Halloween. Have some close view

The October 31st holiday that we today know as Halloween has strong roots in paganism and is closely connected with worship of the Enemy of this world, Satan. It is a holiday that generally glorifies the dark things of this world.
Have you noticed how costumes and masks are getting generally more bloody, gory, and depraved each year? Unfortunately, the gruesome and grotesque and the occult are increasingly glorified in American society, not only on Halloween, but throughout the year in horror movies and in television programs.
My family does not celebrate it or participate in it. We do not believe that we are “missing out.”
What about  “Harvest Festivals” held on October 31?  Harvest parties on October 31 tend to assume that  children need something to take the place of Halloween, since they won't be participating in the secular and pagan celebrations. It suggests our kids are missing out on something. And indeed they are, if we allow them to spend Halloween in celebration. There are better things to do on Halloween than partying.

Stress & your health

Everyone knows that stress isn't good - that it can get on
top of us and effect our wellbeing. What most people don't
realise is that stress can effect much more than just our
mood or mental state. Stress has been shown to have a
detrimental effect on many parts of our body and indeed
peoples health in general.

Most people are so used to stress and tension in their lives
that they do little or nothing about it until it begins to
have major negative effects on them. Everyone suffers from
stress - but it is important to sit up and take notice when
that stress begins to effect you.

Stress has a negative effect on your mental processes, it
can make you moody, anxious and unable to calmly cope with
life. However stress effects all of your body. Stress can
cause many afflictions such as high heart rate and blood
pressure difficulties. These are two key indicators of
stress being a problem so if you suffer from them then it is
time to try to reduce the stress in your life. By acting
early you can dramatically reduce your stress level and your
health should return to normal.

If you're wondering about whether or not you should reduce
stress in your daily life, the answer is probably yes. Even
if you do not feel overly stressed out all that often,
stress reduction will still improve your life. Since being
too stressed can have major long term effects on your
health, this is one case where you're probably better safe
than sorry.

Reducing your stress is not difficult, a little time spent
planning how to change your life can make a huge difference.
A small effort will go a long way to making you feel better
about yourself and others.

The first thing that you should do is to sit down and make a
list of all the things that are causing you to be stressed
out. It doesn't matter whether or not you think something
should be stressful - write down anything that genuinely is
stressful to you. Then, go through the list again and see
which things you can eliminate from your life.

Obviously you wont be able to elminate everything on your
list from your life, there are some things like work that
are simply necessary. But there will be lots of things on
your list that you genuinely can address. Doing this, even
with only a few of the things on your list, can make all the
difference in your stress level.

Relaxation is something that you should add to your schedule
on a regular basis. There are few things that reduce your
overall stress level like a good time spent relaxing.
Therefore, you should set aside a period everyday to relax -
and make sure that it's actually scheduled, after all,
you're doing it for your health.

Exercise is another excellent way to combat stress, it will
make you feel better and more confident. It is particularly
good because it will make you fitter also, so your health
will benefit doubly.

If you start working on stress reduction, you should start
seeing improvements in your health right away. Also, even
if you are not noticing that your health is improving right
away, you should still feel confident that it is - the more
relaxed you are, the better you should feel. Start working
on stress reduction today, and have a healthier life
tomorrow!

Stress: how to avoid it

Stress is difficult to define or measure. Some people thrive on a busy lifestyle and are able to cope well with life crises. Other people feel tensed or stressed by the slightest deviation from their set daily routine. Many people fall somewhere in between, but may have periods when levels of stress increase.

I advise you to try simple relaxation techniques as deep breathing. This means taking a long, slow breath in, and very slowly breathing out. If you do this a few times, and concentrate fully on breathing, you may find it quite relaxing. Also you can try to count to ten and reverse.

Look for a good way to relax, take part in exercise, try to indulge yourself in some good hobbies that can make your nerves and body relax.

If talking to people fails then you need to go on your knees and talk to the creator of the universe. He said in His word that he will never leave us nor will he forsake us and that we should cast all of our care upon him because he cares about us. Crying to him for help will definitely help us out of our stress.

We can not go through life without stress but we can make a good use of any form of stress that comes our way.

It is not so easy to give remedy to overcoming or avoiding stress. All you need to do is to know that there is no way you can avoid stress, you only learn how to handle it.

In our daily life, we all need some level of stress to get things going, in fact a life without any stress must either be inactive or dead but when you go beyond this necessary level of stress then you need to be careful and do something about it. So, dear group mates, we need and we do have stress & tension during our session, typing reflections and surfing other blogs just to live comments, yeah? But nothing is so important as balanced schedule and sleep. We are experts in getting life-work balance, it’s up to us to learn to avoid stress. React calm, no action is also action. Everything will pass…it is transient as grass…

Составлен список самых трудных слов английского языка

Составлен список самых трудных слов английского языка

Британские исследователи провели опрос, чтобы выяснить, какие слова английского языка вызывают наибольшие затруднения. Список из двадцати самых трудных для произнесения слов возглавило существительное phenomenon (феномен). Также в рейтинг вошли следующие слова:

2. Anaesthetist (анестезиолог)

3. Remuneration (вознаграждение)

4. Statistics (статистика)

5. Ethnicity (этническая принадлежность)

6. Philosophical (философский)

7. Provocatively (вызывающе)

8. Anonymous (анонимный)

9. Thesaurus (тезаурус или сокровищница)

10. Aluminium (алюминий)

11. Regularly (правильно, регулярно)

12. February (февраль)

13. Particularly (в особенности)

14. Hereditary (наследственный)

15. Prioritising (определение приоритетов)

16. Pronunciation (произношение)

17. Prejudice (предубеждение)

18. Facilitate (облегчать)

19. Hospitable (гостеприимный)

20. Onomatopoeia (ономатопея, звукоподражание)

Выяснилось, что британцы чаще всего неправильно произносят слова, в которых на письме близко стоят буквы 'm' и 'n', а также 't', 's' и сочетание 'th'.

Не менее половины из 3000 опрошенных заявили, что часто поправляют людей, которые неправильно произносят какие-либо слова. Кроме того, четверть респондентов считает, что ошибки в произнесении слов указывают на недостаток образования.

Interview

Brodnikova Helen

Who are you?

My name is Helen and I'm a 22-year-old student at the Tavrichesky National University. I study English & German philology.

I am from Ukraine & I live in Kerch, a beautiful small town located on Crimean peninsular. I have been living here since I was born.

I have a wide range of interests, I adore travelling, sport, music. I love meeting new people & making friends. I am also a keen photographer.

I am fond of playing the guitar & writing poems in English.

How did you learn English?

I started learning English at primary school when I was around 7. As I was a conscientious child I listened to the teacher at the lessons & did all the home assignments. I understood very little of what was said at the lessons, I could hardly read English texts. But translation into Russian & vice versa was a far greater problem, ‘cause I used to translate word for word.

I had no idea why study English & did it only to get a good grade. It was not until some time later that I began to be interested in English as a language. I started to listen to songs in English. How extremely happy I was when I managed to understand some isolated words or even expressions! I realized that English classes at school were not sufficient for me but I had no opportunity to visit a tutor. Studying was entirely up to me.

So I finished school with excellent results. A new life lured me & it was pretty hard to choose the right way.

I have done the right choice, I am perfectly sure of it.

As soon as I entered the University I plunged into the all-embracing atmosphere of English Language & never wanted to leave it.

All the process of my studying can be divided into several steps. The first step was textbooks. Then authentic books & teaching video came.

After that I started watching films in English, subtitles were a great help for me, from time to time I looked up in the dictionary & wrote down some unknown words. My thirst for knowledge seemed to be unquenchable. So does it now :)

Next I began to listen to songs in English & sing them.

Finally I was advised to communicate with native speakers in English on italki.com. It was fantastic, at first I made friends with many people all over the world, I wrote & receiver letters in English. Then I got an excellent opportunity to improve my speech skills by talking to native speakers through skype – system. It is extremely interesting!

Now I am able to think in English, frankly speaking, I use it more often than my native tongue.

And I never stop, I go on improving my skills, plunging deeper & deeper into this Wonderland.

What has English given you?

So much! I see life differently now. I have an excellent opportunity to learn interesting things, to broaden horizons, to push forward my career. I fell in love with English & will keep breeding this love for the rest of my life. I read authentic books, I enjoy life socializing with people all over the world. Sure English will help me do what I really need in life.

Who are you?

I’m unique & I’m common. The Universe makes me unique, it gives me power to create, power to think, power to love… The fact that I belong to Homo sapiens makes me common: two legs, a pair of ears, a nose…Nobody will treat me as an extraterrestrial, so no one will give me special attention.

My name is Brodnikova Svetlana. From Greek it means Light. Well, perhaps I can give some light if I would rub myself with phosphorus.

I’m a student of foreign philology- I study English & German and really enjoy it because it makes my life multifaceted. The wise say you live as many lives as you know languages and it is perfectly true- new culture, new thinking, new personality.

How did you learn English?

But how did a girl from Kerch open for herself an English wonderland?

At school I was hiding myself from English. I avoided this school subject with all my childish persistency. The reason was pretty simple. I hated red tape of learning by heart at first ABC, then 1, 2, 3, then some alien words, then whole texts that seemed never to appear to be useful.

Yah, I remember butterflies in my stomach at hearing the teacher saying “ listening comprehension” So ten years at school were spent in vain. But now I don’t regret it because even a few words learnt by me were remembered wrong and it was difficult to retrain.

But there were two things I make use up till now: irregular verbs and Passive Voice.

I needed those things for my grade. Nice factor to booster a motivation, wasn’t it?

So I began to invent a bicycle, as Russian would say. For remembering verbs I adapted associations. To understand Passive Voice I analyzed sentences with such constructions. But now I know that such methods are used in teaching from time immemorial! In proper teaching, I would add.

But here the story begins. Once upon a time my mother brought a book of a certain Dragunkin (an inventor of New Russian method). The book had a long philosophical – psychological preface to make you believe that English is not beyond the reach, it is for us made of common clay.

But English became alive, became an open new world only at University. Here I got new my English self. I felt that every new lecture brought me one stair up to the realm of the language.

Don’t think that break through was easy for me. I recall my first year of studying, our group was watching an authentic film ”Amadeus”. For me it was inseparable flow of speech. Upon me dawned only one phrase “try it “(about cakes). So I decided to watch films in English only (with English subtitles of course). The results were on hand. Once I was enjoying a song on the radio, just relaxing, dreaming and words were making a nice picture in my curly head… But suddenly I realized that it is English lyrics. Unforgettable minute!

And one more important point, according to my profession it is not only important to know the subject but also the ways of teaching. Methodology contributed much & now I know how to make my students happy about English as I am.

What has English given you?

 Sure it will give. Without English it is impossible to build a successful career.

Hope my children will not have mentioned above butterflies in their stomachs as I had once.

The Little Prince
                                                                                    brodnikova Svetlana                                                      

From the tiny Northern Star

Why is your dwelling so far?

Take me with you, don’t put on pace,

You are so lonely in outer space.

The Little Prince, I remember your eyes.

They are so shiny, so nice.

You do not intend here to stay

For the moon’s beam shows the way.

Take me with you, don’t put on pace,

You are so lonely in outer space.

"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation."

 Marcus Cicero & Brodnikova Svetlana

I usually observe my students a lot. I try to see if they're auditory, visual, kinesthetic and I try to plan accordingly. Reflective teaching means looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works - a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching. Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in our classroom. Why it is important Beginning the process of reflection Teacher diary Peer observation Recording lessons Student feedback What to do next Think Talk Read Ask Conclusion Why it is important Many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to colleagues about it too. You might think or tell someone that "My lesson went well" or "My students didn't seem to understand" or "My students were so badly behaved today." However, without more time spent focussing on or discussing what has happened, we may tend to jump to conclusions about why things are happening. We may only notice reactions of the louder students. Reflective teaching therefore implies a more systematic process of collecting, recording and analysing our thoughts and observations, as well as those of our students, and then going on to making changes. If a lesson went well we can describe it and think about why it was successful. If the students didn't understand a language point we introduced we need to think about what we did and why it may have been unclear. If students are misbehaving - what were they doing, when and why? The first step is to gather information about what happens in the class. Here are some different ways of doing this. Teacher diary  This is the easiest way to begin a process of reflection since it is purely personal. After each lesson you write in a notebook about what happened. You may also describe your own reactions and feelings and those you observed on the part of the students. You are likely to begin to pose questions about what you have observed. Diary writing does require a certain discipline in taking the time to do it on a regular basis.   Student feedback You can also ask your students what they think about what goes on in the classroom. Their opinions and perceptions can add a different and valuable perspective. This can be done with simple questionnaires or learning diaries for example. Talk Just by talking about what you have discovered - to a supportive colleague or even a friend - you may be able to come up with some ideas for how to do things differently. Read You may decide that you need to find out more about a certain area. There are plenty of websites for teachers of English now where you can find useful teaching ideas, or more academic articles. There are also magazines for teachers where you can find articles on a wide range of topics. Or if you have access to a library or bookshop, there are plenty of books for English language teachers. Ask Pose questions to websites or magazines to get ideas from other teachers. Or if you have a local teachers' association or other opportunities for in-service training, ask for a session on an area that interests you. Conclusion Reflective teaching is a cyclical process, because once you start to implement changes, then the reflective and evaluative cycle begins again. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How effective is it? How are the students responding? How can you do it better? As a result of your reflection you may decide to do something in a different way, or you may just decide that what you are doing is the best way. And that is what professional development is all about.

Avoiding the phrase "I don't have time...", will soon help you to realize that you do have the time needed for just about anything you choose to accomplish in life 

Work-life balance

Work-life balance

There was a time when the boundaries between work and home were fairly clear. Today, however, work is likely to invade your personal life — and maintaining work-life balance is no simple task. Still, work-life balance isn't out of reach. Start by evaluating your relationship to work and  apply specific strategies to help you strike a healthier balance. When your work life and personal life are out of balance, your stress level is likely to soar. We need practical strategies to restore harmony. But what is work-life balance? Well, we certainly know what it isn't! When your to-do list is as long as your arm, when you come home from work, open the refrigerator, and find the set of keys you lost that morning in the butter dish, when you're thinking of sticking post-it notes on your children's foreheads to remember their names, then you know you're out of balance…way out of balance.  Let's be honest. How many people do you know, including yourself, who are living a truly balanced life? Work-life balance is unique to every individual- it's a matter of learning what truly nourishes you and what causes stress and chaos in your life. Balance is about discovering an awareness of what throws you off balance and learning skills that bring you back to your true self.   Work-Life Balance is a deep understanding, that no matter what challenges we face in our everyday lives, we have the ability to experience life with a sense of power and balance.

The secret to work-life balance is listening: listen deeply to your inner voice, listen to the people around you, listen to your environment. Listening gives you the information you need to make the choices that can restore balance and energy to your life.

How avoid getting out of balance in life? We can't! It happens to the best of us. But you can develop practices that will warn you when you are out of balance and help you return to balance easily and effortlessly.  We innately know when we are out of balance. We have implanted detectors that go off like smoke alarms screaming to us, "red alert, red alert, out of balance." But we have learned to turn a deaf ear to our inner alarms. We have unplugged our inner alarms. We have taken the batteries out, so can move faster and faster and faster, like a train running out of control on a track. Millions of us share this same experience.

What are three simple things we can do to achieve work-life balance?

Just remember A-C-E, "ace": Awareness.  Choice.  Energy.

A. Deepen your awareness through listening deeply and noticing two things: what throws you off balance, and what brings you calm and fulfillment. AWARENESS. Being mindful, present in your life.

C. Exercise the power of choice. Choose to release what drains you and embrace what truly nourishes you. When you begin to make life giving choices in your life, you will be able to make many more decisions easily. Realizing your life is the consequences of your choices becomes very empowering.

E. You will reclaim the energy that is your natural birthright. You life will become a powerful dynamic concentric circle. The more aware you become the more you become aware of your choices. The more you realize that your life is created by your choices the more real energy and power you will experience in your life.