Relationship

How to learn to speak English on your own

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Today’s youth (as well as students of all ages) are equipped with more tools than ever to learn English. In the 1980s, students relied on private lessons, printed books, and language learning tapes to improve their English language skills. Now there are many more opportunities online to listen to authentic native English speakers and practice with activities such as multiple-choice exercises. Many of these activities are free, while others have a cost. Whereas students in the past had to travel the world to practice authentic language in a real-world context, now students use apps, text messages, FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts, and more to practice their language skills. All one needs is a good internet connection, a computer, and an Android or iPad to get started.

First of all, one should not forget the importance of reading literature in the language being studied, no matter what the language is. Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and other vendors offer an excellent selection of downloadable books. Many prefer PDF books that can be stored in the iBooks app on their iPads or Android. Most experts agree that the best English writers and speakers are those who have taken the time to read extensively in various genres, including but not limited to romance, literary fiction, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Writers of great books tend to exemplify the best of English, so the digital book should not be overlooked as a valuable tool in a world that tends to provide the quick gratification of acquiring knowledge through online programs.

With that said, it’s good to know that there are so many apps and websites for students who want to learn English on their own, even as a means to outperform their peers at school or work (or to score high on a test. ). One of those valuable sites to acquire English is Udemy. Udemy offers courses of all kinds in the English language. Most of the teachers are native English speakers or second language speakers with a high level of proficiency. By taking a Udemy course, the student develops a vocabulary specific to a field of specialization. Another excellent site is The Great Courses, a site where you can purchase a Great Professors digital course and stream it in an online digital locker. The Great Courses site offers quite long English courses with a wide range of subjects, especially in literature and philosophy. Otherwise, an advanced student of English could supplement their studies with excellent lectures given on TED.com or with free courses offered through universities on the Coursera website.

There is something for people of all language levels, from beginners to advanced professionals. There are programs to address the needs of each learning style. No matter how young or old they are, everyone benefits from websites originally created for public and private schools. Students and teachers find a large number of downloadable worksheets and puzzles, as well as downloadable English books on these sites. Many of these learning sites are backed by the products they advertise and sell. The products of these sponsors add value because they tend to be related to the acquisition of English.

It would be impossible to provide a list of all the sites available in the digital world. New sites emerge all the time when creative people design original means to teach languages ​​online. Rather than learning in one place with a limited methodology, students benefit from exposure to a variety of teaching techniques, strategies, activities, and games. Here is a list of some of my favorite sites that I have used in my experience as an English teacher. Not all of these sites meet the needs of all students, so students must choose from these sites and more:

  • Englishgrammar.org

  • Wall Street’s “English Anytime”

  • Learnamericanenglishonline.com

  • usalearns.org

  • Learnenglish.britishcouncil.org

  • bbc.co.UK

  • Busuu.com

  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary – Official Site

  • Oxforddictionaries.com

  • eslbase.com

  • ESL.partyland.com

  • Khancademy.org

  • Lynda.com

  • Duolingo.com

  • iteslj.org/questions/

  • better-english.com

  • ESLvideo.com

  • kidslearningville.com

  • studyenglishtoday.net

  • pinkmonkey.com

  • brighthub.com

  • usingenglish.com

  • livinglanguage.com

  • ets.org/toefl

  • rosettastone.com

  • English-at-home.com

  • learningEnglish.voanews.com

  • https://www.youtube.com/user/VideoLearnEnglish

  • talkEnglish.com

  • YouTube.com (lessons, music, movies, and more)

  • abaEnglish.com

  • abcfastphonics.com

  • free-phonics-worksheets.com

  • kizphonics.com

At Kiz Phonics, students find valuable examples of the pronunciation of sounds in English. Note that this site is American, but there are equivalent sites with pronunciation from England, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. Adult learners will benefit as much from hearing pronunciation examples on a kid-friendly website as well as children, as phonetics apply to all ages. It is wise to focus on the wide range of vowel sounds spoken by English speakers because most second language speakers are initially unaware of how each vowel makes so many sounds depending on the surrounding letters.

For unfamiliar words, I would turn to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the online Oxford Dictionary, or a general “word of the day” email list that one can sign up to receive daily messages with new vocabulary. Even a native speaker may not know all the words one receives in word emails every day. Students should pay close attention to the etymologies of words. Year etymology it is an explanation of where a word came from and possibly how it changed in both form and sound over a long period of time. Studying word origins makes a challenging language like English even more fun because it links the language to historical origins and to various cultures.

When considering the meaning of words, it is still wise to evaluate a word used in context. English vocabulary is planted in an environment that enables the English learner to understand the intended meaning. There are sites, including sites with dictionaries, that explain the differences between homonyms, homophones, synonyms, and rhyming words. One such site is RhymeZone.com. The Rhyme Zone also provides a valuable thesaurus that will allow students to understand the nuances of the English language.

ABA English offers a natural way to learn English by watching movies related to real life. One of my former adult students from Italy commented that this site was nice and that it made learning English seem like less work than learning in the classroom. ABA English offers a trial period so that anyone can try the program and benefit from its videos for free. If students prefer to advance in the program, they can enroll in Premium services. Otherwise, students may prefer to watch free YouTube videos about English language and sing along with some YouTube music videos with printed lyrics for singers. Singing allows students to practice the flow of sounds naturally.

Wall Street English offers exciting social clubs. Students go to one of its centers (centers) to participate in fabulous activities that address popular culture, trends, marketing, business, advertising, and even the arts. It can be a lot of fun making friends at a Wall Street social event. Wall Street also offers an exciting online “Village” also known as “English Anytime” for motivated students who need to know English for success at work, school and in the workforce. Wall Street English combines the best of classroom teaching with online teaching at a very reasonable and affordable price.

For serious ESL and TEFL students who want to explore English stories in detail, there is Pink Monkey.com, a site with a huge collection of literary summaries written in English. These summaries will help students better understand their literary studies or choose books they would like to read. Both Cliffs and Spark Notes are similar American sites for students with literary leanings of the great English language.

Last but not least, ABCmouse.com, for a small fee, teaches kids activities that come straight from the classroom. One finds thousands of activities within the reach of children. Students click anywhere and are directed to an activity so students never run out of activities. For children of all ages, Reading Bear will teach 1,200 vocabulary items in 50 presentations that cover all the rules of English phonics for free.

As you can see, no matter where one has studied English in the past or where one currently studies English alone or in a classroom, there are many things that the student can study online to improve reading, writing, listening and speaking. . English through websites and apps. Students will find a variety of activities ranging from elementary basic phonics to college-level presentations on sites like Udemy and TED.com. No matter where you have come from in your English studies, you must take responsibility for your own learning. A single teacher cannot provide students with all the knowledge they need because a teacher’s knowledge is limited and comes from only one point of view, no matter how good the teacher is. Therefore, students should not blame their teachers for what they do not know when there are so many opportunities to explore English on the Internet. Students should always use research as a means to better understand words, phrases, and idioms. It is still the responsibility of the student to try to cover all facets of the language, especially when there are so many interesting opportunities!

Gaming

Classic Game Review: Reforging 88

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REFORGER ’88 reflects the same kind of careful research and exciting game theory that Gary Grigsby’s pastime awaits after games like Guadalcanal Campaign, Carrier Force, Objective Kursk, and War in Russia. In this simulation, a hypothetical invasion of Fulda Gap by Warsaw Pact forces with the primary objective of securing the Rhein Main Air Force Base near Frankfurt, US and West German forces must fight in a holding action against Soviet and East German aggressors to bring the superior replacement ability of NATO forces to take its toll on the Communists. The game can be described as a great tactical warfare in the sense that the player is concerned with unit-to-unit battle where terrain and objective selection is vital for success, but where the player must also be concerned with general assignments. supply, air superiority and / or targeting and air reconnaissance normally reserved for strategic decision makers.

Therefore, the game has an excellent combination of two levels of decision making in which many games opt for a strategic or tactical level. In solo mode, the player is limited to playing with NATO forces. Of course, this must necessarily limit your appeal to the aggressive player who wants to take on a computer opponent. In the two-player version, the game runs smoothly and is friendly enough to allow an exciting game to be played in an afternoon. Grigsby wastes little programming time on superfluous “whistles and bells” like unnecessary title pages and graphics. Instead, it offers useful features like “automatic movement tank”. This feature allows supply depots to reach the front lines very quickly, limiting the need for the player to try and find the best route to the front. Once the depot has stopped near the front lines, the player can maneuver it to supply the units he most needs to supply. However, the presentation of the game could have been improved if the coated maps had been printed with the map coordinates. The game could have been sped up considerably with that little addition.

As with most of Grigsby’s ground ops games, supply is a huge factor. Out-of-supply units are not only practically defenseless, but also unable to move. It’s not nice to be an easy target when five or more Warsaw Pact units surround you. The successful player will read the supply rules carefully and make a significant effort to enter within the two hexes required to supply all of his units.

The second most important factor in winning the game is the Air Mission Assignment Phase. The most important mission is “air superiority”. No matter how many combat points the player can place in a “ground attack,” he will lose an inappropriate number of aircraft if the enemy’s “air superiority” is significantly greater than his own. I have found the NATO player to be prudent when using all of their F-15 and F-16 Falcons, as well as most Tornados, in “air superiority” missions, so that the Phantoms, F-111,

The A-10, PAH-LS and AH-64 will have a reasonable chance of survival. This suggested assignment has the advantage of using each of the aircraft according to their strongest combat point values ​​(except for the Tornados which have a better ground attack rating but are desperately needed to counter “air superiority” of the Warsaw Pact because its 9 CP is the third highest in “air superiority” missions. Then, just when a player thinks they have the mechanics of the game in hand, they must learn to be alert to two very important advantages of the Pact of Warsaw, paratroopers and chemical warfare.On paratroopers, see Strategically Speaking from CGW 5.2 In chemical warfare, the Warsaw Pact must have strategic objectives in mind, as the doubling of the effectiveness of airstrikes and bombings is reduced by half when used against a battle group that has previously experienced a chemical attack. So, it is foolish to use chemical warfare so early in the day. l game that its strategic value and demoralizing effect are not available when NATO’s defensive strategy. orcas dig. One last short hint is in order. Unlike some games (and ours, actual battles) where the same piece of land, hill or block is taken and retaken numerous times, NATO’s defensive objective means that once the Warsaw Pact forces enter a city hex, NATO forces can never retake it.

Therefore, it is vital that the NATO player meet the enemy before the city hex attacks. This way, the NATO player can retreat to the city if defeated and take full advantage of the effects of the city’s defensive terrain.

REFORGER ’88 is an excellent game that uses a fluid and easy-to-use system that is satisfying to play from the initial boot to the last battle turn. It is the product of an incredible amount of research and even a reading of the weapons systems list makes some of the Pentagon’s budget considerations seem clearer. The game is intended for a large amount of playtime and a long lifespan.

Health Fitness

How Cardio Exercise Helps You Lose Weight

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Some type of cardiovascular exercise is a must if you want to lose weight. These activities involve running, jumping, and even dancing. In other words, any exercise that gets your heart pumping.

Many people take aerobics classes for cardiovascular exercise. Aerobics generally involve exercising to music in a coordinated way, almost like dancing. Aerobics became popular in the 1980s and were developed to make exercise more fun.

In addition to aerobics, you can also do other exercises such as cycling, running, or stair climbing. Most health clubs today have a wide range of fitness equipment, such as escalators, bicycles, rowing machines, and treadmills.

Cardiovascular exercise burns calories and also stimulates your metabolism a bit. This is why people are advised not to exercise before going to bed. While some forms of exercise, like yoga and toning exercises, are fine to do before bed and may even improve sleep, cardio is best done in the morning, before going to work or starting the day. .

Any physical activity that increases your heart rate will likely make you sweat when you actually start exercising. When doing any cardiovascular exercise, you want to make sure you stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Combining a great exercise routine with a low calorie diet is the most effective way to lose weight. Although low-impact exercises can tone muscles and shed fat, cardiovascular exercises burn calories. However, you should try to incorporate both types of exercises, both cardio and toning exercises, into your routine. Some personal trainers feel that doing cardio every other day and low-impact training or toning the other days is a good way to lose calories and tone muscles.

You should start slowly when starting any exercise routine and check with your doctor before starting to make sure it is safe for your heart. If you feel short of breath or dizzy when doing any cardiovascular exercise, stop immediately. Sometimes this can happen if you start too fast. If you continue with the exercise program, you will gradually develop to the point where you can do more each time. Never continue exercising despite pain or discomfort, especially if you feel dizzy. You don’t have to have a fancy gym membership to incorporate cardiovascular exercise into your life, although gyms have a variety of equipment that makes this exercise easier for you.

Legal Law

Change management disaster at AIG

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For those who study change management cases, they are often taught about the worst change management disasters in American business history. And there is a lot to study. However, there has been quite a bit of recent history regarding change management that no one is talking about yet.

After the fallout from subprime mortgages and the 2008 banking crisis in the United States, some researchers have backtracked on what caused some of this. Believe it or not, change management is one of the causes. In fact, at AIG, Hank Greenberg, the company’s founder, was forced to resign from his own company and pay a fine of nearly $ 1 billion from then-New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. (We will not go into the Elliot Spitzer prostitution or abuse of power case here.)

What followed is now history, but it is a great lesson in change management and a good case study to follow. You see, after Hank Greenberg left the company, he was replaced by two gentlemen who decided it was a good financial move for the company to secure a giant mortgage package. By guaranteeing these pooled mortgages, AIG was taking significant risk.

It also allowed investment banking firms to sell packages of bad mortgages, which were not worth the paper they were written on. If a Greenberg hadn’t left the company, he certainly wouldn’t have allowed those loans to be underwritten by AIG.

This would have curbed abuse in the subprime sector and likely reduced the financial fiasco. When Hank Greenberg left the company, he left with his ethical values ​​and standards of integrity, which were not transferred to the new president and CEO. Think about this.

Lifestyle Fashion

Aphrodisiacs: myths and reality

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Sometimes not only enhancement supplements are called aphrodisiacs, but also all sexual stimulants – erotic pictures, books, videos. Thus, an aphrodisiac is any object whose taste, smell, image or sound can cause passion. The undeniable impact of an aphrodisiac is love, or at least sympathy, admiration. Modern man is so depressed and stressed by daily life and the amount of information he receives that sometimes there is not enough time not only for us but also for loved ones. Then aphrodisiacs can come to the aid as a solution. However, scientists have yet to prove that one or the other alleged aphrodisiac promotes libido and potency. Some of these measures are just the placebo effect, just because the man is convinced. But medicine recognizes that sex hormones and some psychostimulants affect sexual drive or activity. Even if you stop taking the sexual enhancements, the effect can last longer, and in some cases permanently. Moderate alcohol use also has an incentive effect, but in large doses it inhibits sexual enhancement and constant use can cause impotence.

What people believe

But science cannot explain everything. What determines the fact that people meet their other half of the number of people around them? Is it just a gift from fate or maybe it’s the art of seduction, or maybe … an aphrodisiac used successfully? Since time immemorial, man has believed in myths, rumors and stories about the miracle of one or another aphrodisiac effect. People have always sought measures that preserve youth and sexuality, a powerhouse (first mentioned in the Egyptian papyrus in 2000 BC). Practically the folklore of all nations has a “love potion” that supposedly arouses passion. “The ancient Romans loved various” love potions “in which the components could be anything: caviar, lobster tails, blood and heart of pigeon, ash from burnt skin dissolved in the blood of a lover, frog bones, feathers from a rooster’s tail, sparrow brains, tobacco, lovers’ hair, even the bones of a dead man stolen from the cemetery … and today Today there are many myths about aphrodisiacs.

Food seduction

Sexologists say that the art of food and seduction are related. A variety of foods can be an aphrodisiac. They have long been considered as exotic dishes of meat, seafood and vegetables, various spices. Still today caviar, crab, oysters, ginger root, ginseng, golden root, as well as onions, garlic, tomatoes, carrots, egg white, honey, mustard, pumpkin seeds and chocolate. The Hindu Kamasutra says that a bowl of rice should be eaten before sexual intercourse. King Henry IV of France, famous for romance, has been sipping every morning sip of brandy with the diluted egg yolk. To increase potency, the Celts drank beer with yolk. Wine, especially sparkling wine, is believed to have aphrodisiac qualities as well. Italians believe that the sex drive is stimulated with chili peppers, strawberries, chocolate, caviar, and oysters. Generalized stories of sexual passion are based on the anatomical features of oysters. Oysters are assigned to androgyny, that is, bisexual beings, due to a double sexual energy. The interesting thing is that this myth is negated by another myth: the ingestion of oysters can provoke a non-traditional sexual orientation. Neither one nor the other is true. Even in ancient times it was believed that raw meat, eggs, oysters, pepper, mint, parsley, and even carrots can affect sexual life. Z. Freud was convinced that the most effective libido enhancers are rye bread, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, mushrooms, and nettle. This opinion is consistent by the researchers when adding nuts, dates, and honey.

Use it with caution

Since ancient times it was believed that male sexual organs and their secretions had a strong erotic effect. He ate some testicles of animals or drank their sperm. They both contain hormones, testosterone and prostaglandins, which really have a stimulating effect. The alkaloids derived from horny goat weed plants and tongkat ali also have a real aphrodisiac impact because they directly influence the nerve centers of erection and ejaculation. As Kamasutra says: “Steps to initiate sexual enhancement should be gentle, natural, well coordinated, and used with caution to achieve the stated goal.” That is why well balanced natural herbal enhancement supplements could be one of the options.

Allies of passion

“Food has two important senses of sexuality: smell and taste. It gives a feeling of satisfaction. But the only true aphrodisiac: imagination,” says professor of Italian literature Falko Portinari, from the University of Italy. Sometimes it can be accompanied only by natural herbal enhancement supplements. A romantic dinner can be an ally of passion, but … More women than men see the link between food and sex. One woman in four believes that a man can be sexually seduced not only by a sexy dress but also by a romantic dinner. Therefore, an aphrodisiac can be anything that is capable of stimulating the human imagination. The best effect of sexual passion can be achieved by combining a romantic dinner and natural enhancement supplements at the same time.