Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The Cost of Moving to Italy

The Cost of Moving to Italy How Can You Budget for Moving to Italy? ChaptersThe Cost of Emigrating to ItalyThe Budget for Travelling to ItalyThe Cost of Moving to ItalyThe Cost of Living in ItalyIf you’ve decided that you’re going to live in Italy, you’ll have to work out how much it’s going to cost.In fact, moving to Italy isn’t as simple as deciding upon a global budget, you need to know exactly how much everything will cost.If you’ve always dreamt of living in Italy, visiting the Trevi Fountain or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you’ll need to organise your finances.In this article, we’re going to look at the costs to expect when you move abroad as an expat and settle in Italy. We'll cover everything from the cost of travelling overseas to your destination, the cost of living abroad, immigration costs (such as visas, etc.), etc. DanielaItalian Teacher 5.00 (9) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors LuciaItalian Teacher 5.00 (4) £17/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MarilùItalian Teacher 5.00 (8) £22/h1st lesson free! Discover all our tutors MarcoItalian Teacher £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AntonellaItalian Teacher 5.00 (2) £14/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors GiusyItalian Teacher 5.00 (3) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EnricoItalian Teacher 5.00 (2) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors FedericaItalian Teacher 5.00 (2) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsThe Cost of Emigrating to ItalyVisa CostsIf you want to live in Italy, you’ll need to get a visa. This gives you the right to live in the country for a given time and is an unavoidable expenditure (unless you have a potential employer willing to pay for it).Travelling to Italy isn't hugely expensive, but you should plan ahead. (Source: Holgi)As a citizen of the EU, the work permit is automatically accepted. After three months, you’ll need to request a residence permit from the local questura.Here’s a short list of the costs of different visas:Short-stay visa (less than 90 days): €60Visa for children aged 0-6: freeVisa for children aged 6-12: €35Student visa (for those studying less than 90 days): freeStudent visa (long stay): €50Long-stay visa (more than 90 days): €116There are also other free visas for Italian citizens and short-stay visas. Of course, you’ll need to prove your status.The Budget for Travelling to ItalyIn the grand scheme of things, Italy is relatively close to the UK.You can even take the train from the UK to Italy. Of course, the cost will depend on where you live in the UK and the transport links you have access to.The cheapest way to get to Italy is by plane. You can get flights for as little as £30, which is a great way to save money.Don’t forget to get your travel insurance sorted before you head off!The Cost of Moving to ItalyThe Budget for Moving to ItalyJust like moving elsewhere in the UK, moving to Italy costs money. Let’s ignore the costs of transporting furniture because we reckon you won’t be taking absolutely everything with you to Italy.If you’re going to rent in Italy, you’re going to need around two or three months’ worth of rent. Most of the time, these are the only fees. Some Italian landlords don’t care that much about a deposit.However, having a job won’t hurt your chances of getting somewhere to rent since a lot of Italian landlords may be wary of a foreigner who's just arrived the country without any form of income.You’ll need a bit of money to do essential things like getting some shopping in, buying some furniture, and transport to and from your work. Kitchens aren’t always equipped in the same way as the UK so you may need to budget on getting it up-to-scratch.Look at  Italian courses London.The Cost of Accommodation in ItalyThis is the big question you need to ask when looking to rent a flat or house in Italy. On average, the cost of renting in Italy isn’t as much as in the UK. It might be a good idea to learn a bit of the Italian language before you start l ooking for a place to live.Where you choose to live will affect your budget. (Source: weinstock)Just like in the UK, if you move to a big city, you can expect to pay more than you would in small towns. Of course, There are plenty of different places to live in Italy and the cost of living is different in each region, too. You won't pay the same in Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria or Sardinia, for example.Additionally, there's your life in Italy. You'll pay more if you constantly eat in all the best places, live in a big house in a popular city centre, etc.  As a guide, here are a few example prices of the average price of flats in the city centre:Modena: €760Florence: €1400Ancona: €630Genoa: €880Milan: €2050Naples: €910Ravenna: €850Rome: €1800Venice: €1820These prices obviously don’t reflect the cost of any single type of accommodation and you can find places for less and more. Anyone living in London will know just how expensive renting can be. Use this list as a guideli ne and make sure that you shop around.Search online for accommodation in Italy, too. Don’t think that the price shown is set in stone as you can always haggle a bit.Additionally, you won’t be able to get government assistance as you might here in the UK.Finally, make sure you include any agency fees in your budget. These tend to be around 10% of the annual cost of the property. For example, if you rent somewhere in Turin at €650 per month, you’ll pay €780 in agency fees.If you’re buying in Italy, you’ll pay around €2,300 per metre squared.The Cost of Living in ItalyThe lifestyle is one of the main reasons many people choose to emigrate to Italy. You can live comfortably in Italy for less than in the UK. The cost of living in Italy tends to be lower than in the UK.You can eat locally for less in Italy. (Source: kirkandmimi)Eating and Drinking Well for LessItaly is famous for its cheap and fresh produce. If you love cooking, it’s a perfect place to find ingredients t hat won’t cost you a fortune.Groceries in Italy cost around 9% less than in the UK. For cheap produce, you can go to a local market and discover a whole range of products that are of better quality than you’d find here in the UK. You can also throw a nice bottle of Chianti into your basket!The Cost of Leisure in ItalyLiving in Italy wouldn’t be anywhere near as good if you couldn’t enjoy the cultural, historical, and culinary heritage of the country.On average, restaurants are more expensive than in the UK, though this doesn’t take into account the difference in quality.Be careful, too, as bread and water aren’t always given away for free in restaurants and can add another €5 to your bill. It might feel weird going for a meal and opting not to get any bread or water.  Furthermore, you should leave a tip.In terms of tourist sites, churches are often free while you’ll usually need to pay to visit museums. In Italy, there are a lot of transport cards that offer discount s for museums.  Thus, you can visit the Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Gulf of Naples, and Adriatic beaches for less. Visiting Italy doesn’t need to cost a fortune.The Cost of Services in ItalyAfter you’ve eaten and had a good time, you’ll need to pay your bills. As a foreigner in a new country, you'll probably enjoy moving abroad to Italy because of how many things are cheaper than they are in the UK.If you don't have a car, public transport in Italy will be essential. (Source: kirkandmimi)On average, transport is much cheaper in Italy, with the exception of taxis, which tend to start the meter at around €5. You can get a single trip on some buses for a euro or so.However, taking the metro in Rome won’t cost you anywhere near as much as the Underground in London. This is a great way to learn more about the rich culture of Piedmont, Bologna, or Puglia and visit all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.After you’ve budgeted for Italy, you can start enjoying Ital y to its fullest:“Mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto” (Eat well, laugh often, love a lot)So do you fancy living in Italy?If this is the case, don’t hesitate to get some Italian lessons with a tutor on Superprof before you head off on your Italian adventure! These bespoke language lessons are a great way to learn the basics or brush up on your Italian if you haven't spoken it in a while. There are even classes via webcam if you can't find a tutor who works near where you live.Before you move to Italy, you should make sure that your passport is valid, look at places to live in your new home country, buy some Euros, and look at working in Italy if you haven't already got a job.Once you get there, you can immerse yourself in Italian culture and start enjoying la dolce vita from a piazza in the sun.

Friday, March 6, 2020

The Incan Civilization

The Incan Civilization What Defined the Inca Empire? ChaptersOutlining the Inca CivilisationLife in the Incan EmpireIncan TechnologyWhat Remains of the Incan Empire TodayToday, the Incan Empire is known as the largest in pre-Columbian America, and the most efficient.For all of its glaring holes in civic structure â€" no currency or legal code to name just two, their political and administrative structure was nevertheless the most developed of all the south- and Mesoamerican societies.Theirs was a relatively short tenure but impactful nonetheless.It was a remarkable civilisation, flourishing in spite of challenges posed in no small part by the terrain they occupied, as well as other factors that we will now explore in-depth. MarkHistory Teacher 5.00 (3) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JohnHistory Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MarjotteHistory Teacher 5.00 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ErinHistory Teacher £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ChantelleHistory Te acher 5.00 (2) £17/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AndriyHistory Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PeterHistory Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SerenaHistory Teacher £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsOutlining the Inca Civilisation Peruvians today try to recapture the glory of the Incan empire Image by Mauricio Ortega from PixabayBefore their organisation into an empire, the people who occupied the land the empire was founded on were pastoral â€" animal farmers.While there is nothing written down about the founding of the Inca empire, oral history details a story in which eight siblings, 4 male and 4 female, stepped out of a cave.One brother, Ayar Manco, carried a fine staff made of gold. It was said that, wherever his staff should touch the earth, people would settle.Cusco is where his staff finally touched the ground.The people already on that land put up a fight but, after one of Manco’s sisters killed one of the land’s defenders, the rest ran away, frightened, leaving the Cusco dwellers to surrender and submit.The brother with the golden staff, Manco, became the founder of the Inca.A more pragmatic (and possibly provable) beginning of the Incan civilization is that the empire builders were actually refu gees of the urban-dwelling Wari and the pastoral Tiwanaku.This theory certainly makes sense when we consider the remnants of Inca civilisation, especially the magnificent structures they built.GeographyCentred in the Andes mountains, the Inca Empire covered a large portion of western South America.At its height, it encompassed Peru and parts of Equador, as well as parts of Bolivia, Argentina and most of Chile.The seat of the empire, Cusco (also spelt Cuzco), is located in southeastern Peru, high in the Andes Mountains â€" 34,000 meters above sea level, to be exact.While not close to a body of water â€" Lake Titicaca is several miles away, the Incans nevertheless managed to engineer ways of harnessing water for bathing, for drinking and for their crops.They were also keen strategists, using their territory and their knowledge of the Peruvian highlands to maximise their military strength when fighting against the Spanish conquistadors.Discover also how the geography of the Fertile Cre scent allowed the Mesopotamian civilization to thrive...GovernmentMuch like the United States today, the Incan Empire followed a federal model of government: several independent states that ultimately fell under the rule of a central body of legislators.However, unlike the US and its 50 states, the Inca only had four quarters whose corners ‘met’ in Cusco.Each quarter, or suyu was governed by an Apu, a man of high distinction and status. The same term was used to identify especially venerated mountains!Each Apu held rule over several districts within his quarter; it is estimated that, at the height of Incan rule, there may have been more than 80 such districts.We must bear in mind that there are no actual records of the Inca model of government. What we know comes from Spanish documents of the time and they are often misleading and/or open to interpretation.At the federal level, the Incan governing body was strikingly similar to what we see in modern-day politics.At the top of th e hierarchy would be the overall leader, often with a religious leader in tandem. Below would fall a person akin to a prime minister, who oversaw a sort of Council of the Realm.This council was comprised of 16 noblemen, with a fair representation of ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ divisions of the empire.Said ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ reflect social stratification â€" the separation of nobles versus commoners; it is not an indication of the altitude at which those people lived. Both males and females were tasked with caring for livestock Image by Yolanda Coervers from PixabayLawsAs mentioned before, the Inca left not codified laws; possibly because they lived by a strict moral code that had only three premises:Do not steal (ama sua)Do not lie (ama llulla)Do not be lazy (ama quella)To ensure enforcement, it became everyone’s civic duty to report on wrongdoers. In addition, they had inspectors to oversee compliance.This moral code tied in with their religious belief that good people would inherit heaven â€" snow-capped mountains topping a beautiful pasture.They especially feared not being ‘good’ because it was told that they would spend their eternity in the cold earth.Learn about the death rites of the Aztec culture.EconomyCuriously, the Incan Empire used no money and established no markets. The people used a bartering system among themselves and among groups.To pay their duty to the state â€" what would be considered taxation if currency were involved , individuals or groups performed labour for the good of the empire.This work could be building roads or monuments, serving in a military capacity or being a runner.The Incas perfected a form of long-distance communication by having runners stationed at intervals along their more than 8,000 km of roads.When a government official in Cusco needed to send a message to an official in a distant province, he would task a runner to carry the message.From there, message delivery became a relay race. The first runner would arrive at the first outpost, pass on the message and the second runner would take off... and so on until the message reached the intended ears.Because of instances such as this, in economic terms sociologists have described the Incan Empire as either a feudal state, a slave state or a socialist state.Whether it was a socialist paradise or social tyranny is still being debated.Life in the Incan EmpireDiligence was highly valued in Incan society; much of what people did revo lved around civil service.Curiously, even though everyone was considered a servant â€" even the kings served the Incan ideal, and there was no wealth to amass, there were sharp distinctions between people.Social StratificationNaturally, kings or supreme leaders were at the very top of the pile. They were called Capacs and they often came to their position as a matter of heredity. They were permitted several wives.Inca nobility, called Inka, also inherited their social position. They were easy to recognise because their heads would be oddly conical from having been wrapped when they were infants.Such head wrapping was considered a mark of distinction in many cultures, not just the Inca!Curacas were bureaucrats and government functionaries and caciques were agricultural community leaders.Chasqui is the last social rank above the general population. They were the runners along Incan highways that we mentioned earlier. Such a stretch would be rather easy for Incan runners to course Image by Alper Sevinc from PixabayReligionSpanish records allude to the Inca belief in reincarnation.There was a prohibition of burning a body after death because doing so would threaten their passage to the afterworld. Hence, Incans would be mummified and stored, so that they could be retrieved at times of celebration.Besides believing in reincarnation and following the Incan moral code â€" do not lie, steal or be lazy, the Incans worshipped a pantheon of gods:Viracocha (or Pachacamac): creator of all living thingsPachamama: wife of Viracocha; mother of the EarthInti: sun god who smiles with special favour on the city of Cuscohe was their patron deity, meaning that he was thought to reside in the city, causing Cusco to be thought of as the City of the Sun.Mama Killa: wife of Inti, called the Moon MotherIllapa: goddess of lightning and thunderAyar Cachi: a hot-tempered god whose tantrums cause earthquakesMama Occlo: taug ht people how to be civilised; taught women how to weave cloth and build housesManco Capac was considered a god as well as the father of the Inca people. He taught them how to share resources and work together; he also taught them how to craft weaponry and plant crops.It is hard to determine whether Manco Capac was real or merely a part of their oral history whose legend grew with each retelling.Certainly, somebody had to found the empire, lead it and hand it off to a successor, as it is told Manco did. But trying to distinguish myth from fact with no records to examine...By contrast, Egyptologists have no trouble deciphering Ancient Egypt’s civilisation.SacrificesMuch like the Mayans, the Inca routinely offered their gods a buffet of human sacrifice â€" especially child sacrifice.Should water be lacking or if there wasn’t enough food; if the supreme leader died, one or several children would be offered to the gods in return for their renewed benevolence.Leisure ActivitiesThere is not much indication of what Incan people did for fun; accounts reverberate with a sense of pleasure in duty, of belonging to the greater whole and to be given tasks equal to one’s neighbour.A fine example of that mentality is evident in the Incan principles of marriage.Males were permitted to marry after age 20; females about four years younger and these unions were generally very businesslike. Nobody married outside of their social class.Once a couple sets up on their own, the bride was expected to manage all aspects of the home and care for the children when they come, work in the garden and tend to livestock.Males also tended to the animals and may work in the garden but their duties included building houses, carrying in firewood and joining in combat, if necessary.Early fleets of Spaniards saw the division of labour between males and females as more of a slave/master relationship, with the man being the master.The women could not seem to convince them that they were happy t o have an equal burden of responsibility.  And no matter how one looked at the matter, the life of the Inca, male and female, was one of servitude.Not much is known about how Incan nobles spent their leisure time but we know plenty about how the ancient Greeks played... Inca agricultural terraces also provided a way to store water Image by mckinleypitts from PixabayIncan TechnologyIn many ways, the Incas have it all over other ancient societies who performed magnificent feats of engineering.For one, their use of agricultural terraces to capture and retain water while experimenting with crops is nothing short of brilliant.Besides irrigating the agricultural terraces, those aqueducts brought fresh water into the living centres; they even built communal baths.What is truly remarkable about the Incan waterways is that they were so precisely hewn out of solid rock rather than assembled, as the Roman aqueducts were.When you think about their not having any metal tools, it makes that feat even more astounding.To this day, thanks to their engineering savvy and hard work, those agricultural terraces, called the Sacred Valley of the Incas, is one of the most fecund areas of Peru.Their other feats of engineering are no less amazing... take their rope bridges, for example.Because the empire graced the top of the Andean Range, it was necessary to create passages from one outpost to the next without the messengers or workers having to descend through treacherous territory, only to have to climb more of the same.Building a rope bridge entailed having a team of workers on either side of the gorge they sought to span.One team would secure the bridge materials on their side of the gorge, and then fire an arrow to the other side with the other end of the rope attached.The worker on the other side should catch the arrow and/or rope, fasten it on his end and then begin the death-defying journey across it to make sure it was sound.What Remains of the Incan Empire TodayAs with the original Australians, the Inca succumbed to the diseases brought by their European invaders: smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus.By the time the third wave of Spanish conquerors landed, they found the population badly decimated.Furthermore, the restive population was d isenchanted with the sons of Sapa Inca, the overall leader, fighting for the throne.When Atahualpa, who defeated his brothers to win the crown, met with a delegation of Spaniards, he soundly rejected the Spanish king’s order to surrender and hand over all Incan wealth. They promptly imprisoned him.He bargained: with enough gold to fill his cell and twice that amount of silver, would they set him free?The Spanish agreed to those terms but, once the wealth was delivered, they reneged, slitting Atahualpa’s throat.Oddly enough, the Inca were relieved that their supreme leader was dead. Without much fuss, they let go of their gods, their rules and their way of life.The last Inca holdout, a village high in the mountains named Vilcabamba, was conquered in 1572. The last ruler was executed and whatever was left of the Incan way of life was destroyed.Unlike the Sumerians who invented one of the world’s first writing systems and recorded their deeds, the Incan legacy can only be reconst ructed from Spanish documents; a fairly biased narrative.However, they left us fantastic architecture to marvel over â€" Machu Picchu and other stone buildings, and many mysteries yet to understand.Now learn about more ancient civilisations...

3 Lessons to Take Away From the GMAT

3 Lessons to Take Away From the GMAT When am I going to use this in real life? How many times did we speak these words during high school when faced with a challenging math problem? Well, if you sit for the GMAT, you will be prompted to recall some of this information. Much of it hasn't been necessary to us for a number of years, and the majority is tested in such a way that it doesn't seem to apply to business school or the business world. However, the time you spend studying for and taking the GMAT will teach you several lessons that will be useful even beyond your exam date: 1. You will learn how to best use data By the time you finish this test, you will be able to decipher complex charts, graphs, and tables. You will learn to cull the tiniest pieces of information from emails, memos, and the attachments that accompany them. The new Integrated Reasoning Section requires you to perform all of these tasks. Many Critical Reasoning questions will require you to explain if facts and figures supporting an argument are actually representative of and relevant to the situation. And, of course, preparing for Data Sufficiency problems will improve your ability to determine if you have all the information necessary to arrive at a definitive answer and if you've considered all the possibilities. These skills are heavily relied upon in business, where people create projections and predictive models frequently. The ability to base these models on relevant data, the skills to identify the appropriate data out of an overwhelming volume of information, and the foresight to predict unusual circumstances and r eactions are crucial to the success of these business world predictions. This is some great information on how the GMAT is scoredthat you may find useful as well. 2. You will learn how to properly construct arguments It's one thing to realize you possess the data, or the primary concepts, or the projected result of a particular action. It's quite another to be able to articulate it in a manner that allows other people who need to understand it to do so. Once you know that you have sufficient data to make a decision or prediction or proposal, you must then recognize the unstated evidence that is not readily apparent, but that is necessary for your case to work. These are the assumptions, and when they exist, it often means there is data that is missing that needs to be addressed. Here are 3 GMAT strategies you learned while in collegethat you may find helpful. In Critical Reasoning, most of the question types relate to assumptions and inferences, and they test your ability to identify and/or manipulate them. The GMAT essay also requires you to analyze someone else's argument and determine what unsupported assumptions cause it to be flawed. When it's time to present your completed ideas to the worl d, the skills learned studying for the Sentence Correction portion of the exam are invaluable. Sentence corrections test you on seemingly arcane rules, but in doing so, they likewise require you to develop a keen editing eye and greater ease with the mechanics of language. 3. You will learn how to approach situations in a variety of ways While committing formulas and rules to memory is central to GMAT success, you also need to familiarize yourself with test-taking strategies. With 37 quantitative and 41 verbal problems to complete and just 75 minutes per section to do so, your most useful skill is recognizing when to deploy each tool: content, strategies, or strategic guessing. This will only be learned by completing a multitude of problems on numerous tests so that you understand your strengths and weaknesses, your favorite and least favorite approaches, patterns in the test questions, and so on. At times, you may employ two different approaches within the same problem, or you may solve a problem differently than the majority of people do, in a way that works faster and more accurately for you. This ability to quickly assess a problem, arrive at your best approach to solving it, and use every tool at your disposal will serve you well long after the GMAT is over. Here are some great GMAT resourcesthat you may find he lpful in your GMAT prep. You may also want to take a look at these 5 steps to help revitalize a struggling GMAT prep routine. Once you conquer the GMAT, many of the skills you summoned from the past will return to the dark recesses of your memory again, to be replaced with new knowledge from business school and life. But above all things, if you devote the proper amount of time to preparing for this test, not only will you achieve a high mark, but you'll learn the most important lesson of all: You can achieve anything you put your mind to.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Monthly Volunteer Notables - NOVEMBER - Heart Math Tutoring

Monthly Volunteer Notables - NOVEMBER - Heart Math Tutoring Monthly Volunteer Notables NOVEMBER Monthly Volunteer Notables NOVEMBER December 15, 2014 Dear HEART Tutors, This monthly email includes (1) Important Logistics, (2) Tutoring Tips, (3) More Resources (OPTIONAL), and (4) Just for Fun (OPTIONAL).   Thank you for taking a minute to read this. (1) Important Logistics Winter Break Package In December, we will be giving students a Winter Break package that includes Math Games and a Holiday Card!   Students will receive a prize if they play the math games at home during Winter Break. Please spend two minutes writing a quick note on a holiday card when you arrive for tutoring the week of 12/1.   (All materials provided.) You will see directions for Holiday Math Games at tutoring the week of 12/8 and 12/15.   Please spend 5-10 minutes during your tutoring session making sure your students know the card games well enough to play them at home with siblings and friends. Upcoming School Holidays no school, no tutoring (download here  ) Wednesday, Nov 26 to Friday, Nov 28 â€" Thanksgiving Break Monday, Dec 22 to Friday, Jan 2 â€" Winter Break Monday, Jan 19 â€" Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Friday, Jan 23 â€" Teacher Workday Please bring back the take-home notebooks you no longer need. (2) Tutoring Tips This video shows a quick tip from Billingsville Math Facilitator Nikia Graham.  She says to make sure the students (not tutors) are the ones doing the work with the math manipulatives. They need the hands-on experience with the numbers, even if it takes extra time and patience. Goals Does your student know what he/she is practicing?   Ask and find out.   If your student believes he/she is practicing “connecting cubes” or “hiding game,” he/she needs a review of the concept goals.   The notebook title is a good place to start. Continue to encourage hard work and perseverance.   Learning requires willingness to work hard as concepts get difficult, so praise students when they stay focused and continue trying in the face of a challenge, not just when they get the right answers. Please feel free to flag me down for help at any time during tutoring.  There is no need to wait until the end of a session to discuss issues or ask questions.  I want to provide real-time support so that you and your students can get the most out of your time together! Keep having fun!   Your students are so happy to see you each week. (3) More Resources (OPTIONAL) This One Page Curriculum Overview includes one-sentence goals that explain the big idea of each of the six notebooks. What is the point of “Strategies to 20” notebook?   This video shows how students should be able to add above ten by breaking apart numbers using the combinations they internalized in the prior notebook level, Combinations to 10. For those in the “Combinations to 10” notebook To clarify, a student needs to spend multiple lessons working with the same assigned focus number to sufficiently internalize the combinations. Most students need to complete Lessons 1 â€" 5 with one focus number to know the number’s parts.   Afterwards, the student will begin again with Lesson 1 using the next focus number.   Though it may seem counterintuitive, you will save time in the long run by working on only one new number a time. (4)   Just for Fun (OPTIONAL) HEART Holiday Parent Breakfast â€" Save the date and plan to join at your schools event to meet your students’ parents and teach them card games they can play at home to reinforce the number sense students are building in HEART!   We will play Holiday Math Games, eat food, and celebrate students’ work in the program. Winterfield Friday 12/12, 7:45 8:15 Highland Renaissance Wednesday 12/17, 12:15 12:45 Montclaire Thursday 12/18, 7:45 8:15 Billingsville Friday 12/19, 8:00 8:45 Also, please email your coordinator if you would be willing to help in any of these roles: set up, clean up, making the Winter Break packages, taking photos. Please email your coordinator if you would like to be on your schools substitute tutor list, which means you would occasionally recieve an email asking you to fill in for an absent tutor, when volunteers are out of town or sick. Check out pictures and articles on HEART Tutoring’s Facebook page!   You can also follow HEART on Instagram and twitter (@HEARTTutoring). It is exciting to see the way many of you are gaining traction with both the relationships and the math.   Thank you for your consistency and enthusiasm.   Please let me know of any questions, feedback, or concerns. Many thanks, The HEART Team

3 Test Prep Material Updates Designed to Get You Results!

3 Test Prep Material Updates Designed to Get You Results! Here at AJ Tutoring, we are always striving to keep our test prep materials as up-to-date as possible in order to better serve and prepare our students. In order to do this, we continually audit and update our materials to make them as effective as possible. Here’s what we’re working on right now!One: Practice testsOne of the challenges with the new test has been the scarcity of available practice tests. So far, the College Board has released only seven SATs and a handful of PSATs. While larger test prep companies have also released tests, the relative speed of their publishing process means that their tests may not accurately reflect what was released in the latest College Board tests. Our solution has been to purchase real tests for our students and to wait until there was a statistically significant number of released problems before we developed our own tests to supplement instruction. Our rigorous creation process uses and analyzes all data available about the SAT in order t o make the tests as true-to-form as possible. We analyze trends in word length, subject distribution, and even subject matter before we even begin a test. Once the test is written, it goes through rigorous testing by our expert tutors who have seen everything there is to see of the SAT. Expect to see our new tests debut to students in June! If you’d like to learn more about our SAT program, click here!Two: Our SAT/ACT HybridNot sure which test is right for your student? One of the challenges with the new test is simply figuring out which test is going to be the best fit. While most of our students do take both the SAT and ACT, we have also developed a diagnostic test that looks at the most crucial parts of the SAT and ACT (timing, content, and style) in order to determine which test is right for your child. Interested in having your child take our hybrid test? Reach out to one of our directors of client services today or click here to find out more about our hybrid SAT/ACT program and test prep materials. Three: Continually improving SAT test prep materialsAs part of continuing to make sure that our materials align as closely as possible with the SAT, we also continually work to update our teaching materials as new information becomes available. Right now, we are working on expanding our Writing and Language packets to even better prepare our students to conquer grammar and style! We are also creating larger banks of questions for all parts of the test so students can have even more practice in vital concepts as they prepare for these difficult tests. Curious about our SAT tutoring process? Click here to learn more.

Why teachers abroad need to make cultural competence a priority

Why teachers abroad need to make cultural competence a priority With demand for teachers internationally at an all-time high, there’s never been a more exciting time to explore teaching abroad. However, for many teachers abroad, finding their feet in a culturally diverse classroom is one of the biggest obstacles they’ll face in their teaching career. Teachers abroad need to be mindful of cultural differences in the classroom and how these can impact teaching and learning outcomes, both inside and outside the classroom. Without this awareness, they risk creating a cultural gap that can hinder positive relationships with students and their families. We recently asked our teaching community to share with us any areas of their teaching practice they most wanted to improve on. The vast majority of teachers we polled identified a critical gap in their teaching practice - specifically in the area of culturally responsive teaching. This didn’t come as too much of a surprise to us at Teach Away. Despite the steadily increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in schools worldwide, research has shown that teacher preparation programs still lag behind when it comes to embracing culturally responsive teaching practices. That's why we’re happy to announce that we’ve launched a brand-new professional development course to help our teachers abroad better relate to students from a broad range of racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds. Culturally Responsive Teaching: Connecting with Students and Parents of Different Cultures was designed with a leading diversity expert to give international teachers the tools that they need to better support their students and create culturally inclusive classrooms. By taking this course, teachers abroad can make the transition to becoming a culturally competent global educator. Culturally Responsive Teaching marks the first in an ongoing series of online teacher professional development courses from Teach Away, focusing on delivering learning opportunities, directly relevant to a teacher’s practice, that respond to critical needs in the classroom. Additional Teach Away course offerings are in the works for later this year, so stay tuned to the blog for more on that front!

The British School of Costa Rica

The British School of Costa Rica The British School of Costa Rica The British School of Costa Rica is an independent day school offering academic levels from Early Years 1 (4.5 years) up to Year 13 (12th Grade). The School’s mission is to provide an excellent, “all-round”, bilingual (English/Spanish) education whereby British and International methods and programmes are employed and integrated into the Costa Rican Ministry of Education Programmes.Founded in 1981, the school is now : i) accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC); ii) recognized and authorized by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education (during sessions 126-84 and 24-92 of the Superior Council of Education); iii) a member of the International Baccalaureate Organization (Code No.0608); iv) Centre CR002 for the University of Cambridge IGCSE Examinations; v) licensed by the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Scheme; vi) the Costa Rican Centre for “Philosophy for Children” and vii) a Charter Member of the International Primary Curriculum progr amme.In preparation for the demands of the IGCSE and IB courses, there is a strong emphasis throughout the whole school on experimental science, investigation and language development towards reading skills and Literature; ultimately students in Senior school can study up to 4 different Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Environmental Systems) and4 different languages (English, Spanish, French and Latin). The School is completely bilingual in that, throughout the whole School, the majority of classes are taught in English and the remainder in Spanish (or French). It is one of the principal aims of the School that the students are sufficiently bilingual to work, with equal facility, in both English and Spanish before they enter Primary 3. In all levels there is a strong emphasis on learning through the experience of practical activities, many of which are realized outside of the classroom. In the Primary School, the excellent “International Primary Curriculum” developed by Fieldwork U.K. for the schools of Shell Oil company has been incorporated in Early Years and Primary levels. In 9th and 10th grades, we offer the curricula of the “International General Certificate of Secondary Education” (IGCSE) examinations from the University of Cambridge, England: most of this programme is taught in English. As the best pre-University preparation available, the School offers, in 11th and 12th Grades, the excellent curriculum of the International Baccalaureate