Thursday, March 26, 2020

Modern Chemistry Class Test Answer Key

Modern Chemistry Class Test Answer KeyThis may be a new concept to some, but the Modern Chemistry class contains a large number of lessons on how to use the Test Answer Key. For those who haven't been paying attention, the test is used for multiple choice and essay questions, in addition to the Standardized Test of English. The keys are accompanied by a booklet of frequently asked questions, and they are very effective at helping students to get an edge over their classmates.It isn't only about knowing what the answer is, but it is also about the student's readiness to take the test, as well as their comfort level. The key works as a reference when taking the test, and it can act as a time-saver as well. There are different types of keys, so one will work for a variety of tests.The official answer keys are what you see and use your textbooks as references for the most famous answer keys. Commonly referred to as standardized test keys, these are a different way of answering, and a bra nd new concept for the majority of students. Many of these have been used by the government, and the tests must have this type.The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published their key in 2020, as part of the Computer Based Assessed Learning (CBALL) program. This is an examination that has a grade system and sets the standards for students in math, science, English, and social studies.The test also includes other tests, and while they aren't necessarily required, they will help students answer the true meaning of the test. They also help students prepare for other tests. The NIST tested both students and teachers in order to determine the effectiveness of the test, and the results were very positive.When I took the exam, I couldn't believe how much information I was able to remember from the test itself. I was able to recall important facts and diagrams, even at a later time, and the test was indeed very helpful. Some of the questions had multiple choice question s, while others had multiple questions that could take a long time to decide.With these two kinds of tests, and this new learning tool called the test, you will be able to create a better comprehension of the material. When taking the test, you can prepare for what is on the test. You don't have to worry about how to take it, or how to do well on it.

Friday, March 6, 2020

The Joy of a Clean Up Job Assignment - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / The Joy of a “Clean Up” Job Assignment - Introvert Whisperer The Joy of a “Clean Up” Job Assignment Recently, a person wrote to me fairly distressed that the CEO had personally moved them into an assignment they didn’t want, working in a group that was fairly dysfunctional.   Despite her outstanding performance, the move felt like being put into the penalty box.   To make the situation worse, she was being given assignments from the boss of this dysfunctional group that wasnt really that beneficial to the company.   The new boss was doing strange things in an attempt to avoid getting fired and poor choice of projects was one of them.   Up to this point, the company, job, and pay were great. Now what? I thought it was time to celebrate which was a puzzle for this person. Over the years, I have found that being tossed into a train wreck was one of the most career-enhancing situations.   The reason:   It can only get better and you can be the one to make it shine.   “Turn around” expertise is a highly sought after skill which can also be paid substantially higher than the everyday equivalent job.   A person with that kind of talent is like finding a red diamond (which there are 5 of in this world) I’d like to outline the various things I saw in this situation that is reason to be excited.   I hope it fuels your thinking about how to handle things like this when they come along â€" or go after them in a big way. (!) This person had the attention of the CEO Some people I know would assassinate their own grandmother for this type of situation.   Somewhere along the line, this person performed well enough that the CEO either noticed or was made to notice her.   She was the solution to a problem the CEO personally found important enough to get directly involved.   When you are part of a solution the CEO thinks is important, you have a God-given opportunity to use that visibility to your personal benefit.   Of course, you have to perform but that should be no problem for a person with a proven track record. Its time to assert your leadership Not having a title or position is totally a non-issue for driving the results that need to take place within a group.   Some people get very hung up that without those credentials, you can’t do the work.   Hogwash!   Have you ever heard of leading from behind, or leading without a title?   Those aren’t philosophical terms; they exist because some situations require that someone do just that.   Initiative is a big characteristic of leadership as is taking responsibility for yourself and others. Pursue value-added work People who are running scared tend to make poor decisions, especially when protecting their ego.   This dysfunctional, poor performing manager could actually look better to the CEO if work was being done that had real impact to the company.   By using those great skills all this person had to do was to figure out a couple of dynamite projects that will turn them into a rock star.   If positioned correctly with the existing boss, that boss would come to their senses and fully support it.   It also holds the possibility of slowing down the stupid projects being assigned.   Even if it doesn’t slow down those requests, it can give this gal a reason to negotiate a delay of starting one of those assignments. Develop your own job description  Among the concerns of this gal was the fact that she was unsure what her job really was or how her performance was going to be measured.   This is another area where taking leadership will not only help her but also the boss and possibly her work peers.   She can develop what she thinks would be the best use of her skills combined with the work that desperately needs to be improved to create the framework of the job.   From there, then apply what good performance would be.   She can set down with this boss and probably the CEO to ratify her recommendations.   Taking this approach is like how you would approach work if you were a consultant.   Oftentimes the work isn’t well defined; they just know they have a problem for a consultant.   The first order of business is for the consultant to figure out where the improvement opportunities exist, pull together a work plan and ratify. Stay in touch with the CEO In a situation like this, there may be no need for accountability back to the CEO but you should act like there is.   Keep this person updated on your progress and accomplishments without going into too much detail.   Maintaining some amount of contact will confirm that you are worthy of their trust by being mature enough to provide communication.   This doesn’t mean you are throwing the current boss under the bus â€" in fact, don’t say anything negative about your boss.   Also, keep the boss in the same communication loop.   By being upfront and transparent, you keep demonstrating your leadership. By maintaining some contact with the CEO you keep the visibility that will be crucial in the future. I hope you can see, that a situation like this could define how fast and how far you could go in your career. Power-Influence-Office Politics: it comes down to your Strategic Relationships and understanding of how you build each one of these elements. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my video that outlines all of this and meaningful actions you can take today! Start watching now: CLICK HERE Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleash your professional potential.

Good Books III Even More Reading Recommendations for High School Students

Good Books III Even More Reading Recommendations for High School Students With the success of our last lists, we’ve added even more recommendations from AJ leaders. As a reminder, here are the ground rules: the only requirements were that the books be appropriate for high-school-aged readers, and that they not be books that regularly show up on high school reading lists. Fiction and nonfiction, memoir and sci-fiâ€"it’s all here.Happy reading!Ishmael by Daniel QuinnRecommended by Aaron AndrikopolousA great and eye opening read! A true spiritual adventure!Naive. Super by Erlend LoeRecommended by Jacob SchottI think the title says it all. A bored, slightly naive young adult in Norway navigates their way through daily life before taking a trip to New York to confirm or disconfirm whether or not it is true that time moves slower at the top of the Empire State building than at street level. Trust me, this blurb doesnt do the book justice…Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David EaglemanRecommended by Mark LiveringhouseIncognito is a wonderful choi ce for anyone interested in exploring the hidden recesses of the mind.Pale Fire by Vladimir NabokovRecommended by Sebastian von ZerneckA renowned poet, John Shade, dies and leaves behind a final manuscript for his poem Pale Fire. A neighbor and colleague, Charles Kinbote, recovers the poem and publishes it with a forward and line-by-line analysis. Together these elements form a narrative in which both fictional authors are central characters. Kinbote, we soon realize, is completely deranged, and his analysis of Shades manuscript, which is being held hostage from all other publishers and scholars, is wildly convoluted and entertaining.Resurrection by Leo TolstoyRecommended by Matthew DownhourResurrection is shorter and more readable than Tolstoys more famous books, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, so its a good introduction to one of the giants of the classical literary canon. It is also a strong book in its own right, delving more directly into Tolstoys unique social and religious p hilosophy, which would inspire such historical figures as Mohandas K Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Oryx and Crake by Margaret AtwoodRecommended by Keith TippmanThis dystopian masterpiece from Margaret Atwoodauthor of the The Handmaid’s Taleâ€"is an eerie exploration of the type of future we may currently be creating with the modern state of politics and capitalist systems as we continue to degrade the earths environment. Set in the not-so-distant future, survivors of a devastating pandemic seek to create a new better world from the husk of our destroyed civilization and planet.The Machine Gunners by Robert WestallRecommended by Andrew HoughtonSet in a fictional English town of Garmouth shortly after the Battle of Britain, The Machine Gunners follows the life of a gang of school children during the Second World War. They find a crashed German bomber, complete with machine gun and 2,000 of ammunition. The children decide they are going to defend their homes and families, and so they build a fortress with their machine gun atop to defend themselves. This book is written by my dads old art teacher, who also taught my mum English. It won the Carnegie Medal for writing when it was published and was named one of the top ten medal-winning works ever. Not a long or a new novel, but absolutely gripping to read!Shoe Dog by Phil KnightRecommended  by Nisha GabbiEver wondered how those cool sneakers on your feet came to be? This book chronicles the journey of Phil Knight, founder of Nike. Full of life lessons with surprising twists and turns, this book is for the budding entrepreneur and fashion curious.Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyRecommended by Noah LarsonThe original monster horror novel and note the tale most people think they know. Its a classic with a twist you won’t see coming.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Are Narratives Superior to 5-Paragraph Persuasive Essays

Are Narratives Superior to 5-Paragraph Persuasive Essays 1. We need an alternative to the 5-paragraph persuasive essay Many teachers believe that the 5-paragraph persuasive essay is the only appropriate writing task for college-level students. Almost all of the college-level ESL textbooks published for the Quebec market include units on the so-called 5-paragraph persuasive essay, but units on narrative writing rarely appear.  This dearth is unfortunate since there are some very good reasons to switch to narrative writing. 1. We need an alternative to the 5-paragraph persuasive essay Why would anyone want an alternative to the 5-paragraph persuasive essay, you ask? For starters, over-reliance on this standard writing model does considerable harm to both students and teachers. When you ask teachers why they teach the 5-paragraph persuasive essay, they invariably tell you that it teaches students how to think and how to express themselves. However, there is evidence to suggest that, in fact, this standard writing model does exactly the oppositelimiting thinking, stunting expressiveness, and persuading no one of anything. Structure displaces meaning Rorschach (2004)  reports in a case-study of three college ESL students in a remedial writing course that pressure from the writing teacher to adhere strictly to a proscribed form interfered with the students development and organization of their ideas. One student had been taught in her ESL writing class to focus solely on the formal features of the model and ignore critical issues with content. As a result, her paragraphs remained a series of unconnected vignettes, bound together by a highly-formulaic thesis statement. Rather than to help the student organize and express her own ideas, the imposed structure suppressed personal expression and produced non-thinking conformity. A deskilling effect Another teacher phrased the problem this way: The five-paragraph essay is not an inherently incorrect form. However, it is destructive in that students are not ever allowed to discover if the form fits the meaning they seek to make”  (Duxbury, 2008). Since the form is always set in advance, meaning suffers. Part of the blame belongs to the thesis statement, by controlling what you are able to say and how you can say it. Berggren calls persuasive essay writing profoundly anti-intellectual in this respect because the students only question becomes, What can I say that I can support? (Berggren, 2008, p. 60). Students begin with an opinion and cast about in search of support for it, instead of looking at the evidence and formulating a position by induction. Moreover, the epistemology thesis statements reinforce is exactly the style of knowing we want learners to outgrow, namely that of absolute knowing in favour of contextual knowing. The absolute claims of the conventional thesis statement preclude nuanced thinking. Not only does this rhetorical straitjacket have a negative effect on students ability to think and express their meaning, excessive focus on this one rhetorical model to the exclusion to all others,  Moss (2002)  argues, has left students under-prepared for the range of critical thinking and writing tasks they will face at university. Concomitantly, Moss (2002) found that adopting a single, standard academic writing model has devalued teacher innovation and development, with school administrations claiming that in the context of a single, universal writing model, funding teacher training for writing instruction is no longer necessary. The 5-paragraph persuasive essay is having a deskilling effect on teachers, as well. Virtues Overstated E. L. Thorndike, the first educational psychologist The virtues of the 5-paragraph persuasive essay are almost always overstated. Many teachers will tell you that this type of essay promotes proper habits of mind, helping learners organize their ideas, no matter the subject. This is called the Doctrine of Formal Discipline and is based on the idea that learning to do one task can have a positive effect on a learners ability to do another unrelated task. In the early 1900s, the dominant view was that learning Latin and Geometry would have an improving effect on learners, so  E. L. Thorndike, the first educational psychologist, set out to test  whether learning one cognitive task would result in an improvement on a different task. It did not. The theory of general transfer has been abandoned in favour of theories of specific transfer (where learning one task will help you do a similar task in the future) or specific transfer of general principles (where learning to apply specific strategies to one situation can transfer to a new situation). Essay writing may provide an organizational model for arranging arguments into an essay form but it is very unlikely for it to cause a general improvement in thinking skills. Inauthentic task The persuasive essay is an inauthentic task since it is never used outside of instructional contexts. Horowitz (1986) in a survey of writing assignments across disciplines found that the persuasive essay does not resemble any of the actual writing tasks usually given by university professors. Defenders of the essay claim that persuasive essay writing is nevertheless an essential academic skill, without which advancement in academia is impossible. Proof of this is that the universities use persuasive essay writing tasks as entry tests. Therefore, the reasoning goes, teaching the persuasive essay in English will help students gain access to and succeed in English language universities. According to Statscan, 64% of the population in Quebec attends CEGEP. Only 38% go on to university. But from there, according to  Lamarre (2008), only 20% of francophone graduates attend English language university. That means that only 8% of all the francophones in all CEGEPs will go on to English University. Assuming that learning to write the persuasive essay is, as claimed, useful for students attending English universities, a class of 30 CEGEP ESL learners will receive instruction in a writing task which might be relevant for only about 2 students in the group. How relevant? is another question since a growing number of undergrads enter Business and Engineering programs where report writing and case studies (i.e., narratives) will be required of them. Of the English L2 speakers who do arrive at English language universities, irrespective of academic discipline, the biggest hurdle, according to the Vice-Provost of Concordia University, is their low English proficiency. It is for this reason that the  University Writing Test has been suspended at Concordia University for all undergraduate students in favour of preparatory ESL courses that focus on writing, listening, and speaking components of language training. To what extent, do academic writing tasks support listening and speaking skills? To answer this question, we should look at the corpus data. 2. Narratives and ultimate attainment Writing tasks that support oral skills should be a priority for ESL teachers since speaking is the most anxiety provoking form of communication. Anxiety has been shown to have a negative impact on willingness to communicate, which has a concomitant impact on frequency of communication, reducing contact with the target culture and ultimate attainment. Preparing learners for the demands of social situations should have the opposite effect, reducing task anxiety, increasing perceived competence and causing a direct positive effect on frequency of communication and commitment to integrate with the target language culture    (MacIntyre and Charos, 1996). One way to help learners with the demands of informal oral communication is to support the development of informal spoken registers through the use of narratives in ESL. Over-emphasizing formal registers reduces integrativeness College ESL courses tend to over-emphasize formal registers because of a concern that college-courses should be college-level and academic. This aspiration while noble in intent has unintended negative consequences for learners. One study (Segalowitz, 1976) found that non-fluent second language learners believe themselves to appear less intelligent, less self-confident, and less friendly during casual speech situations than formal speech situations. These same learners also evaluated their native speaker interlocutors less favourably in situations demanding casual speech than formal speech. The reason was that the language instruction these learners had been given had emphasized formal registers to the exclusion of informal registers, leaving them unprepared for situations involving informal social interaction. What these findings suggest is that an overemphasis on academic English will reduce learners’ motivation to integrate with the target language community. Since integrative motivation is needed to achieve moderate levels of second language proficiency (Dornyei, 1990), emphasizing casual registers in language learning classes should have a positive influence on ultimate attainment. Narratives encourage contact with the target culture Since narratives capture the closest approximation to the vernacular of unmonitored speech (Labov, 2010) and since speaking is the most anxiety-provoking form of communication (MacIntyre Gardner, 1991; McCrosky Richmond, 1982), it follows that switching from academic reading and writing tasks in the college classroom to narrative tasks should support the development of oral communication skills. It is very important that language teachers make efforts to reduce anxiety associated with speaking the second language because of the impact of anxiety on ultimate attainment. To explain, we know from research into anxiety and language learning that the anxiety speaking produces reduces willingness to communicate (Baker MacIntyre, 2000). We also know that reduced willingness to communicate has been shown reduce the frequency of communication (Hines Barraclough, 1995). Where contact is minimal or non-existent, there is less commitment to integrate with the target culture (Dornyei, 1990) and integrative motivation is needed to achieve moderate levels of second language proficiency (Dornyei, 1990). Supporting oral skills in non-fluent bilinguals through narratives should have an overall positive effect on ultimate attainment and help mitigate the negative effects of the current overemphasis on formal registers in second language instruction at the college level. Narratives support the development of register-appropriate oral communication Narrative writing instruction is more likely to prepare learners for informal social interaction for a number of linguistic reasons, also. Most importantly, it should be noted that academic and conversational registers involve a complementary frequency distribution of vocabulary and grammatical forms (Biber et al., 1999). However, because fictional narratives contain quoted speech, narratives contain many of the features of conversation English, making them particularly helpful in the development of the grammar and vocabulary needed in conversational registers. Some of the stark differences between academic English and conversational English are revealed in the corpus research given in Biber et al. (1999). Here are some examples of the differences between the registers with page numbers: Nouns Conversation has a lower density of information and therefore fewer nouns (Biber et al, 1999, p. 66). 60% of lexical words in academic prose are nouns (p. 65). Plural nouns are used 3-4 times more in academic prose than conversation (p. 291). Nominalization is much more common in academic prose than other registers, especially â€"tion and -ity (p. 322). Adjectives Adjectives are least common in conversation and most common in academic prose. The comparative form is used three times more often in academic prose than in conversation. Conversely, superlatives are more common in conversation than in academic prose (p. 65). Pronouns Conversation is marked by a high frequency of pronouns and a low frequency of nouns (p. 1042). Words like  everybody, everyone, everything, somebody, anybody, anyone, anything,  and  nobody  are common in conversation but rare in academic writing. Conversation uses pronouns in anaphoric expressions (to refer to an already established idea), whereas academic writing uses definite noun phrases in anaphoric expressions (p. 266). Preposition+which relativizers are only common in academic prose (p. 625). Determiners The determiner  that  is 11 times more common in conversation than in academic writing, where it is relatively rare.  This, used as a determiner, is more common in academic writing than in conversation, occurring 2500 versus 1500 times. The big exception is with the phrase  this one  which occurs 3000 times in the conversational corpus and not at all in the academic written corpus. Verbs Conversation has shorter clauses, and so verbs and adverbs are much more frequent in conversation and fiction (because it contains quoted speech) and much less frequent in academic prose (p. 65). Certain verbs are particularly common in conversation and particularly rare in academic prose:  try, buy, put, pay, bring, meet, play, run, eat, watch, pick, wear. Negation is most common in conversation and least common in academic prose (p. 159). Only in conversation is the progressive used to emphasize the reported message itself as in, “She was saying…” (p. 1120). Across all registers, 85% of verbs are tensed, while 15% of verbs are modal constructions (p. 456). Modals are most common in conversation and are about half as common in academic prose (p. 456). The progressive aspect is more common in conversation than in academic prose. The present perfect is about 30% more common in conversation than in academic prose (p. 461).  Have/has got is the most common present perfect verb in any register, occurring over 1000 times per million words in conversation, but less than 20 times per million words in academic prose (p. 465). Coordinators “But” is more frequent in conversation and fiction, and less frequent in academic prose. “And” is more frequent in academic and fiction than conversation and news. In conversation, “and” is used as a clause level connector. In academic prose, and is used as a phrase level connector (p. 81) . Contractions Verbs and not are contracted most frequently in conversation and fiction. Verbs are contracted less than 2.5% of the time in academic prose, and not is contracted 5% or less. (p. 1132). Adverbials The word  since  is used to introduce a reason in academic prose 95% of the time, but it is used to indicated a point in time in all other registers. The word  while  is used for concession in 80% of occurrences in academic prose, but it is used for time references 100% of occurrences in conversation. The word  though  is used primarily as a linking adverbial in conversation but as a subordinator in written registers. Clauses Expressions like  see if, wonder if, know if  and  ask if  are common in conversation and rare in academic prose.  Know whether  is 8 times more common in conversation than in academic writing.  Determine whether, the most common post predicate wh-clause in academic prose, occurs 20 times in academic writing and not at all in conversation. Technical Writing Some college teachers ask their ESL students to read and write technical reports, believing that the more challenging the text to read or write, the more students will learn about English. For these teachers, there is an unspoken assumption that conversational English can be acquired by implication. In fact, technical writing has certain features which cannot be generalized to everyday English. Trimble (1985) in his book on technical writing for second language teachers reports three key areas of difficulty for non-native students: descriptions, instructions, and literature reviews. He attributes much of the difficulty to grammatical elements found within them. Descriptions make unusually frequent use of passive and stative verbs. In instructions, the definite article is often left out (e.g.,  remove puncturing object from tire) or used on first mention in generalizing statements (e.g.,  The gas turbine fires continuously). In literature reviews, modals and modal passives are very common, and in certain instances, the modal should is used with the same force as must (Trimble, 1985, pp. 115-120). In all these cases, non-native learners who do not have full command of English will have difficulty learning these specialized uses of English and must learn not to generalize these specialized rules to everyday English. Summary With fewer verbs, fewer negatives, fewer modals, fewer contractions, fewer progressive forms, academic English is less suitable for supporting oral interactions than narrative writing. Furthermore, technical writing offers such an eccentric model of English grammar that learners will have difficulty generalizing its grammatical forms to any other communicative context. Finally, because of its effect on integrative motivation and ultimate attainment, ESL teachers should be very careful not to overemphasize formal registers in the instruction of non-fluent bilinguals. 3. Narratives promote the use of a wider range of grammatical structures The verb density of narratives should be of special interest to ESL teachers. Narratives are the principle way in which our species organizes its understanding of time (Abbott, 2008, p.3) and verb tense choice signals how events relate to each other in time. Since “narratives frequently contain irrealis clausesâ€"negatives, conditionals, futuresâ€"which refer to events that did not happen or might have happened or had not yet happened.” (Labov, 2010, Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences), narratives are best suited to teach these linguistic features to second language learners. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase It is important to note that narrative writing involves a default tense. As such, narratives create an obligatory context for eliciting and measuring mastery of past tenses.  Primarily, narratives employ the simple past (Smith, 2003; He, 2011), and “more complex tense selections involving a secondary tense are then used to relate some other time to the main storyline â€" as simultaneous with it (present), as a flashback (past), or as a flashforward (future).” (Matthiessen, 1995, p. 741).” Argument, on the other hand, does not have an obligatory tense. Take a look at this short excerpt from  The Case of the Hidden Staircase, a Nancy Drew novel for young adults.        The weary workers  had just finished  their job when the phone  rang. Nancy, being closest to the instrument,  answered  it. Hannah Gruen  was calling.      Nancy! What  happened? she  asked. Ive been waiting  over an hour for you to call me back. Whats  the matter? While there are three times as many Simple Past verbs than any other verb tense, this narrative is hardly limited to the Simple Past, containing examples of four other tenses.  In just 44 words, this short text contains verbs in the Past Perfect, Simple Past, Past Progressive, Present Perfect Progressive, and the Simple Present. Looking at corpus data on word frequency, we observe that this passage contains no  academic words  and two  conversational words  that are very rare in academic prose:  asked,  and    just.  The eight sentences are short with an average of only six words per sentence. ESL teachers will recognize that comprehension tasks involving narratives suggest an efficient way of getting learners to notice the tense and aspect system of English verbs in a meaningful way. Narrative writing should also offer an efficient way of eliciting a variety of verb tenses. How to structure a narrative to elicit and rehearse specific structures is the topic of another blog post. References Abbott, H. P. (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Baker, S. C., MacIntyre, P. D. (2000). The role of gender and immersion in communication and second language orientations.  Language Learning, (50), 311â€"341. Berggren, A. (2008). Do thesis statements short-circuit originality in students’ writing? In C. Eisner   M. Vicinus,  Originality, imitation, and plagiarism: Teaching writing in the digital  age. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad and E. Finegan (1999), Longman grammar of  spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education. Dornyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing Motivation in Foreign-Language Learning.  Language Learning, 40(1), 45â€"78. Duxbury, A.R. (2008). The tyranny of the thesis statement. English Journal, 97(4), 16-18. Hines, S. C., Barraclough, R. A. (1995). Communicating in a foreign language: Its effects on perceived motivation, knowledge, and communication ability. Comrnunication Research Reports, (12), 241â€"247. MacIntyre, P. D., Charos, C. (1996).  Personality, attitudes, and affect as predictors of second language communication.  15, 3-26.  Journal of Language and Social Psychology, (15), 3â€"26. McCrosky, J. C., Richmond, V. P. (1982). Communication apprehension and shyness: Conceptual and operational distinctions. Central States Speech Journal, (33), 458â€"468. Moss, G. (2002). The five-paragraph theme.  The Quarterly,  24(3), 23-38. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/467/The_Five-Paragraph_Theme.pdf Labov, W. 2008. Oral narratives of personal experience. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/. (13 December 2008.) Rorschach, E. (2004). The five-paragraph theme redux.The Quarterly,  26(1), 16-25. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/970/Five-Paragraph_Theme.pdf Segalowitz, N. (1976). Communicative incompetence and the non-fluent bilingual. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 8(2), 121-131. Statistics Canada, (2008).  Youth in transition survey. Retrieved from Statistics Canada website: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595-m/2008070/t/6000006-eng.htm Trimble, L. (1985).  English for science and technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Please follow and like us:

Kirkenes videregående skole

Kirkenes videregÃ¥ende skole Kirkenes videregÃ¥ende skole Kirkenes vgs is the Northernmost IB School in the world, located within a 2 hours flight from Oslo and a 4 hour drive from Murmansk, Kirkenes vgs is located in the North East of Norway and the hearth of the Barents region. We offer education both in Vocational- and General Studies in addition to the IB DP, and have approximately 600 students. Kirkenes vgs as you see it today is a result of several reorganizations and changes in both schools and a merge between the two in 2002. We got our DP authorization in December 2013 and this academic year is our first as an IB World School. We are searching for experienced IB teachers to be a part of establishing a successful Diploma Programme at the Northernmost IB World School. We believe in that learning is a collective affair. We have a socio-cultural understanding of learning and believe that learning is best achieved through interaction between people and through cooperation and collaboration where the participants have a common responsibility for and commitment to the learning outcome. This understanding is founded upon our values of loyalty, respect and cooperation. Read more about this in our Mission Statement. www.ibo.org IB World Schools share a common philosophyâ€"a commitment to improve the teaching and learning of a diverse and inclusive community of students by delivering challenging, high quality programmes of international education that share a powerful vision.* The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Free Fluency 6 E-learning Language Courses That Dont Cost a Penny

Free Fluency 6 E-learning Language Courses That Dont Cost a Penny Free Fluency: 6 E-learning Language Courses That Dont Cost a Penny Put down your wallet.You dont need it to learn a language!Even if you’re living on a tight budget, juggling work, school and family, or feel like you don’t have another second to spare in your day, learning a foreign language isn’t out of reach.Advances in smartphone technology and the expansion of the internet have tucked all the world’s knowledge right in your pocket!E-learning language courses make fluency easier to achieve than ever.  There’s an abundance of great free resources for learning almost any language you can imagine! So if youve been looking for high-quality online language lessons to match your budget, youve come to the right place.Well show you six stellar e-learning language courses that are totally free. Pick one that matches your learning style and your schedule, and all thats left to do is get learning! The Case for E-learning Language CoursesAside from the fact that these courses are free and available to everyone, there are several significant advan tages to learning a language online:Mobility:  The greatest advantage of the internet is that you can access and use it whenever and wherever you please, on any device you choose. When it comes to learning a language online, you can practice anywhere at any time.Review vocabulary on your commute, study grammar while youre waiting in line  or listen to podcasts while youre cooking dinner!Convenience:  E-learning  courses allow you to work at your own pace, whether you only have a whole vacation dedicated to language learning or just a few minutes to spare right before bed. The flexibility of online learning means you wont feel any pressure because you arent holding anyone up if life gets hectic and you cant study for a few days. The bite-sized nature of these courses also allows you to complete lessons in a short amount of time.These types of courses are especially convenient for solo students because you can revisit the material as needed. If youre struggling with certain verbs or v ocabulary, you can study them as much as you need to, without exam deadlines or the danger of a failing grade.Customization:  Online language learning courses offer tools tailored to all different learning styles! These courses present more opportunities than a strict classroom environment, boosting your odds for successfully becoming fluent.If youre a visual learner, there are flashcards to help you drill vocabulary. If youre an auditory learner, you can explore movies and podcasts for whatever language youre studying. Kinetic learners can print off worksheets or play games to help them learn. If you enjoy reading, there are plenty of places to download foreign language e-books.The possibilities are endless, and you should be able to find a course that suits you perfectly!Free Fluency: 6 E-learning Language Courses That Dont Cost a PennyWhile there are plenty of textbooks, workbooks, traditional classes, software, private tutors and other resources available for purchase, the inter net offers some excellent free choices.These six websites offer free e-learning language courses for beginners through experts.BBC LanguagesThe BBC website offers language learning courses in 40 languages! There are quick-fix lessons to teach travelers essential words and phrases alongside full-service courses for languages like French, Spanish, German, Greek and Chinese.Lessons and resources include language learning tailored just for kids and crosswords for visual learners who prefer to work outside the box. Pair vocabulary and grammar practice with a selection of news, TV and radio links for immersion practice and cultural  study.The BBC page is archived and no longer updated, but its still a fantastic free resource that can stand alone or act as a supplement to other courses.Effective Language LearningThis website offers free lessons in Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish! Its packed with great resources to help you decide which language to choose and the best methods f or learning it.Get started with the Language Guide, which explores the background of each language, ranks how difficult they are to learn and compares how closely related they are to English regarding linguistics and culture.Click on Language Learning Tips and read through 17 great ways to get the most out of online lessons. Youll increase your odds for success with this resources helpful study ideas, such as: practice thinking in the other language, experience immersion using pop culture, break your lessons into small chunks and cut yourself some slack on mistakes.If youre curious about the quality of paid e-learning language options, visit the Language Course Reviews page for a side-by-side comparison of major software programs currently on the market.  Its a useful reference, but dont forget about the abundance of free resources available online!LanguageGuide.orgHere youll find vocabulary lessons in more than 25 languages, complete with audio recordings to help you learn pronunci ation. Listening to audio files is an important part of absorbing new  words and learning to use them correctly.The vocabulary lessons are perfect for both audio and visual learners because they incorporate images with each audio file. Some of the exercises are already set  to an advanced level by default, but you can adjust the difficulty level in your settings (click the gear in the upper right-hand corner).When it comes time to test your knowledge, be sure to use both the speaking and listening challenges!The English and French courses also offer grammar instruction and reading selections alongside the vocabulary lists. Overall, this website is a great supplemental resource for drilling vocabulary and pronunciation alongside e-learning courses that cover grammar and immersion.MyLanguagesIf youre looking for lesser studied languages, like Yiddish, Urdu or Welsh, look no further! MyLanguages.org is an excellent free resource for almost any language you can imagine, from the obscure to the widely-spoken.The website is user-friendly and very easy to navigate. Scroll through the left sidebar for links to specific pages, such as phrases, vocabulary and the radio lab, which provides links to radio stations in different languages.Youll also find unique, handy resources like virtual keyboards for foreign languages and  a transliteration generator to see phonetics for a given text in your target language. Use the dictionary, exercises and downloadable audio clips to get the most out of your learning experience.Open CultureThis educational collection brings together lessons in 48 different languages through a variety of websites, YouTube channels, iTunes audio downloads and apps. No matter what your learning style may be, youll find a match for it here.Some languages are better represented than others, but each category lists a variety of options and platforms, allowing you to match lesson formats with your preferred study method.  The courses are arranged alphabetica lly by language, which makes getting started a snap.This site also provides free cultural materials, including book and textbook downloads, movies, lectures, art, images and music. These useful supplementary materials will help you learn about the culture and history of the language youre speaking!ThoughtCoThis site is excellent for certain hard-to-find languages and unique resources, bringing together cartoons in Hebrew and Arabic alphabet practices with complete e-courses in French, Russian, German and Italian, among much more. Theres even a Latin course available if youre into dead languages!Each category features links to lessons for beginners starting at square one, covering everything from alphabet and grammar to vocabulary and culture. Several of the languages offer students more advanced lessons and resources tailored for audio and visual learners.If you still havent found what youre looking for, theres a link to the Peace Corps Language Courses Archive at the bottom of the page, which leads you to another excellent resource for less common languages.So, what are you waiting for? That elusive right time or right moment?That time is right now! Dont wait any longer.Learn a language for free, on your schedule, on any device, anywhere, at any time! It only takes a little attention each day. Make the most of your commute, drill vocabulary during commercials or swap fifteen minutes of social media for study time.Its worth the effort! Fluency in a second language boosts your competitive edge in a saturated job market. Bilingualism also teaches the brain to think in new and different ways. It improves memory, concentration, cognitive performance and helps develop various aspects of our social skills, such as  empathy and effective communication.Theres an abundance of wonderful e-learning language courses for every skill level and learning style. These courses are practical, convenient, portable and customizable. And dont forget free!Tiffany Edgecomb is a freel ance copywriter and owner of The Alphabet Soup Company. She specializes in creating blogs, newsletters and email sequences for lifestyle topics like cooking, language, real estate, travel and personal finance. And One More ThingIf you want to upgrade to infinitely expanded learning possibilities that are still budget-friendly, youll love using FluentU. FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.Plus, you can still try FluentU for free to make sure its right for you before committing.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that real people 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 ScreenFluentU 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 over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive TranscriptsYou 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.Learn with FluentU on your web browser or, better yet, download the app to study on the go at the iTunes store or Google Play store.

Why Advancing During the Holidays is Important

Why Advancing During the Holidays is Important Why Advancing During the Holidays is Important It’s official! We’re approaching the thick of the holiday season â€" otherwise known as the most wonderful time of year for many adults and children alike. As millions nationwide buckle up for travel to visit family and friends near and far, there are a few things all parents should keep in mind when it comes to kids and learning during the holiday school break. While all children should enjoy this festive time of year, a break from school doesn’t have to mean a break from learning. Continuing structured learning during the holiday break can contribute towards a successful school year. This means keeping up with Kumon assignments during the holiday season. Here are a couple of reasons why this is so important to maintaining progress. Daily practice goes a long way. The key to success in Kumon is continuity of practice. During school breaks, children typically have less thinking to do and more unstructured time. Continuing Kumon study during the holiday break promotes educational development and an element of year-round stability in your child’s academic life. Many experienced parents will say sticking with Kumon year-round is the secret ingredient for substantial academic gains in the school year. A steady routine helps keep kids on track. Maintaining a steady routine with Kumon even during the holiday break will make returning to a normal schedule seamless. Consider how motivated and great we feel when we work out regularly. After taking a few weeks off from the gym, getting back into our routine often becomes difficult. The same thing happens with academic habits. Our motivation stays high when we do not fall out of our routine. Significant schedule changes and different surroundings can make consistent practice a challenge for students. Falling out of the daily routine becomes easy, and trying to catch up later becomes difficult. When planning for schedule changes, and particularly when taking trips, it’s important also to plan when children will complete their school-assigned homework and Kumon assignments too. What works for many families is for children to complete the Kumon worksheets first thing in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day gets into full swing. Sticking with the routine helps students continue their progress, and it makes the transition back to school after the new year a smooth process. You might also be interested in: 7 Important Study Habits for School Advancing Beyond Grade Level in the Kumon Math Program Advancing Beyond Grade Level Helped this Student Become a Member of the National Elementary Honor Society Why is Dual Enrollment in Kumon Math and Reading Important? Why Advancing During the Holidays is Important Why Advancing During the Holidays is Important It’s official! We’re approaching the thick of the holiday season â€" otherwise known as the most wonderful time of year for many adults and children alike. As millions nationwide buckle up for travel to visit family and friends near and far, there are a few things all parents should keep in mind when it comes to kids and learning during the holiday school break. While all children should enjoy this festive time of year, a break from school doesn’t have to mean a break from learning. Continuing structured learning during the holiday break can contribute towards a successful school year. This means keeping up with Kumon assignments during the holiday season. Here are a couple of reasons why this is so important to maintaining progress. Daily practice goes a long way. The key to success in Kumon is continuity of practice. During school breaks, children typically have less thinking to do and more unstructured time. Continuing Kumon study during the holiday break promotes educational development and an element of year-round stability in your child’s academic life. Many experienced parents will say sticking with Kumon year-round is the secret ingredient for substantial academic gains in the school year. A steady routine helps keep kids on track. Maintaining a steady routine with Kumon even during the holiday break will make returning to a normal schedule seamless. Consider how motivated and great we feel when we work out regularly. After taking a few weeks off from the gym, getting back into our routine often becomes difficult. The same thing happens with academic habits. Our motivation stays high when we do not fall out of our routine. Significant schedule changes and different surroundings can make consistent practice a challenge for students. Falling out of the daily routine becomes easy, and trying to catch up later becomes difficult. When planning for schedule changes, and particularly when taking trips, it’s important also to plan when children will complete their school-assigned homework and Kumon assignments too. What works for many families is for children to complete the Kumon worksheets first thing in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day gets into full swing. Sticking with the routine helps students continue their progress, and it makes the transition back to school after the new year a smooth process. You might also be interested in: 7 Important Study Habits for School Advancing Beyond Grade Level in the Kumon Math Program Advancing Beyond Grade Level Helped this Student Become a Member of the National Elementary Honor Society Why is Dual Enrollment in Kumon Math and Reading Important?