Losing Confidence in Mathematics. Go For Live Math Tutors

Losing Confidence in Mathematics. Go For Live Math Tutors 0SHARESShare Math Homework, Exams! Do you want to run away when faced with Algebra, Equations, Graphs, Geometry and Trigonometry? Identify how Online Tutoring works to maximize your possibility of getting helpful results. Math is often being neglected and feared by most students. Online Math Tutoring program filters the skills and visualizes mathematical theories with greater understanding. The program is designed to offer animated lessons and worksheets to teach math in the conventional way. Tutorials take care of childrens interest while parting out the fear of calculations.  The mentors at times use short videos to make the subject more exciting. The process guides students ranging between k-12 and hence need to use different advanced tools as applicable for each age group. For kindergarten and mid â€"school students’ lessons are taught in the form of interactive animations. Live chat with Online Math experts, getting instant help in resolving problems guarantees the most effective and enjoyable form of learning. [starbox id=admin]

Top Tips for Piano Beginners

Top Tips for Piano Beginners Where Should I Start When it Comes to Playing the Piano? Chapters Learn the Basics to Learn Quickly Learning Piano as an Adult What Are the Best Books for Learning How to Play the Piano? How Can You Learn to Improvise on the Piano? How do You Tune a Piano?Have you decided you want to learn piano but don’t have a clue when it comes to music or music theory?  Do words like sheet music, musical notation, rhythm, etc. mean nothing to you? Don't worry! All will be explained...Once upon a time only the very rich had the means to employ a private piano tutor and play piano. However, nowadays almost anyone can hire a piano teacher and learn to play piano thanks to on-line tutoring platforms offering competitively-priced piano lessons.If you don’t feel comfortable with music schools, you can now learn how to play piano from the comfort of your own home.  You can also learn how to read music with the help of a private tutor. You can even learn where to put your fingers thanks to on-line tutorials.Whatever your goals are, here’s some advice for beginners... LouisPiano Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AlisonPiano Teacher £32/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors BarbaraPiano Teacher £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Chi yuenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TomPiano Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ErenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ValtiePiano Teacher £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £37/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Learn the Basics to Learn QuicklyBefore you've even had your first piano lesson, you’ll probably be tempted to try and learn everything as quickly as you can. In fact, patience is a virtue when it comes to being a piano player. When it comes to learning a musical instrument, it’s nothing like your usual classes in school.There are a few things you should know about making things easier when playing piano.Learning to play the piano online could be a good idea. (Source: CJ Mollo)Work on learning how to play piano with each hand and reading. These techniques are essential when it comes to learning to play piano and improving. If you don’t master these basics, you’ll find all your practicing going to waste.It doesn't matter if it’s your cousin’s birthday in a few weeks and you were really looking forward to playing something amazing for him. He’ll just have to make do with you sitting at the piano playing “chopsticks”! It's better than nothing, right?Choosing a well-known song is a great way to start. You’ll have surely heard it thousands of times and it won't matter if you play it on a piano or keyboard. The rhythm and melody are probably already ingrained into your head. You’ve already absorbed the piece.There’s more than just knowing the song, though. To speed up the learning process, you can also learn thanks to the free piano lessons online or with the help of qualified music t eacher.While you may think that learning the piano with a private tutor is the only way to go, don't forget that there are also private online piano tutorials! Your “virtual tutor” can show you how to play a song and how to go about reading music. All you have to do is find the song you want to learn.One more thing: Don’t forget to have fun while you learn! A frustrated pianist will always struggle to learn a song. This'll slow you down and discourage you. Relax and give yourself regular and achievable goals...Believe me, you'll soon realize that you can play anything if you're enjoying yourself. Learning Piano as an AdultDespite popular belief, it’s not harder to learn to play the piano when you’re an adult. The learning techniques are different, that’s it.  More and more adults are deciding to learn a musical instrument.  Never think you’re too old to become an accomplished pianist!However, if you want to learn how to play a beautiful cinematic masterpiece in a day, you’re probably setting your sights too high... find some simpler piano music with simpler melodies.You have to learn to be patient and take everything in your stride. You won’t learn at the same speed or in the same way as you did in elementary school.When it comes to learning music, you have to make sure you set aside enough time to practice. Work and family life will make it more complicated to find this time but you have to give yourself a few hours at the keyboard so you can practice your scales and arpeggios. Try scheduling a few hours a week and sticking to your schedule.Motivation is hugely important.  Don’t give up at the first sign of struggle.  Don't start by choosing a song you like and then changing your mind 3 days later when it starts to get complicated. You can always overcome any difficulty if you put in the effort and take your time. You’ll see. Learning to play the piano will teach you how to be patient!You need to remain calm when it comes to your piano l esson! (Source: Kinesiovita)Choose a simple song to start so that you won’t get discouraged. Consider something with simple chord progressions recommended for beginner piano lessons. Leave the more advanced songs for later on. Beethoven’s 5th or Ravel’s Boléro are not for a musician who's just beginning piano lessons near me!If you know you're not very good at motivating yourself, you should consider starting to learn the piano with your friends or even calling a private tutor. They’ll know how to help overcome any problems when learning the basics. LouisPiano Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AlisonPiano Teacher £32/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors BarbaraPiano Teacher £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Chi yuenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TomPiano Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ErenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ValtiePiano Teacher £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £37/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors What Are the Best Books for Learning How to Play the Piano?Self-teaching is more and more popular among beginners and books are often the best place to start. These books can teach you the basics or be used to complement your private tutorials. They can also be useful as a reference.But which books should a beginner consider getting?In fact, the books you choose are very important. There are thousands to choose from. The best books to learn piano are those that match your expectations.For example, there are:Books on music theory. There are plenty of books that can help you understand how to play the piano and music theory in general. These books teach budding pianists how to read sheet music and the fundamentals of music itself. Roger Evans books are highly recommended for this.Books to accompany your studies. These types of books are useful to have at hand to a ccompany a piano course.Books on learning piano by yourself. If you’re busy and you prefer to learn on your own, you should look for books that explain the techniques like positioning, fingering, have a list of piano chords, etc., without needing a tutor. Again, Roger Evans has books on this.Books are very useful for music lessons. (Source: Paris Annonces)The most important thing to remember is that when starting out, you need to choose a book that’s clear and easy to understand. There has to be a good balance of text and visuals so that you don’t spend more time reading than playing.However, these books can never fully replace a teacher with their experience and expertise when it comes to playing the piano. However, you can’t take your tutor everywhere you go. How Can You Learn to Improvise on the Piano?You can’t just make it up as you go along!  It might sound weird but you have to learn how to improvise by studying music theory and mastering the piano before you can sta rt improvising. Let the rules guide you.There are plenty of improvisation techniques when it comes to playing the piano and it can take a while to learn them.As a beginner, you’ll need to know at least your scales.What are they?Scales are a series of notes. In western music, we tend to focus on major scales, minor scales, and chromatic scales. It’s important for any budding pianist to know their scales before attempting to improvise.Even beginners need to have a bit of confidence. Improvisation means you need to know both the theory and your instrument in order to put the theory into practice while breaking a few rules. You can use your left hand to play the melody instead of the chords, for example.The freedom of improvisation allows you to express the creativity in your fingers. (Source: Michael Allen Williamson)You can also expand your musical repertoire. As well as listening to Mozart, Bach, and Chopin, you can also listen to more contemporary artists like Olivier Messiean o r Lang Lang. As well as expanding your repertoire, you can also branch out into different styles and genres.There are no limits to musical improvisation. It’s about expressing your own feelings in a very personal way. Create your own interpretation and become the next great virtuoso. Even if it’s just at your cousin’s birthday party... How do You Tune a Piano?When it comes to the piano, there are two types of beginners:Those who want to learn for the simple pleasure of playing, to do so while they sing, in order to play in a band or a group, or just to pick up chicks.Then there’s those who want to deconstruct music and their instrument like a mechanic does to a car!The latter is the type of person who’d ask how they could tune a piano.Firstly, don’t forget that you can also call a professional piano tuner to do this for you. However, this can be costly... Don’t forget, it’s not the only option. You can also tune a piano yourself!How?Tuning 220 strings and 88 requires wide range of tools. To make sure your piano is well tuned, here are the tools you’ll need: a tuning fork, a tuning table, a chromatic tuner, tuning keys, tuning levers, a light, time, and plastic clips!Once you have these things, you’ll have everything you need to tune a piano.

15 Good Reasons To Take Portuguese Lessons

15 Good Reasons To Take Portuguese Lessons Why Take Portuguese Classes? ChaptersThe Benefits Of Taking Portuguese LessonsPortuguese is a wonderful language, even if sometimes it seems to be underappreciated. However, if you’ve been thinking about whether learning Portuguese could be right for you, then you’ve come to the right place.Below we outline just some of the many reasons why you might want to take up Portuguese classes.Mozambique; andCape Verde.This means that Portuguese can be a great language to have up your sleeve, wherever you travel to!Not Many English-Speakers Study PortugueseEnglish primary and secondary schools tend to show a preference for teaching languages such as:French;Spanish;German; andLanguages like Mandarin, over languages such as Portuguese.As a result, it means that not many people in the UK are taught Portuguese, and fewer still go on to study the subject at A-Level or at a university. If you like being a point of difference, then Portuguese is certainly the way to go, as you can learn a widely-spoken language while distin guishing yourself from those who speak more widely-taught languages such as French.Interact With Portuguese CommunitiesJust as Portuguese isn’t just spoken in Brazil and Portugal, it’s equally true that there are plenty of Portuguese communities across the world. For instance, there are vibrant Portuguese communities in London and established Portuguese communities in France, so learning Portuguese should give you the opportunity to reach out to these communities and learn more about Portuguese culture through them.It Can Help You Stand Out In The Business WorldAs mentioned above, Portuguese isn’t always a popular second language to learn in the UK. This means that you can really stand out with your CV if you can put down that you speak a language such as Portuguese.In particular, if you’d like to apply for a job at a company where you know the company has close trading links with Portugal or Brazil, or it’s even a Portuguese or Brazilian company, your language skills migh t just make you stand out from other applicants and let you get your foot in the door.Brazil Is One Of The World’s Largest EconomiesAlthough the Brazilian economy has not had the best time of late, with the region entering into recession in 2014, Brazil still remains a country of economic importance in the Latin America region.As a result, if you think that your career will involve some form of interaction with Latin American or Brazilian companies, then it may well be worth taking the time to learn Portuguese.Business-focussed Portuguese courses can really help if you need to learn Portuguese for business purposes. (Image Source: CC0 1.0, rawpixel, Pixabay)You Can Develop Your Understanding Of Brazilian MusicPortuguese is known to sound like quite a musical language even when it’s spoken, but there’s a lot more to gain when it comes to understanding Portuguese music, especially Brazilian music when you learn the language. Whether you’re interested in Fado, Samba, or another style, learning music can be a great way to practice your Portuguese listening skills, and can also be a wonderful way to build your vocabulary.Access New LiteratureThere are also a great many Portuguese speaking writers that you will be able to appreciate once you learn Portuguese. Whether you prefer the works of Brazilian writers such as João Guimarães or Portuguese writers such as José Saramago, there are plenty of gems to read. What’s more, reading Portuguese works will help develop your reading skills and your range of vocabulary.You Can Better Understand Brazilian And Portuguese CultureBesides the music and literature of Portugal and Brazil, learning Portuguese will allow you to immerse yourself in Portuguese and/or Brazilian culture much more easily, whether that involves learning more about local traditions and customs, or the kinds of dishes that locals eat.Portuguese Can Help You Learn SpanishIf you’ve taken a Portuguese course London, then you’ll be pleased to h ear that it becomes much, much easier to learn Spanish as well. This is because Portuguese and Spanish are both romance languages, which means that they generally share common underlying rules when it comes to grammar, and the vocabulary in each language is similar as well.The following languages are considered romance languages:French;Spanish;Portuguese;Italian; andRomanian.If You Already Speak A Romance Language, Portuguese Should Be Easier To LearnFollowing on from the above, if you already happen to speak French, Spanish, or another romance language, then learning Portuguese should also be an easier task for you compared to someone who can only speak English.Having said that, learning Portuguese does come with its own set of challenges, such as mastering Portuguese pronunciation, but you’ll definitely have a head start on other learners if you already speak a romance language.It Will Help You On Your Travels To Portugal Or BrazilIf you’re planning on travelling to Portugal o r Brazil, then you’ve already got the perfect excuse to learn either Brazilian Portuguese or the Portuguese that’s spoken in Portugal!If you speak the language of the country you’re travelling to, then it makes life so much easier, whether it’s a case of ordering food, buying plane or train tickets, or even simple things such as asking for directions.Portuguese Will Help You If You Move CountryIn addition to helping you when you’re travelling around the country, speaking Portuguese is a huge asset to have if you’re considering moving to a Portuguese-speaking country, such as Brazil.Regardless of whether you’d like to relocate for work or personal reasons, if you are moving overseas then taking Portuguese lessons well before you move can help you feel more settled in when you do finally move in to your new place, and it will also help you make new friends and integrate yourself into your local community.Reading Portuguese or Brazilian novels is a great way to supplement what you're learning in Portuguese lessons. (Image Source: CC0 1.0, Free-Photos, Pixabay)Connect With Brazilian FootballIf you’re a fan of football (known as soccer around the world), then learning Portuguese can be a fantastic way of bolstering your appreciation of the game!Football is hugely popular in Europe, and Portugal is no exception. Equally, Brazil is famous for the quality of its football and football players, and if you’re interested in following the local Brazilian football leagues, or want to watch the Copa do Brasil, then learning Portuguese is a wonderful way to achieve this.It’s A Great Way To Challenge YourselfAs we’ve seen above, there are so many reasons why learning Portuguese as a second language is a great idea. Not only is it spoken by so many people in the world, but it’s also a language that will allow you to explore the rich Portuguese and Brazilian cultures.It’s also a brilliant language to learn if you like a challenge. Portuguese does have i ts difficulties, such as its notoriously difficult pronunciation, so new learners should expect to put a lot of time and effort into learning the language before they gain proficiency in it.But, with many things, good things come to those who wait. Many people should find that they feel incredibly proud that they've managed to gain proficiency or maybe even fluency in Portuguese, and the only way to get there is to start learning the language. As such, try to master the basics of grammar, spelling, and pronunciation first, and then work your way towards learning more complex words, phrases, and tenses.If you need any help with your Portuguese language learning journey, then you should consider hiring a personal tutor to help you with things such as:Developing your knowledge of Portuguese grammar;Working on expanding your vocabulary and knowledge of common phrases and greetings; andGiving you the opportunity to regularly speak with a Portuguese speaker.Enter your postcode on the Supe rprof site to find Portuguese tutors that are able to offer personal online Portuguese lessons or one on one lessons in your local area â€" it’s that simple! IrineuPortuguese Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors GabrielaPortuguese Teacher 5.00 (2) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JoanaPortuguese Teacher 5.00 (1) £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors LouisePortuguese Teacher 5.00 (2) £27/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RodrigoPortuguese Teacher £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors BlancaPortuguese Teacher £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors CarolinaPortuguese Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AdamPortuguese Teacher 5.00 (6) £11/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors

The Different Classes Youll Have In College

The Different Classes You'll Have In College Class schedules and formats are pretty routine in high school. You arrive around eight in the morning, situate yourself in an ordinarily-sized classroom for typically no more than 50 minutes, then move on and repeat that process about seven times throughout the day. Once that designated time in mid-afternoon strikes, youre done for the day and free to return home. This high school class routine is comfortable. You know what to expect and when to expect it. Moreover, there arent many surprises when it comes to the type of classes youll encounter. They all last about the same amount of time and require the same kind of attention from you. In college, however, it is not that predictable. College students get the freedom to create their own schedule with the options of many different types of classes that they need to cover before they graduate. But the subject matter isnt the only thing that differs these classes from one another. Many varying elements make up the final product of a college class, leaving it to fall under one of a few categories. It is important to realize what kind of class you are signing up for, past the title and course description. You will be far better prepared for the course if you know how long each session lasts, how frequently it occurs throughout the week, how much discussion versus hands-on work is involved, etc. Thankfully, it is quite easy to recognize which category your course falls under. Go through the following list to determine what your various classes are going to need from you. Some will require more energy, some will require more talking, some will require more research, and some will require much less of these things. It just depends on certain factors and is for you to figure out before you get started. The 3 Days a Week Discussion: This class will hit closest to home for recent high school graduates. Usually 50 minutes long on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, this type of class places you in a typical classroom setting with approximately 20-25 students. You will sit at your desk, take notes, have discussions, and occasionally break into small groups for further in-class assignments. There is nothing too intimidating about this type of class, as it requires the same sort of regular attendance, participation, and classmate interaction that you are used to. You will need to be significantly more invested in it than you were in high school, however, if you want to effectively grasp the material but that, of course, applies to college-level classes in general. This type of class will be most comfortable for you because its approach is fairly simple and recognizable. Here are 5 habits to avoid during classthat you may want to check out. The Giant Lecture: The image of 200 students in endless rows of a lecture hall is one of the most popular visualizations of college academia. It is a classic type of class and one that you will really only learn about by directly experiencing it. Make yourself aware of how different the environment will be beforehand, however. It is a give-in that the room will be large and a bit overwhelming, but you should also recognize how different the seating will be from the common desk you are used to. Especially if the lecture has the maximum amount of students registered, you will be placed extremely close to your peers and have very little room to take notes. It is possible and necessary to do, but a little challenging at first with the lack of much personal space. Be ready to miss some of the things the professor says, as he or she will be at a distance from you and speaking to an exceptionally large group of people. You will need to catch up on your own time, which is one of the biggest things to remember about lectures. Taking a lecture requires a great deal of learning and re-learning concepts outside of scheduled class time; so, be ready to extend this class outside of its regular hours. You may want to check out these tips on how to take notes in a college lecturebefore your first day of class! The Lengthy Once a Week Discussion: If you are going to be absent for a class, do your best to make sure its not this one. Since it occurs only once a week, it will most likely be around 3 hours long. As draining as that can be, it is incredibly important that you attend each session so you can stay well on track. You should put a stronger focus on taking as many detailed notes as you can in this class since your time in it is limited. Tests will come around quicker than you expect and the syllabus objectives will fly by. These particular class sessions may not be the most exciting, but you must bring yourself to pay full attention during each one or else you will easily fall behind. Just think, instead of splitting it up into the 3 Days a Week Discussion, you are getting it all done at once. On one hand, that can be stressful but on another hand, that can be quite relieving. Here are some great tips on how to participate in a class discussion. The Lab: Usually a science-related course, labs are exactly what they sound like. You cannot come to these classes half-asleep because you truly need to be alert to complete these tasks successfully. These assignments involve more active and physical work than writing up short-answer responses or analyzing a chapter in a novel. While in other classes, you spend a lot of time listening, labs require a lot of doing. Some of the concepts you will be quizzed on will involve things you can only learn by completing the lab projects attentively. Since those projects can often only be done in class at those designated times and not figured out on your own later, it is best to always save more than enough energy for this course. The Relaxed Elective: These are always a nice break in the middle of a hectic schedule. Especially since you probably wont have a chance to take one of these every semester, the semesters you do get to work one into your schedule will make you extra thankful. It is important to clarify that you should choose electives that do fulfill some graduate requirement without a doubt, you will find one that covers a credit you need. There are two simple things to remember about these courses. First off, enjoy. You could be taking yoga, kickboxing, modern dance, painting - there is no end to random college electives and there is no pressure. Just have fun and maybe youll even get something out of it. Secondly, however, you need to watch out for easy ways to mess up your grade. Most of these classes are seen as easy As and therefore students tend to put them on the backburner and give little to no attention to the syllabuses. Yet, random rules such as more than one unexcused absence will resu lt in an F or final paper on what you learned in Yoga due the last day of class are thrown in there to make sure students pay attention. Dont fall into that trap of forgetting that there is some work involved and protect your grade!

How To Prep For the ACT Reading Section

How To Prep For the ACT Reading Section ACT Reading section: 40 questions, 35 minutesFor most students, reading less is better. This might seem counterintuitive, but most people take too much time reading the passage and then remember too little of it. The better option is to attack the passage strategically so that you dont have to read the entire thing, or if you do, read it in small chunks. Look at the questions and see if there are any key words. These include proper nouns, dates or other numbers, or definition or category words. Try to find that key word in the passage and then read the couple sentences around it. Keep in mind that any words that are capitalized or numbers will pop out easily in the passage. Dont be afraid to underline these words or write yourself reminders in the margins! This way, you will know where to go back and look if a future question centers around the same issue. Also try to strategize the order to do the passages. The ACTReading always has four passages and they are always in the same order. Prose Fiction: This passage is an excerpt from a book or a short story. The key word strategy works to varying degrees on this passage. Sometimes the best option is to read this because stories are easier to remember than a collection of facts. Social Sciences: Covers issues like sociology, or how people work in history, or psychology. These passages might talk about a government program, or how people react to technology, or how reporters cover a story. Contains facts. Humanities: Includes things like music, art, literature, and entertainment. A passage could be about jazz, or the modern art movement, or a specific television show. Natural Sciences: This is a science passage that usually uses technical language and covers some kind of scientific discovery or movement. Start with the section you feel the most comfortable with and understand the best. Save the hardest for last. That way, if you run out of time, you will have to guess on a passage where you might have guessed on several questions anyway. Remember: if its not in the passage, dont pick that answer! Some answers sound good but are not actually in the passage. Find a sentence or word that backs up your answer choice. The more you can justify the choice, the more likely it is to be correct. If you want to ensure you are prepared for this section, consider taking some ACT practice tests,reviewing aprep book, or meeting with an ACT Reading tutorto enhance your skills.

How You Master Microeconomics With Online Tutors

How You Master Microeconomics With Online Tutors 0SHARESShare Economics in itself is fascinating to many a student and yet it is in this very subject that many students score poor grades. More often than not, students face exams with poor preparedness levels and with their lack of understanding of certain key concepts. It becomes all the more difficult to ace tough subjects such as microeconomics. Here are a couple of tips to help students master the subject from experts in the field such as an online microeconomics tutor; read on to learn more. Study chapters usually have an organized structure, study sequentially In subjects such as microeconomics, accountancy, etc. chapters are usually organized in a specific sequence and it is important that you read them in the designated fashion. This will help you get the full picture and aid in your learning of chapters towards the end. Skipping chapters and studying in a random fashion will not do you much good. Master the tools required to work with the subject A good understanding of charts, graphs and algebra is fundamental to learning microeconomics. Before you begin learning economics, it would be better if you could brush up your skills in these areas. In fact, this could even serve as the best microeconomics homework help you could ask for! Card Get the hang of opportunity cost and ceteris paribus In every subject, there are certain core ideas and concepts that require to be understood if you wish to study advanced topics and the concept of opportunity cost is one such in microeconomics. Similarly, when working with models in economics, you should completely understand what ceteris paribus means to make headway. Master elasticities  or you may be in trouble Work through lots of practise sets and problems to understand and interpret elasticities rather than memorizing the formula. This will help you in understanding the underlying concepts. Also, it is important that you focus and work on your assignments and homework in this area as well. When confused in microeconomics, seek expert help If you are confused about a particular topic, seek help either from teachers at school, your friends or simply connect with a tutor online for the require microeconomics assignment help or homework help. Do not proceed to the next topic unless and until you are clear about the one at hand. Top 15 Tips To Gear Up For Exams On The D Day With lots of practise, a methodical approach and diligence, you can master microeconomics and score top marks!

French Grammar Rules Distinguishing Between Imparfait and Passé Composé

French Grammar Rules Distinguishing Between Imparfait and Passé Composé Megan L. French grammar guru  Carol Beth L.  is back on the blog with this guide to the  passé composé,  the  imparfait, and when you should use each of them If youve been studying French grammar long enough, you may know that French has two different forms of the past tense: the passé composé (composed past) and the imparfait (imperfect). It is sometimes difficult for those who have just learned them to distinguish between situations that require the passé composé and situations that warrant the imparfait. There are patterns, however, that can help you tell when to use each one. Generally speaking, the passé composé is used for things that happened only once in the past, and that happened at a specific time, not over a duration of time. If you want to talk about the one and only French lesson last happened last Thursday, for example, then you doubly know that you should use the passé composé. It happened at a specific point time (last Thursday), and there was only one such lesson on that particular Thursday. So you might say: Jai eu mon cours de francais jeudi dernier. I had my French class last Thursday. If your teacher asks you if you did your homework, then you probably also both know which homework that was, and either youve done it or not. If you did do it, you hopefully only had to do it once. So if youve done it, youd probably say: Oui, jai fait mes devoirs. Les voici! Yes, I did my homework. Here it is! A side note in this example: “devoirs,” or homework, is plural in French while the English version is singular. As a result, even though it may seem odd to us English-speakers, it is correct to use the plural possessive pronoun “mes” and the plural object pronoun (and under some other circumstances plural article) “les.” Or, you might hear your less diligent doppleganger say: Euh, alors, mon chien a mangé mes devoirs. Ahhh, well, my dog ate my homework. The imparfait, on the other hand, is usually used under different circumstances. The first common situation is a repeated action in the past. Au lycée, je faisais mes devoirs tous les jours. In high school, I did my homework every day. Aux années soixante, il visitait la France tous les ans. During the 60s, he visited France every year. The second common situation is when one enduring event or action is happening, and something else happens during the first one. In this case, the surrounding, more long-term event takes the imparfait, and the interrupting event takes the passé composé. In this sort of situation, the event that is conjugated using the imparfait might under other circumstances require the passé composé â€" sometimes even in an adjacent sentence. Mais cest vrai, jai fait mes devoirs hier soir. Pendant que je faisais mes devoirs, mon chat a sauté sur la table et a marche sur mon travail. But its true, I did my homework last night. While I was doing my homework, my cat jumped on the table and walked on my work. Pendant que nous dinions, ma mere a appelé. While we were eating dinner, my mother called. Lets look at a few examples and see if you can tell whether to use the imperfect tense or the passé composé. 1) Lannée dernière, je (j) __________________ (visiter) la France. Last year, I visited France. 2) Pendant que je (j) __________________ (être) en France, je (j) __________________ (rencontrer) une vieille amie. While I was in France, I met an old friend. 3) Quand nous __________________ (être) petits, nous __________________ (jouer) sur le meme equipe de football. When we were little, we played on the same soccer team. 4) Pendant notre séjour, nous __________________ (voyager) a Strasbourg, une petite ville alsacienne a la frontière allemande. During our stay, we travelled to Strasbourg, a small Alsacien town on the German border. 5) Pendant que nous __________________ (rester) a Strasbourg, nous __________________ (visiter) la Musée dAlsace. During our stay in Strasbourg, we visited the Museum of Alsace. How do you think you did? Here are some answers to check yourself: 1) ai visité (passé composé) 2) étais (imparfait); ai rencontré (passé composé) 3) étions (imparfait); jouions (imparfait) 4) avons voyagé (passé composé); 5) restions (imparfait); avons visité (passé composé) How well did you do? If you missed some of them, dont be discouraged. Keep looking for examples and practice using them. While there are general rules you can use to figure out which one is appropriate, it takes time to internalize the logic of a new language. Remember to keep it fun and enjoy studying French! For more help learning French grammar, study with a private tutor. Tutors are available to work with you in-person or online via Skype depending on your location. Search for your French tutor now! Carol Beth L. teaches  French lessons in San Francisco, CA. She has her Masters in French language education from the Sorbonne University in Paris and has been teaching since 2009.  Learn more about Carol Beth here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo via Wikimedia Commons

4 Rules for Improving Academic Performance

4 Rules for Improving Academic Performance Improving Academic Performance Based on our work with students every day and in our review of the research on academic performance (and really, any type of performance), we’d encourage anyone wrestling with doing better in school, preparing for a standardized test, obtaining admission to college, graduate school, or business school, to follow four simple rules. This article will describe these four rules, and also provide links to easy-to-read books that explore each in much more detail. At the end of the article, we’ll offer a brief summary of how these rules work together to improve academic performance. Rule #1: Adopt a growth oriented, ownership mindset It turns out that what we believe about the nature of intelligence, ability, or even personality traits can literally determine how successful we’ll be in a variety of areas. Why? Because, some beliefs dramatically increase your ability to learn, improve, and take ownership over your education, while others prevent you from even trying to learn new or difficult things, let alone actually learning enough to excel at them. A belief that you can improve, that you “own” your education, leads to extremely high levels of “grit” and the drive to persist when you are struggling. So, your mindset matters â€" a lot. Adopting the growth mindset is critical. It’s a foundational concept and the absolute key to improving and excelling at anything. It unlocks your ability and your willingness to follow the rules we’ll be discussing next. The growth mindset theory was developed by Dr. Carol Dweck, a Stanford Psychologist who, for years, has been studying the impact of mindset on performance and success in a wide range of age groups. She identified two basic mindsets: fixed and growth. People with a fixed mindset tend to think their abilities, personalities, and intelligence is given at birth, and can’t be changed. They may tend to avoid activities at which they fear they’ll fail, since this will expose a lack of ability which of course, can’t be changed. People with a growth mindset believe that abilities and talents are built up over time through hard work, persistence, and feedback.They believe, accurately, that the brain is a muscle that can be improved and built to “grow” through exercises that make it strain, but ultimately get bigger and better. To learn more about rule #1, consider reading these books: Rule #2: Build the right skills deliberately It turns out that words and concepts such as natural intelligence, talent, and ability, don’t really mean what many of us tend to think they mean. Instead of having, say, mostly to do with your DNA and “natural gifts,” they arise from intense, highly focused, and high quantities of practice. But, that practice must be performed in specific ways that build skill. This literally means that Mozart and Albert Einstein may not have had fundamentally different mental capacities than your or me -they just completed far more deliberate practice in their areas of expertise. So, you might have a growth mindset, and you might have a lot of grit. But, you may not build academic skills all that efficiently or effectively if you aren’t studying in very specific, scientifically proven ways. Rule #2 is all about an incredibly powerful concept called deliberate practice, which research suggests is the key determinate of whether someone can become an expert at something or achieve high levels of performance. It requires intense practice for reasonable (not that long) periods of time, with high levels of focus and lots of mistakes with immediate feedback. If you are practicing deliberately, you are focusing on the building blocks of the skills you are trying to build, pushing yourself beyond your limits, and ultimately creating new mental pathways in your brain that build skill over time. This rule also requires that you are employing a strategy, and that you’ve determined what skills you need to build in the first place (see rule #4). In other words, when it comes to practicing or studying, both the quantity and quality matter. The more deliberate your study or practice habits, the higher the quality. To learn more, read these books â€" Rule #3 Fuel your body and mind Athletes pay close attention to their bodies, but the rest of us, and even those involved in highly academic or intellectual tasks that require lots of brain function, tend not to. Rule #3 is about recognizing and adopting some powerful but very simple rules about nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress. Studies repeatedly show positive correlations between eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep and academic performance. It’s easy to roll your eyes a bit at this, as it seems obvious. But, the problem is that many of us don’t actually come very close to eating right, exercising regularly, or getting enough sleep! We just don’t. Here’s what it would mean to follow this rule: Eat right â€" 5-6 smaller meals a day, balanced mix of carbs, lean protein, and fats with every meal, basically no refined sugar, and very little to no saturated fat Exercise regularly - 30 minutes of some sort of physical activity every day (brisk walking), with at least 2-3 days of moderate physical activity that includes some amount of resistance training Get enough sleep â€" ~ 8 hours for kids, and at least 6 hours for adults And, there’s one other element of rule #3 that we need to address: having a healthy mind. Just because you have no major or minor diagnosed mental health disorder, doesn’t mean you have a completely healthy mind. If school, sports, or social situations tend to make you nervous and highly stressed, your performance suffers. You’ve probably heard that the right amount of stress is a good thing, but too little or too much stress is a bad thing. The idea is that if you are too care free, you may let important tasks fall through the cracks, and end up dropping the ball on that big school project. At the same time, if you are extremely nervous about performing poorly and get really worked up before a big test, you might find yourself having a lot of trouble concentrating or thinking clearly. Too little stress or too much stress is bad, but the right amount of “stress” can lead to clear thinking, appropriate focus, and an extremely helpful sense of calm and confidence that allows you to execute on test day or deliver a great presentation in school or at work. How do you go about improving the health of your mind? One painfully obvious way to do this is to prepare in advance. So many students are stressed out before big tests, but a large proportion of those students also didn’t practice or prepare as much as they could have. On test day, not only do you know less of the material because you haven’t practiced, but your confidence level is lower, and your stress level is higher. It’s a vicious cycle. So, practicing and preparation not only build knowledge and skills, but they naturally increase confidence and reduce stress. But, the more interesting, and less well known, approach to reducing stress is to practice something called mindfulness. What’s mindfulness? Practicing mindfulness is new to most people. The following is borrowed from Joshua David O’Brien, founder of the Mindfulness Community of Central Pennsylvania. “Mindfulness Meditation is a practice of being fully and attentively present in the moment…in formal practice we use the breath as an object of awareness. We follow the physical sensations of the breath as it flows in and out of the body…one of the first things we learn when we try to do this practice is how easily distracted the mind can be. All sorts of thoughts, ideas, feelings, and sensations call for our attention and we find we’ve forgotten all about the breath. When we realize we’ve been distracted, the appropriate response is to simply return to awareness of the breath with kindness, gentleness, patience, and a little dose of curiosity about ourselves…as with any new skill, this becomes a little easier each time and develops best if we set aside any self-conscious judgments or expectations about how our meditation is developing. The practice is to simply relax and wake up to the awareness of what is happening in the present.” One particular University of London study showed that chronic stress negatively impacts your memory, problem solving abilities, ability to concentrate, and in general, your ability to learn new things. Luckily, over 250 studies have shown that mindfulness effectively reduces stress and anxiety. In some cases, it’s as effective as prescription medications. For an easy to read, practical guide to being more mindful to reduce stress, read â€" Rule #4: Develop and employ specific strategies To truly achieve high levels of performance in general, you should actively apply all or most of the above rules. However, rule #4 is critical to achieve specific results in any given area. It may seem obvious, but if you don’t set specific goals, understand exactly what is required to reach them, and develop clear plans for what you will and will not do to achieve the goal, you’ll be much less successful than people that do these things. Setting goals, researching what is required to reach those goals, and developing specific plans that lay out what you will or will not do, is the essenece of developing a strategy. As we’ve learned before, research shows that successful people aren’t smarter, or harder workers. They tend to focus on the ability to improve (growth mindset), which makes them grittier, and when they practice, the do so deliberately. However, what they also tend to do is think more strategically about what they’re doing in school, business, and life. They set goals, focus on the process of improving, and think positively, but realistically, about being successful, so that they can uncover and address roadblocks. What do all of these statements mean for a student? A student functioning strategically would, for example, start thinking about college early in high school. He would make choices about classes and activities that result in the type of resume required for admission into his desired colleges. In any specific class, he’d carefully read the syllabus, understand how the final grade was to be determined, and take advantage of extra credit, participation, or office hours to maximize his point total and grade. These steps aren’t rocket science, but they do require planning and foresight. To learn more about being strategic to be more successful, read â€" Quick Summary As you may have already guessed, many of these rules are linked, and complementary. To use a business term, there are synergies to following all of the rules at once. In other words, I suspect you’ll get more out of each of the rules by following them all, i.e., 1+1+1+1 = 5 or 6, not 4, when it comes to these rules. But, let’s assume not all of this resonates with you. You just don’t believe each of the four rules really matters. Of course, I'd encourage you to do some research, because there really is a lot of evidence to support everything written above. And, I'd encourage you to pick and choose what does resonate with you, and try to build a system for improving performance that works for you. After all, the fixed mindset student with poor eating, exercise, and sleep habits who rarely studies will be more successful if he follows specific strategies!