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Avoid mixed content errors in the Blogger post editor

You can find mixed content in your posts and pages with the Blogger HTML editor:

1. Turn on HTTPS for your blog.
2. Open the Blogger editor by creating a new post or page or editing an existing post or page.
3. In the top left, tap or click HTML.
4. Make the changes you want to make.
5. In the top right, tap or click Publish, Save or Update. If the content has any errors, you’ll see them in the editor screen and the post or page won’t be saved yet.

Note: Dismissing errors will let you save your post or page as it is. Refreshing the page will show the errors again.

Stepping Stone Questions to Get Motivated

 

Sometimes it's difficult to get motivated especially if you have been feeling down or been back sliding in some way lately. Getting motivated becomes easier when you follow this guide.   You need to get from Point A, an uncomfortable spot, beset with fears and thoughts of " How do I take action? Why must I take action??" to a delightful spot, Point B, "What action must I take next?" 
Point B is a place of composure, of progress, where you feel safe, and don’t avoid things.

You can cross over from Point A by using ten stepping stones.  

Ask yourself ten simple questions (see below.) As you ask, don't try to think up complex answers. Your mind and heart already know what they want; you're just reaching in and drawing from that knowledge. 

1. How can I help myself become happier? 
2. Who do I care about most? 
3. How can I help them become happier? 
4. What goals mean the most to me? (Those are your most powerful goals because they are the most valuable to you.)
5. How will I feel when I achieve them?
6. What makes me truly grateful?
7. How can I show more appreciation?
8. What's great about my "right now"?
9. How could I make it even better?  
10. What's the next step?

Do this exercise in a state of childlike innocence and anticipation, without passing judgment on yourself or others. I think you’ll find your motivation probably even before you get to the ninth question.  Just relax, place your feet firmly one step at a time and allow yourself to feel the emotions that the stepping stone questions generate in you.

 Once you’ve done that, you will take whatever next step is necessary to turn your dreams into realities.  Try to make this technique a habit.

Ten Principles to Reflect on to Live By

 September 25, 2012

Here are 10 principles to put into action right now that can help you with positive emotions, better performance, and all round better results:

1  Always act with a purpose.

2  Take responsibility for your results.

3  Stretch beyond limits daily...in any way big or small. Go out of the way to help someone, compliment someone without flattering, take on some extra work, read something, improve yourself.

4  Don't wait for perfection; love yourself, accept yourself the way you are now; act now.

5  Resolve to learn from failures and successes.

6  Take your job seriously, but do not take yourself too seriously.

7  Use rejection to renew your humility but remain objective. Don't get bitter about things. 

8  Use both negative and positive feedback to keep on target. 

9  Be careful about what you put into your mind and body.

10  Seek out people who are similarly motivated to improve themselves.

















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Letter Writing Tips for IELTS General Test- Writing/ Task 1

 - September 26, 2012

LETTER WRITING

In Task 1 of the IELTS General Writing section, you must write a letter about a given situation. This letter will be one of the following types: 

Style	Characteristics	Opening	Ending
Formal	To someone you have not met, whose name you don't know	Dear Sir / Madam	Yours faithfully
Semi-formal	To someone you may or may not have met, whose last name you know & use	Dear Mr Parker, Dear Ms Stone,	Yours sincerely
Informal	To someone you know well, whose first name you know and use	Dear James Dear Anita	Best regards Warm wishes
Other Openings	Dear John, A semi-formal letter will also open with Dear and then be followed by a name, (if you decide that in the situation you would know the name) or by Sir (if it's a man), Madam (if it's a woman) or Sir/Madam if you don't know, eg: Dear Mr. Phillips, or Dear Mrs. Phillips, Dear Sir, or Dear Madam, Dear Sir/Madam,

Though you see 3 types of letters in the chart, your letter writing task will ask you to write either a reasonably informal letter to a friend or a semi-formal letter. Each kind of letter requires a different style of writing, a specific beginning and ending salutation, formal or informal expressions.

A formal letter can be identified in several ways:

· the tone, which is formal and business-like and serious

· the use of Dear Sir / Madam

· the absence of contractions

· the use of formal expressions ("Thank you kindly in advance.")

· the closing salutation ( "Yours faithfully", etc.)

The Opening Greeting of the Letter

The opening of your letter should reflect which one you are writing. See the chart above. 

Dear Sir / Madam  

 The Opening Paragraph of the Letter

Semi-Formal 

In a semi-formal letter, it is important to state the reason for the letter straight away. This is unlike a letter to a friend where you can be a little chatty right from the beginning, but don't ramble. 

Informal Letter 

If the letter is a less formal one to a friend then you should open the letter in a friendlier way. For example:

Hi Rohit! It's been so long since I've heard from you. I hope you are doing well and I hope all you family are doing fine. I'm pretty good in spite of working hard. Anyway, the reason I'm writing is...

The Substance of the Letter

Here are some helpful phrases about language to use in the substance of the letter which will help you to answer the task well. You could use the following phrases to help you for semi-formal letters:

Asking for Help

I am writing to ask/inquire...
I am writing with regard to...
I am writing with reference to...
I am writing in connection with...
I am writing in response to...
In reply to your letter, I am writing to... (if the question indicates that you
have already received  a letter)
 I would be grateful if you could...
I need to ask your advice about...
I'd like to ask for information about...
What I'm looking for is...

Apologizing

I'm very sorry that/about...
Please forgive me for...
I'd like to apologize about...
Please accept my apologies

Complaining

I'm writing to express my dissatisfaction/annoyance/ about...
I'm writing to express my anger at...
I am not happy about...
... is not what I expected/was expecting.
I want to know what you are going to do about this situation.

Please note-  When complaining, don't get too angry. In a polite semi-formal letter, you should not be insulting and sound too heated and definitely not abusive. Also, do not over-exaggerate. If it's a reasonably small and understandable problem, do say that you're not satisfied but show that you understand and stay calm in your expressions.

Thanking

I'm very grateful for...
I'd like to thank you very much for...
I very much appreciated...

Ending your Letter

In English, before the sign off we often end letters with certain phrases. These can be included in most letters and will make your letter seem realistic. 

For a formal letter, you could use:

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanking you in advance for your help, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

For a more informal letter you could use:

If you need to know anything else, just get in touch with me as soon as you can. Thanks a lot for your help and I hope to hear from you soon.

Plan to Score High on the IELTS-1

 

Plan to Score High on the IELTS

- September 23, 2012

Develop Persistence and Focus to score high on the IELTS

Persistence is not allowing anything to stop you from achieving a goal or pursuing an activity once you start it unless it's something really severe. For that you need to maintain discipline and develop vision. In this post, I give you three tools to develop vision, and focus. Using them you should be able to persist until you reach the desired outcome.

1) Make a checklist of your job hours, (timings), commuting or driving time, gym or dance class and whatever else it is that you do. Post it where you can easily find it, and fit the IELTS practice work into your day, for 45 minutes to an hour at least 5 days a week. You know we all spend our time on activities in one of four ways, by working on:

o urgent and important things

o urgent but not important things

o important but not urgent things

o not important and not urgent things

When something is urgent, you rush to do it. When something is important, you prioritize it. Everyday we are coping to manage urgent and and important tasks simultaneously. Urgent means it requires immediate attention. Urgent and important is the NOW stuff! Turn off the gas, go to the gym so you feel healthier, stop the baby crying, go to your class -don’t miss it, go to work on time, go to the doctor if you are coughing badly or some pain is not going away, make the payment for your rent/society dues, electricity, mobile phone if one or more are past due.

Urgent but not important things, means you must not avoid these tasks, such as paying bills (mentioned above), paying income tax, or making your life/car insurance payment, but it can be done later, just remember to do it before the deadline. Important has to do with results: important activities contribute to your mission, values, and high priority goals.

2) Imagine it is two (or more) years from now and we are looking back. We have accomplished many of the things that are important to us. What picture do you see in your mind that represents that accomplishment? If you’re a visual type of person, make a drawing or a poster and look at it. That ‘ll help you keep your vision in mind.

3) Write a Mission/Vision statement for what you see yourself doing two years from now and list the activities and sub-activities

3.1. What action is to be taken?

3.2. So what first –second –third-fourth -fifth step actions do you have to take to get to that picture in your Mission statement?

3.3. Who will be involved?

3.4. How will they do it?

3.5. When will the action be taken?

3.6. Where will the action be taken?

3.7. What resources will be required?

3.8. How will the success be measured?

3.9. What follow-up action will be required?

So from your answers to the Question in No.3, especially Point 3.2, you can make your list of important tasks. Points 3.3 to 3.8 will help you to map out how to accomplish No. 3.2, and for No. 3.9 you can set your own review date, for every three months from the time you write your Mission statement.

You might have several steps to take for Point No. 3.2. There might be a diploma course, certification class, IELTS class, applications to make etc. For each major step, do Points 3.3-3.9 separately then. This might take a little while, but it is better than getting overwhelmed later thinking, “I have to do this and that and this and that and the other... help!!!!! I don’t know where to start and what to do!!!”

Whenever you can, IELTS students, test-takers check out the websites below for listening practice. It will help you a great deal for the entire IELTS test; especially Listening test and the Reading Comprehension section. You’ll be ready. Listening to these new stories is going to be really helpful to build your vocabulary, get used to accents, and for general comprehension. There are audios, videos and written stories- No, it isn’t given in the test format but it is presented in a very simple and attractive way. (In the actual IELTS Listening Test you would have about 30 minutes to listen to 4 sections, and complete 40 questions).
All the best for your English learning plan and IELTS Test!

SAMPLE MISSION STATEMENTS

"To encourage and equip others to live the lives they want to live."

"To inspire change through teaching."

"To equip others with the tools and resources to pursue the life they want to live."

“I love watching others get inspired by the work of great artists and the possibilities of new techniques. My goal is to become an art teacher.” 

“It's important to me to protect our environment without hindering our ability to grow as a society. I plan to study environmental engineering in college.”

"To create stories that educate, entertain and inspire people around the world."

"To pursue lifelong learning and inspire others to do the same."

"To use my gifts to inspire others to achieve great things."

"To improve the wellbeing of people and businesses throughout the world."

"To treat everyone I encounter with love and compassion."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/index.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2012/01/120105_6min_english_2012hopes.shtml

A good site, helpful for students and tutors alike, to match up with each other: 
http://tutorindia.net 

Voice Clarity Tips - 1

 

Voice Clarity Tips - 1

- September 02, 2012

This post is about Voice clarity.Let's see how we can achieve that in our vocalization, if not in our lives! In any communication, written or oral, your goal is to be understood by your listener, or reader- your audience. Clarity in speech is of two kinds- verbal and vocal. Verbal clarity would mean that your content shows continuity of thought.

Vocal clarity means you do not speak too fast or too slowly. You do not have a heavy accent, you do not slur or mumble your words, and you use standard pronunciation for your word. There is no heavy deviance in basic speech sounds (vowels and consonants). You should have some tone changes echoing the meaning of a given thought- for example, sad, powerful, questioning, humorous, wise, authoritative, or agreeable. 

Finally there is some up and down rhythm or intonation giving expressiveness and mood to your voice . Intonation simply means the music of your speech- the music reflects tone changes, just as music is about different notes being sounded on an instrument which gives forth a pleasing tune. 

Neither in speaking nor writing should the composition of your piece display disjointed thoughts. Using the the right choice of words helps you expresses the meaning clearly and expressively thereby convincing the audience. You need to show your ideas visually while speaking so 'show' but do not show off good vocabulary.

And yes you can do this without the help of PPT slides if you look people in the eye, stand confidently, have a good vocabulary, use stories, examples, and connect with people at some gut level. Even with friends, strive to colour your words and get out of the habit of using banal, commonalities where everything is "Nice, amazing, great, good or lousy..".

Lata and Asha

Remember what I said in the beginning about Vocal clarity?  I'd like to cover those points one by one, but I can't do all of them online. I need to hear you and we need to be face-to-face for me to help you with pace and other issues. There are some things, lots of things in fact that you can do if you are working by yourself on voice clarity.  

For Voice Clarity, Lesson 1 let's  get  started on jaw exercises, learning some speech sounds and practicing aloud sentences, daily,  for a week to get that crystal clear sound. Yes, your words should be clear and luminous!

Jaw and Mouth Exercises Warm up 

1) Stretch your lips into a smile, and then do a ‘brushing teeth’ grin. Drop your jaw, then close it. Now do it again, and keep doing it as if rudely chewing gum to annoy your worst teacher, then faster. Do at least 8 times. 

2) Yawn and sigh loudly, stretching your throat muscles as much as possible. Then breathe in deeply through a wide open mouth. As you let the breath out through your mouth, softly say "Ah". (Time yourself and try to achieve a higher number of seconds each time that you breathe out.) 

3) Breathe in through your nose. As you slowly let the breath out, softly say "shhh", drawing out the sound as long as possible. How many seconds were you able to maintain the sound? Next also try this as you draw out "s" like a hissing snake. (You may start out at 10 seconds or less, but try to work up to a higher number of seconds.) 

4) Unclench your teeth - Relax your mouth, neck and as you get ready to speak, a few seconds before, with your mouth still closed, lift the upper jaw from the lower. Then start talking. Most clarity problems will be resolved if you simply unclench your teeth, and open your mouth; then relax, like yourself as a person and realize you are a likeable person who has something worthwhile to contribute. 

Timeless Bollywood Diva Rekha  lent her lovely voice for the hit song ‘Saare niyam tod do’ in Khoobsurat 

Vowel Sounds 

î hit sitting is stick mirror fit passive
ĕ (an eh sound) egg edge can many head met bed ten wealth merry bread friend leopard
ē be even feet seat money see cheap tricky nicely
ī (said like iy or ai) bye sigh die I pie ice aisle height my fly guy bike
ō go open tone owner sew plateau groan soul sig-na-tO-ry
ô (a little ‘aw ‘sound) mauve frog off on all auto daughter awful cough broad
oiy boy choice boil coin noisy poise, Deutsche Bank
u should could look pull
ü do loose flu blue who soup Tuesday juice
ū (said like yü) use few view beauty cute music you tune news new
ŭ up under love done son cousin trouble rough cut other

The vowels given above must be enunciated correctly without any heavy regional accent and with an open mouth for clarity. No mumbling! Even without coaching you must be saying at least one of the words given next to each target sound correctly (?) Have someone listen to you and then practice saying all the words next to that letter in the same way. 

Don’t worry about the symbols for now. These are phonetic symbols representing the sound rather than a letter of the alphabet. In English unlike Hindi and Marathi, the vowels make many different sounds. One says hat, but hate, not but note, cat, cart, father, all, any, late, able...the list goes on! Knowing spelling rules also helps you pronounce words correctly- more about in a later post. 

"Dirty Dozen" Sentences to practice Speech Clarity

1. Why do wily women win wealth and wed well?
2. Republican or democratic, there is often static in demanding practical and tactical actions – not to mention whim-wham distractions and flim-flam transactions.
 3. Auctioneers should talk with wall to wall audibility.
4. Talk without thought is to be deplored, abhorred, ignored; with thought to be lauded, applauded, rewarded.
5. In speaking don’t exaggerate, exasperate, fabricate, or lacerate, but try to captivate, animate, evaluate, substantiate and fascinate.
6. Rise and shine, the climate’s fine, the air like wine, the day divine, and all of it mine.
7. Doubts may crowd around you but never doubt yourself.
8. Annoyance shown in the voice can destroy poise.
9. Costly toys multiply joys, but spoil little boys.
10. Don’t devote days and days, to despair, dawdling and delaying decisions.
11. Be likeable, loveable and livable, or you’re liable to be leavable, left and lonesome.
12. Grow to greatness by grappling with and overcoming your problems, going
through not around them.

Vocal Clarity is pace, pronunciation, and essential speech sounds- the vowels and consonants, Voice modulation is about expressiveness and intonation -there's a lot to be covered. All the best with your personal development speech plan!

Women's Education through Social Reform

The real impetus to women’s education came from the social reform movement.

In the latter half of the 19th century The Social Reform Movement in India encouraged the emergence of a number of women doctors, social workers, teachers, and scholars who became the first cadres of the Women’s Movement and gradually took over from male leaders, organisations and causes for women. From the middle of the 19th century reform movements like Brahma Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Satyashodhak Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, etc. worked for social and religious reform and thereby the ultimate upliftment of women. The reformers expressed their disapproval of the caste system, and worked toward raising awareness in the public at large about the then prevalent unjust social practices. They protested against gender discrimination in favour of males, and promulgated raising marriage age for both males and females, widow remarriage and women’s education.

The better known of those who especially championed the cause of education for women were Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule, Agarkar, Debendranath Tagore, and Dwarkanath Ganguli all of whom felt that women should be educated in order to develop their inherent potential. They took action to enable women to avail of education; Vidyasagar established many educational institutions throughout Bengal, the Phules in Maharashtra. All of these social reform efforts along with the schools men and women reformers opened for girls especially of lower castes and their vigorously spreading the idea of schooling for girls, made girls’ education gain acceptance. S.N.D.T. University established first in Pune 1916 by Maharishi Karve grew out of this social reform movement.

These brave men and women named above and more, Dayananda Saraswati, Pandita Ramabai and Tarabai Shinde and several others helped the nation take long strides on the road to redressal of this particular injustice; lack of education for women. Their persistent efforts certainly led individuals and authorities in India to make changes in their behaviour, thoughts and policies. All the work done by the social reformers especially of this period helped open new avenues for women through education.