Understanding Cultural Chemistry

Understanding Cultural ChemistryCultural chemistry is important to the functioning of a society. Most people would agree that the place where one lives has an effect on how one interacts with the rest of the world. The people you associate with can lead to influencing you to work together and behave in a certain way.For example, if you live in the United States, it is not unusual for you to be friends with someone from China or France. However, it is not the case for every person in the United States. What could have brought this rare relationship between the two nations closer than when they first came to America? Cultural chemistry is key to understanding what has made this relationship the way it is today.Because we have so many different cultures in this country, we have been able to overcome the type of country we are as well as the differences between them. There are differences between people who live in different parts of the world and who speak different languages. However, when two people live in the same culture, they tend to have similar beliefs, values, and behaviors.As a society, we have invested in various resources to help bridge cultural barriers. These efforts have been paid off, and we now enjoy tremendous benefits from their contributions. The ease of communication between nations has helped us to interact better with other peoples, and the examples of cultural behavior and development in other countries help to promote openness and good manners.If there are differences between different cultures, it can be said that we as a society were once stronger when we were united. Those differences could have been addressed and could have prevented conflicts between cultures, but this wasn't the case in the past.Nowadays, we live in different ways. We tend to become friends with people who we don't really know much about, and we often meet people at jobs and other social events, where we develop relationships ofa short-term nature, depending on the i ntentions of the parties involved. This is a change in the pattern of cultural chemistry, and we need to recognize that this change in the pattern is the result of some culture's unique characteristics. Although cultural characteristics might be important to our success in the long run, we should recognize that some cultures will benefit from learning to think in new ways.This is one reason why we need to encourage our children to go out into the world and make new friends. It's an important part of having the best chance of survival for our civilization. Not only will it improve the way that our children will interact with others, but it will strengthen our society overall.

Vector Displacement Online Physics Tutors Tutorpace

Vector Displacement Online Physics Tutors Tutorpace A vector is a physical quantity which has both magnitude and direction. Magnitude of a physical quantity is simply the measure or the number calculated for the quantity. Direction of a vector implies the direction of the resultant vector, usually taken from the initial starting point to the final point. Displacement is one such example of a vector quantity since it has both magnitude and direction. We can find the resultant displacement vector by joining the starting point to its ending point. Example 1: Lucy walked 7m towards east and then walked 10m towards west. Determine Lucys resulting displacement? Given: Displacement of Lucy in east (or right) direction = 7m Displacement of Lucy in west (or left) direction) = 10m Let right direction be represented as +7m and left direction be represented as -10m. Hence, resulting displacement = 7m 10m = -3m This implies that the resulting displacement of Lucy is 3m towards west! Example 2: Brian travelled 20m up north and then travelled 15m down south. Determine Brians resulting displacement? Given: Displacement of Brian in north (or upward) direction = 20m Displacement of Brian in south (or downward) direction = 15m Let upward direction be represented as +20m and downward direction be represented as -15m. Hence, resulting displacement = 20m 15m = 5m This implies that the resulting displacement of Brian is 5m up north!

Staff Spotlight Krystyna Sarrazin, Program Coordinator At Sedgefield Elementary

Staff Spotlight Krystyna Sarrazin, Program Coordinator At Sedgefield Elementary Staff Spotlight: Krystyna Sarrazin, Program Coordinator At Sedgefield Elementary Staff Spotlight: Krystyna Sarrazin, Program Coordinator At Sedgefield Elementary November 9, 2015 Krystyna Sarrazin, who joined Heart Math Tutoring in August 2015, is the Program Coordinator at Sedgefield Elementary. A Chicago native, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations at Marquette University in Milwaukee and a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management from DePaul University in Chicago. In Racine, Krystyna was the annual giving director for a healthcare system, Executive Director of the Young Professionals, and a district alderman. She is a mother of three, including two adopted daughters from Poland. She believes that when teachers, administrators, parents and volunteers all work together on the behalf of students, great things can happen! Here are Krystyna’s answers to our Spotlight questions: Favorite number? 24 because it was the year I got married, and I love even numbers! Favorite education quote: The second time its a mistake. The first time its a learning opportunity. The teacher who inspired her the most? My college Public Relations professor who made a note on my final paper of my college career that said I was in the top 3% of students she had ever taught and she had high hopes for my career. This little note gave me confidence during interviews for my first job.

Short English Travel Vocabulary - English Words and Phrases related to Holidays

Short English Travel Vocabulary - English Words and Phrases related to Holidays Summer is a great time to travel. If you are planning to travel abroad this summer, our short English travel vocabulary can come in handy.Scroll down to watch a video lesson on Travel Phrasal Verbs. First things first, lets find out what is the difference between TRAVEL, TRIP, JOURNEY and TOURISM.TRAVEL is usually used as a verb.Ex. We had been travelling all day and were exhausted.We can also use TRAVEL as a noun, but only with a general meaning of moving from place to place.Ex. Foreign travel is very popular with students.JOURNEY is a noun. It is used when you talk about going from one particular place to another. It may be long or short.Ex. The journey from New York to Los Angeles took several days.I have a short journey to work each day.TRIP is used if you talk about the whole visit â€" the journey there and back, the place you stayed and so on.Ex. I’m going on a business trip next month. Did you have a good trip?We had a very successful trip although the journey back was terrible.TOURISM is the industry of business providing accommodation, transport and other services.ex. Tourism developed in Central America more slowly than in the nearby regions of the Caribbean and sout hern Mexico. Difference between Trip, Journey, Travel and Tourism Most of the times we BOOK our train or plane tickets in advance. We pay for a seat, a couchette, or berth in advance.BERTH bed in a boatCOUCHETTE bed in a train. For example, there are couchette coaches in Nightjet train which travels across Europe.COMPARTMENT a room on a trainFARE money paid for a journeyI personally like to TRAVEL LIGHT to travel with a very small amount of luggageEx. I always travel light. I only take hand luggage.LUGGAGE   baggage (suitcases, bags, etc)A RESERVATION  is when you have paid for something in advance. You can have a reservation for a hotel room, a flight, a train and so on.Ex. â€" Sorry, Sir. This hotel is full.â€" This is ridiculous. I have a reservation.In a hotel you may be offered a SINGLE ROOM (for one person) or a DOUBLE ROOM (with a bed for two people).Ex. I’m on my own, so a single room will be fine.My husband is meeting me later so I’d like a double room, please.If the room is EN-SUITE it means that there is a private bathroom and toilet that other guest cannot use.Ex. The rooms at the Palace Hotel are all en-suite so you can relax in your own bath. Don't keep this to yourself, share it with the world: If your hotel reservation is FULL BOARD it means that all your meals will be included. If it is HALF BOARD it includes your evening meal and breakfast, but not lunch.Ex. Peter had all his meals included in the cost of the hotel. It was full board.Some  hotels offer a COMPLIMENTARY (free, costing nothing) breakfast in the morning or free drinks and snacks in the lobby.Ex. Our guests receive welcome drinks and a complimentary fruit basket on arrival.  SUPLEMENTARY costing extra moneyEx. Breakfast is supplementary  and costs £15.When you arrive at the hotel you must CHECK IN and when you leave you CHECK OUT.Ex. On the day of your arrival at the hotel, please check in by 18.00.On the day of your departure, please check out by 10.00.You also check in when you are getting a flight at an airport. After that you may wait in the DEPARTURE LOUNGE, where only people who are getting on flights are allowed.Ex. Our flight was delayed so we had to wat in the departure lounge for a few hours.A STO POVER is when you are flying to one place but have a short break in your journey in another place.Ex. The flight to Sydney isn’t direct, there is a stopover in Singapore.A BACKPACK is a big bag that you carry on your back.TO BACKPACK means to travel for quite a long time, and very cheaply.Ex. If we don’t have much money perhaps we could backpack around Europe for a couple of months. Travel Phrasal Verbs - Video Lesson

How to take your italki tutoring to the next level

How to take your italki tutoring to the next level Chris Broholm runs a great blog called Actual Fluency. Its his way to research language learning but most importantly it is a way to tell the world that ANYONE CAN LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. Hes currently taking the italki 2015 New Years Language Challenge to learn Russian and shared this great post that will help anyone taking the challenge or learning a new language. Original post here. In this post I’ll share a few ways you can take your iTalki tutoring to the next level, as well as give you an update on my Russian mission and iTalki New Year’s challenge. I’m currently 2.5 hours into my iTalki New Year’s Challenge to complete 20 hours of language tutoring in just 45 days. You can still join the challenge, but be quick as registration ends January 31st. The iTalki New Year’s challenge is going strong, and I’m really enjoying getting daily lessons. In today’s post I thought I’d give you an idea how my tutoring experience has evolved and also share some of the things I have found to be working really great. I’ll also share an actual recording from a recent session. You can hear me struggle, stumble and pause as I desperately try to speak Russian. In the second section of the post I will answer some questions that was written to me using the contact page. If you have any question about language learning, you are more than welcome to do the same! What’s changed in my tutoring Lenght of sessions A lot has changed in my tutoring since I began in autumn last year. First I discovered that 60 minute lessons were simply too long. After just 40 minutes my brain would begin to feel ready to explode, after having frantically searched every available cell for Russian words. By 50 minutes I could hardly say a thing, and by 60 minutes I was fried. I’m sure this is different from person to person, but after I switched to half-sessions twice as often I feel way better. 30 minutes seems like a perfect length for me but also for the kind of discussion I usually have with my teacher. Speed of the language After my extended break from Russian studies over the Christmas period I told my tutor that my goals for the iTalki Challenge would be to speak better and also be able to understand radio and television. I also asked if we could speed up the language a bit. Up until now she had been speaking very slowly, which was fantastic when I just started, but as I grew stronger in the language it was time to let go of the crutches! Now she speaks a lot faster. Nowhere near native-like speed, but a lot faster than last year. I can only recommend that you re-evaluate your goals with your tutor on a frequent basis. Also make sure to let him/her know if you have specific goals, so he/she can plan the sessions. A clearer  goal My tutoring sessions last year were great, don’t get me wrong. But they lacked the direction I was looking for, simply because I hadn’t told my tutor exactly what I wanted. I was being lazy and simply left it to her to plan each lesson. Since  I stepped up and asked my tutor to focus on the spoken language we’ve started working with Russian tv-shows. And man, is it challenging. They speak SO fast! The first show she had me watch, I literally struggled to understand 1 in 10 words. It’s getting better now with more and more exposure, but most importantly is that we work based on the episodes. She gives me questions for a section of an episode  and because this is my chosen goal, I work much harder to prepare for each session. Looking up words and preparing sentences. I didn’t do this last year. Often we don’t quite cover the questions because we often go off on tangents related to culture and other normal conversation topics. This makes me extremely confident that I’m on the right path towards conversational fluency. Listen to me in action! Here’s a brand-new tutoring session I had with my tutor this week. We were discussing this episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrR7xZlKNzQ Reader questions about tutoring These came in recently from a user, submitted via the contact page. You are always welcome to send me a message as well! I read every one of them. Do you recommend your tutor? My tutor Anastasia is fantastic. She has endless amounts of patience and has a lot of experience in tutoring on iTalki. You can count on her to prepare interesting materials before every lesson, and she always replied to my questions over Skype outside of lessons as well. She’s also great at adapting the lessons for my needs, as I explained above. On top of all her fee is very reasonable. What do you look for, when choosing a tutor on iTalki? The best indicator for me would be the user reviews tied to the teacher profile. Go in there and see the scores and also if students left actual text reviews. Although iTalki gives the students the option to leave a written review at the end of a session, most are too lazy to do it. So if you see good reviews across the board, it usually means the teacher is doing well. Experience with other languages, amount of lessons he/she has taught as well as diplomas are other indicators to look for when making your decision. Ultimately though it comes down to trial and error. Just because Anastasia works great for me, doesn’t mean that she is the best fit for you. iTalki offers you 3 trial lessons, which are discounted lessons so you can try out different tutors before you hire one for real. How often (and for how long) do you think one should take lessons there? As often as possible! Depending on your budget, schedule and goals in the language. I would just go for as many as that combination allows. My feeling is that you should aim to get at the VERY least a lesson per fortnight, but the more the better. You can’t take too many lessons. But I believe there is definitely a correlation between the quality of tutoring related to how far apart the lessons are, meaning that the longer you wait in between lessons, the more likely it is that you have forgotten things that you could have potentially refreshed, had you had a tutoring session earlier. Also by having more frequent lessons your general language learning is more focused, and you are more motivated because you are working towards a tangiable, upcoming goal. That’s it! 2.5 hours down, 17.5 hours to go! I hope you enjoyed my post on tutoring.  For more information on the topic I highly suggest Benny Lewis’ extensive article on it here: How to find the right teacher for online language lessons. How is your iTalki challenge going? Let me know in the comments below! How to take your italki tutoring to the next level Chris Broholm runs a great blog called Actual Fluency. Its his way to research language learning but most importantly it is a way to tell the world that ANYONE CAN LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE. Hes currently taking the italki 2015 New Years Language Challenge to learn Russian and shared this great post that will help anyone taking the challenge or learning a new language. Original post here. In this post I’ll share a few ways you can take your iTalki tutoring to the next level, as well as give you an update on my Russian mission and iTalki New Year’s challenge. I’m currently 2.5 hours into my iTalki New Year’s Challenge to complete 20 hours of language tutoring in just 45 days. You can still join the challenge, but be quick as registration ends January 31st. The iTalki New Year’s challenge is going strong, and I’m really enjoying getting daily lessons. In today’s post I thought I’d give you an idea how my tutoring experience has evolved and also share some of the things I have found to be working really great. I’ll also share an actual recording from a recent session. You can hear me struggle, stumble and pause as I desperately try to speak Russian. In the second section of the post I will answer some questions that was written to me using the contact page. If you have any question about language learning, you are more than welcome to do the same! What’s changed in my tutoring Lenght of sessions A lot has changed in my tutoring since I began in autumn last year. First I discovered that 60 minute lessons were simply too long. After just 40 minutes my brain would begin to feel ready to explode, after having frantically searched every available cell for Russian words. By 50 minutes I could hardly say a thing, and by 60 minutes I was fried. I’m sure this is different from person to person, but after I switched to half-sessions twice as often I feel way better. 30 minutes seems like a perfect length for me but also for the kind of discussion I usually have with my teacher. Speed of the language After my extended break from Russian studies over the Christmas period I told my tutor that my goals for the iTalki Challenge would be to speak better and also be able to understand radio and television. I also asked if we could speed up the language a bit. Up until now she had been speaking very slowly, which was fantastic when I just started, but as I grew stronger in the language it was time to let go of the crutches! Now she speaks a lot faster. Nowhere near native-like speed, but a lot faster than last year. I can only recommend that you re-evaluate your goals with your tutor on a frequent basis. Also make sure to let him/her know if you have specific goals, so he/she can plan the sessions. A clearer  goal My tutoring sessions last year were great, don’t get me wrong. But they lacked the direction I was looking for, simply because I hadn’t told my tutor exactly what I wanted. I was being lazy and simply left it to her to plan each lesson. Since  I stepped up and asked my tutor to focus on the spoken language we’ve started working with Russian tv-shows. And man, is it challenging. They speak SO fast! The first show she had me watch, I literally struggled to understand 1 in 10 words. It’s getting better now with more and more exposure, but most importantly is that we work based on the episodes. She gives me questions for a section of an episode  and because this is my chosen goal, I work much harder to prepare for each session. Looking up words and preparing sentences. I didn’t do this last year. Often we don’t quite cover the questions because we often go off on tangents related to culture and other normal conversation topics. This makes me extremely confident that I’m on the right path towards conversational fluency. Listen to me in action! Here’s a brand-new tutoring session I had with my tutor this week. We were discussing this episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrR7xZlKNzQ Reader questions about tutoring These came in recently from a user, submitted via the contact page. You are always welcome to send me a message as well! I read every one of them. Do you recommend your tutor? My tutor Anastasia is fantastic. She has endless amounts of patience and has a lot of experience in tutoring on iTalki. You can count on her to prepare interesting materials before every lesson, and she always replied to my questions over Skype outside of lessons as well. She’s also great at adapting the lessons for my needs, as I explained above. On top of all her fee is very reasonable. What do you look for, when choosing a tutor on iTalki? The best indicator for me would be the user reviews tied to the teacher profile. Go in there and see the scores and also if students left actual text reviews. Although iTalki gives the students the option to leave a written review at the end of a session, most are too lazy to do it. So if you see good reviews across the board, it usually means the teacher is doing well. Experience with other languages, amount of lessons he/she has taught as well as diplomas are other indicators to look for when making your decision. Ultimately though it comes down to trial and error. Just because Anastasia works great for me, doesn’t mean that she is the best fit for you. iTalki offers you 3 trial lessons, which are discounted lessons so you can try out different tutors before you hire one for real. How often (and for how long) do you think one should take lessons there? As often as possible! Depending on your budget, schedule and goals in the language. I would just go for as many as that combination allows. My feeling is that you should aim to get at the VERY least a lesson per fortnight, but the more the better. You can’t take too many lessons. But I believe there is definitely a correlation between the quality of tutoring related to how far apart the lessons are, meaning that the longer you wait in between lessons, the more likely it is that you have forgotten things that you could have potentially refreshed, had you had a tutoring session earlier. Also by having more frequent lessons your general language learning is more focused, and you are more motivated because you are working towards a tangiable, upcoming goal. That’s it! 2.5 hours down, 17.5 hours to go! I hope you enjoyed my post on tutoring.  For more information on the topic I highly suggest Benny Lewis’ extensive article on it here: How to find the right teacher for online language lessons. How is your iTalki challenge going? Let me know in the comments below!

How to Get Along Better With Coworkers

How to Get Along Better With Coworkers Image via unsplash.com 1. Have a solid foundation of respect Regardless of how close or distant you are with your coworker, you need to respect one another in order to be productive in the workplace and in your relationships. There are countless ways of being respectful in the workplace, including: Completing your own workload and not slacking. Who wants a coworker that slacks and makes everyone else make up for their lack of productivity and initiative? No one. Make sure you are doing your job, as leaving your duties to other coworkers is disrespectful and unproductive. Recognize personal space, boundaries, and belongings. If each coworker has their own cubicle, you dont want to needlessly intrude for things that arent work-related just to keep them from their own work. Or, if they have their personal belongings like food in a shared space, do not feel free to help yourself. Listening to them when they say no after you display certain behavior or discuss a certain topic. You may think nothing of asking a certain question, but to someone else, it can be seen invasive or on a topic that is traumatic to them. Respect when a coworker asks you not bring something up again, or not to a certain action again. Treat your coworkers how you would like to be treated, and remember that at the end of the day, you are all at the workplace to complete a job. 2. Dont partake in toxic behavior   Your efforts in getting along with your coworkers can easily be ruined when you do something to offend your coworkers, even if you believe you are doing little to no harm. Toxic behavior can be something as small as letting something offensive slip to spreading around a secret/rumor that you have no right to be spreading. Here are some examples of what you should back from doing in the workplace: Bringing up controversial topics. While you may want to be converse freely with your coworkers, try to steer clear of controversial topics like religion and politics in your daily discussions as they can bring up unwarranted debates and can have some coworkers avoiding each other to conflicting beliefs they did not know about previously. Spreading rumors or secrets. Its human to want to be well-liked by others, but you should not put others in harms way as a result. If a coworker tells you something during a venting session, they certainly will not expect you to turn around and say it to someone else. Do not use good information for your own social gains. Not only can it make coworkers trust you less, but it can also get you fired if it escalates. Exclude anyone for no reason. Although cliques may come out of a workplace almost naturally, do not take part in purposely excluding a coworker or two for no reason just to fit in with others. Just imagine if you were the one being excluded, you definitely do not want to be the one behind making someone feel that way. 2. Dont rush a relationship Relationships do not bloom overnight, and this is especially true with workplace relationships. You are at work to work, and of course, you would want to make being at work more pleasant by getting along with your coworkers. Dont be disappointed when you arent invited to join a coworker every time lunch rolls around, or if a coworker says no to an invitation to dinner after work. Start out slow be friendly to the coworkers you interact with and even if you do not have time to have a full-blown conversation in passing, acknowledge them with a greeting or smile. If you are heading out to lunch at the same time, try taking initiative and asking them to join you for lunch. If they say no, respectfully carry on your own way without bugging them to change their mind because maybe they really needed alone time or arent comfortable enough yet. Spending so much of your time at work can be seen as a bummer, but getting along with your coworker can improve how you feel about coming into work every day.

Private Tutoring A Niche to get Profession and Profit

Private Tutoring A Niche to get Profession and Profit Tutoring as an employment niche can be amazingly lucrative in both compensation and job satisfaction. Private tutoring even more so because it offers the advantages of teaching a niche that suits your talents and strengths. Spending many years and lots of dollars in acquiring valuable knowledge can become a boon to your wallet and lifestyle. As a private tutor you’ve an avenue of sharing the results of countless study hours and knowledge of major academic disciplines. Additional hours and energy expended as a professional makes your knowledge base even more distinct. Private tutoring in a niche to obtain a valued profession and profit would be the next leap to career satisfaction. Be a tutor on a subject that you know best. Build your instructional niche around subject matters that is dearest to your heart. The need for education that extends beyond the borders of the classroom is numerous. Many families are choosing to home school their children. While whole communities are forming homeschooling boards that contain groups of instructors that are contracted to tutor. Not only can this be a lucrative agreement, but free housing may be negotiated as well. To be a private tutor is to become a person that has specific abilities to privately instruct on a specific subject or skill. Homeschooling and tutoring is not a new concept. It has been part of the global academic culture for many centuries. The famous Scottish social philosopher Adam Smith who pioneer political economy toured Europe in 1762 as a tutor to Henry Scott the young Duke of Buccleuch. As a private tutor he was compensated with twice the yearly professor salary received from his alma mater the University of Glasgow. He not only became a private instructor but toured and lived in Paris for over a year. The profession of tutoring is old and honored. Private tutoring can act as a specialist subject teacher. Personal tutoring individuals can become an invaluable tool to helping a student strengthen academic weaknesses. To be a tutor means influencing an audience eager to acquire the knowledge that is only part of your skill base. The power of sharing knowledge has no bounds. No one can predict the effect that gifted tutors will have on nations building, now or in the future. It’s important to be a tutor. Clearly our culture now and in the future has a great need for private tutors.