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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

5 Important Activities to Improve Your Toddler's Vocabulary

Toddlers' on the average, starts "talking" at the age of 1 1/2 years old.  You may notice this when your angel starts to babble in a language that may be completely unfamiliar to you, but perfectly fluent in his own head.  Have you ever seen two toddlers "talking" to each other?

The different "melody" of his cries that you have been accustomed to in expressing hunger, discomfort, and time to change nappies during his first few months will be replaced with some babbling and "talking."  Your baby has his natural instinct to assign names to things that surrounds him.  Say for example 'maw maw' for a cat or 'ding ding' for a bell.  If you start noticing these things, it's a signal that you can now step in and teach the right words for things that he sees.

There are more than 5 ways to improve your toddler's vocabulary, and this is article will discussed the most common ways to do so while going through the day with your toddler.

credits: beafunmum.com
1.  Conversation.  You can reinforce the ability of your toddler to name things around him by conversing with him on a constant manner.  During his playtime, you can ask him to name the toy or things that he picks up.   It is important that you have the patience to wait for him to finish his answer.  In some cases, he may be saying a different name for thing.  Allow him to make mistake and ask him again.  If he names it incorrectly the second time then you can step in and say the right word after he finished trying.  Letting your toddler finish his answer and you not jumping in before he finishes his response will limit the chances that some of his self esteem will be chipped away.

Talking and encouraging him to talk will augment the limited vocabulary that he has.  Ask him tell a you what he is doing and asking him simple questions.  Conversely, you can also tell him what you are doing as you are doing that action.

credits: laptopstolullabies.com
2.  No baby talks.  As your toddler is beginning to learn some new words, the chances of him reverting back to the baby talks he is accustomed to will present from time to time.  This happens because baby talks are easier for him to pronounce and feel that he can express himself more.

As new words feels foreign for him too, using it more often than what he was used to will help him practice and learn the new words.  It can also help that you let him know that you don't understand well what he is saying (when his baby talking).  Ask him to say it using the grown up words so that you can understand.  Most of the time, your toddler will be more willing to use the proper words and pronunciation.

3.  Picture Books/Reading.  You toddler is naturally curious.  During his early years, he tends to be amazed with colorful things and pictures.  Using a picture book to teach words and things are a very productive.  Words that associated with pictures that you show him will be retained more than just saying the words to him.  It's best to read with him aloud so that you can spark his curiosity and will be eager to learn.

4.  Sing to your child.  Your toddler can remember and learn new words easily through the rhymes and rhythms of a song.  It's also a good practice that you infuse the daily words and familiar things that he encounters everyday in your songs.  You encourage him to sing along with you as well as build his on verse on a particular song.

5.  Word of the day.  Reading a word everyday from a dictionary is not only valuable to adults.  Your toddler will also benefit from this (not necessarily from dictionary).  At the start of your day, pick a word and explain to him the meaning of it.  Use the word to give an example.  You then encourage him to use the word of the day correctly as many as he can.

Nothing beats a treat!  Give him a token, stamp, or a candy every time he uses the word of the day correctly.  Your toddler loves to impress you and it's a big encouragement for him if he feels that you appreciate and proud of what he is doing.





You might also want to try online part-time job.  Click this link for short presentation.



Wednesday, October 19, 2011

6 Must-haves FREE Programs for your computer

The following is a short list of downloadable programs that are very useful in improving your computing experience.  And oh, IT’S FREE.  Ranges from faster internet browsing, file sharing, performance-enhancement of your computer, video codec, and the likes.

I have been using these for the past 5 years and they are highly recommended not only because they are free but because of ease of use.  So let's start with the list:

1.  Auto Shutdown

I am sure you have found yourself waiting for your computer to finish a process so you could shut it down or found yourself leaving your computer turned on all the time, which is unhealthy by the way.  I have searched for a program to automatically shutdown my computer in those circumstances, and I have bumped into Entru Auto Shutdown.

How it works?

Auto Shutdown is a very simple program that allows you to schedule time for your computer to shut down or restart automatically.  It's easy to use.  It’s like setting an alarm clock!


  • The short steps:
                                                                                                            Installing the program
Download link - screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
1.  Click on  the External link as shown on this figure.  A window will appear.  Choose the option "save file."  Remember where you saved the file and go there to install the program.

2.  Double click the saved file to start installation.  Click "run" to start installation.

3.  Follow the prompt from the window.  Then click "finish."  You have now successfully installed the program.




Setting the program - screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/




 Using the program:

1.  Click on the Autoshutdown icon.

2.  Choose action.

3.  Set relative time.

4.  Click apply or abort.

The program will alert you when the action chosen will be initiated.





You will see this pop-up on your screen when a minute is remaining from the time you have set.  You can either abort it or do it now.  Your choice. :)
Confirmation window - screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/














2.  Dropbox – Simplify your life

This is my favorite synchronization tool.  Once you finished setting it up, you can just forget it.  I don’t mean forget “forget.”  What I meant was it does the saving and organizing of the files you have saved.  Just put the files (any type of file) on the designated Dropbox folder on your computer and you now have a backup of your files in case your computer crashes.  These files can also be accessed from your office computer.


A 2GB is allotted for you (you can have until 10GB with referral).  Your files are accessible on the Web and on smartphones, running iOS, Android, iPad, and BlackBerry.  You can also use it to share files with friends.  You can access your files even if your offline.

To start, sign up for a free account here.
 
  • The short steps:

screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
 Installing the program:

 1.  The figure on the left will pop-up after you have clicked the link above.

2.  Provide the requested info and accept the terms of service.

 3.  Click create account.

 4.  The figure below wills show up after you clicked the create account.

screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
 5.  Follow the starred steps.

 a.  Save the dropbox application.

 b.  Open the dropbox installer.

 c.  Follow the installation instructions (run and install).









For more feature descriptions and video tutorial on Dropbox, click here.


3.  CCleaner

Slow-running computer?  This is a must-have.

CCleaner is the number-one tool for optimization and cleaning your Windows PC.  It makes your computer faster, protects and secure your privacy online.  It removes unused files from your system, thus, freeing from clutter.  It’s easy to use even for newbie computer users.

Review from CNET "...it remains a highly-recommended, must-have weapon against system slowdowns, tracking cookies, and the multitudinous debris that can clutter your computer."

Click here to download CCleaner for free.

  • The short steps:
                                                                                                    Installing the program:

1.  Download the installer from the link provided.

2.  Double click on the installer and click "Run".

3.  Follow the installation instructions.


                                                                                            Using the program: 
screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
1.  Follow the steps as shown on figure on the left.

The steps were labeled numerically .

 2.  Click on "Analyze" to start the clean up process.

 3.  After the CCleaner finished analyzing your computer, click on the "run cleaner" to start the cleaning of your unit.

 This shows the analyzing process and after the cleaning process.  (There will be prompts asking you to backup.  It's an option to do so but I find it harmless to not to back up using CCleaner).

This figure shows how to clean the registry - screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
And this one shows how you uninstall unwanted program.  A confirmation dialogue will pop up after clicking the "run uninstaller." - screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/



4.  K-Lite Codec – Play 99% of all movies and audio files.

This free decoder is a collection of codecs and related tools.  Codecs are required to encode and/or decode (play) audio and video.  The K-Lite Codec Pack will allow you to play all your movie files and you should be able to play 99% of all the movies and audios that you download from the internet.

No more 'windows cannot play this file.'

screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/
You can choose from the basic, standard, or full.  I recommend full on these choices.


Here’s the link for to download it.

After installing the application, double click to start the process. (Always remember where you saved it.  Usually it goes into your download folder)







  • The short steps: (The short steps are presented with screenshots).
screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/




5.  Spellex – Spellchecker (Medical, Legal, Pharmaceutical, etc)

Spellex meets your needs for medical, legal or any scientific spell checker.  This has been very useful and a must have for any medical language specialist.  Spellex has a software solution that is right for you, whatever your profession is.


  • The short steps: (The short steps are presented with screenshots).
screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/


6.  TCP Optimizer – Speed up that crawling internet connection!

            Sounds too technical?  Worry not!

This program can be used by novice users in speeding up internet connection.  The TCP Optimizer is a free (of course).  Just download, provide some information about your connection, and run.  There are no complicated steps to set up and use this program.

To download the program, click here.


  • The short steps: (The short steps are presented with screenshots).
screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/

screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/

screenshot by http://short-best.blogspot.com/

 I hope you find my post helpful.  Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions if you have any.  Feel free also to share it to friends.



You might also want to try online part-time job.  Click this link for short presentation.