Some Ways to Write Good Cover Letter

Teaching English abroad is a booming opportunity for any native English or experienced teachers. Even though you can land a job without a bachelor's degree or TEFL certificate, getting a good teaching job overseas has become extremely competitive due to the overwhelming number of applicants for a single position. First impressions are critical, and your cover is your first and probably your only opportunity to catch a recruiter's attention. Often overlooked and sometimes completely neglected, cover letters are the perfect companion to your CV, but are not your CV and should not read like one.

This vital asset to your resume demonstrates your writing style, and since you are applying for a teaching job overseas, needs to be meticulously crafted, and not just a repetition of the obvious. In a perfect world, an employer has to sift through 100's of applications casting an eye over each one so you literally have 30 seconds to get noticed. Providing a cover letter encourages an employer to read all the things that are otherwise fitted into a resumes rigid factual structure, and this rather focused sales pitch must be unique and address the specific requirements of the individual job positing.

Before you start composing your cover letter, take note that it has to be directed towards the overseas job market, and hence must fulfill a few often overlooked criteria. Do remember that although you are applying for an English teaching job overseas, the recruiter may not be well versed in the language hence it is recommended that you also translate your cover letter, resume, etc into the local language and ensure that it fits the local format. Employers overseas generally prefer to get an up close and personal view of the candidate so attaching a professional photo somewhere in your cover letter or resume is a good idea.

The first most and foremost aspect to mention in your cover letter is why you are choosing that specific country overseas to teach. Things to elaborate on in this section are your compatibility with the local language, people and cuisine. Refrain from mentioning things related to vibrant social life such as partying, beaches, or anything that would make you seem like a backpacker who's going to disappear at the first inconvenience.

Paragraph two should contain information about your background, but not a repeat of your resume. You can mention your travelling, coaching, and even your TELF or CELTA course experiences. The last paragraph should be a summary of your teaching plans and any hobbies that might prove your interest in the area such as museums, archeological sites, etc. Skip lengthy exposition and take note that not everyone has Microsoft Office, but everyone can open a PDF file. Final pointers include sounding pompous, avoid using catch phrases, and abbreviations. Take the time to read your cover letter over and ensure there are no syntax or punctuation errors, before you send it across.

Some Factors Which Make Listening Difficult

Learners frequently bemoan their second language listening skills. Even when they can comfortably get through a reading passage, listening can remain a continual challenge for students. Here are the two main reasons why :

Cognitive Load : Cognitive load is a fancy term that describes how much information your brain needs to hold onto in order to make sense of something. Imagine that you're doing a multiplication problem (72x13). If you do this using a calculator, you only need to remember the numbers (72 and 13). If you're doing it on a piece of paper, you need to remember your multiplication facts. Now imagine that you're doing the entire problem in your head. You can probably solve the problem, but it will require a great deal more time and effort on your part to keep the numbers straight and come up with the correct answer.

This multiplication analogy is exactly what is happening in your brain when you try to listen and make sense of something spoken in your second language. You have to intake the information as it's being said and wait until you have enough information to make sense of it. For second language learners, this has an added layer of complexity when you're dealing with different syntax, or word order. For example, in Korean and German, you won't hear the verb until the very end of the sentence. This means you have to hold on to a substantial amount of vocabulary before you figure out who did what.

Receptive Skill : Listening is a receptive skill (as is reading). This means that you as the listener have little control over what is being said and how it is communicated. When you're reading, this is actually quite useful. You can take your time to puzzle through a paragraph or article. For listening, however, this can be problematic for several reasons. First, you have no control over the speaker's speed, or rate of delivery. If you want to see how this feels, take 5 minutes and listen to someone speaking in a language of which you have no knowledge. It's a little overwhelming! While language teachers typically slow down and repeat what they say since they aware of their learners' limitations, native speakers may not be as sympathetic.

Vocabulary is another problematic area, especially as soon as you walk out of the language classroom. When you're listening to authentic spoken language, for example a radio broadcast, podcast, or movie produced for native speakers, you're going to be exposed to a huge range of vocabulary words. Native speakers and speaking partners are probably not aware of your vocabulary limitations. Slang, idioms, low-frequency vocabulary and words you just haven't had a chance to learn, can all quickly cause a breakdown in understanding.

The good news is that most language learners reach a point when listening is no longer a struggle, somewhere around the mid-advanced level. Until then, realize that listening will be a challenge that learners just like you all around the world are working to overcome!

How to Know Whether Home Schooling Is Right For You

Have you considered homeschooling your children? Maybe you have but often wondered what you would be getting yourself into if you did. Thousands of parents home school their children every day. It wasn't an easy decision, there are a lot of things to consider when you home school your child, here are some of the main things that you need to consider.

Financial strain

One parent will have to stay home with child while they are schooling them or working part-time, if you are used to living on a two income family there will be some sacrifices made to compensate for this. Also home schooling, while can be done cheaply can also cost more money depending on which program that you use for homeschooling.

Time

Teaching your children at home will take up most of the day. You will have to have available time to teach, take on field trips and to prepare lessons. There is a lot when you are doing this at home. During the day you will have very little time of your own.

Field trips

After a while your child may get bored learning at home, and want to have friends to play with, this is a huge part of schooling is having friends to play and socialize with. You will have to make arrangements to take your child out to the park or the library where they can socialize with other children.

Household Chores

It will be hard to keep up with household chores while you are teaching classes. You will have to work on most of this after school hours to complete everything. You will have to be organized not only with the work which is needed to be done around the house, but with the lesson plans and everything else.

Your child

Does your child want to go to public school? Are they comfortable being taught by you and willing to learn if you teach them? You want this to be a pleasant experience for them and need for them to learn, if they don't want to be taught at home it will be a daily struggle for them to learn and have a pleasant experience.

Homeschooling can be a great experience with them, many children will continue on to college and do well in college. It's a huge decision to teach your children at home and make sure that they learn everything which is needed for when they are adults,. It's not a decision to take lightly.

Homeschooling can be one of the most rewarding things you have done. You control what your children learn and most home school children go on to college and excel in the world. There are many ways that you can home school your children and there are also many ways that you can cut the cost of home schooling, online is one way that you can save money, there are so many resources available that is inexpensive or free.

Some Facts about Spiders

Spiders have been a good subject of many stories over the year. In those stories, spiders are always depicted as persistent arthropods that weave webs and wait for their prey to come along. Some of the tales of spiders can also tell you about the ways how they create their own webs.

For many people, getting acquainted with spiders is an interesting thing while some are afraid of spiders. It is estimated that about 10% of all men and 50% of all women have a severe phobia of spiders and their webs. But, did you know that these arthropods offer several benefits to humans?

To get started, it's important to know that a spider has eight legs. What distinguishes a spider from an insect is that an insect has six legs. In addition, spiders do not have antennae like insects. They are closely related to ticks and scorpions. While knowing about their body parts, spiders have only two body parts: a head and a thorax. In contrast, insects have an extra body part called the abdomen.

There are several small but harmful insects in your house but a spider can protect you from them. For instance, the bite of mosquitoes can sometimes become a threat for humans. In the US, a fatal virus called the West Nile virus is carried by mosquitoes. This can cause serious complications in the human body. In addition, mosquitoes can also malaria.

Spiders can offer you a great benefit by killing these insects to a great extent. The webs formed by spiders can catch a lot of such tiny and harmful insects that they further use for eating purposes. These glued insects are also useful as food supplies for their offspring. Thus, by catching lot of insects in their webs, spiders can reduce their numbers to some extent.

Spiders are very poisonous arthropods. Scientists are undergoing extensive research to use venom as a pesticide. In this regard, Australian funnel spider species can be taken under consideration. Since these species are confined to Australia, most pests across the world did not get a chance to confront their venom. Using their venom as a pesticide is neither harmful to the environment nor to humans and pets.

In addition to using the spider venom as a pesticide, it can also be very effective for fighting heart disease. The use of spider venom in healthcare practices has become relatively commonplace. According to scientists and various doctors, spider venom may be useful in minimizing irregular heart diseases and strokes. It may also be very effectual in preventing Alzheimer's disease, a condition which causes the loss of one's memory.

Now let's talk about the webs that a spider can create. A web will be made of some silky fabrics that are stronger than steel but weigh less than a feather. The sticky trait of a spider's web has influenced scientists in their studies over the years. They have started producing it artificially in goat's milk and plants through genetic engineering. Once their experiments start working, these webs can be used in different industrial practices.

In many parts of South America and Cambodia, the spider is a solid food item. This is especially for tarantula spiders that are very large in size. The legs of these spiders have irritating hairs that are removed before cooking them.

Most spiders are not harmful to humans and they won't bite you unless threatened. The bite of a spider may pain you like the sting of a bee or the bite of a mosquito. However, the bites of a recluse spider and the widow spider may be deadly.

How to Help Children Love Math

Even today, Math is still perceived as one of the toughest subjects that students have to take up and pass year in and year out, until they graduate. This is a well-known accepted fact. Many students of all ages even despise this subject but have no chance of avoiding it since this is an importance and staple part of the curriculum. What generally happens then is students would just try to do their best to get passing grades in this subject and not bother to work and study hard to get higher grades because of their personal acquired or innate dislike or fear of Math.

To help young children avoid and/or overcome their aversion or fear of Math at an early stage, it would be very wise to talk to them and explain to them that this subject is not very difficult and that everyone can learn to love and understand numbers and the various calculations. And that numbers will always be a part of their everyday life so it is very important that they are familiar and achieve mastery of the simple, basic mathematical operations.

There are many simple steps that parents can do or apply to help with the above. For one, when helping them study or teaching or tutoring them at home, integrating mathematics in simple games that they love to play will really be helpful. Incorporating simple or basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division functions while they are playing hopscotch, jumping ropes and other simple games will help them memorize the correct sums, products and other answers since they can and will associate such functions with their "fun" times.

In relation to this, the internet is a great source for fun and interactive math-related or based games that children will surely enjoy playing and of course, learn more about this subject. In addition to this, other educational video games that are really visually appealing and enjoyable to play can also be bought and used by the parents in helping their kids like math a bit more.

There are also many children's educational television shows that teach children understand and accomplish simple math operations. Letting the children watch such shows will definitely help them comprehend, put into practice and master the simple tasks in calculations that would certainly be their foreground for learning and understanding more complex mathematical equations.

Lastly, there are many tutorial centers that specialize in tutoring and giving kids additional help and guidance with learning about and achieving competency in Math. The right math learning center can help kids actually enjoy the process of learning fractions, formulas, and other math concepts. The tutors can also help kids who have a great dislike for this subject due to some past bad experience or failure in the past. They will be able to even teach the young ones to not only gain a better understanding but also develop a lifelong love of algebra, geometry, and even trigonometry.

Ten Simple Ways to Begin Online Teaching

Online teaching is such a great opportunity that you might be wondering why more teachers don't teach online in their spare time.

Teaching is a rewarding career but sometimes it is difficult to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. There are many opportunities for teachers to earn a little income on the side and online teaching is one of the best.

One of the biggest barriers is not knowing how to get started. Many teachers would be willing to tutor or teach online if they did not have to invest a great deal of their time in getting started. Many teachers would rather devote all of their time to teaching and helping students learn. They are not nearly as interested in taking the time to set up a program and find potential students to work with. However, online teaching solutions make it much easier for teachers to connect with potential students to work with.

Online teaching websites are a great way for students and teachers to find one another. A third party website allows students to create a profile listing their educational needs, and teachers can create a profile with their teaching services. The website than makes it easy for teachers to connect with potential students, with ways to build an online profile with a strong reputation as well as advertisements for teachers to display their teaching. Teachers can spend less time on marketing their services, and more time teaching online. They can simply sign up with an online teaching website, and will be easily connected with students who need help learning a subject. Using an online teaching or tutoring website simplifies the process immensely, and makes it much easier for teachers to focus on what they do best: teaching. The website will take care of the rest, from managing the services to helping the teachers connect with the students. Online teaching is another way for teachers to help make a difference in the lives of students, and help students on the path to academic success.

Step 1: Ask Questions- Before you begin online teaching it is imperative that you ask yourself which technological tools you will be using online.

Step 2: Get Training- Training means you knowing how each technological tool you use works. Each course will be different and the technological tools required will vary. This is why it is most important to determine the technological tools your particular course lessons will require.

Step 3: Get Organized- Wouldn't it be great if teachers could let someone else manage the paperwork, so they could focus more of their time and energy on helping the students learn? Online teaching websites make this possible, with a wide range of services that help teachers to keep themselves and their students organized.

Step 4: Consult Resources-When you use a host website like as a third party, you have a variety of resources with which you can consult. This helps you to organize the finding of students as well as classes and payments.

Step 5: Take a Course Yourself- It will also serve you well to try and take an online course yourself before you start.

Step 6: Get Technological Help- Online teaching technologies may seem to make offering teaching and tutoring services more complicated at the first glance. However, teachers will quickly learn how to use the system and will soon grow to love the convenience and features that it offers.

Step 7: Plan Your Lesson- When you decide on the lessons you want to provide it is important that you plan your lessons the same as you would were you teaching a course in person. However you do need to account for bandwidth and connection issues and have alternatives in mind when you begin.

Step 8: Find Students- One of the biggest struggles that teachers have when they decide to teach online or offer tutoring services is finding students to work with. Many teachers do not want to spend a significant amount of their time marketing their services to students, and would rather be able to devote all of that time to helping students learn. This is what makes online teaching services beneficial for students and teachers alike.

Step 9: Make Your Schedule- Online teaching websites are the best solutions for students and teachers alike. Students are able to find teachers to help them at virtually any time day or night. Teachers are able to choose to work whenever they want, and can feel confident knowing that the students will always be able to receive the help they need, even if the teacher is unable to meet with them at their preferred time

Step 10: Get Support- When you begin working online you need a system of support which allows you to showcase details about your qualifications and gain new students. This is where the rating system comes in to play.

Online teaching can be a tricky process. While it has been around for the better part of a decade, there are still challenges faced by teachers new to technology. One of the best ways to teach online is to utilize a website which acts as an intermediary. This provides you with more secure teaching routes and connects you to students.

The Meaning of Education

The phrase "get an education" gets tossed around so much with little thought to what an education really is. Have you ever stopped to ask what that really means? "I want my kids to get an education!", "I want to go back to school and get an education!" We hear it all the time. But what is this prize package? I have gone to school for a large portion of my life an I'm still not sure what the phrase means.

If we went off what the world considers an education I would say it could be summed up with a checklist. You need to pass a set of courses, with a wide degree of variation in scoring by the way, and then you are educated. At this point you will get a piece of paper and your are considered ready for a large amount of job opportunities. Once you have passed these courses it is highly unlikely anyone will check to see how well you did or if you remember any of it. How useful is this? Many have told me that this is more of a process to see who is willing to go that extra mile. You can assume that if someone got their degree they have spent large amounts of time studying and examining theories and practical application for many areas that should make them more profitable in the workplace. Having gone through the process I can tell you that some do and some don't. I know several people that did the bare minimum and still got the same diploma that I did. On the other hand I also now several people that worked harder than me but did not seem like they would be a high quality employee. To put it bluntly they seemed like they may be eaten alive in any work environment. Education comes in many different degrees.Pun intended.

In the work environment I have seen many that have degrees from more prestigious Universities and others from less. Guess what? It doesn't matter. Maybe in the hiring process it does but some are better at what they do regardless of their origins. In fact I would defend the idea that some that have not even had formal education could outperform some that have spent thousands of hours in the classroom. So who is better educated?

When I did my own analysis on education I had to start at the beginning. What is it that I would like my child going into kindergarten to know? The real answer is to work well with others. I want them to be able to be kind, be fair, and if necessary stand up for themselves as ethically as possible. Notice I didn't say learn their A,B,C's. That comes next.

Learning essential knowledge is the second part. A person must be able to problem solve, and work through life's many challenges. This is where the multiplication and language skills come in. I think it is very important to learn math, reading, and science. The more a person knows about these things the more completely they can analyze a situation.

Some may think that I'm leaning toward not getting a formal education but I'm not. Every situation is different, and luckily every person is different as well. Some people will have to strive their whole life to gain the knowledge that others seemed to have acquired easily. Although this may seem unfair I still believe everyone has the same opportunity for success. To what area and extent for this success I would say it will be different for everyone.

So what is an education? It is the ability to gain and use all available knowledge and experience to make wise decision. Some answers will come from the heart and others from the head. Some questions will take much more effort from both. And some may end up with a coin toss or a game of rock, paper, scissors. Either way an education can come in all different forms. There is great value in a college experience but there is also great value in time playing on the playground. There is no one path to enlightenment and ultimately it is up to the adventurer to choose what they want to take away from their adventure. If you can use the knowledge and experiences you gain, to make your life better, your education was a success.

Ultimately I have to look at my children. I want them to be happy more than anything in the world. If I have a topic that they must learn I can ask myself one question. "Will this ultimately add to their happiness?" If the answer is yes then it is worth learning. To me, that is an education!

High School Assemblies - How to Plan a Successful Event

School assemblies are among the most effective tools in imparting information and sharing life lessons to students. In the past, school gatherings were only conducted to prep students up for the coming school term or to give out important academic awards. Today, however, these events inspire and motivate students and teach them how to cope with everyday problems or plan for their future. Allowing the youth to hear from inspirational speakers while they are still at a formative and impressionable age can affect how they tackle life and its challenges.

Benefits to Students

Students may see school assemblies as a great opportunity to miss class and bum about with their peers. Soon enough, however, they will come to realize that these gatherings are not just simple distractions from their everyday routines. Whatever the purpose is entertainment, inspirational, educational, etc. school assemblies have many benefits. It can help build school spirit and camaraderie between students and teachers. School talent shows, on the other hand are a great way to showcase and share unique skills and talents not ordinarily recognized during everyday schooling. School assemblies can also be used to celebrate important holidays, distribute awards, and most importantly, to educate students about issues and real-world concerns that are relevant to them.

How to Plan a Successful Event

Planning a school assembly is not so hard a task, especially if you already have a theme and topic in mind. The first thing you need to do is to decide on an appropriate topic or a theme for the event and choose some specific subjects to discuss. Find talented speakers within the school faculty or even within the student body to give an inspirational dialogue about each subject. You can also hire an outsider or a guest lecturer who can truly capture the purpose of your event. Prepare a program as well as a venue for your event and consider giving out a printed synopsis of what took place so the participants can be reminded of the things discussed in the assembly long after the event.

Finding the Best Speakers

There are many motivational speakers specializing in different youth issues that you can turn to should you decide to hire an outsider to give the main lecture for your event. The key is to find the most reputable speaker to fit your topic. Before you hire speakers, check their credentials and qualifications to ensure that they can inspire your students positively.

About Horticulture

Horticulture will be the time period that's designed to describe the particular business, science and technologies involved with the particular cultivation of plants for human use and consumption. It straight away evokes images of gardeners and gardens, persons and plants. Simple garden chores to advanced landscaping activities in homes, residential complexes, multinational firms, public parks, and numerous some other places constitute horticulture. Diverse activities for instance preparing and incorporating foods and fertilizers for peak plants, shrubs and timber and also food crops such as vegetables and fruits are added during this technologies ; connected providers such as garden and garden style and construction, garden renovation and restoration, plant servicing, horticultural therapy and arboriculture fall inside the ambit. Such activities are now being increasingly observed as fundamental to human lifestyles and well-being.

Horticulture spans 2 sections - food and non-food. Horticulturists, or technicians and scientists, apply their knowhow and skills for that intensive production of food and non-food plants for social and also personal desires.

The science of Horticulture encompasses the particular wider vary on the pure sciences - biology, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics and physics. Its contributions to persons and society embody in massive, commerce & trade, education, healthcare, selling and also the use natural therapies.

The Etymology and Anthropology of Horticulture
The time period 'Horticulture' comes direct from term 'hortus' which suggests garden in Latin and 'cultura' direct from verb 'colo' or " I cultivate ". The English dictionary associates 'hortus' along with 'yard' that is defined as the land adjoining a making. However, the particular implications on the time period aren't widely understood or appreciated by persons in reference to the wide influence on human health and lifestyle. The generic time period 'gardening' won't express the particular advanced inter-relationships ; neither will it effectively communicate the particular far reaching relevance and importance on the cultivation plants and food-crops for human existence and sustenance.

Horticulture dates back again all of the approach to ancient Persia and also the times of Cyrus the particular Great and most definitely has reached the particular present day along with eminent and revolutionary horticulturists such as Luther Burbank and Freeman S. Howlett. They are not simply horticulturists however scientists having a wealth of knowledge and analysis into practices and ways which will profit persons and communities worldwide within the cultivation of plants and crops. Horticulture, like a observe, might be found in civilizations and societies simply because they moved from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settlers on land cultivating a sort of plants and crops, taking into account the particular land & soil conditions, climate and temperature and the really need to be sustained effectively. Crop rotation was most likely an ancient science nicely understood by these settlers. The ancient Amazon-Columbian, Chinese, European, Mediterranean, Mesopotamian, and many some other civilizations understood the call for cultivating crops and planting timber and plants that might retain the particular natural ecosystems and replenish the particular mineral wealth on the soil. Evidence factors purpose is to the favored 'slash and burn' techniques getting used all-around before settler dwellings and also the science of planting little plots of totally different crops rather then use massive tracts of rolling land to cultivate one crop. As examples, the particular growing of maize, squash and sunflower through the Eastern Woodlands Communities of North America and also the cultivation of avocado, chili peppers, cocoa, papaya and pumpkins and also beans and corns through the Mayans in Central America might be cited.

Horticulture in the modern day relevance
Horticulture is these days observed like the intensive and intimate relationship concerning plants and folks. With modern day scientific and technological approaches, Horticulture broadly encompasses 9 rules of study, classified straight into the 2 broad groups of edibles and ornamentals. These 9 locations are :
• Arboriculture - study of individual timber, shrubs, plants and vines and the care and removal
• Floriculture - selling and production of floral crops
• Landscaping - the planning, production and good health of landscaped gardens and layouts
• Oenology - elements of wine making
• Olericulture - selling and production of vegetables
• Pomology - to carry out along with pome fruits
• Post-harvest Physiology - quality servicing and preventing spoilage of plants
• Turf Management - servicing and production of turf grasses for leisure activities and sports
• Viticulture - selling and production of grapes

An 'arborist' or 'arboriculturist' is an expert involved with the particular observe of arboriculture, the particular name directed at the particular cultivation and management of shrubs, timber and vines. More commonly known as the " tree doctor or surgeon ", these professionals concentrate on the health and safety of timber.