What to Consider Before Buying Kaplan Tutoring Sat

What to Consider Before Buying Kaplan Tutoring SatKaplan tutoring sat is a software package that is very widely available on the internet. This software can be purchased for as little as $75 USD. It is essential that you know how to use it to make sure you are getting the best possible results from it. There are several points that need to be considered when you want to buy tutoring software from the internet.The first thing you need to consider is if you will actually be using the tutoring software with your tutor. The Kaplan tutoring sat comes with a full license to use. This means that you can use it with anyone that you wish and as long as they are using the program.When it comes to purchasing a license, the most popular way to do this is to use the Kaplan review site. You can find reviews on the software and discuss it with others. If you feel uncomfortable talking about it then you may want to turn to some of the other Kaplan related forums. These are also free to post in and w ill likely lead to more people wanting to talk about their experiences with the tutoring software.You can find out whether or not people are happy with the Kaplan tutoring sat. If you feel that the tutor you are getting is not getting the best results from the software, then you can complain to the other users. Kaplan will put together a report based on the complaints from their users.The first step in using tutoring software is to register your name with Kaplan. Kaplan does not provide instructions about how to register, so you need to make sure that you fill in your name and email address. This is required in order to use the software with anyone.The next thing you will need to know about the tutoring software is where to download it. This is where you will have to pay a fee for this. Most of the tutoring software on the internet come with a registration price, which will require you to buy the software or have to buy it separately.When it comes to learning how to use tutoring sof tware, there are plenty of things to consider. If you have doubts about the Kaplan tutoring sat you are considering, then you will probably have a difficult time trying to learn it. So make sure that you are not rushing into using it with your teacher before you have looked into it carefully.

How online tutoring enhances professional development of your child

How online tutoring enhances professional development of your child 0SHARESShare Today, the education industry has widely adopted online learning and distance education. Most of the schools partner with online tutoring services to facilitate their students with extra help and assistance from trained and professionally skilled online tutors. Online tutors are competent enough in their content knowledge and pedagogical skills that use effective methods which benefits lot of private and public schools and college students. High performing online tutoring programs not only focuses curriculum but targets initiation of critical thinking, problem solving and real-world investigations among the students right at the school level. Today, reputed online tutoring websites are initiated by education reformers. They target to serve every need of all the students belonging to small and big schools, colleges and learning communities with personalized tutoring. They have designed broader programs catalog that benefits student with special education, credit recovery, advanced courses, thus make them ready to meet skills of future workforce. The interactions that take place in online learning are at the heart of enhancing professional development of the students. Expanded tutoring time and initiatives to access quality online programs build high level of student’s engagement. The skillfully blended digital instructions, resources, assessments and dynamic interpersonal interaction build the sense of community. Similar to traditional classroom, online learning get boost up when online tutors actively remain involved in learning process, guiding through lessons and clarifying each instructions to the student. Frequent communications, scheduled and instant tutoring, feedback, skill checking improve student’s learning. Each of this pedagogy enhances professional development of your child. [starbox id=admin]

10 Mind-blowing Research Findings to Supercharge Your ESL Lessons

10 Mind-blowing Research Findings to Supercharge Your ESL Lessons Research Findings I presented the following 10 research findings at the Rascals Conference in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, on June 4th, 2018. The handout is here. Get the error correction card game that I described. The PowerPoint and references are below. I have created a web version of the talk that I gave and uploaded it to YouTube so that if you missed my talk or want to share these mind-blowing findings with your colleagues, you can. I have included 9 x 2-minute discussion questions to stimulate discussion and help you supercharge the ESL pedagogy in your at your school. Please share and comment. It is difficult to improve without feedback, so please let me know how I could improve my talk. Research Findings 1. Teachers are inept and deluded (Kruger Dunning, 1999). More than 90% of teachers think that they are above average (Cross, 1977).Teachers are inept at recognizing our ineptitude because we don’t know what we don’t know and because we interpret the absence of complaints as a success.We underestimate how long it takes to learn skills we ourselves have mastered.We overestimate what our colleagues and students know. 2. Effect-size indicates that some interventions work much better than others, despite what teachers believe. Smaller class sizes (20-30 students) learn more than class sizes of about 80 (d=0.21) because smaller classes permit group work and more feedback on classroom behaviors (Hattie, 2009).Computer-assisted learning (d=0.37) is 75% more effective at improving student performance than a smaller class size because of the volume of timely feedback it can deliver (Hattie, 2009). 3. Firing 10% of the worst teachers will dramatically improve education (d=75) and stimulate the economy (Hanushek, 2011). Firing 8% of the worst teachers in the U.S. would raise the level of education to that of Finland.Replacing an average teacher with an above average teacher adds $400 000 of value to the economy every year based on calculations of derived demand. 4. Degrees and experience have no effect on teacher quality Degrees and experience have no effect on teacher quality (Hanushek, 2011).Teacher quality only improves in the first 3-5 years of a teacher’s career unless other measures are taken. 5. Teacher quality is best improved by making 3 changes to the way you teach: video-recording your teaching to watch and analyze for improvements (d=88)maximizing the clarity of your feedback by refining your instructions and explanations (d=0.75)and developing good student-teacher relationships (d=0.72) 6. Teachers routinely sabotage student learning: Using textbooks and lessons with irrelevant colour pictures compete with the text for the student’s attention and activate the wrong schema, making new information irretrievable (Harp Mayer, 1997; Mayer, Heiser, Lonn, 2001).Over-emphasizing formal registers in courses for non-fluent (100 101) learners reduces integrative motivation when those students are placed in informal social situations (Segalowitz, 1976).Prioritizing argumentation and debate in ESL reduce interest-based motivation to speak, group cohesion, and therefore group productivity (Poupore, 2014).Prioritizing argumentation instead of narratives in courses for business students leaves them unprepared for the most common business communication tasks in corporations (Jameson, 2001).Teaching the 5-paragraph essay encourages anti-scientific thinking (Berggren, 2008), and its overemphasis at college leaves students unprepared for the range of writing tasks they will face in the workplace and universityâ€"and teaching onl y the 5-paragraph essay has a deskilling effect on teachers (Moss, 2002).Failing to align objectives, instruction, and evaluation tasks reduces achievement by up to two standard deviations (Cohen, 1987). The failure to align CEGEP ESL courses is most evident in the continued use of discrete-item grammar tests and academic writing tasks to test a range of verb tenses. Academic writing contains only a high frequency of simple present verbs (Biber et al., 1999). In contrast, narrative writing tasks containing quoted speech can reliably elicit modals, simple present, present continuous, simple past, past continuous, present perfect, and future (will and be going to). 7. Disciplinary removal is ineffective at teaching the social curriculum (Skiba Peterson, 2003). The social curriculum is more effectively taught through presentation of positively framed rules, practice, and feedback, and by using colleagues to communicate expectations to students 8. Production (even silent mouthing) enhances explicit recall better than silent study (McCleod et al., 2010). Circling, underlining, and highlighting have only a small effect on explicit recall compared to saying words aloud, miming, drawing, or mouthing words. 9. Reciprocal teaching has one of the largest effects (d=74) on student learning (Hattie, 2009). Learning effectiveness pyramid Getting students to teach each other has three times the effect of smaller classes. Rather than trying to reduce the student to teacher ratio further, it is much better to get the students to take turns teaching each other by leading discussions on weekly readings. The effect comes not so much from the pedagogical skills of students but from their desire to master the material when it is their turn to teach. 10. Self-reporting grades (d=1.44) and formative exams (d=0.90) have the biggest impact on student learning of all the interventions reported in the scientific literature (Hattie, 2009). Simply getting students to predict their score on an exam makes them work harder to achieve that score. Self-reporting grades is a kind of goal setting activity that has about twice the effect size of reciprocal teaching.The second best classroom intervention imvolves giving formative exams. Getting forewarning about ones performance on an exam allows the student to concentrate on areas of weakness that were not visible to them before. PowerPoint Presentation This is an embedded Microsoft Office presentation, powered by Office Online. References Berggren, A. (2008). Do Thesis Statements Short-Circuit Originality in Students’ Writing? In Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/dcbooks.5653382.0001.001 Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan (1999), Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education. Cohen, S.A. (1987). Instructional alignment: Searching for a magic bullet. Educational Researcher, 16, 16-20. Cross, P. (1977). Not can but will college teaching be improved? New Directions for Higher Education, 17, 1-15. Duxbury, A. R. (2008). Speaking my mind: the tyranny of the thesis statement. NCTE English Journal, 97(4). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/journals/ej/issues/v97-4. Hanushek, E. A. (2011). “The economic value of higher teacher quality. Economics of Education Review 30: 466-479. Harp, S. F., Mayer, R. E. (1997). The role of interest in learning from scientific text and illustrations: On the distinction between emotional and cognitive interest. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 92-102. Hattie, J. A. C. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK: Routledge. Jameson, D. (2001). Narrative discourse and management action. Journal of Business Communication, 476-511. Kruger, Justin; Dunning, David (1999). Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing Ones Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. American Psychological Association. 77 (6): 1121â€"1134. Mayer, R. E., Heiser, J., Lonn, S. (2001). Cognitive constraints on multimedia learning: When presenting more material results in less understanding. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 187â€"198. MacLeod, C. M., Gopie, N., Hourihan, K. L., Neary, K. R., Ozubko, J. D. (2010). The production effect: Delineation of a phenomenon.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(3), 671-685. Moss, G. (2002). The five-paragraph theme. The Quarterly, 24(3). Retrieved from https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/467/The_Five-Paragraph_Theme.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d Poupore, G. (2014). The influence of content on adult L2 learners’ task motivation: An interest theory perspective. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics: 17, 2: 69-90. Segalowitz, N. (1976). Communicative incompetence and the non-fluent bilingual. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 8(2), 121-131. Skiba, R. Peterson, R. (2003). Teaching the social curriculum: School discipline as instruction.Preventing School Failure, 47(2), 66-72. Please follow and like us:

Do I Really Need to Know the Krebs Cycle

Do I Really Need to Know the Kreb's Cycle MCAT Medical School Admissions Since the introduction of the biochemistry section to the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), premedical students across the country have bemoaned its addition to the exam. As a first-year medical student who just finished my biochemistry block, I am coming to realize the importance of learning the Kreb’s cycle and other seemingly arbitrary facts. This article is intended to provide tips and tricks on how to learn and memorize some of the more complex portions of the biochemistry section of the MCAT. I also hope to provide some clinical relevance to help motivate you in studying this dense material. Memorizing biochemical pathways such as glycolysis and the Kreb’s cycle can be intimidating just based on the sheer volume of information. The key to memorizing these pathways is to first identify the important steps. These often coincide with the use of molecules such as ATP, GTP, NADH, and NADPH due to their irreversible or redox reactions. The highest yield studying comes from knowing these steps cold on your MCAT. Location also become an important factor physiologically. For example, the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase is only found in the liver, meaning that glycogen can only be broken down in the liver. Lack of enzyme activity from glucose-6-phosphatase or glucose-1 phosphatase for example result in glycogen storage diseases such as Von Gierke’s or Pompe’s disease. These enzymes are critical for storage of glucose in glycogen or release of glucose from glycogen. There are many diseases linked to glycolysis, glycogenesis, glycogenolysis, Kreb’s cycle, urea cycle and many ot her biochemical pathways that are life threatening and require a strong understanding of how these pathways operate. After you have memorized the key points in biochemical pathways, there are a few ways to fill in the blanks and memorize the remainder of these pathways. An easy way to memorize these pathways is to find steps that make sense intuitively. For example, citrate is synthesized from oxaloacetate by the enzyme citrate synthase. A more complex example is that isocitrate converted into alpha-ketoglutarate through a dehydration reaction by isocitrate dehydrogenase. As you go through the pathways, try to use your vocabulary and understanding of structures developed in organic chemistry to make these steps more logical rather than using brute memorization. You will remember the steps better and it will reflect in your MCAT score. Finally, when all else fails utilize the memory palace! The memory palace is a favorite tool of medical students and can be found in a great Ted Talk (click here). To keep it simple, the memory palace is a way of linking words to visual cues. Typically, the person memorizing uses a place that is familiar to them such as their childhood home and mentally walks through the house as you go through the steps of memorization. For example, as you progress through each step of the biochemical pathway, you enter a room with visual cues that remind you of the molecules and enzymes linked to those. This technique is used by professionals who compete in memorization competitions and has been shown to be very effective. For example, if I was trying to memorize glycolysis, I would imagine myself at the front door of my house holding a bottle of ‘glue’ which sounds like glucose and on the front door there is a hexagonal wreath which represents the enzyme hexokinase. As I reach to knock on the door I see the number ‘6’ on the knocker which represents that my glue will become ‘glucose-6-phosphate’ when it interacts with hexokinase. I’ll stop here and let you continue to play with this technique on your own. Studying these pathways now will prove to be a great asset to you both in improving your score and when you begin medical school where you learn at a very rapid pace. Put in the time now and you will be glad you did later on! About the Author Jordan Salley is one of MyGuru's most accomplished MCAT tutors. Clickhereto learn more!

Journalists Are Not The Enemy

Journalists Are Not The Enemy via @realDonaldTrump While Trump is not the first president to criticize the media, he is the first to declare the media as the enemy of the public, and this allegation should not be ignored. After all, the definition of an enemy is a hostile force, which harms someone or something else. So is the media truly damaging the public? The media cannot directly or physically injure individuals; however, it is possible for the media to indirectly harm the public via legitimate fake news coverage. Although, there are certain fictitious news stations and publications that are exceptions, for example satirical news sources like The Onion. It is critical to note the importance of free press. After all, how would the public have found out about the President Nixon’s Watergate scandal? While the merit for free press should be prevalent, it is vital that the public should also be free to draw their own opinions of a specific news outlet and know how to determine whether or not a particular article has merit. According to Shepard Smith, a Fox News anchor, Fake news refers to stories that are created often by entities pretending to be news organizations solely to drive clicks and views based on nothing of substance. While sources such as the New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, and CNN may not report favorable opinions regarding particular news, these networks are not fake news. Smith continued to defend sources, such as CNN, by stating, Its [CNN] journalists follow the same standards to which other news organizations, including Fox News, adhere.” Although slight, moderate and severe bias can be present in a news outlet, bias does not conclude whether or not a source is fake. After all, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and the New York Times pride themselves on constructing factual news, and these sources would not knowing hinder their organizations credibility based on blatant made-up nonsense as Smith defines fake news. There are many components that construct an accurate, transparent and trustworthy news source. Credibility is key to determining whether or not a specific source is worth listening to and believing. However, there are many factors that are attributed to a given source’s integrity. Of which, a reader should evaluate a source’s authority, accuracy, and its bias to conclude if the news outlet is indeed trustworthy. While the following criteria can assist the public in determining the quality of a news network, they do not justify calling a source fake news. 1. Authority: Obviously it holds more weight when a staff writer from the Washington Post, which has won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2008, covers a recent news event as opposed to a fitness blogger covering today’s news. Nevertheless, it is not to say that a fitness blogger cannot accurately research and craft an articulate news article; however, the fitness blogger would not have the same degree of jurisdiction as a news outlet, such as Fox News which has over twenty years of experience in news. Therefore, Fox News has a longer resume than the blogger, which would give Fox News more authority in news and politics than the blogger. 2. Accuracy: Are the facts, well, factual? Simple research can help you determine if figures and facts in an article are indeed correct. A quick way to determine if statistics in an article are factual, search for the same coverage from an opposing news source. 3. Bias: Bias has been around forever and will likely continue to be around forever, as everyone has a preconceived belief about nearly everything. While most media outlets are labelled as either liberal or conservative news, they are able to produce unbiased news. Even if a source chooses to take a slightly liberal or conservative take on a specific story, the source’s coverage can still have credibility, as they can include both views of the same issue. However, it is important that the public be able to differentiate between a story’s angle and bias. Thankfully, there are several types of bias that can be easily detected within the media. The ambiguity effect is a cognitive bias where there is a lapse in information. In the media, the ambiguity effect would be prevalent in quantities and statistics. For example, if a reporter stated that most people do not like a specific online publication, this is ambiguity effect. Instead of stating an exact or approximate figure of how many people do not like said source, the reporter used a vague term (i.e. most). The use of ambiguous terms is often used to promote a particular source’s sources or overall argument. Confirmation bias is where you agree with people who agree with you, or who have similar views as you. Confirmation bias can be present in both the general public as well as the media. It is present in the public, because people are biased toward news outlets who share the same believes as them; therefore, these individuals might be more inclined to believe a particular station’s new coverage versus a media outlet with an opposing view. However, you can easily detect confirmation bias in the media. A magazine that practices confirmation bias would likely quote like-minded sources, as opposed to sources that would contradict their content. Wording bias can exist in the media, where journalists can draw biased conclusions from leading questions during an interview. The questions themselves are not biased; however, the result of which can create bias in reporting. Wording bias can be detected in content if a journalist summarizes too much of an interaction, rather than directly quoting the source(s). Bias by omission is when a source omits the opposition’s argument and/or sources. Bias by omission can occur in a single news clip or article, or it can occur over time if a source omits the opposition’s side in multiple articles. Labeling bias takes place when a news source labels an individual or group of individuals to benefits the source’s argument. For example during the 2012 presidential election, select news outlets labeled Mitt Romney as a “snob” or an “elite”. Because of these particular labels, the public was able to develop a biased opinion of Mitt Romney. The media outlets that the POTUS has specifically accused as “fake news” are as follows: New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, and CNN. All of which, are long-running news outlets. However, are they credible or are they indeed fake? According to the Pew Research Center, news outlets such as the New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN are all liberal media sources, based on their average viewers. Although these media sources might deliver some liberal spins on current events, according to the survey these sources are only slightly liberal, with the New York Times having the most prevalent liberal ideation out of the bunch. While too much bias is never inherently beneficial, especially in the media, the round table technique prevents any media bias from becoming overbearing. The round table technique is when members with opposing views review and comment on a topic or issue. The aforementioned method allows Fox News, a slightly conservative news source, and MSNBC, a slightly liberal source, to cover that same topic with different opinions. Ultimately, round tabling allows diversity to flourish within the media. Likewise, it is important to take into account whether an article can be categorized as a piece of opinion editorial (or op-ed). Op-ed articles are often written to portray an author’s particular opinion(s) about a matter, by disassociating that opinion from the actual publication itself. For example, my 3 Reasons The EPA is Already Great article is an op-ed, because I have expressed my personal opinions on why the U.S. EPA is a trustworthy and unbiased source for taxpayers to receive information from. While I have published this article on Uloop News, my opinion is not affiliated with Uloop News and therefore is not Uloop News’ opinion, nor is it factual even if it does quote or reference facts or factual events. While it is important to be vigilant of bias and credibility when reading the news, it is also crucial to recognize bias from the sources that criticize the media. It is a bit hypocritical that the Trump administration would out the media as an enemy of the people, or claim that specific news outlets are fake, seeing as members of the Trump administration have broadcasted their own fake news and are guilty of their own bias. During an interview with MSNBC on February 2nd, Kellyanne Conway, referenced the Bowling Green massacre, which she had claimed was an act of terrorism by two Iraqi refugees. Evidently, this massacre never occurred. Kellyanne later correct her statement, claiming that she had meant to say “Bowling Green terroists” during her interview. However, @CityofBGKY continued to revise her statement, clarifying that there was never a massacre in Bowling Green in 2011. @KellyannePolls @CityofBGKY Declinism is the ideology that an entity is declining, despite contrary evidence. Trump might think that the New York Times’ audience is on the decline; however, CEO Mark Thompson denies these allegations, by citing the 220 million individuals who accessed the publication in November 2016 alone. @realDonaldTrump Likewise, the Trump administration is guilty of bias by omission, after select liberal media sources were blacklisted from a White House press briefing on February 24th. Of the news sources barred from the non-televised briefing, BBC, CNN, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, New York Daily News, The Hill, the Daily Mail, and BuzzFeed appear to be the only sources that were not permitted during the meeting. While the White House has denounced rumors that the administration only barred news outlets with unsatisfactory views of the administration, the news outlets allowed into the briefing included noticeably conservative sources, such as Breitbart News, One America News Network and  The Washington Times, and Fox News. However, there were a few slightly liberal networks present at the briefing, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Bloomberg, as well as Reuters, which is not particularly biased. Though the banned press was not allowed into James S Bradys Press Briefing Room, they were allowed into White House Press Secretary Sean Spicers West Wing office. It is important to note that POTUS Trump is not the first president to prohibit a fake news source from attending a White House press event. In 2009, the Obama administration restricted Fox News from attending a briefing. Shortly after the administrations turmoil with Fox News, other media outlets with similar and opposing views proceeded to protest press briefings that excluded Fox News. Like in 2009 and 2010, the present White Houses dismissal of hand-picked news networks has resurrected a detrimental dilemma for the public. Hand-picking certain media outlets for a non-televised discussion creates media bias, as it manipulates the coverage that is permitted to be released to the public. Because Trump appears to be biased against mildly liberal news sources and is also practicing a cognitive bias himself, he is not likely a credible source to gather information from. It is beyond deplorable that POTUS Donald Trump would make the broad accusation that the media is the enemy, particularly since 1992  256 United States journalists have been killed in the name of their job, which is to gather, dissect and curate information for the general public. In addition to comprehending what is and isn’t legitimate fake news, it is important that you voice your opinions about the credibility of the media, by completing the Trump administration’s Mainstream Media Accountability Survey.

Troubles with Maths

Troubles with Maths Troubles with maths? Calm down and get yourself a maths tutor!, says one of our math tutors in Gainesville, FL. TutorZ connects you with the best math tutors nationwide for tutoring and homework help. All our tutors are qualified professionals, because we wont settle for anything less than the best when it comes to your childs education. At TutorZ you will find a good math tutor who is understanding and affirming, patient, trustworthy, and able to adapt to each childs needs.

A New Learning Challenge for 2013!

A New Learning Challenge for 2013! Hey language learners, make 2013 the year you learn a foreign language! Dont let this be another year of slow progress. No matter what level or language, we know you can make real progress at italki. In order to help you, were offering: ITALKIS JANUARY 2013 LANGUAGE CHALLENGE in partnership with OPENLANGUAGE Take 10 sessions with an italki teacher in January and receive 3 months of free language lessons from OpenLanguage. If you are serious about learning a language, this is a fantastic opportunity to get live one-on-one lessons AND access to great language learning podcasts, PDFs, and study tools. After taking the language challenge, you will definitely make progress towards becoming fluent in 2013! How hard is this to do? Last November, we ran our first italki Language Challenge. Almost 80 students pledged to take 8 lessons in 2 weeks, and more than 60 students completed the challenge. Thats roughly 80% of the students who pledged who received the prize. The bottom line is that its all up to you! Did it help people learn a language? Dont take our word for it. Here is what one student, Grant Macandrew, says: “I have been taking weekly lessons for over a year and had already planned a trip to a language school in China in December. I had been considering several lessons a week in order to prepare for the class and this [the italki November Language Challenge] motivated me to do just that. The pressure of being ready for class plus the extra hours I spent with tutors has increased my Mandarin learning and I feel more confident in being ready for the upcoming classes. I will consider 2 to 3 lessons per week in the future with italki.” If you are serious about learning a language, go to the January 2013 Language Challenge page. Take the pledge and learn a language this year! Sign up for the January 2013 Language Challenge! More about OpenLanguage: We are delighted to be working with Openlanguage to provide this amazing prize for italki students who complete the Language Challenge. OpenLanguage is designed for busy people, and allows students to learn a new language on their computer, tablet, smartphone, or even smart TV. OpenLanguage offers lessons in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Italian. A New Learning Challenge for 2013! Hey language learners, make 2013 the year you learn a foreign language! Dont let this be another year of slow progress. No matter what level or language, we know you can make real progress at italki. In order to help you, were offering: ITALKIS JANUARY 2013 LANGUAGE CHALLENGE in partnership with OPENLANGUAGE Take 10 sessions with an italki teacher in January and receive 3 months of free language lessons from OpenLanguage. If you are serious about learning a language, this is a fantastic opportunity to get live one-on-one lessons AND access to great language learning podcasts, PDFs, and study tools. After taking the language challenge, you will definitely make progress towards becoming fluent in 2013! How hard is this to do? Last November, we ran our first italki Language Challenge. Almost 80 students pledged to take 8 lessons in 2 weeks, and more than 60 students completed the challenge. Thats roughly 80% of the students who pledged who received the prize. The bottom line is that its all up to you! Did it help people learn a language? Dont take our word for it. Here is what one student, Grant Macandrew, says: “I have been taking weekly lessons for over a year and had already planned a trip to a language school in China in December. I had been considering several lessons a week in order to prepare for the class and this [the italki November Language Challenge] motivated me to do just that. The pressure of being ready for class plus the extra hours I spent with tutors has increased my Mandarin learning and I feel more confident in being ready for the upcoming classes. I will consider 2 to 3 lessons per week in the future with italki.” If you are serious about learning a language, go to the January 2013 Language Challenge page. Take the pledge and learn a language this year! Sign up for the January 2013 Language Challenge! More about OpenLanguage: We are delighted to be working with Openlanguage to provide this amazing prize for italki students who complete the Language Challenge. OpenLanguage is designed for busy people, and allows students to learn a new language on their computer, tablet, smartphone, or even smart TV. OpenLanguage offers lessons in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and Italian.

To Your Health! The 5 Most Useful Languages to Learn for Medicine

To Your Health! The 5 Most Useful Languages to Learn for Medicine The 5 Most Useful Languages to Learn for Medicine Its the stuff of nightmares.You dont feel well, and you know you need to see a doctor.But when you get there, everyone is speaking a strange language you dont understand.To make matters worse, no one seems to understand what youre saying.For countless patients, this nightmare scenario is a reality. While many hospitals and clinics have translators or translation hotlines, accessing these essential tools takes valuable time.Plus, having to communicate through an intermediary inherently ups the chances of miscommunication, putting peoples lives at greater risk.If saving lives and improving peoples health isnt a good  reason to start learning a foreign language, we dont know what is.But the question remains: What are the  most useful languages  for a scenario like the above?Well, there are plenty of useful languages that could apply. There are some that are  best for business  and work in general.  The most common languages  are useful for their sheer number of speakers.However, when de ciding which language to learn  for medicine, whether its for your own medical practice or a job as a medical worker in a specific setting, there are some factors youll need to take into consideration.Heres what you need to know when selecting the most useful language for your and your patients purposes. What Factors to Consider When Deciding What Language Is Most Useful for Your Medical Practice or JobThe first factor to consider is the region in which you intend to work or practice. Since each region has different demographics, region influences how frequently youll encounter patients who speak different languages and dictates which languages are most common.If youre in the U.S., for more information on what languages are spoken in your region, you might want to check MLA Language Map Data Center. While theres an unfortunate lack of more recent data, regional pockets of foreign languages usually remain somewhat consistent since immigrants are often drawn to areas with other immi grants from their homelands.Next, you might want to consider your specialty. Some conditions are more common in certain ethnic groups. For instance, if you want to specialize in Tay-Sachs disease, which is most common among Ashkenazi Jews and French Canadians, you might benefit from learning Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish and/or French.Finally, consider what you hope to accomplish. For instance, if you want to help under-served communities, you might consider selecting a language that, though widely spoken, isnt as widely studied. If your main goal is being able to help as many patients as possible, you might on the other hand choose from the most widely spoken languages.The 5 Most Useful Languages to Learn for MedicineFor the purposes of this list, weve combined data from Zocdocâ€"a resource dedicated to helping medical professionals grow their practices that uses their own data gathered from appointment bookings and searchesâ€"with additional resources to assess which languages are part icularly useful.While Zocdocs useful languages dont exactly represent the most widely spoken languages in the United States, there are other factors that can contribute to which languages patients want doctors to speak. For instance, many non-native English speakers are fluent enough that they dont require doctors who speak their native language. Similarly, some patients may have a trusted friend or family member who can come along to translate. The results could also be influenced by which demographics are most likely to use Zocdoc.Also, as the languages below mainly take into account factors that are relevant for medicine in the United States, you may need to consider outside factors if youre planning on working somewhere else.No matter where youre planning on working, though, you can start learning most of the languages on the list below (as well as several other popular world languages) on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world videosâ€"like news, movie trailers, commercials and insp iring talksâ€"and turns them into personalized language lessons.Check out the Health and Lifestyle category for videos about health care, nutrition, exercise and more. Learning through authentic videos means youll be experiencing the language from the same perspective as your patients, thereby making it easier for you to connect with them from a common point of understanding.Now lets look at the useful languages below.EnglishBy and large, English is still the main language used in medicine in the United States. And it makes senseâ€"according to the census data, over 230 million Americans spoke exclusively English at home. While another 60 million spoke a language other than English at home, the vast majority of these people spoke English well. So it should come as no surprise that Zocdocs research  indicates that a whopping 99.23% of searches on Zocdoc were for English-speaking doctors.So if you want to work or practice in the U.S. and arent fluent in English, this is a great reason to master the language.SpanishIn 2016, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 40 million residents speak Spanish at home, making it the second most widely spoken language in the United States. Because the Spanish language is so widespread in the United States, its relevant for any medical professional. However, its particularly relevant in areas with large Hispanic populations.According to Pew Research Center, the states with the largest Hispanic populations are California, Texas and Florida. With 15 million Hispanic residents, California alone hosts over 25% of the nations Hispanic population.However, Hispanic residents also make up a significant percentage of residents in several other states. For instance, more than a quarter of the population of New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada are Hispanic.With growing Hispanic populations across the United States, the Spanish language will be particularly relevant in areas of increased growth. According to Pew Researc h Center, states that have seen the Latino population grow most rapidly since 2000 include South Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, North Dakota, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.In fact, the need for Spanish in medicine is so extreme that some even argue that all United States physicians should speak Spanish, as discussed in an article from the AMA Journal of Ethics.RussianBelieve it or not, Russian is one of the  most searched languages for physicians after Spanish.The United States Census Bureau estimates that nearly 900,000 people in the United States speak Russian. While its not one of the most widely spoken languages in the United States, its still phenomenally useful for medicine in some places, largely because the population is more condensed than many other groups.In fact,  MLA Language Map Data Center  estimates that over 25% of the Russian-speaking population in the United States live in New York. Another nearly 17% live in California. Th erefore, if youre looking to practice medicine in these major hubs, Russian might be the language for you.ArabicArabic is also a commonly  searched language for physicians. With the  United States Census Bureau estimating that over 900,000 people in the United States speak Arabic, its no wonder so many people are searching for Arabic-speaking doctors.This is particularly true in regions with a large Arab population. Zocdoc found most searches came out of Illinois, Virginia and New York. However,  MLA Language Map Data Center  indicates that there are additional large population centers of Arabic speakers in California and Michigan.Plus, if youre interested in the historical foundations of medicine, Arabic could come in handy, since a lot of early research was done by Arab scholars.FrenchFrench is more widely spoken in the United States than you may think. The  United States Census Bureau estimates that over 1.2 million people in the United States speak French. Another nearly 740,000 speak French Creole.MLA Language Map Data Center  reports that the highest number of French speakers in the United States are located in New York, California and Louisiana. If youre looking to branch out and learn French Creole, this is most widely spoken in Florida and New York.However, French is so much more useful than the number of speakers within the United States alone would lead you to believe. This is a great language to look at if youre considering usefulness worldwide. World language resource Ethnologue estimates that there are over 76 million native French speakers in the world. However, an additional 208 million people speak French as a second language. Therefore, while you might not be able to connect with patients in their native language, speaking French could help you connect with many in their second language.Additionally, if youre interested in humanitarian work, French could come in handy. Doctors Without Borders originated in France, and French is widely spoken in countries where they work, such as  Belgium and Democratic Republic of Congo.So if youre looking to learn a useful language for medicine, consider these five languages.Your patients will thank you! And One More ThingLooking for engaging resources to learn your target language? Then youre going to love learning with FluentU!FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.  Its all stuff that native speakers  actually watch.  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 interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.Interactive transcript for Carlos Baute song.You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs Quiz 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.

How to Prepare For Your Organic Chemistry Test

How to Prepare For Your Organic Chemistry TestDo you want to know the best way to go about preparing for your Organic Chemistry Test? We will go over a few common issues that are important to address before your test day. One of the most common questions that are asked is 'how do I prepare for my test?' If you are not sure how to go about your test, then this article will help you understand what you need to do before the exam day arrives.First, let's get a basic understanding of what an Organic Chemistry Test actually is. It's basically a written test. You will be required to answer multiple choice questions based on specific research and test material that are presented to you during the exam. The process can be a bit confusing at first, but if you take the time to learn the basics you will be able to effectively prepare yourself for your test. At the end of the day, your test results will determine if you earn a high school diploma, or if you have to repeat the course.The reason w hy you want to prepare yourself in advance is because if you have only planned on taking the test on your own, then you need to make sure that you have the time available to get the material that you need to properly prepare for your test. This is a very large undertaking, and there are many different things that you have to do to get yourself prepared. We will go over a few of them below.A good organic chemistry tutor will help you study and improve your knowledge of the material that you will be tested on. They will help you learn what topics to study, what materials to use, and how to approach the test. Many students find that when they have a tutor on their side, they have much more success with their test preparation. It helps to have someone there to teach you and guide you through the process.When you have a good organic chemistry tutor on your side, you will also find that they will suggest different approaches to studying that can help you prepare. This can be as simple as scheduling your study time around your other responsibilities, or it can be more involved. Your tutor can help you to formulate your plan of attack and will always be available to answer any questions you may have during your test preparation.The key to success with a good organic chemistry tutor is that they will make sure that you are taking the proper steps to prepare for your test. This will include recommending the type of materials that you should use, what times of the day you should study, and even which type of food to eat. This can help you better understand the time and stress that come with being in a position to take an exam. With these techniques, you will find that you are able to have the success that you are seeking.So no matter if you are taking your Organic Chemistry test by yourself, or with a good organic chemistry tutor, you will find that the success you have achieved is directly related to the type of study that you do. There are many different techniques tha t can help you with this test, and you will find that many people have found great success with these tactics.