Private Tuition Not Right For Everyone

Private Tuition Not Right For Everyone Why Might Hiring a Private Tutor not be Right for You? ChaptersSome Myths About Home TuitionWhat’s the Price of Success?The Key to Success: Working Out the Pros and ConsHave You Already used a Private Tutor?Around 25% of students have used one on one or online tutoring services.It’s both a lot and a little at the same time. While a good number are having academic support, think about the all the students who aren’t.Some people outright refuse to have in-home tutorials and homework help while others haven’t even considered whether or not they need to contact a private tutor to help them with secondary school studies.Regardless of the subject, having private tutorials can be costly and it can be difficult to find a tutor you like.Superprof understands this is one of the reasons why some students don’t opt for home tutoring or an online tutor. CalumDrama School Entrance Teacher 5.00 (15) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToriSpanish Teacher 5.00 (1) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors OliviaSchool support T eacher 5.00 (2) £21/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MarkESOL (English) Teacher 4.76 (17) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors YuweiChinese Teacher 4.33 (6) £19/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JenniferMusic reading Teacher 5.00 (1) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors LouiseAutoCAD Teacher 5.00 (3) £60/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RickyPercussion Teacher 5.00 (7) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors NicolasGuitar Teacher 5.00 (2) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MyriamOrganic chemistry Teacher 5.00 (13) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JonathanEconomics Teacher 5.00 (9) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Oluwakemi imoleMaths Teacher 5.00 (1) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AlexPhysics Teacher 5.00 (1) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AdamSinging Teacher 5.00 (14) £48/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ValentiniMusic reading Teacher 5.00 (2) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MilenaMaths Teacher 5.00 (5) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RashmiEconomics Teacher 5.00 (1) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsSome Myths About Home TuitionSome people don’t think very highly of one on one tutoring or those being tutored.On the one hand, it means that someone might be having difficulties, that they’re not smart, or that they need help with their exams or test prep.Teenagers can be merciless when it comes to criticism.The proudest students could end up telling themselves that they can do it on their own without the help of academic support.Not everyone is really enthusiastic about the benefits of private tutoring. (Source: CSRfm)Don’t believe the private tutorial myths!Here’s a list of myths about private tutorials:Intensive courses don’t work. In fact, plenty of students have quickly improved thanks to intensive tuition.There’s no time for them. Actually, you can have private tutori als in the evening or at the weekend as well as during the school holidays. Of course, you can’t have them during school hours.Private tutorials are just talking: Academic support is a session with a tutor who’s working towards clearing up any difficulties you may be having. They’ll explain and clarify things for you. This does mean you’ll talk more than your usual class but you’ll also learn more.Private tutors are inexperienced students or unemployed: some personal tutors are students and for some, private tutorials are their only income. Rather than focusing on the age of the tutor, which is a terrible indicator of their ability, consider their experience and qualifications!My child is struggling at school because they’re not working hard enough. A private tutor can work to motivate students and teach them to become autonomous learners. Academic support can put students back on the path to success.These aren’t the only reasons some people decide not to opt for acade mic tutoring or supplemental instruction.The Cost. One of the Biggest Reasons People Don’t Hire Private TutorsJust like music lessons (learning to play the piano or guitar, for example), private tutorials can be rather costly.To understand just how much academic support can cost, here’s a crash course in finances.In some cases, it might be a choice between private tutorials and eating. (Source: peakpx)The average cost of a private tutorial in and around London is between £20 and £25 an hour.This means having a couple private tutorials should cost around £50 a week, £200 a month.This is a lot when you consider that the median wage of £34,473. A year of private tutorials would require around 14% of this.It’s understandable that the cost of academic support can be hugely off-putting.A child’s academic success is a huge financial sacrifice for the average family, even more so for those earning less!That said, a good education can be priceless when it leads to socially advan cing. Private tutoring can give a child the necessary study skills to become an autonomous learner, get fantastic grades on an assignment, and get into the best universities.What’s the Price of Success?Working class families are often forced into the job market before gaining the education they’d like to.By going straight into work, there isn’t as much demand for private tutorials from them.Then there's the middle classes, who also find the cost off-putting.And what if they give up their savings and their free time to get private tutorials? Is there any guarantee they’ll be successful?The Key to Success: Working Out the Pros and ConsIt’s hard to make a decision sometimes. We always want to make the best decision without taking too many risks.When it comes to having personalised private tutorials, intensive or otherwise, you never really know if it’s going to work, whether your child will get better scores, or pass their A Levels.How do you guarantee results?There’s no guarantee that a private tutor will provide quality private tutorials.They might say they're an expert in geometry, algebra, calculus, trigonometry, and accounting, etc.All they can give you is their personal information, their experience, qualifications, approach, and tell you what type of person they are.If stress is an issue,  check out our tips  to deal with it.How Can You Tell the Truth from the Fiction?In economics, information asymmetry is when one party has more or better information than the other.In this case, the provider may have never had any students, despite saying so.Maybe they’re not as skilled or as friendly as they say they are.The best idea is to take a sheet of paper and not down the pros and the cons. Just like brainstorming, write everything that comes to mind about having private tutorials. Do you need maths, physics, chemistry, French, Spanish, or economics tutorials?The disadvantages:BudgetLeisure timeMissing out on other extra curricular activities (spor ts, etc).No space at the houseProfessional uncertaintyAcademic failure?The advantages:Better grades for my childCatching upAcademic coaching programmeA Level preparationA feeling of successSelf confidenceBetter options for their academic and professional futureLess money today but more in the futureBetter cultural understandingPersonal development for my child.The list of considerations can be really long. Normally, if there are more advantages than disadvantages, you’ll feel more comfortable with choosing in-home private tutorials.How do you avoid failing exams? (Source: Haiku Deck)Whatever happens, it’s better to at least look for the best personal tutors than wasting more time thinking about whether or not you’re going to have them.Have You Already used a Private Tutor?One reason to not have private tutorials is because you’ve had a bad experience.Have you already tried private tutorials? Have a closer look at how you can help your child. (Source: RyanLab)Perhaps you’ve already had a private tutor for your child and it didn’t go well.It’s better to stop things immediately than to wait to see if things improve. Isn't it?Have your child’s grades even improved?Ask yourself if the problem lies with the tutor or your child.Whoever it may be, it might be time to mix things up.If their report is worrying, stick with it because it might be just the boost they need.We've talked a lot about why not tutorials might not be right for you, but what about the reasons for having private tuition?Search for tutors near where you live, there’ll definitely be a few that you like the look of! Find a home tutor that offers free tutoring for the first hour of class to see whether you like them.

French Grammar Rules How to Conjugate Regular Verbs

French Grammar Rules How to Conjugate Regular Verbs Sign up successful I run, becomes he runs. But often times, English verbs are a little more constant than their French equivalents. For example: I do je fais we do nous faisons they do vous faites French grammar is not totally unpredictable, however. Most French verbs actually follow regular patterns according to three groupings: verbs ending in -er, in -ir, and in -re. Of these three groups, -er verbs are by far the most common. Sometimes people will even create their own verbs by adding -er to another common word! A few examples of regular -er verbs include: aimer to like chercher to search or look for compter to count conseiller to advise continuer to continue donner to give écouter to listen (to) parler to talk sauter to jump tutoyer to address someone using “tu” vousvoyer to address someone using “vous” essayer to try encourager to encourage nager to swim manger to eat In the present tense, these verbs are conjugated by removing the -er ending and adding different endings (see the bold below) for each subject pronoun as follows: je (I) parle tu (you singular) parles il / elle / on (he / she / one) parle nous (we) parlons vous (you plural) parlez ils / elles (they) parlent There are two exceptions of which to be aware (and dedicated students of French know that French loves exceptions). The first involves those -er verbs ending in -ger. As in English, French pronunciation includes the concept of the hard and soft “g.” Like us, the French often denote their soft “g”s by adding an -e after the -g. For the “nous” forms of such verbs, the ending therefore changes from -ons to -eons. For example, the correct “nous” form of “encourager” is not “encouragons,” but “encourageons.” The second involves those verbs ending in -yer. For English nouns ending in -y, the plural form changes -y to -i and adds -es. Likewise here, -yer verbs will change -y to -i in addition to replacing -er with the appropriate ending â€" except (because French loves exceptions!) for the nous and vous forms. For example, the verb “essayer” would be conjugated as follows: J essaie Tu essaies Il / elle / on essaie Nous essayons Vous essayez Ils / elles essaient The second largest category in French, -ir verbs, include: choisir to choose finir to finish grossir to gain weight maigrir to lose weight réussir to succeed rougir to blush vieillir to grow old(er) In the present tense, they are conjugated by removing the -ir and adding the endings in bold in the example below: Je finis Tu finis Il / elle / on finit Nous finissons Vous finissez Ils / elles finissent Some common -ir verbs are irregular, such as sortir (to go out) and venir (to come). Most are conjugated as above. The third and smallest group of regular verbs ends in -re, and include: rendre to return entendre to hear attendre to wait (for) perdre to lose défendre to forbid In the present tense, they are conjugated by removing the -re and adding the endings in the example below: Je rends Tu rends Il / elle / on rend Nous rendons Vous rendez Ils / elles rendent As with the other groupings, there are some irregular -re verbs, such as prendre (to take), connaitre (to be familiar with), lire (to read), mettre (to put down), and boire (to drink). To practice our French grammar, lets try a few examples. In each of the following sentences, try to conjugate the correct form of the verb in parenthesis: 1) Nous _____________ (compter) de 1 à 100. We count from 1 to 100. 2) Vous _____________ (finir) vos devoirs. You are finishing your homework. 3) Je _____________ (conseiller) les étudiants de francais de visiter la France au moins une fois. I advise all French students to visit France at least once. 4) Ils _____________ (parler) avec leurs amis. They talk with their friends. 5) Tu _____________ (maigrir)! You are losing weight! 6) Elle _____________ (nager) tous les jours. She swims every day. 7) Je _____________ (rendre) le livre à la bibliothèque. I am returning the book to the library. 8) Nous _____________ (encourager) les uns les autres. We encourage each other. 9) Tu _____________ (chercher) ton livre de francais. You are looking for your French book. Want to check your answers? Here they are: 1) comptons 2) finissez 3) conseille 4) parlent 5) maigris 6) nage 7) rends 8) encourageons 9) cherches Practice makes perfect, so keep on practicing with your tutor and checking yourself. Check out this list of common regular French verbs for even more vocabulary to practice. Soon enough, youll be the expert! Study more French verbs check out our Ultimate French Verb Guide! Post Author:  Carol Beth L. Carol Beth teaches  French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching since 2009.  Learn more about Carol Beth here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Thomas D.

What are the FAFSA Changes for 2017-18

What are the FAFSA Changes for 2017-18 Each year, millions of incoming and current college students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as the FAFSA. Completing the FAFSA allows students to see if they qualify for federal grants, loans, and scholarships to be used to help pay for collegemaximizing their search for financial aid. Completing a FAFSA requires students and their families to fill out dozens of forms summarizing tax returns, demographic information, and personal information the year preceding the one in which the student plans on attending college. This means that a student who will attend college for four years may complete four FAFSAs over the course of his or her college career. Its a process that has a reputation for being complex and time-consuming. As a result, some students and their families opt not to file the FAFSA each year, forgoing potential financial aid. Without financial assistance, many of these students struggle to pay for college, and some skip it altogether. Recognizing these challenges, President Barack Obama announced some major FAFSA changes in September that are meant to make it easier for students to apply for federal student aid. These adjustmentsset to go into effect for the 20172018 school year follow other changes to the FAFSA process, such as streamlining the online form and creating a more straightforward IRS income information accessibility tool. Filing for the 2017-2018 FAFSA will be different from todays process in two important ways: Students can file a FAFSA earlier Currently, students can complete and file a FAFSA starting on January 1 for the following academic year. So, a student filling out a FAFSA for the 2016-2017 academic year could begin filling out his or her FAFSA on Jan. 1, 2016. However, many students dont file their FAFSA until months later, in April, when their families receive tax return information that is needed to complete the form. With most college applications due in the fall, students arent able to use the financial aid information received after filing a FAFSA to help them make informed financial decisions on where to apply to college. For the 2017-2018 academic year, the FAFSA opening date will be permanently moved from January 1 to October 1 each year, starting on October 1, 2016. This allows students to make informed college application decisions based on their individual financial aid situations. The 2016-2017 FAFSA will be the last FAFSA to open on January 1, and students who plan on attending college between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, must submit a FAFSA between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017. Students can use earlier income information on their FAFSA Students are currently required to file the FAFSA using income information from the preceding tax year. But, as mentioned above, since the existing January 1 opening date for filing falls before taxes are due, many students wait to file the FAFSA until their family files taxes in April. While it is possible to file the FAFSA using estimated income information before filing taxes, this information can be inaccurate and may need to be corrected, complicating the FAFSA filing process. Instead of asking for prior-year tax information, the 2017-2018 FAFSA asks students to provide information from one year earlier than the prior year. So, the 2017-2018 FAFSA will ask for 2015 income information. This change allows students to complete the FAFSA online using electronically imported information from the IRS, rather than estimating family income (which may need to be corrected later) or waiting until their prior-year tax returns are filed (which may mean they lose out on financial aid packages). Students who plan on attending college between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, will still be asked to provide prior-year income informationin this case, based on their families 2015 tax returns.

Being an Tutoring Advocate for Your Child

Being an Tutoring Advocate for Your Child Being an Advocate for Your Child One of the top recommendations you will receive as a parent from every teacher that your child has throughout his or her education is to stay involved. When your child is younger, staying involved means helping your child with homework, encouraging him or her to become more organized and a strong time manager, and generally keeping him or her on track. As your child becomes more independent, your duties will become less hands on. Your child will take the lead on his or her education while you step into a support role. While your parent role will certainly evolve over time, there is one aspect that should always be important: you must always advocate for your child as a student. How can you best support your child? Here are several tips: Make sure your childs needs are being met. There may come times in your childs educational career when he or she needs additional help or support. Your child might struggle in a subject and require one-on-one help outside the classroom. Perhaps your child will encounter anxiety problems that require the expertise of the school guidance counselor. Or maybe youll notice that your child might benefit from an instructional approach that is different than the one preferred by his or her teacher and will want to discuss how best to help your child flourish. Whatever the situation, if you ever sense that your childs needs are not being met in the classroom, talk with his or her teacher. He or she will likely welcome your ideas and insight. Establish a working relationship with the teacher. It goes without saying that your childs teacher should be your first point of contact at school and you should reach out early in the school year to lay the foundation for a positive, cooperative, mutually respectful partnership. Let the teacher know that you are always available should he or she have questions about your childs needs or school performance. Make clear your intentions of helpful collaboration for the benefit of your child. Identify and nurture your childs strengths. Help your child take notice of his or her strengths and build upon them. Reach out to his or her teacher and ask for suggestions on how to give your child opportunities to build on those strengths through academic enrichment opportunities or extracurricular activities. He or she may have suggestions as simple as giving your child additional fun projects that he or she may enjoy. Educate yourself about your child. Get to know your child as a student and do your own homework on how he or she learns. Once you better understand your childs learning preferences and styles, personality, strengths and weaknesses, you can do a little research on the most effective role for you as a parent. Your childs teacher will certainly have insight as well. The better you understand your child as a student, the more you can help him or her flourishand the better you can support him or her when challenges arise. Let your child know that you are always there for support. Often, children fear that their parents will be upset about school problems, but it is important for your child to understand that part of your job as a parent is being available for support when he or she needs it. If he or she is struggling and doesnt know how to turn things around, explain that you want him or her to come to you for guidanceno matter the circumstances. Together, you can come up with a plan to tackle big problems. Ask questions. Many parents assume that their presence as a classroom volunteer or PTA parent is the best way to show their child that school is important. However, making school a priority at home and asking questions about your childs school work and learning have an even greater impact on student educational outcomes. Although it may seem like a subtle form of advocacy, your attitude toward your childs education is highly influential. Ask your child about school and about his or her favorite subjects as well as those that cause him or her the most stress. Being an advocate for your child is about supporting his or her learning, working effectively with his or her teachers and other school staff, and letting your child know that he or she is supported. Remember that one of the most important things you can do as your childs advocate is to be a good influenceteach your child to advocate for him or herself, too. In doing so you will arm your child with the confidence to speak up when he or she needs help and communicate with teachers and peers to his or her benefit.

Guiding Your Freshman in High School Toward Success

Guiding Your Freshman in High School Toward Success If your teen is about to begin high school, you may be concerned about the transition. High school, after all, brings higher academic expectations and is a significant time of change for most students as they grow into young adults. As a parent, how can you help your teen survive and thrive his or her first year of high school? Here are several tips: Get to know the support staff Establishing good advocacy relationships at the outset of high school will be important during the next four years. Encourage your teen to stop into the guidance counselor's office early on. If he or she feels a connection with a teacher, seek that teacher's advice and help. Your support will certainly be important throughout high school, but your teen should establish a team of individuals to whom he or she can turn throughout the high school years. Don't wait for help High school isn't easy for everyone-be sure your teen understands the long-term consequences of falling behind and poor grades, and knows that he or she can and should ask for help. While high school teachers expect students to be more independent, don't let your teen wrongly assume he or she shouldn't seek assistance during tough times. He or she should visit the teacher outside of class and get outside tutoring help if needed. Let your teen know you are there to help when he or she feels overwhelmed by a difficult subject or issue. Get organized If your teen isn't a naturally organized person, now is the time to improve those organizational skills. Help your teen set up a reliable system of keeping track of papers that come home. If he or she has a desk, teach him or her to keep it tidy and consistently put things in their proper place so that homework time is productive, not frazzled. Make sure your teen establishes a study routine and sticks to it. Work on time management Perhaps your teen has grown used you helping manage his or her time, giving frequent reminders about outside commitments, homework and project due dates, and the like. Let your teen take the reins now. Teach him or her to make use of a planner or calendar to stay on top of homework assignments, upcoming tests and other obligations-and plan ahead properly. Guide him or her on this early in high school, but let him or her take responsibility quickly. Remind your teen to prioritize High school is a new and exciting social scene for your teen, and there's no doubt he or she will want to explore it. This is fine, but remind your teen that school comes first. Hanging out with friends should not take precedent over homework, but with effective time management, your teen can have a social life and keep up with school. Teach him or her about prioritizing to-dos (what assignments should he or she tackle first?) and setting goals and rewarding him or herself for meeting them (Facebook time comes after math homework is done). High school is sure to bring many changes to your teen's life-and your entire household-but with your support and encouragement, your teen can make his or her freshman year a great one and lay a positive foundation for the next four years.

5 Things That Happen When Kids Have Too Much Screen Time

5 Things That Happen When Kids Have Too Much Screen Time Tips from a Private Orange County Tutor: 5 Things That Happen When Kids Have Too Much Screen Time Tips from a Private Orange County Tutor: 5 Things That Happen When Kids Have Too Much Screen Time We all know that its not good for kids to spend their whole day watching TV or playing video games. However, screen time also includes looking at a computer, tablet, or cell phone.  Its important to think about having an appropriate balance because extended screen time can be a detriment in and of itself but may also take away from important activities that children should experience. So what are the downsides of too much screen time? 1. Time away from nature When kids are on their computers or tablets most of the afternoon, theyre not spending time outside playing with their peers or enjoying nature. Its important for people of all ages to have an opportunity to go outside when the weather is nice. Time in nature makes people more relaxed, can help kids stay calm and focused, and alleviate stress. Every hour a student is at their screen unnecessarily is an hour they could be enjoying the outdoors 2. Time in solitude When kids are at a screen, they are not interacting with other kids. Playing a video game with another live player in another state doesnt count.   Although video games and social media can be fun, is important that young kids dont spend too much time in solitude. This period is a huge transition when children can learn valuable social skills that will help them in the classroom and their social lives. Many students find it difficult to resolve small conflicts and follow directions in the classroom if they spend most of their day distracted by a computer screen or video game console (READ: What is an Experimental Section on a Standardized Test?). 3. Not enough sleep The blue light emanating from computers and tablets tends to keep people of all ages awake past their ideal bedtime. Its especially important for growing kids and teens to get enough sleep so they can rest and recover from the day before and be prepared to succeed in the classroom the next day. Additionally, teens that get caught up on social media sites will often distract themselves from enjoying a restful period before they go off to sleep (READ: Irvine AP Tutor: How Many AP Classes are Too Many?). 4. Lack of concentration Many kids struggle with concentration in general. However, younger students who have particular difficulty focusing on assignments or directions are often the same children who have unlimited screen time. Children are now using screens at school to complete assignments and do research in addition to any social screen time they spend at home. Although screen time is a side effect of some precious research materials, its important to keep the time limited when possible so that students dont lose their concentration altogether. 5. Too much work? Extended screen time may also be a symptom of too much homework. Students, especially as they get into high school, have hours upon hours of homework to do each day. If teens come home from school and sit in front of a laptop or tablet all afternoon and evening, they might be totally overwhelmed with academics. Its important to look at how much homework a student has for each class and see if any adjustments can be made. Perhaps they need to practice speed reading or learn to take notes more efficiently. They might need help learning how to skim through the important material to find key terms and definitions. Students shouldnt have to work on academics 12 hours a day, but if they are spending a ton of time at a screen, it’s probably an indication that they simply have too much homework to complete in one study session. Having your son or daughter work with a private Orange County tutor from TutorNerds will get them away from their phones. Our tutors are fun, interactive, and experienced in getting students to enjoy schoolwork. Call us today for more information. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.

Robots, virtual reality, and the future of education - Tutor Hunt Blog

Robots, virtual reality, and the future of education Robots, virtual reality, and the future of education Robots, virtual reality, and the future of educationSchoolsVirtual reality was all the rage in the early 90`s - it was the new `cool` technology. Not dry and academic like the PC`s that were beginning to creep into everyone`s home, it seemed to offer astounding possibilities, promising the public that they could become fully immersed in computer generated worlds. We would be able to visit strange and wonderful fantasy realms, experience simulated space flight, enjoy films and computer games like never before - all this while sitting comfortably at home wearing a sophisticated display device. The reality was rather more disappointing - I can remember queuing up for hours at a busy shopping centre in central London, waiting eagerly to try the new virtual reality machine. The device was truly huge - it seemed to resemble a tank, and I can remember feeling, as I finally got to the front of the queue and stepped into the device, that I was about to have a life changing experience. Ten minutes later (and 20 poorer) I was still suffering from nausea, my stomach retching from what was a bad case of motion sickness. The problem was the technology hadn`t been perfected - the huge viewing goggles were not able to adjust in real time, so when I turned my head, it took a few seconds for the crudely rendered polygon landscape to catch up. The result was a nauseating feeling, and this was a complaint voiced by many. That seemed to be the end of virtual reality - it had a bit part in a couple of films of the period: The original Jurassic Park movie showed scientists manipulating genes at a molecular level using the fashionable technology; while the forgotten movie The Lawnmower Man had a number of extended VR scenes. Decades passed - it seemed the VR craze was just a blip, a piece of 90`s nostalgia. But in 2012 the company Oculus VR, a division of Facebook Ltd, began a Kickstarter campaign, hoping to develop their new headset. In 2016 their product was released - VR had returned! They seemed to have ironed out all the issues that halted the project 2 decades ago: thanks to more powerful and affordable computers, the irritating image lag had been overcome. How does all this relate to the education sector though? The potential for games and movies seem obvious, but could VR be used to help children in the classroom? Mark Steed, Director of the Dubai public school Jess certainly believes so. He is already trialling his idea, in which a robot with a 360 degree camera is situated at the second row of a classroom. Footage from the lesson can then be viewed in real time by anyone anywhere in the world. `When you put a headset on you feel as if you are in a classroom and it`s a very different experience from the passive idea of watching a screen, I can turn to the left and right and see the people who are in the class there,` he said. `There`s no reason with time, with increasing bandwidth and processor speed and everything, that you couldn`t have the experience of a pupil sitting anywhere in the world feeling as if they were in the classroom of one of the top schools in the world.` This all might sound rather peculiar - a classroom with a robot in attendance! Children going to school by putting on headsets, and sitting in virtual lessons! Mark Steed is aiming to reach out to the 263 million children across the globe who do not attend school. That really is an astonishing figure - more than four times the population of the United Kingdom. If these children can benefit from this technology, if they can atend (in however synthetic a form) a classroom with a well qualified teacher, that it can only be a good thing. Mr Steed recently outlined his proposal at the HMC conference in Belfast, claiming that VR headsets would enable a child in the developing world to attend a lesson in a high ranking independent school. Though this technology is unlikely at present to change the way lessons are presented in the UK, it seems certain that technology is going to have an ever more integral role in the education sector. Already lots of top universities upload many (if not all) their lectures onto youtube. In this way anyone can, from the comfort of their own home, obtain a university an education for no charge. Anything that can extend the voices of teachers to a larger audience must be good - it does indeed seem such a shame that the wisdom of so many teachers is caged within the rooms they are teaching in, their edifying words fading with the echoes. If education is the key to setting people free, the way to help the hundreds of millions of children currently lacking this gift may be liberating the lessons themselves from the narrow constraints of the classroom. 2 years ago0Add a Comment

My New Year Language Challenge Totalmente Italiano

My New Year Language Challenge Totalmente Italiano The following post originally appeared on Fluent, a great language learning blog written by Kerstin Hammes. Reposted with permission. Click here for the original post. Now that the new year has begun, I bet youre feeling fired up to take more language lessons, spend more time studying and set all kinds of new goals. And as a language tutor, you know where I stand on the issue: You should at try working with a 1-to-1 tutor. Good language teachers are the ultimate key to unlocking language learning. While italki is certainly not the only place for you to find a good tutor, they are definitely one of the most encouraging. For 2015, italki is relaunching the Language Challenge. Sadly Im too busy to get involved this time, but Ive found a fearless roving reporter in my friend Tanja. Tanja is taking the Challenge and reporting on her Italian learning progress here on Fluent, and hopefully youll feel encouraged and get involved in the Challenge too. You can read more below and sign up until Jan 31st. Something New Learning to be Fluent My name is Tanja, and I have loved languages ever since my very first English lesson, aged 10, but sadly never turned into a “polyglot”. At school, I also took French and Latin while trying, at the same time, to teach myself Spanish at home, with tapes and a book (yes, tapes). At uni, I finally did an intensive Spanish course, followed up by a fairly advanced course in Girona. Ever since, I have been trying to boost my French and Spanish skills, to no great avail. My main achievement is that I own a lot of books in the languages. Some of the French ones I have even read. I also started courses in Swedish, Dutch and Ancient Greek, but never got past greetings. Fluency Fluency, for me, has a lot to do with speaking. I have come to realise that I am simply not fluent in more languages because I am too worried to make mistakes. Of course that’s wrong after all, I moved to England aged 18 and therefore personally experienced that immersion works. I am a certified TEFL-teacher, I have been teaching classes for decades, not a single lesson passes in which I don’t tell my students that it’s okay to make mistakes. One of my students was “healed” from not speaking when I told her to pay attention to how many times a day, she can’t think of a word in German, doesn’t finish a sentence etc., in her mother tongue. I know the tricks of the trade, I understand how learning progresses, and I am aware that knowing a language isn’t just about being able to read books in it. My retirement vision of living in a house in France (with a big library) has long been marred by the realisation that I won’t be able to negotiate the contract and that my win e-fuelled discussions with my imaginary lovely neighbours will likely never happen if I don’t say more than “Bonjour, madame!” So why Italian? In the late summer of 2014, I decided to learn Italian from scratch. Though I still wanted to become fluent in French and possibly Spanish eventually, I made a choice. This time, I would go about it differently. I wouldn’t repeat and revise what I had already studied several times over the course of twenty years, but would start over. I wanted to apply all that I knew about language learning, and I wanted to give the communicative approach basically, the belief that it is essential to speak and hence, communicate, from the very beginning another try. Having had a very grammar-focused language education, this was bound to be hard for me, but it would be okay, especially because the other approaches clearly hadn’t worked. I can’t say I have always wanted to learn Italian. In fact, I never wanted to learn Italian. I thought it was too similar to French and especially Spanish and it would confuse me more than help. I refused to holiday in Italy because it seemed more useful to go to places where “my” languages were spoken but when in Spain or France, I very rarely used them. Nonetheless, I was fascinated by Italy: the history, the culture, the writers, recently even the politics were of great interest to me. After all, with the Front National being so successful in France, I might have to move my retirement home to Tuscany. Bonus: Italian food is glorious. So in August, I vowed to a friend that I’d learn Italian, and become fluent fast. What I Tried Once the idea had hatched, I checked out the language very theoretically. I also booked a trip to Rome for New Year. By then, I wanted to be able to speak well enough. I tried to find a tandem partner via Couchsurfing and sort of did, but we never managed to meet up. It was a busy September, so I didn’t do much except practise on Duolingo. My plan was to fit a course into my full-time job schedule, and I had my eyes set on one that would be Fridays from 2-6pm, starting mid-October. This was meant to get me to B1-level in a semester. Shortly before the course was to commence, I bought the set course books. Then it was cancelled. This was the point at which I’d normally move on to another hobby but not this time. I had made a promise to myself and further decided it would be good for my own teaching to feel like a newbie for a change. I searched online and found an offline teacher. The first time I sat in front of R., I was able to say absolutely nothing, Duolingo notwithstanding. I got homework though, and three days later, I had already improved. By the next week, I could write sentences in two tenses. I was hooked, but felt like I was doing most of the studying by myself. I then, having first registered in October, decided to actually use italki. In November I had my first trial sessions both were very good, and in addition to being super-supportive, my second teacher somehow got me to talk. How I Learn So far, since late November, I have had one offline lesson a week (90 minutes) and one to two italki-sessions. I will be participating in the italki language challenge from January 15th, so that’ll mean three hours a week on average. In addition, I study some of the grammar we talk about in the classes on various websites (e.g. scudit.net,http://parliamoitaliano.altervista.org). I also use my prematurely purchased course book, especially for the offline course. My teacher on italki prepares Anki  cards for me after every lesson. I downloaded free Italian Kindle books (though I haven’t read them yet) as well as some learning guides. Since I already know a decent amount of French and Latin words, I have assembled lists of cognates there are several online for English speakers. I hope these will be more helpful when my grammar has improved a little. Apart from human interaction, my favourite exercise so far is writing just a few sentences a day into my new Italian calendar. In the next few blog posts, I will reflect on how well I am getting on with the different tools. So far, so good I think it’s going well I am determined to succeed in the challenge, if only because Kerstin so kindly gave me the opportunity to share this adventure with you out there. After only four weeks of learning, I am able to understand a lot of Italian and I always got the pizza I wanted in Rome. A presto! Quick italki Language Challenge Overview For this Challenge, Tanja is committing to taking 20 hours of language lessons between Jan 15th and Feb 28th thats just 6 weeks! All lessons count, even free community ones, so you can try out as many tutors as you like. This is about building a habit. Learn ANY language at all maybe even get to level C2 this time! Theres also a reward, as italki is giving away 400 ITC to successful takers at the end. My New Year Language Challenge Totalmente Italiano The following post originally appeared on Fluent, a great language learning blog written by Kerstin Hammes. Reposted with permission. Click here for the original post. Now that the new year has begun, I bet youre feeling fired up to take more language lessons, spend more time studying and set all kinds of new goals. And as a language tutor, you know where I stand on the issue: You should at try working with a 1-to-1 tutor. Good language teachers are the ultimate key to unlocking language learning. While italki is certainly not the only place for you to find a good tutor, they are definitely one of the most encouraging. For 2015, italki is relaunching the Language Challenge. Sadly Im too busy to get involved this time, but Ive found a fearless roving reporter in my friend Tanja. Tanja is taking the Challenge and reporting on her Italian learning progress here on Fluent, and hopefully youll feel encouraged and get involved in the Challenge too. You can read more below and sign up until Jan 31st. Something New Learning to be Fluent My name is Tanja, and I have loved languages ever since my very first English lesson, aged 10, but sadly never turned into a “polyglot”. At school, I also took French and Latin while trying, at the same time, to teach myself Spanish at home, with tapes and a book (yes, tapes). At uni, I finally did an intensive Spanish course, followed up by a fairly advanced course in Girona. Ever since, I have been trying to boost my French and Spanish skills, to no great avail. My main achievement is that I own a lot of books in the languages. Some of the French ones I have even read. I also started courses in Swedish, Dutch and Ancient Greek, but never got past greetings. Fluency Fluency, for me, has a lot to do with speaking. I have come to realise that I am simply not fluent in more languages because I am too worried to make mistakes. Of course that’s wrong after all, I moved to England aged 18 and therefore personally experienced that immersion works. I am a certified TEFL-teacher, I have been teaching classes for decades, not a single lesson passes in which I don’t tell my students that it’s okay to make mistakes. One of my students was “healed” from not speaking when I told her to pay attention to how many times a day, she can’t think of a word in German, doesn’t finish a sentence etc., in her mother tongue. I know the tricks of the trade, I understand how learning progresses, and I am aware that knowing a language isn’t just about being able to read books in it. My retirement vision of living in a house in France (with a big library) has long been marred by the realisation that I won’t be able to negotiate the contract and that my win e-fuelled discussions with my imaginary lovely neighbours will likely never happen if I don’t say more than “Bonjour, madame!” So why Italian? In the late summer of 2014, I decided to learn Italian from scratch. Though I still wanted to become fluent in French and possibly Spanish eventually, I made a choice. This time, I would go about it differently. I wouldn’t repeat and revise what I had already studied several times over the course of twenty years, but would start over. I wanted to apply all that I knew about language learning, and I wanted to give the communicative approach basically, the belief that it is essential to speak and hence, communicate, from the very beginning another try. Having had a very grammar-focused language education, this was bound to be hard for me, but it would be okay, especially because the other approaches clearly hadn’t worked. I can’t say I have always wanted to learn Italian. In fact, I never wanted to learn Italian. I thought it was too similar to French and especially Spanish and it would confuse me more than help. I refused to holiday in Italy because it seemed more useful to go to places where “my” languages were spoken but when in Spain or France, I very rarely used them. Nonetheless, I was fascinated by Italy: the history, the culture, the writers, recently even the politics were of great interest to me. After all, with the Front National being so successful in France, I might have to move my retirement home to Tuscany. Bonus: Italian food is glorious. So in August, I vowed to a friend that I’d learn Italian, and become fluent fast. What I Tried Once the idea had hatched, I checked out the language very theoretically. I also booked a trip to Rome for New Year. By then, I wanted to be able to speak well enough. I tried to find a tandem partner via Couchsurfing and sort of did, but we never managed to meet up. It was a busy September, so I didn’t do much except practise on Duolingo. My plan was to fit a course into my full-time job schedule, and I had my eyes set on one that would be Fridays from 2-6pm, starting mid-October. This was meant to get me to B1-level in a semester. Shortly before the course was to commence, I bought the set course books. Then it was cancelled. This was the point at which I’d normally move on to another hobby but not this time. I had made a promise to myself and further decided it would be good for my own teaching to feel like a newbie for a change. I searched online and found an offline teacher. The first time I sat in front of R., I was able to say absolutely nothing, Duolingo notwithstanding. I got homework though, and three days later, I had already improved. By the next week, I could write sentences in two tenses. I was hooked, but felt like I was doing most of the studying by myself. I then, having first registered in October, decided to actually use italki. In November I had my first trial sessions both were very good, and in addition to being super-supportive, my second teacher somehow got me to talk. How I Learn So far, since late November, I have had one offline lesson a week (90 minutes) and one to two italki-sessions. I will be participating in the italki language challenge from January 15th, so that’ll mean three hours a week on average. In addition, I study some of the grammar we talk about in the classes on various websites (e.g. scudit.net,http://parliamoitaliano.altervista.org). I also use my prematurely purchased course book, especially for the offline course. My teacher on italki prepares Anki  cards for me after every lesson. I downloaded free Italian Kindle books (though I haven’t read them yet) as well as some learning guides. Since I already know a decent amount of French and Latin words, I have assembled lists of cognates there are several online for English speakers. I hope these will be more helpful when my grammar has improved a little. Apart from human interaction, my favourite exercise so far is writing just a few sentences a day into my new Italian calendar. In the next few blog posts, I will reflect on how well I am getting on with the different tools. So far, so good I think it’s going well I am determined to succeed in the challenge, if only because Kerstin so kindly gave me the opportunity to share this adventure with you out there. After only four weeks of learning, I am able to understand a lot of Italian and I always got the pizza I wanted in Rome. A presto! Quick italki Language Challenge Overview For this Challenge, Tanja is committing to taking 20 hours of language lessons between Jan 15th and Feb 28th thats just 6 weeks! All lessons count, even free community ones, so you can try out as many tutors as you like. This is about building a habit. Learn ANY language at all maybe even get to level C2 this time! Theres also a reward, as italki is giving away 400 ITC to successful takers at the end.