Tuesday, March 24, 2020

You Have To See This Amazing Teenage DJ

You Have To See This Amazing Teenage DJ Megan L. If youve ever thought DJs arent real musicians, prepare to get schooled by a high school student. 17 year old Cole Plante  may be young, but his DJ skills have already gotten him work with famous EDM artists, including Skrillex and Avicii. In this TED-Ed talk, Cole shows an audience of his peers how a DJ set is done. Watching Cole mix tracks, you can see the same focus, confidence, and intent you would see in any other musician with their instrument. You can also see that DJing requires a lot of knowledge about how songs are structured and how arrangements fit together. In addition to DJing, Cole plays in his schools marching band, which likely feeds into his understanding of music theory. In the video, Cole suggests that aspiring DJs ask a friend for help and guidance getting started. While friends can be a great resource, what if you dont know anyone who DJs or are looking for more in-depth knowledge? Taking private lessons from a qualified and professional instructor is a great way to learn the skills you want quickly and have fun doing it! The right teacher can help you understand music theory, get to know your gear, and help you figure out how to start getting gigs. At TakeLessons, you can browse through teacher profiles and pick the DJ teacher whose knowledge and experience match what you want to do. Visit TakeLessons and find your perfect teacher today!

Friday, March 6, 2020

Need Math Help Get Advice from a Top Online Math Tutor

Need Math Help Get Advice from a Top Online Math Tutor 0SHARESShare If you’re confused as what to do to understand math, then here comes your space. Ever tried getting help from the online masters? Since math is a subject that needs an expert guidance, so why not learn things in a different way? Well, searching the internet you will find plenty of online math tutors with their experienced team of tutors who are all ready to solve your problems and help you out with every bit of the doubts. Now, if you feel as how to get to them and get yourself registered for the tutors, it’s a simple process. Just go online and look for the online tutoring websites. Now, go through the various websites and look for the best sites available to match your needs. Online tutors provide with the two-way communication. When you browse through the webpages, you will know the services that these tutorials offer. You not only get the audio-visual interactions with the tutors, but you are also able to see them, talk to them, interact and also get a white page to paste your problems that they will solve and send back to you. Online math tutors can help in several math topics such as: Algebra Calculus and analysis Geometry Number theory probability and statistics and more Online tutors will provide you with amazing feedback. Just hit the online tutors and select the one according to your needs. Now get yourself registered with the online tutors and select math subject to get help. Select the total number of hours of your tutorial-ship and fix up the systematic course and time schedule. It’s too simple then what it seems. So don’t wait, get the top online tutor! [starbox id=admin]

Singing Lessons Cardiff

Singing Lessons Cardiff Where Can You Find Singing Classes with a Voice Coach in Cardiff? ChaptersSing with a Choir in CardiffThe Top Reasons People Take Voice LessonsWhere to Find Singing Lessons in CardiffLearn to Sing OnlineFor all of the jokes made about Cardiff, this city is a beacon for music aficionados!Not only can you find the world's oldest record shop in Cardiff â€" Spiller's Records, but that city has been dubbed the UK's second most musical city.Bands such as Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers, and Brave Captain  hail from Cardiff, with the trend heading toward heavy metal and metalcore genres.Budgie, the heavy metal band that were pioneers of this style of music, are from Cardiff!By no means does any of this imply that, if you want to learn how to sing in Cardiff, you must grow long hair and play an electric guitar.There are plenty of other styles of music to learn here, like Rap, Pop, Contemporary and Welsh language songs.Let us now find out where we can take singing lessons in this thriving city of music!audition or ability to read music is requir ed.Canton Chorus has been performing in and around Cardiff for the past twenty five years. Joining them in song, you could get a lot of singing tips and coaching from more experienced members of the group.They tend to sing more classical music. For their winter concert, they will be performing a cantata.If you are a tenor, you would be especially welcome to join them!What if you are not a classically trained vocalist? What if you don't like classical music?Join City VoicesThis relatively young singing group has grown exponentially in the nine years it has been performing, but would still be happy to welcome you!They sing anything from show tunes to popular music; Disney tunes to your favourite movie theme song.When you join with City Voices, you would not be required to purchase a choir robe, audition or be certified in any way to sing.Having fun, making friends and finding joy in singing are, however, compulsory.You may prefer to embark on your singing lessons anonymously, in a cho ir Source: Pixabay Credit: JoergelmanWhy Sing With a Choir?This article is supposed to be about taking singing lessons, the implication being that there would be a singing teacher and you, the voice student, would learn how to run scales and how to breathe.Without any formal instruction in singing, you might not even know your vocal range!If that is the case, why would we propose joining a singing group?The fact is that many have been scared off from lessons of any type because of our early forays into music, while still at school.Stand straight! Shoulders back! No slouching! our teachers would admonish us.Have you ever received a technical explanation of why good posture is vital to learning how to sing?As an alternative solution to improving your vocals, we propose embarking in vocal training as a member of an informal group, with people who would be happy to coach you through the basics of singing techniques.Here is why:Invariably, the first step a choir director would take would be to lead the group through warm up exercises.These can consist of running scales, humming notes and lip trills.S/he would then most likely move on to breathing exercises.Inhaling, and using your diaphragm to push your breath out would surely be on that list.Once your throat has been properly warmed up, your larynx conditioned for singing, and your breathing regulated, it is time to put your singing voice to work.At that point, the choir director would lead the group through their first number.All in all, the steps you take to start singing with a choir are not so different from those when taking formal lessons, one on one, with a voice coach.2. Singing in with a group is fantastic ear training.Training your ear involves recognising pitch, tone, tempo, intervals, chords and rhythms, all without your conductor signaling them or sheet music to read them from.Cultivating your relative pitch â€" as the ability is called, is essential in learning how to sing because a singer must be ab le to hear and identify musical elements within the music.If you have ever heard someone at karaoke flub a note or sing off key, it is because their ear has not been properly trained.Any time you anticipate using your voice excessively, you should do vocal exercises, to prevent straining your voice and causing injury.Who â€" besides great singers, you might ask, needs vocal warm ups?Does a waiting microphone fill you with dread? Combat performance anxiety with singing lessons! Source: Pixabay Credit: Freestock PhotosThe Top Reasons People Take Voice LessonsAre you a teacher, facing a classroom full of energetic students?Have you been called on to give a big presentation at work?Maybe you have just earned a promotion, and are now in charge of your own group.These are all great reasons to develop you vocal ability, and none of them have anything to do with singing.Voice training can help you project your voice more effectively, giving you a more commanding presence.Another reason to t ake voice lessons: singing has been proven to help balance emotional, physical and mental stress.Voice training can help combat debilitating conditions such as lack of confidence, and even stage fright â€" the kind that comes from overwhelming anxiety in social situations.By no means are we saying that learning to sing will cure depression, but it can certainly help brighten your mood!How is your posture these days?Our modern  lifestyle  nearly begs us to slouch on our sofa, or slump at our desk.After hours in front of a computer, do you get up and stretch, work your neck and yawn?Working with a vocal coach, you would learn to maintain good posture: shoulders back, head held high and abdomen taut, even if your daily life consists mostly of sitting.You would unconsciously adopt the very pose of the self-confident person.Even if you have no great singing aspirations, simply learning proper breathing, standing straight and projecting your voice will go a long way toward giving you an i nner harmony, so difficult to find in today's hurry-hurry world!Doesn't all that make you want to find a voice teacher, and start lessons as soon as possible?Where to Find Singing Lessons in CardiffAngharad Kathy Davies is a professional opera singer who teaches singing at her studio in Cardiff city centre.Although she sings soprano, she welcomes all ages and vocal ranges, teaching fundamental vocal techniques such as:posturebreathingphonationregistersresonanceexpressionIn all, there are eight fundamental steps to teaching vocal pedagogy, that lead to singing success. With Singing Lessons Cardiff,   you will master each one.Good basic singing technique is transferable to any style of singing. - Angharad Kathy DaviesYou do not have to be in the same vocal range, or even like the same style of music as Ms. Davis in order to take vocal lessons with her.Learn to Sing with IMS CardiffAre you a fan of Carpool Karaoke and wish James Corden would move his show permanently to Great Britain?D o you always sing in your car, even though you are not carpooling?If you are ready to take your singing to the next level, you might consider taking singing lessons London with the fine teachers at International Music School Cardiff.Their singing teachers are all established performers, who have perfected their own singing technique on stage and in the recording studio.They are now ready to lead you through singing exercises and teach you how to hit the high notes.Learning how to sing with them, you will incorporate vocal warm up and breath control into your everyday routine, on your way to becoming the best performer.They will teach you how to use your head voice and all about pitch and tone.All of that sounds good, but what if you don't have time or energy to run back into town after tea, for any vocal coaching?Your online voice teacher would surely tell you to drink warm water as you do your vocal exercises Source: Pixabay Credit: Rachel Scott YogaLearn to Sing OnlineWith so much else that can be learned from the Internet, it would be reasonable to project that you could also learn how to sing online.The only problem with the Internet is that you must ask the right question in order to get the desired answer.How to sort through all of the search results? How to target that one voice coach that would deliver the knowledge of music and voice training you seek?You need look no further than Superprof to find online singing lessons.Do you want to sing opera, or rock?How about joining a male choir that Wales is so famous for?  Maybe you just want to wow your mates at your next noson lawe.In all cases, any of our more than seven hundred tutors would be sure to help you.Most Superprof tutors give their first hour of lessons free:  What a risk free way to learn how to sing!All you need is Skype, and a sincere desire to lift your voice in song. The rest is up to your Internet connection.Whether you want to improve your tone quality or find exercises for vocal health, there are so many opportunities in Cardiff to find your singing voice.If you want your chance to shine at Carpool Karaoke, shouldn't you start looking into them?Find out about vocal coaching in some of the UK's other cities, including London, Liverpool, Manchester,  Nottingham, Belfast, Edinburgh  Bournemouth and Glasgow!

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Learn to Sing like an Opera Singer

Learn to Sing like an Opera Singer Learn How to Sing Become an Opera Singer? ChaptersWorking on Your Voice to Become a TenorHow Do You Get a Voice for Opera?How Can You Sing Mezzo-SopranoLearn How to Sing Vibrato“There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva.”  Josh GrobanIf there’s one thing that brings everything together, it’s the arts. At the heart of this world, there’s the opera.However, if you watch an audition on The X Factor, The Voice, and Britain’s Got Talent, you'll hear examples of a contemporary singing voice rather than operatic voices which are usually defined by their vocal range.Of course, in terms of musical quality, harmonies, pitch, timbre, and the skill of each musician, traditional music is well ahead of its contemporary counterparts.When you listen to the whole repertoire of singers like Roberto Alagna or Luciano Pavarotti, you can’t help but want   to be able to sing as well as them and push the limits of the human voice.  Of course, if you want to become a singer, you’ll need a good voice. No matter what your tessitura - mezzo-soprano, baritone, bass, contralto, countertenor, etc. - there’s nothing stopping you taking to the stage and becoming a singer.Let’s have a look at some of the different options you have once you’ve started your vocal training with a quality voice teacher.You can also take singing lessons online. TraceySinging Teacher 4.92 (13) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PortiaSinging Teacher 4.91 (11) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors NicolaSinging Teacher 5.00 (11) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JazzSinging Teacher 5.00 (6) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PerrineSinging Teacher 5.00 (3) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TiemSinging Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TomSinging Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MiriamSinging Teacher 5.00 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsWorking on Your Voice to Become a TenorDo you have the potential to become a tenor and would you like to focus on that? You’ve come to the right place!  If you want to learn to sing like a tenor, you'll first have a look at some of the fundamentals.Musicologists tend to classify the human voice and musical instruments in terms of tessitura. This is the range of notes that either the voice or instrument is capable of naturally performing.When referring to male singers, the tenor sits at the top of the range with the baritone and bass below it.  Only the countertenors (and a few other uncommon tessituras) sing higher notes.It’s worth mentioning that opera singing and Italian opera in the latter half of the 19th century, in particular, have made tenors the stars of the show.Thanks to the refining the tenor’s vocal technique in order to make it more appealing to broader audiences, the tenors have become the heroes of some of the greatest operas around the world including here in the UK.Tenors are often the stars of opera who fill these seats. (Source: Tuur Tisseghem)The vocal technique for these registers slowly evolved from a falsetto - or head voice - during the baroque and classical periods into a chest voice around the beginning of the 1840s. A French performer was the first to deliver a high C from the chest in The Barber of Seville.That’s exactly what a good voice coach will teach their aspiring tenor: singing more and more notes in a chest voice once they’ve managed to master them using a head voice.  This is a long process and takes daily practice. You shouldn’t even consider working on this until you’ve perfectly mastered the lower notes. Without this, an aspiring tenor runs the risk of developing an unstable voice and a tessitura that constantly shifts.While we haven’t mentioned it, yet, your tessitura is often defined by your innate abilities. While a baritone can dream of becoming a heroic tenor, it’s completely out of the question for a bass.  Don’t forget that the tenor actua lly includes one of the widest ranges of sub-divisions into both lower and higher ranges.  Thus, even the most famous tenors cannot be expected to fill every role written for tenors since some of them are written for very specific types of tenors.If you want to become a tenor, you’ll need to be patient, serious, diligent, and hard-working!How Do You Become a Baritone?In terms of male voices, baritones are the middle ground between the low ranges of the bass and the higher ranges of the tenor: if you’re on the middle ground, your future lies as a baritone.When it comes to opera singing, there are very few pieces that could exist without one or several baritone singers. It’s the fulcrum of a number of works. Verdi, Bizet, and Wagner all made use of heroic baritones to breathe life into the low and middle notes.This is the most common tessitura for men meaning that there are a number of important and significant melodies that can be written for it.  Professionally speaking, this is the type of singer who will find work much easier as long as they’ve got the necessary talent, of course.You don't need to be a soloist to sing opera. (Source: Flash Bros)On a piano, the range of a baritone is generally between A2 (the second A below middle C) to A4 (the A above middle C).  As they get older, tenors tend to slide towards baritone. This makes it very important to be aware of the baritone pieces as early as possible and work on these lower notes as their range will inevitably head towards that of a baritone.The latter point is actually a baritone’s main goal (in addition to singing perfectly, of course) and they can find help in doing this from either a private singing coach or a teacher in a music school.  The icing on the cake is that it’s generally easier to learn to reach deeper notes than higher notes. This means that you’ll be able to make more progress more rapidly.Of course, practice makes perfect and you can’t expect to make any progress without regular singing exercises.  The more you master your exercises, the more likely it’ll be that you’ll be able to become as famous as the star baritones.How Do You Get a Voice for Opera?Who’s never once sang in their life? Even those with the worst voice in the world know how to sing in the shower. However, opera is a completely different kettle of fish to your everyday singing.While most of us can croon a few notes of the nursery rhymes we were sung as children or the latest hit: melody is just one part of singing. Real vocal skill comes from the a set of skills that will make your voice move your audience.Even the most famous pop singers, while fun to listen to, don’t have anywhere near what it takes to break into the world of opera.  Opera singing requires a power that you very rarely find in middle of the road commercial music. Plácido Domingo would probably never take a microphone and sing an everyday pop song.Ludwig von Beethoven, like all the great composers (Mozart, R ossini, Bizet, etc.), played at the Paris Opera. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)If you want to sing like such a singer and become a master of vocalisation, you’ll obviously need some training.  Having a beautiful voice with the right qualities is obviously an innate gift rather than something you can learn. However, perseverance can make all the difference. You need to warm up as well as train almost every day in order to perfect your singing technique.Almost every muscle in your body, especially those in and around your mouth, need to be called upon in order to get the right volume and sound quality when you sing. This is a goal that you’ll work towards every minute of every day once you start trying to expand the limits of your tessitura.Finally, what separates an opera voice from the others are the pieces that it performs. Writing music and operas have a long history spanning centuries and the pieces are incredibly rich. One thing we have to say is that it requires a special kind of introduction, one that you can often only get from renowned singing lessons.Pavarotti, who only started his musical training properly at the age of 19, was largely self-taught and is uncommon in the world of opera.  If you want to break into this world, you’ll need a good vocal coach as well as the steely resolve required to pass the auditions in order to get into prestigious music institutions.How Can You Sing Mezzo-SopranoNow that we’ve covered a large part of male singing, let’s move onto female singers who are just as important as their male counterparts in opera.Female singing voices mirror those of male singers and are divided into several groups from the lowest ranges (alto) to the highest ranges (soprano).  Between these two examples, there’s the mezzo-soprano, with the term “mezzo” in Italian meaning “average”. However, not in the sense of mediocrity but rather as being in the middle.  There are a number of famous opera singers who fall into this categor y.Maria Callas had an infallible vocal technique and an incredible range. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)The best mezzo-sopranos are often very versatile and can reach a few semitones beyond either end of their range. You should definitely check out some of the most famous amongst them.The main ways of working on a mezzo-soprano voice don’t differ very much from the ways you’d work on any other tessitura.  Becoming a mezzo-soprano is often the most common choice for women unless they have vocal cords that lend themselves to a particularly high or low voice which would make them a contralto or soprano.Don’t ever forget that self-confidence can often be the difference between those who persevere and those who give up. Of course, those that never give up are the ones that end up being some of the world’s most famous singers!Carmen remains one of the most popular roles for mezzo-sopranos. You should definitely learn it off by heart if you’re a mezzo-soprano.  It’s also the most popular opera on the planet which means there’s no shortage of roles for Carmen going if you have the voice and are willing to travel!Learn How to Sing VibratoVibrato is to singing well as Yorkshire puddings are to Sunday lunch, after all.  Without it, you’ll never be able to break into the world of opera or be able to make a dent into the competitive world of televised singing competitions. However, don’t lose hope! We’re going to have a look at vibrato and vocal techniques as well as some important approaches to working on your vocal coaching.Vibrato can be found in choral and solo singing as well as in a variety of different styles of music like jazz, gospel, opera, etc.  The key to vibrato is maintaining a regular and sustained frequency to your vibrato.  While there are a number of important advantages to mastering vibrato, the main one is adding it to your repertoire of skills and making you more desirable as a singer.If you're looking for singing classes  or a voice c oach, whether you're looking for Singing lessons Manchester,  Singing lessons London,  Singing lessons Edinburgh, you can find what you need with Superprof.

GCSE Analysis Lord of the Flies by William Golding

GCSE Analysis Lord of the Flies by William Golding English Literature GCSE Analysis: Lord of the Flies by William Golding Overview The Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of British schoolboys marooned on a pacific island after the aeroplane on which they are travelling crashes into the jungle.   Isolated from society and freed from adult supervision, the characters in the story quickly lose their civilised manners and begin to act with surprising violence and savagery.   Golding, who wrote the story while working as a teacher, held strong views on the nature of innocence and the power of civilisation to control ‘the beast’ of savagery within all people.   His accurate portrayal of boys, drawn from his experience, together with the startling and ultimately pessimistic exploration of human nature, have given the book worldwide recognition together with a lasting influence on thinkers, writers and film-makers.   The title is a translation of the Biblical name, Beelzebub, used for a god who expected human sacrifice. Themes Most discussions of the book centre around strongly polarised concepts that arise from the boys’ actions, for example: innocence and the loss of innocence; civilisation and savagery; and diversity and conformity.   Then there are the ‘totemic’ objects that have come to be representative of bigger ideas: the conch; piggy’s glasses; and the beast.  The resonance and power of the book is partly due to Golding’s willingness to write about events as shocking as murder, torture, bullying and hallucination and partly because of his willingness to explicitly discuss the morality with his narrative voice. Innocence When first arriving on the island, the boys are made to seem almost entirely innocent.   Despite the difference in behaviour from what we might expect from school children, due to the age of the book itself, we can observe this innocence best by contrasting it with the behaviour towards the end of the book.   Two scenes to consider would be the very first, when Ralph and Piggy meet, and the climax in Chapter 11, Castle Rock, when Piggy is murdered. At the start of the novel, the boys even dress like they are in the heart of civilised Britain: ‘The fair boy stopped and jerked his stockings with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties.’ Ralph in particular is described as healthily muscled, but ‘there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.’   The word ‘devil’ only appears twice in the whole book, and although it might be light-hearted here at the start, the darkening tone means that later in Chapter 11 when we read of ‘the anonymous devils’ faces’ there is a real threat to the word. In the final scene, the naval officer presumes that the mud-plastering and the dressing-up has been ‘fun and games’, but he is surprised by the response to his question ‘Nobody killed, I hope?’   Ralph’s tears are both a response to the ‘end of innocence’ and also a proof that he has lost his own innocence: like Adam after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he now has the ability to recognise when something will never return. Civilisation and savagery First Golding has the boys create a fair sort of system â€" an agreed leader, a symbol for democratic participation (the conch) and a shared need to draw the society together.   The ‘assembly’, which even in 1954 would have had overtones of school gatherings, is a meeting that can’t survive alongside the desire to hunt, break and kill.   The two are antithetical.   Consider the scene in Chapter 5 when the assembly is first suggested, with the scene in Chapter 11 when Jack and his gang decry the rules and ‘law and rescue’.   In one, the boys talk one at a time, punctuated by ‘murmurs’.   In the other, the boys shout at the same time, interrupted by a ‘clamor’. Some of the missing pieces of civilisation are the school uniforms which are quickly stripped off, but by the end most of the boys have also lost their long, civilised names.   Ralph unwittingly betrays his friend by calling him ‘Piggy’ and encouraging others to see him as a victim, but he is not the only one to be degraded by his name.   When a small boy is asked who he is by the naval officer, Golding writes: Percival Wemys Madison sought in his head for an incantation that had faded clean away. The long and upper-class name is merely a distant ‘incantation’ â€" something magical and never understood. But it is the tragedy of Golding’s story that civilisation is actually ineffective at combating savagery.   Samneric may be a good friend, but his support for Piggy and Ralph is weak.   When Jack is confronting them, Golding mocks his character: ‘Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization. “Oh, I say!”’ Closely related to the loss of innocence, the loss of rules is somehow even more awful, perhaps because the boys need them so desperately. Diversity and Conformity There is a strong latent discussion of the place of the individual in society within the book, usually overlooked in favour of the simpler themes outlined above.   Piggy has several traits that mark him out as different, and he is punished for his natural non-conformity by taunts and bullying throughout the story.   But when Ralph insists upon the rules in the first assembly, Jack undoubtedly reacts against it because he wants the freedom to live differently.   He loves the idea that he is free to do as he wishes, to ‘hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beatâ€"!”’   But he also needs the ideal of Ralph’s society to react against. Ironically by the end of the book, the biggest crime that Ralph and his supporters have committed, in Jack’s eyes, is to refuse to join in with the new conformity: “ What d’you mean by it, eh?” said the chief fiercely. “What d’you mean by coming with spears? What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” Golding is observing that as the majority shifts, human morality can be entirely redefined. The Conch The conch is mentioned 180 times in the book, first as ‘interesting and pretty and a worthy plaything’.   Even after it has been destroyed by the same rock that kills Piggy, it is still mentioned five times as Ralph remembers it, now emblematic of everything ‘solemn’ and proper: There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch. The phrase associated with the shell is ‘I got the conch’.   The simplicity of this is itself a warning: the boys think that authority can be bestowed by possession of a special object.   However, the conch is meaningless without the respect for the ideal of the conch.   In some ways the boys did an amazing thing to create this symbol that is heard ‘all across the island’ â€" and far beyond the book â€" but it is a fragile thing, easily broken. Piggy’s Glasses Piggy’s glasses are also fragile, yet they control the fire and the power goes with it.   The glasses are mentioned 42 times in the book, often described as ‘flashing’ in the steady tropical sunshine.   They are a mark of Piggy’s vulnerability, an artefact of civilisation, a tool and a displacement activity (Piggy is forever cleaning them).   Key scenes to consider are the second part of Chapter Two, when the fire is first lit, the end of Chapter Four, when one of the lenses is broken when Jack hits piggy, and the moment at the end of Chapter Ten when the boys realise why Jack and his hunters made their attack. The Beast The beast is only an imaginary creature, yet the word appears 113 times in the book.   To begin with, the boys talk of a ‘beastie’ â€" the diminutive suffix implying a childish, silly bogey â€" the fear of the ‘littluns’.   However, the word ‘beastie’ doesn’t appear after Chapter Five.   Although Simon identifies that the ‘beast’ may in fact be real, but be a part of ‘darkness of man’s heart’, this thought itself is too abstract for many of the boys, and Jack diverts attention with profanity. After Jack kills a sow and makes an offering, Simon looking at the head of the pig speaks to and hears from a voice that Golding identifies as the Lord of the Flies.   And although this voice says that it intends to ‘have fun’, this moment and the seriousness with which a reader chooses to take it really decides your reading of the whole book. To write an essay response to the story it is essential that you really do hold an opinion and your own reaction.   The simplest way is to consider this scene and to ask yourself, how real is this ‘beast’ within?   Do I believe that Golding’s story is realistic, or purest fantasy? Need an extra hand with some English? Why not book private GCSE English tuition to boost your learning. You can find the right tutor for you from the Tutorfair website. More GCSE analyses: Animal Farm and Of Mice and Men

What you can learn about English from Obama and Medvedevs mistake

What you can learn about English from Obama and Medvedevs mistake Last weeks meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accidentally provided a great example of how word choice can affect the way a sentence is understood.During a conversation about nuclear weapons in South Korea, Obama and Medvedev did not realize that a microphone was still on, and had a conversation that was meant to be private, but was broadcast over television.Starting at about 43 seconds in the video below, youll see this conversation played several times. The clip below is from a U.S. comedy show called The Daily Show that makes comedy out of daily news events.Watch the video, and then read some excerpts from it below.The Daily Show with Jon StewartMon Thurs 11p / 10cThe Borscht Whispererwww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor Satire BlogThe Daily Show on FacebookWhat Medvedev actually said to Obama was I transmit this information to Vladimir. First of all, he should have had the modal verb will in the sentence, as in: I will transmit this information to Vladimir.Beyond that, The Daily Shows Jon Stewart points out that Medvedevs wording makes his statement sound sinister, as if it had been said by Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films. Or as if it should be spoken into a secret spys shoe phone, as Stewart says. The particular problem here is the word transmit.Stewart points out All hes really saying is oh, alright, Ill tell him. But the word transmit is a very technical, formal sounding word, that is typically used when we are talking about signals. Something about using this word that should only be used with radio, television, or shoe phone signals, makes the sentence sound sinister.Medvedev could have made the phrase sound less formal, and less sinister, by using a phrasal verb. For example:I will pass this information along to Vladimir. (to pass something along)I will let Vladimir know. (to let someone know)Or he could have just said: Ill tell Vladimir. I transmit this message to Vladimi r.So what can you learn from this? Well, dont get too worried. While some silly people might have actually thought that there was something evil happening, most people realize that non-native speakers of any language sometimes miss subtleties like these. Second, this is a good reason to study your phrasal verbs. In a one-on-one situation, between two equals, as in Obama and Medvedevs meeting, a phrasal verb would have created the perfect tone.Finally, in the video above, after talking about this particular sentence, Jon Stewart wonders whether all of the past problems between Russia and the U.S. could have been caused by the way Russians speak English. He then gives three example sentence pairs, with a very normal sounding sentence, and another version that has the same meaning, but sound sinister. Listen to them and see if you can understand how he changes them. Pflynn1148 In the first paragraph, you seem like an ESL student, using effect where affect is correct. LOIEnglish Thank s Pflynn1148, though I doubt that mistake makes me seem like an ESL student ??

italki receives Series A funding!

italki receives Series A funding! Thank you, readers and followers. Today we are very proud to announce some big news. italki is announcing its Series A funding, with Chinas leader in online education, Hujiang, having invested $3 Million USD on June 21, 2016. We are very excited about developing new features, expanding our reach to mobile customers, and helping many more people become fluent in any language. Thank you all for your continued support. Please find the press release below: italki, a marketplace for online language teachers, announced a $3 million USD Series A funding from Hujiang, Chinas largest e-learning platform. The funding will be used to expand italkis marketplace, which connects learners with online language teachers for 1-on-1 language lessons. The company states it has over 3000 active language teachers, and thousands of paid online lessons take place daily. Hujiang has been expanding internationally, and has made partnerships with the worlds largest education companies, including McGraw-Hill, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and HarperCollins. Hujiangs latest funding was for $157 million USD, and its investor list includes China Minsheng Investment, and Chinese tech giant Baidu. The investment by Hujiang highlights the growth potential in education technology, which is estimated as over $20 billion USD in China alone. It also shows Hujiang’s interest in expanding into markets outside of China; notably, italki’s largest markets are the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Brazil. Both companies plan to expand their services in China, where Hujiang already has over 100 million users. About italki Drawing on his own personal experiences learning French and Chinese, Kevin Chen, co-founded italki with Yongyue Jiang in order to help people learn a foreign language by connecting them to native speakers. “When I studied Chinese in Shanghai, my progress was a lot faster than when I learned French in high school. It wasn’t because the textbooks or teachers were better. The difference was that I had many opportunities to meet native speakers and to use the language for real communication. Were trying to give learners everywhere that same opportunity by connecting them to native teachers online,” said Kevin Chen. Finding online language teachers and language partners is becoming a popular way to learn a language. Many “polyglots” or language hackers like Tim Ferriss, Benny Lewis, Richard Simcott, and Olly Richards, believe that communication with native speakers is the key to language acquisition. Teachers on italki set their own prices, and italki generates a 15% commission from the lessons transacted on the platform. The average price for an hour of personal lessons on italki is $10-15 per hour, which can be significantly more affordable than traditional language schools and tutoring. italki started in 2007 as a social network for language exchange, and in 2009, it launched its teacher marketplace. italki has grown to over 3000 active teachers giving language lessons in over 70 languages. The most popular language to learn is English, which accounts for roughly 50% of the lessons transacted on the site, followed by Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese. The site even offers endangered languages such as Native American Blackfoot, and South African Xhosa. About Hujiang Hujiang is Chinas largest e-learning platform, aiming to provide users with convenient, high quality and comprehensive online learning products and services. Since its establishment, Hujiang has built four business units: learning news, learning community, learning tools and learning platforms, covering various content including higher-education entrance examinations, examinations for studying abroad, languages, careers and hobbies. In recent years, Hujiang has strongly supported start-ups in online education and actively built an online education ecosystem to achieve a win-win situation. In the meantime, Hujiang has collaborated with traditional schools to narrow the educational gap and promote the educational equity, bringing high quality educational resources to every corner in the world through Internet. Now, as the leader in online education, Hujiang has over 100 million users and has influenced 200 million learners. italki receives Series A funding! Thank you, readers and followers. Today we are very proud to announce some big news. italki is announcing its Series A funding, with Chinas leader in online education, Hujiang, having invested $3 Million USD on June 21, 2016. We are very excited about developing new features, expanding our reach to mobile customers, and helping many more people become fluent in any language. Thank you all for your continued support. Please find the press release below: italki, a marketplace for online language teachers, announced a $3 million USD Series A funding from Hujiang, Chinas largest e-learning platform. The funding will be used to expand italkis marketplace, which connects learners with online language teachers for 1-on-1 language lessons. The company states it has over 3000 active language teachers, and thousands of paid online lessons take place daily. Hujiang has been expanding internationally, and has made partnerships with the worlds largest education companies, including McGraw-Hill, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and HarperCollins. Hujiangs latest funding was for $157 million USD, and its investor list includes China Minsheng Investment, and Chinese tech giant Baidu. The investment by Hujiang highlights the growth potential in education technology, which is estimated as over $20 billion USD in China alone. It also shows Hujiang’s interest in expanding into markets outside of China; notably, italki’s largest markets are the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Brazil. Both companies plan to expand their services in China, where Hujiang already has over 100 million users. About italki Drawing on his own personal experiences learning French and Chinese, Kevin Chen, co-founded italki with Yongyue Jiang in order to help people learn a foreign language by connecting them to native speakers. “When I studied Chinese in Shanghai, my progress was a lot faster than when I learned French in high school. It wasn’t because the textbooks or teachers were better. The difference was that I had many opportunities to meet native speakers and to use the language for real communication. Were trying to give learners everywhere that same opportunity by connecting them to native teachers online,” said Kevin Chen. Finding online language teachers and language partners is becoming a popular way to learn a language. Many “polyglots” or language hackers like Tim Ferriss, Benny Lewis, Richard Simcott, and Olly Richards, believe that communication with native speakers is the key to language acquisition. Teachers on italki set their own prices, and italki generates a 15% commission from the lessons transacted on the platform. The average price for an hour of personal lessons on italki is $10-15 per hour, which can be significantly more affordable than traditional language schools and tutoring. italki started in 2007 as a social network for language exchange, and in 2009, it launched its teacher marketplace. italki has grown to over 3000 active teachers giving language lessons in over 70 languages. The most popular language to learn is English, which accounts for roughly 50% of the lessons transacted on the site, followed by Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese. The site even offers endangered languages such as Native American Blackfoot, and South African Xhosa. About Hujiang Hujiang is Chinas largest e-learning platform, aiming to provide users with convenient, high quality and comprehensive online learning products and services. Since its establishment, Hujiang has built four business units: learning news, learning community, learning tools and learning platforms, covering various content including higher-education entrance examinations, examinations for studying abroad, languages, careers and hobbies. In recent years, Hujiang has strongly supported start-ups in online education and actively built an online education ecosystem to achieve a win-win situation. In the meantime, Hujiang has collaborated with traditional schools to narrow the educational gap and promote the educational equity, bringing high quality educational resources to every corner in the world through Internet. Now, as the leader in online education, Hujiang has over 100 million users and has influenced 200 million learners.

Tips for Leveraging Your Alumni Network

Tips for Leveraging Your Alumni Network Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash Building a network If you havent put effort into building your alumni network or think it needs some strengthening, there are plenty of ways to do so. A good starting point is heading to your campus career center or department office, which will have pamphlets and people that will detail different opportunities for you to connect with various alumni. Many departments and career centers have a mentorship program that connects current undergrads to alumni through different networking events like luncheons, panels, or simply introductions. Joining a mentorship program will help ease you into building an alumni network and connect you to alumni that are in a program because they actually want to help undergraduates. You dont necessarily have to be an underclassman to start building your alumni network, but if you join different organizations that relate to your career or major, you will be in constant contact with upperclassmen. The upperclassmen you socialize with now will eventually be alumni and having a personal connection with them will only help in the future when you seek them out for advice or career help. Those spam emails you get from your campus career center or your department that detail different events on campus? Try giving them a little more attention next time you find them in your inbox. Sometimes your department or the career center will send messages advertising panels or workshops hosted by alumni. Not only will you get to hear whatever the workshop or panel promises to cover, you will also have the opportunity to meet the alumni before or after the event to make the event a networking opportunity. Stay connected with your alumni network You dont want to meet your alumni at different events on campus (or elsewhere) and expect them to remember you or be willing to help a near complete stranger when you come to them for advice later on. To avoid this, you will want to stay connected with your alumni network so that when you do come to them later on for help, they will be able to recognize you and be more willing to help someone they know. An obvious choice for staying connected professionally is to add alumni on LinkedIn. Doing so will allow them to be up-to-date with your latest career ventures and you to be up-to-date with them as well. If they have public  Facebook or Twitter profiles that they use somewhat professionally, you can always use more than one social media platform to connect with your alumni network. More importantly, do not be a ghost follower. Try to interact with your alumni network every so often. For example, if you have someone on LinkedIn, you will be seeing their latest career moves. Instead of scrolling past notifications of the latest job position or a work anniversary, send them a congratulations instead of scrolling past the notifications. Always be appreciative and never beg Never outright ask for a job position. While you may be full of envy at certain accomplishments of some alumni in your network, its not right to expect part (or all) of your alumni network to pave a perfect path for you to get where you want to be in your career. Instead, try approaching your alumni network with the mindset that can help you, but are definitely not obligated to help you out. There are multiple conversation starters that you can use when approaching people in your alumni network. If you have a particular point of interest that you want to discuss, you can try Hello, I have a question about how you were able to acquire or Congrats on your latest position! Would you mind taking the time to tell me about it? When it comes to having an alumni network, its important to maintain it. Remember that as much as you want to use them for your own benefit, they have their own career and lives going on and arent there just to help you. Best of luck in your college career and career endeavors with your alumni network!