TeachOrTutor.com Presents: The Buzz

While a lot of people are able to learn a second language, they are mistakenly led to believe that they cannot learn even more of them but the opposite is actually the truth. Once you learn a second language, it actually becomes easier to learn even more, especially with the help of a tutor. Of course, there are some other tricks to learning several languages, including:

1. Find the vocabulary words in the language that you are learning that are similar to those in English or another language that you know and use them to your advantage. These are called cognates and you should find a list of them just as soon as you start studying a new language.

2. You should know that many languages are related to other languages and thus they share many features in common.  For instance, if you already know some Spanish, then it will be easier to learn Italian or French.

3. All human languages fundamentally operate on the same principles. So, as you learn more languages you will be able to start to pick up on more and more of those principles.

4.  If you do not need to learn a language right away, go ahead and take as much time as you need to take in order to learn it. Just do not give up on using those things that you learned in the beginning, even if you cannot advance your learning right away. Learning a language really is a lifetime process though and you will never really finish learning it.

5.  Before you begin studying a language know what your goal for learning that language really is. Do you need to be able to read it only? Do you need to be able to fluently speaking it? Do you only want to know a few greetings and basic conversation pieces? Once you decide which of these is right for you, make sure that you focus upon that area and study it accordingly.

6.  Maintaining your knowledge of a language is very important because if you do not use it, you will lose it. This is why it is highly recommended that you spend 15 minutes with each of the languages that you are learning each day. This time could be spent reading something, writing an email, watching a movie or TV show, listening to some music or anything else that will help you to better learn that language. This way when you need that language for something the vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation will come back to you quite easily because you have kept it somewhat fresh by using it on a regular basis. It is this here that actually puts the limit on how many languages we can effectively learn.

So, if you really enjoy learning languages, then consider learning more than a few of them.

The fact that our ancestors have formed groups that have gone off in different directions and developed their own languages is one of the main reasons for most of the wars that have taken place throughout history. This is because these different languages have built up barriers that have kept one group of people from understanding another group of people. Since people have a tendency of mistrusting what we do not understand and disliking what we mistrust, this dislike has oftentimes turned into fear, which has turned into hate. Of course, hatred is something that people easily justify as a reason for acting out in violence against those that are hated.

Anyone who has given these things any thought have come to recognize that this is happening. These people have often worked to find a common language. Of course, every language has its advocates who want the world to learn and use their language. This is because there are emotional ties to one’s mother tongue and it is also because it takes a lot of effort to learn another language. However, there is a quiet revolution taking place today and thanks to technology it is easier now to be multilingual.

Instead of learned by sitting, face-to-face with our teacher and listening to what was said, there is a new reality in language learning taking place today. Herein high-fidelity sound recording, manipulation and playback media removes the necessity for there to be a teacher sitting there in front of the student. Plus this learning media can be carried anywhere and used in any place. This does not mean that the natural way in which to learn a language has been thrown out the window though. To the contrary, basic conversation is still being taught first and then being expanded on from there. However, since the sound files can be replayed at will you are able to keep repeating the words, accents and expressions until you get it perfect. As such, it is faster and easier to learn to speak another language than ever before.

It is also nice to note that the cost of these technological advances has drastically reduced the cost of learning a new language. This is because thanks to the Internet you can easily download text and audio files in only a few seconds, and at most in a few minutes. If you then want to make another copy of this download it will cost you practically nothing. Plus there are virtually no inventory or delivery costs for complicated intellectual products. As such, these items can be sold at extremely low prices.

The result of all of this is that today you can purchase a language learning course for $100, download it in less than 10 minutes and learn to speak another language in just a few weeks by working on it at times, in places and at the pace that you choose. This means that you can emerge from this training speaking the language as perfectly as a native.

For decades now, each and every day of school has been boring, rote and repetitive. However, today the traditional school day has been radically altered. This is because there are numerous, viable learning alternatives available today. In order to decide which is best for you, it is important to look at both the advantages and disadvantages of each of these learning alternatives.

Correspondence Courses

Traditionally, the lesson materials for a correspondence course would arrive via the postal mail. Once the work is completed the student returns the work and then awaits the arrival of the next lesson. This process would then continues until all of the required lessons have been completed. Herein the teacher can only be conducted via telephone, e-mail or written letter. For highly motivated, independent learners this works very well.

Field Trips

Field trips work well with both traditional education and independent studies. Herein a student visits a location outside of their school or home in order to learn about a specific topic or theme. These places can include manufacturing facilities, a park, museum, the Zoo, an aquarium, public services facilities like fire stations, TV or radio studios, hospitals or police stations. This is an effective learning strategy but a teacher or a guide must be available. It also needs to be understood that setting up these field trips to some places can be difficult or even impossible if a person is trying to learn things by themselves.

Independent Study

An independent study involves designing a project that you, as the student, will then complete by yourself through various means. This work can require that several intricately interacted facets be completed. These may include investigative research, writing, field trips, interviews, extensive reading or lectures. A final production must then be put together. This can be in the form of a presentation, paper or report that gives all of the details of your work and the knowledge that you have acquired.

Educational Television Course

Today most major metropolitan areas have at least one public broadcasting station that features educational programming. These programs are usually a part of a college or university’s accredited course of study. Students record these programs at home to watch and take notes on. They also study the broadcast material, which is an integral part of their learning. While this is an effective strategy for highly independent learners, it does not promote interpersonal contact between the teacher, if there is one, and the student.

Conclusion

We likely will never see a return to traditional learning as was illustrated above. But with the growing variety of learning alternatives, there certainly is something to suit almost everyone. So get out of your rut. Take a chance “ take a course and improve your mind and your life using one of the many learning alternatives available to you. If not, theres always a Ms Crabapple waiting.

There are a lot of Internet study guide services available today. If you choose to use one of these services, you need to keep in mind:

1. Study guides, which are more commonly known as Cliff Notes, should not replace any research that you do yourself.

2. Not all study guides are created equally. Some study guides simply collect information from the Internet. This information may not be accurate, beneficial or analytical.

3.  If the study guide uses references, then you should check to make sure that they are accurate. Now that you know the purpose of study guides and realized that they are meant to supplement studying and not to replace it, then it is finally time to choose which study guide you should use. Here is how you should go about doing this:

1. Each level of education has specific and unique expectations of its students. For instance, a sixth grader will need a minimal amount of information with very little analysis. On the other hand, a graduate student will be required to know and analyze a lot more information about a specific subject.

2. While all of the study guide companies have literature guides, not all of them have taken on other subjects. Therefore, you would not want to try to find a study guide on a history topic from a company that specializes in literature.

3.  If you are purchasing a study guide online then you should take time to search the companys web site for articles that are related to the study guides topic. A high quality service will have a lot of additional available for you to find online. Herein you will be able to research the sources that are cited in these articles. (*Remember* book notes and summaries are NOT meant to replace actual studying.)

4.  Keep an eye out for value. There are some study guide web sites that require you to have a membership, while others do not. If you feel that you will be using this service more than once, then it may be appropriate for you to pay to become a member. This membership fee is usually between $30 to $100. You will be able to find other study guide services that will allow you to register for free or to just purchase one study guide.

After you have finally found a good study guide, it is possible that the study guide may still be missing out on some valuable information. If you find this to be true then you should either email the company or use the contact us link on their web site. In this way you can tell them what they are missing. Of course, they can only fix or improve things that you bring to their attention. It will benefit you to do this if you ever plan on using this service again.

It is possible to spend less than $25 and yet be prepared for the SAT test. Of course, you can also spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in preparation as well. Why would you want to waste your money though?

Here is what you are going to need to do if you want to spend only $25 in preparation:1.  Purchase the highest quality practice SAT tests available, which are the College Board tests.

2.  Once you have some practice tests available to you, it is important to make sure that you use simulated conditions whenever you take them. For instance, when you are told to do 20 questions in 25 minutes, then you should do these 20 questions in 25 minutes. You should also sit at a table whenever you are taking these tests. It is also important to understand that you do not have to do an entire test at one practice session, but you should do at least 1 full section.

3.  Immediately after you take the practice test, you should grade your answers so that you know which ones you missed. This does not mean that you have to sit down and learn these things right now, but you do need to identify the questions that you have answered incorrectly.

4.  Once you have discovered what mistakes you have made, it is time to go into review mode. The questions that you will want to look at here are those that you answered wrong, skipped, guessed correctly and the ones that you got right but thought you took too long or feel that you need to review some more.

5. Try to get together with 2 to 5 different people for a study group. Since everyone will have different questions that they need to review you will have plenty of opportunity to explain these answers. Here, you will benefit in 2 ways: First, you will benefit from getting correct explanations to the questions that you got wrong. Secondly, you will benefit from explaining answers to other questions and thus be able to learn the concept so much better. If nobody knows the correct answer to a specific question, then go to either your parents, teachers or find a tutor.

6. Spend some time looking at the various Internet sites that post answers to SAT questions. Of course, this is also a great place to get answers to your own questions as well.

So, you have spent $20 to purchase the College Board book of practice tests. You can then use the remaining $5 on ice cream. This is something that you definitely deserve after all of this studying for what will be a very long test.