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Speech and language

Tips on How to Prepare For the Best Man Speech

A best man wedding speech is a greatly important part of a wedding and should be prepared couple of days before the wedding day. Planning ahead gives you enough of time to write the speech and to edit it as you need. Best man speech prepared in advance also allows you to practice several times before the wedding day which will help you to build up your confidence.

Here are some tips for your best man speech:

1: Make sure your speech will avoid embarrassing or crude references. These references may be offensive to people in attendance as weddings are often attended by older relatives of both the bride and the groom.

2: Best man speeches should not content jokes which will not be understood by the most of the audience. However these jokes appeal to some, it can create a weird situation because many of the wedding guests will not understand why a few guests are laughing.

3: Keep your best man speech short and simple. Some of the most memorable wedding toasts are quick and straight to the point. The length of your speech should not be longer then 10 minutes.
This is important because the guests will not become confused of the point being made by the best man.

4: Use common language. If you want to use unfamiliar words in your best man speech, it may not allow you to communicate well with guests. Common language allows a speaker to relate better to the general wedding audience.

5: Look for advice when preparing the best man wedding speech. Practice in front of an audience before the wedding day so as to ensure a smooth flow and everything goes as planned. Friends of the bride and groom or the parents of the couple make a good practice audience because they know the couple well and can provide insight into how the speech will be received.

6: Practice several times in front of a mirror before the wedding. You can also do a trial run with a camcorder so you can determine how well the speech sounds. A best man speech should always sound natural and by repeating the speech out loud a few times, it will help you deliver the best man speech smoothly.

Consider these tips as a guide as you plan your best man wedding speech so that your speech will appeal to everyone in the wedding reception. Follow these simple tips and you are off to a great start.

Categories
Speech and language

Help Your Child Talk: Best Toys for Baby Language Development

Babies enjoy their interaction with you far more than the most expensive toys. Your face, voice, security and care matter to your child. As she grows, select the right toys to save money while you help her develop language skills.

Soft rattles: in her first year, she loves toys that encourage her to notice sights and sounds, smells and tastes and the way things feel. She learns to spend a few seconds following a moving toy, or turning to the sound of a rattle or a soft squeaker. She builds brain pathways, learning rapidly about her new world as she repeats the same actions often.

Rolling balls: as she starts to move, crawling or shuffling across the floor, her universe opens up. A soft ball with a bell inside encourages her to follow as it rolls away, and she keeps listening as she searches, using her ears to find where it went. Good listening skills lead to easier language development.

Plastic cutlery: safe spoons, plates and cups make good playthings as she starts to eat solid food, sitting in her high chair, dropping them on the floor and looking around to find them. She learns that objects still exist, even when they drop out of sight. This lays foundations for understanding symbols, and helps her prepare to recognise pictures and words.

Teddy: dolls, teddies and soft toys with faces and bodies help her play out pretend sequences. Beginning by carrying teddy around with her, she learns to pretend clean his teeth or wash his feet. She builds up whole scenes, treating teddy as a real person and hearing you say the words for his body parts.

Dolls house: a robust dolls house is a wonderful investment that lasts for years. If funds won’t allow a commercial house, why not get creative with a cardboard box? Playing with miniature toys takes her symbolic understanding further. She’s a long way from reading, but these games are the early steps in learning.

Musical instruments: rhythm, listening to different sounds and making music herself introduce her to the rhythms of speech and sharpen those listening skills. She needs to hear the difference between a range of speech sounds as she begins to recognise words, and tuning her ears with music helps. She doesn’t need a violin: a saucepan and wooden spoon will do.

Books: tiny babies love books with faces and mirrors. As she grows, she enjoys books with flaps she can pull up. She likes the repetition of a bedtime story or nursery rhymes, learning the words and speech rhythms as you repeat them a hundred times.

Avoid: too many noisy toys that ‘talk’ or ‘sing’. Your child has her own imagination. Let her use it. Sing and talk with her yourself. She likes you better than any expensive plastic toy.

Frances Evesham worked for many years as a speech and language therapist. Her Kindle eBook, How To Help Your Child Talk and Grow Smarter, explains how your child learns to talk, why language makes her smarter, why her first three years are the most important and how you can help her fulfil her potential.

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Online Education

Online Education Programs – 4 Ways They Can Benefit You

These times are as troubled as we’ve seen them in decades. Businesses are closing. Companies are declaring bankruptcy. The unemployment numbers are growing more dismal by the month. People are struggling to make ends meet. Very few people are surviving unscathed.

This is precisely why it’s a good time to further your education. Whether you still need to get your high school diploma or you want to develop new skills in order to access a better-paying job, you’ll find online learning to be a convenient and effective avenue for your education.

Here are some of the advantages for your consideration:

1) Education On Your Time. Life is hectic. There’s always more to do than time to do it. Squeezing lessons and classes into the equation only makes things worse. Fortunately, online education is designed to fit your schedule, not the other way around. When you choose to take your classes is largely up to you. Twenty minutes during your lunch break. Fifteen minutes while waiting for your kids to get out of their karate lessons. Thirty minutes after everyone has gone off to bed. Whichever times are most convenient for you.

2) No Travel Time. No one enjoys being on the freeway, moving ten miles an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic, worrying about being late to your class. It’s frustrating. It’s time-consuming. It’s stressful. Online education eliminates the travel. You can study in the comfort of your home, never having to leave the house. You study and learn at your convenience, not someone else’s convenience.

3) Money Saving. Online education classes are generally more reasonably priced. They save you in ways that you might not even realize at first glance. Not having to travel saves you gas money. Since you’re learning at home, you save on childcare and babysitting expenses. There’s no need to squeeze in a fast food meal between work and class, so you save on those expenses. Even if you’re in a position where you can’t afford a computer or Internet access, you can save money by using a computer at your local library. Almost every library has Internet access these days.

4) Personal Attention. In a traditional classroom it’s easy to get lost. The instructor has a full curriculum to teach, and his or her life is most likely just as hectic as yours. It’s no unusual to go through a semester of learning and never once have the opportunity to talk to your teacher. The online classroom makes access to your professor much easier. Communication by email is convenient for both parties. In addition, with technology rapidly changing, some classes are presented as webinars which allow you to ask questions directly. These new avenues of communicating make it much easier to get the personal attention you need to create the best educational experience.

Not every educational need can be addressed through online learning, but a growing number of them can be. This is a trend that should continue to grow in the future as well, as education adapts to the student instead of forcing the student to adapt to the education. So before you sign up for your local community college classes or even your state college classes, check to see what they have available online first. And if you can’t find what you need, check to see if you can advance your education with a dedicated online learning program.

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Uncategorized

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Sports

Win Or Lose Team Sports Teach Boys the Skills They Need to Succeed

Team sports are a rite of passage for school age boys across the country. From football in the fall to baseball in springtime, competitive sports have defined generations of youth. Besides the acquisition of obvious skills in a particular sport, participation nets youths with benefits that go far beyond punting footballs or catching grounders.

Young boys develop physical stamina and health, confidence in their abilities, as well as perseverance. They also learn to understand the value of teamwork and leadership. Young athletes that play sports will be rewarded with a sense of accomplishment as they set goals and to work hard at reaching them.

In a society where obesity has risen to near epidemic levels, boys who participate in competitive sports attain a level of physical conditioning that excels their peers who merely attend public school physical education classes. Physical conditioning sets athletes apart by giving them a solid understanding of fitness, and the discipline necessary to keep their bodies in top form.

A boy in sports learns to persevere. Under the watchful eyes of dedicated coaches, a boy soon learns the value of sticking with the program, even when the going gets tough. Youth athletes become acquainted with their personal limits and, more importantly, how to surpass them. Lessons in perseverance at an early age build confidence and establish patterns of endurance that will serve him well throughout his life.

Early on in sports, young men see the accomplishments of those who have gone before them. With a sports role model, boys will learn to dream big. In achieving their dreams, boys learn additional lessons as well: perseverance, patience, and goal setting. Instead of day dreaming over fantasies, boys learn to systematically attain one level of success at a time. As each goal is met, the thrill of accomplishment will propel them forward to higher standards.

A young man in sports will soon begin to recognize his own talents and abilities, and the important seed of confidence is sown. Even when failure is the lesson of the day, boys can gain important skills. Losing can develop sportsmanship and in encourage boys to try harder, do better and reach the mark. When boys face tough opponents they gain confidence. Sports are a personal test a that help a boy grow into a man.

Inherent in competitive sports is the value of teamwork. As a competitor, youth discover how to work with their teammates. Learning to be a contributing member of a team is a valuable skill that will help boys throughout their life. When playing on a team, athletes gain a perspective of the bigger picture and learn to set aside petty differences for the good of everyone. Sportsmanship develops when boys shares in the glory of winning, and the disappointment of defeat.

It is difficult to measure the potential benefits for a young man who participates in a youth sports program. The lessons learned have an effect that extend far beyond childhood. Sports build positive character traits such as perseverance, confidence and goal setting abilities. These less tangible rewards grow alongside the physical benefits of health and fitness creating well-rounded young men with the skills and integrity to succeed.

Categories
Sports

Are Sports Degrees Necessary?

If you want to work in the sports industry, but don’t know in what area, then being in a Sport Management program would be beneficial. These degree programs usually offer a diverse range of coursework that can show you the different things you can do in sports outside of the typical careers of an agent or front office employee.

However, if you already have an idea of what you want to do in sports, getting a degree in Sport Management is not necessarily a requirement to work in sports, but an added bonus. For example, if you want to work in Marketing, it may be more beneficial to study it to get a better grasp of the concept as your coursework will focus more on that. Where as in a sports class you will take one Marketing course. The experiences you may receive in that degree program may be more beneficial to marketing positions in sports that are not entry-level. A good option would be to instead minor in sports.

The only downfall to not studying Sport Management is that it may be more difficult to get internships. Priority can usually go to a student studying sports because that’s their course of study and they typically need an internship to graduate, where as a student in another degree program may just be seeking an internship because of their interest rather than a requirement.

The good thing about not studying Sport Management in undergraduate school, is that there are a lot of one year Sport Management graduate programs that can provide with you excellent resources to start your career in sports with a Masters degree to boast. These are also recommended to those who do have a degree in sports, however you may find that a lot of the coursework is repetitive.

Another plus about not studying Sport Management in undergraduate school, is that you have more job options available to you. This year the world has seen two professional sports leagues locked out. Many professionals in these businesses were laid off. Having a degree in another field may be of greater assistance in finding a new job than a person who only has a sports background both in education and work experience. Many people with a degree in sports find it more difficult to get jobs out of sports because managers believe they are higher risks for turnover because they show a greater desire to work in the sports industry than others.

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special-education

Special Education Leadership is Missing, Where Are You?

School staff, administration and parents are consistently sitting around the table making decisions for a child. Problems are bound to arise, but nobody seems to have the solutions. That’s when leadership is needed.

When I speak of leadership at an IEP table, I’m not talking about the person in charge of the meeting.  I’m referring to the person who is able to keep the focus of the child, take in other points of view and lead the team to win-win solutions.  Is that you?

No matter what your role on the team, parents and staff both can become leaders on the team.  Here are three actions you can take:

1.  Keep the focus on the child and worry about budgets, materials, and other constraints second.  Limiting your creativity for solutions at the table is doing the child a disservice.

2.  Listen and understand the other team member points of view.  You should be able to take their ideas and your ideas to develop an even better idea.

3.  Say “NO” to goals, objectives, services, supports, therapies, materials and anything else that is not important to the child’s long-term success.  Just because we’ve been doing things the same way forever, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to be doing.  Constant evaluation of the IEP is needed.

Remember, leaders are smart and strategic, not a bully with power and anger. Leaders keep the focus while acknowledging others and giving value to their ideas. With a focus of leadership for our children with special needs, the opportunities are endless.

Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed, Founder and President of Precision Education, a special education consulting firm is a certified teacher and consults throughout the United States with school districts and parents on maximizing special education. She has been featured on AutismOne radio, published in The Autism Perspective and is a highly sought speaker for special education conferences. Ms. Whitcher is a proud member of NASET, a Distinguished Mom’s Choice Award Judge, and has collaborated with various corporations to provide research proven trainings to special education teams.

Categories
Sports

4 Reasons Our Children Should Play Sports

Only about 5 percent of high school athletes continue to play in college. Some get partial scholarships, but no more than 1 percent of high school athletes, representing just the top layer of national-caliber players, get full scholarships.

Age-group sports are a money-making machine. Parents start their kids involved with organized, coach-led sports at a young age with the hopes of the elusive college scholarship being the carrot that directors use to get the big bucks. You can go to most club or AAU websites and there is bound to be a section where their successful “alumni” are showcased…those folks who earned a full ride to a big university. But what of those athletes who spent the same amount of money, but were much lesser skilled and were not able to continue on to earn a college scholarship? How can their parents justify the expense? I’d like to talk to you today about the reasons young kids should play sports…and it’s not because they want to brag to their friends about earning an athletic scholarship.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was a scholarship athlete at a major university and enjoyed my experience immensely. But if that quotation at the opening of the article is true, I was in a pretty small majority, so again I ask…why play sports?

Well rounded: Aside from the small minority who are talented enough to merit intently focusing on one sport, I believe that we need to encourage young folks to play multiple sports. Play field hockey in the fall, basketball in the winter, and run track in the spring. For years and years (before age-group sports became the financial juggernaut that it is now), this was the formula that elite athletes followed…and they were still elite. In order to lessen the repetitive motion injuries that we see, as well as to increase the fun of sports, let’s go back to encouraging our athlete’s participation in multiple sports.

Healthy living: Even if you know that your little one is not bound for glory on the field, they can still receive the benefits of athletics participation. Learning to work with others, goal-setting, and being a part of something bigger than themselves are all hallmarks of sports teams. Beyond that, our children can learn to love working out and eating healthy and to enjoy living life in a balanced manner.

Love it: Some kids just love their sport. It’s how they identify themselves and they truly cannot imagine their lives without it. Many of those kids turn into student-athletes at small, liberal arts colleges where athletes can sometimes make up 25 to 40 percent of the student population. Those colleges don’t offer athletic scholarships, but they do offer a student who loves their sport and values their education a place to compete and excel.

Future success: As I’ve said on this site before, girls who play sports are more likely to be successful in their future endeavors. Sokolove agrees in his book, Warrior Girls. He says that a 2002 survey of female executives revealed that 82 percent of them said that they had played team sports. Learning to lead is just one of the fabulous benefits of sports participation!

I believe Warrior Girls says it best: “We need to encourage parents, coaches, sports leagues, the culture itself to go back to multiple sports participation. And there needs to be real off-seasons with unstructured play. No adults. No rules. No leagues. No registration cards. One of the best sentences a parent can utter is ‘Go outside and play.’ One of the worst is, ‘It’s nine a.m. Get in the car, we’re going to practice.'” There are benefits to playing sports and being on a team that go beyond receiving an athletic scholarship and working like crazy to get it…hopefully I’ve got you thinking about a few of them.

Categories
Online Education

Higher Online Education – Be Sure to Get the Real Deal

Have you ever considered taking an higher online education? Online universities are the biggest attraction for those students who can’t spare time for studies from their working schedules or family commitments. Similarly, most of the housewives who wish to continue pursuing education can’t spare enough amount of time to physically attend a college or university; hence they prefer online accredited universities. Because of the flexibility that online courses provide, they become one of the ideal ways of getting education for students who are busy in their professional schedules.

So if you want to get such online degrees from online universities/colleges then you must start searching for such universities now. However, you should always keep in mind that not all of these universities are qualified to offer diplomas in different subjects. Therefore you should always investigate about the accreditation of an online college/university.

Remember, if your diploma is not accredited, it is not acceptable in the real world. Therefore it is always essential to investigate about the accreditation of a university/college. Don’t go for cheaper costs because if you ever get trapped by a fake university / college then you have ruined your career. Joining a non-accredited university is nothing but a waste of time, money and energy. Your plans of having a big saving can result in a career loss so never ever go for non-accredited colleges/universities.This article will help you in removing some misconceptions about online courses and it will try to answer the most important frequently asked questions about online courses.

Financial Advantages of Online Education: Online degree programs are not that much cheap as some people think. However, if you compare the overall cost of a traditional degree and an online degree, then you will definitely find online degrees to be much cheaper as compared to traditional degrees since they don’t require you to attend the school / college physically. Since there is no transport is required to attend online classes, it saves lots of money. Moreover you can always continue your full time job while you can continue your online studies, which is not the case in traditional studies where students are not allowed to work on full time basis. Another advantage of accredited online schools is that you are not required to buy various college supplies or books. All you require is to install recommended software on your computer and that’s it .

Online Education is not that easy: There is a misconception that online higher education is just like a piece of cake. It is not that easy as it appears. Online college education is as difficult as traditional education. It is as challenging as traditional education is. If you are not required to attend classes, it doesn’t mean that you are no longer required to show obedience and discipline. Online courses require as much focus and commitment as traditional courses require.

Don’t get attracted by the cheaper cost of online education: It will be all in vain if it is not from an accredited university / college. You should never take a risk with your career by choosing a non-accredited university / college for online courses. If you possess an online degree from a non-accredited university / college, then there are high chances that you will not be hired by employers. To get accreditation for a course, the college / university must prove that the course they are offering meet the quality standards.

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Online Education

What You Need to Know About Online Education Degree

Online education degree could be just what you need to begin or advance your career. The options for an online education degree program are just like those at any college or university. In fact, many of the programs are offered by facilities in your area. You may even be familiar with some of them.

Below, you will find some of the most frequently asked questions about an online education degree. Hopefully, the answers that you need are included.

Why Choose an Online Education Degree Program Instead of a Traditional Classroom?

For most people, the answer is a matter of “convenience.” Many people postpone higher or continuing education because of family responsibilities or working hours.

Most traditional schools hold their final classes relatively early in the evening. You can work towards an online education degree at any time of the day or night. Weekend classes are not a problem. Scheduling is not an issue. You choose when and how much you want to learn in a given day.

Another reason that we often see is “distance.” Depending on where you live, an online education degree program may be your best choice because of travel time, cost to travel and the distance to and from school. It all adds up.

Finally, there is cost. An online education degree program may be less expensive than the per-credit charges at you local university.

Are On-line Universities Accredited?

In most cases, the answer is “yes.” As I mentioned above, a university in your own area may offer on-line classes. In order to remain competitive, many popular universities, including the University of Cincinnati and Virginia College, now offer courses on-line.

Just be sure to check for accreditation, before you sign up for a program. The reputable colleges provide that information up-front, because they know that you want to know.

What Career Paths are Available?

There is truly no limit to your options. You can become a pre-school or kindergarten teacher; a high school teacher, librarian, psychologist or counselor. You can focus on higher education and become a college professor or university administrator.

You should choose your career path based on your own preferences. If you like to work with kids, you choose secondary education. If you prefer research or writing, there are several roads that you can take. Basically, any path that would be available from a traditional school is available with an online education degree.

What are the Fees?

The fees charged by different institutions will of course, vary. In general, you will pay a per-credit fee, similar to that charged by traditional universities. You may have to buy text books and other materials necessary to complete the course. You will save money by working at home, rather than commuting to and from school.

Can I get Continuing-Education Credits?

The online education degree program originally became popular for people needing CE credits, since it was easier to fit into the schedule. So, yes, you can get your CE credits through an online education degree. Actually, you can do just about anything on-line.