How you address someone in a different culture can be a relationship bridge or bridge burner. Referring to somebody using the wrong naming convention can show you as an uncaring, disrespectful, or uneducated person. The question mainly centers on whether or not you should use one’s first name or last name.

Generational cultures have distinctly different views. For the Builder generation, last names should be used when referring to one’s elders, superiors, for people in special positions such as teachers or police officers. Many Baby Boomers expect the same as it is considered a sign of respect. However Generations X and Y prefer first names. A manager, supervisor, or teacher requiring the younger generations to address them by last name will lose respect.

Regional cultures also placed different emphasis on the use of first and last names. First names are so important in Iceland the phone book is alphabetized by the first name. In Africa, first names are used as a sign of respect. Dr. Kofi Annorh would properly be referred to as Dr. Kofi, not Dr. Annorh.

Other regional cultures prefer to focus on last names which quickly identify a family or heritage. Many oriental cultures are so focused on the last name that is given first when addressing someone in China, the last name is spoken first, followed by the “first” name. For instance, Chen Yung Po would be Mr. Chen.

In many cultures switching from last and first name is a significant event. Normally the elder will make the offer to switch to first names by saying, “you may call me —-”. In Germany and Poland this rite of passage and is marked by clasping arms and downing a ceremonial drink.

Titles are often as important, if not more important, as the name itself. This is because titles are descriptive in many relationship-intensive cultures they want to know as much about you as quickly as possible. In Austria when people ask, “How shall I call you,” they don’t want to know your title.

First thing a preschool teacher needs to do, is to get a carpet or rug and make your circle on it. It needs to big enough to hold all students, but small enough to have students and teacher close together.

Staring off your preschool day with circle time is a great way to transition your preschoolers into the learning day. However, you can devise a circle time at just about any time of the day in your preschool classroom.

When your preschool students arrive, you probably have them do a little free play as they wait for all students to show up. When all are there, now your preschool can start your circle time!

You may have a bell to ring, or even play a song to let your preschoolers know that it is now circle time.

Each day you will choose different preschoolers in your class to lead all circle time activities. I would choose a different student for each activity, but many preschool educators choose one student to all circle time activities.

Instead of sitting down first, you can call one of your preschoolers to get a flag and they can recite the pledge. Then all students sit.

The Calendar and Preschool Circle Time

A calendar for preschool circle time is a must. You can get a large blank one where each day and month can be either pinned up or otherwise attached, and taken down when the month changes. Many preschool instructors use pointers for some of their circle time activities.

If it is a new month, the name of the month should be written on a card, shown to the students, and all say the name. Then choose a preschooler to stick it on the calendar. If it is not a new month, your preschoolers repeat the name when you point at it.

You can do the day of the week next. These will probably be permanent on your calendar. Use the pointer or choose a preschooler to point to all days and say the names. Ask what day is today.

Next up for your little preschoolers is the numerical date. Again, these are numbers that can be pinned up and taken down when the month changes. Choose a preschooler to put the number up. Show it first, have them repeat it.

The Weather and Preschool Circle Time

Have a chart similar to a calendar. Have many cut outs to represent rain, sun, clouds, cold, etc. Choose a preschooler to pick what the weather is and put this up.

Other Preschool Circle time Activity Suggestions

Have a large board or something similar that you can post things on a daily basis. Have a good selection of preschool songs and music.

- Play a song that has motions. Very important for preschoolers to be active.

- Play a learning song that preschoolers can learn quick and sing along.

- Have large letter cut outs. Pick a ‘letter of the day’ to be repeated by your preschoolers and put up on the board.

- Have large preschooler appropriate words on cards. Choose a word of the day and let a preschooler put this on the board as well.

- During preschool circle time, it is a great idea for all students to say the names of everyone as you or a student points to them.

- Preschool circle time can also be used to read a story. Have lots of preschool books!

- Make a magic wand. Something simple, a small stick with a star on the end. Choose a preschooler to use this magic wand and point to students one by one to return to their seats or go to the next activity.

These are just a few simple suggestions for your preschool circle time. Hopefully it will encourage you to come up imaginative ways to conduct your preschool circle time and make it meaningful as well as fun!

For more preschool classroom ideas, visit: Preschool Resources Website.

Children love hands-on education and the Toobeez educational toys for kids are just the tool to get them learning through play and physical activity.

These giant tinker toy like building kits support educational classroom goals through exciting and enticing activities and differentiated instruction that addresses multiple intelligences. You’ll find dozens of learning activities created by teachers for teachers in the Toobeez activities books.

Kinesthetic Language Arts Activities
In your language arts classroom, the Toobeez educational toys for children are a quick way to set the stage for dramatic learning. Act out literature for greater understanding. Role play scenes and then record the dialogue to build writing skills. Have students create a new invention with Toobeez and then produce an instruction pamphlet for their unique device, including clear instructions. With the Toobeez Language Arts Activities Book, you will find ten innovative activities to improve reading comprehension, grammar, and creative expression. There is no end to the cooperative learning possibilities.

Hands-On Mathematics Activities
Bring another dimension to your math instruction with Toobeez construction toys for the mathematics classroom. Difficult, abstract concepts are easier to master when you build graphs, angles, and shapes using Toobeez learning toys.

As Kim Cooke of Walter Bickett Elementary School in Monroe, NC, explains, “One of my passions is gaining a better understanding on how the brain learns, and your activity books included up to date brain strategies. The books were very teacher-friendly and I was able to instantly incorporate the activities into my presentations and lessons. I have contacted 3 other principals and 18 other Teachers in my school system about your products.”

Students will understand the relevance of mathematics as they build and test their Toobeez structures. Ten engaging and open ended activities from the Toobeez Mathematics Activities Book will have students eager to learn more about mathematics.

Educational Toys for Toddlers and Preschooler
Young children learn best through play. Give kids a good start by choosing the right educational learning toys for toddlers and preschoolers. Because these multipurpose toys can be used in a variety of educational and fun ways, Toobeez make the perfect day care toy or toy for teachers of young children.

Toobeez encourage young children to explore their world in an educational and rewarding way. Build a tunnel, teach basic shapes, and create puppet theaters for kids.

Learning Toys
With these educational toys for kids, classroom activities transform into an opportunity for collaboration and genuine discovery.

Pete Smithson from Central Middle School, Orlando, FL, is impressed with the flexibility of these building toys: “The open ended nature of the product allows us to use your products within our entire school. We use them in our staff development days, core subjects, field day, and even our after school activities. What a great program.”
As teachers and educators, you know the value of character education. Toobeez brings learners together to complete authentic tasks.

Toobeez encourage perseverance, trust, responsibility and cooperation through activities that complement linguistic, logical spatial or kinesthetic learning styles.

The workbooks also include discussion questions and activity variations to differentiate for learning styles and strengths!

Your students will build amazing things with Toobeez including their self-esteem.

Many news stories have tragically addressed the issue of two pre-teenage boys who committed suicide because they were bullied. These stories focus on the child and the things that parents and schools did to avoid the problem. One thing that more schools need to do to avoid such problems of bullying, conflict resolution, and dispute management is the concept of peer mediation.

Peer mediation is a strategy that teaches student mediators strategies to help resolve conflict among their peers. Peer mediation can be instituted at any age in school from early elementary to high school. In peer mediation, students are trained as conflict managers. They learn ways to solve problems and to assist their peers in settling disputes in a way that everyone can live with. Peer mediation helps to keep many minor incidents from escalating over time into more serious incidents.

One of the advantages of peer mediation, is the fact that in the case of a dispute, the disputing parties’ peers are helping to resolve the dispute instead of a parent or teacher. The students, with the assistance of the peer mediator, learn how they can resolve the dispute themselves in a peaceful fashion. In addition, several social studies have found that children are often influenced by their peers more than their parents. According to Nancy Kaplan, in an article originally published by School Safety, Winter 1996, entitled ” teaching students to employ conflict resolution skills produces significant results in decreasing school confrontations and violence.

One of the critical things that is taught by peer mediation is the ability to resolve conflicts in a peaceful fashion. Rather than escalating, the peer mediators are shown life long conflict resolution skills.

It is the job of the mediator to assist the parties to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. In litigation, mediators help the parties to avoid a legal battle. Similarly, in peer mediation, student mediators are taught how to communicate to best solve problems and help to resolve conflicts without confrontation or violence. The student mediators, like adult mediators, learn that conflict can be constructive and positive, and that their role as mediators is not to judge, nor to force an agreement or solution.

Peer mediation training is not a simple one hour course. Instead, training can last for many hours. Some programs, for example, train their mediators for 12-15 hours. Often when those student mediators are leaders in the student community who are respected by their peers, that 12 hour training could pay in numerous dividends throughout the community. Frequently, other children will start to mirror behavior of people they respect. As such, the training can have long term benefits on everyone.

The following techniques can help anyone to act as a mediator:

· Let Each Person tell their story to the mediator uninterrupted

· Focus on issues and concerns, not on who did what,

· Repeat the story until the person lets you know that you understand their position
(not that they necessarily agree with it)

· Summarize the facts and feelings of both sides

· Acknowledge the difficulty in dealing with these issues

· Ask both parties if they can think of solutions

· Write down all suggestions regardless of your thoughts

· Identify what the alternatives are to not getting a solution through mediation (ie. Expulsion, suspension, etc.)

By learning and using skills from mediation, children and adults can help to confront and break the vicious circle of violence associating with bullying.

Just because young children have some physical limitations does not mean they do not enjoy playing make-believe. What little girl doesn’t want to feel like a princess? What little boy doesn’t want to imagine himself as a cowboy? A well-developed Early Childhood Curriculum should contain time for dramatic play for children of all abilities. Yet many costumes present inconveniences for children with special needs.

Traditional, Halloween-type costumes often cause tripping hazards or are too difficult to put on. Look for costumes designed specifically for the early childhood classroom and special needs classroom. Teachers and parents should look for costumes without string ties and without bulk. For safety reasons, costumes should be shorter than ankle-length.  Watch out for costume parts that might become tangled in wheelchair wheels or other moving parts.

All children like sensory stimulation as well. Costumes with pockets or fringe or tulle are especially enjoyable.   Dramatic play should be scheduled at least three times a week. Teachers should offer costume choices each time. Having duplicate costumes is good! Children like to play together and, when they see a classmate in the same costume, they have a better understanding of when they themselves look like in the same costume. It fosters cooperative and imaginative play.

Dramatic play is fun. Children learn from their make-believe adventures. They relax and have fun. Despite their youth, they can sense that they will not be evaluated on their play or have to meet certain expectations or performance standards. After all, it is make believe!   Children of all abilities should be encouraged to play “let’s pretend,” using easy-to-put-on costumes.

By comparison, the US is far more vocal about any positive outcomes as a result of an economic crisis than the UK are. Over here of course, our focus on the bleakness may well be because there is nothing positive occurring, but this seems unlikely - especially when one considers the basic parallels evident between North America’s problems and our own.

In Prince George, California, it has recently been reported by pgcitizen.co.uk that adult education is booming. With the economy getting weaker, enrollment numbers essentially are getting stronger. The Center for Learning Alternatives principal, Steve Fleck, stated, ‘The challenges people are suffering as a result of the economic downturn are, we hope, turning into future opportunities through our learning centre. People who are underemployed now have realized the critical need to get their credentials in order so they are ready when the economic upswing comes along’.

In the UK however, reports of this nature have not been heard. Instead, our news sources (which are incidentally often seen as of better quality by North Americans themselves) are very focused on the job losses, the lows of the ‘high street’, Woolworths, and the mess of the government, etc, etc. There is never any thought or discussion as to whether the credit crunch could have been a wake-up call for an entire generation.

Of course, in the US, the boom in adult education has caused a strain on services and institutions. In Salt Lake City 30 percent of funding has been taken from adult education funds, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. In the city alone, enrollments have increased by 28 percent on last year. Consequently, the decrease in money and influx in students is putting the local government and education coordinators in very difficult positions - i.e. whether to force inmates at Utah prison to pay back money for secondary education, in order to reimburse those law-abiding citizens seeking adult education.

In spite of the inherent problems with the situation, I believe the overall social shift for adults to be seeking further education is a very positive thing. This is not only because of the fact that these individuals will no doubt lead a full, more challenging, and rewarding life when the economy improves, but also because the success of the education sector at any level is nothing but a good thing - for the betterment of our children’s future, and for society as a whole. And so if we are ignoring an adult education boom in the UK, it is about time we analysed and celebrated it - and if it is not yet here, I await its imminent arrival.

When we drive up to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to withdraw cash quickly, we rarely think about the machine dispensing the cash. And that is part of the genius of the design. ATMs are machines that allow us to expedite a necessary task in life without worrying about the machine’s functionality. However, years of experimenting and development went in to the invention of the machine in order to make it safe, reliable, and secure so that we don’t have to think twice about it.

The first mechanical cash dispenser was developed in 1939 by Luther George Simijian and installed in New York City by the City Bank of New York. However, the machine was removed after only six months due to the lack of customer acceptance. People were uncomfortable using an unknown technology. The lack of acceptance for the first machine was a major reason that the next working ATM wasn’t implemented until twenty-five years later.

That machine, the first working ATM, was developed by De La Rue and installed at Barclays Bank in London, England in 1967. The invention was credited to engineer John Shepherd-Barron. The machine accepted a token or voucher and then dispensed pre-packaged envelopes of ten pounds sterling. The idea of using a Personal Identification Number or PIN was developed by a British engineer in 1965, shortly before the first networked ATM was invented.

Most ATMs today enable people to deposit and withdraw money from machines not belonging to their own bank account by using interbank networks. Donald Wetzel, a department head at Docutel, an automated baggage-handling company, developed the first networked ATM in 1968.

Today ATMs can be found just about anywhere. They allow us quick and easy access to funds and help the world’s economy function in more efficient ways.

How could we Iranians miss Shahnameh? How have we Iranians and non-Iranians not learned from Shahnameh?  How come Shahameh is not taught in every single school around the world? Why is this book not translated into every single language in the world?

These are the questions that anyone knowing about this great, magnificent, gigantic, and significant historic testimony called: Shahnameh, the Epic of the Kings, would ask. The quality of care for our human world is the main concept that can be learned from this marvelous story of life from the past.

What does this book symbolizes? Well, Story telling has a deep root in our Iranian culture, something that has helped our ancient culture survive all the attacks.  Language is basically the heart of a culture, something that will survive along with a resilient culture. The art of story telling is most certainly passed down to us by Shahnameh.   Geseh or saga assists us in making sense of the presence.  How?  Perhaps by realizing that the key to any problem is within us, we could make sense of what is occurring for us now.  Stories tell us about how other people used their inner wisdom and inner strength to overcome challenges.  Telling story for thousands of years has been the only way to transfer knowledge and information to next generations.  Shahnameh,  The Epic of the King is  the best gathering of stories from one thousand years ago.   In our childhood if we had the chance of hearing our grandparents reading stories from the Shahnameh, then we remember how we dreamed of becoming those great and brave heroes.  Stories in Shahnameh describes life of many characters who can still be found in our real life.

Acknowledging and understanding this metaphoric communication that Shahnameh has taught us Iranians, we can recognize the  the impact of childhood stories we have heard.  Act of kindness, bravery, heoric actions, love for the mother earth, respect for animals and plants, hard work, and justice was only some of those values that Shahnameh tells us.  I am sure we have not learned much from Shahnameh because our world is what it is today. Yet we should keep up the hope and relearn what was put together in this book for us. Now it is time we do this for our children. Even in our adult life we tell stories about various incidents every day.

People’s narratives tell us something important.  We can understand the individual’s self-belief and perceptions through the lens of narratives. Families teach children this special social skill by telling them stories of how life looked like in their time. Now it is time for us to re-learn from Shahnameh and teach  that to our children. I really wish Shahnameh would be taught in every single school in our world. Is it too selfish to wish?

Have you ever wanted to find out something about a friend or someone you have just met and you are not sure of? What about a nanny, babysitter or a housekeeper? Have you ever had a new business associate come into your life and you want to know more about them? There could be any number of reasons why you feel you have a legitimate reason for making sure that you know the person you are dealing with.

There are now ways to find out information about people on the internet. This article is limited to the types of searches that can be done to locate individuals living in the United States. Many of these people searches are free. Some of the information you can obtain is as follows:

On of the most thorough checks you can do on a person is a Social Security Records search. Some of the searches available to you when you do a Social Security Records check are:

1) address history
2) phone number
3) relatives and associates
4) death record
5) criminal record
6) property search
7) arrest record
background record
9) civil court record
10) bankruptcy record
11) public records.

What if you do not know the person’s name? What if you just know their cell number or their telephone number. Did you know that you can find out information about a person by doing a reverse telephone number search, reverse cell phone number search, reverse email search or a reverse address search? All of these types of reversal searches are available to you from a variety of websites across the web which specialize in finding people in cases where you do not know his or her name.

You best bet is to deal with a website which can provide you with a wide variety of ways in which to search a person. That way you can decide which are the most relevant searches for what you are trying to find out about a particular person. Further, you need to do a bit of research to ensure that you are dealing with a legitmate website and whether the information is current. There are some honest providers out there. In some cases the website will provide you with a free preliminary check so you can ascertain whether you are on the right track. This will help give you some indication as to whether the website at least is locating the right person to start with.

You want to be careful that you are receiving current information rather than old outdated information. In some cases you may want a complete history of a person and having information about things that have happened to them in the past or finding out some of the business dealings they have been involved in many years ago might help you determine the character you are dealing with. So “outdated” might be relevant to the case at hand.

With a little time and effort and the help from people who specialize in the area of searching people you can find out whatever you need to know about a person to make you feel comfortable dealing with them.

There is only 1 reason why people decide to take online degrees and it’s not because they just want something to do. Individuals opting to take a degree online will only do so if they want to better themselves or change career and have something preventing them from returning to a campus faculty full time.

They might have family to look after, they could have to work full time as well as studying, or they might have a busy life that they can’t cut down on to return to college. No matter what the reason, an online degree can help individuals get to where they want to go. However, it can only do so if an employer does not question the fact that they have a web degree.

Online education is still a hot subject among bosses for a range of reasons. Many companies welcome online educational qualifications because they recognize the fact that the individuals that do train online have vital qualities that the competition may not have and they are trained to the same level as anyone completing a campus course.

However, there are still some conventionalist bosses out there who will still question the fact that the people failed to sit in a classroom for three or 4 years. For some reason, those companies don’t understand an internet degree as of value.

However, these companies are few and far between now purely and just because the online degree graduates are filling jobs that will never have otherwise been filled. They are replying to the demand and helping the country to run much smoother than it has done in a considerable time. Honestly, online college degrees and technical qualifications have revolutionized the way the sector of education and the sector of industry work.

Although perspectives are changing, nobody taking an online degree should be expecting not to be challenged when it is presented in a resume or in an employment interview because it will most likely still be a topic of discussion.

Attending a campus institution makes the degree easily identifiable and straightforward to trace re what the candidate has indeed completed and what was left outstanding. Online degrees are not as simple to track and can turn out to be quite difficult to substantiate too.

However, both tend to have the same quantity of work involved with the latter providing far more helpful private qualities that the latter in terms of working off one’s own initiative and time management skills. Whilst that is not to discredit campus graduates, these are qualities that can be pointed out in an interview to try to help a candidate’s claim to a job!

An employer is well inside their right to check on a tutorial background and may indeed be cautious of individuals with online qualifications from varsities that are less famous thanks to the amount of faking agencies out there. If an individual attended a local online university instead of the University of Phoenix or Capella University then an employer will be skeptical till everything essentially checks out. It may even put them off hiring you.

This is because of the healthy suspicion that still lingers over the net degree, and with good reason. However, the larger online universities are well-known enough by now to need no explanation. The one question a potential employer will always ask though is why the candidate selected to take a web degree rather than a campus course. This is a question that you always need to be prepared for and have a good answer prepared.

No matter how well you attempt to get ready for an interview, you can never count on which way an employer will go or indeed what view of an internet degree he or she will take so you must have answers prepared for every eventuality. Attempting to predict the reaction will most likely land you in more difficulty re answers and excuses than presuming the worst.

Always assuming the worst is the best advice that you could take because you are then prepared for anything. If you are assured and put faith in your degree, providing evidence to substantiate the fact that it is real, it should no longer hold you back!