Category Archives: Reference And Education

International Students Must Look For Accreditated Schools In Usa / Canada / Europe

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If you ask me what is the one most important fact to look for in a university while planning to study abroad. ‘Accreditation’ is my answer, Hands down! Accreditation is now-a-days ‘the most important’ word while planning to apply for schools. Earlier I was of the view that scholarship providing schools or schools in big cities are the best options but I have started believing that, for a 2 year scholarship or for the sake of living in a big town, no one should or can afford to put the entire career in jeopardy. Accreditation decides your career and life in a major way when you are on a foreign soil. A friend of mine who was junior to me in medical school went to a non- accredited school in UK. After his graduation he was not considered for any jobs or higher study options. On the contrary, his classmates who were of British origin got jobs although they had a lower GPA. It does matter for an international student as natives have opportunities irrespective of the accreditation status of the school they went to.

In common terms, accreditation is the official recognition of a school, university or institution for provision of satisfactory education, training or exam preparation. This in turn can help employers/ hiring agencies to know who they are hiring when you complete your education. Should an institution decide to procure accreditation, agencies mentioned below give opportunity to make choices, to exercise volition regarding accreditation. The process of accreditation requires the school to meet certain norms and criterion that are established by various regional accrediting agencies enlisted as follows-

New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) Provides Accreditation to schools in-Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (NCA)Provides Accreditation to schools in-Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Navajo Nation, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA)Provides Accreditation to schools in-Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Central America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS)Provides Accreditation to schools in-Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Latin America.

Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)Provides Accreditation to schools in-California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Palau, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands, and other Australasian locations.

Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (NWCCU) Provides Accreditation to schools in-Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.There is no legally designated accrediting agency in the United States and Europe. The only safe route in USA for applying to schools is a thorough consideration of the aforementioned agencies. I don’t deny the existence of numerous agencies in USA but the once which really are acknowledged widely are mentioned here.
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Spanish- Learning On Line Easier Or Harder?

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When you first decide to learn a new language, it can be a daunting prospect, considering the amount of words there are to learn and know what the translation is in English. Learning over 500,000 new words and there respective meaning can seem like a monumental task.

Approaching it by keeping it simple seems like the smartest thing to do. If you are connected to the internet, you have one more possibility for learning this beautiful language. Spanish is very festive and the culture itself seems to have similarities right around the world.

By keeping it simple and doing things in stages you can more effortlessly begin to get fluent. Obviously the simple greetings and pleasantries are a good start. Then extending into the nouns and verbs to get some more practical appliance of your new second language.

If you went to Spain or Venezuela or Puerto Rico you may be immersed in the language and learn very quickly when you have needs and your only way to get them met, like finding a motel is asking someone.

This may be impractical for you right now, but immersion is a typical way many people learn second languages. By having a formal working course of some sort that you can refer back to, you may find it just as effective and more practical to learn Spanish by immersing yourself online.

There are many Spanish speaking communities that you can join and the excitement of this language cannot be understated. Once you begin to get a grasp on the Spanish language it is quite addictive and the people are extremely warm and very happy.
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Spanish, Learn On Line With Little Effort

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Being bi-lingual is a wonderful thing and Spanish is a great language to choose as a second language. Being fluent in Spanish can really open up your possibilities in life because this language is spoken by many countries. Below is a list of the many countries that speak Spanish.

Central America
Guatemala

Honduras

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

Panama

The Caribbean
Cuba

Dominican Republic

Puerto Rico

South America

Colombia

Venezuela

Ecuador

Peru

Bolivia

Chile

Paraguay

Uruguay

Argentina

Europe
Spain

Africa
Equatorial Guinea

It is a large proportion of the world and learning Spanish online is one of the most advantageous things about the internet. You can literally find Spanish speaking communities and join them to improve your own Spanish.

The thing about learning a second language is that it gets easier as you pick up more words and your knowledge base increases. At first, there is no affinity, so the words seem foreign and exotic. You need to force yourself to memorize the words, but as you begin to get the “gist” it begins to click and new words become easier.

It is very gratifying to speak and understand someone from a different country. Especially when you can converse fairly fluently. It is exciting and you feel an immediate rapport for the person because you can understand them.

Learning Spanish on line means you might even one day visit some of the Spanish speaking countries and sample the culture. Spanish is very expressive and an emotional language, which is very different from English. You may even find that you learn more about yourself if you become fluent in Spanish.

Learn English-Spanish to Expand Your Horizons

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Spanish is quickly becoming the second language of the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are over 40 million Americans of Hispanic origins, which include people with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, and South American origins. In addition, there are over 47 million Americans who speak a language other than English at home. Of these, slightly over 28 million speak Spanish. This represents a 62 percent increase since 1990. Although slightly over half of the people who speak Spanish at home also speak English very well, there are 12.6 million Spanish speakers who do not speak English well. This trend is expected to continue its upward rise, which means that it behooves both native English speakers and native Spanish speakers to learn English/Spanish.

There are a number of reasons why it’s a good idea to learn English/Spanish. If you are a native English speaker who does not know Spanish, there’s a good chance that you will encounter people who do not speak English while you are at work or in your community. This is especially true if you live in Texas, California, or Florida, where the numbers of Spanish speaking citizens are the highest. If you are a business owner – even if you have a home business – you may be losing income if you do not speak Spanish or have Spanish-speaking employees. The population of people who speak only Spanish represent a sizeable segment of the consumer market, and it only makes sense that they will seek out businesses that understand their needs and can speak their language.

Conversely, if you are a native Spanish speaker who does not know English, it may be difficult to navigate the English-centric service industry that exists in the United States. If you decide to learn English/Spanish, you’ll be better able to meet your needs and the needs of your family. Almost certainly, a greater number of career opportunities will be open to you, and if you are a business owner – even if you have a home business – you’ll open up your customer base to customers who speak only English.

Although it may be daunting to think about learning a second language, there are opportunities to learn English/Spanish in a variety of learning styles. You can choose to go the traditional route of taking a language class or buying tapes or CDs, or you can take advantage of newer techniques in order to learn English/Spanish. For example, there is English/Spanish software that offers language lessons using both pictures and speech. In essence, you can see two people interacting, with each work spoken in English, then in Spanish. This software allows you to go at your own pace, and can be configured to teach Spanish to English speakers or English to Spanish speakers.

Learning Spanish or English will not only broaden your horizons, but will most likely increase your earning potential, whether you have a traditional job or a home business.
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Philadelphia Schools Gains New Institute for Teacher Diversity

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The Philadelphia schools need to improve the effectiveness and diversity of their teacher workforce. Currently, 85 percent of their students are African American, Latino and Asian, but they have only 38 percent teachers of color.

After discussions initiated by Congressman Chaka Fattah with School Reform Commissioner Sandra Dungee Glenn, Philadelphia schools’ secretary of education, President and CEO Dr. Sharon Robinson of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and the AACTE’s Vice President M. Christopher Brown II, a resolution to the Philadelphia schools’ diversity problem was conceived.

Fattah, Philadelphia schools officials, and other partners in a joint news conference officially launched the Dr. Ruth Wright Hayre Urban Teaching Institute in April 2006. The institute is supported by the AACTE and Temple University’s College of Education, and operated by the Philadelphia schools. Its purpose is to train student teachers as urban classroom specialists, who will then be recruited into full-time teaching positions with the Philadelphia schools.

The ground-breaking institute will recruit college students from 700 of the best teacher training colleges across the nation. They are looking for the best and the brightest future teachers, who already are committed to making a difference in urban education. Though they will begin with 20 to 30 teachers this fall, the goal is to prepare up to 100 student teacher “fellows” each year for urban teaching positions within the Philadelphia schools. At least 50 percent of these teachers will be of color.

In addition to the urban classroom training, the institute will provide:

o Improved pass rates among teachers of color on the Praxis exam through a test preparation initiative. The exam is required for teacher certification.

o A cultural proficiency program to assist teachers to connect their classroom instruction with the students’ diverse cultural experiences.

o Cultural proficiency standards have been proposed for use in evaluating Philadelphia schools educators.

o A teacher diversity advisory council will advise the Philadelphia schools on its teacher diversity initiatives, and will consist of community-based partners.

The Philadelphia schools and Fattah’s office will provide funding, with the Congressman pledging to secure grant money for the institute. Marketing efforts have been focused on teacher recruitment from universities with large African American and Latino enrollments in nearby states and Puerto Rico.

The institute is named for the outstanding Philadelphia schools educator, Dr. Ruth Wright Hayre (1910-1998). Hayre was the first African American to teach full time in the Philadelphia schools, the first African American senior high school principal in the Philadelphia schools, and the first African American and female president of the Philadelphia schools board of education. She won numerous awards locally and nationally, and co-wrote “Tell Them We Are Rising: A Memoir of Faith in Education” with Alexis Moore and Ed Bradley. Hayre exemplifies what the institute stands for — diversity and quality teachers. The institute fulfills Fattah’s belief that “you don’t have to sacrifice diversity to have quality” in the Philadelphia schools.
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Rainforest Plants – Shell Flower

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Family: Zingiberaceae

Genus: Alpinia

Species: zerymbet

Synonyms:Alpinia speciosa, Alpinia nutans, Costus zerumbet, Catimbium speciosum, Languas speciosa, Zerumbet speciosum

Common Names: boca de dragon, colonia, de tui maux, getto, jockey club, light galangal, palo santo, pink porcelain-lily, shellflower, shell ginger, tous maux

General Description: The Shell flower is a member of the ginger family that is native to western Asia. It has become an interesting garden perennial throughout the world. It is most commonly cultivated and distributed in the tropics, including Brazil, Peru, the Amazon, and the USA states of Florida, Hawaii and the territory of Puerto Rico.

Location: This plant is an evergreen tropical perennial with tall clumps of green leaves growing to ten feet tall in warm tropical climates. It produces ginger-like rhizomes from which the plant grows. This is a beautiful plant that is becoming popular as a house plant because of its tropical appearance. It is also used as a landscape plant in warmer climates. Several different cultivars are now for sale in United States garden stores under the name “variegated ginger.” In these typical conditions, the plants are smaller; they reach eight feet in a green house and three to four feet tall as a houseplant.

Shell flower gets its name from the individual shell pink flowers that droop from the ends of the stems. The flowers resemble sea shells. The flowers are fragrant and waxy.

Alpinia is a large genus with more than 230 species from the Ginger family (Zingiberaceae). They are in demand throughout the world as ornamentals because of their bright, eye-catching flowers.
Shell flowers prefer medium wet, well drained soils in full sun to semi-shade. As a house plant, it needs bright light and humidity. The plants don’t produce flowers until the second year.

Uses: The long leaf blades of the Shell flower are used for wrapping zongzi in China; zongzi are Chinese rice dumplings. In Brazilian herbal medicine, Shell flower essential oil is a tonic for hypertension and cardiac health. This plant has many other uses around the world: balsamic, diuretic, colds, flu, fevers, intestinal bloating and gas, stomach problems and indigestion.
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Seven Vital Reasons for Learning Spanish

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If you are in a fix to take up a learning course in the beautiful Spanish language, check out some of vital reasons for moving ahead and undertaking this unique experience.

a) Your tour to the tropical and exotic countries of United States, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile or Spain would be a redefining experience in case you know Spanish. Learning Spanish will thus be of great benefit, allowing you to get closer to the local culture and communicate with the local people.

b) Spanish residents abound in Spain, United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Equatorial Guinea, Philippines, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Figures suggest that Spanish is the fourth common spoken language in the world! So why not be familiar with this widely acclaimed second language?

c) Spanish has its roots primarily in Latin while English too uses a lot many Latin derivations. This would indeed broaden one’s English vocabulary as well as be helpful for those who are pursuing science, medicine and law.

d) Research suggests that learning more than two languages enhances mental agility and wards off such disease as the Alzheimer’s disease. Besides, bilingualism also opens up your mind, allowing you to view things in new light. Learning Spanish will instigate you to think critically critical, thereby inspiring varied perspectives.

e) There are around 350 million people whose mother tongue is Spanish. No wonder, business concerns have come across a very promising market segment! A great number of established business concerns are recruiting employees with excellent hold on the Spanish language to cater to the growing demand of Hispanic consumers.

f) Globalization has brought about the intermingling of cultures and interest. Spanish music, movies, art and culture are being appreciated worldwide but learning the language would result in better understanding of their artistic masterpieces. For instance, dubbed movies lose the essence of their original counterpart. It would be all the more better if one could watch movies like Belle ?poque (1993), The Sea Inside (2004) and All About My Mother (1999) in the Spanish language.

g) Just ponder for a while over the number of times you have been asked about your mastery in other languages while filling up an application form. This clearly suggests that learning foreign languages like Spanish holds a lot of potential to grab the job of your dreams.

Besides the above-mentioned reasons, learning Spanish is nothing short of great fun. This sweet language will certainly benefit you for the rest of your life. Spanish tutorials are offered by numerous educational institutions. One can also learn Spanish online if he or she finds it hard to pursue a full time course. Tropical countries with greater concentration of Spanish speaking residents are now replete with Spanish schools. So when on a trip to South America, one can easily learn Spanish Venezuela along with enjoying the exotic beaches and the wonderfully mild tropical climate.
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English and Foreign Language Teaching – They Speak Spanish as a First or Official Language Where?

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Spanish as a First or Official Language

Often, when I teach or speak before of group of English language teachers in Latin America, I like to ask the question, “How many countries are there which have Spanish as a FIRST or OFFICIAL language?” “You ARE all native Spanish speakers, aren’t you? I say, teasing them a bit. A few minutes then pass as I wait for the group to “sweat it out”.

By the way, how many of these countries can YOU name?

Then, mercifully, I offer a response after taking an assortment of guesses ranging from half a dozen or so to fifteen or fifty. The following countries each have Spanish either as an official or first language.

In North America

The North American continent, home to only three countries, has two of them with Spanish as a first or official language.

o United States (oh yes, it is!)

o Mexico

In Europe

In Europe, one of the world’s great melting pots, several countries claim English as a first or official language.

o Spain

o Portugal (by the way, Portuguese is in the same language family as Spanish)

In the West Indies

In the West Indies or Caribbean, formerly a virtual hotbed of colonization, several island nations have a form of spoken English.

o Cuba

o Puerto Rico

o Dominican Republic

In Central America

If you though only Spanish is spoken “south of the border”, you’d be wrong. There are three countries which use English as a first or official language. There are fifteen countries with Spanish as a first or official language. They are:

o Guatemala

o Honduras

o El Salvador

o Nicaragua

o Costa Rica

o Panama

In South America

Passing from Central America into South America as you head south from Panama, these countries have Spanish as a first or official language.

o Colombia

o Venezuela

o Ecuador

o Peru

o Bolivia

o Chile

o Argentina

o Uruguay

o Paraguay

In Africa

I know what you’re thinking. Africa? There are no Spanish-speaking countries in Africa! Oh yes there are – there’s one. Surprised? So was I. Most people are. The only officially Spanish-speaking country in Africa is (drum roll, please):

o Equatorial New Guinea

So Why Learn Spanish?

Spanish has been a widespread and useful “Lingua Franca” for centuries. It still is. So when your Spanish as a foreign language learners ask, “Why learn Spanish?” you’ll have some new ammunition with which to respond to them as a foreign language teaching professional.
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Learn Spanish With Spanish Tutor Lessons

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Learn Spanish lessons are some of the best ways to learn Spanish. Lessons with a tutor are extremely helpful and are usually the best way to learn another language. Sometimes lessons can be taught by someone that speaks the language as a native language and that is the best way to learn Spanish. Lessons can be expensive sometimes, but they can also be found cheap at other places. It is important to know what kind of Spanish is going to be taught because there are different types such as the Spanish language from Spain and the Spanish language from Mexico. Even the Spanish languages from Mexico to Puerto Rico are different.

Learn Spanish lessons are also available on the computer. For self starters, these are excellent and they are much cheaper than going out and getting lessons from a person. They are always a great tool and designed to help anybody that wants to learn Spanish. They usually have different levels that can be purchased so that time is not spent and wasted on some of the language that is already known.

Learn Spanish lessons are even being taught in elementary schools know because the Spanish language is becoming so popular in the United States. Many jobs in the southern states require that Spanish and English be spoken fluently. The jobs that deal with medical, law enforcement, judicial and many more are all required to know how to speak Spanish.

Many people want to learn to speak Spanish but do not have the ambition. With the help of learn Spanish lessons on the computer, they can do it on their own time and not be pressured by a tutor or in a class.

Not very many people like learning Spanish lessons in a classroom setting because it is too hard to learn with one teacher and multiple students. Every student learns a different language at a different rate so it would almost be impossible to keep everyone on the same page.

Look at the local colleges for Spanish lessons that offer one on one tutoring. That way, there is just one person in the class and they can learn at their own pace. Check out local computer software stores for Spanish lesson software. This type of software is usually readily available and can be found for discount prices. There are even many different Spanish speaking lessons available on the internet for free. They offer translations and the person can learn the language through translating things from Spanish to English or the other way around.

There are many different translation software programs available on the internet and they can all be used to learn another language. Learn Spanish lessons are not the only way, although it is much easier than trying to figure out another language just by having it translated. Many people that learn another language by translating it do not understand the accent or verb tenses of the language which hurts them while talking to a person in the other language.
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Learn Spanish – 10 Resons Why You Should Learn Spanish

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Just in case you need to reassure yourself towards making the decision to learn the beautiful Spanish language, here are 10 solid reasons why you should go ahead and take this life changing decision.

1. Spanish is the 4th common spoken language worldwide

Spanish speaking residents can be found in pain, the United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In figures, this accounts to 1/3 of a billion speakers worldwide!!

2 Learn Spanish to enhance your travel experiences

If you decide to visit exotic and tropical countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Chile or Spain, knowing Spanish will be a great benefit to you. Knowing to speak Spanish will allow you to get close to the locals and get access to insights that a non-speaking Spanish speaker would never have. Your visit and stay will be more pleasant much more enjoyable when you can communicate the local Spanish language.

3 Learn Spanish to improve your own language

The origin of Spanish comes from the Romance language family of languages where its roots are primarily Latin. The English has many words derived from the Latin language and hence knowing Spanish would help speakers of English broaden their vocabulary. Those who are into science, medicine and law will have come across some Latin terms as the many centuries of Roman rule has left their mark linguistically.


4 Learn Spanish to avoid the Diseases!

Studies concluded that learning and using 3 varied languages reduces your chances of getting the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. Studies show that bilingualism enhances mental abilities in people across all ages. Studying a different language improves your memory and slows down age related mental acuity. Besides that, studying another language improves your critical thinking skills as you learn to see things through a different lens.

5. Spanish is becoming a very important business tool

If you could expand your business to the 350 million people whose mother tongue is Spanish would you do it? I guess you would jump into it without blinking an eye. This is why having a command in Spanish is crucial because not only do you have access to a 350 million Spanish speaking market but Hispanic consumers are also the fastest-growing market segment. You will definitely have the edge if you know a second language because Globalization is inevitable especially now with the Internet making its way into the lives of people around the globe.

6. Appreciate Spanish art, music, literature and film even more

Foreign films are becoming very popular these days but most of them are dubbed to suit the market that it’s being promoted. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to watch the film in its original context without having to worry about the subtitles and whether the translation of the film is accurate? If you know Spanish, you will double your enjoyment while watching films like Belle ?poque (1993), The Sea Inside (2004) and All About My Mother (1999). It really makes a difference watching a film in its original language.

Learning Spanish will also allow you to get into the minds and times of some great Spanish writers like Miguel de Cervantes who wrote Don Quixote which was written in the 16th century but still continues to fascinate and inspire current audiences.

7. Learning Spanish makes acquiring the next foreign language easier

It is not easy to master second language. You need to put in a lot of hard work, perseverance and practice to master a language. All this effort makes the task of learning another language easier by comparison. You tend to develop a set of mental, social and cultural skills and this awareness caries to other languages learned. Languages from the Romance family like Italian, French and Portuguese will be much more easy to learn because the will seem like “cousin” to Spanish!

8. Lend a Hand to Others

If you like to help people, knowing Spanish will allow you to help both Spanish speakers who can’t speak English and English speakers who don’t speak Spanish. As you are aware, the living standards in many Spanish speaking countries are rather low and therefore there are a lot of people in serious need of aid and care in these countries. Learning Spanish will help and prepare you if you intend to go to these countries to extend some aid and care personally.

9. To improve employment potential

How many times have you filled in a recruitment form and been asked to list down all the languages you know and rate your command level of it? All the time, am I right? Well, this clearly shows that to know second language is vital if you want to have an edge over other applicants. Studies have shown that you are more likely to land a job of your dreams if you speak another language than if you are monolingual. Most jobs these days require you to have some basic proficiency in another language.


10. Learning Spanish is fun!

Learning Spanish besides opening up lots of opportunities for you can be one of the most enjoyable things you will ever do. Whatever your motivations are, learning Spanish will definitely benefit you for the rest of your life.
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