How to learn any language in six months | Chris Lonsdale | TEDxLingnanUniversity

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How to learn any language in six months

Chris Lonsdale is Managing Director of Chris Lonsdale & Associates, a company established to catalyse breakthrough performance for individuals and senior teams. In addition, he has also developed a unique and integrated approach to learning that gives people the means to acquire language or complex technical knowledge in short periods of time. More

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"Six Tips To Help You Cut The Cost of College By Tens of Thousands"

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For millions of Americans, and for international students coming to the U.S. to study, college can be life’s biggest expense other than their home. And while on average, the benefits of a college education outweigh the costs by a lot, the cost is daunting. Especially when you consider how much of it is borrowed money. The average student now owes more than $37,000 in student loans.

So making a college education cost less is a critical priority for families. Here are six tips on how you can cut the cost of college by tens of thousands of dollars.

Cut the Cost of College: Six Tips

Start at a Community College

There are more than a thousand community colleges in the United States. Many offer excellent education, and at a price far lower than that of a four year institution. What’s more, attending one or two years at a community college can make it much easier to transition to the demands of a four-year college. Many top-tier universities are now working to make the transfer process from community college easier, with simpler requirements for credit transfer. Seek out a counselor or coach, and find a community college near you. Two years of community college could cut the cost of college by between $10,000 and $50,000.

Seek Out Scholarships Early

Every year, nearly $3 billion in scholarships goes unclaimed. That’s because most students wait too long to start applying. Start early: there are scholarships you can apply for as early as freshman year. And don’t think you have to be an academic genius or an athletic superstar. Many myths keep people from winning enough money for college. Apply early, apply often, and keep applying. It could cut the cost of college by tens of thousands of dollars.

Maximize the Benefit of AP Courses

Many colleges will accept your credits for AP courses you take if you take the AP exams and score 4 or better. That doesn’t mean you should load up your year with AP courses, but it does mean that when you take AP courses, you should take the exam seriously. Also, ask your counselor or college admissions coach whether the colleges you’re applying to will give you credit for your AP courses. You could graduate a year early, and cut the cost of college by as much as $25,000. What’s more, you’ll start earning money a year sooner, so the benefit is even greater.

Consider Small Private Universities

Public (or state) universities generally cost less than private four-year colleges. But at many state schools, budget cuts mean that you can almost surely not get the courses you need to graduate in four years. Smaller, private (not-for-profit) universities make an effort to help you graduate in four years. What’s more, in many cases these universities are also able to offer significant merit aid which makes the cost of college more affordable. So you could graduate (and earn money) sooner, and spend less.

Live at Home

One big part of the benefit of college is surely the growing up that comes from living away from home. But you can save a lot of money by picking a school that’s close to home, and commuting. Even after you count the costs of transportation, the savings could amount to $10,000 a year. So if cost is a concern, this could be a great solution. You can also consider schools that will allow you to live off-campus, which is generally less expensive than living in a dormitory.

Buy Books for Cheap

Textbook costs at college can be as much as $2,000 a year. College professors assign textbooks unconstrained by costs. University bookstores are often the most expensive place to buy textbooks. So, shop around. Amazon and other large retailers are almost always less expensive, and offer rental programs that cost less. You’ll still spend a lot of money on books, because textbook costs have increased much more rapidly than even medical costs over the last 30 years. But every dollar saved is worth it.

Not all these tips will apply to everyone. But nearly everyone for whom cost is a concern should be able to use these tips to cut the cost of college, get a great education, afford it, and get the benefits of a college education without drowning in debt.

Lifelaunchr is a regular contributor to the Edmodo Blog. With articles written by Venkates Swaminathan, Founder/CEO of LifeLaunchr, the site provides parents and students with virtual and in-person coaching for all aspects of college planning, starting as early as freshman year. Watch for a new post regularly on the Edmodo blog and find out how you or your student can better prepare for a life-changing experience in college.

Source: Edmodo Blog

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"5 Tips for Becoming a Better Student in 2017"

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“New year, new me,”we always say. We promise to stick to our resolutions, even though they’re often vague and make success hard to define. “I’m going to eat better,” or “I’m going to spend less,” usually pop up as common resolutions, but what about “I’m going to be a better student”?

But what does “being a better student” mean? Better grades? A higher GPA? A happier, less stressful school life? No matter the result you’re looking for, success is built on creating effective habits. Here are some tips that should help you reach your goals:


Participate in Class More Often

Think about the last time that you raised your hand in class and asked your teacher a question. Was it “just to make sure” of something? Or was it a question that related to the material that wasn’t already covered by the teacher?

Teachers notice when you ask questions about the lesson, and when you ask about concepts directly related to the material, they can tell you’re engaged with the subject. Not only that, but the more you ask about the subject, the more you’ll get out of the class as a whole.

Try setting a goal of answering one or two questions in class per day or per week if you don’t already. If you do, think about the quality of your questions. Ask yourself if there’s a better way to communicate what you want to know.


Study More Effectively

There are a few ways you can go about this:

Get organized: Make sure that you have a system that works for you. Maybe it’s one large binder with sections for each class, or maybe it’s a different folder for each. File your notes by date, and make sure you have your syllabus in order to look up the date certain topics were discussed.

Study ahead: Look in the syllabus or find out from your teacher what the next topic will be and read ahead in the textbook. When you come to class, you can use this extra knowledge to ask better questions and participate more.

Go for extra credit: When you can, look for opportunities for extra credit, not just because it’ll improve your grades, but because you’ll have a deeper understanding of the lesson.
Improve Your Reading Skills

The best way to improve your reading skills is to read. Read widely and read deeply. Read blogs (like this one), magazines, journals, and newspapers, but don’t neglect longer texts like novels and non-fiction books.

But don’t just read. After you finish every article or book, ask yourself what the writer’s intent was. If it was a longer, creative endeavor, try to pick apart symbols and images the author was trying for. If it was informative like a non-fiction book or an article, see if you can summarize the main points from the text.


Prepare Better for Tests

It’s one thing to go to class on the day of the exam after learning the material, but what about the test itself? The more you know about the test, the better you can prepare for it.

There’s a lot more to test taking than just answering questions. Knowing the format of the test and the chapters that are covered can help you focus on studying only the most relevant material and provide a structure for your reviews.


Write Better Essays

If you improve your reading skills, you’re already halfway to writing better essays. But there are a few tips that may be able to help you get even further:

Write your first draft early: After writing your first draft, you can take a break and then come back to your essay, read through it, and find out what you need to change. You can also use the conclusion of your essay to strengthen the introduction after you’ve finished the first draft.

Read your essay out loud: Find a private place where you can read aloud and you’ll find that you’ll catch sentences and phrases that are awkward or long  more often. And once you change those, your whole essay should flow much better.

Ask a friend to proofread: Once you’ve got a near-final draft, ask a friend to look over your essay and proofread it. You can ask them for more than just grammar corrections though! See if they could follow your line of thought through the essay, and if they were confused about anything, try going back to that paragraph and rewriting it to communicate your point better.

There’s a lot of uncertainty around “being a better student”, but it ultimately comes down to defining what that means for you, and making effective habits out of that.

Source: Edmodo Blog

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"Language learning boosts brain plasticity and ability to code new information"

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Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Published: Monday 5 September 2016

By studying brain electrical activity of volunteers, researchers found that language acquisition enhances brain plasticity and capacity for learning. In particular, they note that early language learning plays a significant role in the rapid formation of memory circuits for coding new information.

The researchers found that the more languages a volunteer had mastered, the faster the brain circuits coding new information reacted.

(...)

In other words, the study suggests loading the mind with more knowledge boosts its ability to acquire more.

Brain reacts faster with more languages mastered

Fitted with EEG electrodes on their scalps, the volunteers listened to recordings of various words from their native languages and from non-native languages. Some of the words they knew already, while others were new - whether in their native language or in a foreign language.

The researchers tracked changes in brain electrical activity as each volunteer was exposed to the next known or unknown word.

They were especially interested in the speed at which the brain reacted to unknown words.

They then analyzed the EEG data against the linguistic profile of the volunteers, such as how many languages they could speak, how old they were when they learned them, and their proficiency.

Senior author and professor Yuriy Shtyrov, a leading research fellow in the Centre for Cognition & Decision Making at HSE, says the results show that the more languages a volunteer had mastered, the faster the brain circuit coding information on new words reacted.

He says the findings effectively demonstrate that the new information about new words stimulates the brain's physiology.

"These results demonstrate a significant role of earlier language experience in neural plasticity in general and in the rapid formation of memory circuits for novel words in particular. Critically, previous language learning not only influences how strongly the brain responds to novel non-native speech input but tentatively also to new words with native phonology." -Lilli Kimppa et al.

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