Author Archives
28
Apr 10
Language Exams – From TOEFL to HSK
It is a great resume booster to have a section listing the languages you speak and at what level. With global economic and social changes, speaking Spanish, Portuguese and even Chinese can be quite attractive to employers. The question is: How do you know your language level? Is there a standardized way to make it official? The answer is: yes, there is (in most languages). Official language exams are a standardized way to prove how well you speak a language. The exams however, tend to be quite difficult and it is to everyone’s advantage to take a preparatory course. They help you not only fine tune your language skills, but also prepare you for the different formats and sections of each test, which can be a real lifesaver.
Flickr Creative Commons - tvol
The following is a list of different official language exams, a small explanation and an example prep course for each one:
English
- TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
The TOEFL is one of the most widely accepted English-language tests in the world. There is an internet-based test and a paper test.
TOEFL Prep Course in the United States.
- Cambridge ESOL Test
There are 5 levels of this test from the Key English Test (KET) to the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).
- IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
A test given for universities in the UK and it is also accepted at Universities in Australia and New Zealand as an English language certification. It is also accepted in other countries like Canada.
IELTS Prep Course in Australia.
Spanish
- DELE (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera)
An internationally recognized Spanish test. Many universities in Spanish-speaking countries require this test for entry.
DELE Prep Course in Perú.
French
- DELF (Diplôme d’études en langue française)
This is the French equivalent of the DELE. It is also required by French universities for non-native speakers to enroll.
DELF Prep Course in France.
Chinese
- HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi – 汉语水平考试)
This is the only standardized test for non-native Chinese speakers. It is comparable to the English TOEFL exam.
HSK Prep Course in Toronto, Canada.
Russian
- TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language)
This is a standardized test supervised by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.
TORFL Prep Course in Russia.
Polish
- Panstwowy Egzamin Certyfikatowy (State Certificate in Polish as a foreign language)
There are three levels and it has the same parts as the TOEFL in English.
PEC Prep Course in Poland.
Japanese
- Nihongo nōryoku shiken (The Japanese Language Proficiency Test – 日本語能力試験)
This exam tests your level of Japanese. It is given twice a year, the first Sunday in July and December.
JLPT Prep Course in Australia.
27
Apr 10
Educaedu Russia – Поздравляю (Congratulations in Russian)
Flickr Creative Commons - neiljs
Educaedu is proud to present our latest addition – Educaedu Russia.
With over 1100 programs and courses from more than 100 different schools, our new website has a wide variety of options for anyone looking to study in Russia. We would like to give a big Поздравляю (congratulations) to Aigul, the Content Manager for Russia, who single handedly organized and created all the content for the website. Thanks also goes out to all the programmers who had to cypher through Cyrillic to get the website up and running.
So you don’t know a lot about Russian culture? Well, it is difficult to make generalizations due to the variety of people living there and the shear size of the country. It stretches over both Europe and Asia and covers an area of 6,595,600 square miles. It is the largest country in the world (by land mass), covering almost twice the territory of the next largest country, Canada. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has officially been known as the Russian Federation. Within its borders, which stretch from Poland in the West all the way over to within several miles of Japan in the East, Russia is home to an astounding variety of people. There are citizens who are ethnically Russian, Tatars, Ukrainians, Bashkirs, Chuvashes, Chechens, and Armenians. There are also many Germans, Azerbaijanis, Inuit, and Uzbeks. What is pretty amazing is that all these people with all these varying backgrounds have one official language – Russian.
We welcome Russia to the Educaedu family and hope that it facilitates the ease in which students can find what they want to study in Russia and abroad.
26
Apr 10
From Sheep to Shawl – Course of the Week
Has anyone ever said to you, “Oh, I like that top. Where did you get it?” How great would it be if instead of saying the store where you bought it, you could respond, “Actually, I made it myself. I sheared a sheep, wove and dyed the wool, and then created this wonderful garment.” You have to admit that it would be really cool. Well now you can, with this From Sheep to Shawl Course at Antioch University New England (AUNE). Not only do you learn how the process works, you also learn the history behind it.
Flickr Creative Commons - Duchamp
The process of turning wool into cloth is an important part of life in many cultures, both historically and in the present day. Participants will experience for themselves every step from sheep to shawl, including carding, spinning, making and using natural dyes, and weaving. Then they will be able to show off their creations and get to respond to all the “where-did-you-get-that?” compliments with “Oh, I made it”.
22
Apr 10
Educating Helen Keller
Helen Keller signing with Anne Sullivan, her tutor and caretaker.
Helen Keller was a well known American author, political activist and lecturer, but most notably for doing these while being both blind and deaf. You might not know, however, that she was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Helen Keller was born a healthy baby girl with all five senses. It was not until she was 19 months old that she contracted an illness, possibly scarlet fever or meningitis, that left her blind and deaf. By the age of seven, she had over 60 homemade signs to communicate with her family, but she was unable to fully interact with the people around her. It was around this time that Anne Sullivan was asked to help educate Helen. Anne, herself visually impaired, was only 20 years old. With Anne’s help, Helen was able to learn sign language and communicate with the world.
Starting in May, 1888, Keller attended various schools for people with disabilities – the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Wright-Humason School for the Deaf, and Horace Mann School for the Deaf. In 1896, Keller changed to the Cambridge School for Young Ladies before getting admitted to Radcliffe College. Oddly enough, Mark Twain, a great admirer of Helen Keller, introduced her to Henry Huttleston, a rich oil company owner, who paid for her education. In 1904, at the age of 24, Keller graduated from Radcliffe (now part of Havard University), becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
19
Apr 10
Course of the Week – Peace Studies
Do you want to have a career that makes a difference? Possibly work for an NGO or at the United Nations? We found an academic field that could help you really make a difference in the world – Peace Studies. In Peace Studies, students study issues related to justice, human rights, conflict resolution, security and peace. They examine the causes of war and other forms of violence, ways to resolve conflicts and what is necessary to create peace in the world, including human rights and social justice. The Matsunaga Institute for Peace at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa offers a Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Resolution where students can explore this discipline.
There are only three required courses in the program:
- Survey Peace Conflict Studies
- Mediation Skills: UH Basic
- Practicum Internship
With the exception of three required courses, students are free to design their own program with the guidance of faculty advisors. Any what better place to study peace than in Hawaii?
15
Apr 10
Australian Slang Mini-Course
If you have ever seen a Crocodile Dundee movie, you know that Australians can be hard to understand. Put the shrimp on the what? Luckily, Educaedu recently did a series of mini-courses on our Twitter account to help everyone understand their neighbors in the “deep south”. We wanted to give a comprehensive overview for anyone who missed a couple of the lessons. Studying abroad in Australia? These are for you:
Lesson 1: Q: If someone asks you to “pass the dead horse” in Australia, what are they referring to? A: Tomato sauce
Lesson 2: Q: If someone asks you “what´s the damage?”, what are they referring to? A: The price of something.
Lesson 3: Q: What is the “Dog and bone”? A: The telephone
Lesson 4: Q: If someone tells you “try not to do your lolly”, what do they mean? A: Dont lose your temper.
Lesson 5: Q: What is a googie? A: An egg.
Lesson 6: Q: If someone says they´ve “gone to the quack”, where have they gone? A: To the doctor.
Lesson 7: Q: If someone says “Wow, that´s ridgie didge”, what do they mean to say? A: That it´s very genuine.
Lesson 8: Q: What happened if “it was a ripsnorter!”? A: Someone had a really good time.
Lesson 9: Q: Where do you live if “you lives in the sticks”? A: You live a long way away or in the country.
Lesson 10: Q: If someone says “Put your trackie dacks on” what are they referring to? A: Your tracksuit pants.
14
Apr 10
More Schools Charging Over $50,000 in Tuition Next Year
Harvard Library (Flickr Creative Commons - Paul Lowry)
Next year the number of schools in the northeast part of the United States charging $50,000 or more for yearly tuition (including room and board) will likely more than double, according to The Boston Globe.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Brandeis University, Wellesley College, Dartmouth College, Brown University and College of the Holy Cross will cost over $50,000 a year for the first time. They will join many schools that this year began charging over $50,000, including Tufts, Boston College (BC), Boston University, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and Babson College.
Why this increase? Some college officials say the issue with the rising college costs lies in the inherent competition between schools to be the best. Many features that are valued in schools, like smaller classes, more student-faculty contact and more extensive co-curricular activities cost more money, and this causes tuition to rise.
A similar phenomenon is occuring in another part of the United States. Public univerisities in California have drastically increased their tuition, causing demonstrations throughout the state. These increases, however, are due to economic problems the state is experiencing. It is interesting to see that the same problem is occuring in two different places for completely different reasons. Either way, students will now have a harder time paying for college.
12
Apr 10
Course of the Week – Private Investigator Course
Maple Academy, a distance education school in the UK, has a wide variety of courses available, but we were quite intrigued by one of them. They provide a Private Investigator Course to learn all the techniques that classic detectives, like Sherlock Holmes, have made famous.
Students will learn how to trace missing persons, surveillance techniques, do process serving, and handle matrimonial and domestic cases. The great thing about this course is that it allows for a variety of jobs like debt collecting, security, and general detective stuff. Before you know it, you will be just like Dog the Bounty Hunter (who has his own reality TV show, btw). All the courses at this school are distance programs, which means you can complete it in your own home.
7
Apr 10
Educaedu’s Spelling Bee
Everyone has blind spots for some words or word types. Even when you proofread an essay or something someone else has written, these errors pass you by. You should be aware of common mistakes so that you can be prepared for them when they occur. Spell checks work great, but they are not always reliable. And what about when you are writing an important email? Do you take the time to spell check everything?
This means it might be good to find out how well your spelling has stood the test of time – and where your blind spots are. Take a look at the following list of words and see if you can tell if the spelling is correct. If it isn´t, try writing out the correct spelling (or at least your best guess). Avoid using the dictionary because it is important to focus on what your memory tells you is right or wrong.
Which of these words are spelled incorrectly?
harrassed
embarrasment
liase
supersede
truely
batchelor
imposter
sieze
concensus
miniscule
fuschia
irrepairable
expatriot
dessicate
seperate
Now have a look at the correct answers. If you are surprised by the results, use this as an opportunity and focus on the words you hear every day. Find a dictionary when you hear something that you can’t immediately visualise in written form. This type of practice will keep you on your feet and prepare you for any surprise spelling bees that come your way. If you got most or all of the words correct, maybe you should think about a career in editing and publishing, where attention to detail is a must.
The correct spelling:
harrassed – harassed
embarrasment – embarrassment
liase – liaise
supersede - the only one that was correct
truely – truly
batchelor – bachelor
imposter – impostor
sieze – seize
concensus – consensus
miniscule – minuscule
fuschia – fuchsia
irrepairable - irreparable
expatriot - expatriate
dessicate – desiccate
seperate – separate
5
Apr 10
Course of the Week – Gladiators!
This summer twenty students from the University of Regensburg in Germany plan to try and live in the style of Roman gladiators and stage a battle for scientific research. Over the next few months, the participants will be preparing for the unusual project that concludes in a multiple day non-stop Gladiator course.
The student warriors, who are all studying various disciplines at the university, won’t be eating pizza or hamburgers during their training. Instead they’ll have berries and white beans on their plates as recommend by the ancient Roman doctor Galen.
“From the gladiators, we know almost nothing,” says the historian and project manager Joseph Löffl. He jokes that it is difficult to learn anything from the images of the stage coach races from “Ben Hur”. Löffl and his research colleagues intend to look at things like learning to fight wearing bronze helmets that weigh almost five kilos. The participants will not be allowed girlfriends, showers, or washing machines. We forsee it will be a real challenge. We wish them luck!
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