Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts

Thursday, February 17, 2011

how to take a seminar

HOW TO TAKE A SEMINAR?
Seminar time......Lots of journals, pdfs, slides etc. in front of you. But you have
overcome all that obstacles by sheer hard work and feel proud about knowing the
topic. Now comes the problem of presenting it. Many of you may have stage fear,
tension or lack of communication skill. Just don’t worry and check it out this at
least once, I bet it will be helpful. So let’s see.........................
TIPS:
APPEARANCE
1. Wear a professional outfit, but just one thing it should be comfortable for
you.
2. BOYS: Have a descent haircut.
3. GIRLS: don’t put a lot of jewellery and gaudy coloured dresses.
4. Best to have an ID tag with you.
5. And most important thing is be simple.
That’s all about your appearance; actually it doesn’t have much to do with
your presentation skill but helps to create an impression on the audience. Freaky
costumes can attract your friends but may fetch you the mark, you never want.
Deepthi M
Govt. Engg. College, Palakkad
TO COP UP WITH YOUR FEAR
1. Rehearse your seminar in front of a person who is a great critic of yours
or a friend who is good at taking seminars.
2. When you are on the stage take a deep breath .
3. Then have a look at everybody in the hall before you start.
4. Never put your hands in the pocket.
5. Never rub your hands.
6. Don’t be fast.
7. Don’t worry if you have problems in your communication skill. Just
think that may be you loose marks in the communication part but will
definitely score well for guts!!!
8. Sometimes most of us get tensed by seeing the seminars of others (who
have taken it nicely).
Don’t develop any inferiority complex within you. Just remember one
thing that “you have your own style and that is unique”.
9. During the questionnaire, if you do not know any answer then instead of
beating about the bush, just have the guts to say that “with my limited
knowledge I am not able to answer your questions but I will surely find it
for you”.
10. Never let the smile go away from your face.
11. Last but not the least, have faith in almighty and in yourself.
I believe that up to now some of you must have developed a little confidence in
you. So on that node let’s see what are the things that can add beauty to your
presentation:
PRESENTATION
1. Keep your shoulders straight and maintain a confident expression
throughout your seminar.
2. Your voice should be loud and clear but it doesn’t mean that you must
scream. Just be audible.
3. Always wear a smile while presenting, it reduces tension from your
face and creates pleasentness in the atmosphere of the seminar hall.
4. Walking freely is appreciable but while walking, avoid looking at the
ground.
5. Look at the slides but just for reference. Never read the points of the
slides.
6. If you are stuck at some point then leave that point and continue with
the rest. If you are not moving forward then it may hamper your whole
seminar.
7. Never keep a written note in you hand, it will tempt you to refer it
during your seminar and will deteriorate your expectations about your
seminar.
I hope that this article would have fetched you at least some points that would be
helpful for your seminar.

Friday, February 11, 2011

How to Make a Resume

Want to make your résumé shine? Here's how to put together a résumé that will impress any prospective employer.

1

Understand the purpose of a resume. This will help you to identify what is really important to focus on when putting yours together. Basically, a résumé is a brief overview of your experience and credentials put together in such a way as to sell you as one of the best choices for a prospective employer to interview. It initiates the process of introducing yourself to the employer. Therefore, given that a résumé is both introductory and a personal sales presentation, a good résumé will be concise, easy to read, positive, and interesting.

  • A résumé is not a mere summary of what you've done – a résumé needs to be focused on the job targeted, making the content relevant to the hiring team's viewpoint.[1] An often-made mistake is to develop a "one-size-fits-all" résumé without tailoring it to the specifics of the job.[2]
  • Look at existing résumé examples to get a good feel for putting together a good résumé. Borrow books on résumé writing from the local library, or get online and check out résumés uploaded by various people. Within your industry, it's often possible to get a search return for people who have submitted résumés that have been made public and stored electronically, and this gives you a great opportunity to see how the top people in your industry prepare their résumés.
  • Know what the reader will be looking to get out of a résumé. Key professional behaviors that a reader will want to see leap out from reading your resume include communication and listening skills, ability to be a team player, goal orientation, analytical skills, motivation and initiative, reliability and dedication, determination, confidence, pride and integrity, efficiency, and the ability to follow directions.[3]
2
Make it easy to read. The manner of presentation will impact how easy it is to read the résumé. Use good taste when developing a résumé and forget gimmicks; in general, recruiters approach resumes conservatively and do not like or trust being presented with resumes printed on color paper, in 3D, with unusual fonts, or shaped like whatever product the company's trying to sell.[4] Stay with what is tried and trusted because recruiters like the familiar, and anything that bucks that trend risks a negative reaction.
  • Use the font size 10-12. For a traditional look, use the serif Times New Roman. Use Century Old Style for traditional business jobs. For a more contemporary look, use the sans serif fonts Helvetica or Arial. Non-traditional fonts not only risk looking unprofessional but if you're emailing them and your employer doesn't have the font type, your resume will end up unformatted as it's replaced by a different font, with the end result probably looking unreadable.[5] You can avoid this problem by emailing the document as a PDF file.
  • Avoid switching between too many fonts. Sans serif fonts are best for headers, serif fonts are best for listing the content details.
  • Use bold and italics to make important information stand out but use bold sparingly. Also make use of white space; ensure there is enough to make it easier to read.
  • Use black and white. Color should be used restrictively and preferably not at all.
  • Keep the format neat and well organized. Format consistently throughout the document.
  • If printing hard copies to send, use quality paper
Choose a style you'll use. Leaving out personal pronouns is commonplace but the use of third person or first person is really up to you and your personal style. What matters is that you come across as personable and someone people want to work with. Don't make it overly stiff or overly casual; try to find a perfect medium. Be careful to maintain the correct tense throughout the résumé.




Sunday, February 6, 2011

how i learn to speak english

This rule might sound strange to many ESL students, but it is one of the most important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar.

Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules. Many ESL students know more grammar than native speakers. I can confidently say this with experience. I am a native English speaker, majored in English Literature, and have been teaching English for more than 10 years. However, many of my students know more details about English grammar than I do. I can easily look up the definition and apply it, but I don't know it off the top of my head.

I often ask my native English friends some grammar questions, and only a few of them know the correct answer. However, they are fluent in English and can read, speak, listen, and communicate effectively.

Do you want to be able to recite the definition of a causative verb, or do you want to be able to speak English fluently?

2. Learn and study phrases

Many students learn vocabulary and try to put many words together to create a proper sentence. It amazes me how many words some of my students know, but they cannot create a proper sentence. The reason is because they didn't study phrases. When children learn a language, they learn both words and phrases together. Likewise, you need to study and learn phrases.

If you know 1000 words, you might not be able to say one correct sentence. But if you know 1 phrase, you can make hundreds of correct sentences. If you know 100 phrases, you will be surprised at how many correct sentences you will be able to say. Finally, when you know only a 1000 phrases, you will be almost a fluent English speaker.

The English Speaking Basics section is a great example of making numerous sentences with a single phrase. So don't spend hours and hours learning many different words. Use that time to study phrases instead and you will be closer to English fluency.

Don't translate

When you want to create an English sentence, do not translate the words from your Mother tongue. The order of words is probably completely different and you will be both slow and incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don't have to think about the words you are saying. It should be automatic.

Another problem with translating is that you will be trying to incorporate grammar rules that you have learned. Translating and thinking about the grammar to create English sentences is incorrect and should be avoided.

3. Reading and Listening is NOT enough. Practice Speaking what you hear!

Reading, listening, and speaking are the most important aspects of any language. The same is true for English. However, speaking is the only requirement to be fluent. It is normal for babies and children to learn speaking first, become fluent, then start reading, then writing. So the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing.

First Problem
Isn't it strange that schools across the world teach reading first, then writing, then listening, and finally speaking? Although it is different, the main reason is because when you learn a second language, you need to read material to understand and learn it. So even though the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing, the order for ESL students is reading, listening, speaking, then writing.

Second Problem
The reason many people can read and listen is because that's all they practice. But in order to speak English fluently, you need to practice speaking. Don't stop at the listening portion, and when you study, don't just listen. Speak out loud the material you are listening to and practice what you hear. Practice speaking out loud until your mouth and brain can do it without any effort. By doing so, you will be able to speak English fluently.

4. Submerge yourself

Being able to speak a language is not related to how smart you are. Anyone can learn how to speak any language. This is a proven fact by everyone in the world. Everyone can speak at least one language. Whether you are intelligent, or lacking some brain power, you are able to speak one language.

This was achieved by being around that language at all times. In your country, you hear and speak your language constantly. You will notice that many people who are good English speakers are the ones who studied in an English speaking school. They can speak English not because they went to an English speaking school, but because they had an environment where they can be around English speaking people constantly.

There are also some people who study abroad and learn very little. That is because they went to an English speaking school, but found friends from their own country and didn't practice English.

You don't have to go anywhere to become a fluent English speaker. You only need to surround yourself with English. You can do this by making rules with your existing friends that you will only speak English. You can also carry around an iPod and constantly listen to English sentences. As you can see, you can achieve results by changing what your surroundings are. Submerge yourself in English and you will learn several times faster.

TalkEnglish Offline Package is now ready for download. In this package, you can utilize over 8000 audio files to completely surround yourself in English. There are over 13.5 hours of audio files that are not available in the web form. All conversations and all sentences are included, so even if you don't have many English speaking friends, you can constantly surround yourself in English using your MP3 player. This package is available at the English Download page. Take advantage of this opportunity and start learning English faster. Click on the link or go to http://www.talkenglish.com/english-download.aspx.

5. Study correct material

A common phrase that is incorrect is, "Practice makes perfect." This is far from the truth. Practice only makes what you are practicing permanent. If you practice the incorrect sentence, you will have perfected saying the sentence incorrectly. Therefore, it is important that you study material that is commonly used by most people.

Another problem I see is that many students study the news. However, the language they speak is more formal and the content they use is more political and not used in regular life. It is important to understand what they are saying, but this is more of an advanced lesson that should be studied after learning the fundamental basics of English.

Studying English with a friend who is not a native English speaker is both good and bad. You should be aware of the pro's and con's of speaking with a non native speaking friend. Practicing with a non native person will give you practice. You can also motivate each other and point out basic mistakes. But you might pick up bad habits from one another if you are not sure about what are correct and incorrect sentences. So use these practice times as a time period to practice the correct material you studied. Not to learn how to say a sentence.

In short, study English material that you can trust, that is commonly used, and that is correct.

Summary

These are the rules that will help you achieve your goal of speaking English fluently. All the teachings and lessons on TalkEnglish.com follow this method so you have the tools you need to achieve your goal right here on TalkEnglish.com.

Friday, February 6, 2009

How to learn a foreign language fast


The Million Dollar Question: How Do I Learn a Foreign Language Fast?

There are many reasons someone may want to learn language fast. Those reasons could include: economic reasons, employment, travel, personal growth and many others. The reality is that learning a foreign language fast is simply just not that easy.
It is widely known that the fastest way to learn a foreign language is through immersion. Immersion is a process where you place yourself in the culture and nation where the language is readily spoken and force yourself to communicate with the people in their natural language of choice. A great example of this is the Hebrew Immersion program in Leonia, N.J., children at a very young age are placed in a situation that makes them speak Hebrew on a continual basis. Recent research has shown that studying a foreign language early boosts a child's brainpower, vocabulary and self-esteem (Wiener 2002). This research clearly demonstrates that an individual can learn a foreign language fast through immersion.
The problem with immersion techniques are many fold. First, there are simply not many programs around and those that do exist are for children. Second, in today's world not many have the time to travel to a foreign land and begin to learn the language through immersion. Finally, economically an immersion program is very expensive to undertake.

Four ways to learn a foreign language fast

The fastest ways to learn a foreign language

The Four Ways to Learn Language
·              1. Language Exchange Programs
·              2. Distance Learning
·              3. Language Courses
·              4. Language Software and Self Teaching
 
Language Exchange Programs
Language Exchange programs are where a person begins to communicate with someone from a different country on a frequent basis. In the old days this used to be called getting a pen pal. Language exchanges help to learn a foreign language fast. The language exchanges force you to begin communicating with someone who speaks a foreign language on a regular basis. The exchange programs today are much easier in past because of the invention of the internet. The internet allows a person to communicate through email and has many tools that help in the conversion of the language. Enrolling in a language exchange program will greatly increase the speed at which you learn a language and you will create a friend or colleague in a foreign land.
 
Language Correspondence Programs
Distance learning is now a staple of most higher education learning institutions. Distance education or online learning allows a user to enroll in a college course and learn at their convenience. The great component of distance learning is that is very comprehensive, often times can learn at your own pace and the quality standards are maintained at a high level.
The problem with distance learning is that is can be very costly and because of the depth of coverage may not cover too much breadth for the cost of the program. Correspondence programs are a great way to learn for those who have time and flexibility to complete the courses. However, college courses and correspondence programs usually do not help us to learn a foreign language fast.
 
Language Software and Self Teaching
Self teaching through reading materials and software is the most popular way to learn a foreign language fast. The popular programs like Rosetta Stone, Rocket Spanish and others make claims that an individual can learn a language in as little as 3 - 6 months. Most of the higher quality software programs on the market today use a variety of multimedia to help the student learn the foreign language fast. It is very important the software features reading, writing, listening and speaking as a feature of the program.
The top end computer programs can cost upwards of $300 - $500. Purchasing two or three language programs would equate to an expense of a $1000 for the top end software. While these programs are expensive they are a fraction of the cost of taking a college course or correspondence course. It is important to remember that using any computer program requires self discipline and patience to get the full benefits of the program.
If you want to learn a foreign language fast there is no easy solution. A combination of language exchange programs coupled with a good language software program like Rosetta Stone or Rocket Spanish will greatly accelerate a uses ability to learn a foreign language fast.