Tongue Twisters Give Power!

Why are there Tongue Twisters? This question may pop out from your mind whenever you encounter some.

When I was still a student, I’ve had lots of tongue twisters in my English classes; at first, I didn’t know their importance, because I was annoyed of reading words that rhyme and don’t even understand their meanings.

When I started teaching piano, voice and (especially) English, it was then I realized the importance of Tongue Twisters and how they can polish areas - specifically pronunciation.

Here are some reasons why Tongue Twisters are helpful:
1.Your concentration will be practiced and improved.
2.You understand what the tongue twisters tell you; they have meanings and stories to
tell.
3.You get to polish and master the sounds of each letter or combined letters.
4.You get to remember and the sounds in your mind because of the rhymed words.
5.You familiarize where to put stress in each word.
6.You’ll know the importance of punctuation marks, as they also play a big part in
English.
7.You differentiate letters and words that sound alike, but totally different to each
other.
8.To test and speed up your quickness in thinking and speaking.

Although some tongue twisters are grammatically incorrect, but their main objective is to practice and remember the sounds. Still, we follow the rules in Part of Speech and in English as a whole.

So, let’s practice! I attached some Tongue Twisters below:
- When a doctor falls ill another doctor doctor's the doctor. Does the doctor doctoring the doctor doctor the doctor in his own way or does the doctor doctoring the doctor doctors the doctor in the doctor's way?

- I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much.

- I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.

English as Our Second and Universal Language

This is John (his English name), one of my students who is already fluent in English at a young age. He has English classes (including English classes in school) to enhance his skills in English, because he has plans to study and have his Bachelor's Degree in US.

Reliable Internet Connections for Home-based Jobs

With this fast-changing and high-tech world, people have now the options on how to earn money in most convenient ways.

There are lots of home-based online jobs. Here in the Philippines, since we Filipinos take English as our second language, we make use of it. Most home-based online jobs in the Philippines are teaching English, article writing, blogging, virtual assistant, managing accounts, turn your house into a home-based call center and a lot more!

But these jobs wouldn’t be possible without the help of the reliable DSL internet connection. I’m having online jobs and I really need a stable internet connection to keep my jobs. My internet connection at home is PLDT My DSL; I also have back-up internet connection thru Sun USB Broadband - in cases of blackouts.

My bosses and clients are depending on my services, that’s why I also depend on my internet providers to keep me going!

Online English Teaching - Very Promising!

Teaching English online has become common here in the Philippines. The main clients are from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and other neighbor countries in Asia. Filipinos are non-native speakers in English, but we have become so familiar with English, because English is the medium of instruction in schools – from Primary to Tertiary and we also take English as our second major language (next to Tagalog).

Teaching Online (station base) can also be considered working in a Call Center (but not into sales), because of its literal nature of the job (same as in Call Center jobs) - to make and take calls. It has also become the source of income for students who need part time job and professionals who want to use their spare time and earn extra.

Teaching English Online has 2 categories for teachers’ convenience:
1. Station Base – Teachers teach English online using the facilities provided by the center / company; from computer sets, internet connection and snacks. Teachers from this category must be in the center at least 15 minutes before the first class; so if the center is quite far from your house, you need to leave earlier and estimate the travel time to the center – to avoid tardiness.
2. Home Base – Teachers stay at the comforts of their homes; they should provide their own computer sets, DSL internet connection (at least 1 mbps) and must teach in a quiet area at home – free from the disturbances of housemates, vehicle sounds and dog-barking noise.

Although teaching English online is not that stressful compared to other Call Center jobs, but it still requires attentiveness, punctuality, creativity, sensitivity, confidence and most of all – teaching skills.

Here are some of the tips to become an effective English teacher.
- English skills should be very good or excellent.
- Very good teaching skills lead to having more and regular students.
- Be a good manager of your time - If you have straight classes, make sure that you
are able to open and close each class gracefully; manage your time wisely and
wrap-up the lessons well.
- Be Informative to your students – learning English from other countries is
expensive, so they should learn a lot from you – because you are paid to do so. Be
updated always with the current events and happenings internationally and you must
always have opinions on each topic being discussed in class.
- Multitasking is must – you should be able to talk to the students while typing,
doing the corrections, presenting your lesson plans, etc - without noticing that
you are doing more than 1 tasks.
- Touch typing is always an advantage – if you don’t need to look for the letters on
the computer, then it saves much time and less pressures.
- Be a friend - if students find you nice and friendly, they want to have you some more in class.
It should always be a two-way success: You earn and students learn! ^_^

Stylist Wanna Be

I love to make new styles with my It Girl, a.k.a. online doll. These are just some of the styles I did. Hmm, I might change my career to being a stylist huh! well, who knows... why not?! wink!

Certified IT GIRL fanatic!

One day, I was so bored to death at work, I logged in to my Facebook (FB) account (to read news feed) to at least ease the boredom I feel, but I got bored even more. I browsed some games while killing the time 'til my log-off-time from work. I came across of the game "It Girl" that really caught my attention until I was hooked for hours, days and months. Actually, I was the first one to play "It Girl" in the office, until I got everyone so addicted of the game. hehe

Playing "It Girl" is somewhat the same as having a Barbie doll - virtual doll that is. You can do a lot to your It girl - from changing her clothes and hair styles to attending parties to earn money for shopping from different fashion capitals like New York, Los Angeles, Paris and London. You can even buy a car for your It Girl and choose a boyfriend for her from the circles of dashing debonair gentlemen.

When I was young, I had dolls but they only had a few clothes. So I really didn't get the chance to do styling for them. The game "It Girl" tickles my creativity in styling; although I'm not a professional (yet), but I'm still taking baby steps, and who knows, I might take it professionally in the future. why not?! wink

And, I want to share some of the styles I made for my It Girl doll. I hope you like them; let me know what do you think... =)