Are French and Spanish Similar

Are French and Spanish Similar Is it Easy to Learn Spanish if you Speak French? ChaptersSpanish and French: A Common Latin CultureHow Similar are French and Spanish: The Common VocabularySpanish Expressions Stemming from FrenchThere is a lot that you need to know to become fluent in Spanish quickly, but if you have already taken French classes, then you may find it easier to study the language of Cervantes. There are many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is the fact that French and Spanish are both Latin languages.Learning a foreign language is not an easy exercise, but those students who have already studied French are lucky because Spanish and French have many similarities, particularly with regard to vocabulary (Spanish words, sentence, expression) and grammar ( adverb, written expression, syntax ...)If you studied French at school and want to learn Spanish as a professional, you can assure yourself it will make the task easier.Spanish words can be found in French and vice versa. Understanding and learning are therefore within everyone's reach.In ad dition, Spanish is a phonetic language, that is, it is written as it is pronounced. An asset that will allow you to learn Spanish easily.That and the large communities of Spanish speakers that can be found in cities right throughout the world is probably why Spanish is one of the most taught languages in classrooms around the globe.Don't forget that Spanish is a language that is spoken by 440 million native speakers, as well as being an official language in 20 different countries. What's more,  Spanish is used by many international organisations  in an official capacity such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organisation in their day to day activities.The power of learning Spanish is therefore obvious. But if you are worried that it could be an insurmountable task, then fear not - your French classes from school could help you!Let's take a look at the similarities between Spanish and French.Your Spanish speaking adventure could be a short plane ride away !You have more than likely already met someone who has Spanish or Hispanic heritage in their family. They are often very proud of this face and would like nothing more than to teach you a few Spanish words!Conversations with someone who speaks Spanish could help you to:Learn Spanish easilyProgress quickly and master the subtleties of their languagePractice their language on a daily basis,  Hear and discover things about the hispanic culture.Travel, etc.If you took French classes at school and are looking to tackle Spanish lessons for work reasons, going to somewhere where Spanish is spoken could be a solution for you! And why not find a job where you need both the language skills?We are sure you still have a lot to learn about the Hispanic culture and all its riches, so why don't you have a look at whether you couldn't take Spanish courses online and then plan a little trip to Spain itself to up your chances of landing that job when you come back!There is no fixed answer to how long it takes to learn Spanish, but if you take advantage of all of the possibilities available to you, you will be on the road to learning the language as quick as possible.Find out how you can learn spanish online  or search the web for spanish lessons london!

Become a Better Guitarist

Become a Better Guitarist How to Improve Your Guitar Playing Chapters1. Warming Up is an Essential Part of Improving Your Guitar Playing2. Use a Metronome to Improve your Guitar Playing3. Play Slowly at First in Order to Improve Your Speed4. Study, Understand, and Memorise Chords in Order to Play Guitar Better5. Motivate Yourself to Become a Better Guitarist6. Regular Practice: the Best Way to Improve Your Guitar Playing7. Improve Your Playing by a Recording Yourself8. Play Without Any Accompaniment to Improve on the Acoustic Guitar9. Improve Your Guitar Technique by Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone10. Play as Part of a Band in Order to Become a Better Guitarist“Art is making something out of nothing, and selling it.” - Frank ZappaWhen you start playing the guitar, there are limitless possibilities. You're like a newborn baby who doesn't know how to walk and is learning to take their first steps.  In this case, it can be difficult to work out where to start and how to stop playing the guitar.Here are our 10 tips for becoming a better guit arist. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors1. Warming Up is an Essential Part of Improving Your Guitar PlayingWhen you play the guitar, your hands will be in positions that they're not used to being in.You need to warm up your fingers and hands before you play the guitar. (Source: KleineKiwi)To be able to comfortably play the guitar, it's a good idea to warm up first.  However, unlike when you do sports, the goal of warming up before you play the guitar isn't to avoid injury but rather improve your dexterity.Start by warming up your neck and your shoulders so that you're comfortable when playing.  The next thing you should do is warm up your arms, your hands, and your fingers with a series of circular motions with your elbows and moving your wrists as if you wanted your hands to touch them.Make sure you keep your back straight when you're playing the guitar.  5 minutes of warming up will help you feel more relaxed and improve your playing.To warm up the fingers on your left hand (if you're right-handed), there are plenty of different exercises you can do.Bit by bit, you'll see your speed and dexterity improve. You'll also see that you make more progress during a session if you've warmed up.2. Use a Metronome to Improve your Guitar PlayingEven the most beautiful chord progressions in the world will sound awful if they're not being played in time.  Being able to play in time is an important skill for any guitarist.I know it doesn't seem very glamorous playing with a metronome that's constantly clicking away, but if you want to learn how to play in time, it's essential!Practising with a metronome will ensure that you are always in time. Don't worry if you can't manage it at first. Over time, you'll get there.The goal is to get so used to playing in time that you can eventually play without a metronome. You'll start hearing the regular ticking of a metronome even when one isn't there.3. Play Slowly at First in Order to Improve Your SpeedTo get the most out of playing with a metronome, it's a good idea to start off slowly at first. You can set the tempo to whatever you want.Break down all the movements you do when playing. (Source: langll)However, if you want to improve, it's a good idea to start off slowly and work on individual phrases and master playing them at the slower tempo.You can’t play quickly if you can’t play slowly. Your brain needs to understand every little movement that you need to make in order to play the correct notes with the correct timing.If you start by playing quickly at the beginning, you'll never progress. In fact, your playing will be sloppy and you'll pick up bad habits that will be difficult to correct later on down the line.4. Study, Understand, and Memorise Chords in Order to Play Guitar BetterChords are an essential part of guitar playing.To get better at them, you should check out chord diagrams.By spending just 10 minutes a day studying your chords, you'll discover new chords and fingerings. Don't forget to go back over chords you've already studied from time to time. You'll also need to study intervals: second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.Finally, don't forget to work on your scales and their relation to different chords in order to improve your improvisation and composition. PeterGuitar Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors EdgarGuitar Teacher 5.00 (8) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PaulGuitar Teacher 5.00 (12 ) £18/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ToddGuitar Teacher 4.75 (4) £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors SamueleGuitar Teacher 5.00 (5) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KurtGuitar Teacher 5.00 (3) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RyanGuitar Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors5. Motivate Yourself to Become a Better GuitaristIf you aren't motivated, you'll never progress.  It's pretty obvious when you think about it. You're going to learn better if you actually want to learn.However, you may notice that your motivation wavers. One day you might be incredibly motivated to play the guitar and another day you couldn't care less.  Don't worry, though. This is normal. As human beings, we need stimulation in our daily lives.One thing's certain, you'll progress more quickly if you're motivated.So, you'll need to find ways to motivate yourself. Set yours elf short and long-term objectives to achieve such as discovering new music and bands, talking to other friends who are musicians, writing new songs, working on new techniques, etc.To feed your motivation, make sure that you keep things varied. This could include taking a regular guitar class, playing for your families and friends, watching films and documentaries about famous musicians you like, reading books on your favourite guitarists, etc.Just don't give up if you're not feeling motivated one day, your motivation will come back.6. Regular Practice: the Best Way to Improve Your Guitar PlayingWe often say this on Superprof but it's true, practice makes perfect.Do you really think that the world's greatest guitarists only practise once a week? (Source: Free-Photos)Whether you're learning a language, playing a sport, or learning how to play a new musical instrument, doing a little bit of practice each and every day is far more effective than doing a lot of practice once a week.Even if you can only practice for 10 minutes a day, do it! It's better than not practising and all.Ideally, you'd be able to get a break from work for half an hour to practise your guitar playing.  Don't forget to set aside some time where you'll be doing nothing or at least not playing guitar.You'll also need to give your brain time to assimilate everything you've learnt, and bit like when you put a computer on standby.To get the most out of your practice sessions, consider creating a schedule of when to practise and what to practise.Being able to see what you're working on and what you've achieved is a useful way to stay motivated and monitor your progress.7. Improve Your Playing by a Recording YourselfSometimes you need to be objective and critical of yourself in order to improve.  Recording your playing and listening back to it is a good way to see the progress you're making and highlight any errors that need correcting.Similarly, it can be useful to film yourself playing as this wi ll allow you to see any physical mistakes you're making. You can also use this for learning languages, dancing, or other performance arts.You can use this to check on your posture, your finger placement, and avoid picking up bad habits.  It's a great way to take a step back from your practice sessions and evaluate yourself in a more objective way.Some guitarists will only see the negative aspects of their playing whereas others mightn't be able to see anything wrong with what they're doing.It's important to try and place yourself between these two extremes and be aware of both the good parts and bad parts of your playing.8. Play Without Any Accompaniment to Improve on the Acoustic GuitarAs a guitarist, you might be used to playing along with the music.  You may even get the impression that you playing to the best of your abilities as if you are playing as part of the famous band.  Try playing on your own and seeing if you do really sound that good.Playing records on their own one so und exactly the same when you've got no music to back you up.As you train and practise, you can imagine yourself playing in a famous band.9. Improve Your Guitar Technique by Stepping Out of Your Comfort ZoneYou won't improve without putting the effort in.  You need to work on something that you aren't already an expert in otherwise you won't progress. It may be comforting to do something you're good at but it won't help you get better.If you really want to improve, you need to challenge yourself and stepped outside of your comfort zone.  Take a song or a guitar solo that you've dreamt of playing and break it down.Slow down the tempo and play it bit by bit, step by step, until you can play it  at full speed.  While this may take some time, research, and perseverance, it will all pay off in the end because you'll progress more quickly than if you hadn't.10. Play as Part of a Band in Order to Become a Better GuitaristFinally, our final tip for those who want to become better guitarists is to join a band.Learning with other guitarists is a good way to improve your playing. (Source: Pexels)The guitar is a great instrument to play as part of a band or as part of a group. Learning to play with other musicians, singing, creates songs, improvised, and perform shows is a great way to become a better musician.It's also a great way to motivate yourself because you never know what you're going to play or how you can improve.So are you ready to become the next Joe Satriani?If you're struggling, don't forget that private guitar lessons could help. Your guitar teacher can help you learn to play, understand music theory, and improve as a guitar player as you go from strumming a few basic chords to improvising complex jazz solos.The main advantage is that they'll tailor each guitar lesson to you. Whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or expert, they'll be able to teach you at your level with a focus on the types of music you like.In beginner guitar lessons, you can learn how to play guitar at your own pace. Once you reach the intermediate level, you can take lessons focusing on techniques specific to genres such as blues guitar and rock guitar. By the time you're an expert, your music teacher will be able to show you the best guitar techniques and how to master them.Check out even more advice for guitarists.

Top 10 Innovative Ways to Enhance Learning for Students

Top 10 Innovative Ways to Enhance Learning for Students Our educational system is vast and complex. Implementing innovations to stimulate and strengthen educational system is not simple. Here are a few innovative ways to enhance the learning in the modern age where the entities like student, tutors, institutions and parents need to move out of the confined classrooms. Project-based Tutoring: It is the way of educating students beyond the textbooks to study complex topics with real-time case study. Unlike learning from traditional book-based instructions, project-based tutoring allow students to collect information from the Internet and expert interviews. The entire curriculum can be covered into multiple projects where students can present his learning acquisition beyond the school including parents and community groups. Integrated Learning: The subjects like history, art and literature are interwoven. A student should reach across the confined boundaries in the name of subjects and explore the relationship through integrated learning. Integrated learning should allow students to learn subjects beyond the simple text and numbers to include color, graphics, animation, and music. Sharing knowledge: Teamwork among students help collaborating with team members. Each student in the team is responsible to learn the topic and deliver it to other team members. Knowledge sharing develops emotional and social skills forming valuable foundation for their lives as a wise citizen. Comprehensive Assessment: Test is an opportunity to learn from the mistakes and improve the scores. Assessment should include detailed and continuous assessment of the student strengths and weaknesses. A student, teacher and parent can monitor academic assessment and focus on improving weak areas. Intellectual and Emotional guide: With increasing curriculum, teachers can spend less time in molding student emotionally and intellectually. The teachers should be a coach or guide to take the student through the learning process. They should give attention to nurture students’ interest and self-confidence to seek any additional challenges. Sharpen Teachers’ skills Teaching skills should continually sharpen their lessons and tips from other teachers by attending seminars and conferences. They should spend time in refining their tutoring skills under the guidance of other expert teachers. Technology: Using technology smartly to modernize the curriculum, include creative tutoring methods and increase parents’ involvement. Online tutoring now includes lesson plans and classroom demonstration to educate in more productive and creative way. Software tools like interactive whiteboard, voice based training email, voice mail helps teachers, students and parents stay in close touch. Restructure Resources: Resources like facilities, time and money should be restructured. The education should not be confined to 45-minute period but should be available for help on demand. Schools should conduct camps and activities in summer vacations for teachers’ development, student activities, parenting classes and community use. Parents Involvement: The parent is the first guide when stay involved to build strong alliances with schoolwork gives motivation to the student results in better performance. Educational institutions should inform parents about their goals, importance of good performance of each child and ways to assist their child in their classroom and homework lessons. Community Partners: Educational institutions and students should partner community organization, museums, government agencies, businesses and industries to provide critical information, technology and real time experience for teachers and students. Institutions can enlist professionals who act as mentors for students and teachers.

10 Tips for Acing Your College Admissions Interview

10 Tips for Acing Your College Admissions Interview The following piece was written by Joie Jager-Hyman. Joie has been featured in ourAdmissions Expert seriesand is a former Assistant Director of Admissions for Dartmouth College. She is the founder of her own admissions consulting service, College Prep 360. While not every school offers interviews for admission, if the opportunity is presented to you, take it! Before the school year starts, research your colleges websites to see if they offer interviews. If they do, reserve your spot as soon as possible. Even if an interview isnt officially recommended, it can still be a great opportunity for students to demonstrate interest in the school and possibly compensate for any blemishes on their academic records. Whether your interviewer is a member of the admissions staff or a local alumnus, it is extremely important that you put your best foot forward. Having personally conducted scores of admissions interviews, I have compiled 10 easy tips for students to ace their interviews. The following are taken from my new book, B+ Grades, A+ College Application: 1.Bring your resume: In my experience, many interviewers will use your resume to guide the conversation for the interview and pose questions about your extracurricular activities, community service, personal interests, and so on. Discussing your resume will give you plenty to talk about and will help the time fly by.2.Familiarize yourself with current events: Thanks to the internet, it only takes a few minutes per day to peruse national newspapers like The New York Times or to stream national news on NPR. Your interviewer will expect you to have a general understanding of major headlines, so do your daily homework.3.Read outside of school: While you make time to brush up on current events, also take the time to read for your own enjoyment. Doing so will give interviewers a lot of insight into your intellectual curiosityespecially if you choose to read books outside the realm of pop culture (e.g., the Twilight series, Harry Potter).4.Know your academic interests: Chances are your inte rviewer will ask about your favorite academic subject and what you might want to study in college. Think of a class you really enjoy and be prepared to elaborate (enthusiastically) on how you would like to pursue studies in that subject area. Also, do some legwork and research online how this area is taught at your interviewers college. If you can name a course or professor that interests you, all the better!5.Reflect on your personal interests: Be prepared to shed light on personal interests or activities, such as photography or music. Even if you simply enjoy seeing photography in museums or playing music in your friends cars, be ready to talk about your passions! Your interviewer will want to know what youve learned from the time youve spent viewing or taking pictures and how you would want to pursue that activity in college.6.Show passion for a cause: Colleges are looking to admit students who will take charge and use their educations to make a positive impact on the world. This would be a great opportunity to talk about any community service efforts on your resume, but if youre not that involved, think about issues you care about and be prepared to discuss how you want to leverage your passion for those issues to make your mark on the world.7.Do your research: By interviewing, you are exhibiting a serious commitment to a particular college and your interviewer will expect you to have some familiarity with his or her school. Go beyond what it is on the colleges website and chat with a current student, or read the schools newspaper to get a sense of the major issues on campus and what the student body is like.8.Ask three questions: An interview is as much an interviewers opportunity to learn about you, as it is for you to learn more about the college and see if it is a good fit. At the end of your interview, you will likely be asked if you have any questions. Be sure to ask thoughtful, qualitative questions that you cant find the answer to online such as: H ow accessible is the faculty outside the classroom? or, What kind of research opportunities are available to underclassmen?9.Writea thank-you note: In these days of e-communication, a handwritten note makes a wonderful impression on an interviewer. You can keep it brief and just mention how you enjoyed meeting him or her, making sure to include a few highlights from your conversation.10.Practice makes perfect: While you may never have been interviewed before, you can take comfort in knowing that interviewing is a skill that you can learn through practice. Based on my tips, you now have a pretty good idea as to what interviewers will ask you, so jot down a list of questions and practice with someone you trust. Make sure you practice well in advance of your scheduled interview so that you wont feel overwhelmed with questions! Check outCollegePrep360 for more information. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

Student Experiences at the University of Texas at Austin

Student Experiences at the University of Texas at Austin Alyson earned her bachelors degree in French from the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in writing tutoring, French tutoring, and a number of other subjects. Below, she shares her experience at the University of Texas at Austin: Describe the campus setting and transportation options. Alyson: The campus has an on-campus bus that runs in a circle to help students get from one side of campus to the other. There are also public buses that run to campus from almost anywhere in the city. Lots of students have bikes, but I didnt. I had a car on campus, but never used it because the buses were so convenient. How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Alyson: The staff at UT Austin is very available. While some have walk-in hours, I always preferred to make an appointment. They all worked really well through email, too. How would you describe the dorm life rooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Alyson: I never lived in the dorms. I lived in an apartment my junior year and a house by campus my senior year. I like the freedom and independence I felt, because I thought the dorms would make me feel too constricted. Which majors/programs are best represented and supported? Alyson: UT Austin is known for its sports, as well as its business and law schools. The liberal arts programs were all very good as well. I double-majored in French and English. French was my passion, but I added English because I needed the credits to graduate. My advisor was super helpful in guiding me to choose English, and I felt supported the whole time I was at UT Austin. How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? Alyson: I didnt participate in Greek life, but it did have a nice presence on campus. I mostly spent my extra time outside of school working and studying, and I still made plenty of friends. How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services? Alyson: I didnt utilize this at UT Austin, but I know there were career fairs offered to students through the center. How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges? Alyson: UT Austin is a big campus with lots of choices for where to study or hangout. I never found spaces overcrowded, and since there were so many, I could always find somewhere to study quite easily. Describe the surrounding town. Alyson: Austin, Texas is a fantastic city with lots to do. Its very green and beautiful, so if you like nature, youll love it there. You can hike, swim, kayak, canoe, and generally never get bored. The urban side is incredible, tootons of restaurants, shopping, music venues, and festivals. Id say students go all over, but campus wasnt too far from downtown anyway. Late night buses were also available to take students to and from campus safely. How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Alyson: UT is a huge university. The lower-level classes were lecture, and would hold easily over 100 students. When you got further along in your specific major, however, the classes got much smaller and more intimate, with around 10-to-20 students. I loved the variety in class sizes. Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. Alyson: In one of my courses, I gave a presentation with a partner. The professors wife attended that day, which was unusual. My partner and I aced the presentation. It was about the Sirens chapter of Ulysses, and I remember that the professors wife came up to us after class to compliment us specifically about how impressed she was with our understanding of the subject matter. It just seemed really unique to get a compliment like that from the professors wife. I feel really lucky to have gotten to take that class, as it was the professors last one before he retired. Check out Alysons tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

What Size is a Piano

What Size is a Piano How big is a piano? Chapters What’s an Upright Piano? The Different Types of Upright Pianos How Much Does an Upright Piano Weigh? What Size is an Upright Piano? What are Differences between a Grand Piano and an Upright Piano?Regardless of the brand, the sound of any piano falling down a staircase is the stuff of nightmares for piano movers. Whether it’s a Kawai piano, Steinway Sons piano, or one of the many reasonably-priced Yamaha pianos, all piano brands tend to make hefty musical instruments.This is probably more important than you think it is.Acoustic pianos are the pianos you're probably used to seeing and there are two main types of acoustic piano: the upright piano and the grand piano. both of which, unlike digital pianos, have physical parts which require tuning by either piano technicians or a piano tuner.These instruments include hammers which strike strings, a cast iron plate, a soundboard, and keys. All these physical moving parts are what tends to make them so heavy.Do you want to buy a piano without breaking the bank? Are you just starting out or do you want to get better at playing the best pieces by Chopin, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, or Tchaikovsky?Have you seen a new piano for sale? Don't reach for your credit card before you've read some of Superprof's information.Let me first give you a quick crash course on the piano as a musical instrument:Firstly, the piano is a polyphonic stringed instrument. Polyphonic means it can play more than one note at the same time. Instruments that can't are known as monophonic.To keep things simple, we're going to call the piano a stringed instrument (because it has strings). Some argue that the piano should be considered as a percussion instrument since these strings are physically struck using hammers. If you've used pianos before, you'll know what we're talking about.The name piano  comes from the  pianoforte, the original 18th-century instrument which inspired it. The pianoforte  gets its name from its abil ity to vary the volume of the notes it produces:  This is because you can play a piano softly (piano) or loudly (forte).In addition to being able to change a notes volume, you can also change its duration. A note also be stopped by releasing the key thanks to the damper or elongated to naturally decay thanks to the sustain pedal.Anyway... As I said before, there are two main types. Let's start with the upright piano...Discover also how the piano is considered a complete instrument onto itself... LouisPiano Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AlisonPiano Teacher £32/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors BarbaraPiano Teacher £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Chi yuenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TomPiano Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ErenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ValtiePiano Teacher £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielPiano Teach er 5.00 (5) £37/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors What’s an Upright Piano?The upright piano, also sometimes known as a vertical piano, gets its name because the strings that make the sound are held within an upright (or vertical) frame. The strings in this frame are struck by the hammers which are activated by the pianist when they press down on the keys on the piano's keyboard.Only a real piano expert will know the answer. Is this an upright or a grand? (Source: JoyTunes)The upright piano also features pedals which allow the quality of the notes to be changed. These notes can be extended by using the sustain pedal to move the dampers away from the strings. This action allows the notes to continue even after the key has been released.A typical piano keyboard includes 88 keys, 36 black keys (semitones) and 52 white keys.Since the frame is upright, the strings are held vertically. This layout is quite functional if you have limited space since most upright pianos have the a dvantage of being able to be placed flush up against a wall.Upright pianos also tend to take up significantly less space than a concert or grand piano since they are smaller and have a rectangular footprint.Why does an upright piano sounds better in an apartment or smaller spaces? Because the bigger the place, the bigger the notes reverberate. A large room or a hall is far too big for these smaller pianos.Before you buy an upright piano, you should think about the different types of upright pianos there are.You may appreciate our advice on buying your first piano... The Different Types of Upright PianosThere are four main types of upright pianos. Upright pianos are divided into classes mainly on their size. However, there are also a few differences when it comes to their layout and shape, too. Here’s a brief summary of the different types of upright pianos.The SpinetThis is the smallest of the upright pianos. A spinet piano is better suited to children because it's smaller and che aper, which is great if you don't know whether they're going to continue playing.  They tend to measure less than 40 inches in height and the top of these pianos is only a few inches above the keyboard itself.These pianos are highly recommended for anyone looking for a piano to put in a small room. However, it does come with a few downsides. Generally speaking, while the spinet's sound isn't great, it does tend to be much cheaper than some of the other types of upright piano.A spinet upright piano should be perfect for your little ones. (Source: Krisztina Soos)Console PianoThe console piano is bigger than the Spinet and tends to be between 40 and 44 inches tall. Teachers and pianists find the sound quality of these types of piano to be good enough for beginners. If the sound quality of the spinet bothers you but you're on a tight budget, the console piano might be the best choice.Studio PianoA studio piano measures between 44 and 47 inches from the ground. Again, this piano is thoug ht to have a better sound quality than the two previous types and deciding upon whether to buy one depends massively on your budget.Upright PianoIf you’ve ever seen a piano before, this is probably the type you’ve seen. This is the tallest of the upright “vertical” pianos and the most common. This type of piano tends to produce the best sound of all the upright pianos. It also comes at the highest prices.Follow these guidelines to choose the piano of your dreams! LouisPiano Teacher £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors AlisonPiano Teacher £32/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors BarbaraPiano Teacher £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Chi yuenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors TomPiano Teacher £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ErenPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ValtiePiano Teacher £35/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors DanielPiano Teacher 5.00 (5) £37/h1st le sson free!Discover all our tutors How Much Does an Upright Piano Weigh?The weight is one of the biggest annoyances when it comes to buying a piano and getting it installed in your room.Pianos can weigh as much as a ship's anchor! (Source: Briztaker)An upright piano is basically a piece of furniture. It takes up a large part of any room and is very heavy.You need to think carefully about where you’d put a piano before you buy one.An upright piano tends to weight around 260lbs. Some weigh around 300lbs and there are even ones that weigh as much as 600lbs!However, an upright piano does weigh between 2 to 5 times less than a grand piano, which can weigh over 1300lbs!Before you install one in your house, you'll need to consider fitting wheels and how you’ll move it.Find out also how much a piano costs... What Size is an Upright Piano?As we said before, the size of upright pianos varies according to their type. A general rule of thumb:Spinet: 36” to 40”Console: 40” to 43”Studi o: 44” to 48”.Upright: 48”+Don’t forget to account for the space you’ll need around the piano to actually play the thing!Also make sure there is room enough for two, in case your Superprof teacher comes to your home for piano lessons...You'll need to think about where your piano will go. (Source: Stylo Reformas)If you don’t have a wall to put the piano up against, there’s no real benefit to having an upright over a grand. Don’t forget you can also get a digital piano if you have very little space.Digital pianos are a great idea if you’re short on space, live in a small apartment or studio, or don’t want to bother your neighbors. They can also be put away in a cupboard when you're not using them and played with headphones if you want to practice late at night.Discover also the accessories you will need to play your piano... What are Differences between a Grand Piano and an Upright Piano?Maybe you've already heard of upright pianos, grand pianos, baby grands, petit e grand, parlor grand, etc.How can you tell them apart if you’re an absolute beginner and are just starting to learn the instrument?The main differences between grand pianos and upright pianos are fairly simple to understand. They tend to affect the instruments playability and its sound. Here are a few things you need to know when it comes to differences between upright pianos and grand pianos:The shape of the instrument: an upright piano is far more compact than a grand since its strings are held vertically.The size of the piano: A grand piano usually requires a room of around 270ft2. Even smaller pianos require a room of at least 160ft2.The sound: Grand pianos have a more powerful sound.The mechanisms: Thanks to gravity, the hammers in a grand piano fall naturally onto the strings whereas an upright piano requires springs to stretch out the strings.The keys feel more natural and fluid on a grand piano.A grand piano has up to 98 keys and includes lower octaves than an upright.A g rand piano is more expressive than an upright.The smallest grand piano is the baby grand piano and the largest is the concert grand piano.Grand pianos are generally considered better than upright pianos thought they’re usually more expensive, too! If your heart's set on a grand piano, you should probably be looking at a used piano. Don't forget you'll need to pay for regular piano tuning, too!Some pianists learn basic tuning in the course of their online piano lessons.There's no golden rule, though! Remember that a high-quality upright piano can be better than a low-quality grand piano and that an expensive violin would still sound terrible if played by an amateur! The best piano in the world mightn't be the best piano for you!Ask your piano teacher or a sales assistant at the piano store about the best acoustic pianos.Find out more about piano accessories!Search for piano lessons on Superprof.

What are the new features on the Virtual Writing Tutor

What are the new features on the Virtual Writing Tutor Hooray! The BRAND NEW version of the (now) award-winning Virtual Writing Tutor is finally here. It has taken almost a year to add new features and update the code, but it is finally ready. It is a whole lot faster, and there are some very cool new features, too. So, what’s new? Self-scoring IELTS Academic Writing Tasks 1. Try each of the 5 self-scoring academic writing test tasks. The VWT automatically scores your essay on the IELTS 9-band scale. It’s experimental, but it represents a breakthrough in the provision of formative feedback and the use of artificial intelligence for the VWT. It employs what I call Latent Essay Feature Analysis (LEFA) and Model Essay Proximity Scoring (MEPS). Simply put, it uses high-scoring model essays to evaluate a students essay. How? First we extract and measure a range of latent features from a model essay,: the organization, cohesion devices, vocabulary choice, and writing quality. Those measurements are stored in the database as a series of targets. When a student submits an essay on the same topic, it measures those same features and generates a proximity score. How close is the submitted essay to the ideal essay? The feedback and band scores tell you how close you are to the ideal. Self-Scoring Pen Pal Exchange 2. You can set up a pen pal exchange so that students can get meaningful practice developing their basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) while communicating with pen pals in the same class, in the next class, in another college, or at a university on the other side of the planet. Tasks are self-scoring, and it’s 100% secure because the teacher decides who can join the exchange. Learn how to set up your own pen pal exchange. Hypertext Narrative Creator 3. The Hypertext Narrative Creator has been completely updated with Node.js. It is super-fast now! Students can create a Choose Your Own Adventure interactive story and export it to a blog using HTML, JQuery, or an iFrame. Students who create a hypertext narrative for their ESL course benefit from the automatic summary of field-related vocabulary use, target structure use, error count, and count of the number of sections and images in the HTN. Teachers can use the automatically generated feedback to inform their evaluation of students hypertext narratives. Essay Outliner 4. The VWT Essay Outliner guides students through the essay outlining process of opinion, argument, and prioritized list essays. By answering questions and filling the blanks, the student can learn to outline as a skill. The system generates and stores essay outlines for the student to print or modify. The Virtual Writing Tutor Blog 5. Visit the blog for free stuff and ideas. I announce new features, discuss research that interests me, and give away English Second Language learning materials that I have created, share glossaries, and IELTS and TOEFL resources. Check out the free board games and card games. Essay Exchange Forum 6. Post essays to the forum to get feedback from the community. When I have time, I give feedback on the essays posted there. Active community members also give feedback. Feedback and Texts 7. Review your feedback and links and recover the texts you checked in the past. When logged-in members check their writing for errors, the system keeps a copy of their text and their feedback from the grammar checker. Error Correction Games 8. Play a correction game with errors from your own essays. The ultimate review activity! When you check your text, the system isolates and saves sentences with errors to your profile. Then, you can practice correcting your sentences at random. In fact, there is a second error correction game you can play with over 1000 random sentences I have collected. Word Counter 9. Count your words. It is not complicated. The system counts your words, sentences and paragraphs. You can get encouraging messages from Voot, our friendly little robot, too. Just turn up your volume and click on him. Grammar Check 10. Check your grammar. I keep adding rules to detect common errors that I find in my students writing and in forum posts. People seem to like what it can do. Check out these grammar checker testimonials. Check Sentence 11. Check your sentence length, variability, and the strength of your claims. Varying sentence length makes writing seem more dynamic. Punctuation Checker 12. Check only your punctuation. Sometimes, you just want to know if your commas are in the right place, if you have avoided run-on sentences, and if you have a comma splice that needs fixing, right? Use the punctuation checker for that. Essay Checker 13. Essays need to be checked carefully for a range of potential essay writing problems. There is a lot to learn about good essay writing. Here is some step-by-step essay writing advice if your are interested. In the meantime, the system will check your essay for the following: · Sophistication Vocabulary profileAcademic vocabulary profileLexical density · Writing skill CohesionSentence length and varianceEmotional engagementArgument strength · Tone check Cliché checkConversational vocabulary checkExclamation check · Grammar check Grammar, spelling and punctuation checkError analysis · Length Paragraph count250-word minimum350-word minimum450-word minimum700-word minimum · Task success IELTS Academic Writing Task-2 Rubric TOEFL Independent Writing Rubric 14. Check your writing for the following: · Vocabulary profile · Cohesion · Sentence length and variability · Grammatical errors Essay Scoring Rubrics 15. Use rubrics to score and a voice recorder to score and comment on a student’s or a peer’s essay. The system allows you to coach instead of just correct. Vocabulary Checker 16. Check the sophistication of your general vocabulary and academic vocabulary. Paraphrase Checker 17. Avoid plagiarism by checking your paraphrase against the original. The system scores your paraphrase and lets you know if you need to paraphrase some more. Target Structure Checker 18. Check a text to see if it contains a list of target structures. Three settings allow for case-sensitive, case-insensitive, and lemmatized target structure checks (which means any conjugated or derivations of base forms). Cohesion Check 19. Check your text for cohesion words: coordinators, subordinators, and transition words. Checking for these words will help to determine how cohesive the text is. Transition words are organized into functional categories. Bar graphs show which transitions you are using the most and which you have neglected to use. Dictionary 20. Look up words in the Cambridge dictionary. Samples 21. Test the system with a sample of a first-person text. 22. Test the system with a sample academic opinion essay text. Spell Checker 23. Check your spelling. Speech Recognition 24. Use speech recognition instead of typing. Text to Speech 25. Hear the text-to-speech pronunciation of your text. This useful when preparing for orals, especially when your oral has words with silent letters in them. There is no reason for students to mispronounce a word again. Text-to-Speech MP3 Download 26. Download an MP3 of the text-to-speech pronunciation of your text. Use it to rehearse for an oral. Download the DOC file 27. Download your text as an MS Word document. Please follow and like us:

Chaos at the Istanbul Pride March

Chaos at the Istanbul Pride March Image via Philip Host My flatmate’s voice sounded worried as he prepared to leave for the Istanbul LGBT Pride Parade. It was a little after two and the parade would not begin until five, but he told me that he was leaving early; the police had deployed armored water-cannon vehicles known as TOMA around Taksim square, where the parade was supposed to begin. Preparations for Pride Week had kept him extremely busy in the preceding days and today he had an air of resolve, or perhaps resignation to whatever the coming hours might bring. As he walked out the door I half-jokingly reassured him that there would be a lot more of us than them and he responded with something between a smile and a grimace. I arrived at Taksim Square a little before five o’clock. The atmosphere was jovial, but confused. Police had formed a barrier across Istiklal Caddesi, a huge pedestrian street down which the parade was supposed to proceed. As I pondered the situation a nasty itch grew in my lungs and I began to cough. Soon I noticed that the people around me were coughing too. I realized that the burning was tear gas and as I saw the panic in the eyes of nearby protesters a proportional fear began to swell in me. We surged away from its source and it quickly dissipated, leaving us to wonder why they had deployed so little gas so early. Later I would be thankful for that small introductory dose. The parade started off at 5:00 p.m. as scheduled, but instead of heading down Istiklal it wound its way through the smaller streets of the surrounding neighborhood. I did not know at the time that the parade had been banned only minutes earlier by the Istanbul governors office, but it was clear from the start that the parade would not end without incident. Police separated the parade into segments, shouting at some protesters to move back and driving others forwards. This did nothing to quell the noise or excitement. At many points the parade’s progress stalled, but its energy continued to boil. Colorful signsâ€"mostly in Turkish but frequently in Kurdish, Arabic, or Armenianâ€"and rainbow banners waved and billowed, or were thrust into the air and held steadily and proudly; the streets were packed and the chants, cheers, and whistles could be deafening. Shopkeepers stood in their doorways and the windows up above were speckled with onlookers. My standards may be low, but their lack of visible disgust was frankly moving; here, together, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people could walk down the street and, as the name implies, feel a rare sense of pride and belonging, even approval from the people around them. We marched on for some time; the police mostly looked on as gay and lesbian couples kissed atop cars that drove along with the parade and rainbow flags were launched into trees. Then, as we mounted one of Istanbul’s many hills, a panicked mass of protesters came rushing back to meet us. There was a long moment of confusionthe necessity to act coupled with an electrifying sense of anticipationand then thick white gas was billowing ahead and behind, and people were knocking one another out of the way as they tried to scatter into one of the many side-alleys. My eyes burned and ran and I hopelessly tried to cough out the fiery gas; I was grateful when a door opened and allowed us to stream in. I found myself in bar newly packed with coughing and gasping protesters. I made my way upstairs and realized that I was lucky to have been on the fringe of the gas; one girl, who may have had asthma, was holding a wet cloth to her throat and struggling to breathe. But the coughs changed to bursts of coughing laughter, grins, and sudden camaraderie. Somebody switched on the news; we cheered as we watched an opposition parliament member mount a TOMA in protest to the crackdown, and we collectively drew a sharp breath when a water cannon blasted one protester off of his feet. The bar did great business that day and despite a good deal of head-shaking a wild, almost manic elation filled the room. One of my professors later described it as “the thrill of overcoming your initial fear” and to that I can only add a certain fatalistic elation in knowing that the police brutality only further validated the LGBT cause. When it comes to politics in Turkey, everyone is a conspiracy theorist to some degree and as we sat in that bar we began to discuss all the possible motives for banning and then attacking the parade. The official reason for the ban was that it took place during the holy month of Ramadan. But due to close ties between the police and Turkey’s leading party, the conservative Justice and Development Party (acronym AKP), many suspected that the latter group played a large role in the crackdown. (Paranoia is justified surprisingly often in Turkish politics, and connections between parties and sections of government are not altogether uncommon; the Turkish military, for example, is widely known to be secularist and much more closely aligned with Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP, to the point where there is perennial discussion as to what level of AKP overreach might provoke a military coup.) Indeed, the pride parade did not consist solely of LGBT people, or even LGBT supportersâ€"many were there simply to protest the AKP; one Kurdish man confided to me that he did not particularly care for LGBT people but that as long as they supported Kurds, he would support them. No doubt the AKP had a vested interest in dispersing this coalition of its enemies. But later many people, including a professor of mine, ascribed a cleverer motive to the party. A recent election substantially reduced the AKP’s power and made a coalition government necessary. Coalitions are notoriously unstable, and many opponents of the AKP suspect that the AKP are deliberately fueling chaos in order to sell the benefits of a strong, central leadershipâ€"naturally led by the AKP themselves. Of course few if any protesters would deny that simple homophobia played a large role. Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but it is taboo. Nevertheless, pride parades have been occurring annually, without incident, since 2003. Back in the bar, a woman at the door gave us an all-clear and I left with two Kurdish students whom I had been chatting with for some time. The street was littered with abandoned signs and banners. I picked up a rainbow flag which was almost immediately confiscated by a group of officers. But when we got to Istiklal it was clear that the parade had only been fragmented, not stopped altogether; bands of rainbow-clad protesters cheered and whistled their way up and down the street, drawing cheersâ€"and occasional detractionâ€"from lookers-on. The parade gradually transformed into a number of street parties, all of which were eventually dispersed by gas or water cannon. Then the partiers would regroup; they would dance, cheer and sing till gas set them to panicked flight. I went home late and was still giddy and excited as I began to draw up this article. My flatmate came home much later and I happily asked him how he had enjoyed the parade. One look at his face brought me back down to earth. Where I had seen defiance, camaraderie, and reckless, laughing abandon in the name of human rights he had seen oppression and degradation, an attempt to drive LGBT people into the shadows, a societal disgust that the LGBT community should have the audacity to assert their existence. He did not go to work the next day. Instead, he went with friends to help them file claims for physical and psychological injuries inflicted by police attacks.