Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Teaching Etiquette in Steubenville Ohio

Teaching Etiquette in Steubenville OhioIn case you are new to this type of job search, the tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio is just like the jobs offered anywhere else. All you need to do is to make the most of it and show your perseverance and determination in completing your course and helping others to attain their highest goal of completing college. These tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio can be very lucrative if you plan and prepare yourself carefully. Below is a brief list of these types of jobs and what you need to do in order to land the right one for you.Online Tutoring - If you have excellent written and verbal communication skills, then the easiest of the tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio is of online tutoring. You may have to work from home but that doesn't mean that you cannot earn some extra income. The best thing about online tutoring is that it can also be an opportunity to become part of a peer-to-peer tutoring program. As a tutor, you can help other students wit h reading and writing and also provide constructive criticism and help them with test preparation. Online tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio can be good options for those who are not yet finished with their studies or are working on college education.Professional Tutoring - Professional tutoring requires a thorough knowledge of certain subjects and aptitude towards teaching, so that you can provide quality tutoring services for anyone and everyone. You can either teach subjects on your own, or through the services of a tutor that you provide. Professional tutoring is also available in colleges, schools and online tutoring, so you can get in touch with professionals that can guide you through the process of educating your students. Some companies even offer online tutoring. For more information about professional tutoring, you may want to visit the links below. Also, if you think that you are good enough to handle the responsibility of a professional tutoring, you may also consider t he option of becoming a tutor yourself.College Tutoring - These tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio are also available in colleges and other educational institutions. The purpose of the tutoring is to help students obtain a higher level of education by meeting their academic needs and helping them achieve their goals of attaining a college degree. If you are good in reading and writing, you can be a tutor yourself. This job offers many career opportunities in colleges and schools, so that you may qualify for further education and earn higher salaries. Some tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio offer merit-based compensation.Other Tutoring Jobs in Steubenville - Many tutoring jobs are also available in colleges and schools to help prepare them with their study materials, tutors and even lecturers. Sometimes, parents of students may need additional help in teaching their kids in their homework. So, in order to meet these needs, colleges and other educational institutions may hire tutors.P lus, most colleges will ask you to complete a certification exam in order to gain a license to provide tutoring. So, if you are an exceptional tutor, then you may have an easier time securing this type of job. For more information, you may want to visit the links below. Also, if you think that you can be a good tutor, you may consider getting certified as a tutoring teacher.It is only if you are determined and prepared that you can make the most of tutoring jobs in Steubenville Ohio. Please don't expect anything in return, because if you're not willing to work hard, then nothing else will work for you.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Art Teacher Salaries

Art Teacher Salaries How Much Do Art Teachers Earn? ChaptersHow Much Do Art Teachers Earn in Primary and Secondary Schools?How much Do Art Teachers Earn?How Much Do Experienced Art Teachers Earn?How Much Do Art Teachers Earn Abroad?How Much Do Private Art Teachers Earn?How Much Do Art Teachers Earn in Other Art Classes?“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” - William Arthur WardTeaching isn’t always most artists’ first choice of career. After all, with students not paying attention, pressure from parents, and less-than-ideal working conditions, teaching doesn’t necessarily draw a lot of people in. Large numbers of newly qualified teachers are leaving the profession after only a few years.So how much do art teachers earn? 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 Teacher 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 tutorsHow Much Do Art Teachers Earn in Primary and Secondary Schools?The arts often seem to be under threat but art as a subject remains a staple of primary and secondary education. After that, most people stop studying art. During their time at school, however, students will learn about primary colours, artistic expression, composition, and creativity. Furthermore, they’ll learn to use different materials and about the history of art. The amount an art teacher earns in UK schools depends on a multitude of factors. (Source: ulleo)Art and design is a compulsory subject through to key stage 3 and at least one subject in the arts needs to be offered at key stage 4. This means that once students get to GCSE level, they don’t necessarily have to study anything to do with art.Find out how to become an art teacher.How much Do Art Teachers Earn?Anyone who wants to teach art as a school teacher will probably need to have a bachelor's degree in art and a recognised teaching certification or qualification. Usually, teacher education involves completing a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) and gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Similarly, an education degree is also often accepted.You'll find that many universities in the UK have a department of education or school of education where these programmes are offered. In the PGCE, aspiring teachers will learn about teacher preparation, how to make lesson plans, the basic skills they need for teaching, and all about pedagogy.While this teacher certification includes some teaching experience as part of a placement (usually in a secondary school), your first teacher job will be where you cut your teeth.More importantly, this is when you'll start earning a proper teacher's salary. Teacher jobs are paid differently depending on your qualifications and whether or not you're in London. Similarly, a subject area that's in demand will encourage people to become a teacher by providing funding for the PGCE and better wages when they start working.Generally, around £17k is the starting wage for unqualified teachers and the main pay range for qualified teachers outside of London is £24k. Teachers in London will start by earning between £25k and £30k.Of course, these are just the lower ranges and a teacher salary will vary according to qualifications, experience, etc. The main pay ranges reach up to £35k outside of London and between £37k and £41k f or those in and around the capital.Those working in a private school tend to earn more than those in a state school as there's more money available in private schools. However, the requirements aren't always the same and there are fewer of them.Find out the qualifications art teachers need. 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 Teacher 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 lesso n 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 tutorsHow Much Do Experienced Art Teachers Earn?The more experience an art teacher gains, the more they can tend to earn. While we mentioned the pay ranges for unqualified and starting salaries for teachers, the upper pay ranges make getting a degree in education or a PGCE sound far more appealing. Art teachers can earn a decent amount under the right circumstances. (Source: Chun-San)Outside of London, teachers can earn between £37k and 40k and those in and around London are on £38k and £49k.Of course, these are the teaching jobs at the upper pay ranges and are reserved for school teachers with experience in the school system and great results.Beyond the upper pay ranges, there are also leading practitioners. These exceptional teachers can earn between £41k and £62k outside of London and between £42k and £70k in London.Find out how to study to become an art teacher.How Much Do Art Teachers Earn Abroad?You don't necessarily have to get a teaching certificate and start your teaching career in the UK. There are also jobs for educators all over the world. You might want to be a teacher somewhere where the weather is nicer, for example. Since art is universal, you can teach it anywhere in the world. (Source: Monfocus)While the certification requirements are different in different countries, the process for becoming a teacher in other countries usually follows a similar system to that in the UK: complete a degree in a particular subject and then become certified as a teacher through teacher training or another qualification.Of course, the world is a big place and we can't put an average on how much art teachers will earn. Check the average wages for teachers in the countries you're interested in. What we can say is that there are countries where teachers are paid more than in the UK and there are countries where they're paid less.Discover the skills that make a good art teacher.How Much Do Private Art Teachers Earn?As a private art tutor, you get to be the boss and decide how you teach art. Similarly, you can choose your rates. Of course, you need to think carefully about how much to charge as you’ll want to earn m oney but also not put off potential students. Art tutors can earn as much as their students are willing to pay. (Source: SPOTSOFLIGHT)You need to think carefully about your outgoings. As a small business owner, you’ll have to think carefully about your outgoings.On Superprof, the average cost of art and design tutors in London is £24 per hour.  Of course, the rates will vary according to where the tutor works, what their experience is, how many lessons they teach per week, and their qualifications, for example.If you’re teaching just a few tutorials a week, you won’t be able to survive if you’re charging pennies for them. You need money to live.How Much Do Art Teachers Earn in Other Art Classes?You can also teach art classes for private companies or in night classes. Art is a popular enough subject that there are many places where you can teach it.  There are night classes for adults offered by local governments as well as private companies offering classes for all ages. Don’t expect an amazing wage, though. The priva te companies are rarely huge and can’t afford to pay their teachers loads of money.  That said, at least your students will want to be there.If you're interested in becoming a private art or drawing tutor, consider signing up to Superprof and creating your profile. You can offer three different types of tutorials: face-to-face tutorials, online tutorials, and group tutorials. As there are pros and cons to each for both the student and the tutor, you need to think carefully about which combination of them you'll offer before you start.Face-to-face tutorials are just between you and your student. With just one student in the session, every session needs to be tailored to them. Of course, this means that you'll need to prepare a lot outside of the lessons. However, you can reflect this in your rates as you're offering a tailored bespoke service to the student. Face-to-face tutorials are usually the most expensive type of tutorials but they're also the most cost-effective for students so make sure that they're aware of this.Online tutorials are also between you and your student but you won't physically be there in the room with them. Instead, you'll teach them remotely using a computer, webcam, and video conferencing software like Skype. Much like face-to-face tutorials, online tutorials are a tailored service and you'll have to spend time planning each session but you'll save a lot of travel time as you only need to make it to your computer rather than the student's house. With all the time you save by not travelling, you can add even more tutorials into your schedule. With fewer outgoings and increased earning potential, you can charge more competitive rates for your tutorials.Group tutorials involve teaching several students at the same time. Of course, with several students to keep happy, you won't be able to fully tailor the tutorials to each student. However, with several students paying for each hour of your time, you can charge less and still earn more a t the end of each hour. Of course, this only works if your classes are full and the more students you have in your class, the less appealing your tutorials will be. Furthermore, group art tutorials will require a large space so if you don't have a studio or dedicated space available, you may have to look into renting a space for your lessons.

Essay Checker - Virtual Writing Tutor - free ESL grammar checker

Essay Checker - Virtual Writing Tutor - free ESL grammar checker Imagine a website that could help students write better essays with automated feedback. Now imagine the same website but with additional commenting tools to help people record audio comments and rate each others essays using IELTS and TOEFL rubrics and comments. There you have it: an essay checker for the Virtual Writing Tutor. For a score on your essay, you need essay evaluation. Thats what I have been imagining for the past few months, and Raju, my developer, has been building it. Although, in the past, I have strongly recommended using pen pal or narrative writing tasks with beginners and low intermediates before assigning academic essay writing tasks, I am ready to admit that I am happy with our progress. It should help to make peer feedback on this notorious form of display writing easier and more reliable. If you write or teach essays, I think you will like what we have come up with, too. There is a lot to it, so I will take you through the main features of the new essay checker, step-by-step, before explaining the individual tools. Right now, it is only available on the Virtual Writing Tutor Forum, but we will integrate it into the main page of the Virtual Writing Tutor soon. Access the essay checker from the forum. You need to be a member to use the forum, but membership is free and we dont send spam. Once you have logged in, click on Add new topic. Youll be taken to this next page. Forum post form to fill in Notice the Check Essay button. Once you have pasted a text into the text are, click it and you will see a pop-up with a menu of essay checker tools. Leave the default choices selected so that you can see what the system can do. Next, click Submit. The text you enter on the forum will be sent to the essay checker for analysis. Currently, the system can check an essay for the following: Vocabulary profile: the frequency distribution of the vocabulary in your text when compared to 10 000 most common words in English Academic vocabulary profile: the frequency distribution of the vocabulary in your text when compared to the Academic Word ListLexical density: the number of meaning-rich words per 50 wordsCohesion words: a count of transition words and phrases based on their function (addition, contrast, subordination, etc.)Average sentence length: an average of the count of words in each sentenceSentence colorization: sentences are highlighted in different colours depending on their length to help illustrate the amount of sentence variationSentence variance: the standard deviation of mean sentence length Word count: the number of words in your essayParagraph count: the number of paragraphs in your essay Provocative word count: the count of words that produce an emotional response in the readerCliche count: the count of common cliches to avoid in an essayConversational vo cabulary count: the count of words that are common in conversation but uncommon in academic writing Exclamation mark count: the count of exclamation marks in your essayGrammar check: the number of errors detected by the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checkerError profile: the distribution of detected errors by error categoriesArgument strength: a sentiment analysis of paragraphs and sentences to check for how strongly negative or positive your argument isIELTS rubric: a method for calculating an IELTS band score using descriptors based on the IELTS writing task 2 rubricTOEFL rubric: a method for calculating a TOEFL score using descriptors from the TOEFL independent writing rubric5-paragraph hamburger essay comments: a method of providing explicit feedback on the 5-paragraph essay, also known as the hamburger essayAudio comment recorder: an online voice recorder for recording and uploading voice of the reader commentsDownload to DOCX: feedback and comments are converted to MS Word doc x file that you can editPrint to PDF: print the feedback on your printer or generate a PDF Essay Checker Results Review the essay checker results before clicking the Comments and Rubrics button. The feedback popup colorizes sentences based on their length. In the screenshot below, you can see an example of a paragraph made up of sentences of different lengths. The graphs at the top show the length and variability. Below them are the colorized sentences. Average sentence length, sentence variability, and sentence colorization Comments You can record your spoken comments to MP3 format using this online voice recorder. It is great for simply reading the essay aloud to show the author where you stumble, and it makes recording and uploading voice of the reader comments easy. You can speak for about 5 minutes. You can even switch tabs and talk about why you selected the descriptors you chose for the IELTS and TOEFL rubrics. When you click Save, your browser converts your recording to MP3 format, and the system uploads the MP3 file to the Virtual Writing Tutor server for you. The system then stores the URL of the recording in memory and inserts a link into your Word document or PDF. Essay checker commenting system for teachers and peers to give feedback on an essay You can review and delete recordings and start again if you like. IELTS Rubric in the Essay Checker You can choose from 9 descriptors for each aspect of the essay. To reduce the space on the screen, you can minimize each rubric section to show only the descriptor you chose. After you have chosen descriptors, the system calculates a score for you. TOEFL Rubric in the Essay Checker You can choose from 5 descriptors to evaluate the essay. To reduce the space on the screen, you can minimize the choices to show only the descriptor you chose. The system will display the associated score in the DOCX of PDF file. Print to PDF Your browser allows you to print your feedback to a number of devices, including PDF. The great thing about PDFs is that you can store them on your computer, edit them with MS Word, and send them as attachments to students. Chrome will generate a preview of the PDF for you. Notice that the feedback is plain text, for readability. DOCX You can download all of the automatically generated feedback and your comments to an MS Word document. This makes editing the feedback very easy. It is much quicker than converting a PDF to DOCX format. We hope users find it useful. Be sure to enable editing. The download is safe, despite the warning. This is just Microsofts way of scaring everybody and calling it security. I trust this gives you a clear overview of what the Essay Checker can do. We will be adding it to the main page of the Virtual Writing Tutor soon. We would do it sooner, but we want to upgrade the main page first. We expect the system to be much faster once the upgrades are done. Please follow and like us:

Thursday, March 5, 2020

How to prepare for 11 Plus exams

How to prepare for 11 Plus exams For those parents who would like their children to sit 11 Plus exams for secondary school entrance, it is often hard to know what to use for exam preparation, so here are some links to useful resources in various 11 Plus practice materials for Maths, English, Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning. It is often said that practice is the best way to prepare for exams, especially as 11 Plus exams have strict time constraints which children need to get used to.  Practice therefore helps children not only develop the techniques to answer the certain type of 11 Plus questions but to also answer them in the time provided. According to Susan Daughtrey Education, it is best to start preparing your child about ten months before they sit the exams as this gives enough time for them to build the right techniques and have three or four months of practice and testing before the actual exam. If you think that your child needs some tutoring for their 11 Plus exams then Tutorfair provides top 11 plus tutors. Please take a look at our website if you are interested in where you can book these tutors online. Get free practice papers, resources and workbooks from: Eleven Plus Exams Bond CGP 11 Plus Swot   11 Plus Leap Parents in touch MW Educational The 11 Plus website   Lucky Gecko   11 Plus Maths The Education Website   Extra Tuition Some of these sites may also include materials which you would need to purchase. These sites have more resources which you have to purchase: Letts More Letts   Susan Daughtrey Education Amazon Ebay More resources on Ebay

5 Reasons Why Listening Is Important for Foreign Language Learning

5 Reasons Why Listening Is Important for Foreign Language Learning When a native speaker  starts talking in your target language, does it sound like Charlie Browns teacher blabbing?Blah, blah, blah.Do you struggle to understand when  listening in your target language?Do you spend whole conversations stressing that you cant find the right words to say?Believe it or not, this can happen to you even if youre  great at reading, a wizard at learning vocabulary and have translation skills that would make a baby laugh  (which is actually a good thing).You might begin to wonder whether youll ever be able to hold a nice, natural-sounding conversation.No matter how you feel about listening to your target language, and no matter how much progress youve made so far, the importance of listening is undeniable. Why Listening Is Vital for Language LearnersMany language learners focus a lot on speaking. They dont spend as much  effort on  quietly listening.Listening seems like it should be simple, or secondary to other more active language skills. To the surprise of many new learners, listening to a foreign language is difficult. If youve ever had to sit for a second language test, youll know that the listening section is almost always the hardest.But, listening is a vital skill for language learning.Research  shows that when we communicate, we spend around 40-50% of our time listening, 25-30% speaking, 11-16% reading and only 9% writing (although that last one might have changed in recent years due to the rise in social media).That means we spend about half the time listening!The question is: Do you spend half your language learning time on listening exercises?… if youre anything like me, you probably dont.5 Reasons Why Listening Is Important for Foreign Language LearningThe solution is to spend more time listening in our second language. However, its vital that we learn to listen effectively.Often, weve not been specifically taught how to listen in a foreign language, or if we have weve not been taught properly.Lets delve into the resear ch to find why listening is important and how we can improve our foreign language listening skills.1. Listening Is an Active ProcessIf youve ever sat in a group of people speaking in a foreign language, youll be familiar with the uncomfortable feeling that you should be joining in. You feel like, if youre not saying something, youre not really engaging in the conversation.Nothing could be further from the truth. The problem is that  youre confusing a silent process with a passive process.Listening is a very active process, despite the fact youre not saying anything. Thats why youre so tired when you go home after a social event in another language.Getting over the feeling that we are “doing nothing” is a key step towards listening effectively.One solution is to employ active listening techniques, to remind yourself and others that youre involved in the conversation even if you dont speak so much.Here are some tips to show that you are actively listening:Make eye contact with the person whos talking.Lean forward slightly to show interest. If youre actually listening this should be natural.Nod your head slightly to show youre understanding.Make agreeing noises and nod your head if you agree with something theyve said.Dont look distracted by fidgeting, playing with your phone or looking off into the distance.2. The “Silent Period” Is GoldenChildren who learn a second language often go through a  â€œsilent period”  where they dont say anything. Language teachers and researchers  havent totally agreed whether its a necessary stage of language learning, or how long it should be. But, they do agree that many children experience it.Its fair to say that most adults dont go through any silent period at all. We often try to jump straight into speaking.The problem with trying to speak from the beginning is that a period of silent listening can actually be hugely beneficial.One big reason is that speaking can be quite a nerve-racking experience. I find it as stre ssful as performing on stage. As new learners, were thinking so much about what we should say next that we dont fully experience what the other person has said. We suffer from “task overload.”Allowing yourself to be silent lets you get the most from listening.However, speaking successfully in a foreign language can also be very rewarding. Speaking motivates us to continue learning. And we wouldnt want to lose our motivation, would we?The answer isnt to give up speaking altogether. Its to give ourselves permission to be silent, and not beat ourselves up if we dont say much. Speak when you can, but you dont have to force it.We can benefit both from the motivation of speaking and the listening benefits of a silent period.3. Your Brain Is a Foreign Language GoldfishWould it surprise you to learn that your short-term memory is even shorter in a foreign language?When you think about it, it makes sense.  How often have you forgotten what someone has just said in your target language?   For me, at least, it happens a lot more than in my native tongue.Listening is a vital step in overcoming this problem.But, why does it happen?Not to get into too much detail, although it is fascinating, this effect might be due to how our short-term memory works. When we listen to someone talking, our brain starts processing the information by “segmenting” it into small chunks to store in our short-term memory. It splits them up based on our knowledge of the “rules” for how the language is spoken. Instead of storing the actual words “a green goldfish,” our brain would maybe convert those words into an image of a green goldfish for storage.In a foreign language, we arent familiar with the “segmentation rules” for how the language is spoken. Our short-term memory has to store all the words individually.One reason why listening is so important in a foreign language is that it helps us become familiar with those segmentation rules.Not only will it boost your understandin g, it will improve your speaking in the language too.Learning segmentation rules is usually an unconscious process, so the easiest way to learn them is to get lots of listening practice.Here are some ways to become more familiar with a languages segmentation rules:Watch films in your target language.Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.Attend social events with natives and spend time just listening.Listen to the radio in your target language.Watch videos online in your target language.FluentU is one great way to find interesting, approachable video content in your target language. It provides carefully selected videos from all over the Internet in your target language, many featuring natural, casual speech. It also provides dynamic subtitles which go along with the video, which means that you can see how the spoken segmentation rules relate to the written phrases.4. Our Listening Strategies Are Upside-downIf you learned a language in school, what listenin g strategy were you taught?Myself, I remember that a listening exam went like this: listen to a tape (Yes. It was all tapes in those days) and then translate what wed heard. The specifics were important, the difference between a pass and a fail. You would lose marks if you messed up the gender of a word, for example. As far as I can see, thats still how listening is still taught in my home country.Language researchers call this a  bottom-up listening strategy.Bottom-up listening is an okay strategy to use in the classroom. It means carefully listening to each word, pronoun and sentence structure to work out what has been said. Unfortunately, its not a complete listening strategy for use in the real world.In the real world, you cant spend all your listening energy focusing on specific grammar while people speak. Theyll keep talking and youll be lost.Top-down listening, on the other hand, is a great strategy to add more understanding of whats being said.Top-down listening strategies f ocus on concepts. Bottom-up listening strategies focus on words. Both are necessary to be an effective listener.It basically means that you learn a little about the spoken topic beforehand. Here are a few suggestions for implementing a top-down listening strategy for some common activities:If youre going to see a movie or theater play in a foreign language, read the story first.Read up on the topic before going to see a presentation.Try reading about or predicting the content of an audio passage before you listen to it. This will get your brain focusing on concepts and not just specific words.Hang about with a friend who repeats the same anecdote when with different people. You already know the story, so your comprehension will go up dramatically. Its also a great way to make a potentially annoying situation into a useful learning exercise.5. The Gist Is Only Half the Story (or Less)Finally, one thing that we often neglect when listening in another language is to check exactly how m uch we have understood.Beyond a certain level of language ability, we often “get the gist” of what was said. However, sometimes we havent understood as much as we think.Next time you listen to something in your target language, try these six short, easy exercises to prove to yourself that youve understood what was said:Try drawing a picture of what was said.Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.Provide a summary of what was said.Suggest what might come next in the “story.”Translate what was said into another language.“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation (I do this when listening to the radio).Commit to ListeningAs you can see, listening is pretty important. Are you ready to commit to listening better in your target language?Just remember to use active listening techniques, allow yourself to have a silent period, listen lots to learn  the segmentation rules  of spoken language and flip your listening upside-down by incorpora ting top-down listening strategies.When you follow the exercises to check how much youve understood, youll be amazed at the change!Alex Owen-Hill is a European freelance writer. He writes about science, travel, voice-use, language and any of the hundred other things hes passionate about. Check out his website at www.AlexOwenHill.co.uk. Any questions? Connect with him on Twitter at @AlexOwenHill and ask away! And One More ThingIf youre digging these learning techniques, youll love using FluentU. FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that natives  speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos like movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, 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 interac tive 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% personalized 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  or Google Play store.

New Translation System (Crowdsourced!)

New Translation System (Crowdsourced!) Today we updated our social translation system to make it easier for members to help translate italki into other languages.   The new system handles translation on a page-by-page basis. This way, if you see a bad translation, you can click the Translate this page button, and immediately submit a correction. The Translate this page link is located in the upper right-hand corner. When you click on it, it will open a new window or tab.   By opening the translate page side-by-side with the original site, you can refer back to the original page to get better understanding of the context. The translate page is broken into three sections. 1. Phrases that havent been translated yet 2. Phrases that have translations submitted 3. Phrases that have been locked. If you start at the top, you can start translating by just typing in the box and hitting enter or by clicking Submit. Dont worry if you see phrases that dont seem to be on the page those are phrases that might be useful for other users. All the phrases that have at least one translation are listed in the second section. If you see a translation that could be improved, you can click on vote / fix. You should be able to see a list of submitted translations. You can vote on the submitted translations or submit a translation of your own. One thing about crowdsourcing changes to a website is that there is a time delay before having a fully translated site. This is particularly true as weve made a lot of changes to the site in the past few months. As new features come online, more and more translations need to be updated. We realize that it is inconvenient to deal with a site that isnt fully translated (or translated well), and we hope youll help us get the site ready in your language. We will periodically merge the changes to the main site. Finally, since we are using English as the base language for the website, if you run into bad English on the site, please let us know through our feedback or through email (feedback at italki). We want to avoid having errors translated throughout the site. Thanks again! We really believe that italki is a product of our community, so we want to thank you in advance for all of your help. The italki team New Translation System (Crowdsourced!) Today we updated our social translation system to make it easier for members to help translate italki into other languages.   The new system handles translation on a page-by-page basis. This way, if you see a bad translation, you can click the Translate this page button, and immediately submit a correction. The Translate this page link is located in the upper right-hand corner. When you click on it, it will open a new window or tab.   By opening the translate page side-by-side with the original site, you can refer back to the original page to get better understanding of the context. The translate page is broken into three sections. 1. Phrases that havent been translated yet 2. Phrases that have translations submitted 3. Phrases that have been locked. If you start at the top, you can start translating by just typing in the box and hitting enter or by clicking Submit. Dont worry if you see phrases that dont seem to be on the page those are phrases that might be useful for other users. All the phrases that have at least one translation are listed in the second section. If you see a translation that could be improved, you can click on vote / fix. You should be able to see a list of submitted translations. You can vote on the submitted translations or submit a translation of your own. One thing about crowdsourcing changes to a website is that there is a time delay before having a fully translated site. This is particularly true as weve made a lot of changes to the site in the past few months. As new features come online, more and more translations need to be updated. We realize that it is inconvenient to deal with a site that isnt fully translated (or translated well), and we hope youll help us get the site ready in your language. We will periodically merge the changes to the main site. Finally, since we are using English as the base language for the website, if you run into bad English on the site, please let us know through our feedback or through email (feedback at italki). We want to avoid having errors translated throughout the site. Thanks again! We really believe that italki is a product of our community, so we want to thank you in advance for all of your help. The italki team New Translation System (Crowdsourced!) Today we updated our social translation system to make it easier for members to help translate italki into other languages.   The new system handles translation on a page-by-page basis. This way, if you see a bad translation, you can click the Translate this page button, and immediately submit a correction. The Translate this page link is located in the upper right-hand corner. When you click on it, it will open a new window or tab.   By opening the translate page side-by-side with the original site, you can refer back to the original page to get better understanding of the context. The translate page is broken into three sections. 1. Phrases that havent been translated yet 2. Phrases that have translations submitted 3. Phrases that have been locked. If you start at the top, you can start translating by just typing in the box and hitting enter or by clicking Submit. Dont worry if you see phrases that dont seem to be on the page those are phrases that might be useful for other users. All the phrases that have at least one translation are listed in the second section. If you see a translation that could be improved, you can click on vote / fix. You should be able to see a list of submitted translations. You can vote on the submitted translations or submit a translation of your own. One thing about crowdsourcing changes to a website is that there is a time delay before having a fully translated site. This is particularly true as weve made a lot of changes to the site in the past few months. As new features come online, more and more translations need to be updated. We realize that it is inconvenient to deal with a site that isnt fully translated (or translated well), and we hope youll help us get the site ready in your language. We will periodically merge the changes to the main site. Finally, since we are using English as the base language for the website, if you run into bad English on the site, please let us know through our feedback or through email (feedback at italki). We want to avoid having errors translated throughout the site. Thanks again! We really believe that italki is a product of our community, so we want to thank you in advance for all of your help. The italki team

Making the Most Out of an Online Internship

Making the Most Out of an Online Internship via Pexels.com Embrace the flexible hours One of the biggest advantages of pursuing an online internship is the opportunity to have more flexible hours. You will not have to factor in commute time traffic with or without carpool, or planning around the bus schedules when the majority of the internship can be completed within the comfort of your own living space. Not having to commute will allow you to work around your online internships deadlines while taking advantage of when you are most productive, or when you have the most free time. If you are a morning person, you can get all of your internship work done by the time you have to leave for an afternoon class or closing shift for your part-time job. On the other hand, if you are a night person, you can spend late hours into the night completing tasks for your online internship, which is something you cant do with a typical internship as most workplaces would be closed off-hours. Being able to work flexible hours in an online internship will also allow you to fit internship work around your established schedule that you cant get out of academic classes, extracurricular organizations and clubs, or shifts at your part-time job(s). An online internship, for the most part, will allow you more control of your own work hours  (outside of schedule Skype calls, phone meetings, etc.). Make an effort to communicate with your boss and coworkers When most online internships do not require you to visit an office for the majority of your time working there, or at all, one of the bigger questions you may have is how you are supposed to establish a network with your colleagues if you do not see them on a regular basis. The power of the internet isnt just in the flexibility of your online internship, but also in the way that it allows you to engage with colleagues you will not be able to see on a regular basis. Make sure you are taking advantage of networking sites like LinkedIn, where you can connect with your company colleagues and establish a network to touch back on. Online communication is key, so respond to emails or phone calls promptly. These can come in the form of quick check-ins with your boss to show progress or ask questions, or going to colleagues for help or to get to know each other. The amount of communication with your colleagues will depend on the type of online internship you end up pursuing some will have you doing weekly Skype calls with your work colleagues, while others will have you working by yourself for most of the time, if not all the time. Do not let the idea of missing out on a networking opportunity make you skip out on an online internship because it is something you can eventually work toward. Take initiative and ask for feedback when you can You may think that taking part in an online internship will take away the opportunity to get hands-on job experience, but that isnt always the case with an online internship. You are still assigned tasks and will have expectations placed on you, and you will have guidelines and protocol just like you would at any other job or internship.   You wont have constant eyes on you from your supervisor or colleagues, so it may be easy to go off-task or avoid your responsibilities until the last minute, but that is something you definitely do not want to do in an online internship. Be prepared to take initiatives and be on the lookout for new opportunities, whether it be taking on an extra assignment or two each week, or accepting a new responsibility when you get the opportunity to. When you do not have a supervisor to constantly report to, you may also want to check in with them without being asked to. Ask for feedback on your recent performance, or ask for different resources you can use to improve on your next task. An online internship is definitely not your typical type of internship, but you can take steps to make it a just as valuable experience.