Is It Right For You? Exclusive Tutoring is the Way to Go

Is It Right For You? Exclusive Tutoring is the Way to GoExclusive tutoring has opened many doors for students. They can learn in their own way, with their own time, and with a reliable and well-connected tutor. If you are interested in one of these, it is very important to understand the market.The traditional classroom has an edge over online tutoring and all the gadgets out there today. Students will have all the equipment needed and a step by step process. But, if they can get this back in their hands, where they can put in their resources, it will give them the benefit of this instructional method. This would mean that they can work at their own pace and be their own teacher.Working with tutors can sometimes be daunting. There are so many people out there that charge a fortune and promises. The first thing you should check is that they are an experienced tutor or coach.Based on the amount of money they are charging, how are their client base and their past record? It would help i f you can connect with a tutor who is working as a tutoring coach and find out if they can support your child.Most importantly, it is important to find a reputable person. You have to know how to deal with this person. You should be able to communicate with him so that he can keep you updated and learn the child's progress.This means you should be able to build up a good relationship with him, so that you can learn how to make him like you. A good leader of the tutoring team can help you build this relationship as well.Starting up an exclusive tutoring is something that everyone needs to do. Getting one can really be worth it when your child will gain a lot from his lessons and work.

4 Quick and Easy Italian Grammar Exercises

4 Quick and Easy Italian Grammar Exercises Brooke Neuman One of the keys to learning Italian is practice. Below, Italian teacher Nadia B. provides some quick and easy Italian grammar exercises to help get you on the road to success Despite what you may think, mastering Italian grammar isnt impossible. In fact, its as quick and easy as putting the rules youve learned into practice. The following four exercises will have you perfecting Italian grammar in no time! Remember, learning a new language takes time, so dont get discouraged if you stumble along the way. Its expected! Exercise 1: Interrogative Words In Italian, interrogative wordssuch as che  (what),  chi  (who),  quando  (when),  perché  (why) and  come  (how)are used to form a question. Practice using interrogatives by forming a question using each word above. Doing so will ensure that you can quickly produce the correct interrogative when needed to ask a question. See examples below: Che vuoi fare oggi? (What do you want to do today?) Chi era quelluomo? (Who was that man?) Quando arriva Giovanni? (When does Giovanni arrive?) Exercise 2: Telling Time Write down a series of times (for example, 2:24 p.m., 3:00 a.m., 8:00 p.m., and 9:45 a.m.) and then practice saying the times out loud, concentrating on your pronunciation. After youve mastered that, try working on your time expressions next. You can include di mattina  (in the morning), del pomeriggio (in the afternoon), di sera (in the evening) and di notte (at night). See examples below: Sono le nove e quattro di mattina.  (It is 9:04 a.m. in the morning.) Sono le sei e ventidue di sera.  (It is 6:22 p.m. in the evening.) Sono le undici e trentacinque di notte.  (It is 11:35 p.m. at night.) Sono le undici di mattina.  (It is 11:00 a.m. in the afternoon.) Dont forget that you also have the option of using the following phrases as well: a quarter before (meno un quarto), a quarter past (un quarto), half past (mezzo/a), noon (mezzogiorno), and  midnight (mezzanotte). See examples below: Sono le sette meno un quarto di mattina.  (A quarter before seven in the morning) Sono le otto e un quarto di mattina.  (A quarter  past eight in the morning) Sono le otto e mezzo di mattina.  (A half past eight in the morning) Exercise 3: There is vs There are There is and there are are indispensable in Italian, and its easy to practice using them correctly. Look around whatever room you are in, and use cè   (there is) and ci sono (there are) to describe the objects you see. For example, if you see a white chair in the room: Cè una sedia bianca. (There is a white chair.) You can even take it a step further and describe the quantity of each item to practice the numbers in Italian. Ci sono dieci libri e tre cuaderni. (There are 10 books and three notebooks.) Exercise 4: The Definite Article There are two main forms of the definite article in the singular, il (masculine) and la (feminine) and two alternate forms,  l,  for any noun starting with a vowel, and lo,  for any masculine noun starting with s- plus a consonant, ps-, or z-. Singular  masculine  noun: il Singular feminine noun: la Noun starting with a vowel: l Masculine noun starting with  s-  plus a consonant,  ps-,  or  z-  : lo Remember,  i  for plural masculine,  le  for plural feminine,  gli  for plural masculine beginning with a vowel, s- plus a consonant, ps-, or z-. Plural masculine noun: i Plural  feminine  noun: le Plural  masculine  noun beginning with a vowels-  plus a consonant,  ps-, or  z-:   gli To practice using definite articles, write out a list of singular nouns and then assign each one the appropriate definite article. Then, do the same for plural nouns by writing out a list of plural nouns and assigning each the correct definite article. See examples below: Singular mattita la matita (the pencil) zaino lo zaino (the backpack) uomo luomo (the man) Plural mele le mele (the apples) uomini gli uomini (the men) bicchieri i bicchieri (the glasses) With these Italian grammar exercises, you should be well on your way to a thorough and accurate understanding of basic Italian grammar. If you practice these quick and easy Italian grammar exercises regularly, youll start to notice that youre making use of these grammar concepts in an easier, more rapid, and accurate way than ever before in conversation and in writing. Nadia B. teaches Italian in New York, NY. She graduated summa cum laude from New York University, with a double degree in Italian Language and Literature and Classical Music Performance.  Learn more about Nadia here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher

How can I improve my English

How can I improve my English Learn English for the price of a cup of coffee Students often ask me this question. They want to practice their English, but they dont have anyone to practice with. Whenever I am asked, I am tempted to tell them my friends solution to the common question, How can I improve my English? I had a friend named Joseph who moved to Montreal from Czech Republic in the 1990s. He worked as a janitor and spoke very little English at the time. After work and on his days off, Joseph would go down to the local doughnut shop on Sherbrooke Street, in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood of Montreal. Every day, a strange woman would arrive, buy a cup of coffee, sit down and talk to herself. After she finished her coffee, she would get up and leave. One day, Joseph saw that she had finished her coffee and was about to leave, so he bought her another cup and asked to sit with her. The woman accepted the coffee and kept talking. She could talk and talk on any topic, provided there was a cup of coffee in front of her. Sometimes he would ask her questions. Sometimes he just listened. Since she spoke more than she drank, he said it only cost him about a dollar an hour for crazy conversational English practice. He spent about $3 a day on coffee for about a year and learned so much English by the end of it that he went on to become an English Second Language teacher. Joseph told me this story after class in a Grammar for Teachers, a course we took together at Concordia University  in 2001. I have never forgotten it. I am not sure whether going in search of crazy conversation partners is a good idea. However, it demonstrates that languages are learned primarily through the repeated exchange of meaningful messages with a focus on form. In Josephs case, he focused on form at home by studying grammar books in the evening. Please follow and like us:

The Sutton Trust praises Tutorfair

The Sutton Trust praises Tutorfair Private tuition remains to be the “hidden secret of British Education” says the Sutton Trust. The social mobility think tank, founded by Sir Peter Lampl, annually polls young people and educators through Ipsos MORI on their experiences of private tuition, helping to lift the curtain on tutoring. In this year’s report the Sutton Trust has also worked closely with Tutorfair, a website where parents can find and book a local tutors. With 40,000 tutors on their website, Tutorfair holds some of the most extensive data available within the tutoring industry, and this information was shared with the Sutton Trust in order to help inform the Trust’s findings. Almost 25% of 11 to 16 year old state school students have received private tuition - that’s over 700,000 young people in England and Wales. In London this figure rises dramatically to 40% of students. Tutorfair reports that the most popular tutored subjects are Maths and English (in that order), followed by science, musical instruments and foreign languages. The Sutton Trust’s report reveals that nearly half (43%) of state school teachers have tutored outside of their main teaching role at some point in their career. Top Tutorfair tutor and qualified teacher, John N comments, “I was a teacher on the Teach First programme, teaching in a challenging school in Kent. However, I've found tuition far more rewarding as a career in education. I love teaching, but the reality of teaching in schools is that too often there is a lack of respect and appreciation for teachers. Too much time is spent dealing with behaviour, social care or superficial bureaucracy, and academic rigour comprises a remarkably small part of the job. Tuition is entirely different, where academic rigour is a core aspect of the role and the focus is truly on high performance teaching and learning. Tutorfair represents the most socially responsible way of providing tuition, enabling tutors to help students whilst also providing support to students from less privileged back grounds who really appreciate and benefit the support that tutors can offer”. A meta-study into one-to-one tutoring by the Educational Endowment Foundation, shows that it provides 5 months additional progress over untutored pupils. This makes it one of the most effective forms of education that parents and teachers can use to support learning. Although tutoring is incredibly effective, it remains to be the most expensive, with tutors across the UK costing on average £27 per hour. Therefore, private tuition is mainly accessible to be those who can afford it. Privately educated students are almost as twice as likely to receive tutoring as state-educated students. So students who receive private tutoring disproportionately come from families that are already advantaged. Both the Sutton Trust and Tutorfair want to highlight that there are many important social mobility issues caused by this inequality within the industry. The Sutton Trust calls on more tutoring agencies to follow Tutorfair’s example and offer free tuition to disadvantaged students â€" with the aim of “levelling the playing field within education”. Andrew Ground, founder of Tutorfair “We welcome the Sutton Trust’s findings. Tutoring is very beneficial but action is needed to ensure it’s fair. We welcome more positive engagement on how tutoring can be good for everyone.” Tutorfair includes a donation from their paying students’ lessons, and develop free tuition programmes to support disadvantaged students. Their website cites the DfE 2012/13 figures that “61% of children on free school meals received a “D” grade or lower in their mathematics and/or English GCSE” and Tutorfair call for change. Tutorfair partners with schools that have a high proportion of students on free school meals, and gives free one-to-one and small group tuition to their students. They have so far helped 5,562 disadvantaged students, involving 675 tutors across 14 partner schools. Make a difference by recommending Tutorfair to students, parents, teachers and schools. Tutorfair’s socially responsible mission shines a light on the ‘shadow education’ industry, making tutoring both fair and transparent for all. If you would like to know more about Tutorfair and their mission, please contact them on support@tutorfair.com

Car Windows Potentially Unsafe

Car Windows Potentially Unsafe Photo Via: http://kenrobertsautoglass.com Your car’s windshield may be doing an okay job at blocking the son, but it’s probably not protecting you against any of the sun’s harmful rays. In fact, a recent study suggests that it’s important for drivers to protect against these rays, and to stop assuming that just because they are behind a windshield, they are safe. The study recommends that drivers wear sunglasses, sunscreen and utilize any other protection against the sun while driving in order to protect yourself from the sun, just as you would at the beach. According to the study, ultraviolet radiation emitted from the sun isn’t actually being blocked by your windshield, and your windows aren’t much better. In fact, some of the rays (tied to problems such as cataracts and skin aging) aren’t protected against at all. According to Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, a researcher from the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hills, California, in a statement to Reuters Health, “Some cars were as low as 50 percent blockage. Even cars that came with factory tint, there was no guarantee that would protect against UV rays.” For those not as familiar with UV rays, they may not be the most abundant of the sun’s rays, but they are extremely damaging to human skin. And according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, UV-A rays “are the most common and penetrate most deeply.” And now, driving a car is linked to these harmful rays. According to Boxer Wachler, as written in JAMA Ophthalmology, “Because drivers in the U.S. have their left side exposed to sunlight, UV rays have been blamed for the increased number of cataracts and skin cancers that occur on the left side.” So evidence would suggest that these rays are having an effect on drivers. Why is this? Rays are so powerful they can easily pass through clouds, which means they can easily pass through glass as well. So how do you know if your windows are safe or not? Getty Boxer Wachler had the same question. He used a UV-A light meter to test 29 different cars at a car dealership on a cloudless day in May of 2014. These 29 cars came from 15 different manufacturers all made between the years 1990 and 2014. The results were as follows: “On average, car windshields blocked about 96 percent of UV-A rays. The protection afforded by individual cars ranged from 95 to 98 percent.” Side doors, however, had a different result. “The percentage of UV-A rays blocked varied from 44 percent to 96 percent. Only four of the 29 cars had windows that blocked more than 90 percent of UV-A rays.” So while windshields offer a decent level of protection against the sun’s rays, side door windows offer very little protection, putting the driver at risk. According to Boxer Wachler, “It had no correlation at all with the cost of the car, high-end car or low-end car.” Dr. Jayne Weiss, a commentator on the study and director at the Louisiana State University Eye Center of Excellence, clarifies this problem by explaining that windshields have to be more protective than the door windows because they’re made of a different material (laminated glass as opposed to the door windows’ tempered glass) in order to prevent shattering. She says, “Don’t assume because you are in an automobile and the window is closed that you’re protected from UV light. For the eyes, your best bet is to get sunglasses that block UV-A and UV-B light and wrap around the face.” pexels.com And on the other side of things, Dr. Paul Nghiem, a head dermatologist at the University of Washington not involved in this study, claims that car windows allow in enough rays to have an effect on the skin as well. He says, “Wearing long-sleeved clothing, or sunscreen that is broad spectrum, would be extremely effective and seems indicated on long drives on sunny days.” As an added tip, Boxer Wachler suggests drivers obtain clear UV filters, which can be added to their car filters to protect against the damaging, UV rays. So if you care about your skin and your overall health, avoiding the tanning bed is no longer enough; you need to actively protect yourself from the sun, even in situations you otherwise wouldn’t be concerned about, such as driving your car to and from school or work five days a week. Using sunscreen before driving to work? It may sound crazy, but this study shows it may also be necessary. So whether or not you take these problems seriously now, it’s about time to reconsider how you feel about the problem at hand, especially as weather changes become far more extreme all over the country. So at the very least, be aware of the problem and do what you can to avoid future health problems while you still can.

Beijing SMIC Private School and Kindergarten

Beijing SMIC Private School and Kindergarten Beijing SMIC Private School and Kindergarten BJ SMIC Private School is a Preschool through 12th Grade institution. Currently, there are 1650 students and 260 full time teachers from 16 nationalities. The School stresses each students holistic development and also emphasizes the importance of moral integrity in education. As we expand into more classes, we continue to hire qualified staff throughout the year. Overall, we have one of the lowest rates of teacher replacement you will find in China, especially among local staff, but also among our expat teachers. Our teachers are committed to their students, and enjoy deep friendships with their coworkers. Administrators make every effort to place teachers where they can refine their teaching skills and develop professionally, with opportunities for advancement to those that desire it. Working for a growing company with $1.7 billion in annual revenue has definite benefits; you never have to worry about delayed salary payments or layoffs due to budget cuts. SMIC Private School offers salaries more than sufficient to cover the low cost of living in Yizhuang. Living in Yizhuang is getting easier every year as well. Whether, cycling, driving, taking the bus or subway, Yizhuang is less congested and easy to get around. Two new shopping plazas have opened nearby, Lippo Plaza and Creative Life Plaza (with a Sams club, Papa Johns, Starbucks, and bilingual movies). McDonalds, KFC, Subway, and a half dozen pizza restaurants serve Western food nearby. On weekends, teachers fellowship in each others homes or attend a nearby church, the subway and express buses reach the downtown expatriate fellowships and districts (CBD, Sanlitun) in less than 1 hour. Yizhuang has many square miles of parks, lakes, rivers and natural areas to enjoy, and Decathlon has plenty of international-standard sporting goods. There are many volunteer opportunities nearby as well, including New Day Foster Home and Shepherds Field Childrens Home within a short drive. View our Brochure

Salaries, bonuses and negotiations getting paid to teach overseas

Salaries, bonuses and negotiations getting paid to teach overseas Money might not be the main motivator that inspires people to teach abroad, but one thing’s for sure?â€"if you’re setting off on the adventure of a lifetime you’ll want to make sure you’ve got enough yen, euros or dirhams in your pocket to enjoy it. But at the same time, you’ve probably heard stories of some teachers saving up small fortunes overseas while others get around the globe on a shoe-string budget. So why do teach abroad salaries differ so much from job to job? How do you make sure you get a fair salary when you’re moving to teach in a new country? And how can you ask for a raise when you think you deserve it? Read on to find out... How much do teachers make abroad? There are literally as many answers to this question as there are countries in the world! At the top end of the scale, teaching abroad can pay a salary that allows you to live well and save money, and at the lower end, it can entail budgeting and working for multiple schools to make a full salary. It really depends on where you go to teach. As such, it’s important to consider your motivations before you choose where you go. Are you looking for a cultural experience, a chance to make money, or a mix of both? If having a high salary is a high priority for you, you can quickly narrow your search to destinations that fit the bill, such as the United Arab Emirates or Japan. But if you’re more concerned about living in a particular country or city overseas, you’ll have to accept the norm for teaching salaries in that area. Having said that, it’s important to consider your potential salary in context. A seemingly low salary might actually stretch further than you think depending on living expenses in the city you are living in. How do I know if I’ll make enough money teaching abroad? Start researching online and ask schools you’re interviewing with what your living expenses will be in any places you expect to work in. (Sometimes during the hiring process, you're not sure which city you will be placed in until a job offer has been made). Compare your potential salary to the cost of living to really understand how your monthly payments will translate in real terms. Also, take into consideration whether the school provides housing, health insurance and airfare for their teachers. Next, you’ll need to work out what “enough money” means for you. Obviously, you will have to pay phone bills, buy groceries and have some money left over to do things you enjoy in your free time. But beyond that, think about the lifestyle you want to have overseas. What do you see yourself doing on the weekends? Will you take lots of trips to nearby cities while you’re living there? Will you need to fly home at any point? Basically, what are the non-negotiables that you want your salary to cover? And if your salary doesn’t cover them will you have the time, permission from your main employer and visa rights to take on extra work elsewhere? How do I know if I’m getting a fair salary? Once you’ve worked out whether your salary will be workable in the country you’re going to, it’s time to take a closer look at your contract. Here are some things to look out for: Will you be paid purely for classroom teaching hours or does your salary also cover other tasks like lesson planning, report writing, admin and watching students at break times? Check with your school to get a full idea of what your weekly responsibilities will be. Can you stand by all the clauses in your contract? Sometimes final month salaries or bonuses are dependent on you completing a 12-month contract or hitting certain targets. If you want to supplement your income, take a look at whether your contract allows you to work for competitors or provide private or online tutoring. Take a look at the standard salary for teachers in the country you’re working in and what kind of benefits teachers are usually given. How does your contract compare to this? What can I expect to bepaid with my education and experience? This really depends on where you plan to teach. Some organizations have very clear pay scales (such as South Korea’s EPIK program) and others may not. It’s fair to say that most schools around the world will at least pay more for a teacher with qualifications such as a TEFL certificate. Teachers with a teaching license or bachelor’s degree in education also open themselves up to the possibility of teaching in international schools, where salaries are generally comparable with what you would be earning at home. Do you have a master’s degree? That's even better! A good first step is to research what the average salary bracket is where you’re going and place yourself in that bracket based on your teaching background. Then bring up any experience and qualifications when you’re interviewing with individual schools and ask them what their pay scale is. I don’t think I’m being paid enough. How can I negotiate a raise? The big awkward question: how do you ask for more money? Should you even try? To put it simply, yes! Not being paid what you’re worth is demoralizing and infuriating, but negotiating a higher salary can be easier than jumping ship to an entirely new school. In fact, some would say it’s worth trying to negotiate your salary, even if you are happy with it because there’s no harm in asking. How to ask Having said that, how you ask is crucial. Some cultures might consider it rude that you’d ask for more money before you’ve signed a contract with them and proven what a great teacher you are in person. Others expect you to haggle a little over the details of your contract. Whatever your relationship with your school is, be polite, friendly and choose the appropriate moment to bring up the subject. And do a little research into how salary negotiations are typically approached in this particular country. During the hiring process If you are trying to negotiate a raise during the hiring process it’s best to wait until you’ve been offered a job. Make sure you know the average salary for teachers in the area to give you an idea of how far to push your negotiations and don’t shy away from talking up any experience, qualifications or other strong points you have. Another technique you could try during the hiring process is to seek out a few different job offers in the same country or city. Let your current employers know that you’re in demand from schools that pay higher wages and that could push them to pay you more. After you’ve been hired If you are already working for a school and want to renegotiate your salary, make sure you have a strong performance record and can give clear examples of what makes you a valuable employee. Rather than putting too much pressure on yourself, be patient and think of the first negotiation as a way to open a conversation. If your first request for a raise is refused, ask what criteria would make them agree to a raise in the future. Then put a time frame in place so you can go back in 2 to 6 months, with all the criteria they ask for and make your request again. More than money Another thing you could consider is negotiating for something other than cold, hard cash. Your school might not be in a position to pay you more but maybe they could increase your benefits by offering extra holiday days, a nicer apartment or guaranteed placement in an area you want. Thinking beyond money could result in a win-win negotiation for you and your school. Work for great schools Finally, aim to work for schools who value quality. Seek out employers that are firmly invested in their school’s values and community, and they’ll be more likely to know that it’s worth investing in and hold onto great teachers.

Raising Bilingual Children How Any Family Can Get It Right

Raising Bilingual Children How Any Family Can Get It Right Raising Bilingual Children: How Any Family Can Get It Right Families make so many difficult decisions for their children.Deciding on the best way to discipline them.Looking for good role models for them.Saying no to chocolate ice cream for breakfast even though that would be awesomeFortunately, theres one decision thats a no-brainer:  Teaching children more than one language from a young age.The benefits of bilingualism will impact all areas of their life, from opening up fantastic job opportunities to broadening their perspective on the world.Theres also  research  ?showing that bilingualism positively impacts the development of cognitive abilities, and that bilingual speakers have, among other  enhanced capacities?, greater reception to feedback and criticism and a higher level of attentive focus.In essence, the question should never be should I  raise a bilingual child?  but instead, how can I  raise a bilingual child?And thats exactly what well address here today.The answer of how will depend somewhat on your household and who already spe aks what language(s). Whether youre monolingual or bilingual, well give you some practical tips for building a happily bilingual home that your children will thrive in. Different Ways to Structure a Bilingual HouseholdDepending on the languages spoken in your household, there are a number of different models you can choose to effectively encourage bilingualism.To get started, check out  these six models  outlined in Martyn Barretts The Development of Language.  Theyll help parents and guardians decide when and in what environments to use native versus target language communication.For instance, a Spanish-native parent and an English-native parent living in the U.S. would use the one parent, one language model, with each parent using his or her native language to speak with the child.Identifying the model your household uses will establish clear communication guidelines within the  natural and healthy?  confusion that does come along when a child is learning two languages at once.D ont Let Myths About Bilingualism Get to YouParents raising children in a bilingual household are often on the receiving end of well-meant-but-ignorant comments made by teachers and others who arent familiar with how bilingual children learn.First of all, its important to know that some bilingual childrens vocabulary skills will seem behind their peers in early education, but this gap quickly closesâ€"research shows that its gone by age five, and other skills arent affected.Moreover, the perceived academic gap in earlier years is largely due to a  failing?  in standardized tests to properly measure dual-language learners.Raising Bilingual Children: How Any Family Can Get It RightAs noted earlier, different households will approach their kids bilingual educations in different ways. Below, well provide practical tips in two categories: one you can use if youre monolingual and another if youre bilingual.Of course, there may be some overlap depending on your environment and what language s other members of your nuclear or extended family speak. Overall these tips should help you make conscious linguistic choices for your home that support bilingualism.Before we get to those, theres one tip thats useful no matter what your household looks like: Exposing your children to authentic target language content like childrens stories, games and more.One especially effective and kid-friendly tool is FluentU, which has real-world videos (like movie trailers, childrens songs, cartoons and more) thatve been transformed into language learning experiences. Each video comes with interactive captions that provide in-context definitions and pronunciations for any word.FluentUs innovative Learn Mode also creates flashcards and exercises for each video, to help with memorization of new vocabulary. Its an awesome way to teach your kids both the sound and culture of the target language, while ensuring they actively build their vocabularies.Plus, there are plenty of TV clips, YouTube vide os and more that adults will love, so you can develop your language skills alongside your children!Tips for Monolingual Parents/GuardiansPlan Family Activities in the Target LanguageHands-on activitiesâ€"especially ones that utilize visualsâ€"will help children contextualize and absorb their target language.For example, you can get a cookbook in the target language and learn to cook a traditional dish from a country where its spoken.  Board games in the target language are another great way to build language skills and have family bonding at the same time.Attend Local Cultural Events That Involve the Target LanguageCities have tons of these and offer a great opportunity to expose children to the cuisine, language and people whose native language is their second.For example, Chicago hosts an annual Flavors of Mexico  festival and  New York City hosts an annual 116th Street Festival, the largest Latin festival in the Northeast.To find these types of events, try searching on sites like Meetup.com or checking out the Events tab on Facebook (on the left side of the page, under Explore). Your local universitys language department or public library could also point you to some great options.Encourage Children to Read Aloud from Books in Both LanguagesReading aloud can help children parse through the  different phonetic rules  of each language while supporting overall literacy.Better yet, encourage them to read theatrically and dramatize the story! Beyond just making reading more fun, it can also help them find their distinct voice for each language, which is a bilingual  phenomenon that tends to happen naturally.Become a Homestay Family for Kids Who Speak the Target LanguageIntroducing your child to a new friend who speaks their target language will give them essential, authentic communication practice from a young age. Itll also help them understand the relevance of bilingualism as they build a new friendship in a second language.Simply asking around, such as making a Facebook post asking for recommendations, can be a good starting point to find homestay opportunities. Many families get put in contact with one another through a mutual friend.If youd like to go through more official channels, Cultural Homestay International is a thorough and reliable resource for families wanting to learn more about hosting an international guest. Another option is registering as a host for international families looking to send their child overseas through Homestay.com.Tips for Bilingual Parents/GuardiansBe Deliberate About When You Code SwitchThis gets back to the bilingual household models we discussed earlier. Its important not to vacillate randomly between your native language and other languagesâ€"instead, consider your surrounding environment and (if applicable) your partners languages, and be deliberate about when, if ever, you switch languages with the child.However, note that code switching (or switching between languages/modes of communication) on th e childs part is common and shouldnt cause concern. Its actually  a good sign and evidence of their expanded vocabulary capacities.Remember that its important to stick to your communication model even when switching to another language may feel easier.This is especially relevant when disciplining or reinforcing rules; it may be easier to switch in the moment but, barring safety issues, try to adhere to your dual-language model as strictly as possible.Read Aloud? to Kids in the Target LanguageThere have been tons of studies done on the value of reading aloud to children, but this is especially important in raising a bilingual child if youre bilingual. Not only is it great exposure to the target language, itll also get them comfortable reading itâ€"not just speaking and listening to it.It might not seem like a big deal now, but developing target language literacy skills early can help lay the groundwork for bilingual academic and professional success down the line.Have Children Write Letters in Both Languages to Family Members and FriendsWriting to relatives or family friends is a good practice to adopt in general because it encourages children to expand their concept of family.Writing in different languages supplements this by reminding them to expand their concept of languageâ€"its not just something theyre learning for themselves, its something that has positive implications for their relationships with others.Plus, its great practice! Check their letters for grammar or spelling errors and have them correct any that you see before sending the letters out.Leave Lunchbox Messages in the Minority LanguageThe minority language in this case refers to the household language thats not spoken in the surrounding environment. For example, if youre a native Mandarin speaker teaching your child Mandarin while living in Canada, Mandarin would be the minority language.Leaving lunchbox messages will help keep the language relevant throughout the childs day without interrupt ing the schoolwork or social communication thats done in the majority language. Plus, itll be a sweet reminder of family and home!Now that youve solidified and verified your resolve to raise a bilingual child, its time to choose a course of action and dive in.Strategies will and should vary from household to household.Every bilingual household is different with regard to who speaks what language, the surrounding community and the temperament of the child.Just remember that youre giving your child a wonderful gift thatll last a lifetime.Good luck!

Tips to Get the Best Possible Tuition in Your First Choice Tutoring Center

Tips to Get the Best Possible Tuition in Your First Choice Tutoring CenterBefore I offer you some tips to get the best possible tuition in your first choice tutoring center, I must give you some information about what it takes to become a tutor. The truth is that we all want to help students out of every form of circumstance and endeavor, even if it means an extra bit of work for us. That being said, having this amount of knowledge helps me offer you the proper information about the business in the first place.There are three different kinds of businesses, which each have their own rules and regulations. For instance, you will need a certain degree, or certification, to start tutoring. Some people hire a tutor for everything from high school, college, and even upper level courses. I would like to point out that there are certain organizations that you must be part of to continue tutoring after graduation.Before you decide on which location in your city you would like to open your own first choice tutoring center, it is wise to choose a good quality, well-run business that already has a solid reputation. You don't want to be an upstart for a big fish in a small pond. Therefore, I suggest that you search out a reputable company.Doing research on the internet can be a good idea. You can find out information on companies which are no longer in business and those which are thriving in today's business environment.Tutoring is not the same as tutoring your child. The professional aspect of the business entails more responsibility than your average day job. Your eyes will be on the students, but you will also have to be able to make sure that they keep their grades up and turn in assignments at the end of the day.However, a good tutor is the one who can keep the class involved in a class and can monitor and handle class behavior to keep the students paying attention. If they aren't paying attention then you can take away their ice cream for being late. However, if they 're reading their books or listening to the teacher then you can offer them your assistance to get their homework done.Your time is valuable and using a website to look around a potential tutoring business can be a great way to locate one. Just be sure that you are a good fit for the business and that they are paying you enough to live comfortably off of. It is your responsibility to see that this happens.