars Philosophy: Ghars is a bilingual educational institution that combines the Arabic language curriculum with the English language curriculum to meet your childs needs. Ghars oers an American international curriculum (Scott Foresman: Pearson) using Common Core Standards that builds foundational skills, integrating Envision Math, and Interactive science with qualied and professional educational staff. Ghars drives its values from Islam, to prepare a generation where students are raised to honor the creator, respect themselves and others, be considerate of culture diversity, be ecient in the community, and become responsible and mature global citizens. Objectives: Ghars empowres the students to: Praise Allah by studying the Holy Quraan and understanding the names and attributes of Allah. Recite and learn verses from the Holy Quraan. Take initiative and have cooperative team spirit. Be respectfull of oneself and others. Appreciate the Arabic language through the use of diverse creative tools. Study from well-established curriculum that meets their needs. Be independent learners through research, meditation , observation. Develope critical thinking skills and creative approaches to learning. Discover their talents and develop them. Ghars provides: (a) Student-centered programs which reect 21st century learning and life-related experiences. (b) English learning program - An American international curriculum following Common Core Standards that construct foundational skills, integrating envision Math and interactive science. (c) Arabic programs as required by the Ministry of Education - Arabic Language, Islamic Studies and the Holy Quran. (d) Learning resources and activities, such as computer laboratory, and a library. (e) Instruction in art, computer literacy, physical education and swimming. (f ) Educational plans such as ELL and AFL and behavioral plans as needed.

Learn to Speak a Foreign Language from Scratch in 8 Steps

Learn to Speak a Foreign Language from Scratch in 8 Steps Learn to Speak a Foreign Language from Scratch in 8 Steps Learning a new language can be an emotional roller coaster.Youll hit plenty of highsâ€"now were going to help you avoid the lows.At first, theres something magical about the newness of it all.The new sounds.  The new words.  The new culture youre becoming immersed in, whether youre at home or abroad.  Its pure ecstasy.But then you hit a wall.  You realize that after those first few days of fun that its beginning to be a slog. Youre barely moving forward, or at least thats how it feels.Youve got no real direction, little structure and youre just trying to conquer that burly, expansive language by pure force of will. What was once fun is now intimidating.This cycle of feelings is normal for any language learner or anyone whos studying anything. There are times when our knowledge seems to rise effortlessly upward, like a  Chinese lantern balloon in the night sky. And then there are times when our progress plateaus out, like a fatigued runner midway up a hill who is too exhausted  climb any higher.For someone trying to tackle a new language though this can be terrifying. Theres no sign that language learning will ever be as fun as when you started and you might not be aware of the steps to take to make sure you keep learning at a quick pace.Thats where this post comes in. Outlined below is a rough road map for planning your venture into language learning.  Because everyone is unique and inevitably wants to emphasize different parts of the language, its difficultâ€"if not impossibleâ€"to make a plan that works for everyone. But if you follow these general points you should be well on your way to earning bragging rights for your foreign language skills. Learn to Speak a Foreign Language from Scratch in 8 Steps1. Plan, plan, planFirst things first. Youre going to want to lay out your goals on paper.These goals should incorporate all of the four language skills: Speaking, listening, reading and writing. The amount of time or effort you spend on each one will vary dep ending on your personal preferences, learning goals and learning style, but its a good idea to include them all since they help to reinforce each other.It doesnt have to be too much. If all you want to do is converse with people you meet, then writing an essay every day is probably overkill, but keeping a journal where you write a few sentences a day will go a long way.In addition to these four main language skills you should make sure to tackle supporting skills, which are the backbone of language. Im talking about things like grammar, vocab and pronunciation. You can do separate exercises with these or try to roll them into your work on the four language skills. For example, you might ask a Skype language partner to correct you whenever you make a pronunciation mistake while having a conversation with her.Learning the four language skills plus grammar, vocab and pronunciation can take up a lot of time, so its best to rotate them if you  dont have the luxury of being able to study the whole day long. For instance, on Monday you could study vocab for an hour and then read for an hour. By doing so, youve hit on one of the core language skills (reading) and a key supporting skill (vocabulary). Your vocab learning will be reinforced by your reading and vice versa. Then on Tuesday you could mix it up with pronunciation (supporting skills) and listening practice (core language skill).And dont give short shrift to those supporting skills. If you need to, streamline your study habits for them and make sure you get in some studying for at least one of them each day. By streamlining Im talking about good old flashcards combined with some newfangled spaced repetition.  Well talk about vocab below, but for grammar you can try sentence mining and for pronunciation try writing  a difficult word to pronounce on one side of a card and the IPA pronunciation on the other.To make sure that you accomplish your goals take some time to read over what it is that defines a SMART goa l.  If you set clear, measurable goals with deadlines, youll be a lot more likely to make headway than with a wishy-washy Ill do whatever I can.2. Build your foundationThe first thing youll probably want to focus on is memorizing some basic vocab and common phrases.For vocab, try to find a list of the hundred most commonly used words in the language you want to learn. In the English language the hundred most common words account for 50% of language use.  With a couple hours of work, youll be understanding half the words coming out of the mouth of anyone speaking your new language!As for phrases, you can either use one of those nifty travel books that includes a list of useful phrases, use a site like Memrise  where you can find courses that people have created to memorize phrases, or create your own deck of phrase flashcards with software like Anki.3. Language skills, activate!New language learners often have a tendency to study vocab and grammar and then not really use it for much. Its intimidating to speak to other people when youre just starting out, and foreign texts often just look like a jumble of characters.However, once youve got some studying hours under your belt its essential to activate those skills. By activate I mean put them into practice with a strong focus on writing and speaking. These two skills are the productive skills. You need to produce language with your knowledge. If you can get a grip on these, that means you really know something.If youre listening or reading you can half-know a word and still understand the sentence as a whole. But if you need to use that word in speech or write it down then youre forced to really understand how it should be used.In order to make sure you activate the things that youve been studying there are a couple of things you can do.When youre doing speaking practice you can use conversation topics that steer your dialogue towards what youve been learning.To get in some writing practice, you can try to write out a story, blog post, journal entry or anything else using the grammar and vocab youve learned. Preferably it should be profane, bizarre, erotic, eccentric, deranged, etc. Basically anything that will make new language stick in your mind.4. Let your passion burn with the fire of a thousand eruptionsMotivation is one of the key factors in being a good language learner, so be sure to have some good reasons why you think you really  need to learn the language. And to pile motivation on top of motivation, always stay on the lookout for new sources of inspiration.This could mean joining a volunteer group where your new language becomes essential, as it might be if you were teaching English to immigrants.Another option could be inventing a project that requires your new language. Maybe translating your favorite novel is a bit beyond your abilities at this point, but if you have younger relatives, why not try translating childrens books for them to read? Or you could simply sign up for a n officially recognized test like the JLPT for Japanese or the TOPIK for Korean. Any one of these options would help, and if you combine them then youll really be cooking with gas.5. Become a new youIm an INFJ. What are you?If you know what Im talking about you probably have your own four-letter characterization of your personality forever burnt into your mind. For those of you who dont know, these letters come from the Myers-Briggs personality test which has become quite popular despite a lack of scientific evidence to support it.In fact, personality is much more malleable than most of us think and is strongly shaped by what we believe about ourselves. This is good because learning a new language may require some personality changes for a least a few of us. Learning a language means allowing yourself to be open to constant criticism and willing to say whatever comes to your mind, even if its not perfect. Thats the key. Being sociable and willing to make mistakes.If this sounds diff icult, take it one step at a time. You can try to be less of a perfectionist in your native language first, which may seem less frightening. Or you could try meditation,  which has been shown to reduce neuroticism over time. Whatever suites your personalityfor the moment.6. Pulling out all the stopsIn order to really take your learning to the next level take some time to learn about new technology and techniques that will help immerse you in your language. For starters theres the classic change-the-language-of-all-your-electronic-devices trick as well as the spaced repetition memorization technique.Other favorites include language learning apps such as Duolingo and the aforementioned Memrise. Then theres also an extension for Google Chrome that will change just a few words on each page to the language youre trying to learn so its not too intimidating. And of course theres FluentU! Youll have the ability to select a video in the language of your choice from an extensive library, incl uding subtitles in the target language, explanations for unknown vocab, audio pronunciations and active learning tools.7. Improve your study habitsDespite spending years and years of our lives in the school system being forced to study, many of us have never seriously considered how to study effectively. Thankfully weve got science to direct our pursuits.What do these studies show? Mostly that taking some simple actions can have clear impacts on how well we learn. For instance, if you just switch the room where you study every now and then it will help you retain words you want to memorize. And again, if you just switch the skills youre working on every now and then, provided theyre at least somewhat related, it will help you improve more than just honing in on one skill for several hours at a time.While it may seem like were getting more work done when we sit in one place and focus on one task the whole day, the reality is quite different. This uses so much willpower that its harde r to get stuff done. So remember: Variety is key.8. Get some sleepI know, I know. Youre busy. Youve got things to do. Theres no way I can work all day, see my friends, study a language and get as much sleep as I need, you say.But its worth the extra effort to plan out your day down to the fine details to ensure you get enough sleep. The early part of our sleep cycle is the part that helps our brain with learning languages and lack of sleep has been shown to hurt students even when they are using that time to study.  If youre serious about learning, then sleep has got to be up there on the priorities.Youll finally be able to rest easy at night after laying down your road map to language learning success.Sure, languages can sometimes seem like big, scary monsters that resist all our attempts to get them under our control.But thats just an illusion.With the right frame of mind, some tools, your passion and a lot of persistence, that new language will be your tame little pet before you know it. And One More ThingIf you want the ultimate in language learning support from the newbie stage through fluency, youve got to check out FluentU.FluentU takes real-world videos like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks, and turns them into language learning experiences, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse Screen.FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.Interactive transcript for Carlos Baute song.You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs learn mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% p ersonalized experience by recommending videos and examples.Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet  or, better yet,  download the FluentU app from  the iTunes store  or Google Play store.