Some limited classes are now offered using Skype™.
Ahhh, new technology! Sometimes it is a benefit, sometimes a curse. I am working to
making this technology work for us.
As with all L.T.L.'s programs, each program will be different and based on agreed terms of course.
Check website for further details.

Multiplication Tables

Many students have weak automatic multiplication skills.
Practising is the only way to improve.  The game below adjusts to your skill level as you proceed.
It takes a little while to get started, but then I've found students like playing the game.  (Don't worry - the ogres aren't too scary!!)
Best of all there is a FREE version - and it's the only one I've used so far.  It works well.
Give it a try!

www.BigBrainz.com

               


             

Happy New Year !

Well another year has come and gone.
Welcome to 2011!

Of course, the New Year is often a time when people decide to make resolutions - generally to make some improvements such as to quit smoking, lose weight, eat more healthy food, exercise more, etc.

While these are all fine goals, let me  propose another possibility.

One of the best ways to broaden our horizons is by reading.  Reading is not just educational, however, for it can reduce stress, make one feel less lonely, and improve one's general sense of well-being.
Looking outward can be so beneficial, even if the text is fiction.  There are often kernels of truth in most works.  And, of course, there is the added benefit of learning something new!

Just think, the average novel is 300 to 400 pages.  If you read just ten pages per day, you will be able to read the equivalent of ten novels in 2011!

Try reading a wide variety of material though  - not just novels.  Read a play or two, some poetry, a comic, a magazine, and local newspaper.  When reading short stories or poetry - you can be reading a novel in between, letting you absorb more from each short piece. 

The famous Canadian author Mavis Gallant once wrote the following:

"Stories are not chapters of novels. 
They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. 
Read one. Shut the book.  Read something else. 
Come back later.  Stories can wait."
Gallant, Mavis. Preface. The Selected Stories of Mavis Gallant. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart, 1997. XIX. Print.

At any rate, just a thought for the New Year.

Happy 2011 !

Happy Reading !

Merry Christmas !!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year !!

Don't forget that books are great gifts and easy last minute purchases for those loved ones on your list.

Enjoy the holidays!

Communication

While reading a section of Dona J. Young's book "Business English" I came across the article concerning communication.
I wanted to add a few notes about communicating.

Communication involves both speaking and listening.
Sometimes, people tend to forget the balance. When one person speaks constantly without breaking to allow others to input ideas, there is no true communication.
He or she is delivering a speech instead of practising effective communication.
(There are times when this is appropriate, of course - but it isn't effective communication. Even the best professors or teachers know that after the lecture there should be time for questions, discussion, and true communication.)

Of course, if one is silent - there is no real communication either.

There are components of communication that don't involve speaking; however, they tend to add or detract from the actual spoken communication rather than "be" the communication.
Gestures, for example, can mean many things - and can be easily misinterpreted.
They can, however, add emphasis to a verbal point or help one become less (or more) intimidated.

I agree with the point that communicating is an art rather than a science. Simply learning rules and trying to apply them "blindly" will create an automaton like delivery. Also, we might spend so much time trying to generate our next speaking point that we forget to listen well enough to comprehend others.

Also, we communicate differently depending on the group and situation, and we have to be ready to adjust our approach. As Young points out, communication is a live process - meaning we must monitor and adjust our approach as we proceed in any given situation.

Just a few thoughts.

Fourteen years !!

It's hard to believe that it has been fourteen years!

I began L.T.L. Tutoring back in the fall of 1996. At that time, we were living in the south end of Guelph on Wilsonview Avenue - not far from College Avenue Public School and College Heights and Centennial Secondary Schools.

Of course, just as now, students came from all over Guelph and a few from outside of Guelph, too.

I feel very lucky to have been able to tutor students from 4 years old to older adults and every age in between.

Most of the students have been grade school or secondary school students aiming to improve their skills and grades; however, there have been others.

One summer, a brother and sister from Saudi Arabia came to improve their English skills.

Other adults have come to Canada from China, Libya, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone - to name a few, and have arrived at L.T.L. to improve English skills as well.

Several adults have come to change jobs or improve their writing skills (and sometimes math skills) for their current job.

The students from Canada are most prevalent of course - and they have all been entertaining, enjoyable, and educational for me.

That's not to say that a few of them haven't been challenging, difficult, and stressful! Of course, education brings all those bits and pieces with it.

Still, to be able to watch students as they begin to weave their way into understanding - while trying to become more understanding myself - has been rewarding to date.

I look forward to the next fourteen years!

Back from Holiday

Well, Gay and I are back from our holiday on Manitoulin Island.

We had an amazing time - despite the rather cool weather and a couple of very very windy days!!

On our way back, we stopped in South Baymouth to visit the Little Schoolhouse & Museum.

They have lots of interesting old machines, methods for fishing, boating, farming, etc. in the larger building.

The little schoolhouse brought back memories of attending a one room school. I went to a one room school for the first couple of years of my schooling, and there were lots of similarities. The one I went to also had grades 1 to 8 and a big stove in the middle of the room. (The stove has been removed from the museum example.) We had a pump outside for water and a little shed for wood and wood chips for the stove to keep warm in winter.

Inside the museum schoolhouse there are examples of the children's work, old student desks, and lists of rules for school teachers.

For example, at one time - male teachers were not to be shaved in a barber shop and female teachers at one time had to ask permission to leave the town!!

Of course the rules for students have changed considerably over the years as well.

The school opened in 1898 with 11 students. It closed in 1962.

If you are ever on the island - it is a very interesting and educational visit.