5 Ways to Stay Motivated During the Holidays

5 Ways to Stay Motivated During the Holidays That period of time between Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break is one of the biggest hurdles of the academic year. You get to indulge in a dose of the holidays for just a bit until you are very quickly pulled away and dropped right back in school for another few weeks. This wouldnt be so bad if Winter Break wasnt right around the corner waiting for you at the finish line. So how does one stay focused during this odd portion of the semester? The overlapping buzz of the recent holiday combined with the anxious anticipation of the coming one makes it difficult to think about anything else but food, family, and presents. Although it may be tempting to release yourself from putting any real effort toward schoolwork during this time, final exams are nearing and your mind must stay focused. Other than just pushing yourself to stay strong and remembering that only a few weeks stand between you and that month-long break, there are some other things you can do to make yourself feel better as well. Try out some of the following ideas to prevent any holiday slacking. Eat healthy: Youll have plenty of time to gorge on turkey, cookies, and tons of other delicious yet fattening foods once the next batch of the holiday season finally arrives. For now, save yourself that guilt of eating poorly and take care of your body. Aside from the fact that youre just being good to yourself, healthy foods are proven to improve brain function and keep you in a good state to produce great work. Keeping yourself on a stable and well-balanced diet will keep you energized and running well during this antsy time. You may want to take a look at this information on healthier school lunches. Limit gift shopping to the weekends: Its natural to want to get your gift shopping out of the way as early as possible. However, most of us end up procrastinating this effort and end up leaning to use this time period to get it done. If this is the situation you find yourself in, do your absolute best to keep this shopping within the weekends only. If you are done with classes for the day and decide to stop by a few stores on the way home, youre going to get distracted with holiday cheer and overly-involved in the process. Before you know it, this will be the only thing taking over your mind for the rest of the day leaving no time for studying. You can only afford to lose so many study days during this brief time before final exams. Separate your academic life from the shopping and/or brainstorming of what presents to buy. In the end, this will allow both endeavors to bring up better results. Here is a great list of three things to not do while you are studyingthat may help you when it comes to finals time. Switch up your routine: As much as you can, try to alter the way you go about your days. Obviously this is not the time to try out new recreational things after all, the point of this is to stay focused on your schoolwork. But you can change some of the details surrounding your work-producing schedule. For instance, sit in a different area of the library, go to a different coffee shop, listen to different music, etc. If you do the same thing every single day, itll be no wonder that youre getting restless and unable to detach yourself from the holidays. Changing things up a bit will keep you from getting bored and make the time go by quicker as you stay focused. Here is some great information on why extracurriculars boost college successthat you may want to take a look at as well. Clean your room: This is probably advice you hear often, but it really rings true during this time. Eliminating clutter and getting organized can make your days of studying a lot more tolerable. You can be certain that youll focus better if you dont have a mess distracting you. Additionally, youll be all set to pack away those presents you receive later on without having to worry about making room in the midst of such chaos. Establish a support system: Whether it be friends, family, or classmates, try to get a group of people to fall back on when you find yourself getting distracted and aimless in your work. Everybody around you has jobs to do before the core of the holiday season emerges, so come together to fight the distractions and accomplish your goals successfully. It is always easier to reach your objectives when you have the reassurance of others going after similar feats as well. Knowing youre not alone in the journey can keep you up and alert for as long as you need. Use each other to maintain balance through these last few weeks. When it all comes to down to it, you know you will be rewarded with a marvelous break very soon. Give yourself even more reason to enjoy that break by feeling proud of yourself for the work you accomplished. Go into the rest of the holiday season stress-free and ready to enjoy. Prove to yourself now that youll deserve it later on.

How to Learn Japanese by Reading Manga

How to Learn Japanese by Reading Manga How Reading Manga Can Help You Learn Japanese ChaptersRounding out Your Japanese Lessons with MangaOnline Resources: Manga and Books to Learn JapaneseEasy Manga Series for BeginnersAnime and Manga: Complementary Learning CompanionsAside from learning one’s mother tongue, language learning is never an easy undertaking, especially with no formal guidance at the outset.That was a general statement pertaining to learning any language; now let’s talk specifically about learning Japanese.While not necessarily difficult to speak, its written form is another matter altogether. This language does not primarily use the Roman alphabet; instead, it is a blending of it and three additional writing systems.Chinese characters used in this language are identified as Kanji. The syllabic Hiragana are purely Japanese and Katakana is the Japanese way of transcribing foreign words. Those instances where the Roman alphabet is used are referred to as Romaji.Are you confused yet? Overwhelmed? Have we effectively frightened you away from learning th e language? Now let us put you at your ease.There are ways to learn Japanese that are not difficult at all. In fact, they are rather engaging and entertaining!Manga, the wildly popular Japanese cultural export, offers a way for you to learn the Japanese writing system and pick up on grammar constructions â€" all while giving you a taste of that exotic culture and providing hours of entertainment.Are you interested?We take this opportunity to present tips, tricks and techniques you can use in your quest to learn Japanese London through manga.Identifying and interpreting Japanese writing is more fun with manga books! Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from PixabayHowever, there is a Japanese art form that is nearly as old as those titles but far more accessible to someone such as yourself, who are just starting to read in Japanese.Manga is a fun and simple way to further your studies in Japanese.You might, for instance, use dialogue found in manga as a way to recognise the ideograms you’v e learned. Perhaps, if you’ve been particularly diligent in your studies, you may translate some of them.Naturally, all of that is predicated on whether you have access to manga written in Japanese.Don’t plan your raid on Tokyo bookstores just yet!As virtually everything is available online, naturally you could find manga editions in their original language or, if you are a fan of the digital, you may read manga online.It would help if you had a hardcopy of the manga you're reading so that you can make notes and highlight characters you don’t know; perhaps you could print digital editions out?Now that you have a way of getting your hands on authentic Japanese manga (and have done so!), skim through your new treasures.What you’re looking for are words that you recognise and context that will help you understand them better.At the outset, you will probably need to do a bit of translation; going back and forth between manga and dictionary.Whether or not you’re taking language courses, using manga as a study tool will immerse you into dialogue â€" something that generally doesn’t happen to that degree in beginners' language classes.And you will certainly not learn colloquial words and phrases in class but manga will provide you with them, along with proper grammatical constructions and word usage.That kind of makes manga worth reading all on its own, doesn’t it?Online, you can find a list of manga suited to your level of Japanese Source: KazeOnline Resources: Manga and Books to Learn JapaneseIf you are already a manga and anime fan, you might be familiar with One Piece, the fabled treasure that Monkey D. Luffy is in constant search for.You don’t need to look that hard; your treasure trove is the Internet.Like the best of gifts, many of the Internet’s treasures are yours at no cost. When talking about free manga, your best bet would be Manga Z, the site where many a manga artist permit the free download of their work.Another great site that permit s free manga reading in its original language is Raw Senmanga. For those of you who believe you must pay for what you acquire, you may purchase manga from Honto.Other than those freely available and paid-for manga, you may also find learning support sites that incorporate manga into their teaching tools.Note: you could also study Spanish, French and Korean with the tools that site provides.Another fun and simple way to let manga help you learn Japanese is to arm yourself with books dedicated to teaching Japanese through manga. Among those titles are:Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo by Umino NagikoJapanese in Mangaland by Marc BarnabeThe Kana and Kanji of Manga by Glenn KardyThe Japanese of Manga by Shima KadokuraBesides these, you may consider stocking up on Japanese workbooks, the kind that are given to young children in Japan â€" in other words, not too complicated. Because they are printed primarily for Japanese preschool children, subjects such as maths, geography and language histo ry are covered.You may even find a book dedicated to the history of manga!They are produced by big names in manga publishing such as Shueisha, the same house that puts out Shonen Jump.Did you know that some Manga stories have enjoyed amazing longevity?Easy Manga Series for BeginnersPopular manga makes it possible to sample Japanese culture while learning the language.Let’s say you’ve long been a fan of anime series; perhaps that is what drove you to study Japanese.When casting about for manga to learn from, you might be tempted to hunt for Dragon Ball or Naruto, stories you are already familiar with. That would be a mistake.If you are an absolute beginner at learning Japanese, the profound concepts and elevated dialogue in those stories may be way above your current level.Thus, it would be best to start out with Kodomo, the manga meant for the youngest readers.Don’t think about it as your ego taking a hit; think about the fact that the youngest Japanese readers have language s kills that far exceed yours so, if you are able to make headway with these simply-written books, you may consider yourself as progressing!There is absolutely no shame in reading:Doraemon: simple dialogue and uncomplicated situations make this title an ideal choice. Besides, you will definitely get your full dose of kawaii â€" Japanese-style ‘cute’!Pokemon: if you grew up during the 1990s, you know there was no escaping Pikachu and the rest of the Pokemon gang. Again, ‘cute’ plays a large part in this series but it is a great selection to become familiar with oft-used Japanese ideograms.Other titles you might know from your own childhood, such as Astro Boy and Captain Tsubasa offer you rather long tales to follow while learning Kanji.Don’t stop there; learn more about legendary Manga heroes!Consider also Shojo manga titles like Fruits Basket and anything from Studio Ghibli, such as My Neighbour Totoro.If authentically Japanese characters from manga magazines puzzle over the language, it stands to reason that you would too! Source: NetflixAnime and Manga: Complementary Learning CompanionsWe learn less from success than from failure â€" Japanese proverbBeing able to interpret the printed word in any language including Japanese is a major aspect of learning a language.Being able to correlate what you hear with what you read is an advanced skill that every language learner must cultivate. After all, reading a social convention phrase is different than hearing it spoken.If your love of Japanese animation is what stoked your desire to learn, we’re not going to tell you to stop watching and concentrate on your studies.In fact, watching anime or anything dealing with Japanese pop culture is a fun and practical way to train your ear to tones and sounds unique to the Japanese language.Pop culture shows can teach you the most up-to-date expressions, too!But, here again, we have to take into consideration what you might be ready for. That probably won’t be th e convoluted storylines of Death Note... at least, not at first.Again, we throw kids’ anime into the mix.Unlike most American comics and cartooning, Japanese cartoons are not meant exclusively for children so you have to be selective in your choices.Of course, you won’t stay at the beginner level for long if you work hard. Soon enough, you’ll be ready for a more advanced manga magazine and more elaborate anime shows.When that time comes, you might consider titles such as One Punch Man, Berserk or Yu Gi Oh!.As time goes on and you mature â€" and your language skills grow ever sharper, you’ll have an entirely different category of manga to explore. Seinen manga, meant for young adults, might suit your tastes better.Some titles to consider: Tokyo Ghoul, Fullmetal Alchemist... or romance manga such as My Hero Academia, if you’re looking for something in the Josei category.You don’t have to be male to enjoy fighting anime or female to idolise Mononoke but you do have to be de termined to learn Japanese on your own.And, you have a lucky star on your side! Other languages do not offer such engaging, fun and culturally relevant learning materials as Japanese does; manga volumes literally designed to help you learn.Could you have a more enticing reason to learn the language?Well, besides having a fab Superprof tutor who will help you decide which anime to watch and give you assignments based on it...Find out what else you need to know before you make manga your favourite reading material.