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New York City – Pursue a Future in Teacher Education Colleges

Nowadays, the New York City board of education is providing high incentives for in-state and out-of-state elementary education teachers such as offering free college degrees in education. State education standards have gone up and literacy rates have been fluctuating but education colleges applicant rates have been rising. Educators and administrators have come to realize that the gaps in literacy must be closed in the early elementary school years.

In recent years, the Board of Education has gone as far as to provide qualifying scholarships and housing benefits for prospective preservice and new teachers to teach at low-performing elementary schools.

So, which college degree education program will you apply for once you have been accepted? In the last ten years, teacher colleges have seen a rising number of student applicants for both undergraduate and graduate education degrees in New York City alone.

Here are a just few of accredited college degrees in New York City which have maintained throughout the years, a reputable name.

Early Childhood Education Colleges

Located on the upper west side, near Columbia University, the Bank Street College of Education has a diversified early childhood education program. There are numerous college education edgrees ranging from early childhood, to literacy, to teaching English as a second language – all under the umbrella framework of early childhood education. The college also has a rich source of teaching resources of ideas for professional development in education on a variety of topics such as literacy or becoming a tutor or volunteer. You do not need to sign up or register to gain access to these free resources.

The Hunter College of Education

This is another excellent pick for those seeking a college teaching degree in early education. However, college teaching degree also include adolescent education and childhood, literacy, TESOL, special education, gifted students and counseling ranging from the undergraduate to graduate level programs. the City Universities and colleges offer top college degrees in education, so it is well worth the research and financial aid is available for those who qualify.

Queens College of Education

The Princeton Review has rated Queens College as one of America’s best colleges for undergraduate education.It prepares prospective undergraduate and graduate students for the initial New York State initial certification in childhood education for grades 1-6 and early childhood education.

Columbia Teacher College offers graduate programs in teacher education.

Over to You

Narrowing your search by state is the first step to deciding what early childhood education or elementary program you want to pursue. Some have much more specialized fields of education study than others. It is best to know what area of education you wish to study before investing in one of the New York City college education degrees.

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Language Translations for Real Life Series Expats Have Translation Needs Too!

When people think about translation services, the first thing that usually comes to mind is global businesses and brands that have conquered the international landscape. No matter where you go in the world, I bet you will find at least 10 people with an iPhone – with displays in the local language. Or if you’re thirsty, you can rest assured that a Coke can be found in a localized can or bottle. That’s a good thing for tourists and travelers who seek comfort in the familiarity of home brands abroad. But what about the person who just lives in this world… not a tourist nor a traveler, but an expat or an immigrant living in another country?

Of course, if you were born and raised in the same place, where your parents lived, and your great-grandparents lived, and your entire family tree is rooted, and you never meet anyone from anywhere else, and all of life’s adventures were right there, maybe language wouldn’t matter…

Let me tell you about a story about a young girl, who led that life, in the same place in a small village, where her family tree was deeply rooted for generations. One day as she was walking home from school, through an Asian countryside, and she saw an old monk under a tree. The old monk beckoned her to join him under that tree…

Being a girl raised to respect elders, she obediently kneeled beside him under the tree. He told her to pull out her palm, and he began to read her life lines. He told her a story about her future, that she would one day move far away across a big ocean and settle in a foreign land, marry a foreign man, and raise a foreign family… and embrace a new life. Well, needless to say, the young girl was shocked, never having fathomed a life outside her village, she thanked the old monk and continued on her journey home.

Ten years later, that girl grew up, and married a man, and shortly later found herself on a plane to a foreign land, as the old saw predicted. Upon her arrival to her new home, she realized that not only could she not speak the local language, but the locals couldn’t understand her either. How was she to make a life without any English skills in America?

Fast forward thirty-five years ahead, and she is bidding her daughter farewell, as her only child boards an airplane to cross yet another ocean to another land with her foreign husband to embrace a new life in a new country, where she also cannot speak the local language.

The life of an expat is less about expatriating from your home, but more about embracing another. It’s about learning to conquer language barriers to achieve basic needs like making friends, buying food, returning merchandise, consulting with a doctor, talking to you child’s school teacher… It’s about ordering dinner at a restaurant, and hoping that you didn’t accidentally order bull testicles.

One tends to see the value of translating from one language into a local language, or translating for a tourist market, but how about translating in a local market for a person who simply doesn’t speak the language but lives there – an expat?

In the 2000 census, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that over 47 million people (18 percent) reported that a language other than English is spoken at home. Spanish is perhaps the non-English language most commonly spoken at home with 35 million speakers. Chinese (2 million) is the second most widely non-English spoken language at home. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, California has the highest percentage of non-English speakers around 40 percent. New Mexico is a close second, followed by Texas, New York and Hawaii.

Sure, many of these people can understand or speak some English, but life would be much easier to embrace if one had confidence, that he/she really understood the “fine print” when purchasing a product, or that you truly can communicate with doctors and teachers about personal issues.

There’s a reason that the State of California’s DMV provides driver license exams in several languages. Besides English, the written driver license exam is also available in Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Croatian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Persian/Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

The Social Security Administration provides its official website in 15 foreign languages. The U.S. government appreciates the importance to communicating to its residents and constituents in foreign languages.

Don’t underestimate the growing international demographics at home. In order to be recognized by the global community, make sure you are meeting the needs of your local community. If you want to engage your customers or constituents, then break down the language barriers, including those that may even be in your own backyard. Many people expatriate to the great melting pot, not to leave their own culture behind, but to embrace a new one.

For many people, no matter where they live, and no matter which language(s) one learns to live with, it’s always comforting to be able to at least conduct some basic life feats in their mother tongue. Even if it’s just getting directions from Google Maps in your own language to get to the DMV for a CA driver’s exam in your own language! Passing it is tough, but that’s another story…

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Nursing Career Salary – Four Things That Affect It

A nursing career salary can vary depending on several variables. Whether you are starting a new career or an experienced nurse you need to give some thought to what your salary is and where you would like it to be.

What are the things you need to consider?

Let’s start from the beginning- education. Are you or do you wish to be an LPN, RN or perhaps a Nurse Practitioner? Your level of education will impact what level you reach in your career and with that affect your salary.

Now, what about your experience? Are you just starting our or do you have 15 years of on the job training? You are going to command a higher relative salary as you gain in experience. I say relative because someone with 15 years on the job in one specialty may not make as much as another with 5 years in a higher paying specialty.

So, lets talk about specialties. There are way too many to list them all here, but your nursing career salary can be dramatically different depending on your specialty. If you are just starting as a nurse, or even if you have been one for some time, you should do a little research on what specialties interest you and what the paycheck benefits are for each of them. You might be surprised to find that something you like can pay you 25% more than what you currently bring home!

Geography. Yes this is a big one too. Where do you live? If you live in a predominantly rural setting, your bring home pay may be less than someone in a more metropolitan area. However you also need to consider the cost of living in those areas. The two components combined will impact the affect that your salary has. If you live in a high compensation but low cost of living area you get more bang for your buck!