Text Types in Three Main Genres

Learning text types is presented as the main subject in English lesson for high school students. Most of the time during their time in high school, the students focus their attention to text types with each generic structure and what language used to construct the texts varying to each other. That generic structure and language features which are commonly found different from one text to another is used based on the purpose of each genres.

Text types in the three main genres which must be studied in high school specially designed for graduate competences standard (SKL) are:
NARRATION
This narrative genre includes narrative, recount, and news item. All these text types in narrative genres composed to tell and inform.
DESCRIPTION
The texts which include in descriptive genres are report, descriptive, and explanation. These text genres are written to describe. They tend to use words with describing sense and not telling
ARGUMENTATION
Argumentative genres will cover analytical exposition, hortatory exposition and discussion. These text types explore reason to answer the question "why" and "how".

To enlarge our knowledge, texts are defined into three main genres which slightly different from the above classification referring to the high school graduate competences standard. According to nationalstrategies, the tree main genres which show the text types distinctions are as follow:
1. NARRATIVE which includes adventure, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, dilemma stories, dialogue, myths, legends, fairy tales, and fables.
2. NON-FICTION which accommodates discussion texts, explanatory texts, instructional text, persuasion texts, non-chronological reports and recounts.
3. POETRY which refers to free verse, visual poems and structured poems.

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How to Improve Reading Comprehension

The Purpose of Reading.

The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know. If you don't know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like pouring water into your hand. You don't retain much

The Purpose of Reading.

The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know. If you don't know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like pouring water into your hand. You don't retain much
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Business Presentations & Public Speaking in English

A presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that "presents" ideas or information in a clear, structured way. People are sometimes afraid of speaking in public, but if you follow a few simple rules, giving a presentation is actually very easy.


This tutorial guides you through each stage of giving a presentation in English, from the initial preparation to the conclusion and questions and answers. This tutorial is itself set out like a mini-presentation. You can follow it logically by starting at the Introduction and then clicking on the link at the foot of each page, or you can jump direct to the section you want from the list of contents on each page.

1. Introduction

2. Preparation

3. Equipment

4. Delivery

5. Language

6. The Presentation

7. Review

8. Test

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e-Learning Reloaded: Top 50 Web 2.0 Tools for Info Junkies, Researchers & Students

There's a reason why the Web is called the information superhighway-it's full of seemingly limitless resources for learning and research. And with the advent of Web 2.0, harnessing this information has never been easier. These are some of the best tools for organizing, citing, searching, and more online.



Organization

With all of the information available online, it's hard to keep track, but these tools will help you stay together.

1. RSS: For ongoing publications, you can subscribe to syndicated feeds and get updates every time there's new information.
2. Backpack: Backpack does what it sounds like it does-it keeps all of your stuff like notes, lists, ideas, calendar, and more all in one handy place.
3. Remember the Milk: Create a checklist for your project, stay on top of assignments, and more with this handy to-do app.
4. Google Docs and Spreadsheets: Keep all of your documents online, and even collaborate with peers using this tool from Google.
5. Google Notebook: Add clips, organize your notes, and even access your notes from your mobile phone with Google Notebook.
6. openonmy: Store files up to 1GB so that you can research and save information from anywhere with an Internet connection.
7. ThinkFold: Create outlines that can be shared and collaborated in realtime using ThinkFold.
8. Bubbl.us: Use this mind mapping tool to get your thoughts in order.
9. Flowchart: Create charts to organize your thoughts or notes with this neat tool.
10. Connotea: Designed for researchers, clinicians and scientists, this reference management tool is great for organizing and sharing references.
11. Google Calendar: Stay on top of assignment deadlines and more with this calendar. You can even add publicly-available calendars, like school schedules and more.
12. Zotero: Use this handy extension to collect, manage, and cite your research sources right from your browser.
13. Netvibes: Use Netvibes as your go-to page for collecting RSS feeds, and for jumping off points for research.
14. Notecentric: Using Notecentric, you can not only organize your notes online, but also share them with your classmates.

Bookmarks & Citation

Stay on top of references and generate bibliographies using these neat tools.

15. Yahoo! Bookmarks: Yahoo's bookmark tool makes it easy to organize with folders, utilize the drag and drop functionality, and more.
16. Diigo: Diigo makes it easy to highlight, clip, and sticky-note right on a web page.
17. Notefish: Put all of your web research in one simple page with Notefish.
18. Qipit: Take a photo of notes and documents, and this service will turn it into a readable, taggable document.
19. BibMe: Enter books, websites, journals, and other sources into this tool, and it will automatically create a bibliography for you. They'll even let you choose between different formats.
20. Clipmarks: Clip out important pieces of the web using this neat app.
21. Del.icio.us: Use del.icio.us to organize your bookmarks online, and access them easily with tags.
22. Google Bookmarks: With Google Bookmarks, you can keep track of sites and add your own searchable notes to them.
23. Wizlite: Highlight the Internet like it's paper, then share it with your classmates or colleagues.
24. MyStickies: This awesome sticky note app allows you to put post-its on your desktop, or perhaps most importantly for researchers, on specific web pages.

Communication

Get connected with experts, classmates, and colleagues using these tools.

25. ConceptShare: If you're working on a group project, this tool is great for collaboration. Because it's web based, this tool is particularly ideal for long-distance group members.
26. LinkedIn: This professional networking tool is great for research. You can find experts in specific industries and even ask questions for the community to answer.
27. SpeakLike: Forget about language barriers, and use this chat application that will translate between two languages simultaneously.
28. Campusbug: This cool community has loads of useful tools, like flashcards, a bibliography generator, rapid learning, and a question bank.
29. NoteMesh: Using NoteMesh, you can share your notes with classmates whether they're right next to you in class or on the other side of the world.

Money and Numbers

Whether you're figuring out student loans or deciding how much to charge for your research, these tools can help out.

30. Instacalc: This calculator will do just about anything you want it to, and you can save links for later reference.
31. Prosper: Find the money you need to pay for school on this peer-to-peer loan site.
32. Calcoolate: With this cool calculator, you can do calculations, save your calculating history, and even replace your Windows calculator with the app.
33. Wesabe: This dashboard has it all, with advice, accounting tools, and more.

Search Tools

Use these tools to find the information you're looking for.

34. trueknowledge: Get answers to your questions from this search engine built on knowledge.
35. CiteULike: Find academic papers on this site using their easy search and tags.
36. ChaCha: Use this human-powered search engine to find what you need. You can even use a live guided search with a real person who will ask you questions to find exactly what you want.
37. PennTags: Search through this user-created catalog to find articles and other references.
38. Footnote: Use this tool, and you'll get access to millions of original documents from archives to shoeboxes.
39. SiteTradr: Find sites that are ranked socially by the education community on SiteTradr.
40. Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a great repository of information, both as an end point or a place to get started.

Learning

Learn how to do just about anything with these collaborative sites.

41. Instructables: Find out how to do just about anything, with pictures, on this instruction site.
42. BookRags: Find guides, lesson plans and more on BookRags.
43. College-Cram: College-Cram offers "social learning," with resources, study groups, and more.
44. eHow: In this community, you'll learn how to do everything from sneaking your child into a gifted program to creating a scavenger hunt.
45. Edublogs: See what instructors are saying and check out blogged classes on Edublogs.
46. TutorLinker: Get one-on-one guidance with a tutor from this site.
47. AnswerU: Ask a question, or look up old ones on this student-governed Q&A site.
48. MIT OpenCourseWare: Some colleges offer free courses, but MIT is the Queen Mother of them all with 1,800 courses to choose from.
49. SuTree: Get community knowledge with video lessons from all over the web.
50. wikiHow: In this collaborative writing project, you can get and share knowledge on more than 30,000 articles.

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How What You Wear Affects What You Accomplish as a Teacher

Wouldn't everyone prefer to wear sweatshirts and flip-flops to work?

When you are a school teacher, such luxuries are completely out of the question. Our young students, their parents, our administrators, and the greater community all need to trust us to be mature, professional, capable, and competent.

Like it or not, our outer appearance is their first indicator of these inner characteristics.

Here are some of the factors that go into choosing your teacher attire:

* Comfort
* Professionalism
* Individual Personality

More specifically, use the following guidelines when assembling your teaching wardrobe:

* Loose-fitting and well-tailored is best. - If you're a curvaceous womanly woman, avoid clingy tops and rump-hugging bottoms in favor of less distracting clothing. Gym-loving men might want to avoid muscle tees, too.
* Stay stylish, but not too much so. - You want to appear "with it" but you don't need to blindly follow every passing fad to a fault. A teeny-bopper persona is not a wise one to cultivate when dealing with parents who hope you're wise and responsible as you guide their young and impressionable children. Look for the classic in your closet or head to the mall for the old standards you still need. Men - dress pants and tucked-in button-downs are best.
* Some people say avoid sleeveless. - It's a personal preference, perhaps, but I've heard it suggested that sleeveless is too casual for the classroom. Consider sleeves for a more put-together and adult look.
* If you're young, be extra careful. - No ageism here, just realism. It's likely that you are pre-judged as lacking teaching experience and hey, it's probably true, right? If you are just starting out or look particularly young, take steps to make your appearance more mature. This goes for men as well as women. In the age of botox and obsession with youth, this might sound counter-intuitive, but teaching is one profession where a youthful look does not always inspire initial confidence; that is until your kick-ass teaching chops show them what's really underneath your youthful exterior!
* Makeup is not necessarily your friend. - Believe me, I wish I could wear lots of colorful cosmetic looks to school. That's me when I'm at home. But a peacock's palette on your lovely face is not exactly classroom-appropriate. Save the more daring hues for home.
* For shoes, comfort is king. - Avoid trendy too-high heels and opt for sensible flats that can last all day. For the most part, tennies are out, but maybe for field trips or Jog-a-thon day, you could get away with it.

* Leave the bling at home. - K-6 teaching is a messy job. Don't chance an accident or the loss of meaningful jewelry. Simple, classic, and minimal are the key words here. Men - this might go even more so for you.

These general tips should set you off on the right track as a teacher - putting your best foot forward and earning respect right off the bat.

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Characteristics of English

Your learning efforts will be more effective if you have an overview of the language you are working with. That's why we have put together a number of features characterizing the English language. In some aspects we compare English against German to better illustrate -- you might want to compare these features with your mother tongue:


# English is a very compact language. The average English word for example is shorter than its German equivalent. That's because English verbs, nouns and adjectives don't have endings. But don't forget the Present Tense that has the letter "s" for the third person as in "he speaks". Also, there are many more English words containing only 3 or 4 letters than in the German language for example.

# In English there is no "Du" or "Sie" form -- an idiomatic pitfall that causes non-Germans as much trouble as the appropriate use of the formal "Sie" and the chummy "Du" when addressing people.

# There is almost no declension and no conjugation in the English language which makes it much easier for someone who is learning the language to form simple sentences that are grammatically correct.

# There are 19 German equivalents to the possessive adjective "your".

# There is only one definite article in the English language whereas in German there are three.

# Most words in English have several meanings. This can be an advantage for learners as you can convey different meanings using the same word in a different context. On the other hand this might cause confusion especially for beginners.

# In English all nouns are spelled with small letters. Exceptions are:

* proper names
* the days of the week
* the personal pronoun "I"
* the names of the months
* titles, positions and greetings such as Mr, Mrs, Dr, Director of Marketing, CEO, etc.


# The English language contains a lot of homophones. These are words that have the same pronunciation but are spelled differently. Of course they have different meanings.

Examples: meet/meat/, by/buy/bye, son/sun, waste/waist, through/threw, write/right, our/hour, then/than, here/hear...

You probably have made your own observations about the English language. Please feel free to contact us if you feel that something is missing here. Thanks.

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