Not so long ago, I did some touring around Europe. At that stage, my Spanish was by no means fluent. I had bought the product Rocket Spanish and used it for a couple of months. However, it wasn't until one night in a bar that I realised how well you can learn a language using an audio and software product like Rocket German.
So I was at a bar in Barcelona. Nothing special there, I had spent most of my nights in Barcelona at some bar or club. But what made that night special was the Japanese couple I bumped into. I had studied Japanese in school for 5 years and I actually did quite well at it. However, that night, I realised how poor I actually spoke Japanese. Sure, I could still remember how to read and write in their language, and I remembered quite a few grammatical rules, but when it came to actually conversing with the Japanese, I was really struggling.
As I began to falter with my Japanese, I asked the couple whether they spoke any English. They didn't. So the only thing left was to use my Spanish. As it was, the Japanese man lived in Spain and spoke fluent Spanish. Now, I wasn't very confident in my Spanish, but I thought, it's either this, or I'll have to revert to hand signals. So I began talking and asking questions in Spanish. The conversation wasn't anything unusual and after a few minutes I left the couple and went back to my friends.
It didn't hit me until I got back to my friends, that I'd actually been able to communicate better in Spanish, than I was in Japanese. I thought this was pretty interesting. I spent 5 years of high school learning all about Japanese and yet I was able to communicate better in a language, where my only exposure was listening to some audio cds for maybe 15 hours.
For all those people who claim that learning via audio CDs is inferior to formal classes, this would make an interesting read. It also speaks volumes about the quality of Rocket Spanish. I don't want to go into too much detail here, if you want a full review of Rocket Spanish, then you should visit my site in the link below.
Anthony Dwyer runs the popular and free website, Learn Spanish which has free lessons on how to speak Spanish, information on grammar, verbs, adjectives, culture and much, much more.


College Accreditation: A True / False Test
Here’s a college entrance exam no accredited college or university will ever give to their entering students. Perhaps they should if Truth is what they seek.
It requires answering three statements with either a True or False response. Each incorporates major ethical issues plaguing American higher education. The fallout of the answers may affect potential students everywhere.
Number I. A legitimate college degree is only earned through a school accredited by an agency approved by the US Department of Education.
True / False
Number II. A degree of any kind -- Associate of Arts to a PhD -- received from a college or university other than one accredited by a US Department of Education approved agency is or should be considered a diploma mill.
True / False
Number III. A college/university degree accredited by a US Department of Education agency guarantees graduates a job.
True / False
Now for the Answers:
Number I. Not one single institution of higher learning in America, not one, is, or ever has been, required to have accreditation awarded by any agency approved or not approved by the US Department of Education.
In America, accredited schools covet and may even flaunt their regional accreditation so that they can attract students. The applicants may not be able to afford the education but will easily qualify for federal guaranteed student loans to pay the school’s tuition. Colleges are paid directly from the Feds. The number of students on guaranteed student aid now exceeds 80 percent of the learner populations in most public and private colleges in America.
It has been suggested that should the US federal guaranteed student loan program cease to exist tomorrow, the number of students attending American accredited colleges and universities would drop more than half by nightfall. The rest would dwindle by half again by the end of the month. Tuition costs, even in state schools, are increasing so rapidly it is prohibitive for most students to attend were it not for the student loan program. And, the only way for a college to get on the Government guaranteed student loan list is to be accredited by an approved US Department of Education private agency.
Many suggest the real motive of American accredited colleges in sustaining accreditation and paying the huge fees and dealing with assessment visits from peers to analyze their programs is because they are driven purely by the economic factor to stay in business and prosper.
Detractors also suggest the accreditation deception assures a closed higher education monopoly along with the ability to increase tuition without objection enabling ongoing unobstructed private access to billions of dollars of student guaranteed education funding.
Thousands of potentially competing schools, among them the best in the world, are left out of the loop. They cannot touch this Federal money even though they are licensed in their home states or accredited by a foreign jurisdiction.
These outcasts not only include new online and distance education schools, they also count in their midst colleges that are older than the USA and have been teaching and putting out scholars for two, three, and four hundred years.
Number II. Thus, the idea that any school not accredited by a US approved agency must be a diploma or degree mill is a perception that is also totally false. This mythical conclusion has all the earmarks of an ongoing conspiracy. It seems to have originated with the FBI’s infamous DipScam investigation years back when a lone agent and his staff zealously took on the paper mills – those schools that would give you a degree for a few hundred bucks and mastermind a bogus transcript for you to boot. That undercover job has long since been discounted as a waste of taxpayer money.
The original diploma mills that survived, reinvented themselves and continue to do a robust business by just labeling what they offer as FAKE. They sell degrees and transcripts by the thousands just like they used to. It’s a half billion dollar a year business. It turns out that defining what a diploma mill is and what phonies actually meet the profile is actually pretty easy. It doesn’t take a physics professor to point out whether a school has a place in the cosmos. But those in love with the concept that all colleges need to be accredited chose to invent the myth that a school not accredited is a diploma mill. Thus, the conspiracy to perpetrate the myth to cast all unaccredited or foreign accredited institutions as degree mills goes on.
Some have described this attitude as “accreditation arrogance” because the first principle of American higher education is pretty simple – accreditation is voluntary and a college or university has a choice to seek or not seek American accreditation.
Number III. The final fallacy is that one must attend an accredited school because employers will not hire an applicant if the degree comes from an unaccredited college or university.
Let’s put the cards on the table. Human relation departments are not charged by their CEO to “make sure our applicants graduated from an accredited school before we hire them.” The whole idea behind this is absurd on its face. Yet, in at least one western state in America, college graduates must meet this requirement for every job in state government that requires a degree.
Over 150 nations license schools to operate and offer degrees. Colleges and universities in these nations and those in most of the world find degrees earned from institutions licensed in these countries perfectly legitimate. The question any prospective student should ask is “will my degree be recognized?” not “is the school accredited?”
Accreditation guarantees nothing, not even the transfer into another so-called accredited school. If you doubt that, stop by the registrar’s office at a claimed accredited college and ask if the degree from their institution will guarantee admission into the graduate program of another “accredited” school other than their own. And while you’re at it, ask them if the credits you take there will be guaranteed transferable into another accredited school and get you the job you always wanted as well. You may be surprised at the answers. There are absolutely no guarantees.
The real benefactor in all this is you. Look beyond the scarlet letter the American accreditation fanatics would have you wear if you chose to attend a perfectly legitimate and respected unaccredited institution. If you can afford to break the yoke of servitude put on by the private regional accrediting agencies and the US Department of Education and get past them without a student loan, then alternative higher education choices become endless and, to say the least, awesome.
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Frederick DiUlus is the CEO & Founder of Global Academy Online, Inc., and the author of the popular eBook BEST WORST IN ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS.


Fancy Dress Make-up Tips
Having bought your Halloween costume and accessories it's time to complete the look without the need for a mask. If you are planning on 'trick or treating' with youngsters, face painting is a safer option as there is no restriction of vision. Make-up is usually also a less restrictive and therefore less hot alternative for indoor parties…..
Face paint is a great to achieve a low budget finishing look for your costume where you either don't want to wear a mask or a mask is not a suitable alternative. Before you start it's worth reading all of the manufacturer's application instructions to ensure tear-free results…. Having read the instructions, here are a few more tips worth consideration;
o Firstly, before applying make-up for the actual event it's always worth practising. It's what they say, practise makes perfect and the more you prepare, the quicker you will become – this is especially valuable if you will be a time pressured parent on the day!
o When using face paints on a large area, for example, background colour washing, use a sponge rather than a brush. This will allow you to blend the colour better and will be smoother and more comfortable on the face. Keep the sponge fairly dry and take the paint up to the hairline and just under the chin.
o It is important to use a clean sponge with each change of face paint colour. It may be better to invest in one sponge per colour of face paint rather than continually rinse a single sponge out during the application process.
o Ensure that you have all of the required face paints, sponges, brushes, water bowls, clean water and paper towels (kitchen towel works well) to hand before starting. Paper towels are a must as all face painting leads to some mess.
o Always apply face paint in thin layers as it is less likely to crack and will be more comfortable for the wearer. Thin layers of paint also dry quicker and this is important as each layer of paint should be dry before applying the next layer so as to avoid colour runs and inadvertent colour mixing.
o If you are creating a face pattern with fixed shapes, for example, squares, triangles, circles, stars and you are not confident in your ability to paint these freehand, cut yourself some templates and use these as guides.
o Face paints come in a variety of colours and most brands are suitable for mixing allowing you to create different shades as required. Nowadays, forward thinking manufacturers have pre-assembled collections of face paints to suit many of the occasions suited to the wearing of fancy dress. These are either themed to the event, for example, Halloween, or the character, for example, witch, ghost, devil etc. These are a perfect introduction to face painting visit; http://www.karnival-house.co.uk/acatalog/Face_Paints.html
Lastly, there are many books available for those who want to develop their skills further. These are inexpensive to purchase and will provide you with an endless supply of designs to follow.
http://www.karnival-house.co.uk/ offers a complete range of fancy dress costumes, make-up and fancy dress accessories at Karnival House Fancy Dress feel free to browse our site to find a wide range of face paints and face paint kits.