How To Learn To Speak Spanish

By Dean Novosat


Spanish is a great language to learn - easy and widely used in the world and hence, knowing it would definitely be an advantage for you. The best way to learn to speak Spanish is to speak Spanish. Are you surprised? You should not be. Actually, the very effort of trying to speak Spanish would force you to look for the relevant words - and this is the way you would remember them as well.

Of course, you would need to have a structured teaching plan to study the language as well. At the same time, right from the beginning you should speak the language. As you would struggle to find the right words you would identify these words and remember these words – hence, you would advance much faster in your mastery over the language. Usually, people who are learning a new language limit themselves to the exercises that the course provides and then forget about it.

Speaking Is Learning

The regular norms would dictate that you have a given structure to learn Spanish lesson by lesson that would be spread over the time of the course – this could be one month, three months or six months as per your choice. This course would teach you step by step grammar, vocabulary and Spanish expressions so you could be able to converse fluently in the time span of the course.

However, when you try to speak you would double the efforts in finding the right words and expressions halving the time you would need to master the language. This is because when you want to speak, you would definitely want to be understood and hence, you would make extreme efforts to find the correct words and the right grammatical application in sentence use.

How Do You Use The Speaking Method

How do you use the speaking method? With whom should you speak the language as you are learning it? Find a person who knows Spanish – this could be a friend, your tutor, or Spanish friends online. You would need to identify such a person or persons who could speak (speak not chat) with you daily. While you dialogue you would be able to listen to vocalization of expressions, pick up the right accent and catch new words. At the same time, you would be forced to search for the right words to converse.

The rule should be that no English words should be used. In this manner you would be compelled to seek the closest possible words to convey what you want to communicate. You would also have the opportunity of learning on your feet because you would be corrected while you speak. This is the most effective way of learning because the instant feedback would be an excellent guide for you.

Speak And Write Spanish

As you learn to speak Spanish use the same friends to correspond in writing. Putting your thoughts in writing is the next step in mastering a language. When you feel that you have learnt just enough to verbalize your thoughts into Spanish, apply it to writing. This is another great way of upgrading your vocabulary and mastery over the language.

Apply this method and you would find that learning to speak Spanish is not as difficult as you would have thought. Have fun!

Learn to Speak and Write Chinese by Chatting Online

By Craig Batts


When I tell people that I speak and write fluent Chinese, they usually respond, "That's impossible. Isn't Chinese the hardest language in the world?" I tell them that one thing makes Mandarin Chinese easy to learn: there are so many people to practice with!

China has probably already surpassed the US in Internet usage. One estimation says that around 200 million people in China are on the 'net (that's more surfers than the US, but still only 1/6 of the Chinese population). Many of these Chinese Internet surfers are curious about the outside world, and eager to make friends with foreigners. All you need is a place to meet online.

Once you find Chinese friends, learning the language is a breeze. Since English is a required class through High School in China, the first barrier to communication is gone. If you are willing to help each other out, perhaps agreeing to split your chatting time half-and-half English and Chinese, you'll both be improving your language skills.

Chinese writing is one of the hardest barriers to crack when learning the Chinese language. However, don't worry about learning brush strokes and calligraphy—this is the Internet age. Most people use Pinyin, which is essentially the English alphabet, to input Chinese characters on their computer on a normal keyboard. It's just a matter of remembering how to spell the words, and Pinyin is much simpler than English spelling! For example, type "ni hao" and the two Chinese characters meaning "Hello!" will show up. Most computers already have this input method installed as an option.

Recognizing characters is even easier, especially when you see them used in conversation. There are hundreds of dictionary websites where you can copy and paste Chinese characters, and see the meaning and pronunciation. Chinese characters are designed to be memorable, with different parts to indicate both meaning and pronunciation. It's not as hard as it looks! And if you have any questions on the meaning of a character, ask someone online. Finally, if you don't feel like learning any characters, just chat in Pinyin (writing Chinese with the English alphabet) and you can concentrate on conversation skills, vocabulary, and cultural exchange.

Learn A Foreign Language - Read And Write Or Speak And Listen?

By Richard J Graham


Some people make the mistake of thinking "Oh, I'm going to learn a foreign language, let's learn what all those funny Chinese or Japanese symbols mean!".

Now this usually is quite fun, but is it how you learnt to speak English? Were your parents putting pens and papers in the hands of their wonderful newborn or were they going "coo, coo, coo, isn't she cute?

The chances are that before you even thought about reading or writing, you had several thousand hours of listening and probably quite a few hours of speaking practice behind you.

But what about today? How much of your daily conversation is speaking / listening and how much is reading / writing? What do you think? Well, you're most probably reading this article now and you've probably read a fair few emails & blogs today, but usually around %90 of your daily communication is speaking and listening. Try and count it and see!

That's why if you want to learn a language, forget the reading and writing, start by listening and speaking!

Now there do tend to be two groups of thought on this issue. People like me who think that listening and speaking are more important tend to be really good at listening and speaking but really bad at reading and writing. People who think that reading and writing are more important are usually really good at those, but hopeless when you ask them a question on the street.

The question is, which would you rather be, someone who can read the newspaper and write a beautiful letter, or someone who can chat with anyone they meet over a coffee or beers?

Send Your Kids To Summer Camp and Write It Off

By Richard Chapo


If you paid someone to care for a child so you could work, you may be able claim a tax credit for child and dependent care expenses on your federal income tax return. This credit is available to people who, in order to work or to look for work, have to pay for child care services for dependents under age 13.

The credit is a percentage, based on your adjusted gross income, of the amount of work-related child and dependent care expenses you paid to a care provider. The credit can range from 20 to 35 percent of your qualifying expenses, depending upon your income.

For 2004, you may use up to $3,000 of the expenses paid in a year for one child or $6,000 for two or more children. These dollar limits must be reduced by the amount of any dependent care benefits provided by your employer that you exclude from your income.

To claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses, you must meet the following conditions:

1. You must have earned income from wages, salaries, tips or other taxable employee compensation, or net earnings from self-employment. If you are married, both you and your spouse must have earned income, unless one spouse was either a full-time student or was physically or mentally incapable of self-care.

2. The payments for care cannot be paid to someone you can claim as a dependent or to your child who is under age 19.

3. Your filing status must be single, head of household, qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child, or married filing jointly.

4. The care must have been provided for one or more qualifying persons identified on the form you use to claim the credit.

5. Your children must reside with you.

What is a “qualifying” child? The child must have been under age 13 when care was provided and you must be able to claim the child as an exemption on your tax return. A spouse who is mentally or physically unable to care for himself or herself also qualifies.

You should read IRS publication 503 or speak with a tax professional to learn more. Still, it is nice to know you can write off those swimming lessons.

Stop Struggling and Write Your Article - Part II

By David Roddis


Don’t let overwhelm hold you back— follow this expert advice and start writing your promotional article today.

In Part 1, I talked about the importance of planning and structuring your article. Here are three more essential steps to help you make sure your article is ready to go.

4. Avoid clichés (like the plague). As in, clichéd language, clichéd advice, and clichéd topics. To refresh your memory, a cliché is anything that's over-used, banal, or tired. It's anything we've all heard 1,000 times before and hoped we'd never hear again.

Some typical examples of overworked expressions (and there are thousands):

... bring you up to speed, at the end of the day, since time immemorial, chilled to the bone, a gleam in his eye, her heart leapt into her mouth, a level playing field, when all is said and done, on the same page ...

Clichéd language can be fixed with a good edit. First, determine whether you really need that phrase. If you do, express the concepts in ordinary terms. So, for "see if we’re on the same page", substitute "see if we all agree".

Clichéd advice and topics might include:

"Achieve your goals" "Build the life you want" "Don't worry, be happy" "Empower yourself" and, my personal fave, sent to me in an e-mail newsletter: "Take a bubble bath".

I include in this category any concept that's corny and sentimental, or writing that attempts to express the inexpressible: all those fluttering leaves, vibrant sunsets, and yearning sighs.

It's really tough to write about intense emotions or universal experiences in a way that's original and subtle. Great novelists and poets spend their lives struggling to do this. If you’re not careful, it's easy to end up sounding like a 50-cent greeting card.

Fixing clichéd ideas is more challenging than fixing clichéd language. You need to ask tough questions:

"What does this phrase mean? What am I really saying here? What situations illustrate this? What do I want people to get? What value am I adding here?"

Remember that people are looking for straight talk and solutions to problems. Your solutions. They want your ideas, expressed with your urgency and importance.

So don't give your readers hackneyed ideas expressed in stale language. Don't fob them off with a bubble bath, try shoving them into a brisk, eye-opening cold shower instead.

5. Proofread Your article has to be 100% perfect in grammar, spelling and punctuation before the public gets to see it. The public means anyone visiting your Web site, and anyone you submit your article to for feedback or possible publication.

I confess, I did work as a professional proofreader for a time. And when you spend your life looking for missing periods and dots over i's, you tend to get a little demanding. But there's a reason for my concern.

Your article isn't like a casual e-mail that you zap off without reviewing or editing: It's more permanent and public. Your article is you, and people are going to assess your value by how you present it.

Think of it this way. If you're fortunate, hundreds, even thousands of people may read your piece. You're probably hoping to get lots of new clients from this exposure. Posting or submitting your article is, in a sense, like going for a job interview.

Dot your i's, cross your t's. Make sure there are periods at the end of sentences. Make sure you know how to use commas correctly, that you haven't made any common errors (for example, it's instead of its; there instead of their; your instead of you're). Check for missing words; check the spelling of any unusual words.

If you have even the slightest doubt about your English skills, have a professional proofreader or editor review your article. At the very least, give it to a friend to read. Mistakes are very hard to catch in your own work.

6. Be brilliantly unoriginal. Your promotional article is almost guaranteed to fall into one of these five categories:

Sex


Love Health Finance Career

What I want you to understand is that you don't have to have the greatest, most never-thought-of-before idea in the history of the universe before you write your article. In fact, you can't. It's all been done.

That's the unoriginal part.

Yet people are always itching to read, again and again, how they can improve in one of these areas (or about what a terrible time someone else is having in these areas, and thank heaven it's not them this time).

So please, just get over your fear and give us your unique take on the eternal topics. Your unique take - that's the brilliant part.

Brilliant doesn't have to be big. It can be:

* a new system for filing papers
* the absolute best way to make espresso
* the surefire way to find your G-spot or your Z-spot
* a strategy for saving money that only an accountant like you would know

We're talking soft innovations that flaunt your particular expertise.

Your brilliance could be in how you package your experiences. Have you been through a messy relationship, learned how to talk better to your teenaged kids, survived a life-threatening illness, started up a successful small business? Chances are, there are people out there just waiting to hear how you did it. This information is gold.

There is brilliance in your own communication style. Are you kind and patient, buzzy and edgy, witty and ironic? Are you more like a kindly grandfather or more like a visionary CEO? Whatever your qualities, be utterly yourself.

Your brilliance can be the simplicity and clarity with which you give your advice—the way you get your idea across so well, it's like we're hearing it for the first time. The way you inspire. The passion with which you speak.

So don't worry that they've heard it all before. Of course they have. But they've never heard it all from you.

10 Tips To Help You Pack More Power Into Your Business Writing

1. Ask yourself "does this concept/approach /clever headline/earnest mission statement/ really help the message achieve its objectives?" If the honest answer is no, alter it or rethink it completely.
2. No matter how beautifully structured your message is if it doesn't take into account the real circumstances and needs of the audience, it won't work. Align your message's objectives with these circumstances and needs.
3. Study the media you'll be using; be aware of how people will receive your message and where your message will be competing for their attention, use your common sense and creativity to make it stand out in the crowd. (Or if the crowd's too big, reconsider the choice of media if that's within your power.)
4. Successful business messages are always based on benefits for the target audience - either actual or implied. Ensure you know the difference between features and benefits, and how to convert features into benefits.
5. Research the way your target audience speak and communicate, and phrase your message in their language - which may not necessarily be yours. Avoid corporate pomposity and unnecessary jargon.
6. Traditional grammar and even spelling mostly have been thrown out of the window. However there are still a few grammar rules you need to follow if you don't want your message to look amateurish. Your knowledge of the audience and how they communicate will dictate your writing style to a large extent. Don't let catchwords, "internet-speak," emoticons, etc. obscure your message or its benefits.
7. Time pressures and the influence of the internet have made us into a world of browsers, even when we're reading brochures and other print. Unless it's very short organise your offline text so readers who are browsing get the key points very easily. Always separate technical detail and other lengthy data from the main text so readers aren't obliged to plod through it unless they want to.
8. Never be tempted to transplant text written for print into an online environment. Online text is as different from offline text as a PC screen is from paper. Because reading from screens is so unfriendly, online text must be very short and crisp and must make it extremely easy for readers to absorb the key points. Don't let web designers talk you into flamboyant graphics that could inadvertently swamp your message.
9. Use a tape recorder to get an objective view of your voice, style, weaknesses and strengths. Keep sentences short with only one idea in each. Avoid telling jokes unless you're naturally funny. And rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
10. If you think you may be out of your depth with a business writing project (e.g. a TV commercial, major direct marketing campaign, complex video or business theatre script) you're probably right - so call in a professional writer.

Business Writing: When Not To Be Professional
It’s time to write your next ad or brochure. Maybe some web content. You’ve done all your research, and you’re staring at a blank computer screen. You want to put your “best foot forward.” Not, that is, if “looking good in print” means sounding like an educated professional. Or using perfect grammar. Because unless all of your prospects are English teachers, they’re going to respond better to more natural writing – writing that reads like people actually speak.

Real people don’t speak like “professionals” write. (Neither, for that matter, do most professionals.) Real people use sentence fragments. One thing real people do not do is use big, fancy words when shorter ones will do. Real people do not say things like, “I am committed to finding the lowest cost alternative.” Copywriting that uses stuffy, complex language just doesn’t sell. You know what I mean: The verbose, impersonal, corporate-speak that sounds more like a mission statement (which nobody cares about) than a personal communication. The kind that strokes the CEO’s ego when it should be stroking the prospect’s.

1. Picture your prospect. If you have to, get a real picture from a magazine or even your family album and tape it to your computer screen as you write. Then write like you’re talking to that one individual.
2. Read your copy out loud. If you stumble over anything, so will your reader. Rewrite until your words flow smoothly and sound natural.
3. Read your copy to someone else. Preferably a group of people. If, when you are finished, they tell you what a great job you’ve done, you have failed. Never be afraid to be personal in your ads, web pages, sales letters – any time you are communicating with a prospect. Make it sound like you are actually speaking to them.

If you still want to “look professional”, use the money you make and go buy some nice business clothes!

Reading, Writing, and Children's Personalized E Stories

Throughout the different phases of my life, I have constantly being amazed at the positive influence of reading and writing with our children. As a former educator, the advantages of exposure to reading at home became obvious to me. Everyone can easily appreciate the strong learning foundation created by reading to preschoolers.

Word recognition, comprehension abilities, and listening skills are all fostered through the parent-child reading experience. Educators who have studied the topic agree that a link is evident between academic success and exposure to reading at a young age. I observed the greatest benefits of preschool reading, however, through my experiences as a parent of four children and grandparent of one. The greatest benefits of preschool reading is in the experience itself. If you are a parent, you understand that sentiment. If you are not a parent, reflect for a moment on your own childhood memories of reading with your parents. I do not have to say another word to convince you of the importance of reading to preschoolers.

During the preschool years, children may ask to read the same book again and again. My son liked it for a particularly funny phrase which it contained -"And there in the woods a piggy wig stood with a ring in the end of his nose - with a ring in the end of his nose!" My three year old daughter was so proud when she could reverse the reading situation and read a book to me! At 3, she really didn't recognize each word. She memorized it from so frequently reading the story. I give a lot of credit, however, to those reading experiences and the subsequent self-esteem which it fostered in her.

Sometimes our reading experiences with our children do not even have to involve books. You can "read" a child a story from the script in your mind.

Do we not all have vivid imaginations?
How many participate in on-line forums?

My middle son preferred the stories from the imagination without the printed text. He preferred for me to invent my own stories. No, that did not provide him with word recognition skills. Yet it still provided the valuable reading "experience."

My youngest son developed a passion for writing and wrote an entire play while in high school. Reading and writing are intertwined as one entity. One skill fosters the other! The love of one supports the love of the other!

Most children enjoy books when they are given the opportunity to explore. Previously, I was a Discovery Toys representative. I organized play groups for children. Children would gravitate towards the books. At times, a flashy cover or interesting feature would attract them to a book. Yet it was the joy of reading which would ultimately keep their interest.

As a grandparent I continued to create stories for my grandchild. I decided to send him stories via email - complete with graphics and animation. The enjoyment was mutual! This was the inspiration for an exciting business venture.

Instead of providing stories just to my family, I could broaden my enjoyment and create stories for others. There is no shortage of access to children's stories so I decided on a new twist to children's e stories - unique children's personalized e stories! Personalized stories are thought to be a self-esteem enhancer.

Some personalized stories in the marketplace just contain the child's name.(or their friends' names). Yet the children still learn to recognize their names. They gain self-esteem from reading a story about themselves. Personalized stories can be the impetus to encourage a child to keep a journal or write a story about themselves or their family or friends.

With my personalized e stories I decided to try to tweak the children's interest in reading. I provide an unique story (some themes) for each child. Each story contains 8 - 12 elements of the child's life ranging from the simple - favorite color - to the more complex - special wish or dream. Each story is as individual as each child.

Any extra incentive which can encourage children to enjoy reading has to have a positive outcome. Instilling a love of reading in a child is giving them a gift which will last a lifetime. We pass down our recipes from generation to generation. Let's not forget to do likewise with our books and their joys!

Stories, read or written, don't have to cost a cent. They can be accessed from library sources. So regardless whether or not you purchase stories or books, remember the reading experience and Please Read With Your Child!

Practicing English Abroad - Without Having to Pay!

Whenever the advantages of earning an advanced degree in an English-speaking country are mentioned, "improving my English skills" and "practicing my English" always rank high among them. But, as the experience of many a foreign student has shown, practicing - let alone improving - your English is, as the English saying goes, "easier said than done."
Understandably, many students studying abroad gravitate toward students from their own country or region, both for greater ease of conversation as well as to be with others who understand their cultural perspective. Valuable as such friendships are, they often get in the way of using English and refining the skills, speaking and listening in particular.
Furthermore, a lack of confidence inhibits many foreign students from putting themselves forward in English. Even when they have the confidence and willingness, students from other countries often do not know how - and where - to create situations outside the classroom in which they're likely to learn English by using it. All of them agree that making as many native English-speaking friends as possible is the most helpful thing of all. That doesn't necessarily mean living with native speakers, but if you can - in a dormitory or shared house, apartment or flat situation - you're sure to get your English up to comfortable speaking, listening and general comprehension standards at the fastest rate, having the most fun in the process.
English-speaking students are as interested in making friends with people from other countries as you are in getting to know them. A good thing to avoid in making native-speaker friends is not to propose spending time together so that you can practice your English. It sounds like there is work or effort involved on the part of the native speaker.

In fact, the people you approach with the idea of "practicing your English" are less like to decline your invitation because they are unwilling to be helpful than they are to feel that they are not "qualified" to teach and might have a negative rather than a positive influence on your English. The reality is that no matter how they speak English, they have something to teach you, since, as native speakers, they are examples of the kinds of English speakers you can expect to encounter in your later, professional or personal life.

Beyond making English-speaking friends and living with native speakers, here are some ways to consider expanding your English speaking and comprehension skills that take you into more formal, adult parts of the English-speaking world. In some of them, you may even learn vocabulary that will be useful for your academic discipline:
1. Go to the bank with a mission that involves fact-finding in English. As one example, it would be good for you to learn how have money wired from a foreign country - yours - into a bank account you establish in your host country. If the branch of the bank near your university is a small one, you may just want to walk in and talk to an officer. If it is a larger bank, you may want to call ahead for an appointment to speak with someone. You could even say that you are gathering the information for an article you are writing for your school's foreign-student bulletin. Then you could actually write up what you learn and present the information to your fellow foreign students - even if there is no official foreign-student bulletin.
2. Go to the post office to find out how best to ship an item home. This will probably be a walk-in task, but you are likely to find postal clerks helpful if you look earnest about your need to know.
3. Go to a fitness center or other facility that offers nonacademic activities you enjoy and ask about membership and privileges. Universities often have many of the facilities you need on campus. Still, you could also go off campus to investigate other kinds of activity centers - which could range from a stable that gives horse-riding lessons to an art studio. Even if you do not actually join - and do not feel pressured to; you are just investing possibilities (and expanding your English without saying so) - you are sure to enlarge your vocabulary and increase your sense of ease talking with strangers in English.
4. Go to a travel agent and plan a trip. The trip could be anything from an excursion in your host country - of which there are sure to be many - to a more adventurous trip to a neighboring country. Travel agents are, for obvious reasons, accustomed to dealing with people who do not speak English as a first language. Again, try to sustain the conversation as long as possible within reason. Ask about the full range of transportation and accommodation options, and see how many different recommendations the agent can make that fit with you time availability and budget. It is normal for customers to leave a travel agent's office with a variety of options to consider.
5. Apply for a part-time job. Even if you do not need to work part-time or cannot under the terms of your acceptance at your host university, check out nearby jobs. Interviewing is a highly valuable skill in countless situations, including academic ones, and getting all the experience you can with it will be invaluable. If you are so successful that you are actually offered the job, give yourself credit for a job already well done (fact-finding; interviewing) - and then accept the job if it actually appeals to you or politely decline it if you do not want or need it. If you were skillful enough to get one job offer, it is plausible that you got others, too. Thank the employer for the opportunity and reply that, regrettably, you have accepted another offer elsewhere.

The suggestions above are offered to give you ideas about how to use your imagination to create situations for you to expand and practice your English - without ever having to say, "Could you please help me practice my English?"

Nine Reasons Why I Love to Teach English as a Second Language - and Why That Should Matter to You
Why do I love to teach English as a Second Language?
One: I love to teach.
Two: I love English.
Three: I love language in general; discovering the connections between English and other languages is a bonus.
Four: I love to hear other people speak their native languages fluently, easily, and beautifully.
Five: I love to travel—no, that’s wrong. I don’t travel. But spending time with people from other cultures enables me to imagine that I travel.
Six: I love to feel like an ambassador to…whatever country my student is from.
Seven: I love learning about history, and most other countries on the planet have more history than mine.
Eight: I’m a writer; writing is my primary source of income, and I love to write. But writing is a solitary activity; teaching allows me to interact with people and adds another layer of richness to my life.
Nine: It gives me something wonderful to dream about. Please continue reading….

Why should you care that I love to teach ESL?
Here, in ten brief paragraphs, is my answer.
I tell my students, rather apologetically, that Americans generally don’t respect people who don’t speak English. True, the world is quickly becoming a global society, and English is becoming “the” international language. And perhaps someday soon every educated person in the world will have a working knowledge of English.

Even if your ancestors came here on the Mayflower—as mine did—or even if they are Native Americans, your people originally spoke some other language. Modern English has been around only a few hundred years.

And what a tragedy it would be if those other languages disappeared, or became ancient relics of lost civilizations, to be studied only by academicians and never used in everyday life. Think of living in a world where everyone had the same favorite color, or the same hobby…where every radio station played the same music…or every restaurant served the same food. How boring! Here’s an easy (and fun) way for each of us to do our small part for international relations: be patient with someone who is learning English, and while we’re at it, show an interest in their native language. We’re guaranteed to learn something fascinating.

Wherever we live, wherever our ancestors came from, our language is intimately intertwined with our history, our culture, our sociology…even our biology. Consider that whatever sounds are absent from our native language, unless we somehow learn them as young children, will be lost to us forever. We lose a big piece of our cultural identity if we pretend that Modern English is the only language that counts.

Now, my dream…for many years, I’ve wanted to travel to England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—the lands of my ancestors. A few years ago, I began to study Italian, and became enamored of not only the language, but the food, the art, the architecture, and of course the history. More recently, as I worked with a student from Switzerland, I was soon awed by what I learned of the rich cultural history, the variety of natural scenery…the castles and cathedrals and trains…the large number of language groups for so small a country…and now I want to go to Switzerland. I hope all my fellow Americans will find it in themselves to appreciate the languages of the world and the people who speak them. If you do travel, please make an effort to say a few words in your host country’s language. You probably won’t have to say much, for the people you meet will probably want to take the opportunity to practice English. If you don’t travel, just look at the people around you and notice the diversity of backgrounds.

The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel describes God’s punishment of mankind for their pride in thinking they could reach heaven by building and climbing upon this great tower. Suddenly speaking many different languages, they could no longer communicate and were unable to finish the project. Go out of your way to spend some time with someone who doesn’t speak fluent English. The joy of communication that transcends language barriers will be yours.

How To Write Powerful Presentations, Speeches, And Talks

Most of us get nervous about making a speech, whether it's to 2000 convention delegates or a PTA meeting at our child's school. Often, though, people find that's the worst part of the whole process - the anticipation. The reality is often a lot easier to handle and can even be quite enjoyable, provided that you take the necessary precaution of doing your homework beforehand - preparation.

There are very, very few people who can get up at a moment's notice and give a good speech totally impromptu and on the spur of the moment.
1.Define exactly not so much what you want to say, as what you want your speech or talk to achieve - ask yourself, "what do I want the audience to be thinking as I come to the end of my speech?"
2.Find out as much as you can about your audience and ensure your content is very, very relevant to them and their needs.
3.Use language and tone of voice that the audience will understand and identify with - and blend that in with your own natural style of speaking.
4.By all means use a bit of jargon and a few "in" phrases as long as you're certain the audience understands them, but never use jargon others may not know.
The only extra point I would make here is, remember that people can't rewind/replay or re-read you. For that reason you can't expect them to absorb as much detailed information as they would if you were to write it in a document or CD-ROM, which allow them to refer back to details as often as they want.

Knowing your audience is also unusually important here - you'll find out very quickly if you've got it wrong, because you'll see it in their faces and their body language.

Cut the clutter
Depending on the nature of the presentation you're making, sometimes you will be giving out delegate packs or some other form of permanent record of your material, so details, expansions, etc can go in there. With live speeches, your success is almost entirely dependent on what your audience remembers of what you say. People have very bad memories, and if a speech has been boring or complicated or both, they will remember even less of its content and only recall how terrible it was.

Often senior managers are called upon to give speeches - usually to internal audiences - which cover a wide range of topics, for example a review of the company's performance over the past year, announcements about new developments, etc. These presentations sometimes last for nearly an hour and attempt to cover more topics than a fat Sunday newspaper. At the end of it the audiences have absorbed very little, having been mesmerized by the drone of the boss's voice and an increasingly urgent desire to leave the meeting and go to the washroom.

The answer? Split a one-hour speech down into four fifteen-minuters, interspersed with the other presentations throughout the day or half-day session. (Or if you can't do that, split the one-hour presentation across four different speakers.) Fifteen minutes is much more comfortable for the audience's attention span. And the fact that there are more, shorter presentations creates variety which, to totally misquote an old saying is the spice of live communication.

Start by writing yourself a list of points - a structure. This should cover the usual story-telling technique of a beginning, a middle and an end, although the old soap-box principle of "tell 'em what you're going to say, say it, then tell 'em what you just said" is a bit repetitive. Try if you can to keep the main issues in your presentation to fewer than five, no matter how long your speech is. If you can't actually put it together as a traditional story, what you must do is ensure that one topic leads logically on to the next using some good, workable links.

The right order
It is possible to change direction abruptly in a presentation, but you need to be a practised speaker to pull it off and know how to use your stage body language as well as that other wonderful presenter's tool, silence. Nothing gets an audience's attention faster than a few seconds of total silence when they're expecting a stream of words. All of this carried out by a novice speaker who can't quite get the nuances right, however, can be a disaster.

Links are actually quite useful even if they are a little abrupt, because they act as punctuation to your material.

Openers and closers
Many people will tell you that a powerful opening and close of a speech are terribly important and in fact as long as those are good you can say pretty well what you like in between. I've seen (and written for) many speakers who have agonized during several sleepless nights over how to start their speech with a big bang at the company sales conference, when all the time a simple, sometimes gently humorous opening is far easier - and more effective.

It helps here if we re-examine just why openers and closers are important in the first place. To put it politely, they help to locate the audience, to act as a signal that you're about to start talking to them about something interesting or that you've just finished telling them something interesting.

To put it crudely, sometimes the opener at least has to act as an alarm clock - waking the audience up after a narcolepsy-inducing previous speaker - or as air-raid siren, warning the audience to settle down, shut up and pay attention.

But even if the speaker prior to you has been intensely boring and has had the whole audience shifting from one numb seatbone to the other for 45 minutes, you don't necessarily have to go out there in a top hat and false nose riding a unicycle and playing a trombone at the same time. Say something amusing, heart-warming, witty, whatever, as long as it's something you would say in "real life." You probably don't want to say something rude about the previous speaker, although it will be tempting, but an in-company joke if it's an in-company audience, or even a relevant quote by a famous person (there are numerous books and websites where you can find quotes) will instantly signal a major change and have the audience looking forward to what you have to say.

The opener and closer don't have to be earth-shattering, but they do have to be part of you and your material. If you're naturally a quiet, private sort of person there's no way you should struggle with a passionate, emotive ending to your speech, even if others think you should be able to carry it off. One very important rule about giving speeches is if you don't think something will work for you on the night, you're right - it won't. Don't be talked into retaining anything you're not comfortable with, because something that's a small hiccup in rehearsals will become a major stumbling block on show day.

On-stage nervousness greatly magnifies any little glitch. If a few, self-effacing words of "thanks for listening" are all you think you will feel comfortable with at the end of your speech then that's what you say, even if you use a speechwriter who tells you otherwise (and some of my colleagues would.)

Spoken speech
Once you have created your structure and decided how best to open and close your speech, the best way to ensure it sounds natural is to switch on an audio recorder, talk through the structure to yourself, and transcribe the recording. (It's a terrible job, but worth it.) Long sentences in speeches can leave you gasping for breath and losing the plot. Spoken speech is simply, only, what it says it is. It is monologue or dialogue as you would speak, not as you would write the same information or thoughts down on paper or screen. Then commit those words to paper or screen, a few at a time or in short phrases and sentences.

If it sounds right, it is right, and if it sounds wrong it is wrong even though it may look right on paper or screen.

Even great playwrights interpret spoken speech in exactly the same, uncomplicated way. Think Molière, Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Jack Rosenthal, Alan Bennett and many more. Their characters' dialogue may seem unnatural to us when we hear it but that's because the character is surreal and extraordinary - and the dialogue is, in fact, perfectly natural for that character.

I've lost count of the number of speeches I've listened to (not written by me I hasten to add) that came over as completely different from the personality of the speaker. This happens because many people believe that giving business presentations is a serious artform where the grander the verbiage and more ostentatious and self-important the oratory the more points they'll score with their audience. It also happens because people write bad speeches so they are virtually indistinguishable from bad brochure copy or website text or any other manifestation of overstuffed corporate-babble.

Okay, you shouldn't give a speech in the same ribald style you might use to tell a joke to your friends in the changing rooms at the gym or the 19th hole at the Golf Club. Unless you're a trained actor, the only way you're going to come over well is if you are as at ease as possible with your material. This won't happen if you write words and phrases that may look very eloquent on paper, but which are lumpy mouthfuls to say.

The right style is always conversational. The best speakers always talk to audiences as if they were talking to a friend over a cup of coffee - a natural, friendly, personal style. Gone are the days when being in a business environment meant that you should never use a short word where a long one would do.

Why a full script?
You notice that I say you must write your speech, even though I know you may deliver it from bullet points or entirely from memory. Highly experienced public speakers often do not write their speeches but work only from a memorized opening and close. This is fine if you're a very experienced public speaker. If you're not, don't risk it.

A full script offers a number of advantages:
¨It provides a detailed framework if you're an inexperienced speaker
¨It allows you to develop and balance your content more easily
¨It means you don't have to make anything up as you go along
¨It acts as a safety net if you do speak from memory then forget something
¨It keeps you to your allotted time (most speakers present at an average of 120 words per minute, so divide the total wordcount of your written speech by 120 to get its rough presentation length in minutes.) ¨It allows others to cue your visual support accurately (if relevant)

The downside of creating a full script is that other people in your organization can tinker with it, if they know it exists. However this is a small price to pay for the reassurance and confidence a full script can give you. As you get more practised at speaking you will probably find that you become less dependent on the script and may work off bullet points or notes, but I still think it's worth writing the whole thing out initially.

Anecdotes and humor
Unless your presentation is an information-heavy financial report or other totally factual speech, a few anecdotes (preferably personal ones) are highly effective in helping to illustrate the points you make. Especially in England where self-deprecation and extreme modesty are the required penances to be paid by the successful, audiences warm to speakers who tell stories against themselves. It's also because audiences are naturally voyeuristic and love to feel they're getting an inside glimpse of the real you. Whatever the reason, though, anecdotes work, as long as they're short, to the point, and totally relevant to your other material.

Humor is something to be approached with caution, although used wisely it works superbly well. There is a big difference between being witty and telling jokes, and unless you are a first-class raconteur you must avoid the latter in your speeches, even if they're for "after-dinner" or other social purposes.

If you're not a naturally "funny" person you won't suddenly transform yourself into one just because you're standing up in front of a group of people. If anything that tends to make you less, not more funny. So whatever happens don't be persuaded to tell a few jokes if that's something you would never dream of doing informally at a social gathering.

If you do feel comfortable telling jokes, then use them sparingly, as punctuation - unless you're to be "best man" at a wedding or the entertainment after a social dinner, wall-to-wall jokes are usually inappropriate. Jokes in a speech should always be tailored to the audience and material. Gag writing is a specialized writing technique and there are quite a few good books around on comedy writing, if you're interested in learning how to do it.

If you're looking for jokes to adapt there are some good joke books available in bookstores (including one or two written by yours truly...) and of course you can find them online via the usual big sites - try keying in +JOKES+(YOUR SUBJECT). If you key the same thing into a search engine you'll also come across jokes archived on websites devoted to the subject concerned.

If you're at all concerned about the copyright implications of using jokes in your speeches you should ask your legal advisers for guidance.

Rehearse, rehearse
I don't want to be depressing, but once you've finished all the hard work of preparing your material, writing your speech and (if relevant) organising your visual support, you then get down to the really hard work - rehearsing. You've got to practise, practise, practise.

Not too soon before the event, or you'll be so stale and fed up with the speech you'll lose interest. Memorize the speech as well as you can, but don't worry if you forget the odd "and" or "but." If you say "er" and hesitate slightly now and again, it will make your speech sound more natural. If you're giving your presentation in a large conference environment you may find yourself working with a show crew and a very sophisticated set and equipment. Novice speakers can feel daunted by all this stuff but what you must always remember is that it's there to make your job easier, not harder.

Oh yes, cue cards.
Keep them in separate places - e.g. one in your pocket and one in your car - so if one set gets lost you know you've got another handy.
And two, ensure that both sets are irrevocably tied together in correct order via a securing device looped through a hole in the corner of each card. The securing device does not have to be sophisticated, as long as it's strong.

I once confounded the CEO of a major European telecomms company who, fortunately for me, was an engineer by trade, when I showed him the high-tech fasteners I'd used on his cue cards. "Good stuff," he said, "they work well.

Persuasive Writing Strategies That Grab the Readers Attention and Get You Results
As a writer, you have the challenge of communicating without feedback and without the benefit of voice characteristics, facial expressions or body language. Wow! You need to make your words come alive in the readers mind to compensate for their inability to hear your voice or see your body. It's like the author just sat down and threw up on the paper. Bottom line, determine what you want to accomplish. Are you trying to convey an idea, influence decisions, convey information or move people to action? How will this influence your message? You need to decide on your desired outcome right up front.

What I mean is, you need to ask these questions: "What are my reader’s wants, desires, needs, characteristics, concerns, problems? What do I need to know to help influence them?" If you are writing to an individual then understand that person, if writing to a group then understand the general characteristics for that group. If part of influence is to appeal to desires (and it is) then knowing your reader(s) is part of the desire equation.

One step people often fail to consider is the impact of the writing media. Is your communication electronic or is it on paper? Is it an e-mail, forum posting, newsletter, paper mail, printed book, magazine article or something else? How will it be distributed, will it be e-mail, website, postal service, flyer, in a package, etc. Consider how each of these will influence the perceptions of the reader. Is your writing just one of many messages being received all at the same time or will the reader just receive yours? Well, if you really want to be persuasive, these steps are important and the effort will pay off.

At this point, you know what you want to accomplish, you know a little or a lot about the background of the reader, and you know the media you'll be using for the written communication. Now it's time to determine what your messages are. If you don't think of your message in terms that are acceptable to your reader, you're efforts will sink faster than a heavy rock in a pond of water.

1. A common copywriting formula is AIDA (attention - like a grabbing headline), interest (capture and keep the readers interest), desire (build desire), and action (move the reader to action).
2. Another formula used in selling is Neil Rackham's SPIN Model. That is S (understand the Situation - as a writer you might describe the situation in a way that gets the reader to relate to your persuasion perspective perhaps by appealing to desires - especially unmet ones), P (identify the problem), I (show the implication of the problem), and N (lead the reader to realize he or she needs what you are persuading towards).
3. Case studies can be very effective for influencing. The simple model works well. Problem - Actions - Results: state the problem (and implications), provide the actions taken to resolve the problem, and then describe the results achieved (and relate these to the reader).
4. Break your writing up into key topic areas (this may mean messages or information) and then have several bullets to support each. Make sure your material has a logical flow (typically, this would be either chronologically, along the lines of your arguments logic, or in a series of steps).
5. Use metaphor/stories where the characters and situation mirror people and situations you are trying to influence. This is a great way to let the reader come to the "right" conclusion on his or her own.

At this point, it is time to start writing, so...
STOP! NOW! Okay, keep reading. You want to get the readers attention quickly right up front. It could be a bold claim, something bizarre, a big promise, a statement creating curiosity or a statement highlighting a major problem. All of these tied to the reader in some way.

A great example of a starting sentence that really captures the imagination is at the beginning of Charles Dickens book A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times. What does that conjure up in your mind? Here is a fantastic e-mail subject line from Jason Potash (a true internet marketing genious): "Top Marketer Gets Mauled In Public Bathroom..." I sure did and opened it right away and had a great read.

You also want to immediately establish upfront that what you are writing about is relevant to the reader. If you have any doubts, just take a quick look at your newspaper and read the first paragraph of a couple of articles, or take a look at the first sentence of a good novel.

Your challenge is to make the what, why, when, how, where, and who pertain to the readers interests. Build credibility, early on if possible. You can use social proof by mentioning endorsements, alliances with people who are respected, and testimonials. You can use the power of authority by mentioning your professional designations, licenses, certifications and other credentials. If appropriate, list designations next to your name under the title (for example "by John Doe, PhD, MD"). Be careful not to go overboard in tooting your own horn. For example, I might mention something like "while doing research in persuasion for my doctoral thesis, I discovered ..." This tells you several things, I am either a PhD or working toward my doctorate (the latter is true in my case), and I am an expert in persuasion.

Citing facts and statistics with references to back them up can all help credibility. If quoting numbers, the more specific you are the more credible. For example, if discussing non-verbal communications as a key factor in communications you could say "according to a research study done at UCLA, 93% of communication is non-verbal."
Research has shown us that case studies are even more effective than facts at building credibility and persuading. As noted earlier, a great case study method is Problem - Actions to resolve problem - result achieved.

Do you really want your readers to finish reading what you worked so hard to write? THEN KEEP THEM INTERESTED. How? Well, I already mentioned one key technique and that is to establish relevancy early on.

Would you like to learn one of the biggest secrets to persuasive writing? Brace yourself. ASK QUESTIONS. Asking questions forces the reader to think about answers. Questions open up "mental file cabinets" in the readers mind. You can lead the reader with questions. You can get the reader to consider key issues. You can tap into emotions. You can ask the reader simple questions that require a small mental commitment related to what you are trying to influence and then tap the desire to remain consistent to previous commitments when asking the reader to consider something bigger.

Next tap into the readers emotions. You can do this with a story or metaphor that is likely to touch someone’s heart or trigger remembrances of similar reader experiences. See the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books for great story ideas.

Another way to trigger emotions is to ask the reader to remember a past experience. STOP for second. Can you remember a time when you accomplished something really significant, really important? The excitement? The sense of achievement? Now imagine using these written persuasion strategies successfully for the first time and realize that this is how you will feel now.
What I just gave you was an example of tapping into the readers emotions (hopefully I tapped into yours - this stuff really is incredible and you will feel an incredible sense of pride and accomplishment when you learn it).

Paint vivid mental representations for the reader that make the senses come alive. This will help your reader remember what was said and will bring your message to life in the readers mind. If you were selling beachfront property you might say something like "imagine stepping out your back door onto the warm sand and looking out to a brilliant orange sunset, feeling a warm breeze on your face as gulls fly overhead, and then walking along the beach, taking in that special smell of the salt air, watching the deep blue water well up into giant frothy waves breaking along the coast for as far as the eye can see ..."

Remember how I promised to share with you one of the biggest secrets of successful writing? I was listening to an audio program by the great marketer Joe Vitale. I kept listening to audio after audio for that second great headline. Create curiosity with questions and statements that leave the reader wondering what the answers are or wondering what happened.
Use linguistic patterns of influence in your writing. These are things like presuppositions. Here, either you question your ability to use the techniques and find they are effective or you feel they are effective up front. Kind of weird, huh? You can learn more about language patterns by studying any decent NLP course.

Forget perfect grammar and punctuation, communicate with your readers the same way you would talk to them, the same way you would talk to someone standing right in front of you. There may be hundreds of other people reading this article, maybe even thousands, but as you read this, I want you to know I am talking to you.

If you get creative with your punctuation, you can do amazing things to direct the rhythm of your writing, to create pauses, to emphasize key points and much more. You can use capitalization, bolding, italics and color to emphasize key points. You can use a coma, a colon, a semi colon, a dash, or a "..." to create pauses. You can use parenthesis to place sub-ideas or explanations within a sentence and so much more. Take advantage of punctuation. It's a great way to give the reader a sense of how your writing would be spoken.

Appeal to the reader’s universal core desires. You may or may not know your individual readers. If you don't, it can be difficult to write to their desires. But, you can appeal to universal core desires (these are desires everyone has). Universal desires include reproduction/sex, food, and power. You can learn more by studying Kevin Hogan's great course "Covert Hypnosis" were he discusses in detail each of the 16 basic desires identified by Dr. Steven Reiss.

Build up the value of the information you are sharing. For example, if an idea you provided could earn the reader an extra $20,000 in sales in the coming 12 months, say so. If you had to spend thousands of hours doing research, invest thousands of dollars buying courses and reference material, if you had to walk six miles up hill each way barefoot in the snow to get to the library to do that research (OK just having fun with you) tell the reader what it took to provide the information. This creates value.

Let me share with you one of the most powerful secrets of successful writing (remember, the one I promised you earlier). It may surprise you. It might disappoint you if you take it too lightly. Perhaps the greatest barrier to persuasive writing is that most people quit before they start or once they get started, they keep stopping and trying to make each word and sentence perfect ... and never finish. Don't worry about the details, don't worry about missing facts (you can find them later), don't worry about references (you can find these later also) and don't worry about grammar.

Well friends, that about wraps up this overly verbose writing session. Obviously, there is much, much more to persuasive writing, but hopefully, I've given you a basic framework to make your writing task easier and your written work more effective.

If you want to learn more about persuasion and influence strategies that can really give your writing more impact, I would highly recommend two course by Kevin Hogan. The first is "Covert Hypnosis." It goes into great detail on how to persuade at an almost unconscious level through story and appealing to core desires. The other course is "The Science of Influence" series which provides the latest research and cutting edge persuasion tools. You can learn more about both courses along with many other persuasion resources at http://www.PersuasionToolbox.com.

How You Can Improve Your Word Power Quickly and Easily!

If you want to be a great communicator, do you need to have a great vocabulary?
You might be surprised to learn that a really big vocabulary is not necessary in order to express yourself clearly and to move others with your words.
Some of the most dramatic messages that have ever been uttered in the English language actually used very simple words to stir the blood, or touch the heart.
Chances are that the passage does not rely on sophisticated words to create its power.

Think of Lincoln’s Gettysberg Address. Although President Lincoln spoke in a style that is very different from the way we usually speak today, his words still have the power to move us deeply with their clarity and their deep emotion. During the darkest days of World War II, Winston Churchill’s rousing speeches to the British people used very simple, common, powerful words to successfully ignite the courage and determination of his people.

So if it’s possible to communicate effectively without using a lot of very big words, why should we bother to try to expand our vocabulary? The reason is that learning new words expands our understanding and improves our “mental muscles”. Every new word we learn entices our mind to stretch into new areas.

When we have a larger bank of words to draw on, we improve our ability to think and express ourselves. In the modern world the ability to use words effectively is often highly rewarded.
The English language has an enormous number of words, perhaps more than half a million of them. Most people however, use a vocabulary of just a few thousand common words on a daily basis. It is possible to get by in the English language with a limited number of words, but you expand your options as you expand your vocabulary. When you understand very few words, you are limited in your ability to learn new information.

If you want to increase your vocabulary, there are many approaches you can use. When you come across a word you don’t know, see if you can figure out its meaning from the context. Look at the way the word is made up, with its letters and syllables. Does it remind you of any words you already know? What parts of it are familiar?

Many words in the English language are made up of common roots they share with other words. If you come across a word you don’t understand during the course of a lecture or a conversation, you can ask someone to explain the meaning of the word. It is occasionally true that other people may choose to look down on you if you confess that you don’t understand a certain word. Should you try to learn new words directly from a dictionary? It depends on your learning style and your preference. Some people will become bored very quickly while reading a dictionary, while others will find it fascinating.

Good dictionaries will do more than just give a definition of a word. Some will show you an example of the word used in a sentence. Most dictionaries will show you correct pronunciation. Some will tell you the historical derivation of the word. Many English words have their roots in ancient Anglo-Saxon, French, or German.
Language is always evolving and new words are being created every day. New words can come from technology, from scientific discoveries, from other languages, from pop culture, and from the streets.

When learning new vocabulary, you can better integrate it into your brain if you actively involve yourself in the learning process.
When you encounter a new word, write out a definition of it in your own words, and write one or more sentences using the new word in context. Visualize the word in its printed form. Say the word out loud, and spell it out loud. Say a sentence out loud that uses the new word. Make up an image in your mind that will help you remember the word. If you make the image funny or bizarre, you will probably remember it better.

After you have read an article or book, try writing out two different versions summarizing your ideas. Do one version using very simple, everyday words. Do another version that uses very complex sentences and advanced vocabulary, like you imagine a university professor might write.

If you are committed to expanding your vocabulary, how many new words should you try to learn in a day? Just two new words a day will add up to more than 7000 words in ten years. Ten words a day would add 36,000 words in ten years.

Once you have learned a lot of new words, should you work them into your conversation every chance you get? For example, if you are speaking to a group of high school dropouts you may want to use different words than if you are speaking to a group of scientists.

Don’t use an impressive vocabulary merely as a means of showing off, always using big words when small ones would do. People can often intuitively feel when you are using fancy words merely for effect, and not because you need them to communicate.

Give Your Child a Jump Start on Reading
As a parent you do not have to be a reading expert to give your child a jump start in becoming a reader. However, I hope you are not waiting until the child is about to start school before making reading a key part of daily life. Research says that the support that parents give to a child is the most critical factor in a child’s life.

Reading is the most important determiner in how well a child will do in school and in life. Reading can open a child up to the world of knowledge like nothing else can. It is important that the process start long before a child enters school. The only person that can establish that needed foundation is a child’s parent. There are so many things that a child can learn from a parent about everyday activities and from being read to by a parent. Besides that, it can be an enjoyable experience for both the child and parent.

It all begins in infancy when a child hears voices. A parent needs to do a lot of talking to a child. It is very important that there is eye contact between the parent and child so that the child learns to listen and focus. As the talking leads to reading, the selections should be chosen carefully based on simplicity, size, attractiveness, and interest. Reading aloud to a child should be done several times a day for short periods of time and should become increasingly longer as the child becomes older. It has been acknowledged that a parent does not have be an expert in reading to read with his or her child. The following basic things should occur during a reading session: choose a book the child likes; find a comfortable, quiet place to read; explore the book by looking at the cover, title page, and pictures; read and stop to discuss the story frequently; help the child see the connection between words and pictures; and encourage questions and comments from the child. There are many materials available that can assist parents in some basic techniques.

Children will value books and respect them if a parent demonstrates that same care and value of them. Parents can also model being avid readers and life-long learners. Children need that modeling very early in life.

In choosing books, they need to be appropriate age level for the child. If a book is eye catching and is motivating, a child will read it again and again. Books that utilize repetition and rhyming are always very popular with children. Books that are filled with pictures, are ideal for reading sessions because the child will be receptive to more discussion and comment by looking at the pictures.

Where will you find the time to do the reading session with your child? Shave enough time from TV viewing to work on the reading activities with your child. In addition, use the television time to tie into language development. Choose programs that meet the following criteria: captures the child’s interest; encourages listening and questioning; helps the child learn new words; helps the child’s self-esteem; and can be connected to real life.

There are many stages of language development that can be addressed by parents. A parent should be involved in all components. There are many materials and handbooks available from which parents can learn the basics and can learn some specific activities to use with children. Children need a jump start in reading, and parents can make that happen.