text: One time looking in the jobs supplied within the united states of america, pupils may perhaps watch they can easily discover an outstanding offer of prospects in working or instructing. But, it is important to not forget about that may perhaps most likely perhaps perfectly not be out there to those at other fields. It is very important to develop into mindful that physics is a exact fastpaced place and that a student who reports that the market in college is not going to have a simple time.
  
  The dinner scene at the start could have been shortened at little, but otherwise I think this worked very well. Indeed, having watched it, I wonder if it would have been possible to film it as a single movie. Or, I expect it would have been possible, but it would have been close to a 'training montage' of a movie. This is very much a loving, lingering homage but that just means plenty of the visual spectacle which is half the reason I watch such movies.
  Jackson chose to include a few visible dwarvish women in the crowds escaping from the Dwarven city, and there is a very powerful scene from Galadriel, but I think I'm going to continue with my theory that Fili and Kili are actually what female dwarves look like, just to balance the overwhelming levels of Y chromosome.
  Wife & I, with elder brother & his wife (50 to 60 age range) watched the Hobbit (pt.1) the other day so it was with interest I just read your thoughts on it. We all enjoyed it immensely - there is certainly plenty of action. There are a number of small errors (who cares !) - like when a certain body is picked up by an 'eagle' (huge black bird) and the sword lying beside him is left behind - later to be seen clasped against him in the air.
  Maybe the dinner scene is set to remind us of 'visitors' - thankfully our relo's aren't like that (they wouldn't survive). I agree with you, the dinner scene is a little out of synch with the rest of the show.
  
  This is a really awesome game in which you build your own empire ( see what they did with the name there ? ). Really fun if you’re into the strategy game genre. Try it out, why not after all – it’s free.
  Start with a small keep and expand into a towering citadel! Fill your realms with castles, peasants, pirates, dragons, and more! Deliver goods to friends, harvest crops, and collect taxes to earn rewards and claim new realms.
  From country farms to palatial estates, Elven forests to Mermaid Islands, you can design the Medieval Kingdom of your dreams. Need more real estate? Expand your land with 8 realms! Your fantasy becomes reality with We Rule.
  Join thousands of active Rulers. Visit Kingdoms, send gifts, and place orders. Find and add friends with the powerful new Mobage network!
  Your loyal subjects depend on you, oh fearless leader! Work with your neighbors to accomplish goals and score exclusive loot.
  
  Yolande Brizendine is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW #66388) with a passion for helping clients turn life’s traumas into strengths. She has extensive experience working with children, with the elderly, as well as with special needs, high risk youth, and trauma survivors of all ages. She graduated with a Master’s in Social Welfare from UCLA in 1996, and has two undergraduate degrees in languages and communication, and has 20 years experience helping others as a social worker, advocate, and community leader. She is a wife and mother to 3 great kids who once had special needs and are now thriving. Music, creativity and fun are her passions, and she often incorporates play therapies, art and music into the counseling setting.
  
  This app is taking China by storm! Meipai is a little bit like Instagram, only that it handles videos and not pictures. Snap a 10 second video and put it through some filters and whoa lah! You've got yourself a really cool video that you can share on the app itself or through Facebook. There's even music video mode for you to play around. Now, the power of MTV is in your hands V(^_-)
  
  Bird Photographer of the Year 2016: participate to this wonderful international photography competition! | Arctic05
  Bird Photographer of the Year 2016: participate to this wonderful international photography competition!
  Nature & Bird Lovers will be so delighted to participate to the second edition of “Bird Photographer of the Year“. This great international photograpic competition is now open for entries till Wednesday 30 November 2016 GMT, midnight.
  Bird Photographer of the Year is a partnership between the British Trust for Ornithology and Nature Photographers Ltd. It celebrates the artistry of bird photography and promotes bird conservation through the work of the BTO.
  Whether you are a hardened pro, a keen amateur with the latest kit, or simply a hobbyist with a cameraphone or small compact camera, there is an opportunity for you to have your pictures critiqued by leading international experts (ex: Paul Sterry, Andrew Cleave,….) win prizes, appear in a lavish book to be published by AA Publishing, and be on display at a national exhibition venue. And who knows, you could be their first “AA Bird Photographer of the Year“.
  This wonderful competition offers eight categories to enter and three additional special awards, offering plenty of chances to win:
  Best Portrait, Birds in the Environment, Attention to Detail, Bird Behaviour, Birds in Flight, Creative Imagery, Garden Birds, Best Digiscoped Image…
  
  Computer for sale used and abused still working tempermental sometimes works fine after some persuasion (kick on the side) will swap for a new up to date model Ha Ha.
  
  George(s) Enescu occupies a niche all his own in the pantheon of 20th-century composers. Described by his friend and colleague Pablo Casals as “the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart,” his oeuvre , though impressive, doesn’t always reach those Read more heights. Moreover his style, though based on Rumanian folk music and its piquant harmonies, tended to be fairly Romantic in style, with bold melodies and sweeping lines that sounded, to me at least, much more like a Rumanian Brahms or Franck than like Mozart. This isn’t to say that his music was not good, or not original, merely that sometimes the over-praise of well-meaning friends tends to obscure or skewer an artist’s true worth.
  If Enescu’s compositional style resembles Brahms, he was often a much more impassioned composer, his music vacillating curiously between tried-and-true musical formulas and sweeping passages that showed a strong imagination and great depth of feeling. This is particularly evident in the early (1899) Violin Sonata No. 2. Enescu himself said that it was the composition in which he found his own voice. This was most probably due to the very earthy Rumanian harmonies. Enescu thus preceded Bartók, whose field trips to record traditional Hungarian folk music were still a few years off, in transcribing elements of Eastern European ethnic music into classical compositions. (I don’t really consider the small influx of Czech music in the compositions of Smetana and Dvo?ák to be all that significant, at least not in comparison to Enescu or Bartók.)
  It’s a good piece, however strongly romantic its melodic language may be, and it is very clear in listening to it that Enescu really did do as fine a job as he could at this stage in his career (he was only 18 years old). Especially in the last movement, the stomping folk rhythms really do take over the feel of the music and propel his melodies and variants in a wonderfully organic way—this is certainly the high point of this Sonata, including the brilliant idea to momentarily slow down the tempo and quote the second movement, then to transform the opening of the work into an almost frenzied release of joy. While listening, I was continually astonished by the ability of both violinist Strauss and pianist Poletaev to enter fully into the spirit of this music, becoming carried away by its emotions and eventual exuberance. Bravo!
  The single movement in A Minor, discovered after the composer’s death and labeled as the “Torso” Sonata, was composed in 1911, yet it has much in common with the 1899 Sonata in many ways. Form is not one of them, however, as this single movement has several contrasting tempos and moods played continuously. The liner notes, written by Poletaev, suggest that it has much in common with the composer’s symphonic works. I would, however, point out that this “turbulent, dense work” is practically a one-movement sonata in itself. Perhaps Enescu, wondering if he could add anything more to this “torso,” kept putting it off until it was too late, but it certainly stands on its own as a great piece of music.
  The 1903 Impromptu concertant almost comes as a nice, pleasant, relaxed interlude to the intensity of the sonatas. The Sonata in A Minor, composed in 1926, is fully mature Enescu; some of the same Romantic flavor of the 1899 Sonata is present here, as are the unbroken tempo changes of the 1911 “Torso,” but there is even more progress in his construction of themes, manipulation of them, and harmonic daring. In short, this is almost—but not quite—a different composer, one so well steeped in the folk idiom by this time—not only of his own country, but of others as well—that almost nothing sounds contrived or formulaic; the music is at an almost consistently high level of invention and originality. Oh, yes, there are those moments when the violin reaches into its upper range where one senses that kinship with the 1899 work, but everything is more assured, more mature. The liner notes also indicate that although no actual folk tunes are quoted, the composer seems to have assimilated the feeling of Northern Moldavian tunes and similarities to Hassidic synagogue singing of the region, while Alfred Cortot claimed that the second movement’s eerie melodic statements evoked “the mysterious feeling of summer nights in Romania,” the strange melody played softly on the edge of the strings to create an unusual mood. This is Enescu’s most famous Violin Sonata, played and recorded the most often, yet Strauss and Poletaev manage to make it sound freshly-minted, immersing themselves in its many technical and emotional challenges and emerging victorious.
  There appear to be three other recordings of these pieces available: violinist Mariana Sirbu and pianist Mihail Sarbu on Dynamic (the three numbered sonatas, not including the “Torso”); violinist Albrecht Laurent Breuninger and pianist Thomas Duis on Telos (all of Enescu’s violin-piano music on a 2-CD set); and violinist Remus Azoitei with pianist Eduard Stan on Hänssler (also all of Enescu’s violin-piano music, but this time split into two separate CDs). Without having heard them, however, I can still give high marks to this Naxos disc, if for no other reason than the high voltage performances of Strauss and Poletaev. This is good stuff for Enescu lovers!
  
  Need a gently used ARS uniform shirt? Did your child's field trip shirt disappear since their last trip? Has your child outgrown their shirts since the last uniform order?
  The RAP Clothes Closet is here to help. Choose the size and style needed and we will send the shirt home with your child within three school days.
  The clothes closet is free to all ARS parents. If you have ARS uniform shirts you wish to "swap," feel free to send in your donated shirts after you've placed an order for more shirts; however, you are not required to provide a donation to receive shirts from the clothes closet. We ask that any shirt donations be clean and free of stains and holes.
  *Certain sizes, colors, and styles may be unavailable at the time of your request. RAP will make every effort to fulfill your request.
  Grade Required ----Kindergarten1st Grade2nd Grade3rd Grade4th Grade5th Grade6th Grade7th Grade8th Grade
  
  In July, Kelvin Ong Wee Loong, a private tutor, was severely criticised for claiming to be able to help students get into the Gifted Education Program (GEP). His claims of being an ex-GEP student, an ex-GEP teacher, a Nanyang Polytechnic trained physiotherapist, a NUS ‘double math major’ graduate and a NIE post-graduate diploma holder are all false. Yet, for many years, his scam was not discovered and he made money off parents who were determined to ensure that their students were well-prepared for the national exams.
  This incident reflects the tuition obsession in Singapore, with parents shelling up to $6000 per month for lessons outside the school and families queuing to take entrance exams to qualify for popular tuition centers.
  Some school teachers find the reliance of some students on private tuition shocking. They fall asleep in class because their private tutors will review the topics with them anyway. They do not even attempt their homework, preferring to go through it with their tutors instead. One private tutor says that his student even asked him to write an English essay for him to copy before handing it in! This unhealthy reliance on private tuition has caused some teachers to wonder if the public education is too cheap, thereby causing parents (and the society at large) to take it for granted.
  A private tutor, with ex-teachers as colleagues, suggests that the reason for such a robust tuition industry is because some current teachers are not experienced enough and their students have to seek help privately. She was told that there is a disproportionate number of teachers who are either younger (as they are bonded to the Ministry of Education) or older (as they are awaiting their pensions). According to her, middle-aged teachers with experience are leaving the workforce for alternative jobs, leading to a smaller core of skilled teachers.
  Another private tutor suggests that tuition centers can guarantee As while public schools cannot. She frankly admits that the upmarket tuition center she is working for ‘sincerely wants their students to score distinctions’. The tuition center, in her eyes, is like a factory – students come in with Cs and Bs, and leave with strings of As.
  Another factor why private tuition has become an obsession is because it can be easily quantified by numbers. It has become something to be compared and measured against. “My son has ten hours of tuition per week.” “So? Mine has twelve hours and the tuition costs me $3000!” “Right. Mine costs me $3500.” The numbers seem to hover continuously on some parents’ lips, always threatening to spill out.
  Whatever the causes and reasons, the private tuition industry is expanding at an unprecedented rate. This proliferating industry reminds me of a Chinese proverb - 拔苗助长.
  Once upon a time, there lived an impatient farmer. Every day, he would visit his field of saplings, anxious for them to grow. One day, he came up with a “good” idea. He decided to help his plants to grow by pulling them up. And so, he toiled to pull each sapling up. The field of taller saplings gave him a sense of satisfaction. The next day, these saplings died.
  Nowadays, people force their children to learn topics way too advanced for their ages. Take, for example, the mathematical topic on solving simultaneous equations. This topic is supposed to be in the Secondary Two Mathematics syllabus. Some tuition centers are teaching it to Primary Four students! My Primary Three cousin already knows how to solve simultaneous equations and can remember the photosynthesis equation (which I only learnt in Secondary One).
  While some students are coping admirably with such advanced topics, it seems unhealthy that they are learning these topics in anticipation of national examinations that they will only take a number of years later.
  Another Chinese proverb is illuminating. 小时了了, 大未必佳 suggests that children who are brilliant when they are young may not turn out to be equally so when they are older. The converse is true as well; there are always late bloomers among us and there are many noteworthy exemplars of such late bloomers.
  It seems best for the child to show some promise when they are young. Not totally fulfill their potential. Just fulfill part of it. We shouldn’t offer them incredibly difficult tests that they can score well in for it creates a misplaced sense of complacency. Where else can they reach if they think that they’ve already reached their peaks?
  Some families are understandably determined to give their children a head start in life, perhaps to the extent that they forget a head start is just part of the journey and not the entire journey itself.
  I’ve been a private tutor for the past three years and have guided students from both very well-off and fairly needy families. Over these years, I noticed some similarities between students from such diverse socio-economic groups.
  Yes, it’s true that students need someone to clarify questions that they may have. In this way, private tuition may actually help some to score better grades. But, most of the time, tuition isn’t required. Most students only need someone to sit beside them and watch them study. Tutors are simply paid companions who spend a fair amount of time watching their students as they write their essays or attempt their equations or memorise their facts. Anyone can do this.
  What most students really need is what many of us really need. They starve for people who are willing to listen to them and guide them along. My friend wryly comments that these students require nannies, not private tutors.
  The reason why students don’t do well goes beyond fearful teachers and an unimaginative public education system. It goes down to what happen (or doesn’t happen) at home.
  It has been frustrating to tutor students with well-educated parents. I’ve tutored a child whose father owns a company and mother is a doctor. Her parents are ex-Rafflesians with NUS degrees. They are busy and important people, no doubt, but in my opinion, they could afford to guide her more in her studies. They pay me to do it instead.
  Her parents quarrel regularly and sometimes threaten each other with divorce. I know this because they frequently have screaming matches during the tuition sessions. This poor child doesn’t need tuition. She needs to be shown concern and care. She doesn’t need a tutor who meets up with her once a week to listen to her because he is paid to do so. And she doesn’t need parents who quarrel in front of this hired stranger.
  I’ve also tutored a few children from rather poor families. They struggle to earn money for transport and food. Yet, they insist on having tuition because they believe that education is a social leveler and can open doors for them. (I had wanted to tutor them for free but a social worker reminded me that this might create a sense of entitlement, cause damage to their pride and open a floodgate of requests. To assuage my guilt, I charge them much less than what I would charge rich families.)
  These less well-off families should spend their money in other ways, not on private tutors, especially since textbooks, school teachers and the Internet can do what private tutors do.
  The reason for students’ lackluster academic performances goes deeper than the flaws in the public education system. It depends greatly on the environment in which the students are brought up.
  Giving tuition is a lucrative business. The market forces have somehow decided to overpay tutors. They receive fat paychecks for spending the bulk of their time sitting around, doing nothing. Very few jobs offer such rich dividends (for such low risk). To be honest, I've been in groups of private tutors which discuss how best to ask for more money from tutoring even when such pay rises are undeserved. In fact, I know of a private undergraduate tutor who earns around $1000 per month simply by giving 8 hours of tuition per week.
  And the barrier to entry is low – almost anyone can be a private tutor because it is so easy to be one. Almost every university undergraduate has been and still is a private tutor. It is also easy to set up tuition centers. Just take a stroll within any shopping center and count the number of tuition centers there are.
  It is for these reasons that the quality of tutoring varies greatly. Most tutors, in my opinion, are in it just for the money. But, if we don’t send our children to such tuition classes, what else can we do?
  Some parents have called for regulation of the tuition industry by the Ministry of Education. This suggestion, unfortunately, does not solve the problem. Tutors are human beings guiding other human beings. In this regard, an A-level graduate can be equally, if not more, skillful than a graduate holding two Masters degrees. This intangible capacity cannot be quantified and regulated.
  I’ve been told of the numerous flaws in the current education system. Really, there are simply too many to recount in-depth. Regrettably, it takes time for the system to change and it takes effort for people to want to change it. Perhaps it’s easier to work within the system, to find out ways to negotiate within it.
  Here is an alternative to the numerous expensive tuition classes: parents can sit beside their children and supervise them. (Yes, I understand that parents are really busy but, surely, they can sit by their children, at night and on weekends, to do their own work and interact with their children every now and then.) They can ensure that their children study and advise them to mark down any challenges they encounter. These challenges can then be dealt with by reference to their school teachers or searching the Internet. This way, parents can easily half the number of hours of private tuition that their children take. Dr Petunia Lee’s book on motivating children to study, Internal Drive Theory, is an interesting exploration in this field.
  I’ve some practical advice for students who wish to improve academically without paying heavy tuition fees.
  1) Read your textbooks, seriously, and download the syllabuses from the MOE website. Read the school notes from the better schools. I remember my school teacher telling me that 80% of the students don’t read their textbooks and don’t know their exam syllabuses. So, is it surprising that 80% don’t score As?
  2) Do some past year papers. With this, it’s sufficient to score decent grades, really. There’s no need to play games with the education system and attempt impossible papers conceived by schools desperate to maintain their reputation.
  3) Use your time in the classroom wisely. I don’t really pay attention during lessons. I’ll read my textbooks and practice past year papers. School’s a place to socialize and acquire soft skills. It really isn’t a place to listen to teachers, especially since they’re trying to cater to forty different students with one teaching method within two hours. Take any chance to ask your teachers questions that you’ve encountered in your self-study and save up on the private tuition fees!
  4) Acquire positive study habits. Read books such as I’m Gifted so Are You by Adam Khoo and Being a Happy Teenager by Andrew Mattews. Learn to be self-disciplined and, over time, this discipline will bear sweet fruits.
  One friend recently suggested that I abandon my Honours degree to become a full time tutor. He further advised me not to write this article because the current situation favors me, a private tutor who receives and turns down tuition offers frequently. I argued with him about how wrong this entire situation is and why tuition shouldn’t be seen as a necessity; unfortunately, this argument only produced useless repartees.
  My elder brother also tried to convince me to be one of those star tutors who charge a few hundred dollars per hour. The resulting disagreement was vigorous. He told me that I could learn from tutors who charge ridiculously high prices because they were probably better tutors. What? Higher prices = better tutors? In the end, he called me an ‘inflexible bore’ (or something similar).
  I know that this article may seem a little hypocritical, especially since I’ve admitted that I’m a private tutor. I also acknowledge that there’re extremely dedicated and experienced private tutors out there. However, I maintain that students do not need private tuition to do well academically. By all means, take tuition classes if there is a desire to and the family can afford it. But really, there is no need. Children should have less tuition classes simply because, most of the time, tuition just isn’t worth it.
  There are so many other ways to score good grades. And what students really need is not an army of well-paid private tutors. What they need is an environment where they enjoy shelter, parental love and support. Parents, despite their busy schedules, ought to find more time to chat with their children and listen to their stories. This is a role that should not be outsourced to private tutors or school teachers.
  I sincerely believe that an education is important – and that this education cannot come from private tutors.
  I'd like to clarify that this article is written based on my experiences of being a secondary school private tutor. Please read this reflective article by Petunia Lee, Why Tuition is Necessary in Primary School.
  Nice reading, I love your content. This is really a fantastic and informative post. Keep it up and if you are looking for Secondary Chinese then visit Chinese Distinction.
  
  Lorenka Campos is an international award winning digital artist currently living in Wichita Falls, USA. She studied at Florida School of the Arts.
  Her work has been exhibited in many galleries and featured in numerous media publications in the US and abroad. She is known internationally as a leader in mobile art, creating her work exclusively on her mobile phone.
  
  ART.ZIP: It seems quite a mysterious and rare opportunity to do a photo shooting in North Korea. What motivates you to come up with such a creation plan there?
  WG: Since 2005, I have been concerned and continuing to photograph buildings of global socialist ideology under the influence of the former Soviet Union’s political form in the mid 20th century, where North Korea is an important part of the shooting plan. North Korea is generally known as a closed socialist country, where it is very difficult for a foreigner to be allowed to take photographs there. I have spent more than three years in applying for the permission and communicating with the relevant North Korean government departments, but without any success. Eventually, through a rather special means, my request was approved by the North Korean central government to achieve this particular shooting plan. There- fore, this is an exceptional opportunity. According to the accompanying North Korea Foreign Cultural Relations Committee staff, it is the first time that a foreign artist is permitted to use such professional equipment and conduct so much content for a photo shooting.
  ART.ZIP: For Westerners, North Korea is a very mysterious place, which is little known by the public. Have you come across any interesting or unique experience when working there? Would you share one or two stories with our readers?
  WG: Due to very complex reasons, North Korea has been remaining in a state of seclusion, where foreigners are very restrictedly limited to gain access into the country, and the local people are also restricted to leave the country. When working in North Korea, I was accompanied by five different departments personnel to assist my work. Every subject matter I intended to take photographs of has to get the prior approval of the North Korean government, while those with no approval are absolutely not allowed to photograph. There impresses me most that North Korean people are all very passionate about their leader. My first arrival in North Korea is at noon on March 12, 2011. Immediately after I got off the plane, the staff drove me to the Mansudae Grand Monument in the city centre of Pyongyang as to send flowers to the bronze statue of former North Korean president Kim II Sung. There al- ways come a lot of people (including school children and kindergarten children) in front of the statue for presenting flowers and mourning. Their love for their leader is genuinely sincere from their heart. The other thing also quite impresses me is that all the North Korean people possess a very high level of happiness. When I talked to the accompanying staff, every one of them felt very fortunate and proud to live in such a country, and they reckoned themselves as the happiest people in the world. That is a place you will find the people’s senses of values are astonishingly alike.