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My preschooler can count twice as high as your preschooler — but does that mean she really understands number concepts? In truth, she has memorized a sequence of words. Although children can’t learn math unless they know how to count, counting is only one aspect of math.

Children begin to count on their own as they grow, and they learn from everyday experiences with length, quantity, time, temperature, money, and more. Through Preschool program, children expand their true understanding of math. Adults should recognize that games such as sorting and putting objects in sequence are actually early experiments in math, even if they don’t look much like geometry!

Here are some everyday opportunities for children to begin thinking about numbers:

• All about me - Teach children their own address and phone number as well as their age. Also, record their height – in centimeters and metres. Putting a child on a scale represents an opportunity to compare pounds and Kg, and heavy versus light. Children can also learn what size clothes they wear, and be able to judge what will fit and what won’t.

• Cooking — Adults pour, measure, divide, estimate time, and read labels every time they prepare a meal. Why not include young children in on the activities? Before he can pour pancake batter or read recipes, a child can stir with a wooden spoon in a plastic bowl. Show a child how you follow a recipe step by step, and how you set the oven temperature. Remember to warn children about what’s too hot to touch or eat!

• Managing money — Children can start knowing about money even before elementary tutoring. You can start letting your child touch, count, save, sort, and spend money. What better way to teach children about the value of money than by taking them shopping and showing them how much they must pay for items — and how much they will save with coupons!

• Around the house — Household repairs offer children excellent opportunities to practice math skills. Let children watch as you measure a door frame, or hang a picture in the center of a wall. Children can help you make a list of items you will need to complete a project, including the number of tools. Everyday activities like setting the timer on the VCR or setting the dinner table are opportunities for children to count and work with numbers.

• Play — Children may also race against the clock or measure the distance they can hit or throw a ball. Help children make neighborhood activities and sports more than just good exercise.

When children pretend, they often create lifelike situations in which they may check a bus schedule, or gauge how much gas is needed for a long car trip.
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Throughout our twenty-six years of producing SuperCamp learning and life skills academic summer camp programs for teens and youth, we have also endeavored to give parents some of the tools they might need to support the continued personal growth of their children after their return from our summer camp.

We have found the following to be worthwhile elements in building rapport with children:

• Know what they like, how they think, and how they feel about what’s happening in their lives.
• Imagine what they say to themselves, about themselves.
• Know what keeps them from getting what they truly want. If you don’t know, ask.
• Speak the truth to them in a way they can hear it, clearly and gently.
• Have fun with them.
• Treat them as equals.

Many of the beliefs that we teach and practice at SuperCamp are worth sharing with SuperCamp families. We strongly believe that:

• Respect and caring – for ourselves and for others – is vitally important.
• Every person is gifted and capable of learning.
• There are no failures, only learning experiences through which we gain greater self-understanding.
• Positive support, a nurturing environment, and good communication are essential – for learning and for life.

Parents who make an effort to build their relationships with their children will also build their feelings of acceptance and trust – which will in turn build their self confidence. Self-confidence is a vital ingredient in the happiness and academic success of our children.

Learn More at SuperCamp

At SuperCamp, our exceptional staff go in-depth with campers from age 9 to 18 on how to build strong relationships with friends and family and on many other life and learning skills that help build grades, confidence and motivation. Our Youth Forum is seven days long and is for students going into grades 4-5 in the fall. Junior Forum and Senior Forum are 10 days long. Junior Forum is for incoming 6-8 graders and Senior Forum is for incoming 9-12 graders. We even have a college boot camp, Quantum U, an 8-day programs for incoming college freshmen.
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Quantum U, an 8-day Summer Program For Incoming College Freshman, Helps Students Make The Transition From High School With New Learning And Life Skills

Joe Chapon, Vice President of Quantum Learning Network, announced that the company will hold an eight-day college boot camp in July at Colorado College in Colorado Springs for students entering college in the fall of 2008.

The program, entitled Quantum U, will accept 80 graduating high school seniors from around the country. It focuses on practical life and learning skills that students require to succeed in college, including techniques to manage their time, energy, and finances, as well as extensive training in college-level communication, presentation, writing, and reading skills.

According to Kevin Davis, a Quantum U facilitator, the program is unique because, “Quantum U helps students transition from the attitude and skills of a youth to the attitude and skills of an adult. They learn to go from the mindset of ‘things happen to me’ to ‘I make things happen for me’.”

Quantum U is an outgrowth of SuperCamp, a learning and life skills summer camp for middle school and high school students that launched in 1982 and has graduated over 48,000 students worldwide. An important aspect of both SuperCamp and Quantum U is that students learn how to learn, meaning they discover their own learning style and they are taught several practical learning techniques in the areas of note-taking, studying and memorization.
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The academic summer camp, SuperCamp, has some advice for high school seniors suffering from senioritis. It is possible to prevent this common disease and if you already have it, there is a cure. Seniors can avoid this affliction with the help of a few Quantum Learning study skills that are taught at SuperCamp.

Slant - Sit in the front row or middle section of the classroom. Lean slightly forward in your chair, as if you are hanging on the teacher’s every word. Ask questions to clarify anything you don’t understand. Nod your head to show you are listening and interested. Talk to your teacher after class to build rapport and establish a relationship.

Mind Mapping™ - Capture valuable class information with the innovative note-taking technique of Mind Mapping. Begin by writing your main topic in the center of the page, then draw branches radiating outward from your topic. Label each branch with a subtopic. As your teacher lectures, add information to each subtopic by drawing more branches. Use colors, symbols and pictures to help you remember the information and make your Mind Map more fun!

Circuit Learning – This is a great way to prepare for tests and learn more efficiently. It works especially well with teachers who like to give a test or a pop quiz every Friday. On Monday, begin a Mind Map of the week’s topic. On Tuesday, add new information you learned, and review material from the previous day. Continue adding and reviewing information throughout the week and by Friday, you’re ready for that test!
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The academic summer camp for teens and pre-teens, SuperCamp, tells students to get off what’s not working. Shift perspectives. Maintain the ability to change what you’re doing to get the outcome you desire.

Flexibility is being prepared for change and having the willingness to do things differently. If a strategy is not working, try something different until you find something that does work. Many times every day you face situations that look different from what you had planned. You could be rigid and continue to do things the same way over and over. Or you could be flexible and respond by adapting to the changing situation. Which response is more likely to produce your desired outcome in the long run?

Go on — make a change — try something different

People in their eighties and nineties looking back at their long lives have said that their regrets are more often about the opportunities for change they didn’t take than the ones they did. More often than not, change pays off. Hockey player Wayne Gretzky put it this way: “You miss 100% of the goals you never try for.”

Then why don’t people make more changes? What keeps people from trying new things? Comfort? Convenience? Fear of the unknown? Using old methods feels easier—even though it often isn’t.

How well do you handle change? Do you hold on to old ways of doing things even when you know they don’t work? We all do sometimes. It’s not easy to recognize or admit when something isn’t working. Some people routinely fight against change. You’ve probably known rigid, inflexible people who refuse to adapt to new circumstances. But let me ask you: How many highly successful rigid people do you know?

What’s flexibility? It’s the capability to adapt to new or changing situations to obtain the outcome you want. It’s the ability to get off what’s not working and find what does work. And it’s a prime ingredient of a successful life in a changing world.

Why Flexibility?

Every day we face situations that are different from what we expected or planned. But we do have choices when this occurs. We can be rigid and stick with a set of behaviors that no longer fit the plan—or we can adapt and handle the situation with flexibility. We all know that life does not follow a rigid plan. It’s fluid, dynamic, and ever-changing. Staying flexible means having the courage and openness to change when your situation changes.

Every aspect of our lives demands flexibility. You’re running six mornings a week to train for a tennis tournament but you sprain your ankle; instead of giving up, you swim in the mornings until you heal. You’ve planned lunch with an old friend at an upscale bistro, but when you learn that she’s bringing her four small kids you opt instead for a burger restaurant with a play area for kids. You’re planting a bed of red roses and need six more to finish, but your local nursery is out of the red variety—you alternate red with white. You get a great promotion, but at the same time your mother falls ill, so you defer your job change for three months so you can take care of her, but while you’re there you study to prepare for your new position. Life can require flexibility in the greatest and smallest of situations.

Be ready to change what you’re doing to reach your goals

Flexibility challenges you to let go of what’s not working and try new things until you hit upon what does work. It’s hard to recognize—even harder to admit—when something’s not working. You’ve invested time, money, pride—and you’ve convinced yourself it has to work. To become flexible, develop the ability to recognize when it’s time to let go of an unworkable method and try something different. It’s hard on the ego, but until you admit you’ve got a problem, you can’t take the next step.

Try these steps to move toward greater flexibility:

• First, you have to accept the reality of change. Recognize that it’s normal to change the way you do things because it’s inevitable that circumstances change. It’s nothing personal—it’s just the nature of life. The best plans in the world can become impractical or obsolete. Make it okay for something not to work.

• Second, in order to let go of things that aren’t working, learn to detach your ego. We get our pride wrapped up in our methods—we take the need for change as a personal attack on our intelligence or our ability. Or sometimes we just get stubbornly attached to our way of doing things because it’s “our way.” Make sure your ego doesn’t get in the way of your flexibility. Save ego for the results, not the means. Take your work, not yourself, seriously. What you want is more important than looking good.
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India is home to different alternative and complementary treatment streams. The main among them are Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Siddha, followed by Unani, Naturopathy, Yoga, etc. Before the advent of Allopathy into the land by British rulers, Ayurveda and Siddha were the only treatment options available. The suppression of natural cure methods for the sake of Allopathy has dwindled the importance of Ayurveda, Yoga and Siddha over time.

Now there is newfound revival for Ayurveda and other alternative medicines. The single most important reason why people turning away from Allopathy and towards Ayurveda is the fact that side effects so common with Allopathy and an almost total absense of side effects with Ayurveda medicines.

Now Government has recognized courses for all types of alternative medicines. Ayurveda medical colleges under direct government control are the main centers of ayurveda education in India. Ayurveda medical colleges and research centers in private sector are relatively new to Indian medical scenario.

Employment Opportunities in Alternative Medicine

With surge in demand for Ayurveda and other medical sciences by people of India and from around the world, persons educated in alternative medicines today have worldwide opportunities. Training centers, treatment centers, hospitals, resorts with Ayurvedic treatment facilities etc are main places where they can try employment.
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Yoga, the twin sister of Ayurveda is one unique science that deals with the physical and mental health of a person. Since ancient times, Yoga and Ayurveda were natural part of one’s life. Over time, both sciences got buried in the history. A newfound enthusiasm on Yoga is visible all around the world, especially in the US, Germany, Australia and the UK.

Different universities in India today offer Graduate and Diploma programs in Yoga. There are only a few universities that impart training on Yoga. The certificate one gets after successfully completing the courses include BA, BSc and Diploma certificates, based on the intensity of Yoga training one has undergone.

Employment Opportunities for Yoga Professionals

Today Yoga has worldwide acclamation and people from all over the world today practice Yoga. Yoga instructors are now from almost all countries of the world and these Yoga instructors impart scientific yoga knowledge to people. These Yoga instructors conduct basic Yoga awareness classes and Yoga workshops. These are the most common type of employment opportunity in Yoga. Being a certified Yoga instructor takes dedication and hardwork for good reputation.
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Long ago, there was a time, when parents told children to read slowly and loudly to understand everything they read.

A lot of things have changed. Today’s children have bigger syllabi to learn. Now, learning experts and teachers ask students to read faster and grasp important points.

Here are a few tips for students who have a lot to learn, but very little time.

Make a Timetable

Your timetable should have separate time for eating, playing games, exercise, reading newspaper and study materials. You should not only make a timetable, but also should stick to it.

Give priority to leisure and games in the afternoon, but separate early morning time for studies. Make sure you read all the class notes before you go to bed.

While allotting time to different subjects, allot more time to difficult subjects. You need only less time for the subjects that are easier for you to learn.

Taking Notes

Taking notes is an important part of learning. You need to take lecture notes (classroom notes) and notes from your textbook.

- Go through the lessons on the day before your teacher would teach it in the class. This gives you an idea of what to expect.

- Write down important ideas as bullet points. One word or a phrase is enough to include an idea.

- Give prominence to important ideas by underlining them in your notes.

- Leave lot of space in each face of paper. This will help you add new points later.

- Organize your notes into separate files. Each subject should have a different file. Label the outer page of the file with name of the subject and your teacher. You should also neatly organize each file according to chapters and topics.

- Read the notes (important points) in the night, before going to bed. Read only once. This helps you memorize the lessons clearly.

- While taking notes from a book, label the name of the book and author. Also, note the page number next to your notes. It makes it easy for you to refer to the book three or six months later.

Reading Techniques

You need to read fast and grasp more things. Here are some pointers to fast reading.

- Note the name of the book and its author in the reading log.

- Take a quick look from cover to cover to identify the important chapters.

- Take a quick look over the chapter, identify the important points, and note them down.

- Read the lesson fast. To increase the speed of learning, pass your eyes through the top of the letters and not through the centre. For example, while reading, pass your eyes through the area where the dot above the letter i appears and not through the loop of the letter o.

- Don’t take notes while reading.

- Don’t go back to read a word or a sentence. If you don’t get the idea of the subject, you can come back to the sentence after you finish reading the chapter. Never look up a dictionary while in the middle of reading a chapter. Refer dictionary only if you don’t automatically understand the meaning of a word after finishing the paragraph and the chapter.

- Note down the points you remember. Now check if you have taken all the important points, with another fast reading.
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A Working Man’s View

So What? Who cares? What is Customer Service? What are the repercussions? What does it represent? Who are the culprits? What can be done about it?

Dear Reader,

I’ve had enough. After being brought to the point of anger where profanity would’ve been my next utterance, I’ve decided to ‘vent my spleen’ in this article, highlighting the cause & effect the breakdown of quality customer service is having on our society.

I’m sure if you’ve ever had a bad experience with customer service, you will appreciate some of the points and suggestions I make in this article. Before I begin, let us first establish what is ‘good’ & ‘bad’ customer service.

WHAT IS GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE?

To be greeted politely with eye contact & a pleasant countenance;

To be spoken to with a clear, even, tone.

Always ready to listen than assume;

Always prepared to provide assistance.

Ensuring the customer is never kept waiting unnecessarily.

Ensuring your attitude is geared to assistance & understanding;

Providing unknown but helpful advice to the customer;

Delivering/responding on time.

WHAT IS BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE?

Intolerably long queues/idle staff;

Calls not answered within 2 minutes.

To be put on hold for more than 3-5 minutes;

Following call-scripts instead of listening to the customer’s problem;

Late or no arrival of delivery with no explanation;

Unexplained & unwarranted blocks on credit/debit cards;

Unjustified high service charges or penalties by financial institutions;

Misinformation causing expense to customer;

Poor workmanship;

Sour, cynical, unhelpful attitudes;

Overcharging/hidden charges;

Withholding useful/valuable information;

Inadequately trained staff.

WHO ARE THE MAIN CULPRITS?

Mainly Banks, Supermarkets, Home Shopping Centres, Mobile Phone Companies, Mechanics, Fast Food outlets, Service engineers - plumbers, gas fitters etc.

Virtually any large institution is, but not exclusively, a culprit of bad service.

WHO CARES?

We are in a time where a majority of people are in debt and we are in debt to the very major institutions that provide poor service.

If I’m going to spend my hard earned money with you and possibly add to my debt, the very least I can expect is to get what I pay for without fuss, rudeness and with value for money. It’s as if these institutions think “you or someone else is going to spend your money with us anyway, so why should we bother about customer service? - You’ll be back!”

Banks, Home Shopping Centres et al

We all lead busy lives where time is of the essence, yet the queues in Banks etc. get longer & longer. It is not unusual now for someone to spend 45 minutes of their lunch hour waiting to be served in a bank.

There have been numerous times when I’ve had to ask a member of staff to open another till to alleviate the queuing - why couldn’t they do this of their own accord? Why did it need me to point out the obvious? This is indicative of the attitude business has towards their customers.

By the way, you are legitimately allowed to ask a member of staff or management at any venue or outlet to open another till & start serving customers if it’s obvious the queues are too much for the member/members of staff currently serving.

WHY ARE THEY GETTING AWAY WITH THIS?

We are in a time where government is increasingly forcing us to ‘accept our lot’ in life; ‘SHUT UP, BE HAPPY’!

(To prove my point I could expand here into ‘Game Theory’, ‘Negative Freedom’ and our budding totalitarian state, but I’ll leave that for a future article!).

Add to this the ’sheep’ & ‘don’t make waves’ mentality of the British and you have a nation that is ripe for arrogant, sloppy business practices. >If we can’t be bothered to take action, they don’t need to respond.

The irony is that under the present political climate it is assumed by government and the captains of industry that what we buy is a true representation of our wants & needs and therefore a true representation of democracy.
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Is it worth the extra money to purchase an elecgtronic dictionary with sound?

The following comments have specific reference to learning Spanish but I believe they are relevant to the learning of other languages as well.

Some people (curiously and unfortunately, not all) who learn a new language are interested in achieving a good accent in their new language. Nevertheless, it is not well known that there are three components of the accent of a given language: the rhythm or intonation (the music) of the language, the links between the sounds, syllables, and words in an utterance, and lastly, the proper pronunciation of the sounds of the language. The lesson here is that the formation of the vowels and consonants of a language is only part of the task of learning that language. However, it is where most learners begin. Let’s look at the place of the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants of Spanish.

Many language experts believe that the intonation and linkage contribute more to speaking like a native than does the proper pronunciation of all the sounds. This can be seen in the manner in which the people of San José, Cost Rica pronounce the Spanish letter “ere”. For some strange reason, which I have not been able, to track down historically or linguistically, they pronounce the word “arroz” just like a Gringo would. Their double “r” is not trilled as in most Spanish speaking countries; it is not velar as it is in much of Puerto Rico. It is pronounced just as an untrained American would pronounce it. Yet, the person hearing this “error” has no doubt that the persons speaking are native speakers of Spanish. The flow of their speech is perfect and the listener just thinks, “I wonder why they pronounce that word that way…” In other words, often the pronunciation of the sounds is the least important element of speaking well.

Yet pronunciation is the place where the learner should begin. Habits of bad pronunciation once ingrained become automatic and are hard to eliminate, while errors of intonation and linkage can more easily be consciously detected and corrected in later stages of the learning process.

The person learning Spanish has one advantage over the person learning another language. The advantage is that most the vowels and consonants of Spanish are close to those of English, and their pronunciation is perfectly regular.

First of all, the vowels sounds represented by the 5 letters, a, e, i, and u, have five sounds. That’s right, five! It is not like the case of the many English vowel sounds represented by the same letters, such as rough, cough, though, and through, or the case of the same sound represented by different letters in the words, ache, weigh, pay, hey, jail, and tape.

The major difference is that the vowel sounds in Spanish are pure; they do not have the little “tail’ that English vowels have.

The consonant sounds in Spanish are largely similar to those of English. This does not mean that they are all the same! There are differences with the “l”, “b” and “d” sounds. The main difference with some consonants in Spanish is that they are not “aspirated”, that is they are not made with a puff of air, as are those of English. If you put the back of your hand in front of your mouth when you say “Papa” or “tonto” in Spanish you should not feel the same movement of air that you feel when you say “Pope” or “tent” in English.
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