Karina White And Eufrat

Karina White And EufratThe very hot and sexy Karina White and Eufrat are back together as they are no longer getting spanked by their father for a long time, but they have to do something with their growing friendship. Karina comes home after a stressful day at work and is glad to see that Eufrat is not there because of the kind of stress she has been through the past days.Now Karina has been thinking about giving the girl tutoring lesson in public places. This will be so much fun and will make her school friend really jealous. She has come up with a plan and thus begins the girl tutoring affair.Karina first meets Eufrat at a mall and calls her at home to tell her that they will be spending the afternoon together. Karina and Eufrat hit it off like never before and both of them go out on a shopping trip.Karina and Eufrat end up spending the whole afternoon together, doing all the girl tutoring in public places as it seems to be quite enjoyable and they make new friends. They also end up hitting a few guys and have a great time together.After this Karina and Eufrat return to Karina's house to spend the evening together. Karina tells Eufrat that she has another idea that she was thinking of, and she tells her that she wants to practice the same kind of therapy as Karina's mother did. This makes Eufrat very happy because she wants to share her experiences with her friend Karina too.Karina then goes to the shopping mall and finds the one guy who has made Eufrat jealous, and ask him if he would like to join the girls for a threesome. The guy is very surprised and cannot believe that his girlfriend could ask him to give her a really good time in front of everybody.However Karina and Eufrat are now close friends and can do things with one another that nobody could ever dream of. When they reach their mutual first day of college, Eufrat goes in for a change and it is fun to watch the other girl tutoring girl.

Reading Materials for Learning How to Sew

Reading Materials for Learning How to Sew Learn How To Sew with Books and Tutorials ChaptersThe Best Sewing Books to Look For in Your Local BookstoreGreat Sewing Tutorials on the WebSewing Tutorial Videos: Good for Visual Learners and Perfecting your Sewing TechniqueAlternative Online Sewing TutorialsLooking for an effective and interactive way of learning how to sew? There is a lot to be said for the digital revolution. The 21st century - the beginning of a third millennium that opened with the Internet already omnipresent - allows anyone with a connection to the World Wide Web to rediscover a multitude of arts and crafts that had previously been reserved for a small group of elite professionals - or else had fallen into disuse.Whether it be learning a musical instrument, bookbinding or origami, the Web is full of pages and blogs run by fans dedicated to transmitting their knowledge on amazing expressions of human ingenuity.Naturally, sewing occupies an important place among the old crafts. Whether you want to become one of the great fashion designers or simply sew adorable clothing for your children (or yourself), the Net is the Holy Grail of learning a new skill.Small steps lead to big ones: using quality sewing tutorials found on the Web will allow you to progress and hone your skills with ever more complicated sewing projects - and eventually play with the big boys (and girls).comprehensive guide that takes you through the whole process step-by-step, from choosing your fabric to understanding patterns - and doesn’t forget the importance of ironing!Alison McNicol, How To Use Your Sewing Machine: A Complete Guide For Absolute Beginners, Kyle Craig Publishing, 2013. This book shows you the basic sewing skills you will need to use your sewing machine and includes some easy projects to get you started.Jane Bolsover, Sewing Machine Basics: A step-by-step course for first-time stitchers, CICO books, 2010. This book has handy tips on how to sew things such as a bias binding and zippers.Jan Saunders Maresh, Sewing for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, 2010Lee Hollahan, How to Use, Adapt and Design Sewing Patterns: From Shop-Bought Patterns to Drafting your Own, A C Black Publishers Ltd., 2010 Teaches you everything you need to know to adapt ready-made patterns to your body and start drafting your own.Caroline Fairbanks-Critchfield, Crafty Little Things to Sew: 20 Clever Sewing Projects Using Scraps and Fat Quarters, Lark, 2017Emma Hardy: Learn to Sew: 25 quick and easy sewing projects to get you started, CICO Books, 2016Emma Hardy, My First Sewing Machine Book: 35 fun and easy projects for children aged 7 years + , CICO Kidz, 2014.Never fear - modern sewing books have gotten more visual, with lots of illustrations of the various sewing techniques. Photo by ohsohappytogether on VisualHunt.comAnd don’t forget your local newspaper stand: there are several sewing magazines out there with step-by-step instructions in every issue for, say, how to sew a button-down dress or make a tote - such as Sew, Love Sewing, Simply Sewing or Mol lie Makes.Discover more resources for learning how to sew...Great Sewing Tutorials on the WebWhen learning something new, there is nothing more frustrating than having to feel your way in the dark, not knowing what simple beginner’s mistake has just ruined your entire project.But now with the Internet we are no longer alone in our endeavours and can profit from other people’s experience without ever having met them.Sewing blogs and sewing tutorials are not hard to find - just google what you want to know and you will be confronted with a plethora of how to’s. The hard part is choosing the best ones to succeed in you sewing project.But fear not! We are here to guide you through this labyrinth of sewing sites and free sewing instructions. Note that we will not be covering sites that offer nothing but sewing patterns without any other explanation.Best Sewing BlogsThere are some excellent sewing blogs out there, a small selection of which are:Sunny Gal Studio makes casual wear and gives you tips on how to improve your sewing.Sigrid’s Sewing Projects lets you follow along with her as she sews specific projects, letting you pick up tips and tricks along the way.Blog for Better Sewing for lovely vintage sewing - and she has her own range of vintage fabrics, too.Male Pattern Boldness:  tired of being a man in a world of women’s sewing blogs? This one is run by a man and includes a wide range of menswear and some women’s dresses.Mrs. Hughes specialises in plus-size tailoring.Made by Rae makes her children’s clothing herself and takes you along for the ride.Made Every Day is a sewing crafts site with a blog.Male Pattern Boldness is one of the few sewing blogs run by a man interested in dressmaking. (screenshot)This is only a small selection. We have tried to cover a wide range of specialities and interests, but in the end, it must remain arbitrary as everyone responds to different approaches and there is wonderful quality to be found almost everywhere. Itâ €™s up to you to take the information gleaned from these blogs and from there try and find the sites that best suit your techniques, styles and what you like to sew.Would you like to find more great sewing blogs?Learn Sewing Basics OnlineFor general sites on learning how to sew from the ground up (as well as specific sewing techniques such as what to do with raw edges or how to hem a skirt), try teaching sites such as Victory Patterns with lots of sewing tutorials; Sew Mama Sew offers tutorials and online sewing classes.Crafts Projects Step by StepYou will have noticed that there is a difference between general sewing tutorials (the fundamentals of sewing) and step-by-step sewing instructions to help you finish a specific sewing project.Re-create sewing projects you find online thanks to simple tutorials. Photo by Dot D on Visualhunt.comSo don’t hesitate to try more precise searches in your search engine - such as “how to make a sewing kit” and many other sewing projects: ther e are almost as many sewing tutorials as there are creative ideas - so we won’t even try to list them all! Try Purl Soho for a variety of projects from home dec, while Tilly and the Buttons has hundreds of cute sewing projects you will be sure to nail - even without sewing lessons.Discover some of the best sewing classes...Sewing Tutorial Videos: Good for Visual Learners and Perfecting your Sewing TechniqueAs time goes by, courses made up entirely of text seem more and more boring. In fact, studies show that the same text presented in different ways (black-and-white compared with colour-coded) will not have the same impact.This is even more true when we come to manual hobbies: a proper sewing tutorial should have a lot of illustrations.Some sites base their whole concept on this: Pinterest, for example, is a social network that lets their users share pictures with others - including fun and unique sewing tutorials.And it is also possible to add sound to image - voilà, we now have an audiovisual tutorial!Many sewing blogs have their own videos on their website while others are hosted on specialised interfaces of which YouTube is the best known.Though there are a few fame-crazed individuals imagining themselves champions of haute couture while posting mediocre content, there are a lot of channels worth mentioning.The Crafty Gemini  Q2HANWith WendySew Over It  Clueless SeamstressThough the quality of sound and the grain varies, the basic information is still good. Very often, you will be following the creation of a specific piece of clothing.Cosmetic pouch or sponge bag, beach bag, tote, pillowcase, cushion - nothing escapes Dailymotion and its rivals!Look up for online sewing classes on Superprof.Alternative Online Sewing TutorialsHave you considered taking online sewing lessons? It might be the ideal solution for becoming a dressmaker without losing motivation when your sewing projects don’t come out just right.No time for physical sewing classes? Try onli ne lessons to learn how to sew! Photo by sassycrafter on Visualhunt.comKnitting, crochet, embroidery: these are activities a sewing teacher can teach you; he can supplement his sewing lessons with digital media to help you make your creations.Whether you decide to get a private sewing tutor or not, don’t forget that you will need some basic sewing accessories available in any local habershadery (thread, iron, zippers, etc.) - a basic sewing kit could be useful for covering your bases - as good quality materials are indispensable for successfully completing a sewing project.There are e-learning courses - paying and free - available on several websites including, of course, Superprof.They will take you through the most basic sewing skills you will need, then build upon them to craft more and more complicated creations. The first fruits of your labour might not be a matched-pattern skin-tight evening dress - but rather a tote or drawer organiser - but chi va piano, va sano e va lonta no, and you will soon be conquering DIY thanks to the best sewing tutorials out there.Also discover where you can find free sewing patterns...

Helping Your Child Cope With Exam Stress

Helping Your Child Cope With Exam Stress Exam season can be a stressful experience for students, but parents may also find it difficult to help their child during this time. Here are some strategies for parents to help their child cope with exam stress written by Priory Group's Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg. A parent’s guide to helping your child cope with exam stress By Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg Exam season can see stress levels rise in your children and household. We understand that this can be a challenging time for everyone and is probably the most pressured your child will have ever felt. There are ways you can help to manage exam stress and anxiety so that it doesn’t become overwhelming. While feeling some stress is normal as it can kick start the ‘fight or flight’ response and help your child to perform at their best, unrelenting stress can see their health and wellbeing deteriorate. Priory Group’s Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg has provided some exam tips for parents that you can use to prevent their stress from escalating. By equipping them with stress-busting strategies, you will not only be helping your child during exams, but will also be giving them tools they can then use to deal with stresses they face later on in life. Make time to talk Start a conversation with your child when you are both free from distractions. Ask them how they feel. If they say they are angry, sad, worried or anxious, explain that it is normal to occasionally have such strong emotions, but that they shouldn’t have to deal with these feelings all the time.   Let them know that that they can always turn to you for support. If they feel that they are going to fail their exams or perform terribly, challenge these irrational thoughts and help them to recognise all the hard work they have put in so far. You can also help to problem solve their concerns. For example, if they are worried that they won’t get their expected grade, identify the options that are available following on from this so that they are aware that they have alternatives and a future. Help them recognise the symptoms of stress Explain to them what symptoms of stress they should look out for. Are they finding it difficult to sleep and do they constantly feel tired? Are they not feeling hungry or are they finding it difficult to finish their meals? Does their heart rate constantly feel high? Have they lost interest in hobbies that they once enjoyed? When your child is busy revising or preparing for exams, it is important that they check in with their body throughout the day to see if they are exhibiting any symptoms of stress. Get them to set an alarm on their phone, or to take time before meals to check. Has their leg been jiggling? Has their heart been beating faster than usual? Is their mind racing? Let them know that it is not okay to feel like this constantly and that there are ways that they can reduce their exam stress symptoms, which you can teach them. Show them strategies for dealing with exam stress When your child feels that their stress is escalating and becoming distracting, get them to visualise their worries. Then get them to build a metaphorical wall between themselves and these concerns. You can also teach them to put an expiration time on their stresses, where they can only worry for 10 minutes once or twice a day to prevent their anxiousness from becoming overwhelming. You can also get them to sit with you and think of a relaxing place. Ask them to tell you what they see, smell, hear and feel. Encourage them to go back to this place once or twice a day, so that they can practice removing themselves from moments when they begin to feel too stressed. Set times for revision breaks Make your child aware that revising when they are exhausted is not an effective or healthy way to prepare for exams. It is important for them to feel that they have tried their best, but there are ways to do this without it negatively influencing their health and wellbeing. Encourage them to take short, regular breaks. Suggest going for a walk or a drive together, book in time for daily exercise, and make sure they spend meal times away from their books to give them an opportunity to refresh and restart. By helping your child manage their exam stress, this can prevent their anxieties from snowballing into something that impacts their health and wellbeing. If you feel that their stress isn’t improving you may need to get help from your GP, who will be able to give you the right advice and support you need. Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg  is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist for The Priory Group. You may also be interested in:  The science behind exam stress  or  A top tutor's tips to help with exam stress. Photo by  Alexis Brown  on  Unsplash

Improve Your English in 3 Minutes With This Tip

Improve Your English in 3 Minutes With This Tip I hear it ALL the time. My students use emall  /emincorrectly. Im so used to it, sometimes I dont even notice. But today during one of my classes I noticed the mistake and I decided to investigate why this is so hard for English language learners. It turns out that it is actually quite complex, grammatically speaking. Do you say emall my things/em or  emall her life/em? If yes, you can learn to useem  /ememeverything/em and emwhole/em  and instantly sound more fluent in English. Watch the video for the rules and explanation. p style=text-align: center;iframe src=//www.youtube.com/embed/Clr8Z8Yni7s?rel=0 width=560 height=315 frameborder=0 allowfullscreen=allowfullscreen/iframe/p p style=text-align: center;Think youve got it? a href=/?p=16395Click here to try our quiz./a/p p style=text-align: center;/p

October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges (Part IV)

October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges (Part IV) Check out whos taking up our Language Challenge! If youre taking the Language Challenge and really want to succeed, were giving away 50ITC if you make a Public Video Pledge! Why would you ever want to do this? (Click here for more details) Please take some time to motivate and encourage our Public Video Pledge Challengers by commenting on their Notebook entries! This is the fourth blog listing of October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges o_O And the Pledges just keep on coming! Watch them on our first 3 posts below: PART I HERE PART II HERE PART III HERE Hannah from Canada is learning Japanese Hannah seems pretty motivated: she loves the Japanese language and wants be more confident when speaking it. I totally understand, Japanese is a beautiful language. Its so soft and melodic, if you dont believe me check out her video below. You can tell her how good she sounds on her Notebook entry! Jan from the UK is learning Spain Jan came back from her trip to Spain a little frustrated. Hey, I get it, its hard speaking a language with native speakers when you lack the confidence. Thats what italki is for! Im sure the October Language Challenge will improve your Spanish in leaps and bounds. Spaniards of italki! Leave a comment on her Notebook entry! If I might venture a correction: conciencia means conscience. You probably meant to say confianza ?? Great accent btw!!! Paulo from Brazil is learning English Paulo is a Portuguese teacher learning English. Hes really good at it but he hopes that by the end of the challenge he will be able to speak without pausing as much. Paulo, complete the challenge and youll see how much better youll get! Fluency is just around the corner! He wrote down his objectives on his Notebook entry LilBrito from Spain is learning English LilBrito is definitely being too hard on herself, her English is already very good! But she wants to get it up to a professional level, and we commend her for that. By the end of the month she will be able to have job interviews in English like its nobodys business. Any tips? Write them here > Notebook entry Ian from the United States is learning Cebuano Cebuano is a language spoken in the Philippines by 20 million people, the largest native language community despite not being taught in schools (source: wikipedia). Ians goal > to be able to communicate with his family in Cebu, one of the noblest goals in my humble opinion. Do you have any similar stories? Direct them to his Notebook entry! Its remarkable how you can hear some spanish words in the mix! Tony from the United States is learning Korean Tonys goal is to learn Korean so that he can communicate better with all the Koreans living in Hawaii with him. Im no expert, but his accent seems pretty good! What do you guys think? Let him know on his Notebook entry! Sandrah from the United States is learning Catalan Its great to see another italki Challenge veteran take yet another Challenge. Were really impressed with Sandrah as she was one of the Challenge winners from World Cup Challenge. This time she is out to re-learn Catalan (a language she learned 4-5 years ago but completed forgot (or so she says as she speaks pretty fluently in her video below)). Give Sandrah some love in her Notebook entry! By the way, Sandrah is also a Community Tutor as well. Not sure how these guys pull of learning a language and teaching at the same time but more power to them! Liwin from the Netherlands is learning Chinese Liwin is NEW to italki and has decided to take the plunge immediately and learn Chinese. Shes starting a bit late so has some catch up to do. Shes studied Chinese for 4 years but never had an opportunity to start speaking it. At least with the Challenge, shell get 12 hours (or more) of speaking time! Were sure that she will do well though! Pierre Bredel from the Brazil is learning English Pierre Bredel is yet another Challenger champion having participated in our World Cup Challenge! This time around he is going to take on English (he learned French the last time). Cheer Pierre on by commenting on his Notebook entry! Joshua from the United States is learning Spanish Joshua sent us his Public Video Pledge! He wants to be able to speak more confidently by the end of the month, so that he can communicate with other Spanish-speakers fluently. Check out his video below and drop some words of encouragement on his Notebook entry! Buen ritmo Joshua! Mucha suerte con tu desafío ?? October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges (Part IV) Check out whos taking up our Language Challenge! If youre taking the Language Challenge and really want to succeed, were giving away 50ITC if you make a Public Video Pledge! Why would you ever want to do this? (Click here for more details) Please take some time to motivate and encourage our Public Video Pledge Challengers by commenting on their Notebook entries! This is the fourth blog listing of October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges o_O And the Pledges just keep on coming! Watch them on our first 3 posts below: PART I HERE PART II HERE PART III HERE Hannah from Canada is learning Japanese Hannah seems pretty motivated: she loves the Japanese language and wants be more confident when speaking it. I totally understand, Japanese is a beautiful language. Its so soft and melodic, if you dont believe me check out her video below. You can tell her how good she sounds on her Notebook entry! Jan from the UK is learning Spain Jan came back from her trip to Spain a little frustrated. Hey, I get it, its hard speaking a language with native speakers when you lack the confidence. Thats what italki is for! Im sure the October Language Challenge will improve your Spanish in leaps and bounds. Spaniards of italki! Leave a comment on her Notebook entry! If I might venture a correction: conciencia means conscience. You probably meant to say confianza ?? Great accent btw!!! Paulo from Brazil is learning English Paulo is a Portuguese teacher learning English. Hes really good at it but he hopes that by the end of the challenge he will be able to speak without pausing as much. Paulo, complete the challenge and youll see how much better youll get! Fluency is just around the corner! He wrote down his objectives on his Notebook entry LilBrito from Spain is learning English LilBrito is definitely being too hard on herself, her English is already very good! But she wants to get it up to a professional level, and we commend her for that. By the end of the month she will be able to have job interviews in English like its nobodys business. Any tips? Write them here > Notebook entry Ian from the United States is learning Cebuano Cebuano is a language spoken in the Philippines by 20 million people, the largest native language community despite not being taught in schools (source: wikipedia). Ians goal > to be able to communicate with his family in Cebu, one of the noblest goals in my humble opinion. Do you have any similar stories? Direct them to his Notebook entry! Its remarkable how you can hear some spanish words in the mix! Tony from the United States is learning Korean Tonys goal is to learn Korean so that he can communicate better with all the Koreans living in Hawaii with him. Im no expert, but his accent seems pretty good! What do you guys think? Let him know on his Notebook entry! Sandrah from the United States is learning Catalan Its great to see another italki Challenge veteran take yet another Challenge. Were really impressed with Sandrah as she was one of the Challenge winners from World Cup Challenge. This time she is out to re-learn Catalan (a language she learned 4-5 years ago but completed forgot (or so she says as she speaks pretty fluently in her video below)). Give Sandrah some love in her Notebook entry! By the way, Sandrah is also a Community Tutor as well. Not sure how these guys pull of learning a language and teaching at the same time but more power to them! Liwin from the Netherlands is learning Chinese Liwin is NEW to italki and has decided to take the plunge immediately and learn Chinese. Shes starting a bit late so has some catch up to do. Shes studied Chinese for 4 years but never had an opportunity to start speaking it. At least with the Challenge, shell get 12 hours (or more) of speaking time! Were sure that she will do well though! Pierre Bredel from the Brazil is learning English Pierre Bredel is yet another Challenger champion having participated in our World Cup Challenge! This time around he is going to take on English (he learned French the last time). Cheer Pierre on by commenting on his Notebook entry! Joshua from the United States is learning Spanish Joshua sent us his Public Video Pledge! He wants to be able to speak more confidently by the end of the month, so that he can communicate with other Spanish-speakers fluently. Check out his video below and drop some words of encouragement on his Notebook entry! Buen ritmo Joshua! Mucha suerte con tu desafío ?? October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges (Part IV) Check out whos taking up our Language Challenge! If youre taking the Language Challenge and really want to succeed, were giving away 50ITC if you make a Public Video Pledge! Why would you ever want to do this? (Click here for more details) Please take some time to motivate and encourage our Public Video Pledge Challengers by commenting on their Notebook entries! This is the fourth blog listing of October Language Challenge Public Video Pledges o_O And the Pledges just keep on coming! Watch them on our first 3 posts below: PART I HERE PART II HERE PART III HERE Hannah from Canada is learning Japanese Hannah seems pretty motivated: she loves the Japanese language and wants be more confident when speaking it. I totally understand, Japanese is a beautiful language. Its so soft and melodic, if you dont believe me check out her video below. You can tell her how good she sounds on her Notebook entry! Jan from the UK is learning Spain Jan came back from her trip to Spain a little frustrated. Hey, I get it, its hard speaking a language with native speakers when you lack the confidence. Thats what italki is for! Im sure the October Language Challenge will improve your Spanish in leaps and bounds. Spaniards of italki! Leave a comment on her Notebook entry! If I might venture a correction: conciencia means conscience. You probably meant to say confianza ?? Great accent btw!!! Paulo from Brazil is learning English Paulo is a Portuguese teacher learning English. Hes really good at it but he hopes that by the end of the challenge he will be able to speak without pausing as much. Paulo, complete the challenge and youll see how much better youll get! Fluency is just around the corner! He wrote down his objectives on his Notebook entry LilBrito from Spain is learning English LilBrito is definitely being too hard on herself, her English is already very good! But she wants to get it up to a professional level, and we commend her for that. By the end of the month she will be able to have job interviews in English like its nobodys business. Any tips? Write them here > Notebook entry Ian from the United States is learning Cebuano Cebuano is a language spoken in the Philippines by 20 million people, the largest native language community despite not being taught in schools (source: wikipedia). Ians goal > to be able to communicate with his family in Cebu, one of the noblest goals in my humble opinion. Do you have any similar stories? Direct them to his Notebook entry! Its remarkable how you can hear some spanish words in the mix! Tony from the United States is learning Korean Tonys goal is to learn Korean so that he can communicate better with all the Koreans living in Hawaii with him. Im no expert, but his accent seems pretty good! What do you guys think? Let him know on his Notebook entry! Sandrah from the United States is learning Catalan Its great to see another italki Challenge veteran take yet another Challenge. Were really impressed with Sandrah as she was one of the Challenge winners from World Cup Challenge. This time she is out to re-learn Catalan (a language she learned 4-5 years ago but completed forgot (or so she says as she speaks pretty fluently in her video below)). Give Sandrah some love in her Notebook entry! By the way, Sandrah is also a Community Tutor as well. Not sure how these guys pull of learning a language and teaching at the same time but more power to them! Liwin from the Netherlands is learning Chinese Liwin is NEW to italki and has decided to take the plunge immediately and learn Chinese. Shes starting a bit late so has some catch up to do. Shes studied Chinese for 4 years but never had an opportunity to start speaking it. At least with the Challenge, shell get 12 hours (or more) of speaking time! Were sure that she will do well though! Pierre Bredel from the Brazil is learning English Pierre Bredel is yet another Challenger champion having participated in our World Cup Challenge! This time around he is going to take on English (he learned French the last time). Cheer Pierre on by commenting on his Notebook entry! Joshua from the United States is learning Spanish Joshua sent us his Public Video Pledge! He wants to be able to speak more confidently by the end of the month, so that he can communicate with other Spanish-speakers fluently. Check out his video below and drop some words of encouragement on his Notebook entry! Buen ritmo Joshua! Mucha suerte con tu desafío ??

So what are these leaderboard rankings anyway

So what are these leaderboard rankings anyway Its week 6 of the italki World Cup Language Challenge.  (Yes, Germany has won the Cup, but a more pressing and curious question remains: who will win the italki World Cup Challenge?). Or, as many of you may be quick to point out, what does winning the italki challenge really mean?  How do I read the leaderboard? Should I boo or cheer? (Cheer is the answer to the last one learning a language is good for you). Offical 2014 italki World Cup Language Challenge Leaderboard Short Answer: The Country ranking attempts to answer the question Participants from which country have taken the most classes during the World Cup Challenge (on average)?. The Language ranking attempts to answer the question Students of which language showed the most dedication to taking classes (on average)?. This latter one got a bit confusing because many of the participants are actively studying multiple languages. Long Answer: Basic Methodology. Trying to put together a ranking of groups of people as diverse as italki users is always a strange proposition very few fit well in easily-defined groups. Ultimately we have had to take some shortcuts to be able to process the data and present it in some sort of a consistent fashion. The top-10 rankings you see have been limited only to teams of 4 or more. By teams here we mean ways of grouping participants. Country teams. The obvious way was by country. Even here, however, we had to make a decision about what counts as ones country, as we have both countries of origin, as well as countries in which our users live. For the top ten by country we decided to allocate students into teams based on their profile listing of the country of origin, add up all their session hours, and divide by number of people on the team. The reason for us using an average was to find a way to rank these teams on an overall metric. So, for example, the average participant from Mexico has spent 19.09 hours taking lessons with an italki teacher. As you can quickly imagine this has flaws. The Angola team wound up beng just one student, who has completed over 50 hours of lessons since the beginning of the challenge. Trying to defray the statistical anomalies like this, but still give a shout-out to the dedicated lone representatives of their countries, we have dropped teams with less than three students. Why 3? Frankly, we needed a number that would not eliminate too many teams, but could still be seen as a team-effort. Yes, it is rather arbitrary. Target Language teams. The math on this just got a little weird. Many of our participants are taking multiple languages. Some are even taking languages which are not listed in our site (one of our more prolific users who has racked up numerous hours in Tagalog is actually learning Ilokano from his teacher- a language we do not have formally listed on the site yet). After loads of hand-wringing and fights with our spreadsheet programs, we have decided to use this metric in a simple and crude way: Your target language team is determined by what language you have studied most of in the period of World Cup Challenge. Then, all the hours that you have taken regardless of language get tallied up and divided by the number of other members of your team. Yup, its very crude. Cantonese and Shanghainese dialects got dropped entirely for example. That said, the reason we chose this approach is: although its easy to tabulate the number of hours in a specific language, it is much harder to figure out how to divide that number to find the average. Do we divide them by total number of participants of the challenge? That would be unfair to the small dedicated groups learning Catalan or pretty much every language but English. Do we divide them by number of people who have at all studied this language? That also yields meaningless results, as it doesnt represent the amount of effort many of our students have put into studying a total of 3 or 4 languages. Ultimately we decided that a participants primary language will be his or her team, and created this relatively abstract measure. What the ranking says is that, on average, people studying Spanish (as a primary language) have spent approximately 7.51 hours taking language classes. Final Thoughts. We do not want our participants to miss out on the glory, so we are planning to do a final ranking by number of hours of all the users who have completed the challenge target. These will be individual rankings, with a breakdown of number of hours learned in at least their top-two or top-three languages. Doing this breakdown every week, however, would be very distracting for our team, and would take away from many other activities that are necessary to keep the site running: community management, customer service, handling the publication of articles, and promoting italki resources to inspired language-learners all over the world. Most importantly, we feel that the real winners of the challenge, whether completers or not, will be those who can look at the before video and the after video, and see how much they have accomplished in understanding another language and culture in avery short span of time. By the way, when your before and after videos are ready, please send them to support@italki.com. Good luck everyone in the last few days of the challenge!

4 Great Ways to Boost Your Student Resume

4 Great Ways to Boost Your Student Resume Fullerton College Admissions Consultant Tips: 4 Great Ways to Boost Your Student Resume GPA and test scores are just part of the college application process. Most colleges and universities want to see a well-rounded student who can add to the community once theyre living and learning on campus. Students are encouraged to think about what they can do to improve their student resume and stand out among the crowd while also exploring personal interests. When students do volunteer work or community service they also have a chance to figure out what they want to study while in college and want to do for a job once they graduate our private Fullerton college consultants are here to help you succeed. 1. Get involved in your local community Each community has different needs, which provide varying options for students in different areas. High school students will have a wide variety of opportunities to get involved in the world around them outside of the school environment. Students are encouraged to pick something theyre interested in because they will be spending a substantial amount of their free time on this activity. A future veterinarian can volunteer at a local animal shelter, and a future teacher can participate in peer tutoring. Of course, not every student knows what they want to do at this stage so they can take the opportunity to try several different things before settling on long-term volunteer activity. 2. Start a club or organization after school Its a good idea for students to get involved in extracurricular activities. Students who are especially motivated can even start their school club. Founding an organization shows a ton of initiative to get something started from scratch and demonstrated excellent leadership skills. High school students will need the help of motivated peers and a teacher, but they should be prepared to do a lot of the work themselves. Students who dont have enough free time to start their organization should consider joining an existing club that fits their interests. 3. Apply for an internship Most people think internships are just for college students, but many high school students will have the opportunity to work at a professional organization over the summer. They may be doing this on a volunteer basis, or they might be getting paid, but they will learn valuable lessons about the workforce. Just the process of applying for an internship will help students understand what it’s like to apply to college and a full-time job in the future (READ: 5 Great Ways to Help Pay for College). 4. Improve your work ethic Its essential for college-bound students to have an excellent work ethic. Once they get into the college environment, they will have a lot of responsibilities but little supervision. Universities know this and want to see that students can handle the workload and follow through on their responsibilities. Students can demonstrate this by improving their work ethic at school, resulting in higher grades and positive teacher recommendations but they can also get a part-time job over the summer. When students maintain a part-time job, they are demonstrating that they can show up on time, follow directions, learn from mistakes, and work successfully with others. Theres no mistaking the value of part-time work at this stage in a students life. Need help with your college applications? Our private Fullerton college admissions consultants are here to help. Call us today for more information.