Many deserving candidates lose out on job
opportunities because of their vernacular accent.

Yes, you can. All you need to do is train yourself to
speak English as comfortably and perfectly as you
speak your mother tongue.

How do you train yourself? By inculcating certain
practices in your daily lifestyle. These will get you
closer to sounding like a native English speaker and
equip you with a global accent — and you will speak
not American or British English, but correct English.

This is the first step to learn any other accent, be
it American or British or Australian.

Lisa Mojsin, head trainer, director and founder of the
Accurate English Training Company in Los Angeles,
offers these tips to help ‘neutralise’ your accent or
rather do away with the local twang, as you speak.

i. Observe the mouth movements of those who speak
English well and try to imitate them.

When you are watching television, observe the mouth
movements of the speakers. Repeat what they are
saying, while imitating the intonation and rhythm of
their speech.

ii. Until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm
of English, slow your speech down.

If you speak too quickly, and with the wrong
intonation and rhythm, native speakers will have a
hard time understanding you.

Don’t worry about your listener getting impatient with
your slow speech — it is more important that
everything you say be understood.

iii. Listen to the ‘music’ of English.

Do not use the ‘music’ of your native language when
you speak English. Each language has its own way of
’singing’.

iv. Use the dictionary.

Try and familiarise yourself with the phonetic symbols
of your dictionary. Look up the correct pronunciation
of words that are hard for you to say.

v. Make a list of frequently used words that you find
difficult to pronounce and ask someone who speaks the
language well to pronounce them for you.

Record these words, listen to them and practice saying
them. Listen and read at the same time.

vi. Buy books on tape.

Record yourself reading some sections of the book.
Compare the sound of your English with that of the
person reading the book on the tape.

vii. Pronounce the ending of each word.

Pay special attention to ‘S’ and ‘ED’ endings. This
will help you strengthen the mouth muscles that you
use when you speak English.

viii. Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes every
day.

Research has shown it takes about three months of
daily practice to develop strong mouth muscles for
speaking a new language.

ix. Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation
mistakes.

Many people hate to hear the sound of their voice and
avoid listening to themselves speak. However, this is
a very important exercise because doing it will help
you become conscious of the mistakes you are making.

x. Be patient.

You can change the way you speak but it won’t happen
overnight. People often expect instant results and
give up too soon. You can change the way you sound if
you are willing to put some effort into it.

Quick tips

Various versions of the English language exist. Begin
by identifying the category you fall into and start by
improving the clarity of your speech.

~ Focus on removing the mother tongue influence and
the ‘Indianisms’ that creep into your English
conversations.

~ Watch the English news on television channels like
Star World, CNN, BBC and English movies on Star Movies
and HBO.

~ Listen to and sing English songs. We’d recommend
Westlife, Robbie Williams, Abba, Skeeter Davis and
Connie Francis among others.

So you have finally decided to pursue your studies the online way. But with so many different courses available, which course would you choose – Management, nursing or medicine? Confused? Don’t worry. There are hundreds of online degrees that are available for pursuing distance learning courses. It is human nature that people tend to choose programs that are more popular to study online rather than others. Go through this list and find out the most popular online degree courses and choose a career for yourself.

Most Popular Online Programs

Business

Business degrees programs are the undisputed leader, when it comes to online programs. The reason is perhaps the vast opportunities that this field offers. Being highly competitive, there is a constant need for executives to upgrade their skills. Though there are various levels of business-related online courses such as Associates, Bachelors, Masters, etc., but the Bachelor’s and the Master’s stand above the rest.

Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice strives to be one among the top ten courses that students prefer to learn online all over the world. Growing number of people are finding huge interest in jobs related to law enforcement, forensics, security services, etc, because of which, there is a huge spur in the demand of this course.

Arts and Design

Art and Design is a natural choice for students having a creative bent of mind. Jobs involving creativity are well paid and well respected today. Hence, there is high demand for this course. Whether it is Animation, Interior Design, Graphic Design or Fine Arts, there is a lot that this field has to offer to the students.

Computer Science

When it comes to the field of computers, certain courses related to its specific divisions such as Networking, Web Development, Java, etc. are in great demand. In fact, a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology is also one of the hot favorite programs in distance learning. With the technological boom at its peak, the sector has vacancies in plenty for the computer professionals.

Healthcare

Healthcare is another popular online program that is opted for by many people, for the simple reason that there is more demand for healthcare professionals all over the world. And amongst the various specializations, nursing degree courses score over the others. The reasons are many – the continuous evolution of healthcare industry, availability of well paid jobs in nursing, short supply of professionals in nursing vis-à-vis their demand, etc.

Education

The education program has suddenly got new buyers. The reason behind it is said to be the growing number of opportunities in the administration line. People are rushing to enroll themselves for the Bachelor’s and Master’s online degrees in education.

Engineering

No matter that it is the business program that has been able to gather all the hype, the engineering program is also sought after by many when it comes to distance learning. Though undergraduate engineering programs are not much in demand, but with the foray of graduate online programs in the market, people have grabbed the golden opportunity with both hands.

Psychology

The field of psychology has also made a successful attempt in invoking interest in the minds of online learners to pursue this subject. The focus area in this field is cognitive science. Offering higher levels of learning such as Ph.D and Masters, these courses help in shaping up the career.

Culinary

When it comes to the field of Culinary, the most attractive online course is Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality and Restaurant Management. Offered by various schools of reputed genre, this stream is going to be in great demand in a short time.

Accounting

Accounting is yet another field of study that has made its mark in the top ten online degree programs.

Now that you are aware of the fields of study that have caught the fancy of numerous people like you, select the course that best utilizes your skill set in a positive manner. The demand for online degree courses is on a greater side due to many reasons. The demand for online degree programs changes with a change in the economic trends.

Source: http://populartop10.com/top-10-most-popular-online-degree-courses/

There are important things you should take into account before you can decide to choose a high school institution of your choice. This is very important because it may hinder your plans and programs deciding on a particular school which you don’t exactly qualify for. Below are basic guidelines you should consider for yourself and from there gauge whether you qualify or not for the best schools you like most.

Finances

For many students finances is one major gauging point whether you can enrol in private and top institutions for high schools or not, or you are more likely to decide for public high schools where your educational funds is comfortable with. Many students dream to enrol in private institutions but their finances deny them of doing so. To be able to calculate exactly if your funds can send you to private schools or not you should carefully study the expenses incurred by a student in a private school as well as in public high schools. Try to make some important research of your chosen school and get information as to how much you can spend in a semester. In this way you can compare the expenses and eventually you can gauge from your educational budget.

Type of schools

Since there are high school types available for you, it is very advisable to learn the advantages and disadvantages of these schools. These school types include the traditional schools, boarding school type and online education. Each of these has very different approaches so you must be able to learn these approaches to be able to carefully study which is best.

School accreditation

There are also students that are very particular with the schools accreditation and licenses. Well, it’s just very normal for students to know whether their educational investment won’t be wasted on non-accredited high schools. Since there have been sad stories of students being victimized by unscrupulous learning institutions it would also be necessary to be extra careful.

Quality of education

The quality of education is also a good thing to learn from your top three choices. When we say quality of education this simply means the school should have complete lab facilities to be able to promote quality, have good teacher-students ratio, conducive-learning atmosphere, top performing traditional or online high schools, and other important factors.

Source: HighSchoolguide.Net

Listening to a conference speaker outline key points related to job performance, you begin furiously writing down sentence after sentence, using abbreviations to capture each statement. After a minute or so, you realize you’ll never catch up. How are you supposed to capture the essence of the presentation for future reference?

The art of note-taking means that you do just that: you capture the “essence” of a speaker’s remarks rather than try and recount the entire event. But how do you boil it down to basics? Here are some tips that may help:

1. Look for the main idea of the presentation. The title, the speaker’s credentials, and the program outline may provide an overview of the main ideas. Of course it will be impossible to record everything the speaker says unless you plan to use a tape recorder. Instead, plan to jot down a few ideas beside each main point. Some speakers provide PowerPoint handouts or an outline with headings and subheadings. Use these for adding your own ideas.

2. Link main ideas together. As you note patterns that emerge from the presentation, like numbered points between one and five, for example, take notes about these linkages and what they suggest about the overall thesis, or main point. If your handout does not list subpoints, add some of your own, and write a brief explanation for each. In this manner a consistent thread of related meaning can be traced through the entire event.

3. Jot down key words and phrases rather than complete sentences. If you quote the speaker’s comments randomly, use double quotation marks around them to show they were his or her precise words. If time permits, you may want to write a few sentences of summary after each section or following the presentation to help you recall the theme or main idea later.

4. Organize your notes methodically. For example, you may choose to number them using Arabic or Roman numerals. Or you may simply write out main ideas followed by a list of dashes leading to support details. Draw a squiggly line between sections of notes or between speakers’ comments’ notes, if there is more than one presenter. If you use shorthand, be sure you will be able to interpret it later.

5. Consider typing out your notes following the presentation. Unless you have used a laptop during the session, you may find you have several pages of notes that may be hard to decipher. If the session was important for your job or school, you can prepare a typed edition with condensed or expanded notes that come to mind as you rehearse it in your mind again. Then keep the notes on file for future reference, which will optimize the value of the presentation for a long time to come.

Taking notes is not just for secretaries. If you plan to attend an event where someone will be speaking about a topic that is important to you, be prepared to jot down key ideas in a form that you can use later.

Studying a foreign language can be fun and frustrating at the same time. Most of us don’t mind learning to speak another language when we are motivated to do so by a good reason, such as necessity, travel, or someone we know.

People born in another country who want to learn English generally have good reasons for wanting to do so. Some of them plan to move here or have immigrated already, while others know that English is the primary language of international business.

If you want to help a non-native person learn to speak English, here are some easy ways to help him or her:

1. Practice informal conversation skills. Most people who are trying to learn English are eager to speak the language with a native. They will try out a few words or an expression, hoping to make a good impression and draw you into conversation so they can learn more. If that happens, speak naturally but distinctly so that the person can understand to the best of his or her ability. Use basic conversational words while avoiding slang or regional expressions, which the non-native may not know.

2. Offer help with grammar drills. If the non-native person is not already in an English class, you may want to write out a few basic grammar drills. For example, write a verb at the top of a page, and below it, conjugate the verb’s usage with all the singular and plural persons of speech:

To Talk:

I talk

you talk

he or she talks

it talks

we talk

they talk

Repeat each expression, encouraging the other person to say it after you.

3. Suggest television viewing. Thirty-minute weekly television programs are helpful because they set up a situation that is ongoing and easy for the viewer to follow in terms of understanding context and learning names. If possible, watch the show together and point out characters’ names, along with basic traits or actions in simple terms the non-native speaker can follow. Try to discuss the show afterward, beginning with easy phrases or comments:

“Funny, wasn’t it?”

“Did you like it?”

4. Pass along newspapers and magazines to read.

Even if the person has limited English skills, becoming familiar with the shape of English letters and print of common words will help the non-native begin to identify them. If you have time, point to a word or sentence and pronounce it, encouraging your friend to say it after you.

5. Visit public places. Go shopping, see a museum, stop by the park, or take the bus in order to experience new sites together. Use simple expressions to name or describe each location or main features. Your friend will begin to learn these as you say them, and the time spent together will hopefully prove mutually enjoyable.

In addition, you can recommend that your friend look up English grammar skills on the Internet, or pick up a grammar guide at the bookstore. Many of these are geared to people from other cultures. Remember to be patient, and consider referring your friend to the local International Institute or other agency that provides free or inexpensive English classes or tutoring.

Basically high school is for everyone who wishes to go to college and earn a degree. Truth is you cannot proceed to college if you have not taken high school. This means high school is a pre-requisite education to prepare everyone to college. Indeed, it is not only a right option for students but it is also a must education no one can ever by pass.

The following are basic reasons why high school is the right option to prepare everyone to college.

• High school years are the best to discover yourself and your potentials. As you can observe, during the time at public or private high school there are students who started to shine and discover their talents, skills and all other amazing discoveries. This means when you begin to discover something about your potential you can start weighing things like whether to pursue with that skill or to discover some more. There are students who also discover their fascination in sports and they begin to join school varsities. In fact, because of this very significant discovery, these students started to develop their potentials and in the middle of their high school days they have become scholars.
• Many students of private or public high schools have also shined academically as their names are posted on school papers being the top students during the grading period. This means students began to study their lessons in serious manners to the point of listing them in the dean’s list.
• High school is also the time when students start to have the confidence in themselves that they can carry out responsibilities of being leaders in school or in the classrooms.
• The subject matters in traditional or online high schools are becoming serious as students start to know biology, chemistry physics, advance English and more. This is because high school is the gauging point of what particular course a student should take up in college and in which he has interests.
• In high school, not only you learn more about responsibilities but you also discover great changes in your body as well as your feelings towards the opposite sex and to everyone around you. This means you begin to mature as a person and ready to accept more tasks and responsibilities upon entering college.

Source: highschoolguide.net