Tidak dipungkiri bahwa saat ini program Under Windows sudah menenggelamkan berbagai macam program DOS dan Under DOS, seperti:
- DOS
- WOrdStar
- Lotus 123
- Dbase
- Basic/GW basic
- Pascal/Turbo Pascal
- Fortran
- Cobol
- dll
Bagi anda yang masih ingin belajar program DOS dan Under DOS atau hanya sekedar ingin "bernostalgia" dengannya, kini anda bisa mendapatkannya di alamat di bawah ini.
SIlahkan Download sepuasnya, asli GRATIS tanpa Biaya.
http://www.vetusware.com
Anda hanya perlu signup (daftar) untuk bisa mendownload semua filenya.
Saya sudah mencobanya.
Selamat Bernostalgia dan berkreasi dengan DOS.
Jumat, 28 November 2008
Selasa, 04 November 2008
Gunakan Google Translate untuk Menterjemahkan Isi Website
Apakah anda selalu terkendala berinternet karena masalah bahasa Inggris yang pas-pasan?
ataukah Anda ingin menikmati jutaan informasi penting di seluruh dunia? Namun semuanya berbahasa Inggris atau bahkan mungkin bahasa negara lain?
Sekarang masalah anda sudah terjawab oleh kepintaran "mbah Google". Ya...semua orang tahu kalau Google bukan hanya mesin pencari tetapi memiliki banyak jenis layanan. Ingin melihat jenis layanan apa saja yang dimiliki Google? Silahkan buka alamat www.google.com atau www.google.co.id, kemudian lihat halaman paling bawah, di sana ada menu Serba-serbi Google. Maka seketika halaman baru yang berisi beraneka ragam jenis layanan Google bisa kita lihat, dan siap kita jajal kemampuannya. Lihat screenshot di bawah ini.
Tapi kali ini kita akan mencoba fasilitas Google Translate. Fasilitas ini yang bisa kita gunakan untuk menterjemahkan isi suatu halaman website berbahasa Inggris.
Oke mari kita mulai .....
Mudah bukan, selamat mencoba !
ataukah Anda ingin menikmati jutaan informasi penting di seluruh dunia? Namun semuanya berbahasa Inggris atau bahkan mungkin bahasa negara lain?
Sekarang masalah anda sudah terjawab oleh kepintaran "mbah Google". Ya...semua orang tahu kalau Google bukan hanya mesin pencari tetapi memiliki banyak jenis layanan. Ingin melihat jenis layanan apa saja yang dimiliki Google? Silahkan buka alamat www.google.com atau www.google.co.id, kemudian lihat halaman paling bawah, di sana ada menu Serba-serbi Google. Maka seketika halaman baru yang berisi beraneka ragam jenis layanan Google bisa kita lihat, dan siap kita jajal kemampuannya. Lihat screenshot di bawah ini.
Tapi kali ini kita akan mencoba fasilitas Google Translate. Fasilitas ini yang bisa kita gunakan untuk menterjemahkan isi suatu halaman website berbahasa Inggris.Oke mari kita mulai .....
- Buka alamat www.google.co.id
- sebagai contoh, pada kotak pencarian, coba tulis "university of sydney"
- Maka di layar muncul hasil pencarian berkaitan dengan "university of sydney", pilih Link atau alamat yang langsung ke "university of sydney". Anda pasti tahu bahwa universitas ini berada di Australia dan tentu saja web nya berbahasa Inggris (walaupun saat ini di beberapa universitas di Australia sudah menambahkan menu pilihan berbahasa Indonesia).
Klik tulisan "Terjemahkan Laman ini"
- maka otomatis kita diarahkan ke website dimaksud tapi semuanya sudah dalam bahasa Indonesia.
- Coba anda baca beberapa paragraf, mungkin anda akan menemukan beberapa kata atau kalimat yang tidak sedap hasil terjemahannya. Tapi, santai aja di sana ada pilihan pada setiap frase atau paragraf bertuliskan "Beri saran terjemahan yang lebih baik". Jadi kita bisa memberikan ke Google terjemahan yang seharusnya.
- Buka alamat http://translate.google.com
- Masukkan halaman website yang ingin diterjemahkan
- Pilih bahasa asal dan tujuan terjemahan
- Klik tombol Terjemahkan
- Maka kita langsung masuk ke halaman dimaksud yang sudah diterjemahkan oleh mbah Google.
- Selain menterjemahkan semua isi web, kita juga bisa menterjemahkan sebuah kata atau paragraf dengan cara copy-paste ke kotak terjemahan, layaknya kamus semua bahasa.
Mudah bukan, selamat mencoba !
Make Money From your Blog (very easy)
4
If you blog, you probably try to make money from contextual advertisement such as Google Adsense.
I recently signed up with Ask2link http://www.ask2link.com to sell non-intrusive text based (links) ads on my website. With Ask2link, advertisers can purchase plain text ads on your website.
Ask2link is a web advertising company located in San Francisco Bay Area, California.
You don't need to live in the U.S.A or Canada though to make money with Ask2link, since they send all paychecks through PayPal, so you will need to have a valid PayPal account. They accept international publishers (webmasters and bloggers) throughout the world.
They support Wordpress-powered blogs, PHP, Ruby, Perl, JSP, and also Blogger.com/ Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com Blogs so sign up now with Ask2link.
--> http://www.ask2link.com Note to advertisers, SEO agencies/SEO specialists, internet marketers, or e-commerce websites: You could visit Ask2link -
http://www.ask2link.com/refer/myhilal -
to buy static text links on hundreds of websites easily as part of your inbound link building and SEO campaign.
They accept credit cards and PayPal payments and your text links will be live within five minutes after your order. Ask2link's text links are unique because they are rendered as plain
static HTML links that could bring you more traffic and boost your organic search engine ranking for your keywords.
If you blog, you probably try to make money from contextual advertisement such as Google Adsense.
I recently signed up with Ask2link http://www.ask2link.com to sell non-intrusive text based (links) ads on my website. With Ask2link, advertisers can purchase plain text ads on your website.
Ask2link is a web advertising company located in San Francisco Bay Area, California.
You don't need to live in the U.S.A or Canada though to make money with Ask2link, since they send all paychecks through PayPal, so you will need to have a valid PayPal account. They accept international publishers (webmasters and bloggers) throughout the world.
They support Wordpress-powered blogs, PHP, Ruby, Perl, JSP, and also Blogger.com/ Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com Blogs so sign up now with Ask2link.
--> http://www.ask2link.com Note to advertisers, SEO agencies/SEO specialists, internet marketers, or e-commerce websites: You could visit Ask2link -
http://www.ask2link.com/refer/myhilal -
to buy static text links on hundreds of websites easily as part of your inbound link building and SEO campaign.
They accept credit cards and PayPal payments and your text links will be live within five minutes after your order. Ask2link's text links are unique because they are rendered as plain
static HTML links that could bring you more traffic and boost your organic search engine ranking for your keywords.
Minggu, 02 November 2008
Buy And Sell Links - Make Money Online
List below are place to buy and sell links (make money online):
- Link Adage - Price paid for a link from your website is determined by your Google page rank. The higher your page rank, the higher you get paid. Payment are issued monthly.
- Back Links - Allows you to make money for every page of your website. And you have full control of the placement of the text links on your site.
- Ask2Link - Make money selling links that are not intrusive. Get paid steady income every month (not per click) via Paypal.
- Blog Rolled - Sell text link ads on your blog roll, control the links that show up on your blog and get paid every month.
- LinkXL - Lets you sell Dofollow and Nofollow links. It also allows you to set pricing on your links. Commissions are paid on a monthly basis.
- Link Monsters - Make money with your website by selling text link ads to advertisers that are looking to improve there internet marketing efforts.
- Tnx - Make money by selling links on every page of your website. Payouts are delivered every month in advance, via PayPal, Webmoney, Check, Wire, or any other applicable payment method.
- Text Link - Maintains a high quality site to give your text link ads the exposure they deserve. All you need to do is sign up for free and Text Link will find relevant advertisers for your website.
- Link Worth - Get up to 70% of ad revenue recurring every month with relatively little maintenance.
- Text Link Ads - One of the oldest websites that lets you buy and sell links. It gives the publisher full editorial control over the advertisers that appear on their website.
- AdBrite - AdBrite lets you customize the look and feel of text ads to fit your site. You can earn when a user clicks on the ad(CPC), or you can earn on how many people view the page on which the ad is placed (CPM).
- Text Links Brokers - Makes selling links easy, safe and profitable. All their publishers are kept confidential. Links are screened to avoid banned websites and bad neighborhoods to protect their publishers.
- Text Links Forum - A place where link buyers and sellers meet. Lets you directly promote your website and directly negotiate with potential link buyers.
- Buy And Sell Links - To ensure your website not being penalized by Google, their system is configured in such a way that visitors, registered members and search engines are unable to view the URLs of the sites in their inventory. The buyer and seller only see each others URLs after payment.
- Live Customer - Text link ads are paid with a flat monthly rate. Use any area on your website to increase your text link ad revenue.
- Buy-Sell Text Links - Set your own rates. Full control over links that show up on your website. Highly customizable text ad space to go well with your blog.
- Sell Your Text Links - Submit unlimited advertisement link offers and make money for every page of your website. Price paid to the website for each link depends on its page rank, category and keywords.
- Text Link Center - Sign up for a free account to start selling text link ads on your blog. Price of links on your blog heavily depends on your Google page rank.
- Direct Link Ads - Display relevant text link ads on your website. Keep 75% of the ad revenue. Approve text link ads before they get displayed on your blog.
- Text Link Popularity - Submit your website for approval. Text Link Popularity’s marketing personnel will find relevant advertisers for your website.
- Text Link Ocean - Keep 75% of all revenues from link ads sold on your blog. Payments are issued every month through Paypal, Money Broker etc.
- Asa Links - Make money selling links on your website through text links and banner ads. Publishers keep 50% of the total ad revenue.
- Direct Cheap Advertising - Set your own pricing or use the auto-pricing feature available with the system. Commission for each text link ad revenue increases for websites with higher page rank.
- Text Link Advisor - Simply add your website to their catalog and install a simple code on your site and your good to go.
- Link Traders - Register for an account, get your website listed and advertisers will contact you directly. You can also directly negotiate with them about pricing, placement and advertisement duration.
- Digital Point - A webmaste forum that lets you sell links directly to advertisers. You can directly negotiate about pricing, placing and duration of the ad to advertisers.
- Link Elevator - Make 25% of every text link ad revenue generated from your website. Register for free to start accepting advertisers.
- Odkaz - Sell text link ads and have full control over which links are shown on your blog. You can also set your own price for each text link.
- Webacklinks - Register for an account, submit your website for approval and install a small code on your blog to start accepting advertisers. Google page rank is the ultimate yardstick of the price of a link on your blog.
If you know of other websites that let bloggers and webmasters make money by selling links on their blogs, please let me know.
Source: http://theweblogzone.com/29-websites-that-let-you-make-money-online-selling-links.html
Buy And Sell Links - Make Money Online
List below of place to buy and sell links (make money online):
- Link Adage - Price paid for a link from your website is determined by your Google page rank. The higher your page rank, the higher you get paid. Payment are issued monthly.
- Back Links - Allows you to make money for every page of your website. And you have full control of the placement of the text links on your site.
- Ask2Link - Make money selling links that are not intrusive. Get paid steady income every month (not per click) via Paypal.
- Blog Rolled - Sell text link ads on your blog roll, control the links that show up on your blog and get paid every month.
- LinkXL - Lets you sell Dofollow and Nofollow links. It also allows you to set pricing on your links. Commissions are paid on a monthly basis.
- Link Monsters - Make money with your website by selling text link ads to advertisers that are looking to improve there internet marketing efforts.
- Tnx - Make money by selling links on every page of your website. Payouts are delivered every month in advance, via PayPal, Webmoney, Check, Wire, or any other applicable payment method.
- Text Link - Maintains a high quality site to give your text link ads the exposure they deserve. All you need to do is sign up for free and Text Link will find relevant advertisers for your website.
- Link Worth - Get up to 70% of ad revenue recurring every month with relatively little maintenance.
- Text Link Ads - One of the oldest websites that lets you buy and sell links. It gives the publisher full editorial control over the advertisers that appear on their website.
- AdBrite - AdBrite lets you customize the look and feel of text ads to fit your site. You can earn when a user clicks on the ad(CPC), or you can earn on how many people view the page on which the ad is placed (CPM).
- Text Links Brokers - Makes selling links easy, safe and profitable. All their publishers are kept confidential. Links are screened to avoid banned websites and bad neighborhoods to protect their publishers.
- Text Links Forum - A place where link buyers and sellers meet. Lets you directly promote your website and directly negotiate with potential link buyers.
- Buy And Sell Links - To ensure your website not being penalized by Google, their system is configured in such a way that visitors, registered members and search engines are unable to view the URLs of the sites in their inventory. The buyer and seller only see each others URLs after payment.
- Live Customer - Text link ads are paid with a flat monthly rate. Use any area on your website to increase your text link ad revenue.
- Buy-Sell Text Links - Set your own rates. Full control over links that show up on your website. Highly customizable text ad space to go well with your blog.
- Sell Your Text Links - Submit unlimited advertisement link offers and make money for every page of your website. Price paid to the website for each link depends on its page rank, category and keywords.
- Text Link Center - Sign up for a free account to start selling text link ads on your blog. Price of links on your blog heavily depends on your Google page rank.
- Direct Link Ads - Display relevant text link ads on your website. Keep 75% of the ad revenue. Approve text link ads before they get displayed on your blog.
- Text Link Popularity - Submit your website for approval. Text Link Popularity’s marketing personnel will find relevant advertisers for your website.
- Text Link Ocean - Keep 75% of all revenues from link ads sold on your blog. Payments are issued every month through Paypal, Money Broker etc.
- Asa Links - Make money selling links on your website through text links and banner ads. Publishers keep 50% of the total ad revenue.
- Direct Cheap Advertising - Set your own pricing or use the auto-pricing feature available with the system. Commission for each text link ad revenue increases for websites with higher page rank.
- Text Link Advisor - Simply add your website to their catalog and install a simple code on your site and your good to go.
- Link Traders - Register for an account, get your website listed and advertisers will contact you directly. You can also directly negotiate with them about pricing, placement and advertisement duration.
- Digital Point - A webmaste forum that lets you sell links directly to advertisers. You can directly negotiate about pricing, placing and duration of the ad to advertisers.
- Link Elevator - Make 25% of every text link ad revenue generated from your website. Register for free to start accepting advertisers.
- Odkaz - Sell text link ads and have full control over which links are shown on your blog. You can also set your own price for each text link.
- Webacklinks - Register for an account, submit your website for approval and install a small code on your blog to start accepting advertisers. Google page rank is the ultimate yardstick of the price of a link on your blog.
If you know of other websites that let bloggers and webmasters make money by selling links on their blogs, please let me know.
Kloning Hardisk, CD dan DVD hanya 10 Menit (untuk 40 komputer)
Bagi rekan-rekan yang pekerjaan hariannya mengkloning Hardisk, CD atau DVD, mungkin sering menemui masalah dengan kecepatan kloning yang sangat lambat. Apalagi jika anda bekerja di Lab. Komputer misalnya, tentu saja pekerjaan kloning atau penggandaan Hardisk menjadi sangat melelahkan.
Tapi tidak perlu khawatir, sekarang sudah ada sebuah program yang sifatnya open source. Namanya CloneZilla. Software ini punya keunggulan yakni bisa mengkloning dalam waktu yang sangat cepat. Untuk mengkloning 41 unit sistem komputer hanya butuh waktu 10 menit saja. Percaya apa tidak, silahkan dicoba saja.
Berikut ini ulasan dari web aslinya di http://clonezilla.org/
Apakah Clonezilla?
Tapi tidak perlu khawatir, sekarang sudah ada sebuah program yang sifatnya open source. Namanya CloneZilla. Software ini punya keunggulan yakni bisa mengkloning dalam waktu yang sangat cepat. Untuk mengkloning 41 unit sistem komputer hanya butuh waktu 10 menit saja. Percaya apa tidak, silahkan dicoba saja.
Berikut ini ulasan dari web aslinya di http://clonezilla.org/
Apakah Clonezilla? 
Anda mungkin akrab dengan paket komersial populer milik Norton Ghost ®, dan opensource pendamping, Partition Image. Masalahberkaitan dengan paket perangkat lunak yang satu ini yaitu memakan banyak waktu untuk mengkloning sistem secara massal untuk banyak komputer. Anda mungkin juga telah mendengar dari solusi Symantec's untuk masalah ini, Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition ® dengan multicasting. Well, now there is an solution called Clonezilla with unicasting and multicasting! Baik, sekarang ada sebuah solusi sistem OpenSource clone system (OCS) Clonezilla disebut dengan unicasting dan multicasting!
Clonezilla, berdasarkan DRBL, Partisi Gambar, ntfsclone, partclone, dan udpcast, memungkinkan Anda untuk melakukan gundul cadangan logam dan pemulihan. Two types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE (server edition) . Dua jenis Clonezilla tersedia, tinggal Clonezilla dan Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live cocok untuk satu mesin cadangan dan memulihkan. Sementara Clonezilla SE adalah untuk penyebaran besar-besaran, ia dapat mengkloning banyak (40 lebih!) Komputer secara bersamaan. Clonezilla menyimpan dan mengembalikan blok hanya digunakan di harddisk. Clone ini akan meningkatkan efisiensi. Pada NCHC's Kelas C, SE Clonezilla digunakan untuk clone 41 komputer secara simultan. Hal itu hanya sekitar 10 menit untuk mengkloning 5,6 GBytes sistem untuk 41 komputer melalui multicasting!
Features of Clonezilla Fitur Clonezilla
- Free (GPL) Software.
- Filesystem supported: ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, and HFS+ of Mac OS (testing feature provided by partclone ).Therefore you can clone GNU/Linux, MS windows and Intel-based Mac OS. Oleh karena itu Anda dapat klon GNU / Linux, MS Windows berbasis Intel dan Mac OS. For these file systems, only used blocks in partition are saved and restored. For unsupported file system, sector-to-sector copy is done by dd in Clonezilla.
- LVM2 (LVM version 1 is not) under GNU/Linux is supported.
- Multicast is supported in Clonezilla SE, which is suitable for massively clone.. You can also remotely use it to save or restore a bunch of computers if PXE and Wake-on-LAN are supported in your clients.
- Based on Partimage , ntfsclone , partclone , and dd to clone partition. However, clonezilla, containing some other programs, can save and restore not only partitions, but also a whole disk.
- By using another free software drbl-winroll , which is also developed by us, the hostname, group, and SID of cloned MS windows machine can be automatically changed.
Clonezilla yang mana harus saya gunakan?
- Clonezilla Live: memungkinkan Anda untuk menggunakan CD / DVD atau USB flash drive untuk boot dan dijalankan clonezilla (hanya unicast)
- Clonezilla SE: Clonezilla SE termasuk dalam DRBL, sehingga suatu DRBL server terlebih dahulu menetapkan untuk menggunakan Clonezilla kloning dilakukan secara massal (unicast, broadcast dan multicast didukung)
Sabtu, 01 November 2008
Tempat Download Silabus-RPP
Bagi rekan-rekan guru yang membutuhkan silabus dan RPP, berikut ini beberapa Link yang bisa diklik dan didownload. Link ini saya dapatkan dari pencarian dengan 'mbah google' dengan keyword "silabus".
- http://subkioke.wordpress.com/download/silabus/
- http://gurupkn.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/kumpulan-rpp-silabus-ktsp-smpmts/
- http://urip.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/ini-dia-link-silabus-ktsp/
- http://silabus-rpp.blogspot.com/2008/04/download-model-ktsp-silabus-rpp.html
- http://ktsp.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/silabus-smama/
- http://istiyanto.com/?page_id=35
- http://biologi.blogsome.com/2008/07/10/silabus-biologi-kelas-xi/
Download Anti Virus ANSAV 2.0.9 (Terbaru) revisi 2
Menghadapai banjirnya virus-virus lokal dan asing, memang sangat menjengkelkan. Betapa tidak, gara-gara virus komputer kita seperti ada dalam ancaman virus. Jadi kita harus siaga penuh, apalagi bagi rekan-rekan yang langsung connect dengan internet.
Tanggal 30 Oktober, sudah direleas anti virus ansav beta 2.0.9 revisi 2 (Terbaru). menurut pengalaman saya, anti virus ini sangat ampuh untuk memberi pertolongan pertama (P3K) bagi komputer kita. Karena anti virus ini punya kelebihan: ukurannya sangat kecil, cepat loadingnya, dan bisa digunakan langsung dari Flash Disk.
Silahkan Download KLIK DI SINI
Selasa, 07 Oktober 2008
Strategies for Motivating Students to Learn
by: Adam Waxler
As an adjunct education professor I am often asked, "How do I motivate students to learn?"
Motivating students to learn is a struggle that all teachers face.
Since I also teach middle school social studies it is the challenge I personally face everyday.
The truth is motivating students to learn is one of the key components of effective teaching AND classroom management.
If students are not motivated to learn then they are most likely not involved in the lesson and if they are not involved in the lesson they are much more likely to cause classroom management problems.
Therefore, it is critical for teachers to increase student motivation to learn and the best way to do this is for teachers to spark student interest at the beginning of every lesson.
Here are six effective strategies for motivating students to learn I do at the beginning of lessons:
1. Use critical thinking questions ~ The great thing about using these types of questions is that they don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer so students are allowed to express their own opinions as opposed to simply being told to memorize facts.
Here's a quick example. Let's take a social studies lesson on the use of the atomic bomb to end World War II. To spark interest at the beginning of the lesson the teacher can ask students to all write down an answer to the following question... "Do you think President Truman was justified in dropping the atomic bomb to end WWII? Why?"
Teachers can then let students share their answers for a quick class discussion and then take a class poll. Now that the students are interested in the topic it is much easier for the teacher to start the lesson.
Then, at the end of the lesson, the teacher can take another poll to see if the student's opinions have changed.
2. Use music to teach ~ Music is one of the most underrated learning tools and is a great way to spark student interest. For example, when teaching a lesson on the slave trade and the Middle Passage I introduce the topic by playing the Bob Marley songs "Buffalo Soldier" and "Catch a Fire".
3. Use video ~ Video is one of the most misunderstood teaching tools and is often abused. However, if used correctly video can be a great tool increase student motivation to learn. The key is to use short clips from movies and documentaries at beginning of lessons rather than the end. Hollywood movies are great for this, but you can also use unitedstreaming.com to download short clips from documentaries on any subject for any grade level.
4. Relate what students are learning to what is going on in the "real world". This is obviously easier done with some subjects than others, but it can be done. Students need to know "why" they are learning something.
5. Relate what students are learning to what is important to them. The trick here is to get to know your students and learn about their own interests.
6. Use technology...or rather, have the student use technology to learn. Have them create podcasts, videos, web sites, brochures etc.
Increasing student motivation to learn can be challenging, but it is an essential element in being an effective teacher. The added bonus is you will also find yourself enjoying teaching much more when it doesn't feel like you are pulling teeth trying to get your students involved.
As an adjunct education professor I am often asked, "How do I motivate students to learn?"
Motivating students to learn is a struggle that all teachers face.
Since I also teach middle school social studies it is the challenge I personally face everyday.
The truth is motivating students to learn is one of the key components of effective teaching AND classroom management.
If students are not motivated to learn then they are most likely not involved in the lesson and if they are not involved in the lesson they are much more likely to cause classroom management problems.
Therefore, it is critical for teachers to increase student motivation to learn and the best way to do this is for teachers to spark student interest at the beginning of every lesson.
Here are six effective strategies for motivating students to learn I do at the beginning of lessons:
1. Use critical thinking questions ~ The great thing about using these types of questions is that they don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer so students are allowed to express their own opinions as opposed to simply being told to memorize facts.
Here's a quick example. Let's take a social studies lesson on the use of the atomic bomb to end World War II. To spark interest at the beginning of the lesson the teacher can ask students to all write down an answer to the following question... "Do you think President Truman was justified in dropping the atomic bomb to end WWII? Why?"
Teachers can then let students share their answers for a quick class discussion and then take a class poll. Now that the students are interested in the topic it is much easier for the teacher to start the lesson.
Then, at the end of the lesson, the teacher can take another poll to see if the student's opinions have changed.
2. Use music to teach ~ Music is one of the most underrated learning tools and is a great way to spark student interest. For example, when teaching a lesson on the slave trade and the Middle Passage I introduce the topic by playing the Bob Marley songs "Buffalo Soldier" and "Catch a Fire".
3. Use video ~ Video is one of the most misunderstood teaching tools and is often abused. However, if used correctly video can be a great tool increase student motivation to learn. The key is to use short clips from movies and documentaries at beginning of lessons rather than the end. Hollywood movies are great for this, but you can also use unitedstreaming.com to download short clips from documentaries on any subject for any grade level.
4. Relate what students are learning to what is going on in the "real world". This is obviously easier done with some subjects than others, but it can be done. Students need to know "why" they are learning something.
5. Relate what students are learning to what is important to them. The trick here is to get to know your students and learn about their own interests.
6. Use technology...or rather, have the student use technology to learn. Have them create podcasts, videos, web sites, brochures etc.
Increasing student motivation to learn can be challenging, but it is an essential element in being an effective teacher. The added bonus is you will also find yourself enjoying teaching much more when it doesn't feel like you are pulling teeth trying to get your students involved.
Senin, 06 Oktober 2008
Create a Teacher Website that Works for You
by: Richard Jake
If your classroom webpage isn't making your job easier, or helping you do it better, maybe its time to evaluate and consider some changes.
People today are busy, and teachers are no exception. Either are students and parents for that matter. We all want information quick, easy, and pertinent. And that is exactly what a teacher website must do. If it fails, then valuable time, and maybe resources, are being spent without accomplishing an important goal. One way to help you achieve this is to use a service that allows you to create your own site (such as www.DapperApple.com)
Information Quick:
Daily updates are a must. Remember, a student that is absent may want to check your site for the night's homework assignment. Well, he may not, but his parents will. The information must be posted promptly. Reserve time before class to update your site. If properly planned, just a few minutes should be all that is needed.
If possible, get your class involved. If they can update some pages, it can become a rotating, class job.
Information Easy:
Don't bury the important information two, three, or more levels deep into your site. If it's important, link from the homepage or put it on the homepage. A consistent place that is easy to navigate to will ensure that users will always see your key messages. As users, we can get discouraged when we can’t find what we are looking for. That shouldn’t be the case with your students.
Information Pertinent:
We are bombarded with information online. Popups, advertisements, videos, and websites of every flavor are competing for our attention. Nothing is as welcome to a user as a crisp, clear message. Do away with space wasters such as visit counters and unnecessary graphics or games.
The bottom line - any and all features of your web site must be there because they help you do your job in some way.
As a busy educator, you probably have little time to devote to creating, and nurturing your classroom website. But it is becoming an essential tool. So, make sure that your content addresses problems, or areas you want to improve. Are too many of your students not doing their homework? Are they not getting the desired outcomes from lessons? Do you need more parent involvement? All of these, and other, questions should be considered when you are creating or modifying your website.
If you take the time to make sure your website provides quick, easy, and pertinent information, your site will work for you - making your job easier and helping you do it better.
If your classroom webpage isn't making your job easier, or helping you do it better, maybe its time to evaluate and consider some changes.
People today are busy, and teachers are no exception. Either are students and parents for that matter. We all want information quick, easy, and pertinent. And that is exactly what a teacher website must do. If it fails, then valuable time, and maybe resources, are being spent without accomplishing an important goal. One way to help you achieve this is to use a service that allows you to create your own site (such as www.DapperApple.com)
Information Quick:
Daily updates are a must. Remember, a student that is absent may want to check your site for the night's homework assignment. Well, he may not, but his parents will. The information must be posted promptly. Reserve time before class to update your site. If properly planned, just a few minutes should be all that is needed.
If possible, get your class involved. If they can update some pages, it can become a rotating, class job.
Information Easy:
Don't bury the important information two, three, or more levels deep into your site. If it's important, link from the homepage or put it on the homepage. A consistent place that is easy to navigate to will ensure that users will always see your key messages. As users, we can get discouraged when we can’t find what we are looking for. That shouldn’t be the case with your students.
Information Pertinent:
We are bombarded with information online. Popups, advertisements, videos, and websites of every flavor are competing for our attention. Nothing is as welcome to a user as a crisp, clear message. Do away with space wasters such as visit counters and unnecessary graphics or games.
The bottom line - any and all features of your web site must be there because they help you do your job in some way.
As a busy educator, you probably have little time to devote to creating, and nurturing your classroom website. But it is becoming an essential tool. So, make sure that your content addresses problems, or areas you want to improve. Are too many of your students not doing their homework? Are they not getting the desired outcomes from lessons? Do you need more parent involvement? All of these, and other, questions should be considered when you are creating or modifying your website.
If you take the time to make sure your website provides quick, easy, and pertinent information, your site will work for you - making your job easier and helping you do it better.
Sabtu, 04 Oktober 2008
12 Great Memory Strategies For Better Grades
by: Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. And Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.
"I forgot."
"I can't remember that."
"I sit down to take a test and my mind goes blank."
"I'm not a good test taker."
These are all things students say when they forget assignments or don't do well on tests. All of us, students and non-students alike, forget important things. This happens when we don't transfer information into long-term memory. It is important to know how to do this in order to do well in school and beyond. Just think about it: you need to remember what you read, what your boss told you, the driving directions someone rushes at you at a stoplight, or, if you are a student, what the teacher says.
This article is written from a student's perspective as this will make it easier for them. However, these strategies are just as helpful for adults, because we all need a little help remembering new things.
Have you ever noticed that some things are easy for you to remember while others are difficult? For example, you may be able to remember how to put an engine together, or why it rains, but you may have trouble remembering the lines to a school play or multiplication facts. You'll be relieved to know that there's nothing wrong with you; this happens to everyone. The good news is that there are strategies that can help you remember what you need to remember. The twelve strategies (some of which are called mnemonic "ni mon ik" devices) introduced below will help you learn how to memorize important information. We know they are effective because they have been helping students at STRONG Learning Centers® for years, not only on homework and tests, but continuing to be valuable in their daily lives.
STRATEGY 1. CHUNKING
It is easier to memorize information when you break it up into small chunks. This is called chunking. You may not realize it, but you use chunking often, like when you memorize your friend's telephone number, a locker combination, or your social security number. It's easier to remember long numbers when you "chunk" them into groups of threes, fours and fives. That's because most people can only remember about three, four or five bits of information at a time.
Here are suggestions on how you can use "chunking" to remember information as well as numbers.
• Chunk vocabulary words by grouping them by parts of speech or other attributes.
• Chunk history by time periods or events.
• Chunk foreign language by grouping words into categories like household items or occupations.
• If there is no pattern to the information you need to study, just group the items into three, four or five at a time, and that will help a lot.
STRATEGY 2. UNDERSTANDING
Before you begin trying to memorize something, try to understand it. A good way to do this is by making a connection between what you are learning and what you have experienced. The better you can relate the new information to what you already know, the easier it is to learn. For example, before attempting to memorize events of European history, find the places on a globe (or world map) and see where they are relative to one another and also relative to where you live.
STRATEGY 3. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
These tools help you see things you are trying to learn. They help organize information. There are many different types of graphic organizers. You can even design them yourself.
• the Venn Diagram for comparing and contrasting
• a Web for the main topic and details
• the Cause and Effect Design with the event in the middle box, the causes listed in the left boxes and the effects listed in the right boxes. (The effects and the causes are connected to the event by lines.)
• the Cycle Organizer consists of shapes drawn in a cyclic pattern with words in each shape to represent things or events that go in cycles. For example, the water cycle.
To see/print examples of these graphic organizers, find No. 452 Improve Your Memory Skills, Silbert, at our StrongLearning website.
STRATEGY 4. VISUALIZATION
To visualize means to see an image in your head without actually looking at it. Visualization can help you learn almost anything. Here is an example. Let's say the topic is the water cycle. Create a mental image of a cloud. Picture it growing. Now see, and "feel" its heavy cold rain. See the rain hitting the ground, then flowing toward streams and rivers toward the ocean. Now "see" the hot sun hitting and evaporating the water and forming clouds…. Get the picture? If you can visualize parts of the water cycle, the boring diagram becomes meaningful and remember-able. In general, if you have trouble visualizing material, try drawing maps, charts, graphs, or pictures.
STRATEGY 5. ASSOCIATION
Another learning strategy is to associate, or "connect," each word or event with a person, place, thing, feeling, or situation. For example, you may connect what you are trying to learn with someone you know, or with a movie character or scene. When you have to learn vocabulary words, just write the new words, write the definitions next to them, and then write a person, thing, event, movie, or any strong association to help you remember the meaning of each word. For example, "My altruistic Aunt Alice gives great gifts." (Altruistic means generous.)
STRATEGY 6. RHYMING
We all used rhyming in the ABC song to learn the alphabet. And the rhyme "I before E, except after C, or when it sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh." This is also a great strategy even when learning the times tables. For example, 7 and 7 went down the line to capture number 49; 8 and 4 made some stew and gave it to 32. (Rhymes don't have to make sense!)
STRATEGY 7. TALKING
Here's a strategy that's easy and fun to use, especially if you like to talk! Just talk about the information you have to learn. Tell Grandpa, Mom, a friend, or your dog what you have to learn! Do you want to learn history? Then talk history — discuss, debate, argue. Think of a person who may have lived during a major historical event and pretend to be that person. Now talk about the important events: who was involved, when it happened, where it took place, what happened, and why? If you're learning a language, then speak it at the dinner table. It doesn't matter if others know what you are saying; you do, so you'll learn.
STRATEGY 8. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a great way to help you remember information in any subject. Write a story by focusing on the key points of what you're learning and arranging them in a logical sequence. It can even be a song or rhyme that tells the story. And there's a bonus: each event in the story triggers your memory of the next event, so you'll remember even more.
STRATEGY 9. WRITING SENTENCES
Do you remember learning the silly sentence "Every good boy does fine" from music class? We used this to remember the notes. You may also have used the sentence "My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to remember the planets. (Oops, change the sentence because Pluto is no longer considered a planet). This strategy can even help us learn those extra troublesome spelling words. Just make up a sentence using words that begin with the letters. So, to learn "aardvark," you may make up a nonsense sentence like: Aardvarks Always Run Down Very Angry Rowdy Kids.
STRATEGY 10. ACRONYMS
An acronym is a word made up from the first letters of a list of words. Here's how it works. You take the list of words or facts that you want to remember and put them in an order so that the first letters of each word, or the first syllables, spell a real word or a made-up word.
How do you memorize the names of the five Great Lakes? Easy, just remember "HOMES." H=Huron, O=Ontario, M=Michigan, E=Erie, and S=Superior. While this strategy won't help you understand the information, it at least helps you to memorize it. It's easy and fun, and you'll probably remember the information forever. You may be interested in knowing that our company name is an acronym. STRONG stands for: Self-esteem, Trust, Responsibility, Options, Needs, Goals.
STRATEGY 11. REHEARSING
When you want to remember information, you have to practice it, or else it fades. So, just as actors need to rehearse in order to remember their lines, students need to rehearse to remember what they are learning. Here are some helpful hints on "rehearsing" whatever information you need to learn for homework or tests:
• Rehearse for short practice periods (perhaps 30 to 60 minutes) and then take a short ten-minute break to call a friend, have a snack, or shoot some hoops.
• Use a multisensory approach every time you rehearse: say it, write it, read it, draw it, sing it – do whatever it takes.
• Just before going to sleep, review everything you will need to know for the next day or for the upcoming test. It's amazing how much more you'll remember if you rehearse the night before.
• Review in the morning while brushing your teeth, eating breakfast or sitting on the bus.
STRATEGY 12. PLAYING GAMES
Playing games is a great way to memorize information. You see, as you play the game you are learning the material and practicing it over and over again. Games can help you remember facts, formulas, definitions, events or any other information you're trying to learn. Here is an example.
Play Memory, alone or with others, using decks of cards you make from ordinary index cards you cut in half. Create pairs by writing the same number on each of two cards, 1 and 1, 2 and 2, etc. Write the numbers tiny so they will not interfere with play. On each pair, write a question on one card and the answer on the other card. For example, "2x7=" is on one card and "14" is on its pair, or "Where did the Pilgrims land?" is on one card and "Plymouth, Massachusetts" is on its pair. Then shuffle all the cards and play Memory with yourself or with a friend. If you're alone, see how fast you can match up all the pairs. You'll be able to check yourself by making sure the small numbers are the same. Have Fun!
For the Tough Ones: for the pairs that are really hard to remember, make a string "clothes line" between two places on a wall. Hang the pairs next to each other with spring type clothes pins. So, for example, if circle formulas get you down, every time you walk into your room you'll see "C=" and "2*pi*r" and "A=" and "pi*r squared" next to each other. Pretty soon you'll remember the info.
Another example is the many commercially available games to make learning to read easier and fun. A good example is, by using any of the twenty STRONG Learning Phonics Games, children in grades 1-6 can learn important phonics rules while playing popular card games: Go Fish, War, Memory, or Old Maid.
We hope you find that some of these techniques and strategies make it easier for you and your children to remember important things. We also hope that these strategies will help make school days and home nights a whole lot better.
(Originally published at the StrongLearning website and reprinted with permission of the authors, Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. and Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.)
"I forgot."
"I can't remember that."
"I sit down to take a test and my mind goes blank."
"I'm not a good test taker."
These are all things students say when they forget assignments or don't do well on tests. All of us, students and non-students alike, forget important things. This happens when we don't transfer information into long-term memory. It is important to know how to do this in order to do well in school and beyond. Just think about it: you need to remember what you read, what your boss told you, the driving directions someone rushes at you at a stoplight, or, if you are a student, what the teacher says.
This article is written from a student's perspective as this will make it easier for them. However, these strategies are just as helpful for adults, because we all need a little help remembering new things.
Have you ever noticed that some things are easy for you to remember while others are difficult? For example, you may be able to remember how to put an engine together, or why it rains, but you may have trouble remembering the lines to a school play or multiplication facts. You'll be relieved to know that there's nothing wrong with you; this happens to everyone. The good news is that there are strategies that can help you remember what you need to remember. The twelve strategies (some of which are called mnemonic "ni mon ik" devices) introduced below will help you learn how to memorize important information. We know they are effective because they have been helping students at STRONG Learning Centers® for years, not only on homework and tests, but continuing to be valuable in their daily lives.
STRATEGY 1. CHUNKING
It is easier to memorize information when you break it up into small chunks. This is called chunking. You may not realize it, but you use chunking often, like when you memorize your friend's telephone number, a locker combination, or your social security number. It's easier to remember long numbers when you "chunk" them into groups of threes, fours and fives. That's because most people can only remember about three, four or five bits of information at a time.
Here are suggestions on how you can use "chunking" to remember information as well as numbers.
• Chunk vocabulary words by grouping them by parts of speech or other attributes.
• Chunk history by time periods or events.
• Chunk foreign language by grouping words into categories like household items or occupations.
• If there is no pattern to the information you need to study, just group the items into three, four or five at a time, and that will help a lot.
STRATEGY 2. UNDERSTANDING
Before you begin trying to memorize something, try to understand it. A good way to do this is by making a connection between what you are learning and what you have experienced. The better you can relate the new information to what you already know, the easier it is to learn. For example, before attempting to memorize events of European history, find the places on a globe (or world map) and see where they are relative to one another and also relative to where you live.
STRATEGY 3. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
These tools help you see things you are trying to learn. They help organize information. There are many different types of graphic organizers. You can even design them yourself.
• the Venn Diagram for comparing and contrasting
• a Web for the main topic and details
• the Cause and Effect Design with the event in the middle box, the causes listed in the left boxes and the effects listed in the right boxes. (The effects and the causes are connected to the event by lines.)
• the Cycle Organizer consists of shapes drawn in a cyclic pattern with words in each shape to represent things or events that go in cycles. For example, the water cycle.
To see/print examples of these graphic organizers, find No. 452 Improve Your Memory Skills, Silbert, at our StrongLearning website.
STRATEGY 4. VISUALIZATION
To visualize means to see an image in your head without actually looking at it. Visualization can help you learn almost anything. Here is an example. Let's say the topic is the water cycle. Create a mental image of a cloud. Picture it growing. Now see, and "feel" its heavy cold rain. See the rain hitting the ground, then flowing toward streams and rivers toward the ocean. Now "see" the hot sun hitting and evaporating the water and forming clouds…. Get the picture? If you can visualize parts of the water cycle, the boring diagram becomes meaningful and remember-able. In general, if you have trouble visualizing material, try drawing maps, charts, graphs, or pictures.
STRATEGY 5. ASSOCIATION
Another learning strategy is to associate, or "connect," each word or event with a person, place, thing, feeling, or situation. For example, you may connect what you are trying to learn with someone you know, or with a movie character or scene. When you have to learn vocabulary words, just write the new words, write the definitions next to them, and then write a person, thing, event, movie, or any strong association to help you remember the meaning of each word. For example, "My altruistic Aunt Alice gives great gifts." (Altruistic means generous.)
STRATEGY 6. RHYMING
We all used rhyming in the ABC song to learn the alphabet. And the rhyme "I before E, except after C, or when it sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh." This is also a great strategy even when learning the times tables. For example, 7 and 7 went down the line to capture number 49; 8 and 4 made some stew and gave it to 32. (Rhymes don't have to make sense!)
STRATEGY 7. TALKING
Here's a strategy that's easy and fun to use, especially if you like to talk! Just talk about the information you have to learn. Tell Grandpa, Mom, a friend, or your dog what you have to learn! Do you want to learn history? Then talk history — discuss, debate, argue. Think of a person who may have lived during a major historical event and pretend to be that person. Now talk about the important events: who was involved, when it happened, where it took place, what happened, and why? If you're learning a language, then speak it at the dinner table. It doesn't matter if others know what you are saying; you do, so you'll learn.
STRATEGY 8. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a great way to help you remember information in any subject. Write a story by focusing on the key points of what you're learning and arranging them in a logical sequence. It can even be a song or rhyme that tells the story. And there's a bonus: each event in the story triggers your memory of the next event, so you'll remember even more.
STRATEGY 9. WRITING SENTENCES
Do you remember learning the silly sentence "Every good boy does fine" from music class? We used this to remember the notes. You may also have used the sentence "My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to remember the planets. (Oops, change the sentence because Pluto is no longer considered a planet). This strategy can even help us learn those extra troublesome spelling words. Just make up a sentence using words that begin with the letters. So, to learn "aardvark," you may make up a nonsense sentence like: Aardvarks Always Run Down Very Angry Rowdy Kids.
STRATEGY 10. ACRONYMS
An acronym is a word made up from the first letters of a list of words. Here's how it works. You take the list of words or facts that you want to remember and put them in an order so that the first letters of each word, or the first syllables, spell a real word or a made-up word.
How do you memorize the names of the five Great Lakes? Easy, just remember "HOMES." H=Huron, O=Ontario, M=Michigan, E=Erie, and S=Superior. While this strategy won't help you understand the information, it at least helps you to memorize it. It's easy and fun, and you'll probably remember the information forever. You may be interested in knowing that our company name is an acronym. STRONG stands for: Self-esteem, Trust, Responsibility, Options, Needs, Goals.
STRATEGY 11. REHEARSING
When you want to remember information, you have to practice it, or else it fades. So, just as actors need to rehearse in order to remember their lines, students need to rehearse to remember what they are learning. Here are some helpful hints on "rehearsing" whatever information you need to learn for homework or tests:
• Rehearse for short practice periods (perhaps 30 to 60 minutes) and then take a short ten-minute break to call a friend, have a snack, or shoot some hoops.
• Use a multisensory approach every time you rehearse: say it, write it, read it, draw it, sing it – do whatever it takes.
• Just before going to sleep, review everything you will need to know for the next day or for the upcoming test. It's amazing how much more you'll remember if you rehearse the night before.
• Review in the morning while brushing your teeth, eating breakfast or sitting on the bus.
STRATEGY 12. PLAYING GAMES
Playing games is a great way to memorize information. You see, as you play the game you are learning the material and practicing it over and over again. Games can help you remember facts, formulas, definitions, events or any other information you're trying to learn. Here is an example.
Play Memory, alone or with others, using decks of cards you make from ordinary index cards you cut in half. Create pairs by writing the same number on each of two cards, 1 and 1, 2 and 2, etc. Write the numbers tiny so they will not interfere with play. On each pair, write a question on one card and the answer on the other card. For example, "2x7=" is on one card and "14" is on its pair, or "Where did the Pilgrims land?" is on one card and "Plymouth, Massachusetts" is on its pair. Then shuffle all the cards and play Memory with yourself or with a friend. If you're alone, see how fast you can match up all the pairs. You'll be able to check yourself by making sure the small numbers are the same. Have Fun!
For the Tough Ones: for the pairs that are really hard to remember, make a string "clothes line" between two places on a wall. Hang the pairs next to each other with spring type clothes pins. So, for example, if circle formulas get you down, every time you walk into your room you'll see "C=" and "2*pi*r" and "A=" and "pi*r squared" next to each other. Pretty soon you'll remember the info.
Another example is the many commercially available games to make learning to read easier and fun. A good example is, by using any of the twenty STRONG Learning Phonics Games, children in grades 1-6 can learn important phonics rules while playing popular card games: Go Fish, War, Memory, or Old Maid.
We hope you find that some of these techniques and strategies make it easier for you and your children to remember important things. We also hope that these strategies will help make school days and home nights a whole lot better.
(Originally published at the StrongLearning website and reprinted with permission of the authors, Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. and Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.)
12 Great Memory Strategies For Better Grades
by: Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. And Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.
"I forgot."
"I can't remember that."
"I sit down to take a test and my mind goes blank."
"I'm not a good test taker."
These are all things students say when they forget assignments or don't do well on tests. All of us, students and non-students alike, forget important things. This happens when we don't transfer information into long-term memory. It is important to know how to do this in order to do well in school and beyond. Just think about it: you need to remember what you read, what your boss told you, the driving directions someone rushes at you at a stoplight, or, if you are a student, what the teacher says.
This article is written from a student's perspective as this will make it easier for them. However, these strategies are just as helpful for adults, because we all need a little help remembering new things.
Have you ever noticed that some things are easy for you to remember while others are difficult? For example, you may be able to remember how to put an engine together, or why it rains, but you may have trouble remembering the lines to a school play or multiplication facts. You'll be relieved to know that there's nothing wrong with you; this happens to everyone. The good news is that there are strategies that can help you remember what you need to remember. The twelve strategies (some of which are called mnemonic "ni mon ik" devices) introduced below will help you learn how to memorize important information. We know they are effective because they have been helping students at STRONG Learning Centers® for years, not only on homework and tests, but continuing to be valuable in their daily lives.
STRATEGY 1. CHUNKING
It is easier to memorize information when you break it up into small chunks. This is called chunking. You may not realize it, but you use chunking often, like when you memorize your friend's telephone number, a locker combination, or your social security number. It's easier to remember long numbers when you "chunk" them into groups of threes, fours and fives. That's because most people can only remember about three, four or five bits of information at a time.
Here are suggestions on how you can use "chunking" to remember information as well as numbers.
• Chunk vocabulary words by grouping them by parts of speech or other attributes.
• Chunk history by time periods or events.
• Chunk foreign language by grouping words into categories like household items or occupations.
• If there is no pattern to the information you need to study, just group the items into three, four or five at a time, and that will help a lot.
STRATEGY 2. UNDERSTANDING
Before you begin trying to memorize something, try to understand it. A good way to do this is by making a connection between what you are learning and what you have experienced. The better you can relate the new information to what you already know, the easier it is to learn. For example, before attempting to memorize events of European history, find the places on a globe (or world map) and see where they are relative to one another and also relative to where you live.
STRATEGY 3. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
These tools help you see things you are trying to learn. They help organize information. There are many different types of graphic organizers. You can even design them yourself.
• the Venn Diagram for comparing and contrasting
• a Web for the main topic and details
• the Cause and Effect Design with the event in the middle box, the causes listed in the left boxes and the effects listed in the right boxes. (The effects and the causes are connected to the event by lines.)
• the Cycle Organizer consists of shapes drawn in a cyclic pattern with words in each shape to represent things or events that go in cycles. For example, the water cycle.
To see/print examples of these graphic organizers, find No. 452 Improve Your Memory Skills, Silbert, at our StrongLearning website.
STRATEGY 4. VISUALIZATION
To visualize means to see an image in your head without actually looking at it. Visualization can help you learn almost anything. Here is an example. Let's say the topic is the water cycle. Create a mental image of a cloud. Picture it growing. Now see, and "feel" its heavy cold rain. See the rain hitting the ground, then flowing toward streams and rivers toward the ocean. Now "see" the hot sun hitting and evaporating the water and forming clouds…. Get the picture? If you can visualize parts of the water cycle, the boring diagram becomes meaningful and remember-able. In general, if you have trouble visualizing material, try drawing maps, charts, graphs, or pictures.
STRATEGY 5. ASSOCIATION
Another learning strategy is to associate, or "connect," each word or event with a person, place, thing, feeling, or situation. For example, you may connect what you are trying to learn with someone you know, or with a movie character or scene. When you have to learn vocabulary words, just write the new words, write the definitions next to them, and then write a person, thing, event, movie, or any strong association to help you remember the meaning of each word. For example, "My altruistic Aunt Alice gives great gifts." (Altruistic means generous.)
STRATEGY 6. RHYMING
We all used rhyming in the ABC song to learn the alphabet. And the rhyme "I before E, except after C, or when it sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh." This is also a great strategy even when learning the times tables. For example, 7 and 7 went down the line to capture number 49; 8 and 4 made some stew and gave it to 32. (Rhymes don't have to make sense!)
STRATEGY 7. TALKING
Here's a strategy that's easy and fun to use, especially if you like to talk! Just talk about the information you have to learn. Tell Grandpa, Mom, a friend, or your dog what you have to learn! Do you want to learn history? Then talk history — discuss, debate, argue. Think of a person who may have lived during a major historical event and pretend to be that person. Now talk about the important events: who was involved, when it happened, where it took place, what happened, and why? If you're learning a language, then speak it at the dinner table. It doesn't matter if others know what you are saying; you do, so you'll learn.
STRATEGY 8. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a great way to help you remember information in any subject. Write a story by focusing on the key points of what you're learning and arranging them in a logical sequence. It can even be a song or rhyme that tells the story. And there's a bonus: each event in the story triggers your memory of the next event, so you'll remember even more.
STRATEGY 9. WRITING SENTENCES
Do you remember learning the silly sentence "Every good boy does fine" from music class? We used this to remember the notes. You may also have used the sentence "My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to remember the planets. (Oops, change the sentence because Pluto is no longer considered a planet). This strategy can even help us learn those extra troublesome spelling words. Just make up a sentence using words that begin with the letters. So, to learn "aardvark," you may make up a nonsense sentence like: Aardvarks Always Run Down Very Angry Rowdy Kids.
STRATEGY 10. ACRONYMS
An acronym is a word made up from the first letters of a list of words. Here's how it works. You take the list of words or facts that you want to remember and put them in an order so that the first letters of each word, or the first syllables, spell a real word or a made-up word.
How do you memorize the names of the five Great Lakes? Easy, just remember "HOMES." H=Huron, O=Ontario, M=Michigan, E=Erie, and S=Superior. While this strategy won't help you understand the information, it at least helps you to memorize it. It's easy and fun, and you'll probably remember the information forever. You may be interested in knowing that our company name is an acronym. STRONG stands for: Self-esteem, Trust, Responsibility, Options, Needs, Goals.
STRATEGY 11. REHEARSING
When you want to remember information, you have to practice it, or else it fades. So, just as actors need to rehearse in order to remember their lines, students need to rehearse to remember what they are learning. Here are some helpful hints on "rehearsing" whatever information you need to learn for homework or tests:
• Rehearse for short practice periods (perhaps 30 to 60 minutes) and then take a short ten-minute break to call a friend, have a snack, or shoot some hoops.
• Use a multisensory approach every time you rehearse: say it, write it, read it, draw it, sing it – do whatever it takes.
• Just before going to sleep, review everything you will need to know for the next day or for the upcoming test. It's amazing how much more you'll remember if you rehearse the night before.
• Review in the morning while brushing your teeth, eating breakfast or sitting on the bus.
STRATEGY 12. PLAYING GAMES
Playing games is a great way to memorize information. You see, as you play the game you are learning the material and practicing it over and over again. Games can help you remember facts, formulas, definitions, events or any other information you're trying to learn. Here is an example.
Play Memory, alone or with others, using decks of cards you make from ordinary index cards you cut in half. Create pairs by writing the same number on each of two cards, 1 and 1, 2 and 2, etc. Write the numbers tiny so they will not interfere with play. On each pair, write a question on one card and the answer on the other card. For example, "2x7=" is on one card and "14" is on its pair, or "Where did the Pilgrims land?" is on one card and "Plymouth, Massachusetts" is on its pair. Then shuffle all the cards and play Memory with yourself or with a friend. If you're alone, see how fast you can match up all the pairs. You'll be able to check yourself by making sure the small numbers are the same. Have Fun!
For the Tough Ones: for the pairs that are really hard to remember, make a string "clothes line" between two places on a wall. Hang the pairs next to each other with spring type clothes pins. So, for example, if circle formulas get you down, every time you walk into your room you'll see "C=" and "2*pi*r" and "A=" and "pi*r squared" next to each other. Pretty soon you'll remember the info.
Another example is the many commercially available games to make learning to read easier and fun. A good example is, by using any of the twenty STRONG Learning Phonics Games, children in grades 1-6 can learn important phonics rules while playing popular card games: Go Fish, War, Memory, or Old Maid.
We hope you find that some of these techniques and strategies make it easier for you and your children to remember important things. We also hope that these strategies will help make school days and home nights a whole lot better.
(Originally published at the StrongLearning website and reprinted with permission of the authors, Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. and Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.)
"I forgot."
"I can't remember that."
"I sit down to take a test and my mind goes blank."
"I'm not a good test taker."
These are all things students say when they forget assignments or don't do well on tests. All of us, students and non-students alike, forget important things. This happens when we don't transfer information into long-term memory. It is important to know how to do this in order to do well in school and beyond. Just think about it: you need to remember what you read, what your boss told you, the driving directions someone rushes at you at a stoplight, or, if you are a student, what the teacher says.
This article is written from a student's perspective as this will make it easier for them. However, these strategies are just as helpful for adults, because we all need a little help remembering new things.
Have you ever noticed that some things are easy for you to remember while others are difficult? For example, you may be able to remember how to put an engine together, or why it rains, but you may have trouble remembering the lines to a school play or multiplication facts. You'll be relieved to know that there's nothing wrong with you; this happens to everyone. The good news is that there are strategies that can help you remember what you need to remember. The twelve strategies (some of which are called mnemonic "ni mon ik" devices) introduced below will help you learn how to memorize important information. We know they are effective because they have been helping students at STRONG Learning Centers® for years, not only on homework and tests, but continuing to be valuable in their daily lives.
STRATEGY 1. CHUNKING
It is easier to memorize information when you break it up into small chunks. This is called chunking. You may not realize it, but you use chunking often, like when you memorize your friend's telephone number, a locker combination, or your social security number. It's easier to remember long numbers when you "chunk" them into groups of threes, fours and fives. That's because most people can only remember about three, four or five bits of information at a time.
Here are suggestions on how you can use "chunking" to remember information as well as numbers.
• Chunk vocabulary words by grouping them by parts of speech or other attributes.
• Chunk history by time periods or events.
• Chunk foreign language by grouping words into categories like household items or occupations.
• If there is no pattern to the information you need to study, just group the items into three, four or five at a time, and that will help a lot.
STRATEGY 2. UNDERSTANDING
Before you begin trying to memorize something, try to understand it. A good way to do this is by making a connection between what you are learning and what you have experienced. The better you can relate the new information to what you already know, the easier it is to learn. For example, before attempting to memorize events of European history, find the places on a globe (or world map) and see where they are relative to one another and also relative to where you live.
STRATEGY 3. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
These tools help you see things you are trying to learn. They help organize information. There are many different types of graphic organizers. You can even design them yourself.
• the Venn Diagram for comparing and contrasting
• a Web for the main topic and details
• the Cause and Effect Design with the event in the middle box, the causes listed in the left boxes and the effects listed in the right boxes. (The effects and the causes are connected to the event by lines.)
• the Cycle Organizer consists of shapes drawn in a cyclic pattern with words in each shape to represent things or events that go in cycles. For example, the water cycle.
To see/print examples of these graphic organizers, find No. 452 Improve Your Memory Skills, Silbert, at our StrongLearning website.
STRATEGY 4. VISUALIZATION
To visualize means to see an image in your head without actually looking at it. Visualization can help you learn almost anything. Here is an example. Let's say the topic is the water cycle. Create a mental image of a cloud. Picture it growing. Now see, and "feel" its heavy cold rain. See the rain hitting the ground, then flowing toward streams and rivers toward the ocean. Now "see" the hot sun hitting and evaporating the water and forming clouds…. Get the picture? If you can visualize parts of the water cycle, the boring diagram becomes meaningful and remember-able. In general, if you have trouble visualizing material, try drawing maps, charts, graphs, or pictures.
STRATEGY 5. ASSOCIATION
Another learning strategy is to associate, or "connect," each word or event with a person, place, thing, feeling, or situation. For example, you may connect what you are trying to learn with someone you know, or with a movie character or scene. When you have to learn vocabulary words, just write the new words, write the definitions next to them, and then write a person, thing, event, movie, or any strong association to help you remember the meaning of each word. For example, "My altruistic Aunt Alice gives great gifts." (Altruistic means generous.)
STRATEGY 6. RHYMING
We all used rhyming in the ABC song to learn the alphabet. And the rhyme "I before E, except after C, or when it sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh." This is also a great strategy even when learning the times tables. For example, 7 and 7 went down the line to capture number 49; 8 and 4 made some stew and gave it to 32. (Rhymes don't have to make sense!)
STRATEGY 7. TALKING
Here's a strategy that's easy and fun to use, especially if you like to talk! Just talk about the information you have to learn. Tell Grandpa, Mom, a friend, or your dog what you have to learn! Do you want to learn history? Then talk history — discuss, debate, argue. Think of a person who may have lived during a major historical event and pretend to be that person. Now talk about the important events: who was involved, when it happened, where it took place, what happened, and why? If you're learning a language, then speak it at the dinner table. It doesn't matter if others know what you are saying; you do, so you'll learn.
STRATEGY 8. STORYTELLING
Storytelling is a great way to help you remember information in any subject. Write a story by focusing on the key points of what you're learning and arranging them in a logical sequence. It can even be a song or rhyme that tells the story. And there's a bonus: each event in the story triggers your memory of the next event, so you'll remember even more.
STRATEGY 9. WRITING SENTENCES
Do you remember learning the silly sentence "Every good boy does fine" from music class? We used this to remember the notes. You may also have used the sentence "My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to remember the planets. (Oops, change the sentence because Pluto is no longer considered a planet). This strategy can even help us learn those extra troublesome spelling words. Just make up a sentence using words that begin with the letters. So, to learn "aardvark," you may make up a nonsense sentence like: Aardvarks Always Run Down Very Angry Rowdy Kids.
STRATEGY 10. ACRONYMS
An acronym is a word made up from the first letters of a list of words. Here's how it works. You take the list of words or facts that you want to remember and put them in an order so that the first letters of each word, or the first syllables, spell a real word or a made-up word.
How do you memorize the names of the five Great Lakes? Easy, just remember "HOMES." H=Huron, O=Ontario, M=Michigan, E=Erie, and S=Superior. While this strategy won't help you understand the information, it at least helps you to memorize it. It's easy and fun, and you'll probably remember the information forever. You may be interested in knowing that our company name is an acronym. STRONG stands for: Self-esteem, Trust, Responsibility, Options, Needs, Goals.
STRATEGY 11. REHEARSING
When you want to remember information, you have to practice it, or else it fades. So, just as actors need to rehearse in order to remember their lines, students need to rehearse to remember what they are learning. Here are some helpful hints on "rehearsing" whatever information you need to learn for homework or tests:
• Rehearse for short practice periods (perhaps 30 to 60 minutes) and then take a short ten-minute break to call a friend, have a snack, or shoot some hoops.
• Use a multisensory approach every time you rehearse: say it, write it, read it, draw it, sing it – do whatever it takes.
• Just before going to sleep, review everything you will need to know for the next day or for the upcoming test. It's amazing how much more you'll remember if you rehearse the night before.
• Review in the morning while brushing your teeth, eating breakfast or sitting on the bus.
STRATEGY 12. PLAYING GAMES
Playing games is a great way to memorize information. You see, as you play the game you are learning the material and practicing it over and over again. Games can help you remember facts, formulas, definitions, events or any other information you're trying to learn. Here is an example.
Play Memory, alone or with others, using decks of cards you make from ordinary index cards you cut in half. Create pairs by writing the same number on each of two cards, 1 and 1, 2 and 2, etc. Write the numbers tiny so they will not interfere with play. On each pair, write a question on one card and the answer on the other card. For example, "2x7=" is on one card and "14" is on its pair, or "Where did the Pilgrims land?" is on one card and "Plymouth, Massachusetts" is on its pair. Then shuffle all the cards and play Memory with yourself or with a friend. If you're alone, see how fast you can match up all the pairs. You'll be able to check yourself by making sure the small numbers are the same. Have Fun!
For the Tough Ones: for the pairs that are really hard to remember, make a string "clothes line" between two places on a wall. Hang the pairs next to each other with spring type clothes pins. So, for example, if circle formulas get you down, every time you walk into your room you'll see "C=" and "2*pi*r" and "A=" and "pi*r squared" next to each other. Pretty soon you'll remember the info.
Another example is the many commercially available games to make learning to read easier and fun. A good example is, by using any of the twenty STRONG Learning Phonics Games, children in grades 1-6 can learn important phonics rules while playing popular card games: Go Fish, War, Memory, or Old Maid.
We hope you find that some of these techniques and strategies make it easier for you and your children to remember important things. We also hope that these strategies will help make school days and home nights a whole lot better.
(Originally published at the StrongLearning website and reprinted with permission of the authors, Linda Bress Silbert, Ph.D. and Alvin J. Silbert, Ed.D.)
Learning Tips for Student
Long ago, there was a time, when parents told children to read slowly and loudly to understand everything they read.
A lot of things have changed. Today's children have bigger syllabi to learn. Now, learning experts and teachers ask students to read faster and grasp important points.
Here are a few tips for students who have a lot to learn, but very little time.
Make a Timetable
Your timetable should have separate time for eating, playing games, exercise, reading newspaper and study materials. You should not only make a timetable, but also should stick to it.
Give priority to leisure and games in the afternoon, but separate early morning time for studies. Make sure you read all the class notes before you go to bed.
While allotting time to different subjects, allot more time to difficult subjects. You need only less time for the subjects that are easier for you to learn.
Taking Notes
Taking notes is an important part of learning. You need to take lecture notes (classroom notes) and notes from your textbook.
- Go through the lessons on the day before your teacher would teach it in the class. This gives you an idea of what to expect.
- Write down important ideas as bullet points. One word or a phrase is enough to include an idea.
- Give prominence to important ideas by underlining them in your notes.
- Leave lot of space in each face of paper. This will help you add new points later.
- Organize your notes into separate files. Each subject should have a different file. Label the outer page of the file with name of the subject and your teacher. You should also neatly organize each file according to chapters and topics.
- Read the notes (important points) in the night, before going to bed. Read only once. This helps you memorize the lessons clearly.
- While taking notes from a book, label the name of the book and author. Also, note the page number next to your notes. It makes it easy for you to refer to the book three or six months later.
Reading Techniques
You need to read fast and grasp more things. Here are some pointers to fast reading.
- Note the name of the book and its author in the reading log.
- Take a quick look from cover to cover to identify the important chapters.
- Take a quick look over the chapter, identify the important points, and note them down.
- Read the lesson fast. To increase the speed of learning, pass your eyes through the top of the letters and not through the centre. For example, while reading, pass your eyes through the area where the dot above the letter i appears and not through the loop of the letter o.
- Don't take notes while reading.
- Don't go back to read a word or a sentence. If you don't get the idea of the subject, you can come back to the sentence after you finish reading the chapter. Never look up a dictionary while in the middle of reading a chapter. Refer dictionary only if you don't automatically understand the meaning of a word after finishing the paragraph and the chapter.
- Note down the points you remember. Now check if you have taken all the important points, with another fast reading.
How to increase memory
Try to understand completely what you read or hear.
Repeat what you hear or read in your mind.
Make notes of what you learn at school or read from books. A single word can help you remember a whole idea.
Give number to the points.
Don't try to bring to memory all the things you have learned. Learn the technique of bringing to memory one thing at a time.
How to increase concentration
Mental concentration is important to memory and better learning.
Stick to your reading timetable. You should separate a specific place and specific time of the day for reading.
Sit erect. It increases your concentration.
Don't allow disturbances like phone calls, music etc while reading.
Concentrate on the lessons you read. Don't think about the next book you have to read while you are reading a book. A better way is to make an order of the books and lessons to read and arrange them in order before you start reading.
Immediately after reading a paragraph, try to recall the idea from that paragraph. This helps you concentrate more on your reading.
Ideal conditions for reading/learning
A silent location that you don't use for sleeping, eating or leisure purposes is the most ideal condition for reading.
Install a fluorescent tube light in the reading room. This helps mild light to fall evenly all over the room. Don't sit in the darkness while reading. If you use table lamp, arrange it towards your left if you are a right-hander.
Arrange the papers, pencils, boards and books on the table before you start reading.
Never try to read while you are tired or ill.
Eat healthy food rich in carbohydrates, proteins and fibres. Replace fast food, pizza, burger, chocolates, ice creams, etc with fresh fruits, whole grain food items (like chapatti), milk, fruit juices, etc.
Exercise daily. Swimming, cycling and jogging are good for students. Practise yoga. It increases concentration and willpower.
Don't watch TV. Instead, play some games in the outdoors. While TV makes you dumb, the games make you smarter.
Read lot of books. Read classic stories, fables (like Aesop fables, Panchatantra stories, etc), etc. Don't spend too much time on comic cartoons.
A lot of things have changed. Today's children have bigger syllabi to learn. Now, learning experts and teachers ask students to read faster and grasp important points.
Here are a few tips for students who have a lot to learn, but very little time.
Make a Timetable
Your timetable should have separate time for eating, playing games, exercise, reading newspaper and study materials. You should not only make a timetable, but also should stick to it.
Give priority to leisure and games in the afternoon, but separate early morning time for studies. Make sure you read all the class notes before you go to bed.
While allotting time to different subjects, allot more time to difficult subjects. You need only less time for the subjects that are easier for you to learn.
Taking Notes
Taking notes is an important part of learning. You need to take lecture notes (classroom notes) and notes from your textbook.
- Go through the lessons on the day before your teacher would teach it in the class. This gives you an idea of what to expect.
- Write down important ideas as bullet points. One word or a phrase is enough to include an idea.
- Give prominence to important ideas by underlining them in your notes.
- Leave lot of space in each face of paper. This will help you add new points later.
- Organize your notes into separate files. Each subject should have a different file. Label the outer page of the file with name of the subject and your teacher. You should also neatly organize each file according to chapters and topics.
- Read the notes (important points) in the night, before going to bed. Read only once. This helps you memorize the lessons clearly.
- While taking notes from a book, label the name of the book and author. Also, note the page number next to your notes. It makes it easy for you to refer to the book three or six months later.
Reading Techniques
You need to read fast and grasp more things. Here are some pointers to fast reading.
- Note the name of the book and its author in the reading log.
- Take a quick look from cover to cover to identify the important chapters.
- Take a quick look over the chapter, identify the important points, and note them down.
- Read the lesson fast. To increase the speed of learning, pass your eyes through the top of the letters and not through the centre. For example, while reading, pass your eyes through the area where the dot above the letter i appears and not through the loop of the letter o.
- Don't take notes while reading.
- Don't go back to read a word or a sentence. If you don't get the idea of the subject, you can come back to the sentence after you finish reading the chapter. Never look up a dictionary while in the middle of reading a chapter. Refer dictionary only if you don't automatically understand the meaning of a word after finishing the paragraph and the chapter.
- Note down the points you remember. Now check if you have taken all the important points, with another fast reading.
How to increase memory
Try to understand completely what you read or hear.
Repeat what you hear or read in your mind.
Make notes of what you learn at school or read from books. A single word can help you remember a whole idea.
Give number to the points.
Don't try to bring to memory all the things you have learned. Learn the technique of bringing to memory one thing at a time.
How to increase concentration
Mental concentration is important to memory and better learning.
Stick to your reading timetable. You should separate a specific place and specific time of the day for reading.
Sit erect. It increases your concentration.
Don't allow disturbances like phone calls, music etc while reading.
Concentrate on the lessons you read. Don't think about the next book you have to read while you are reading a book. A better way is to make an order of the books and lessons to read and arrange them in order before you start reading.
Immediately after reading a paragraph, try to recall the idea from that paragraph. This helps you concentrate more on your reading.
Ideal conditions for reading/learning
A silent location that you don't use for sleeping, eating or leisure purposes is the most ideal condition for reading.
Install a fluorescent tube light in the reading room. This helps mild light to fall evenly all over the room. Don't sit in the darkness while reading. If you use table lamp, arrange it towards your left if you are a right-hander.
Arrange the papers, pencils, boards and books on the table before you start reading.
Never try to read while you are tired or ill.
Eat healthy food rich in carbohydrates, proteins and fibres. Replace fast food, pizza, burger, chocolates, ice creams, etc with fresh fruits, whole grain food items (like chapatti), milk, fruit juices, etc.
Exercise daily. Swimming, cycling and jogging are good for students. Practise yoga. It increases concentration and willpower.
Don't watch TV. Instead, play some games in the outdoors. While TV makes you dumb, the games make you smarter.
Read lot of books. Read classic stories, fables (like Aesop fables, Panchatantra stories, etc), etc. Don't spend too much time on comic cartoons.
Learning Tips for Student
Long ago, there was a time, when parents told children to read slowly and loudly to understand everything they read.
A lot of things have changed. Today's children have bigger syllabi to learn. Now, learning experts and teachers ask students to read faster and grasp important points.
Here are a few tips for students who have a lot to learn, but very little time.
Make a Timetable
Your timetable should have separate time for eating, playing games, exercise, reading newspaper and study materials. You should not only make a timetable, but also should stick to it.
Give priority to leisure and games in the afternoon, but separate early morning time for studies. Make sure you read all the class notes before you go to bed.
While allotting time to different subjects, allot more time to difficult subjects. You need only less time for the subjects that are easier for you to learn.
Taking Notes
Taking notes is an important part of learning. You need to take lecture notes (classroom notes) and notes from your textbook.
- Go through the lessons on the day before your teacher would teach it in the class. This gives you an idea of what to expect.
- Write down important ideas as bullet points. One word or a phrase is enough to include an idea.
- Give prominence to important ideas by underlining them in your notes.
- Leave lot of space in each face of paper. This will help you add new points later.
- Organize your notes into separate files. Each subject should have a different file. Label the outer page of the file with name of the subject and your teacher. You should also neatly organize each file according to chapters and topics.
- Read the notes (important points) in the night, before going to bed. Read only once. This helps you memorize the lessons clearly.
- While taking notes from a book, label the name of the book and author. Also, note the page number next to your notes. It makes it easy for you to refer to the book three or six months later.
Reading Techniques
You need to read fast and grasp more things. Here are some pointers to fast reading.
- Note the name of the book and its author in the reading log.
- Take a quick look from cover to cover to identify the important chapters.
- Take a quick look over the chapter, identify the important points, and note them down.
- Read the lesson fast. To increase the speed of learning, pass your eyes through the top of the letters and not through the centre. For example, while reading, pass your eyes through the area where the dot above the letter i appears and not through the loop of the letter o.
- Don't take notes while reading.
- Don't go back to read a word or a sentence. If you don't get the idea of the subject, you can come back to the sentence after you finish reading the chapter. Never look up a dictionary while in the middle of reading a chapter. Refer dictionary only if you don't automatically understand the meaning of a word after finishing the paragraph and the chapter.
- Note down the points you remember. Now check if you have taken all the important points, with another fast reading.
How to increase memory
Try to understand completely what you read or hear.
Repeat what you hear or read in your mind.
Make notes of what you learn at school or read from books. A single word can help you remember a whole idea.
Give number to the points.
Don't try to bring to memory all the things you have learned. Learn the technique of bringing to memory one thing at a time.
How to increase concentration
Mental concentration is important to memory and better learning.
Stick to your reading timetable. You should separate a specific place and specific time of the day for reading.
Sit erect. It increases your concentration.
Don't allow disturbances like phone calls, music etc while reading.
Concentrate on the lessons you read. Don't think about the next book you have to read while you are reading a book. A better way is to make an order of the books and lessons to read and arrange them in order before you start reading.
Immediately after reading a paragraph, try to recall the idea from that paragraph. This helps you concentrate more on your reading.
Ideal conditions for reading/learning
A silent location that you don't use for sleeping, eating or leisure purposes is the most ideal condition for reading.
Install a fluorescent tube light in the reading room. This helps mild light to fall evenly all over the room. Don't sit in the darkness while reading. If you use table lamp, arrange it towards your left if you are a right-hander.
Arrange the papers, pencils, boards and books on the table before you start reading.
Never try to read while you are tired or ill.
Eat healthy food rich in carbohydrates, proteins and fibres. Replace fast food, pizza, burger, chocolates, ice creams, etc with fresh fruits, whole grain food items (like chapatti), milk, fruit juices, etc.
Exercise daily. Swimming, cycling and jogging are good for students. Practise yoga. It increases concentration and willpower.
Don't watch TV. Instead, play some games in the outdoors. While TV makes you dumb, the games make you smarter.
Read lot of books. Read classic stories, fables (like Aesop fables, Panchatantra stories, etc), etc. Don't spend too much time on comic cartoons.
A lot of things have changed. Today's children have bigger syllabi to learn. Now, learning experts and teachers ask students to read faster and grasp important points.
Here are a few tips for students who have a lot to learn, but very little time.
Make a Timetable
Your timetable should have separate time for eating, playing games, exercise, reading newspaper and study materials. You should not only make a timetable, but also should stick to it.
Give priority to leisure and games in the afternoon, but separate early morning time for studies. Make sure you read all the class notes before you go to bed.
While allotting time to different subjects, allot more time to difficult subjects. You need only less time for the subjects that are easier for you to learn.
Taking Notes
Taking notes is an important part of learning. You need to take lecture notes (classroom notes) and notes from your textbook.
- Go through the lessons on the day before your teacher would teach it in the class. This gives you an idea of what to expect.
- Write down important ideas as bullet points. One word or a phrase is enough to include an idea.
- Give prominence to important ideas by underlining them in your notes.
- Leave lot of space in each face of paper. This will help you add new points later.
- Organize your notes into separate files. Each subject should have a different file. Label the outer page of the file with name of the subject and your teacher. You should also neatly organize each file according to chapters and topics.
- Read the notes (important points) in the night, before going to bed. Read only once. This helps you memorize the lessons clearly.
- While taking notes from a book, label the name of the book and author. Also, note the page number next to your notes. It makes it easy for you to refer to the book three or six months later.
Reading Techniques
You need to read fast and grasp more things. Here are some pointers to fast reading.
- Note the name of the book and its author in the reading log.
- Take a quick look from cover to cover to identify the important chapters.
- Take a quick look over the chapter, identify the important points, and note them down.
- Read the lesson fast. To increase the speed of learning, pass your eyes through the top of the letters and not through the centre. For example, while reading, pass your eyes through the area where the dot above the letter i appears and not through the loop of the letter o.
- Don't take notes while reading.
- Don't go back to read a word or a sentence. If you don't get the idea of the subject, you can come back to the sentence after you finish reading the chapter. Never look up a dictionary while in the middle of reading a chapter. Refer dictionary only if you don't automatically understand the meaning of a word after finishing the paragraph and the chapter.
- Note down the points you remember. Now check if you have taken all the important points, with another fast reading.
How to increase memory
Try to understand completely what you read or hear.
Repeat what you hear or read in your mind.
Make notes of what you learn at school or read from books. A single word can help you remember a whole idea.
Give number to the points.
Don't try to bring to memory all the things you have learned. Learn the technique of bringing to memory one thing at a time.
How to increase concentration
Mental concentration is important to memory and better learning.
Stick to your reading timetable. You should separate a specific place and specific time of the day for reading.
Sit erect. It increases your concentration.
Don't allow disturbances like phone calls, music etc while reading.
Concentrate on the lessons you read. Don't think about the next book you have to read while you are reading a book. A better way is to make an order of the books and lessons to read and arrange them in order before you start reading.
Immediately after reading a paragraph, try to recall the idea from that paragraph. This helps you concentrate more on your reading.
Ideal conditions for reading/learning
A silent location that you don't use for sleeping, eating or leisure purposes is the most ideal condition for reading.
Install a fluorescent tube light in the reading room. This helps mild light to fall evenly all over the room. Don't sit in the darkness while reading. If you use table lamp, arrange it towards your left if you are a right-hander.
Arrange the papers, pencils, boards and books on the table before you start reading.
Never try to read while you are tired or ill.
Eat healthy food rich in carbohydrates, proteins and fibres. Replace fast food, pizza, burger, chocolates, ice creams, etc with fresh fruits, whole grain food items (like chapatti), milk, fruit juices, etc.
Exercise daily. Swimming, cycling and jogging are good for students. Practise yoga. It increases concentration and willpower.
Don't watch TV. Instead, play some games in the outdoors. While TV makes you dumb, the games make you smarter.
Read lot of books. Read classic stories, fables (like Aesop fables, Panchatantra stories, etc), etc. Don't spend too much time on comic cartoons.
Kamis, 02 Oktober 2008
5 Ways to Improve YOUR English without even Trying! for people who speak English as a second language
by: Kim Rogers
Learning a second language can be a very stressful and arduous task if you let it. Somehow, the words you learn in the books don't seem to apply very well to real life situations. Those small and seemingly un-important elements the show a person to be in command of not only the language, but the culture of the people who speak it cannot be adequately expressed by words on paper.
So, how do you learn these little secrets of mastering the ability to articulate yourself in another language?
Here are 5 proven techniques that will help you improve your English without even trying, if you are learning to speak English as a second language. Do they really work? Yes. I've tried them myself as I've had opportunity to live somewhere where English wasn't the primary language. I found it to be a fun, exciting, and painless way to learn both the language and the culture. The culture is simply learning the way the natives express their own words. The genuine accent, facial expressions, hand gestures, sighs, moans, groans, laughter, smirks, and other things that go along with everyday conversation.
Regardless of how extensive or not your vocabulary is, if you master the ability to "sound" like you know the language and can speak it, people will be more than generous to assist you.
1. Watch Movies!
Watching movies is always a fun thing to do. In order to get the most out of your movie watching experience, if your vocabulary is limited, watch a movie in English that you are very familiar with in your own language so you always know what's going on. Try not to translate as you go because you lose blocks of conversation this way. Instead, watch the picture and listen. Hear all the words, but determine what's going on by the pictures you see and the words you're hearing that you already know. Believe it or not, other words will sink in too, and so will the accent and everything else that went with what you saw and heard.
As your vocabulary grows, expand your movie selections to other movies you'd like to see but are only available in English. Try to be able to see the film more than once if possible.
According to the location and type of film you intend to view, you will be able to experience different accents, and other cultural expressions of the English language. Pick and choose the things that you think will suit you best. If it doesn't work out, pick and try something else! Have fun with yourself and your efforts.
2. Watch Soap Operas
The place where extreme expression and limited vocabulary meet! This is such a fascinating way to learn a foreign language. Every accessory that goes with the expression of a word is demonstrated on a soap opera. "Outrage" expressed with a word, facial expression or two, and perhaps even a subsequent face slap, all of that being understandable in any language. "Love", another universal subject, or violence, good versus evil can all be discerned quickly and easily on a soap opera. Plus, soap operas are naturally designed to allow anyone just tuning in to pick up the story quickly. The characters are easily loveable and deliciously "hate-able" so you turn to it again and again to see what's going on, and not only improve your English each time, but reinforce what you've already learned.
3. Read the Comics/Funny Papers
Very non-stressful! Pictures with words, or words with pictures, however you want to look at it, it's a great way to learn! For each thought presented there are words that match a picture, and vice versa. It doesn't matter if you read comic books, or the comics in the Sunday newspaper, read whatever will make you laugh and cause you to enjoy learning at the same time.
4. Read Children's books
If you know any little kids between the ages of 5-8, try reading one of their books to them. Usually little kids know their favorite books by heart, so if you stumble a little, they'll be able to help you.
If you enjoy this method of improving your English, and you find yourself to be pretty good at it, then try reading a few Dr. Seuss books. The rhyming will challenge you, but once you master it, your pronunciation of English, and your delivery will have been considerably refined and improved.
5. Take a service job like waiter or waitress; bartender, or sales person.
This type of job can be done if you have a decent vocabulary of verbs, and know how to say "I, we, she, he, they", etc. The only other thing necessary is a working vocabulary of things relevant to your specific tasks and goals.
For example, as a breakfast waitress, you want to be able to ask if they want their eggs, "scrambled or fried", if they want "more coffee", if everything is "alright", do they want "anything else", and the total of their bill in their own language!
If you sell real estate, you'll want to incorporate words like "mortgage, loan, co-sign, 30 year fixed", etc.
If you sell shoes, you need words like "how does that feel", are they "too tight, too loose, to short in the toe, to big", etc.
The longer you work at your job, the more your working vocabulary will improve.
6. Learn these two sentences and you'll be set for life . . . seriously!
"How do you say (blank)", in English (Spanish, French, etc.), and "What is that called?" (Point if you have to, and smile too). Smiling is a universal language. Once I learned how to ask these two questions, I was on my way to being conversant in the language of my choice!
I could use my limited vocabulary to ask the question and then when I got my answer I would repeat it a few times to make sure I was saying it correctly, and "BAM" I had a new vocabulary word. And, because I asked my question to the best of my ability in the native tongue, the natives realized my sincere desire to learn, and helped me!
7. What happens if you make a mistake?
Nothing. The world won't come to an end, and you haven't embarrassed yourself to the point where you can't show your face again. Just apologize if that's what's called for, or laugh at yourself, make the correction, and count it as a learning experience.
Once I was in a restaurant and I wanted to ask the waiter for a "to go" box, however, I was speaking to my kids in English, and trying to think of what I wanted to ask for in Spanish, and I promptly and incorrectly asked him for a "house to go". He looked at me kind of funny, but he was very courteous, and didn't laugh until I laughed.
I've committed other language faux pas as well over the years, all of which have been a learning experience, and if given enough time, will become a humorous story as well.
Learning a second language can be a very stressful and arduous task if you let it. Somehow, the words you learn in the books don't seem to apply very well to real life situations. Those small and seemingly un-important elements the show a person to be in command of not only the language, but the culture of the people who speak it cannot be adequately expressed by words on paper.
So, how do you learn these little secrets of mastering the ability to articulate yourself in another language?
Here are 5 proven techniques that will help you improve your English without even trying, if you are learning to speak English as a second language. Do they really work? Yes. I've tried them myself as I've had opportunity to live somewhere where English wasn't the primary language. I found it to be a fun, exciting, and painless way to learn both the language and the culture. The culture is simply learning the way the natives express their own words. The genuine accent, facial expressions, hand gestures, sighs, moans, groans, laughter, smirks, and other things that go along with everyday conversation.
Regardless of how extensive or not your vocabulary is, if you master the ability to "sound" like you know the language and can speak it, people will be more than generous to assist you.
1. Watch Movies!
Watching movies is always a fun thing to do. In order to get the most out of your movie watching experience, if your vocabulary is limited, watch a movie in English that you are very familiar with in your own language so you always know what's going on. Try not to translate as you go because you lose blocks of conversation this way. Instead, watch the picture and listen. Hear all the words, but determine what's going on by the pictures you see and the words you're hearing that you already know. Believe it or not, other words will sink in too, and so will the accent and everything else that went with what you saw and heard.
As your vocabulary grows, expand your movie selections to other movies you'd like to see but are only available in English. Try to be able to see the film more than once if possible.
According to the location and type of film you intend to view, you will be able to experience different accents, and other cultural expressions of the English language. Pick and choose the things that you think will suit you best. If it doesn't work out, pick and try something else! Have fun with yourself and your efforts.
2. Watch Soap Operas
The place where extreme expression and limited vocabulary meet! This is such a fascinating way to learn a foreign language. Every accessory that goes with the expression of a word is demonstrated on a soap opera. "Outrage" expressed with a word, facial expression or two, and perhaps even a subsequent face slap, all of that being understandable in any language. "Love", another universal subject, or violence, good versus evil can all be discerned quickly and easily on a soap opera. Plus, soap operas are naturally designed to allow anyone just tuning in to pick up the story quickly. The characters are easily loveable and deliciously "hate-able" so you turn to it again and again to see what's going on, and not only improve your English each time, but reinforce what you've already learned.
3. Read the Comics/Funny Papers
Very non-stressful! Pictures with words, or words with pictures, however you want to look at it, it's a great way to learn! For each thought presented there are words that match a picture, and vice versa. It doesn't matter if you read comic books, or the comics in the Sunday newspaper, read whatever will make you laugh and cause you to enjoy learning at the same time.
4. Read Children's books
If you know any little kids between the ages of 5-8, try reading one of their books to them. Usually little kids know their favorite books by heart, so if you stumble a little, they'll be able to help you.
If you enjoy this method of improving your English, and you find yourself to be pretty good at it, then try reading a few Dr. Seuss books. The rhyming will challenge you, but once you master it, your pronunciation of English, and your delivery will have been considerably refined and improved.
5. Take a service job like waiter or waitress; bartender, or sales person.
This type of job can be done if you have a decent vocabulary of verbs, and know how to say "I, we, she, he, they", etc. The only other thing necessary is a working vocabulary of things relevant to your specific tasks and goals.
For example, as a breakfast waitress, you want to be able to ask if they want their eggs, "scrambled or fried", if they want "more coffee", if everything is "alright", do they want "anything else", and the total of their bill in their own language!
If you sell real estate, you'll want to incorporate words like "mortgage, loan, co-sign, 30 year fixed", etc.
If you sell shoes, you need words like "how does that feel", are they "too tight, too loose, to short in the toe, to big", etc.
The longer you work at your job, the more your working vocabulary will improve.
6. Learn these two sentences and you'll be set for life . . . seriously!
"How do you say (blank)", in English (Spanish, French, etc.), and "What is that called?" (Point if you have to, and smile too). Smiling is a universal language. Once I learned how to ask these two questions, I was on my way to being conversant in the language of my choice!
I could use my limited vocabulary to ask the question and then when I got my answer I would repeat it a few times to make sure I was saying it correctly, and "BAM" I had a new vocabulary word. And, because I asked my question to the best of my ability in the native tongue, the natives realized my sincere desire to learn, and helped me!
7. What happens if you make a mistake?
Nothing. The world won't come to an end, and you haven't embarrassed yourself to the point where you can't show your face again. Just apologize if that's what's called for, or laugh at yourself, make the correction, and count it as a learning experience.
Once I was in a restaurant and I wanted to ask the waiter for a "to go" box, however, I was speaking to my kids in English, and trying to think of what I wanted to ask for in Spanish, and I promptly and incorrectly asked him for a "house to go". He looked at me kind of funny, but he was very courteous, and didn't laugh until I laughed.
I've committed other language faux pas as well over the years, all of which have been a learning experience, and if given enough time, will become a humorous story as well.
Rabu, 01 Oktober 2008
Talking Dictionaries And Language Learning
by: Frank Gerace
Is it worth the extra money to purchase an elecgtronic dictionary with sound?
The following comments have specific reference to learning Spanish but I believe they are relevant to the learning of other languages as well.
Some people (curiously and unfortunately, not all) who learn a new language are interested in achieving a good accent in their new language. Nevertheless, it is not well known that there are three components of the accent of a given language: the rhythm or intonation (the music) of the language, the links between the sounds, syllables, and words in an utterance, and lastly, the proper pronunciation of the sounds of the language. The lesson here is that the formation of the vowels and consonants of a language is only part of the task of learning that language. However, it is where most learners begin. Let’s look at the place of the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants of Spanish.
Many language experts believe that the intonation and linkage contribute more to speaking like a native than does the proper pronunciation of all the sounds. This can be seen in the manner in which the people of San José, Cost Rica pronounce the Spanish letter “ere”. For some strange reason, which I have not been able, to track down historically or linguistically, they pronounce the word “arroz” just like a Gringo would. Their double “r” is not trilled as in most Spanish speaking countries; it is not velar as it is in much of Puerto Rico. It is pronounced just as an untrained American would pronounce it. Yet, the person hearing this “error” has no doubt that the persons speaking are native speakers of Spanish. The flow of their speech is perfect and the listener just thinks, “I wonder why they pronounce that word that way…” In other words, often the pronunciation of the sounds is the least important element of speaking well.
Yet pronunciation is the place where the learner should begin. Habits of bad pronunciation once ingrained become automatic and are hard to eliminate, while errors of intonation and linkage can more easily be consciously detected and corrected in later stages of the learning process.
The person learning Spanish has one advantage over the person learning another language. The advantage is that most the vowels and consonants of Spanish are close to those of English, and their pronunciation is perfectly regular.
First of all, the vowels sounds represented by the 5 letters, a, e, i, and u, have five sounds. That’s right, five! It is not like the case of the many English vowel sounds represented by the same letters, such as rough, cough, though, and through, or the case of the same sound represented by different letters in the words, ache, weigh, pay, hey, jail, and tape.
The major difference is that the vowel sounds in Spanish are pure; they do not have the little “tail’ that English vowels have.
The consonant sounds in Spanish are largely similar to those of English. This does not mean that they are all the same! There are differences with the “l”, “b” and “d” sounds. The main difference with some consonants in Spanish is that they are not “aspirated”, that is they are not made with a puff of air, as are those of English. If you put the back of your hand in front of your mouth when you say “Papa” or “tonto” in Spanish you should not feel the same movement of air that you feel when you say “Pope” or “tent” in English.
These differences are real but fairly manageable by the learner who wants to start off right in Spanish. Once the differences are known they can be worked on. For example, it is relatively easy to leave off the English glide at the end of the Spanish vowels.
Progress can be made with written descriptions of the Spanish sounds. The sounds can be described by comparing them with close English words. And the ear can be trained by listening to native speakers. There are many speech samples on the Internet and most large cities in the United States have at least one Television channel transmitting in Spanish.
All of the above has the purpose of leading into the issue of the value of a “talking” dictionary. Many people who want to learn Spanish think that they need a talking dictionary. Often the learner thinks that this will provide an advantage in learning the language. However, it is a mistake to invest in a talking dictionary. The very best are very expensive and most of them, even the most expensive, have such small speakers that it is impossible to hear the fine points of the pronunciation of Spanish.
The learner very soon knows how to pronounce Spanish since the rules are 100% regular. What is need is the effort to actually pronounce the sounds. Many learners are ashamed of imitating the sounds of the language they are learning and they speak the new language with the same intonation, linkage, and pronunciation of their own native language.
The end result of the learner’s pronunciation (as of his or her overall accent) will be the result of his or her own ability and of the effort expended. The talking dictionary does not contribute anything to the equation. A good electronic Dictionary such as the Oxford Spanish English Dictionary, found at www.LeerEsPoder.com/dicOxford.htm , will be all the learner needs.
Is it worth the extra money to purchase an elecgtronic dictionary with sound?
The following comments have specific reference to learning Spanish but I believe they are relevant to the learning of other languages as well.
Some people (curiously and unfortunately, not all) who learn a new language are interested in achieving a good accent in their new language. Nevertheless, it is not well known that there are three components of the accent of a given language: the rhythm or intonation (the music) of the language, the links between the sounds, syllables, and words in an utterance, and lastly, the proper pronunciation of the sounds of the language. The lesson here is that the formation of the vowels and consonants of a language is only part of the task of learning that language. However, it is where most learners begin. Let’s look at the place of the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants of Spanish.
Many language experts believe that the intonation and linkage contribute more to speaking like a native than does the proper pronunciation of all the sounds. This can be seen in the manner in which the people of San José, Cost Rica pronounce the Spanish letter “ere”. For some strange reason, which I have not been able, to track down historically or linguistically, they pronounce the word “arroz” just like a Gringo would. Their double “r” is not trilled as in most Spanish speaking countries; it is not velar as it is in much of Puerto Rico. It is pronounced just as an untrained American would pronounce it. Yet, the person hearing this “error” has no doubt that the persons speaking are native speakers of Spanish. The flow of their speech is perfect and the listener just thinks, “I wonder why they pronounce that word that way…” In other words, often the pronunciation of the sounds is the least important element of speaking well.
Yet pronunciation is the place where the learner should begin. Habits of bad pronunciation once ingrained become automatic and are hard to eliminate, while errors of intonation and linkage can more easily be consciously detected and corrected in later stages of the learning process.
The person learning Spanish has one advantage over the person learning another language. The advantage is that most the vowels and consonants of Spanish are close to those of English, and their pronunciation is perfectly regular.
First of all, the vowels sounds represented by the 5 letters, a, e, i, and u, have five sounds. That’s right, five! It is not like the case of the many English vowel sounds represented by the same letters, such as rough, cough, though, and through, or the case of the same sound represented by different letters in the words, ache, weigh, pay, hey, jail, and tape.
The major difference is that the vowel sounds in Spanish are pure; they do not have the little “tail’ that English vowels have.
The consonant sounds in Spanish are largely similar to those of English. This does not mean that they are all the same! There are differences with the “l”, “b” and “d” sounds. The main difference with some consonants in Spanish is that they are not “aspirated”, that is they are not made with a puff of air, as are those of English. If you put the back of your hand in front of your mouth when you say “Papa” or “tonto” in Spanish you should not feel the same movement of air that you feel when you say “Pope” or “tent” in English.
These differences are real but fairly manageable by the learner who wants to start off right in Spanish. Once the differences are known they can be worked on. For example, it is relatively easy to leave off the English glide at the end of the Spanish vowels.
Progress can be made with written descriptions of the Spanish sounds. The sounds can be described by comparing them with close English words. And the ear can be trained by listening to native speakers. There are many speech samples on the Internet and most large cities in the United States have at least one Television channel transmitting in Spanish.
All of the above has the purpose of leading into the issue of the value of a “talking” dictionary. Many people who want to learn Spanish think that they need a talking dictionary. Often the learner thinks that this will provide an advantage in learning the language. However, it is a mistake to invest in a talking dictionary. The very best are very expensive and most of them, even the most expensive, have such small speakers that it is impossible to hear the fine points of the pronunciation of Spanish.
The learner very soon knows how to pronounce Spanish since the rules are 100% regular. What is need is the effort to actually pronounce the sounds. Many learners are ashamed of imitating the sounds of the language they are learning and they speak the new language with the same intonation, linkage, and pronunciation of their own native language.
The end result of the learner’s pronunciation (as of his or her overall accent) will be the result of his or her own ability and of the effort expended. The talking dictionary does not contribute anything to the equation. A good electronic Dictionary such as the Oxford Spanish English Dictionary, found at www.LeerEsPoder.com/dicOxford.htm , will be all the learner needs.
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