Sunday, March 29, 2020

A Guide to Finding a Mandarin Tutor in Manila

A Guide to Finding a Mandarin Tutor in ManilaDo you need to find a Chinese Mandarin Tutor in Manila? If you are interested in learning Chinese, but don't have the time to devote to it, you may want to consider seeking out a tutor. As I said earlier, this can be an exciting endeavor if you are committed to your goals.You don't have to be an accomplished Chinese language speaker to enjoy the rewards of hiring a Mandarin Tutor in Manila. There are many people just like you who just want to improve their speaking skills so they can impress others.This means that when you see a Mandarin Tutor in Manila, you have probably seen a lot of them. You may feel apprehensive about what the experience is going to be like. The good news is that you have nothing to worry about.When you need a Mandarin Tutor in Manila, you can find one that specializes in teaching those languages. For instance, you can meet a Mandarin tutor who works in a classroom setting or an online environment. You will be able to pick from his class, including classes he might offer in Chinese for beginners, intermediate level, and advanced. The choice will be based on your schedule, whether you can afford him, your budget, and so on.There are a number of ways to find a Mandarin Tutor in Manila, including going directly to the tutor or using the Internet. It's important to check with the tutor about the methods he will use. This includes which method he will teach you how to speak the language.Sometimes, choosing a Mandarin Tutor in Manila will depend on your financial situation. While the initial tuition fee will be cheap, your overall cost will go up as you pay on a regular basis. That's why it's very important to consider your current financial situation.Sometimes you will also have to pay a 'life-time' fee if you need your lessons for several years. Some Chinese teachers will require a minimum number of lessons before they'll accept you as a client.Once you meet a Mandarin Tutor in Manila, you will star t to see the results. Just keep in mind that you should expect a few things. For instance, the initial investment will be inexpensive, but your ability to speak the language will increase as you continue with the lessons.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Language Learning On a Shoestring The Cheap Fluency Guide

Language Learning On a Shoestring The Cheap Fluency Guide Language Learning On a Shoestring: The Cheap Fluency Guide Its hard to separate languages from money.All around the world, people are paying top dollar for access to language education.In most places, that means English classesâ€"anything from English immersion preschool to business English refresher  courses.In the English-speaking world, there are instead news articles and magazine ads that try to  entice you to go abroad or learn from home.Doing so, they say, will increase your lifetime income by tens of thousands of dollars.Whether or not youre planning to learn languages for the economic benefit, though, you probably want to minimize your costs up front.When it seems like language learning is a matter of financial investment rather than of putting in the time and effort, it might make you wonder whether its even worth it.But did you know you can learn languages without breaking the bank?Below are resources and tips for doing just thatâ€"along with a couple of reasons why spending a little money might not be a bad idea. Language Learnin g On a Shoestring: The Cheap Fluency GuideTip #1: Get Professional Courses On the CheapDid you know you can access or download complete, professionally-made language courses for free?Im not even talking about the free beginner-intermediate app courses like Duolingo.Some publishers make courses and release them absolutely free of charge onlineâ€"either stand-alone or to promote other material:Routledge, maker of the Colloquial course books, offers the companion audio files to each book free on their website. So if you can get a copy of the book used or at a library, the audio companion is yours to explore.A European organization called 50Languages (formerly known as book2) has produced a complete introductory audio course inâ€"you guessed itâ€"fifty languages. Each course is broken up into 100 lessons, with every line recorded slowly and clearly by native speakers.Rounding out the selection of complete courses, there are dozens of older FSI, DLI, Cortina and Peace Corps courses that have entered the public domain and are freely accessible with their audio intact. Theyre available at The Yojik Website.Keep in mind that these courses arent necessarily without their drawbacks. For example,  the FSI (Foreign Service Institute) and DLI (Defense Language Institute)  courses were mostly developed by the United States government in the 1960s and 1970s to prepare diplomats and military personnel for placement abroad.Due to their age and target audience, the language taught is rather formal and perhaps outdated.  Not only will you never learn how to ask for the WiFi password, it’s likely that all the dialogues will use the formal pronouns. You’re definitely going to have to supplement these courses with other, more modern material.However, despite these slight disadvantages, the pedagogy behind the courses is sound. They were designed to be used in a classroom setting and are extremely thorough. If you have the stamina to stick through a few hundred hours of grammar and vocabulary drills, these are the courses for you. Theres a loyal following of language learners online who adore these high-quality free materials.Some of the other courses above are designed to be more basic and may not cover everything you need to learn.However, even after youve finished whatever free language courses there are online, you can still find a whole world of free language content just waiting to be used. One of the most overlooked places for this is likely right in your hometown.Even the tiniest public libraries  usually have at least moderate collections of foreign language material.Take a trip over there (or use the online catalog) to see if you can find some  famous name-brand coursesâ€"not to mention some page-turners in the Foreign Literature section.Tip #2: Take Advantage of Free Trials and DiscountsTheres another category of resources that can give you a lot of content for little or no money.I’m talking about paid language learning websites here. But why do they make an appearance in an article like this?Because many sites offer free trials or limited free access to their content. And pretty much all of them have extensive blog or advice sections with tips and tricks for learning languages.Aside from that, not all paid language learning sites cost a lotâ€"you can often take advantage of cheaper plans that give you limited access, and depending on what youre looking for, this can be more than worth it.Take FluentU for instance. It’s a website offering native-language videosâ€"like movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talksâ€"with clickable dual subtitles so that you can look up words instantly. Not only is there a free trial, but pricing differs according to what you need (check out the Basic plan if youre on a budget). Plus, the FluentU blogs give you some of the best learning material you can find online entirely for free, and cover popular languages like French, German, Spanish, Chinese and more.Glossika is another p rolific website with a language course count pushing 60. Apart from an extensive blog and free PDF section, this audio-based site offers a 7-day free trial for major languages and unlimited access to minority or endangered languages. So this might be a good site to check out if youre learning an obscure language.Tip #3: Explore Global News Content OnlineSince youre reading this post, youve likely already started looking for language resources online.But some of the best may barely even register as language resources at all.News sites like GlobalVoices, BBC.com  or NHK World  may seem at first to be completely unrelated to language learning.However, each of these sites translates their content into more than a dozen languages to reach a foreign audience. GlobalVoices even has the links to the translations conveniently located above every article!Major newspapers in cities all over the world now have multimedia websites with hundreds of hours of audio or video content to keep the inte rmediate or advanced learner occupied.By downloading and formatting these translated articles into side-by-side parallel texts, you can quickly check the meaning of an article while continuing to expose yourself to natural, authentic native content.Tip #4: Connect and ShareThe internet was built to connect people.And you can ride that connection straight into a new language experience.Online Language ExchangeThere are two major players on the field of online language exchange right now:  WeSpeke and Hellolingo.Both of these are full-fledged social networks that function similarly to Facebook or WhatsApp.HelloLingo is the third iteration of a vibrant online language exchange community dating back to the mid-2000s called SharedTalk.It’s reinvented itself a few times, but the core concept remains the sameâ€"connecting people through text and voice chat so that they can help one another learn languages.WeSpeke is more of a rounded-out social experience, where you can search for people with the same interests or background as you and add them as friends. In addition to text and audio chat, video chat is built right into the platform!On both sites, you simply register with your native language and the languages you’re looking to learn, and browse around to find people with the opposite language profile.Since English is so important worldwide, native English speakers often find themselves swamped with invitations for free practice!Online Language Learning CommunitiesAnd outside of these specialized exchange websites, you can also find enormous communities of language learners online.One of the largest active forums for language learners can be found, naturally, at language-learners.org. Its biggest section is the language log page, where members keep regular diaries of their progressâ€"usually learning three or four languages at a time.There are also regular forum-wide challenges, including the Free and Legal Challenge. Thats exactly what it sounds like: learning a language only using legally available free materials.Lastly, if youre more the social media type, the Polyglot Club Facebook group is one of the largest language-themed Facebook pages.Facebook moves much faster than a traditional forum, but as long as you stay on top of it, you can use it as a hub to share tips, resources and even set up impromptu language exchanges.Tip #5: Spend Money to Save MoneySticking to free resources can be a great challenge. But theres often an opportunity cost associated with tracking down free online files or waiting for a conversation partner to appear online.And that cost is time.If youre a busy learner or financially motivated to learn a language, there comes a point when spending a little bit of money on the right thing can get you pretty far pretty fast.For example, if you know exactly what you need to learn, then it makes a lot of sense to buy a course tailored to your needs.Perhaps youve got a job working retail and you notice that youre losing potential sales because you cant communicate with Chinese customers looking for cosmetics.Buying a course for business or retail Mandarin could be a direct solution to your problem, and youll likely see benefits much faster than if you started with a free general course.You may also consider hiring a specialized tutor as an alternative to free language exchange.On  italki, you can search for professional, experienced tutors who specialize in specific areas of language education like test preparation, business and more.If your future immigration or job prospects hinge on demonstrating foreign language proficiency, a bit of money spent on an exam-focused tutor could pay off big later.Whichever way you slice it, learning a language without dropping serious cash is an appealing prospect.It takes hard work, but in my view, the best resources for learning are the ones that youre passionate about or fascinated by.Once you can dive into the wealth of native-language content online, youre ju st about set for the rest of your language learning journey.And when your level gets high enoughâ€"maybe youll be the one making the free resources!

Are the national collections of national benefit

Are the national collections of national benefit Last week saw the opening of the Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre Phase II. This impressive extension connects the much-loved Waterhouse building and Darwin Centre Phase I, and will house over 20 million specimens in 3.3km of cabinets. Like the rest of the museum, the centre will be free to access to the public. Most of London's major museums have been free since 2001; this includes the National and Portrait Galleries, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum. The lack of entrance fee encourages a casual, drop-in approach to the museums, especially for those living locally. This can be extremely helpful when it comes to school research projects, allowing students to get up close and personal with key artefacts, without hefty entrance fees. Six of the top ten attractions in London are now free museums. This increase in popularity is unprecedented, and reflected in the increase of 'blockbuster' exhibitions, such as the Terracotta Army at the British Museum, a paid-for temporary exhibition which attracted the kind of ticket-buying fanaticism usually reserved only for music or theatre events. However, is there a down side to this magnanimity? The museums are currently funded through a mixture of donations, retail, temporary exhibitions (which often do require an entrance fee), private hire and Government funding. The majority of the establishments are based in London and yet the money that funds them is taken nationwide. Is this a fair policy? Although these are national collections, are they of national benefit?

Thursday, March 5, 2020

10 Nerdy Math Facts from Arabic to Qoogol

10 Nerdy Math Facts from Arabic to Qoogol Here are 10 nerdy math facts from ancient Hindu-Arabic to modern day Qoogol. Enjoy ?? 1. The numerical digits we use today such as 1, 2, 3 etc. are based on the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed over 1000 years ago. 2. What comes after a million, billion and trillion? A quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion and undecillion. 3. The name of the popular search engine Google came from a misspelling of the word googol. Qoogol is the  number 1 followed by 100  zeros to be specific: 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 = One googol 4.  A googolplex is the number 1 followed by a googol zeros, a number so ridiculously big that it can’t be written because there literally isnt enough room in the entire universe to fit it in! 5.  You can use different names for the number 0  like  zero, nought, naught, nil, zilch or  zip. 6. Here is Pi written to 100 decimal places: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510 58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679 7.  The only number in English that is spelled with its letters in alphabetical order is forty. 8. 12 + 3 4 + 5 + 67 + 8 + 9 = 100 9.   111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321 10.  In 2010 on World Maths Day, 1.13 million students from more than 235 countries set a record correctly answering 479,732,613 questions. Improve your Math skills and enjoy Math with our Math tutors!

How To Find A Tutor In Manassas VA

How To Find A Tutor In Manassas VAIf you are looking for a great way to earn money without working a traditional job, consider tutoring in Manassas VA. It's one of the best places to teach English because of the excellent pay and flexible hours. The city offers many opportunities for talented students.Tutoring is an important part of a college or university education. It provides students with free training on both theoretical and practical skills. It also gives them practice in communication. While both these benefits are very important, there are other benefits that come from working with students.Tutoring in Manassas VA is usually provided by the local university or community college. However, if you live in the area, you may want to find out if tutoring is offered at your local school district. In addition, consider getting help in looking for tutors. Check online, in the yellow pages, and even at your local library for tutors.If you do not know anyone who works as a tutor, ask o ther friends and family members if they have recently started a career as a tutor. This will give you an idea of what you can expect.For those who live in the area, the best way to find a tutor is to use a service that connects people who need tutors with tutor educators. These services will take care of finding a tutor for you, and they will then help you find a quality tutor at a reasonable price.You may be able to find some help from the community, either through the tutoring center or through a group of individuals who are interested in helping new students get started. If you do not want to work with a group, you can contact each tutor individually to ask for recommendations.Tutoring in Manassas VA gives you many advantages. If you have never been to this city, consider helping a few students with their English today.

Images for Free Tutoring

Images for Free TutoringFree images are also available for downloading to your computer, on the web, or even in books. Images are usually digitally copied or directly recorded as a digital image. However, some people prefer to do this themselves.In Word Processor or Microsoft Word program, the first step is to open the file (also called a picture) in the program. This can be done with a File Menu, and by clicking the Pictures tab. Then, you can paste or select an image from the popup menu.From the list, you will see the images that you want to access. Click on the photo that you want to edit. After clicking, the photo opens in a new window. This is the advantage of being able to edit photos.Selecting a part of the image or a section of the image you want to edit, you can then move it and resize it. If you want to make it a different size, you can click on the Size drop-down menu.The size is very important part of this. Without being able to change the size, you cannot edit the image. Since most photos have a certain resolution, you need to know what will fit best in your computer, before you can edit.If you wish to create a collage of pictures, you may need to go to your local bookstore, or online, and find a file that contains hundreds of pictures. If you would like to create a picture book, you will also need a particular book. This will come in handy, when you are editing pictures in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or your favorite computer software.You can get access to any type of electronic resource material, from local stores, libraries, and online. You do not need to pay a fee to view these resources.

Considerations for Vocal Health Part II

Considerations for Vocal Health Part II Suzy S. Last week, Long Beach instructor Jim S. shared some tips to help ensure top performance when it comes to your vocal health.   However, there’s even more to it than just nutrition and keeping yourself hydrated. Read on for Part II of the article and even more considerations that will protect you from vocal challenges: Use a Neti Pot for nasal irrigation twice a day: A Neti Pot is the safest way of clearing out your sinus passages. You can find Neti Pots in most health food stores and pharmacies. This is a much better and safer way to keep sinus passages open compared to using ocean spray inhalers or over-the-counter nasal inhalers such as Afrin. Anything you shoot up your sinuses has the possibility of forcing mucous further into the passages, as well as causing sinus irritation or re-infection. I use a Neti Pot twice daily even when I feel great. You’d be surprised to find out the amount of pollution most of us are breathing daily! Even though I live oceanfront in Long Beach, CA, smog and brush fires are sometimes in the air, as well as pollution from the harbor and high pollen counts. Choose an ionic/ozone air filter for your home: I prefer Ecoquest’s Living Air Classic. HEPA filters can actually put pollution back into the air once they are filled up. Ionic filters zap particles out of the air and can help keep mold, dust and germ levels way down. This is especially helpful to singers suffering from respiratory illnesses, asthma or chronic allergies. Choose a good water filtration system for drinking and shower water: Our drinking water is especially important. Choose spring water with minerals, alkaline balanced or oxygenated water, or put a filter on your tap. I also suggest bathing in filtered water, as hot water can penetrate through pores, which means we’re getting low levels of chlorine, lead, mercury and other toxins. Over time this can build up in the body and cause challenges. Avoid yelling, screaming and excessive talking on the telephone. It is advisable to rest your voice, especially if you are in an opera or musical theater production and have long hours of rehearsals. Same would be true for those in school/university or church choirs, or soloists who work regularly. Of course, exercise is also an integral part of your vocal health, since as singers we rely on our lungs to provide support for our voices.   Consider these exercise tips to take it one step further: Yoga breath work and Meditation: I make all my singers do a bare minimum of 20 minutes of breath work daily. Gentle Hatha yoga is a great place to start. Yoga breathing techniques can be your greatest asset in strengthening your lungs, developing vocal power and projection, and preventing illness and injury. Here is a list of a few of my favorite breathing techniques to aid in your development: Gentle Hatha: Breathing diaphragmatically in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4. This helps to slow your breathing and it also strengthens the diaphragm. Breath of Fire: This is a Kundalini yoga technique used to tone and strengthen the lungs and sinuses, as well as detox the whole body. Look for video illustrations on YouTube to help you get familiarized with the concept. Bikram Breath: This posture and breath has helped many of my beginning singers to double their power and sound in a few weeks. It also helped me in my early teens to completely rid myself of chronic asthma. Bikram is a form of hot yoga. You can find videos on YouTube, or simply Google Bikram to find studios that teach pranayama (breath work) in your area. Other great forms of exercise include swimming and brisk walks. Readers, what other ways do you supplement your vocal health, beyond the basics?   Leave a comment below, or stop by our Facebook page to join the discussion! Sign up for email updates here! Join thousands of other subscribers and get emails catered to your music interests with advice, tips and more! James S. teaches piano, singing, violin, mandolin, music performance, music recording, music theory, opera voice, songwriting, speaking voice, theatrical Broadway singing, acting and fiddle lessons to students of all ages in Long Beach, CA.   He joined the TakeLessons team in June 2012.   Sign up for lessons with James, or visit TakeLessons to search for a teacher near you! Photo by Unfurled.