All The Different Type of Professional Coaches

All The Different Type of Professional Coaches How To Compare Professional Coaches? ChaptersThe Criteria For Choosing The Right Career CoachProfessional coaching on SuperprofWhat About Other Professional Coaching Platform?ICF - UKWhen you want to switch career, it can be difficult to find a new and more fulfilling job: when faced with problems as broad as self-confidence, public speaking or decision-making, a personal coaching service can be of great help.According to an Odoxa survey published in June 2017, 38% of respondents believe that the main obstacle to successful professional retraining is finding a good training institutionFurthermore, 32% of surveyed employees highlighted the burden of the cost of such training, though almost always necessary to learn new professional skills.Problem: how to find a professional life coach? Here is our comparative analysis of the different profiles found on Superprof and elsewhere!

5 Easy Acoustic Guitar Songs Everyone Should Know

5 Easy Acoustic Guitar Songs Everyone Should Know Suzy S. If youre new to the guitar and not sure which songs to learn first, these five easy acoustic guitar songs are a great place to get started. The following songs are timeless classics for a reason. Regardless of whatever stage of musicianship youre at, you can learn a wealth of information from these easy acoustic songs. If you’re a beginner playing for the first time, these acoustic songs can teach you some of the most common chords and progressions used by guitarists. If you are an advanced guitarist, then you can focus on the elements that make these songs effortlessly memorable, such as the feel, the lyrics, and the song structure. Later, you can use these elements to write your own songs! Here are five easy acoustic guitar songs (with guitar tabs) that everyone should know, ordered from simple to complex. 5 Easy Acoustic Guitar Songs 1. America Horse With No Name This easy acoustic guitar song was written by Dewey Bunnell from the band, America. Charting high in several countries in 1971 and 1972, it was America’s first and most famous single. Chords: Emin, F#min Form: Intro, Verse, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus, Solo, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus (2X) Get the tabs here 2. Tom Petty Free Fallin One of our favorite easy acoustic guitar songs was written by Tom Petty and his collaborator, Jeff Lynne. This song is the opening track for Petty’s album, Full Moon Fever, which was released in 1989. This is Petty’s longest charting song and it peaked at #7 on Billboard. Rolling Stones ranked it #179 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Chords: D, Dsus4, D, Asus4 Form: Intro, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Verse, Chorus (2X) Get the tabs here 3. Van Morrison Brown Eyed Girl This song by Van Morrison was released in 1967 on his solo album, Blowin’ Your Mind! It peaked at #10 on Billboard’s charts. This was his first single released as a solo artist and it also launched his career.  Rolling Stones ranked it at #110 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Chords: G, C, G, D Form: Intro, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Verse, Chorus Get tabs here SEE ALSO: Easy Guitar Tabs to Play Now 4. The Animals House of the Rising Sun This is another one of the most popular easy acoustic guitar songs. Although it’s uncertain who wrote this song, the most famous version was recorded by The Animals in 1964. Their version reached #1 on Billboard in the U.S. and also charted in the U.K., Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Rolling Stones ranked it at #123 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Chords: Amin, C, D, F, Amin, C, E Form: Intro, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Solo, Verse, Verse, Chorus Get the tabs here 5. Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here Written by David Gilmore and Roger Waters of Pinkfloyd, this is the title track for Pinkfloyd’s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here. Since the original release of the song in 1975, it has charted high in numerous countries. Rolling Stones ranked it at #324 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Chords: C, D, Amin, G, D, C, Amin, G Form: Intro, Verse, Verse, Intro, Verse, Intro (2X) Get the tabs here There you have it! Five easy acoustic guitar songs for your learning enjoyment. Once you master these easy acoustic songs, you can move onto more advanced pieces of music. Need help learning some of thee chords in these songs? The best way to improve your acoustic guitar technique is to learn from a qualified guitar instructor. Check out the experienced acoustic guitar teachers at TakeLessons today to take your playing skills to the next level! Post Author: Andy W. teaches guitar, singing, piano, and more in Greeley, CO. He  specializes in jazz, and has played guitar for 12 years. Learn more about Andy here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo  by  tudor-rose

Tutorfair Dyslexia Training Day

Tutorfair Dyslexia Training Day “Great starter. Just leaves you wanting more!” 25 of our top tutors received top-notch training on how to best-serve students with dyslexia. They spent the day with British Dyslexia Association instructor Brenda Ferrie learning about what it’s like to have dyslexia, how students with dyslexia learn, and how to support these students in a one-to-one context. Tutors who attended our first ever dyslexia training day teach everything from English, literacy and foreign languages, to maths and science. They feel more confident and more informed about their students’ needs. One of the key takeaways from the day was the importance of early intervention for students with learning difficulties, and the serious impact that a tutor can have on a child’s future by shaping how they approach learning for life. Our tutors know how to play to the strengths of dyslexia, in addition to addressing weaknesses. For example, while dyslexia is associated with auditory, memory, and speed problems, it is also associated with better than average visualising, lateral thinking, verbal communication and problem solving skills. As such, tutors learned that processes, such as maths, should be taught with visuals rather than oral explanations. Reading and spelling should be taught orthographically, not just phonologically. The black text helps us understand how difficult reading can be if you had dyslexia. (The red text is the interpretation) Tutors are also familiar with common signs of dyslexia, something they may be in a better position to spot than a classroom teacher. Students with visual troubles may rub their eyes, complain of their eyes being tired, or cover one eye while trying to read. Students may, more generally, struggle to recall instructions, or doing things in order (as sequencing is difficult). To address this sequencing difficulty (trouble putting things in order), tutors were given a very useful planning strategy. By creating a diagram with 6 boxes, and labelling them “start, Next….End”, tutors give students the space to write down ideas as they occur, rather than forcing students to think in order from beginning to end. This allows students to hold on to and use their creative ideas instead of losing a good idea because they didn’t think of it at the ‘right time’. This visual lay-out also allows students to easily see when their plan is complete, or what has yet to be done. Armed with specific strategies and a deep understanding of the causes and processes of dyslexia, our tutors are prepared to give students the support and knowledge they need to make the most of their future and fully access their education today, tomorrow, and for life. “This morning gave me unexpected insight into living and learning with dyslexia. I now have increased awareness and understanding of how it might feel to be coping with learning with dyslexia. For this reason alone the session was rewarding and well worth attending. Thank you for arranging this for us.” “Thank you for organising this; having access to Continued Professional Development through Tutorfair is definitely something that will make me recommend you to parents looking for a tutor/fellow teachers looking for tutoring work.” “A real eye opener for me as I...am coming across it more and more and so this session was invaluable. Thank you.”

Greg Norman and the Science of the Choke

Greg Norman and the Science of the Choke Consider two seemingly unrelated scenarios:1.   A professional golfer in the prime of his career, poised to finally win his first Masters, blows his six-stroke lead. Everything begins to unravel with a bogey on the 9th hole, and he eventually loses the tournament by five strokes.2.   A 17 year old high school student takes the SAT for the first time in March. She feels totally comfortable with the test. Her reaction afterwards: I was really happy that I did tutoring when I was sitting there with the test in front of me. I could just start answering questions instead of thinking really hard and wasting time. [an actual quote from an AJ Tutoring student who took the March 2016 SAT]If you followed golf in the 1990s, you may have recognized Greg Norman’s epic 1996 Masters choke in the first scenario. Johnette Howard recently profiled Norman’s collapse for ESPN, applying 20 years of cognitive and sports psychology to explain what happened on the course that day.Norman after narrowly m issing the 15th hole with a chip shotOn the surface, our high school student and the Great White Shark may not appear all that similar. Not so! Both are competing in intense, pressure-cooker situations where the psychology of the competitor is just as important as his knowledge or skill.Norman turned pro in 1976, so by the time of the 1996 Masters, he had logged countless hours of practice and tournament time. He knew the ins and outs of the course and which shot to take when. But sometimes head knowledge and skill just isn’t enough to go the distance.As Howard notes in her article, the choke often begins when people become anxious about their performance. Anxiety causes them to think too closely about actions that, at this point in their training, should be automatic. Emotional and physiological responses cascade from anxiety and overthinking, eventually handicapping the competitor’s motor skills and his ability to think clearly and calmly.Identity threat and a fixed mindset ca n contribute to a collapse as well. Norman’s rival in the 1996 Masters, Nick Faldo, had already won the Masters twice (while Norman had been runner-up twice). Norman later commented that “Masters champions are there for a reasonthey understand all those little crazy quirks of what Augusta National can deliver.” Although Norman was a golf pro, top-ranked in the world, he didn’t see himself as a member of the group that could win the Masters. He assumed there was something inherent or fixed in the persona of the “Masters champion” that allowed them to win the tournament and Norman didn’t think he had what it took.After our extended foray into the world of golf, let’s return to more familiar territory standardized testing and test preparation. Anyone who’s tutored for any length of time is likewise familiar with the choke. We work with a student for several months leading up to test day. She participates in tutoring sessions, does all her homework and completes four timed practice SAT tests at our office. Her practice test scores are improving and we’re excited! All signs point to a great performance on the real SAT.Then scores come back, and there’s not much improvement. Obviously this is a disappointing outcome for everyone the student who was hoping for a great score, the tutor who feels personally invested in the student’s performance, and the parent who invested resources into the preparation. So what happened?Often when this situation happens (which is fortunately rare!) and we talk with the family afterwards, it comes out that the student experienced severe anxiety on test day. The student will comment that she was so anxious that she “just couldn’t think”, “didn’t recognize the problems”, or couldn’t finish sections on time. Her test scores don’t accurately reflect her true knowledge and ability, much like Greg Norman’s performance at Augusta back in 1996.A fixed mindset person believes, Im either good at this or not. They say, If I fail, its because theres something missing from my total package here. But the trouble is, its not a growth mindset. Having that fixed attitude limits your ability to cope with the things that are happening to you.-Fran Pirozzolo, neuroscientist and sports psychologistBy contrast, consider the student in our second scenario above. Although we don’t have her scores yet, she felt calm, confident, and prepared. Most students with that attitude achieve great score improvements on the SAT. Notably, she commented that she “could just start answering questions” on the SAT “instead of thinking really hard and wasting time”. Our SAT student experienced the flow that occurs when actions become automatic and overthinking is absent.And this is the million-dollar question: how do we convert our anxiety-ridden student into the calm and confident test-day superstar? How do you turn Greg Norman into a Masters champion?While it’s true that some people are more anxi ous by nature and others are cool and collected under pressure, it’s possible for anyone to take a few steps to improve their mental state on game day. Here are a few proven suggestions:Prepare. Nothing reduces anxiety like the knowledge that you’ve seen this golf course, this SAT question, this math problem a hundred times before. You automatically know the steps to solve the problem, so you can “turn off your brain” and run on autopilot. How do you prepare? Tutor with an expert (we’ll show you the questions that show up again and again). Do your homework so you know how to do the work yourself. Take timed, proctored practice tests so you’re used to the timing of the test and the pressure.Sleep/eat/exercise. It seems like every high school student has an ultra-intense schedule these days. While we don’t advocate neglecting assignments or skipping school leading up to the SAT, you should make sure that you’re getting as much rest and nutrition as you can in the week before test day. All the preparation in the world won’t be much help if you’re tired or hungry. And try to get some exercise, even if it’s just a short walk. Getting the endorphins flowing helps brain function on test day.Warm up. This doesn’t help everyone, but many students benefit from knocking out a few practice SAT problems over breakfast on test day. The point of this is not to learn new material it’s to warm up your brain and establish your confidence the morning of the big test. Don’t even check your answers remember, the point of this exercise is not to learn something new!Breathe. Sounds goofy, but when your cortisol and adrenaline kick in and you’re in full “fight or flight” response, your heart rate increases dramatically and breathing becomes shallow. These physiological responses hamper performance in athletic and intellectual competitions. On test day, keep a few simple breathing exercises or relaxation techniques handy to calm down and refocus you r brain. Try closing your eyes and breathing in for 10 counts, then out for 10 counts.Bring a lucky pencil or chew gum (quietly!). Use the same pencil to take your practice tests, then bring it to test day. Chew gum while you’re taking your practice tests, then chew gum when you’re taking the actual SAT. Creating a physical link between your practice performances and test day will help lower your anxiety and remind you that you’ve done this before.Visualize your success. To combat identity threat, picture yourself confidently completing every section of the SAT on time. You’re reading passages and understanding them, and you’re acing all the math problems. You’re in a state of flow. Rest confidently in the knowledge that you’ve done the work to prepare for the test, so there’s nothing standing between you and a great performance.Turn the page and leave each section behind. This is a tough one, but the ability to compartmentalize while you’re taking the SAT (or golf ing) is a valuable skill. What do you do when you know you bombed a section or bogeyed on the 9th hole? Leave it behind. Your performance on that section doesn’t have to affect your performance on the rest of the test. Students are remarkably bad judges of how many questions they actually missed, and they tend towards catastrophic thinking. If you think you had a bad section, try your breathing exercises, stretch, pull out that lucky pencil and get going on the next section.Maintain perspective. Even if you don’t get the score that you want, chances are you’ll be able to retake the test. We recommend that students plan on taking the SAT or ACT two or three times in order to work out the kinks and maximize their score. Very few students achieve their goal score on the first test, and every actual test you take gives you valuable test-day experience, helping you stay calm and confident the next time. And if you never get that perfect 1600 or 36? Life goes on. You’ll still get into a good college and the SAT and ACT will be a distant memory, just another learning experience along the way to becoming an adult.While the merits of the SAT and the ACT continue to be debated in national media, it’s indisputable that these tests provide a valuable training ground for how to thrive in high-pressure situations. Rather than shrinking away from the challenge, we encourage students to seize this opportunity to practice their “game day” skills, which will surely serve them in good stead later in life.

10 Common Mistakes to Avoid During a Job Interview

10 Common Mistakes to Avoid During a Job Interview via Pixabay 1. Show up late The minute you show up late to a job interview is the minute the interviewer will not take you seriously. If you’re on time, you’re late. Try to show up about 10 minutes early to show that you are eager to have this job interview and are excited about the position. This also gives you a chance to sit in a waiting area and to get a little bit of a feel for the environment of the office and how it operates, at least on the surface. via Pixabay 2. Dress inappropriately Dress for success! To show your interviewer that you take the chance to interview for the position seriously, make sure to dress professionally. You are never too overdressed for an interview. Keep it simple, yet add a touch of yourself to the outfit. It can be difficult to decide what is business professional and what is business casual and it doesn’t help that there are different expectations for both men and women. So make sure to do some research before going to your interview. via Pixabay 3. Sit before being offered a seat Keep in mind that you are a guest in your interviewer’s office. Never be presumptuous and sit down before being offered a seat during a job interview. You don’t know if this is the room you will be staying in, if there are other people coming in to interview you, or if your interviewer has a specific preference on where they like to sit. This is a common mistake interviewees make, so keep it in mind! via Pixabay 4. Avoid eye contact It’s understandable that you may be nervous or intimidated during a job interview, but that doesn’t mean you can avoid making eye contact with your interviewer. Though it may just be nerves, the interviewer may take it as you have something to hide or you are untrustworthy. It can be difficult to control your body language, especially if you are trying to convey something different than what you are feeling. Take a few deep breaths and relax. It’ll make it much easier to keep eye contact. 5. Give one-word answers Come prepared with what you may say during your job interview. Your interviewer is asking questions to get to know you and your experiences better, so if you give just one-word answers, they will not come away with a good feel for you as a person or worker. Before your interview, think of some stories and relevant experiences you can talk about that pertain to the position and its responsibilities. If you’re feeling nervous, practice telling a friend these stories and answers. via Pixabay 6. Give too many details You may be one of those people who doesn’t get nervous for a job interview and is completely comfortable with talking about themselves. If this is the case, be careful not to give too many irrelevant details. Remember, this is a job interview, not a coffee date. Keep your stories and answers concise and to the point without embellishing or giving too much personal opinion. 7. Brag about yourself It’s a fine line between talking about yourself and bragging about yourself. You don’t want to seem arrogant while recalling specific experiences or act like the company needs you more than you need them. It’s important to realize that you are confident that you can do well in this position, but that you still have a lot to learn about the industry and the company. 8. Use your phone If you receive a call or a text during a job interview, ignore it. Do not pull your phone out in the middle of your interview and answer it. All of your attention should be on the job interview and the interviewer. Before entering the building of your interview, it is best to put your phone either on silent or airplane mode and keep it in your pocket or handbag until after your interview. via Pixabay 9. Not shaking hands It’s a common courtesy to shake your interviewer’s hand at the beginning of the interview and at the end. It shows that you are polite and know the etiquette required when attending a job interview. It should happen naturally. If your interviewer doesn’t reach out their hand, make sure you offer yours. via Pixabay 10. Not sending a “thank you” note After an interview, it’s important to make sure you send a “thank you” note or email no more than a day after. Keep in mind that the interviewer is probably very busy and interviewing you is not the most important thing they need to do that day. Sending a note is polite and shows that you are considerate of the time they spent meeting with you. It will definitely put you ahead of other candidates if they do not send one.

Sports-Related Head Injuries Linked to Serious Brain Condition Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

Sports-Related Head Injuries Linked to Serious Brain Condition Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of fiber tracts in the brain (image courtesy of Wikipedia) In 2009, Ann C. McKee, MD et al. published a scientific paper in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology entitled Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Athletes: Progressive Tauopathy following Repetitive Head Injury.  Dr. McKee and her research team at The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy had done (and still do) some of the world’s leading work in brain trauma research in athletes. The paper was a review of 47 verified cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). There are a great many neurological and behavioral symptoms listed by the paper that define CTE, making the claim that the condition is its own form of tauopathy. (Tauopathy is a form of brain degeneration caused by the build-up of tau proteins. We’ll talk a little bit more about tau proteins later.) Isolating CTE as a unique brain condition is perhaps the paper’s achievement: We demonstrate that although CTE shares many features of other neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, post-encephalitic Parkinsonism, and the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinson’s-dementia complex of Guam (ALS/PDC), CTE is a neuropathologically distinct, progressive tauopathy with a clear environmental etiology. CTE is not unique to athletes, but it is certainly prevalent in contact sports. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) suffered on the field can eventually lead to CTE. In the 2006 scientific paper entitled The Epidemiology and Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury: A Brief Overview published in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, Jean A. Langlois, Sc.D., M.P.H., Wesley Rutland-Brown, M.P.H. and Marlena M. Wald, MLS, M.P.H. reported that current data on TBIs around the country are probably underestimating the actual number of cases: Sports and recreation activities are also a major cause of TBI, including concussions, and are severely underestimated using existing national data sets. Although a previous Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that approximately 300,000 such injuries occur each year, it included only TBIs for which the person reported a loss of consciousness. Other studies suggest that injuries involving loss of consciousness may account only for between 8% and 19.2% of sports-related TBIs. Taking this into account, a more accurate approximation may be that 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related TBIs occur each year. CT scan of brain with cerebral contusions, hemorrhage within hemispheres, subdural hematoma and skull fractures (image courtesy of Wikipedia) The article also made it clear that people who suffer these TBIs are at a much higher risk of developing other health conditions including epilepsy and Alzheimers disease. There are, however, non-physical cognitive ailments that pose a unique problem for recognition. CTE and depression, for example, may not reveal obvious physical problems and can thus go undetected until it is too late. Such was the case for Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and Derek Boogaard, just three of the many athletes who suffered from the condition. Duerson, a former Chicago Bear and New York Giant, killed himself in 2011. He shot himself in the heart. Before doing so, he requested through multiple avenues to have his brain preserved for research. He left it in his suicide note and in a text to his ex-wife. This reinforces what writer Ed Pilkington noted in an article for The Guardianthat Duerson knew he had a problem. In the article, Pilkington interviewed Dr. McKee (the same Dr. McKee from the 2009 paper cited earlier) at the NFLs brain bank (The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy) in the Bedford VA medical center in Massachusetts as she was examining a brain that used to belong to a very skilled NFL player, but whose identity would remain anonymous. Her evaluation of said brain was that repeated blows to the head had reduced its size and removed key filaments. Later, she pulled up slides of Duersons brain on her laptop. They showed the buildup of tau, that abnormal protein that is formed in the brain after repeated trauma. Tau proteins essentially block the function of neurons and can spread to surrounding areas, eventually destroying functionality. Although tau is a damaging characteristic of brain trauma and can be detected in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid, it does not necessarily correlate with CTE and cannot, therefore, serve as a dependable diagnostic. In an NBC News article centered on former NFL linebacker Junior Seau, more of the same was found. Seau committed suicide in 2012 just like Duerson: a gunshot to the chest, preserving his brain for research. As the article by Maggie Fox stated, an autopsy showed he had CTE. Seau, like others before and after him, died young. One can’t help but wonder what would happen to these former-athletes if they went on living with CTE into later ages. And, if they did, what sort of psychological and behavioral challenges they would face on day-to-day basis. Would the tauopathy completely destroy their cognitive capacity? Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett underwent brain scans last year that showed he had signs of CTE. Dorsett, now 59, had recalled bouts of memory loss and admitted that his “quality of living has changed drastically and it deteriorates every day.” Derek Boogaard (image courtesy of Wikipedia) In a 2011 article for Time, Jeffrey Kluger reviewed yet another victim of sports-related brain damage: hockey player Derek Boogaard. His death was not directly caused by CTE as Duerson’s and Seau’s were, but Boogaard was diagnosed postmortem. He died from an overdose of alcohol and oxycodone, taken, perhaps, in an effort to alleviate some of his suffering. Kluger defines CTE in his own words: a brain condition similar to Alzheimers disease but caused by nothing more mysterious than getting hit too much. Kluger later reiterated the hardest part about brain disorders such as CTEnamely that the condition cannot be properly diagnosed until the patients brain can be sliced open after their death. Those afflicted may experience any number of symptoms including memory loss, intense depression and general cognitive distress. The University of Rochester Medical Center is working on multiple projects on traumatic brain injury, but interestingly, one project is looking at non-concussion-causing head blows. It is well-known at this point that repeated concussions cause serious cognitive issues, yet with this other project, Jeffrey J. Bazarian, M.D., M.P.H. wants to look at the everyday, seemingly harmless hits that football players experience. Using special sensors inside the helmets of University of Rochester football players, Dr. Bazarian could compare readings before and after the players season. This study is vastly important because, as the lab says on their site, while the neurologic risks of concussion are just beginning to be appreciated, the risks posed by cumulative sub-concussive head blows are potentially much larger, as they affect virtually every athlete involved in contact sports on an almost daily basis. The findings could call for more preventative actions in contact sports and likely freak out parents of young athletes everywhere. Practically, you may not be able to take the hits out of the games, but there may be ways to manage potential trauma. After all, as we’ve just learned from Dr. Bazarian, multiple seemingly minor head blows can add up to irreversible, life-changing damage. Even a concussion, something that used to be treated as a laughable incident (how many fingers am I holding up?), is now seen as a serious injury. Even the world of medicine is seeing them in a whole new light. “Scientifically, what were seeing is there is actually a change in the electrical activity of the brain that can last weeks or months,” says Dr. Neil Martin, chairman of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. It seems, then, sitting out for the rest of the game is not treatment enough for even the simplest of concussions. Risking another hit, in the long run, may prove fatal. UFC logo (image courtesy of Wikipedia) The danger is real, especially since many head injuries in contact sports go undiagnosed and untreated, as current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones reflected on in a Fox Sports article from last week. “I saw those lights,” Jones said. “Now that I’m older I realize that those lights were probably some type of concussion.” This is the threat Dr. McKee and other brain trauma experts are talking about. Concussions are dangerous on their own, but if gone unnoticed or are not treated properly they can develop into CTE and other serious brain conditions. In an interview with Jeffrey Brown of PBS, Dr. McKee admitted there are still a lot of questions out there regarding CTE. And when working in a field (science) that demands overwhelming evidence to accept alternative hypotheses, questions leave room for doubt and further studies: A key question remains, what’s the incidence and prevalence? How common is this disorder? And that, we will never establish from an autopsy study. For that, we really need to be able to identify this disease in living individuals. And that’s a huge focus of our more recent research. How can we identify this in people that are living? And that might be through MRI scans or PET scans and especially the ones that might peg the [tau] protein that develops. But we are really going to need those tests to be able to determine if a living person has this disease and then be able to measure that person’s exposure to head trauma. And that will be the defining moment. And that will probably take a longitudinal prospective study involving probably thousands of subjects. These are the questions that Dr. McKee and her peers in brain trauma research are faced with. The next logical step, it seems, would be working towards preventative measures. After all, we cant very well cancel sports Well, Reebok might have made a step in the right direction with a new product called the Checklight. It is a skullcap worn under the helmet but has force detectors attached and will light yellow for a moderate hit and red for a severe hit. Although they make it clear that the product is not a concussion diagnostic, the light indicators can give players, parents and coaches more information about the severity of hits and allow them to make the best decisions with that new information. Today, over 400 living athletes have promised to give their brain up for trauma research.

Teacher talks What its like living and teaching English in Spain

Teacher talks What it’s like living and teaching English in Spain As a hugely popular tourist destination, Spain, to many Europeans, is synonymous with sunny beaches, sangria and sunburn. It’s where many of us spent our family vacations growing up. As a result we often have a tendency to take this incredible country for granted. The fact is, there’s a lot more to Spain than meets the eye, including a fascinating history and a rich culture. Having never explored beyond the confines of the most “touristy” areas in my life, as a fully-fledged adult with my shiny new bachelor’s degree in hand, I was eager to discover the hidden side of Spain. What better way to get off the tourist trail and get to the very essence of the the real Spain, I thought to myself, than by going on the hunt for a job teaching English in Spain in a remote rural town that I had never even heard of? Supply and demand for English teachers in Spain All that apartment hunting was worth it in the end! As a country that places a huge emphasis on learning English, Spain has always been a hotspot for ESL jobs in Europe. If the fact that Spanish children study English from a very young age at both public and private schools wasn’t enough to fuel the relentless demand for English teachers, many parents also enroll their kids in extracurricular English language immersion summer camps and after-school English language courses. Teaching English to adults in Spain is also a booming industry, as more and more Spanish companies have set new requirements for their employees to upskill and develop stronger English language skills. While the majority of English teaching jobs seemed to be concentrated in cities like Madrid and Barcelona, smaller towns in more rural regions of Spain also had plenty of ESL job opportunities as well. As I was seeking a more relaxed pace of life, I set my sights on Ciudad Real, the town of the famous writer Cervantes and Manchego cheese, just south of Madrid, where there was an abundance of English teaching jobs. My top tip for landing a job teaching English in Spain: Get your TEFL first! A weekend spent visiting the famous Alhambra. I found a position teaching in a small school in Ciudad Real relatively quickly, working with middle and high school school students preparing for Cambridge exams as well as adult English learners. Working with two distinct types of ESL students - adolescents and adults - both requiring very different energies and lessons all in the space of one day, was a great opportunities for me to hone my teaching skills. It was also pretty overwhelming and, at times, terrifying. In central Spain, they still do a siesta so that helped. Who doesn’t want to nap for a few hours in the middle of the work day? Siesta time in northern Spain. Being honest, at that time, teaching job requirements in Spain were a little more lax than they are now. As a result, I had cheaped out and skipped getting TEFL certified, which in retrospect was a big mistake. Having little to no training in the most effective methods for working with English language learners meant that I struggled to find my feet in the classroom for the first while. If the idea of standing in front of a class full of students without a clue of what you’re doing isn’t enough to break you out into a cold sweat, it’s also worth bearing in mind Spain has also become one of the most most competitive ESL teaching job markets in the world. Gone are the days when a native English speaker could walk into any language school in Spain and snag a great-paying job, like I managed to do. Nowadays, there are thousands of overseas teachers, from North America as well as neighboring countries in Europe, all vying for the same English teaching jobs in Spain each year. So take it someone who’s been there: If you’re serious about teaching English in Spain, do yourself a favor and invest in a TEFL course! And with that piece of hard-won wisdom out of the way, let’s cover some things that were awesome about teaching in Spain: 1. Spain has the best food in the world. Tapas and canas - my staple diet while teaching in Spain! As a foodie, I was in my element living and teaching in Spain. Food is very ingrained in Spanish culture and much to my delight, I spent most evenings after work eating tapas. In the non-touristy parts of Spain, bars still offer free tapas when you buy a small beer (commonly referred to by the locals as cana) or wine. Ciudad Real is also the home of Manchego cheese so needless to say, I was a bit plumper by the end of my time there from overindulging. In my year there, the most spanish vocabulary I learned was about food and menus. Despite my local bar owner not speaking a word of English, I bonded with him and his wife over the Jamon, Gazpacho and Bocadillos they sold. 2. The European approach to work-life balance is incredible. In marked contrast to North Americans, Spanish people have a far better balance between work and life (in fact, they’ve been voted the second best in the world for work-life balance). Family and person time is highly valued and so the working day is much shorter. In my town, the siesta was still used by all schools and businesses, which meant that around 12 noon each day we had a few hours free to eat a long lunch and nap or get the laundry done. The pace of life is in general, much more laid back and relaxes. Sign up to Teach Away today for access to the latest teaching jobs around the world. 3. You can travel Europe on the cheap. Teaching in Spain meant I was located smack bang in the center of Europe, where travel was relatively cheap and I could visit other cities in Spain and Europe in just a couple of hours. I spent my spring break traveling around Portugal and Northern Spain, as well as shorter weekend trips all over the country. 4. Spain is one of the countries with the most vacation days in the world. Semana Santa Festival. Spain is famous for its abundance of ancient and quirky festivals and holidays. Each municipality has 13 holidays a year. Semana Santa (Easter) is the biggest, and small towns like mine did lots of really interesting things to celebrate, like burning fish in the town centre. These were great occasions to share with my students and create lessons and learn about their traditions. Ever want to see a whole town and it’s people covered in tomatoes? Tomatina Festival in Valencia is just the ticket for you! 5. Ever wanted to learn another (very useful) language? Here’s your chance! Despite Spanish being a relatively easy language to learn, I hold my hands up and freely admit I did not leave a fluent speaker. I did pick up quite a bit out of necessity. however, as locals in the smaller towns in Spain tend to speak little English. If your goal is to a fluent Spanish speaker, then immersion is without a doubt the best way to learn a foreign language. You would definitely be able to achieve fluency by living in one of the smaller cities, where you can’t reply on others speaking your native language. 6. Living in Spain is very affordable. Granted, the salaries to teach in Spain are not as competitive as other places like the UAE and China. However, even with my fairly modest teaching salary, I could afford a nice apartment near the central plaza, a beer after work every day and save up enough to travel around Europe on my free time. I never worked long hours, there wasn’t lots of extra paperwork (that us teachers love so much) and so I had ample time to explore the history and culture of this special country. I have every intention of going back to teach in Spain again someday. And even retire there, who knows?