How to Solve Half Life Problems in Chemistry

How to Solve Half Life Problems in ChemistryLearning how to solve half life problems in chemistry is one of the most important skills you can learn. It is important to remember that when the subject matter is chemistry, half life problems can occur at any time in the life of the molecule and any part of the molecule that is exposed to certain elements or compounds will always cause it to break down.The reasons why half life problems occur can vary with different types of chemicals. Some materials may be more susceptible to this than others. Each element has its own properties and certain types of chemicals are more affected by their properties than others.If you have ever taken a chemistry class, then you have probably seen a periodic table of life problems. This is because some elements are more likely to form chemical bonds with other elements. For example, an element like argon is more likely to bond with oxygen than with sodium or potassium.It is a good idea to know all the eleme nts that are in the periodic table. You can do this by using the Internet to go online and look up the information you need. You may find a chemical that you did not know existed.There are many chemistry courses that require you to study half life problems in chemistry, but I believe there are a few that may require you to learn how to solve half life problems in chemistry as well. So if you are a chemistry student that wants to learn how to solve half life problems in chemistry, this is the way to go.In the first place, there are different ways that you can look for half life problems in chemistry. For example, you could either look in your textbooks or go online to search for chemical formulas. Or, you could even try searching on Google.Chemistry can be a great class to take in college, or even as a hobby. So get out there and learn how to solve half life problems in chemistry!

Five Tips for Reviewing the Midyear Report Card

Five Tips for Reviewing the Midyear Report Card Its a brand-new year and a brand-new term of school. That means the midyear report card has come home, which might be a source of stress, a source of pride or a little of both. As Eileen Huntington of Huntington Learning Center says, this is a great time for parents and their children to have open and honest conversations about school. We always encourage parents to think of the midyear report card as much more than something they should read through and file away, says Huntington. The report card presents an opportunity to review childrens strengths, areas that need attention, study habits and so much more. Most importantly, this time of year is ideal for parents and children to talk about school. When reviewing the report card, Huntington offers parents these five tips: Focus on progress. Pay attention to progress indicators and benchmarks on the report card to see how your child is moving toward mastery of grade-level standards. Look at the report card prior to this one. How do your childs grades in each subject compare to those on this report card? Talk about your childs methods. What did your child do to earn that A in English? What led to the C in math? Grades are a measurement of your childs knowledge, but its essential that you dig deeper to understand what your child is or isnt doing to earn themand keep up in school. Take note of any discussion about time management and organization. Some teachers put comments on the report card about these critical aptitudes, but if they do not, talk with your child about them. Have your child walk you through his or her approaches to staying organized and keeping track of all homework, due dates and other obligations. Gauge how your child feels about school. If youve noticed a lack of motivation or some negativity about school, open the lines of communication. What is causing your childs indifference or frustration? Look to the report card for any comments from the teacher about your childs demeanor and attitude too. Pay attention to any remarks about other skills. In todays complex world, students need a range of abilities to succeed in the 21st-century learning environment. The report card might have a section assessing college-ready and career-ready aptitudes like higher-level thinking, problem-solving and comprehension skills. Huntington reminds parents to reach out to their childs teacher about the report card or attend midyear parent-teacher conferences. She adds the importance of being positive and keeping perspective. Report cards might highlight trouble spots as well as areas of strength, but parents must remember that every student has ups and downs, says Huntington. One bad gradeor even several bad gradesdoes not define your child, and no problem is insurmountable. Whether your child is struggling a little or a lot, report card time is a checkup and nothing to be afraid of. If your child had a difficult first half of the school year and youd like to understand whats going on more thoroughly, call Huntington at 1-800 CAN LEARN. Well assess your childs current skills and identify areas where he or she might need additional help to get back on track.

Hidden Skype Emoticons and Smileys

Hidden Skype Emoticons and Smileys We use Skype all day, every day, to give English classes, meet with each other, and generally to conduct business and communicate with friends around the globe. One of my favorite things about Skype has always been the emoticons the people and symbols you can create usually by clicking the little smiley face in the lower right corner of the chat window. Often theyre funny, and they can sometimes be used to express something important.The other day I was chatting with a colleague, who accidentally asked a question I had answered moments before. He sent me this when he realized his mistake: I had never seen this emoticon before! I immediately began doing web searches to find other hidden or secret Skype emoticons, and came up with this list. To use them, type in the word, with the parentheses into Skype chat. For instance, (drunk) typed into the chat box will produce the image above.(soccer) : A little soccer player that juggles the ball.(mooning) : A man with his pants down and his butt pointing at the viewer. Possibly offensive. Dont send this one to your boss.(rock) : One of my favorites, a little emoticon face giving the heavy metal symbol.(facepalm) : A way to show frustration, a smiley slapping himself in the face.(wtf) : Try it. Its funny.(swear) : Similar to (wtf). These symbols are used in English in place of writing offensive language.(tmi) : In English TMI stands for too much information. Someone is telling you something that you dont want to hear about maybe about their sex life, or their bathroom habits.(smoking) : A smiley smoking way too many cigarettes.(bug) : A dead bug.(oliver) : A funny little smiley with glasses.(tovio) : A funny guy with a dog.(zilmer) : Another funny guy.(headbang) : Smiley banging its head against a wall. Another way to show frustration.(hollest) : A pair of womens legs that walk around.(heidy) : A little squirrel.(poolparty) : A guy who is ready for the swimming pool.Do you know some more? Let us know in comments. dann yR Just an hour ago I got the following icon from a friend using, I believe, her iPad: dannyR Well, it displays here. Anyone know where this smiley comes from? LOIEnglish I just see it as a square in Chromes web browser, but on my iPhone its a Smiley. Cupcakes Sweet (ph) its a phone that ringing (~) one of those movie take 1 thingies (Skype) the Skype symbol (punch) punching LOIEnglish Check out this site to see a lot more tips about using Skype: http://www.SkypeEnglishClasses.org mysecretrecipe.net (mooning) Charlotte Bach (red) : The red Angry Bird.

Reasons Your Child is Frustrated With Reading Comprehension

Reasons Your Child is Frustrated With Reading Comprehension 5 reasons why reading comprehension frustrates your child Reading comprehension is one of the most important subjects a young student will take, but its also one of the most difficult. Learning to read starts with basic ABCs and ends with a full understanding of what is happening to a character in a particular story or how to pull out important information from a text. Students who master reading comprehension will often find that their educational experience is much more fulfilling and less stressful but, they have to struggle through different elements of this learning process from time to time our Irvine reading tutors are here to help your child with their reading comprehension. 1.   An ongoing subject Many young learners become frustrated with reading comprehension because it’s something that takes a long time to master. They dont get the satisfaction of completing a difficult task straight away because it takes years to become a great reader. One way to remedy this is to break up the different learning elements into steps. If students can be congratulated on mastering different elements of reading comprehension, they feel good about themselves and have the energy to continue learning (READ: 5 Ways to Make a Biography Report Fun). 2. New vocabulary Almost no student will enjoy looking up vocabulary words in a dictionary or online. However, this is something many students will have to do to expand their knowledge base. Some students may be able to pick up the general meaning of a word in context but, eventually, there will be a word that just makes no sense at all. This is one of the more frustrating elements of reading comprehension but learning about new words is one of the best ways students can become successful readers. One way to help students deal with new terminology is to have them learn just a few new words at a time. Looking up five or six words isnt so bad but tackling a list of 20 or 30 words can be overwhelming. 3. Its taking away from their free time Nothing will make students enjoy reading less than watching other kids play outside while theyre working on comprehension. Although students who are struggling will likely need extra help, its important to make this time efficient and still allow time for a kid to exercise and play with friends. If a student has a reasonable homework schedule, theyre more likely to appreciate the importance of what theyre doing without digging their heels in and refusing to work. 4. Dry subject matter Young students will come across a lot of dry subject matter when it comes to learning to read. Although the information found within this subject matter can be extremely important to their overall education, it can frustrate students who are struggling with reading. When students are still learning to read, or just honing those complex comprehension skills, its essential they have access to characters and topics that are interesting to them. If they love baseball, they should read all about famous baseball players. If they think bugs are fascinating, then they should read about caterpillars and beetles. When students have a thirst for knowledge, theyre more likely to work through basic reading issues so they can discover that wealth of information. 5. Reading makes them nervous Many students avoid working on reading comprehension because theyre nervous about mispronouncing a word or being made fun of by a peer. This prevents so many students from speaking up in class and asking a question. One way parents can deal with this is by building up their childs self-esteem through positive reinforcement or working with an educational consultant to help them learn how to sound out words, write a summary, or increase their overall comprehension. Once a student is confident in their reading comprehension skills, they are more likely to persevere and become successful. Improve your childs reading comprehension with the help of Irvine reading tutoring from TutorNerds. Call us today for more information: Orange County private academic tutoring. All blog entries, with the exception of guest bloggers, are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at pr@tutornerds.com for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal, so feel free to suggest what you would like to see us write.

Sprucing up Meals on a Budget

Sprucing up Meals on a Budget Image via pexels.com Grilled Cheese A grilled cheese sandwich is one of the simplest meals you can make without breaking your bank; all you really need is two slices of bread and cheese. The simple recipe of bread and cheese gets old after a few tries, and there are various ways to make your grilled cheeses look and taste like something you could pay money for at a restaurant. Adding meat like grilled chicken breast or honey baked ham to the sandwich makes the meal more filling and adds protein that college students tend to skimp out on. The cheese often melts faster than the meat can thoroughly warm up, so try heating the precooked meat in the microwave before adding it to the sandwich. If you love barbecue, try slathering the meat with barbecue sauce, fusing a grilled cheese and BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Another more vegetarian-friendly option is to change up the butter and/or spreads you use in your grilled cheese. Instead of using regular butter on your bread to give the sandwich a golden crispiness, try adding herb-infused spreads, such as apricot garlic butter. Consider adding basil pesto to the inside of the grilled cheese, adding more flavor to each bite. Ramen Ramen is the infamous g0-to option for inexpensive and convenient dining for college students. Add hot water, wait a few minutes, and you have something to hold you over until your next meal. However, after multiple meals consisting of ramen out of a package, the single packet of seasoning will get boring. The best option to making ramen more filling is to add protein, whether it be chicken breast, beef, or an egg. Make the unhealthy meal a little more healthy by adding fresh vegetables to the ramen; just use whatever is in season or cheapest, like mushrooms, spinach, or green onions. Enhance the seasoning packets or forgo them altogether by adding your own seasonings. For a spicy kick, theres gochujang, red chili flakes, sriracha, or Tapatío. For a more savory flavor, there is Japanese curry powder, miso paste, or fish sauce. Theres also the option to skip out on the traditional ramen preparation method by using the packaged noodles for a variety of recipes, including pad thai. Image via pixabay.com Potatoes Potatoes are a personal favorite and staple to a grocery shopping list. They can be bought in bulk and can be prepared in various ways. Dice potatoes and toss them in vegetable/olive oil and a mix of garlic salt and pepper, and leave them to bake in the oven. These are an easy side to baked/grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. Avoid dropping a few dollars on fries; several visits add up and leave you unaware of how much money youre putting aside for something as simple as an order of fast food fries. Instead of dicing your potatoes, slice them to your preferred length and width to make french fries. Trying picking up chorizo during your next shopping trip to make papas con chorizo. Complete the quick meal with a sunny-side-up egg and a tortilla. Spam Meat packaged in a can may be suspicious at first glance, but the price and the convenience are enough to overcome any beginning suspicions. The precooked and preserved meat is easier on a college budget as it can be bought in bulk and used over an extended period of time due to the prolonged expiration date. One of the most common ways of incorporating Spam into a meal is making spam musubi   a slice of spam, rice, and sauce wrapped in seaweed. Spam musubi is convenient for students that are on the go; make it in bulk and you will be set for several meals and be able to take said meals to class, study sessions, or work. Another way to add Spam into your meals is to replace it with other forms of meat, which are often more expensive. Add diced Spam into your scrambled eggs or omelets, or use it as another ingredient for your fried rice.

Teacher talks Teaching ESL to kids vs. adults

Teacher talks Teaching ESL to kids vs. adults Dave Stewart is a former ESL teacher who currently works as a Placement Coordinator for the Explore Program in China. He has oodles of teaching experience and has spent three and a half years in South Korea teaching children, followed by a year teaching adults in China. He’s in a unique position to discuss the pros and cons of teaching adults versus children, as well as to give a little insight into the differences between teaching English in China and South Korea. In this two-part blog series, we talk about everything from cultural differences to classroom management techniques. There’s a wealth of information in there about teaching in China with loads of ideas about how to manage the differences between teaching adults and kids. Why did you switch from teaching kids to adults? I’d moved home at the time and was struggling to find a job teaching ESL in Vancouver. I had a CELTA certificate, so I ticked most of the boxes, but most of the positions here required someone who could teach adults. I found that employers were concerned that most of my experience was with kids in Korea. It wasn’t really the right sort of experience for the ESL roles that were available in Canada. I tried a few part-time positions but found it hard to make the transition. It became quite clear that there were some big differences between teaching adults and kids. Like many teachers, I realized one of the best ways to get enough teaching experience with adults was to find a country where I could teach adults for a solid year. Moving to China, gave me the chance to improve my adult-teaching skills and figure out ways to translate my experience teaching kids to build adult-friendly lessons. Sign up to Teach Away today for access to the latest teaching jobs around the world. Can you outline some of the differences between teaching adults and kids? Some of the differences between teaching ESL to adults and children are pretty obvious, but it can be hard to imagine the full impact of them until you’re faced with a group of adults and realise some of the teaching methods kids enjoy aren’t going to cut it. One of the big differences is the attention span of your students With adults they will sit quietly, so it’s possible to do longer activities, with kids you need short snappy tasks and even then they get bored easily. The little bit of extra time adults will spend working out a problem means tasks can be more challenging than with kids - where often entertainment is a big part of the native English speakers role as an ESL teacher The potential for conflict is greater in a classroom of kids Designing lessons you’ve to worry about stuff like: Is the hyper kid going to knock over the shy kid if we do a kinesthetic activity? Will implementing a points game cause problems? Does this game require too much patience for kids to concentrate on it? And even, do these kids have the motor skills required to do the activity? With adults there just aren’t those worries, usually they will all be able to behave well and work on an activity. Adults appreciate specific grammar takeaways With kids this can fly out the window. They are distracted easily and aren’t likely to be enthusiastic if you start explaining the finer points of grammar. You’ll teach them the same tenses, but you won’t let them know in the same way. With adults I had to outline the class objectives and key takeaways. Adults learners appreciate knowing the value of the class and what they should know by the end of it. With children it can be more of a case of tricking them into learning, coaxing them with games and activities that won’t make them nod off at the desk. Adults can be harder to engage and more passive in the classroom This is a pro and a con, really. It can make speaking activities a bit awkward. As a teacher you need to get comfortable with the silence and realize it doesn’t reflect badly on you as a teacher. You’ve got to negotiate with the students, gently nudge them to speak more and build up trust. Especially with Chinese students, they can be shy or reticent with expressing themselves in a new language. Taking time to build up a rapport with the students is wise. They’re going to need to trust you before they will want to step out of their comfort zones. Kids WILL go berserk Bored children do not a peaceful classroom make. A bored adult might stare blankly at you or take a nap. A poorly-managed classroom can dissolve into utter chaos. Think running, screaming and the stuff of teacher’s nightmares! Teaching adults has less extreme highs and lows Teaching ESL to kids is a rollercoaster. In a single day you can go from an extreme high to an extreme low. Even in a single class! Things can devolve as soon as an activity they don’t like is introduced or boredom creeps in. With adults, you may not get as many highs, but the overall day will be more balanced and easier to plan. You’ll pretty much know what you’re going to face from one class to the next. With kids, the lows can often be parent related. If you’ve got helicopter parenting going on, it’s going to be stressful. I’ve been called into the principal’s office because I had the audacity to tell the students the tomato was a fruit. Apparently this flew in the face of what a parent had said, and I was asked to steer clear of controversial subjects like classifying fruits and vegetables! How does the development of young learners and adult learners differ in the ESL classroom? I guess with kids it’s down to the fact that they progress as people as well as learners. You’re not just seeing them learn English, but you watch them develop social skills. Kids tend to have less respect for the work you’re doing as a teacher. I can remember students crumpling up worksheets I’d spent ages devising, and just tossing them in their bookbags. With adults they treat those assignments like gold, and value your time as a teacher more. They want to be in your classroom. With a few rare exceptions - these are usually people who are being forced to learn English by their bosses - and in that case they will not disturb the class and tend to just be a bit quieter. With adults you can see them really nail the learning goals overtime, whereas kids the whole process can feel a bit more holistic. If adults are invested in the class they will learn, whereas kids might be more interested in what’s for lunch in the cafeteria that day. So, if you teach adults does everything have to be super serious and academic? Not at all, but you do have to build up the rapport with your students slowly. They’re not going to come into the classroom skipping and joking. I definitely toned down the silliness with adults, but I injected some nonetheless. You have to coax that atmosphere you want out of the classroom. I used songs to help them with pronunciation or threw a plush toy around the classroom to get them chatting. Another thing I did was get them to practice the “P” sound by placing a tiny ball of paper on the backs of their hands and getting them to see if their “P” sound was strong enough to blow the ball from their hands. With adults you can still have fun, a lot of the errors they are making are fossilized, so it’s about getting them to practice in a fun way, without it seeming pointless. Kids tend to want to know what they will be doing, Adults like to understand why they are doing it. Can you give an example of how to connect with your adult students and build trust? I still remember one of my first Business English classes in China. I had the students line up like a hockey team and practice handshakes. They really appreciated it, once they got over the embarrassment, and they were cured of limp-wrist syndrome for all future business meetings! The reason this worked was that it was something they could do with a little effort, everyone was in the same boat at the same time, so no one student was called out alone and they had a valuable take away! Is teaching grammar harder with adults? I would say that with adults you really need to know your stuff. I definitely couldn’t imagine teaching them without a background that involved some kind of TEFL training. Students tend to know the grammar better than you would as a native speaker because they’ve learned it by rote. That means that confident students will challenge you on grammar, so you need to know how to respond. Where are adult learners weak when it comes to learning English? The adult learners are generally strong at grammar and writing but fall down when it comes to listening and speaking. So I would focus on the latter two skills. There’s apprehension among students about coming across as seeming silly or stupid. That’s one of the main reasons they don’t speak up. Once you get over that hump, teaching ESL to adults can be rewarding. You’re not there to be a grammar-monster, merely to encourage them and build up their confidence in expressing themselves in English. What kind of ESL teachers do you think are better suited to teaching adults? It’s definitely a better fit for quieter teachers who are reluctant to be get silly in the classroom. Kids need to be entertained, but teaching adults can give you space to be a little more reserved. It’s not as physical a role in that sense, with kids you might find yourself working a lot harder to manage the classroom. I think someone patient and detail orientated is the best fit for adult learners. What does the average day look like teaching English to adults abroad? I always found the early mornings in Korea a strain. I’m not a morning person, so the later hours in China suited me. My day started after noon and I would have an easy morning, get caught up on Netflix and emails then head into school. My first hour was always a planning period, I could look through the day’s lessons, print supplements and activity sheets. The rest of my day was broken up into three different types of classes. Face-to-face conversation classes with up to 4 students. There were workshops which were regular classes with up to 25 students at a time and life clubs where the students did team-building activities in English. Did you have to design your own lessons and materials? It was a mix, although I found that teaching adults in China was a bit more lenient around lesson planning, I could get more creative. With the kids in Korea I was sticking very rigidly to the books provided and there wasn’t a lot of scope for getting inventive. With the adults I could use the materials provided or, as long as the adults had the same learning outcomes, I could adjust as I saw fit. If you were to teach abroad again, would you choose adults or children? And what country would you pick? I think I would choose adults simply because you end up with more energy at the end of the day. With kids you have extreme highs and lows, which can be draining. With adults, life feels a bit more balanced. I would also go with China, it’s such a big country and there’s a never-ending list of things to do there. In part two, Dave will go into more depth about his time teaching in China. In the meantime, feel free to find out more about the Explore program in China.

italki partners with cashU to provide more online payment options in Mid-East

italki partners with cashU to provide more online payment options in Mid-East cashU from Maktoob Were excited to announce that weve now started accepting payments through cashU. cashU is a popular payment service that is used in many countries where credit card payments are not accepted. In the Middle East, for example, credit cards are not often used online due to fraud and security concerns. However, cashU has payment options such as prepaid scratch cards that are a secure method for handling online payments. Roughly 15% of italki users come from the Middle East, and we hope that by expanding their payment options that more users will be able to participate in the language marketplace. Prepaid Cards We believe that the potential market is all of these regions is immense, especially when compared with offline learning options. For example, we believe being able to learn English with online courses for $16 USD / year, and with professional online teachers, could radically change the language education market. cashU is part of the Maktoob Group, which operates one of the Arabic regions leading portals (Maktoob.com). cashU is offered in 28 countries around the world, including the Middle East, China and some European countries. Were planning to add more payment options in the near future, and well let you know about those here on the blog. Arabic Press Release (PDF) The italki team italki partners with cashU to provide more online payment options in Mid-East cashU from Maktoob Were excited to announce that weve now started accepting payments through cashU. cashU is a popular payment service that is used in many countries where credit card payments are not accepted. In the Middle East, for example, credit cards are not often used online due to fraud and security concerns. However, cashU has payment options such as prepaid scratch cards that are a secure method for handling online payments. Roughly 15% of italki users come from the Middle East, and we hope that by expanding their payment options that more users will be able to participate in the language marketplace. Prepaid Cards We believe that the potential market is all of these regions is immense, especially when compared with offline learning options. For example, we believe being able to learn English with online courses for $16 USD / year, and with professional online teachers, could radically change the language education market. cashU is part of the Maktoob Group, which operates one of the Arabic regions leading portals (Maktoob.com). cashU is offered in 28 countries around the world, including the Middle East, China and some European countries. Were planning to add more payment options in the near future, and well let you know about those here on the blog. Arabic Press Release (PDF) The italki team