Learning English In London Is Made Easy At UIC

For students choosing to learn English abroad, coming to London is unquestionably a superb choice, with its welcoming and multicultural population. However there is so much to see and do that new arrivals to London may unsurprisingly be intimidated. With its welcoming environment, lively students and helpful staff, UIC (United International College) aims to make the learning experience easy.

Learning English In London Is Made Easy At UIC

Whether a student is visiting London for a few weeks or a few months, UIC feels that a student’s experience should be as trouble free as possible. Students can have their housing organised for them, choosing to stay with a local family or in residences, and UIC staff can also meet them at the airport. All new students will receive a welcome talk with advice and information about the school and London. In addition, any problems can be directed to the helpful UIC staff, many of whom speak several languages.

Ensuring that students meet people and develop friendships is high on UIC’s agenda, and with people from more than 50 countries at the school this is made easy. There are also many British students who come to this English Language School in London to learn one of the many foreign languages taught at UIC. Getting to know these students is a great help to foreign students wanting to learn more about British culture, and a language exchange can even be arranged.

Students learning English in London will encounter one of the most exciting cities in the world, with its many historic and cultural sights as well as numerous bars, clubs and shops. UIC encourages learners to get involved in this cosmopolitan and friendly culture, an ideal way to improve their English outside of the classroom. For adventurous students there is plenty to do near the school, which is only a short walk from Oxford Circus. In addition, to ensure that all students are effectively eased into London life, UIC offers a busy programme of social activities, with something for all students to get involved in, whether it is a party, a daytrip to Oxford or a visit to the pub.

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Research by Reed Learning Shows Managers Need Help To Get Their Teams Re-Motivated

Managers are struggling to deal with de-motivated, stressed and underperforming team members, according to research by business training company Reed Learning.

Research by Reed Learning Shows Managers Need Help To Get Their Teams Re-Motivated

Comparison of over 400 managers in 2009 vs 2008 showed a rise of over 50% in managers seeking help with challenging people issues.

Managers cited dealing with difficult people, techniques to motivate their team and ways to reduce stress in others as key learning goals in 2009. In comparison, managers in 2008 were looking for more general skills in delegation, communication, and a basic grounding in management techniques.

Reed Learning has provided training courses to over 20,000 new managers in the past 10 years and offers some suggestions on keeping people buoyant when the economy sinks:

1. Spa days and Hawaiian junkets may be out for the time being, so think about affordable perks. See what goods or services you can barter with local vendors – even just eating lunch together can boost morale.

2. No news isn’t good news. Keep people u p d a t e d on the progress of the business as well as their personal performance. Make sure people understand how their contribution makes a difference.

3. Set realistic goals – and invite people to contribute to objective target setting. Give people personal opportunities to learn and take on new responsibilities.

4. Find the silver lining. For many companies the downturn is an opportunity to pull away f r o m the competition, take market share and try something innovative.

5. Most people want to make a contribution to society. Think about setting up links with local schools or with community organisations..

6. Make people feel they are part of something important by going up for an award or generating press coverage for your company.

7. ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’. Don’t worry too much. Enthusiasm is contagious. Motivate yourself and you will motivate others.

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Promethean Launches Test Prep Course

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has launched a new programme to help prepare students for college entrance exams.

Promethean Launches Test Prep Course

Created in collaboration with the Chicago International Charter School (CICS), the Preparing for Standardized Tests program is designed to improve student’s performance on the reading and math sections of the PSAT, ACT, and SAT exams.

The Preparing for Standardized Tests program, a collection of interactive whiteboard (IWB) lessons, engages students in mastering essential college readiness and provides them with advanced test preparation. Students can practice how to answer questions from standardized tests using the guided practice lessons and the innovative interactive whiteboard tools of Promethean’s ActivClassroom. Every week, they will complete two essential skills lessons and answer the corresponding practice questions that are presented in a formal testing format.

“This innovative collection of lessons has been carefully designed to support the development of core college readiness skills using our ActivClassroom technology. We believe students will find these unique interactive lessons helpful when preparing for important college-entrance exams,” commented Brent Taggart, Chief Strategy Officer for Promethean.

Preparing for Standardized Tests extends CICS’ ACT Practice Tests, an earlier series of test preparation courses developed by the school. In creating the new program, CICS licensed its intellectual property from their tests and consulted on the development of the core content of the lessons. In keeping with the mission of CICS to prepare all students with a college preparatory education, this new IWB program fully utilizes the interactive power of ActivInspire software and the ActivExpression learner response systems from Promethean.

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Promethean Gets The Scottish Vote

Following the implementation of Promethean’s ActivExpression learner response system, an innovative handheld voting device, Students in Scotland are getting the vote early at the Scottish Parliament’s on-site education centre in the Holyrood building.

Promethean Gets The Scottish Vote

ActivExpression is being used to enhance the Parliament’s education programme, by making activities more interactive, engaging and relevant to the young visitors. Using ActivExpression, students are given the chance to ‘vote’ on key political issues and their responses provide education staff with opinions to encourage, debate and enhance review sessions at the end of the visit.

Alongside ActivExpression, Scottish Parliament chose to implement additional ActivClassroom solutions, including Promethean’s ActivBoard interactive whiteboard solution and accompanying interactive whiteboard tools and ActivInspire software. Bringing topics to life, education staff have used the technologies to create lively resources on the history of Holyrood and daily duties of parliamentary members, incorporating a variety of multimedia, including images, videos and sound.

Margaret Allen, head of European market development at Promethean, commented: “This is a fantastic example of how the ActivClassroom is being used in an alternative learning environment to promote participation and collaboration in a way that appeals to today’s digital learner.”

Beyond the Parliament’s on-site education centre, ActivClassroom technologies have been integrated into Holyrood’s ‘chat room’, a space where visiting students get the chance to question Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). To ensure the effectiveness of these questioning sessions, Parliament staff decided to implement Promethean’s ActivSound audio enhancement system, to make sure that students are fully engaged and involved in the experience.

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Promethean Announce New Collection Of Interactive Grammar Courses

Promethean, a world leader in the rapidly growing global market for interactive learning technology, has announced a new collection of interactive grammar courses designed to help students develop critical language arts and writing skills.

Promethean Announce New Collection Of Interactive Grammar Courses

The new English Grammar II Essential course is being offered through a strategic partnership between Promethean Planet and Core Learning, an innovative publisher of K-12 digital content.

“Our goal is to give teachers a curriculum that encourages student participation and fosters a greater understanding and use of language arts concepts. We are delighted to offer this resource to the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are exploring new ways to make their Promethean ActivClassrooms even more effective,” said Core Learning President and CEO, Douglas Hatch.

The course has forty-one lesson plans which explain sentence structure and development, punctuation and capitalization as well as how to properly use speech when writing. Different course activities allow students to participate in the classroom using the ActivPen, ActivBoard and a Learner Response System, such as ActivExpression or ActiVote. Each lesson includes notes and teacher resources to help guide instruction and pre-built assessments designed for the interactive whiteboard to help teachers gauge how well students understand the concepts as they are being taught.

“As more and more teachers join Promethean Planet, our goal is to provide them with exceptional resources that help make learning more interactive for students. Beyond offering teachers access to a vast collection of quality content, we give them the opportunity to share best practices and ideas on how to build a 21st century learning environment,” commented Chief Strategy Officer Brent Taggart.

A free lesson from the course can be downloaded from the Promethean website. The course can be purchased and downloaded individually or as a complete program at the Promethean Planet Shop, an online store where educators can find a wide variety of digital content, including ActivInspire, the software needed to run this program and interactive whiteboard resources.

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Henley Business School Responds To The Way Businesses Want To Learn

Henley Business School has launched its new Executive Education Portfolio which features 13 brand new programmes designed to meet the challenges of today’s economic uncertainty, in response to both the results of its recent Corporate Learning Priorities survey and to expert feedback from its own Faculty.

Henley Business School Responds To The Way Businesses Want To Learn

“The learning & development professionals who responded to the survey gave us a clear indication of their ‘worry list’ for 2010.” explained Linda Irwin, Executive Director, Corporate Development. “They want to focus on leadership development – both of senior and middle managers, managing change and developing high potentials. For renewal, regeneration and recovery, continued investment in all talent is the only sustainable option and the big emphasis seems to be on continuing to develop leaders holistically to make the right choices; for themselves, their organisations and for the wider society. Skills that respond to the new business zeitgeist feature in this research – areas of such huge importance for global, 21st century responsible leadership; innovation, sustainability and rebuilding trust with all stakeholders. This reinforced the views of our Faculty and conversations with our existing corporate clients and our Alumni. We have designed this new Portfolio specifically to meet those needs.”

The survey also indicated what is important to businesses when choosing an executive education programme. 76% said reputation was extremely important, as was inclusion of recent, original research to 86% or respondents.

“This is not surprising,” reflected Linda Irwin, “Providing innovative and impactful programme design based upon relevant and rigorous research is the main differentiator between business school provision of L & D solutions and that of many other providers.”

Many respondents said that partnering where appropriate with external experts and guest speakers was significant for 88% or respondents. “Businesses expect that we stay close to our markets; both through our research, through practitioner Faculty and by collaborating with the best industry speakers and expert contributors where relevant”, suggested Irwin. The use of up to date case studies was key to 65% of respondents and use of experiential learning and a focus on soft skills to 57%. 71% also cited the environment where the training will take place as quite important to them.

With little time to spare away from the office 53% of respondents indicated that for open programmes 2-3 days are optimal while 18% stated ‘the shorter the better’. However, 27% thought programmes ‘should be as long as the learning objectives require’ – revealing scope for longer interventions where a case for them can be made.

Irwin commented, “Our new executive education portfolio reflects the respondents views; shorter, incisive, knowledge-led 2 day interventions on issues such as commercial insight for HR, systemic innovation and managing reputation and longer, more experiential management programmes on leadership and coaching for example, which offer opportunities to change behaviour at a deeper lever.”

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Facts About Jesus’ Resurrection Lead Online Students to the Full Story

Understanding the Bible isn’t always easy. The language, the cultural references and the seemingly inconsistent accounts from book to book can all cause confusion for a student starting out on the path to enlightenment. Jesus’ resurrection proves that He was exactly who He said He was, yet much misunderstanding surrounds these events for students without the proper guide. The United Church of God hopes to clear up the confusion with its online study guide,“Jesus Christ: The Real Story.”

The free online guide, found at ucg.org, tackles many misconceptions and questions, including:

• When did Jesus die? – The chronology of Jesus’ resurrection and crucifixion becomes clear only when a student reads the four Gospels at the same time, and corroborates between them. Luke, Mark and John offer what seems to be conflicting information in their references to the Sabbath, but by understanding the differences between the different types of Sabbaths, you understand that Jesus died on Wednesday, which was just before a high-day Sabbath, and was resurrected on Saturday, at the end of the weekly Sabbath. The chronology of Jesus’ Resurrection and crucifixion are detailed in the study guide.

• Did Jesus’ enemies acknowledge that His tomb was empty? – Yes, they did, by creating a lie to discount Jesus’ Resurrection. The Bible tells us that they bribed the Roman soldiers who were responsible for guarding the sealed tomb, telling them to say that the disciples (who would become the founding members of Jesus’ Church) came and removed the body. The study guide points to an account in Matthew to help students understand the events surrounding Jesus’ Resurrection.

In addition to “Jesus Christ: The Real Story,” the United Church of God offers many other free study guides on its website. They include:

• What Did Jesus’ Church Believe and Practice? – The beginnings of Jesus’ Church are documented by eyewitness accounts in the book of Acts. This study guide reveals many overlooked truths.

• Modern Christianity’s Forgotten Roots – The practices of today’s Christian Church can vary greatly from Jesus’ Church – the original Church Christ built.

• Bible Study Tools: Twelve lessons make up this Bible Study Course, which helps its students find biblical answers to crucial questions such as “Why are we here?” and“What does the future hold?”

All study guides on the United Church of God’s website are free and available to all.

About the United Church of God: The United Church of God traces it origins back to the original Christian Church, founded in the early first century. The Church follows the same doctrines, teachings and practices as the original Church, and it strives to educate all about Jesus Resurrection. In addition to the many free online study guides – about the Sabbath and other topics – students can follow the United Church of God on twitter.com/ucgia, become a fan of the organization on Facebook, and watch video commentaries and excerpts from Beyond Today programs on youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV.

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Christian Church Provides Free Online Resources for Those Wanting to Better Understand the Bible

In today’s busy world, a significant portion of learning takes place on the Internet. Whether it’s a high school student learning algebra or a busy mom studying and teaching her kids Bible stories, online resources are the key to continuing one’s education on any subject. The United Church of God understands this and has created numerous in-depth lessons on the Christian Church, Bible stories, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

All of the resources found on the United Church of God’s website, ucg.org, are free and available to all. They include:

• Bible Study Course – In 12 lessons, students will study everything from “Why the Bible Is the Word of God” to “Christianity – A Way of Life.” This resource gives students a good base from which to begin study of the Christian Church.

• Bible Stories – Profiles of Faith – These guides tell the Bible stories of Abraham, Sarah, Mary and Martha, just to name a few. There are also children’s Bible stories for parents and educators to use in their teachings.

• Kingdom of Heaven – Here, students will find a true definition of the Kingdom of Heaven that clears up the many misconceptions of this realm.

• This Is the United Church of God: Learn more about the Church that provides all of these free online resources. Its mission is to help Christians better understand the gospel taught by Jesus Christ and to prepare them for the Kingdom of Heaven.

In addition to the many Christian Church online resources, the United Church of God has many publications. Students can read them online and also request printed versions. The titles include:

• The Good News Magazine – This bimonthly publication offers in-depth study of the Bible and Bible stories, while its website also features current news and commentary, video segments and additional resources.

• Vertical Thought – This quarterly publication targets tomorrow’s leaders with articles on everything from dating advice to how to hold onto Christian Church values while in college.

All of these resources are available online at ucg.org, where you’ll find many more ways to learn about the Christian Church and the Kingdom of Heaven.

The United Church of God traces its origins back to the Christian Church founded by Jesus in the early first century. The Church follows the same Bible Stories, doctrines, teachings and practices as the original Church. Follow the United Church of God on twitter.com/ucgia, become a fan of the organization on Facebook, and watch video commentaries and excerpts from Beyond Today programs on youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV. Learn more about the Kingdom of Heaven through its online Bible studies.

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Jesus’ Birth and More Outlined in Free Online Bible Study

It’s said that Jesus Birth, life and death were the greatest gifts given to humankind by God. To truly understand these gifts and their impact even to this day, the Christian religion asks that its followers study the Bible extensively. The United Church of God understands that often the Bible can be difficult to follow, though, and has created exhaustive online Bible study resources so that any and all who wish to learn may do so.

The free online Bible Study Course contains 12 lessons that will help students better understand the Bible and find answers to life’s most important questions, such as “Why are we here?” and “What does the future hold?” They are:

1. Why the Bible Is the Word of God – This online Bible study lesson shows students how to connect with the Creator and understand the Bible’s mysteries.

2. The Word of God: The Fountain of knowledge – Knowing more about the men behind the Bible stories will help students to better understand.

3. Why Did God Create Mankind? – Humankind was created in the image of God, but what does that mean? Students also will learn what God has in store for them.

4. Why Does God Allow Suffering? – In times of war and natural disaster, this question is often asked. This online Bible study lesson reveals the ultimate hope offered by God.

5. Is There Hope for Human Survival? – This lesson looks at the warnings of Prophecy and the hope that Jesus will rescue the world from destruction.

6. What Is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? – When Jesus saves the world, He will rule over the Kingdom of God. Students will explore the portions of the Bible that talk about this news.

7. The Calling of God – This lesson teaches students how to have a relationship with God through the Christian religion, and how to receive His loving gifts.

8. What Is Christian Conversion? – God will transform us for good, despite our nature to be otherwise. This lesson explores the process of conversion to the Christian religion.

9. The Transforming Power of God’s Spirit – Students will learn about how to use the power of the Holy Spirit to transform their lives.

10. What Is the Church? – This lesson looks at the original Church and its transformation over the centuries. Students will learn how to recognize it today.

11. Christianity: A Way of Life – Students will learn the key elements of living a godly life in the modern world.

12. The Annual Festivals of the God – Holy Days differ from holidays. Discover the difference and understand their meanings within the Christian religion.

About the United Church of God: The United Church of God traces its origins back to the a Christian Religion founded by Jesus in the early first century. The Church follows the same doctrines, teachings and practices as the original Church, and it strives to educate Christians through its a Online Bible Study. Follow the United Church of God on twitter.com/ucgia, become a fan of the organization on Facebook, and watch video commentaries and excerpts from Beyond Today programs on youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV.

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New Testament and 10 Commandments Help Believers Keep the Faith During Troubled Times

War. Natural disasters. Rampant crime. In a time of such unrest in the world, Christians should embrace the New Testament and its support of God’s law, not dismiss it as irrelevant. The United Church of God continues its mission of keeping these ideals alive and also bringing about better understanding of the New Covenant through the numerous free study guides found on its website at www.ucg.org.

Around one third of the New Testament contains quotations of and references to the Old Testament, including Jesus Christ’s direction in Matthew that the way to the Kingdom of Heaven was through obedience of the 10 Commandments. The New Testament also describes the fulfillment of many an Old Testament Prophecy, including through the life of Jesus Christ, from birth through crucifixion. The United Church of God offers the following study guides to the New Testament and New Covenant:

• The Ten Commandments in the New Testament – This guide helps students to see that it does matter whether or not they obey the 10 Commandments. By fully understanding that Jesus Christ supported God’s law and continued to preach its value, believers will see how the age-old road map to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven helps those who follow it keep the faith.

• God’s Law and the New Covenant – This guide also looks at Jesus and His institution of the New Covenant and teaches that it did not make God’s law obsolete. By following God’s law, Christians can find a renewed faith in the Creator God.

In addition to the many resources on the New Testament and the New Covenant, ucg.org offers multiple free study guides on Prophecy that can help today’s believers see
more clearly God’s plan. The United Church of God suggests starting with:

• You Can Understand Bible Prophecy – The principles and framework of Bible Prophecy must first be known before any individual Prophecy can be understood. This guide unlocks the mysteries surrounding Prophecy.

By offering its study guides for free, online, the United Church of God hopes to help those who have lost their faith find it again.

The United Church of God traces its origins back to the original Christian Church, founded in the early first century. The Church follows the same doctrines, teachings and practices as the original Church, and it strives to educate all about the New Covenant. In addition to the many free online study guides – about the New Testament, Prophecy and other topics – students can follow the United Church of God on twitter.com/ucgia, become a fan of the organization on Facebook, and watch video commentaries and excerpts from sermons on youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV.

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Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the CST

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express TM for the CST New Quick and Easy Test Preparation Available for English Language Arts, Grades 2-8.

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the CST

Saddle Brook, New Jersey, February 4, 2010 – Peoples Education, a leading provider of supplemental educational material for the K-12 school market, today is pleased to announce the launch of Measuring Up ExpressTM English Language Arts, Grades 2-8 materials in California. Measuring Up ExpressTM includes student worktexts, Diagnostic Practice Tests, and Formative Assessments, and boosts students’ test-taking confidence by targeting the California blueprint standards.

“Educators were looking for a short program that would fit into a busy school day,” commented Vince Konoske, the company’s Western Regional Vice President. “This new standards review program and CST preparation is the perfect tool.”

Measuring Up ExpressTM worktexts are a companion to the successful Measuring Up® to the California Content Standards program. In areas where students need extra instructional support, Measuring Up lessons can be selected for in-depth standards coverage. Measuring Up ExpressTM is perfect for quick and easy test review 3-6 weeks prior to the CST. The short lessons provide a brief review of the standards and relevant vocabulary, as well as test practice in the format of the CST. The Grade 7 Measuring Up ExpressTM worktext also includes a special End-of-Book writing prompt review section to familiarize students with the types of writing that appear on the CST.

The Measuring Up ExpressTM program includes free Formative Assessments as blackline masters so teachers can monitor student progress at the end of every chapter. Two free Diagnostic Practice Tests for each student allow teachers to diagnose student weaknesses and prescribe review lessons in the Measuring Up ExpressTM OR Measuring Up® worktexts. This diagnose-prescribe-instruct model in the Measuring Up® program has helped over 1.3 million California students improve test scores.

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Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the NYS Test

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express TM for the NYS Test Quick and Easy Test Preparation Now Available for Mathematics, Grades 3-8.

Peoples Education Launches Measuring Up Express for the NYS Test

Saddle Brook, New Jersey, February 4, 2010 – Peoples Education, a leading provider of supplemental educational material for the K-12 school market, today announced the addition of Mathematics, grades 3-8 materials to the successful Measuring Up ExpressTM for the NYS Test program. The Measuring Up ExpressTM line also includes grade 8 Science materials to prepare students for the NYS Test in Science. The Mathematics, grades 3-8 program, includes student worktexts, Diagnostic Practice Tests, and Formative Assessments, and provides excellent preparation for the 2010 test and beyond.

“Peoples Education has a history of responding to New York educators’ needs promptly and with high-quality NYS Learning Standards and NYS Test-customized content,” commented Brian T. Beckwith, the company’s President and CEO. “This new mathematics NYS Test preparation and review program is no exception.”

The Measuring Up ExpressTM worktexts are a companion to the successful Measuring Up® to the New York State Learning Standards program. The new books address recent changes to the Grade 3-8 Mathematics Testing Program, with lessons on prior year May-June Performance Indicators and exclusive 2010 Transition Lessons that cover March-April review content from the prior year to prepare students for the May test.

“The instructors at Mechanicville Middle School have successfully used the Measuring Up® series to accommodate various classroom situations,” commented Maria Fusco, a retired Mechanicville Middle School teacher. “The versatility of the materials and alignment to state standards allows the instructor and the students to manage the skills that have either been mastered or need further attention.”

In areas where students need extra instructional support, Measuring Up® lessons can be selected for in-depth standards coverage. For quick and easy test review 3-6 weeks prior to the NYS Test, Measuring Up ExpressTM is the perfect tool. The short lessons provide a brief review of the standards, as well as test practice in the style and format of the NY Test.

The Measuring Up ExpressTM program includes free Formative Assessments as blackline masters so teachers can monitor student progress at the end of every chapter. Two free Diagnostic Practice Tests for each student allow teachers to diagnose student weaknesses and prescribe review lessons in the Measuring Up ExpressTM OR Measuring Up® worktexts. This diagnose-prescribe-instruct model in the Measuring Up® program has helped over 1.4 million New York students improve test scores.

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