An unexpected twist of destiny

Hello,

It may seem very funny, but learning the history of Jewish people in the Czech Republic opened a new page in my aesthetic and cultural life - I started painting pictures.

Howdid  it happen?

How all happens in life-it just comes from somewhere and occupies your mind.

Now, instead of telling people about the history of Jews in Bohemia, I spent most of my time with finding motives for my future pictures.

And, clearly enough, I arrived at a good number of painters of Jewish origin.

First, being a Russian myself, I was interested in painters worked in Russia.

First of all of course I tried to find about painters born on the territory of present Republic of Belarus. This is how I came close to such big names as Mark Shagal and Abram Manevich.

The collection of my first works which I painted in the way children do their pictures: they just put colors to the forms of people, animals and other things.

Of course they could hardly be qualified as true paintings, but at least I made efforts to create some nice pictures.

Here you can see some of them published.

Enjoy!

George

Future Plans, First Steps

Shalom,

As promised, a few basic ideas for starting a new career.

First I believe is necessary to collect as much information as I can about the objects of Jewish Museum in Prague: 

The Old-New Synagogue

The Maisel Synagogue

The Spanish Synagogue

The PInkas Synagogue

The Klaus Synagogue

The Ceremonial Hall

The Old Jewish Cemetery

                                                    Seven Objects altogether

Next, as soon as I receive the guide certificate, I will go to these places and will make a plan of the route of guiding my guests from one object to another, and from exhibit to exhibit.

I may also think of any questions my customers ask when they go with me.

Nothing spoils the image of an instructor more than her inability to answer randomly asked questions.

After that I may think of getting in touch with Jewish communities in various countries and let them know about my offer of guiding tours in the Jewish Museum in Prague.

I will surely contact local agencies and bureaus where Prague guests may address with the requests for getting a professional guide.

The following will be a website or at least a blog with the description of my services.

And last but not lastest :-) I will regularly tell you about my guiding adventures in this blog.

Well, that's about it for the moment.

If there's something else comes in my mind I will let you know.

Till next post

Yours

George

51 out of 54

7 November, 2013, Thursday, 9.00 local time.
( On the day of 7th November in the former Soviet Union millions of people went on demonstrations to celebrate the anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.)
--------------
On that day I got up very early and went to home bima to pray. I asked the Creator to help me to answer correctly the first question.
Then I repeated the same humble request fifty more times.
Fifty one times altogether: I asked the Lord to provide me with the right answers to 51 out of 54 test questions.
I went to the test with strong decision to write the test successfully.
The test was written on Thursday, then Shabbat day, then weekend.
I knew the result of the first try on the next day.
On Tuesday,12 November I called the office and asked about the results of the test.
Believe it or not, the instructor said to me that I had passed the test with only three mistakes-51 correct answers out of 54.
Can you believe it?
You should!
A day later I received an official confirmation of the test results.
A new exciting career of a guide in the Jewish quarter in Prague with inviting horizons has become real and visible.
Dear friends,
In my next message I will tell you about my future plans of sharing with you all I have and am going to learn about the history of Jewish people that have been living in Prague for eleven centuries.
Till next time
George

Repetition est Mater Studiorum

Repetition is the Mother of Study
After the first attempt to pass the test, I  thought a lot about my result: different ideas, explanations, reasons, excuses.

Every time the situation was seen from another angle.
Most of the resolutions brought me to the resume:
                    The Creator knows what is good to me. 

The Czechs interpret the Latin quotation which I had chosen for the title of the message as : "Repetition is the mother of wisdom" 

They believe that if one wants to become wise, they have to do things repeatedly.

Then, we may ask a natural question:

"Who does the process of repetitions in life start with?"

With parents, of course. Mother wants her baby repeat the words after her, then Father wants his son repeat some actions/works done according to his Father's example properly and as a parent and educator only he defines the right number of repetitions/times before things are done properly.

I remembered how it was with me when my Dad told me to do things repeatedly, or to learn school subjects again and again.
Naturally enough I ended my kaleidoscope of thoughts in my present situation. I at once saw the explanation of my situation as if it was written on a piece of paper in front of my eyes: The Father wants me to repeat as many times as it is necessary so that I could be ready to start a new career of serving His people.

He wants me to become wise and therefore makes me repeat things as many times as He considers it is necessary...

This discovery made me feel much better, brought peace in my soul and with light heart went to another round of preparation for the test.

Tomorrow, the rest of the "Test" story.

Till then

George

The First Try

On the 23 October I went to the test.
Was I ready, or rather, did I feel prepared?
Hard to say. After a significant brake of not having any serious tests at all, this new challenge made me both nervous and excited as well as stressed and scared.
Talking about the days of having the tests, we could choose any of the following four days: 23 October, 7 November, 19 November and 2 December, the final try.
I decided to start with the first and then whatever happened, use the following all terms.
Contrary to my expectations, we were not provided with any instructions for the test, apart from the basic rule of 54-45 where the first number was the amount of test questions and the other one-a minimum correct answers to pass the test.
Another trouble-making aspect the test was the system of questions, that made the test very different from many: we were not supposed to choose from  a-b-c-d alternative answers but to briefly write sentences with correct answers to the questions put.
We also learned that the unfortunate applicants could see their works with comments of the teacher, while the successful candidates would be sent the confirmation of passing the test with the instructions of receiving the precious license for guiding tourists in the Jewish quarter of Prague. ( In the message to come, I'll try to convince you: it is the place well worth seeing.)
Several weeks of hard work passed and I went to the test.
It took me one hour and twenty minutes to answer the questions and help a couple of neighbors to write their answers too.
On the next day I received the e-mail from the secretary of the Prague Information Service that my first effort had been unsuccessful :-(
A surprise?
Hardly so.
"It happens," I said to myself. "Next time will be better!"
Was it???
Next message will give you the answer to this question!
Till next time!
Bye-bye!
George  


   

Hi again
So, I bought a book called "Jewish History and Culture" that was considered as a course textbook for
-learning the subject, then
-taking /passing the test, and
-finally earning a precious Certificate for working as a guide in Jewish town.
The course scheduled on 7, 9 October, the test - 23 October, and as I had bought the book in May, there was a lot of time to go.
Three months passed but I was still thinking of the "S" day to start studying the book.
On the last day of August I made a big decision: I started working hard on the materials and step by step with loads of notes on paper, two weeks later ended the book.
The first move was done and I looked optimistically forward to the days to come.
September went on in hard work but I still felt there was much to fix firmly in the memory: dates, names, places, events and the rest of 140 + pages book.
To make a long story short, on the first day of the course I canceled all my business meetings and went to the Jewish education center by city transport (in this part of Prague parking is a dream for many).
I was walking nervously towards the place looking on the numbers on the buildings when suddenly heard heavy steps behind me.
I let the runner pass when someone called my name just over my shoulder!
It was my friend who had recommended me to take this course half a year ago.
"I just couldn't leave you alone," he explained to me when I asked him why he had been there.
We went up to the third floor and sat in a classroom.
Two days of class lectures and terrain excursions passed quickly and we were peacefully sent home to get ready for the test.
( In accordance with the regulations applicants are allowed to take four tries: one free and three for small payment. By the way, each time a different variant).
I was travelling back home in a strange mood: there was still much to prepare for the test and, surely,  I wanted least of all to repeat the test all four times :-)
Would you like to know how it went on?
Read on :-)
Yours
Georges :-)
   

Starting a New Career

Hi Folks
Long time not see/talk :-)
As many of us who try to start new endeavors, I have come with another life-changing project of studying life of Jewish people in Prague.
Why not someone else?

If you ask such a question you may have never thought of Jewry as the nation whose history deserves perhaps more serious attention and learning than many of us got used to think.
But let me first explain how I had come to the idea of studying the history of Jewish people.
I have one acquaintance a Mr Jiri Kos, whose hobby is to find new challenges to make my life more adventurous and at the same time to earn some extra money.
Once he offered me to get a part-time job as a porter at a prestigious hotel.
I refused.
On another occasion he came with the idea of shifts at a parking spot, nights shifts.
I refused.
Then a few other proposals appeared but they all were finally declined.
One day, however he asked me to think about working as a guide at Jewish Museum in Prague.
My friend told me that I would have to take a two days course and then to pass a test before staring a new career.
I felt it was a chance to me and agreed at once.
A week later I met with a professional guide, one of my ex-colleagues and having received some advice what to start with I embarked on a new exciting endeavor: studying the history of Jewish people.
Tomorrow I will tell you how it went on :-)
Till then
Cheers
George

  
      

An effective way to get children to change their bad behavior

II
                   If anger were an effective way to get children to change their bad behavior, we soon would see that they have ceased to do so. But the opposite is true, anger - one of the most inefficient ways to deal with the bad behavior of children. For example, your five year old son is constantly hurting and beating his younger sister and makes her cry. You asked him many times to stop to do so, but he continues, and you get ripped off by shouting: "What is wrong with you? What do you want from your little sister? Can't you treat her like a human! "After that your five year old son will be even less willing to change their behavior. If he accepts your negative evaluation, he will think that he is bad. And if he rejects, he will try to defend himself. Moreover, your aggression will cause his reciprocal aggression towards you - and it is unlikely this is the best attitude to consent.
                  So anger destroys our goals. In fact, even anger reinforces the behavior that we want to eliminate. In the eyes of a child our anger means that he is bad. Gradually he perceives this assessment as true, and concludes: "This is the way I am made. I'll always be like that. " And he continues to behave as badly as before. Anger, of course, can frighten children and force them to comply, but it will be paid a high price of their relationship with us. Moreover, the results achieved at best are temporary. We'll soon have to resort to anger continually to ensure children's obedience. Until we get to the point that we are forced to admit: "They listen to me only when I pluck and scream." Talmid Chacham-known ("Torah scholar"), Rabbi recommends: "If you want to express their anger, so let it do. But if you want to achieve something, then, by expressing anger, you will not be able to achieve this."
                 Can the control of an angry cause damage? Our sages have always pointed out that the irritability - a negative character trait. A modern psychology, by contrast, argues that the suppression of anger can be harmful, and encourages people to "let off steam" and to freely express their anger. However, some psychologists today is subjected to doubt. So, Dr. Carol Tavris writes:                                                                     "I think the main effect of the theory 'letting off the steam' is to increase the level of noise in our lives, rather than decrease problems. I have noticed that people particularly prone to the expression of anger, do not become calmer, but rather more angry and evil. " But a conscious approach to what is happening is not the suppression or control of anger, but primarily to work with the root of this phenomenon - our negative judgments and estimates. Note the two approaches in the following story of the mother.                                                                                                                                           "Sam, my son didn't get dressed, although he could do so. And when I told him to get dressed, he ignored it or answered, so I wore it. And every time I repeated my words, my voice became more and more stringent. I continued to convince himself: "No, I will not lose control - I will not yell at him, I did not slap him." But with each repetition of my call to get dressed, I felt my growing irritation. Later, thinking about this situation, I wondered where made a mistake and suddenly realized that the idea is not in maintaining composure in anger, but in the fact that first of all in eliminating the causes leading to anger. What helps me the most, is to talk to myself, "I am not going to achieve your goals with the help of anger!" And now, my son began to dress himself, even though I do not say this to him. He does not always make it, but those few times really marked the beginning. This convinced me that by keeping quiet, you can achieve much more."
                       Some parents are angry with the children when they do not obey, and justify it by the fact that the Torah commanded that their children were respected. But while the kids really have to do the will of their parents, we can not successfully get them to do it. And besides, we have to remember that the Torah forbade us to hurt other people. Parents can not blame the kids and resent the fact that they do not carry out their commands, because they hurt themselves unnecessarily. In fact, it is the child has a reason to express indignation at the attitude of their parents, and for that they get offended. Only in special circumstances, parents can show their indignation to children to correct their behavior, even if it hurts them. Such a deliberate and thoughtful expression of anger is very different from the spontaneous, uncontrolled outbursts of anger that arise when our children do not meet our demand to be perfect. This is a deliberate outrage that should be reserved for those rare cases when it is necessary to leave the child with a strong impression on the severity of his wrong actions. But before you use this method, you need to completely remove all traces of anger from your heart so that such a method of education was really effective.
                                                                                       TBC

Lesson One 
Part Four
CONDEMNATION
Anger - is not only rejection of the situation. It also includes a conviction. When our children misbehave, we quickly move on from the "This can't be left so!" To "They're horrible children!"
For example, if we are angry at the child, that does not come when we call him, we are not only upset.
We do condemn and criticize the child for having called our concern. We may think:
"He heard me, and knew he had to come, why did not? Obviously, he does not want to listen. He's just bad! "Ascribing evil motives of the child, we are beginning to see the bad of him. Our anger is enhanced if we believe that our baby was acting so on purpose to annoy us, or that he can behave well if he wants to.
We are not always aware of the negative judgments that are the underlying reason of our anger. But when we recall all that we thought at the time, we can detect it. For example, if a child talks to us disrespectfully, we may think: "How dare he speak to me like that!" And although there are not expressed a negative assessment of the child, it is invisibly present. To reveal it, simply ask yourself, "Who is he to talk to me like that? (Bad boy!) ". And then, if we think, "He must not talk to me like that!" - Then you can continue the course of his thoughts: "And as he does so, he ... (terrible child!)". We do not want to admit it, but the reasoning is always such.
Annoyance and irritation cause the same negative judgments, but in a milder form. Evaluation is the same, but it is not as pronounced. If we take a scale from 1 to 10, it would place anger depending on the intensity range between 6 and 10, and irritation - 1-2 to 5-6.
In frustration we speak harsh tone. And if the child is adhering to his brother or sister, we say to him:
"Leave him alone!" Or she ignores the request to remove the plates from the table, "I think I told you to clear the table!" There are parents who have resorted to sarcasm irritation. Seeing that the child has a cup on the table, they are mocking note:
"I see you do not calm down until it is broken!"
Since the negative judgment during stimulation softer than in anger, it is more difficult to detect.
       UNBEARABLE  DISAPPOINTMENT AND LOW THRESHOLD RESTRAINT
Parents who are often irritated by children can suffer from low threshold restraint. And the reason for this in the belief that they are unable to bear the pain, inconvenience or frustration.
Parents with such a complex demand that their life has always been easy and comfortable, and they never had to suffer and worry. But the children in the process of growth endlessly bring troubles. They deprive us of sleep, they bind us to the house, they force us to do more work, they are a financial burden for us, and as they all have their own opinions, they often act differently.
And although we often would like to keep things differently, we can be quite happy if we learn to take the worries and frustration calmly. If wiping the floor from spilled milk by the child, we think, "What a terrible mess I have to clean up. This is terrible. I do not have to work so hard, "that in this case we can not get mad at what happened to the child, and that forced us to do all this extra work."
Thus, it is our claim that the situations that cause anxiety and frustration, do not exist, generates our anger. We continue to insist that everything is different, bearing in mind that: "Everything has to be the way I want, otherwise I just can not stand!" By themselves, the circumstances, which may cause annoyance or disturbance do not entail anger, if we do not say: "This terrible anxiety should not be."
Basically, for anger is the belief: "I want to have, it should be what I want." And if we do not get what we want, we are disappointed. Anger arises from the thought: "I can not bear that my desires are not  fulfilled!" So we fall into a rage when we insist that all must be quiet and that is the children who make the noise, or when we demand that children are well-behaved, and they are rude and unruly.
                                                                                                                               TBC

Learn to control your emotions.

Lesson One.Learn to Control your Emotions.
Part Three. 
Intolerance and impatience

                 Although such claims stand behind anger, they are not its direct cause. When we are angry, we do not just think that our kids do not behave the way we want it. We'll tell ourselves that it is "terrible" and that "we can not leave it like that." We demand our children to come immediately when we call them, and we cant stand when they do not do so. Or we want them to help us eagerly and happily, considering their displeasure in such a situation totally unacceptable. Seeing their faces we get angry immediately.                                                                   The mother who sees her children fight, think: "They shouldn't fight that much," still perceive their encounter as unpleasant, but normal aspect of the relationship, and therefore this mother would not be so upset, as the other, who takes it as something "terrible "or" intolerable "*.    
                  Do not confuse these expressions with the statement that they represent. Not only the words reveal our true point of view and determine our innermost feelings. For example, we can say "badly" or "intolerable", simply stating that the situation is unpleasant. Said with a sigh, "I can not stand this fight", does not mean they are absolutely unacceptable. But if we are furiously shouted: "I ​​can not stand these fights" - that anyone can say that this is what we have in mind. Or we can say, "I do not like the look of this room!" Expressing deep aversion. But those same words in a different tone, can express a very different idea.                                                 
                  Thus, the mode of expression, the way we talk, sometimes reveals our true feelings more than the words themselves.

                                                                                                   TBC

What makes us fall into a rage?

Lesson One. Learn to control your emotions.
Part Two

What makes us fall into a rage?
Irritability, anger - one of the major issues for all parents and all but the most destructive force in the family. "Irritability in the house - the Talmud says, - like worms in the grain," it leads to complete decomposition. "All kinds of hell ruled by a man who is constantly angry," Most people easily coming out of himself, aware of detrimental effects of his anger and the humiliating position in which they put it themselves. But for the most part, they are absolutely helpless and there's nothing to do about it not because they do not understand the reasons for their anger.
               Outbreaks of anger, it is usually worth the belief that life must go on in the way we want. The Talmud speaks of anger as a "false god within." This "god" decides how it should be. And when people or situations become contrary to a man-made course of events, his dreams, ideas and aspirations, his hopes, expectations, orders, guidelines, requirements, rendering its decision, they burst into an angry condemnation. Maybe it meant the wise saying, "man of great wrath is like an idolater."
                  Our subconscious requirement that all happened in exactly the way we want it, causes our anger towards children. For example, women often get angry and yell when the kids leave the room unmade. But the mother's anger is not the disorder in the children's room, but what the mother says about it to herself. If she thinks: "What a mess! I would like the children do not leave the room in such a state, when they leave, "- then her emotional reaction to the mess will be gentle. She will not feel happy, but not necessarily strongly angry.  A wicked mother is more likely to say to yourself, "I've never seen such a wild mess! Why are my children are horrible sluts! Why are they not able to maintain order in their room! " For this perturbation is categorical demand:" My children are required to maintain order in the room! " We are not always aware of this requirement, but nonetheless, it is always present.
                   "What's wrong with that?", can anyone ask. Eventually accuracy - a very important quality, parents should try to teach their children. The problem is that if we are angry, the requirement of perfection is central to our words. Really, at this time we declare: "My children always have to be such as I want!" This requirement is unrealistic and irrational. Intention to teach children to be exact - worthy of praise, but our anger is antagonistic to education of this good quality in our children.
                                                                      TBC

Education of Children. Based on the Materials by Miriam Levi

Dear Friends
Working with my adult students, I often hear their concerns about children education.
I am a good listener and always want to help as much as I can, but even though my wife and I have brought up two sons, I do not feel qualified enough for giving good advice and solid recommendations to my listeners in the area of children education.
As it happens to me in such instances, I addressed to the wisest of this world -Jewish men and women and found these great materials written by Miriam Levi.
 I immediately accepted these instructions with no doubts and felt obliged to share these great ideas  with you, my dear readers so that you could enjoy the treasures of these methods and approaches and use them in your hard process of education of your kids.
Good luck!
George Rusky

 Lesson One: Learn to control your emotions.

The hardest thing for parents in the education of children - to deal with their own emotions. "What can I do? - Said one of the mothers. -I know I should not be angry, but when my kids start fighting, I'm just losing my mind, I do not remember myself and before will understand what I'm doing is yelling and swearing. " Here are the words of another mother, "When I was tearing at my children, I feel so guilty that later, trying to get along with them,I start them all over indulge. "Educators understand that this expression of feelings - wrong response to children. And if we want to be parents, who operate effectively and successfully manage their duties, we must learn to control your feelings. And if we do not find a way to solve this problem, we would have to conduct endless struggle of attrition, to keep their feelings in check. And it will be very difficult to achieve in the education of the goals that we set ourselves.        

Where do all these turbulent emotions come from? People often say, 

"I went crazy on this" or "Oh, I made me feel so guilty," -

 as if external events generate our emotions. But in terms of cognitive (rational) approach and modern knowledge, we are producing our feelings together with interpretations that give us all out. In other words, our emotions are not caused by external circumstances. On the contrary, most of our senses are defined by what we say to ourselves in our thoughts. 

                       So, we feel what we think

According to this theory, our thinking - the kind of inner speech, a special conversation with ourselves. Sometimes we are aware of these internal dialogues, and sometimes they go unconscious, so quickly and subtly that we can not see them. But we know very well the feelings and actions are born out of these conversations in our minds. We can train yourself to identify upsets us the thoughts that make us go out of ourselves and lead us to failure. We can find out those beliefs and expectations on which they are based, and gradually change them. This will lead to a less stressful, more balanced emotional state. When we learn to control and prevent the feelings that lead to inexplicable defensive reaction, self-defense (rapidly turning into aggression against the one in whom we see a threat and danger to us, for the state in which we prefer to stay), we can create steady habits. And when we learn to control their feelings, we will be able to better cope with the problems of education.

            In this article, we will focus on two of the most destructive and dangerous feelings that arise for parents when they are dealing with children. This are anger and guilt.

                                                             TBC

9. Watching video lessons.

Today we are finishing the long talk about some of the most frequently used methods of learning English and it is

9. Watching video lessons.
I believe, this method of learning is the next in its value to the individual lessons with a teacher.
The amount of educative materials on all imaginable subjects in all areas of life is overwhelming!
Just go thru the offers and find the course you think may work better for you.
Here's one trick though: you have to know how to use the course. Just watch-listen-read approach won't work :-(
The goals you are so willing to reach , come only as the result of wise and patient jet simple routines of repetitive verbal drills.

Conclusion.
Being the one of millions of English speaking and thus often teaching individuals I realize the fact that the rest of the 'brethren in arms' may and will have different approaches to the same subject of learning-teaching English and I am sure most of them have the right to exist and prosper on the market.
That's why I urge you to go thru some of the methods you may find attractive for you and as soon as you are
satisfied with the results, go ahead with these approaches.
On the other hand, experiment, look for other ways and methods until you get what you want.

Wishing you best of success
George  

8. Learning English in groups.

                    Learning English in groups is one of the most popular methods of developing English.
While advantages of group learning are quite obvious, there are a few drawbacks of which I would like to warn you.
             First, you've got to be lucky with your teammates who are the same age, ambitions and as much of enthusiasts as you are. This is the key to success.
Frequently I am asked about the number of students in a group.
 I remember being a part of a group of French learners that allowed me to say something in French for not longer than 15-20 minutes during four 45 minutes sessions.
The French teacher was conducting the lessons in such a way that only nominees had a chance to react on his replicas. So, I had to wait for my turn to come.
So, as you can see, a waste of time. Those of you who naively believe that you...: "will learn the mistakes of others while they are answering and then you will not repeat the same mistakes and get better..."
 will recognize that the reality is very far from this expectation.
            Another thing that makes group work less effective is the difference of students' skills levels.
 This slight inconvenience will immediately make the better students get bored while the less prepared will be trying to work with the teacher.
 You may as well be lucky not receive critical comments and remarks on your performance as I've monitored in a good number of different groups.

Ok, instead of the resume:
The most popular belief that it  is always easier (i.e. merrier) to learn English in groups may be true, but to become a good speaker of the language you have to hire an instructor only for yourself!
Training to speak English is more an individual sport rather than a group one.
That's all for now.
I hope, you have found these practical notes useful.  
Best regards
George

7. Having free online lessons.

Having free online lessons is another way of learning English.
As in anything you want to learn, it is necessary to find a good instructor, someone who thinks not only about establishing her image and reputation thru teaching but also caring about growth of her students.
As soon as you find such an instructor, try s few hours and if all meets your expectations get down to business of practicing with the instructor.
Don't have any illusions, though: free is the catch. On the second-third session you will understand that the instructor uses you only for promoting her educative materials or private paid lessons.
So, if you have no intention to go to paid lessons, your sessions will not last forever.
Cheers
George

6. Listening to educational CDs in a car.

                 Very frequently I hear from students of English a question about listening to educative CDs in a car.

There are some pros and cons in this method of learning and I would like to share them with you.

                 First, if you are able to focus on what you hear, it works well: you hear the message and the more often you hear the vocabulary, the higher probability of remembering it and ultimately using in your speech. 

The message, itself, (as any message), the more often you hear it, the less attention you pay to it. 

What I see as a huge problem is that after 3-4 minutes, the driver as any listener, loses the track of the information heard and comes back to her current problem.

                 As any training system, listening requires a high level of self -discipline and high level of concentration.

I have told you several times already about developing of listening skills and repeat it again: it gets effective if only listening is done correctly.  

                So, listen to the English CDs in a car or not?

Try it and make your own decision.

Practicing listening skills is a serous process and should be done under control of a language trainer.

Till next message.

George

5. Exchanging messages with English-speaking forums' participants.

The Internet offers nowadays an enormous amount of various groups of people who unite around a common subject of their interest and exchange messages on various topics.
As a rule these groups are formed on the principle of a free registration with online names and passwords. As long as a member of the forum wishes to take part in a discussion, she logs in and sends her comments.
"The more the merrier,' is the motto of the forums, which simply means that unless the writer violates the rules of the group, she can write whatever she wants.
No one is taught the English language here and nobody corrects  the mistakes of less prepared linguistically members.
What really helps is that one has a chance to get in touch with the English used by  native speakers, a modern English used by modern people.
Some forums are extremely useful, though. The ones where professionally-oriented folks, such as photographers, musicians,  etc. flock 
These are the places where one can get a useful piece of information on the subject of her interest, to learn the terminology and the vocabulary of the industry where these people work.
Unfortunately, professionals rarely take part in these communities unless they intend to sell their products to forum members.
Otherwise regular comments or opinions of the participants carry limited educative value.
Till next time
Bye-bye
George

4. Listening to American music

4. Listening to American music
If you are a fan of music this way of learning to speak English may work well too.
Surely, it is not the tool that helps you to speak, but the best method of memorizing the phrases (provided you know what they really mean) and possibly using these phrases when you speak English.
This method has a huge advantage, something that belongs to the whole philosophy of practicing a foreign language, which is a REPETITION!
As with any subject of you admiration, with the songs you love you certainly wish to stay longer and more frequently, hearing and repeating the words and melodies of the songs, thus memorizing the language of the songs.
On the other hand, the songs are often full of colloquialisms that are used by groups of fans and therefore not really used by regular people.
A word of advice, though. If you are deeply in love with pop music, try to identify which vocabulary still has a potential to serve you in real life with real people.
If, on the other hand you flock with the guys humming the melodies of their music icons, you are quite safe with the vocabulary picked up in the lyrics of the songs.

3. Reading books, underlining unknown words...

3. Reading books, underlining unknown words, finding them in dictionaries and later...
(see point 2)
Seven-eight years back I had a student who once had told me he had to 'survive'  7-10 opening pages of almost any new book. 
Then, as soon as he learned the author's vocabulary, the rest of the book 's could be read without a dictionary.
I'd tried to check this statement and had to agree with my student.
The readers' notes, underlined words or written in pencil Czech equivalents on the pages of the English books that I borrowed from the library, proved this observation. 
I have thought about reading English literature by learners of English and now would like to share with you a few ideas.
Here are a few general goals for reading literature.
1. Getting information (the most used these days)
2. Entertainment
3. Other.
Reading books in English brings an additional goal: learning a real language used in real life by real English-speaking people.
Here are some pros and cons, though.
Well, literature written by a English native speaking (and writing) author is certainly a big bonus for a learner of English.
But one has to be careful: English is so hugely different in all pats of the English-speaking world, in all kinds of groups of people, in all spheres of human activities where folks speak English.
Another readers' 'headache' is the time when the book was written: English changes slightly almost every five-seven years and changes more 'dramatically' every decade.
So, if you still say: "How do you do?" meeting an English-speaking individual for the first time, instead of 'Hi' or "Hello', get ready to receive an ironical look, at the least.      
That's why I recommend you to choose a book that was written 3-5 years preferably by a writer who started her writing career not long ago. 
Otherwise you are in danger of familiarizing with the language which was used decades ago.
( Or, which is the best choice, read newspapers. )
All right. Let's assume, the book is chosen.
What to do next?
To read for comprehension or understanding each word and therefore, learning the language?
English publishers came to the answer to this question very wisely a long time ago.
They adjust the books to the levels of readers, i.e. the same works are published for the readers of various levels.
That simply means that the same story can be offered with the authentic vocabulary, initially used by the author and several versions of the same text adopted for readers of different levels in accordance with their general knowledge of the language.
I'm afraid, I cannot help you here with the decision making.
One thing I know for sure: nothing is more frustrating that underlining every other word in the authentic text and, on the other hand, reading a primitive text where every word is clearly understood.
Whatever your choice is, always remember: reading is an educative process and apart from any purpose you may try to follow, development of your command of English is one of the most significant goals of reading any English text.
Try, perhaps, to find a balance between a generally informative and linguistically educative reading.
Define the vocabulary you use in your native and learn the same vocabulary in English: it will help you express your ideas easily in a foreign language.
Remember, contrary to a popular statements of your educators, advocates of the method of  thinking in English for speaking English, you always unconsciously create your phrases in your native before producing them in a foreign language unless you speak English 6-7 hours ever day for at least one year...
Remember also, which method of reading you take for yourself, 
                                                  You are responsible!
Till next time, bye-bye.
 George

2. Learning vocabulary in city transport on the way to and from work.

"What's wrong with this method of developing one's English skills?" you may say. Commuting and reading magazines, books, or just listening to music is a regular thing to do, right?If so, why not to spend the same time with learning English vocabulary, instead? 

Actually, I personally, have nothing against it. All methods are good, why not transport self-studies? 

Let's talk about a few most common habits of travelling learners or learning travelers. 

Group A. These students just learn all from small dictionaries. Any time these dictionaries can be taken from the beg and after a few minutes of 'learning' taken back into the bag. 

Group B. After texts vocabulary from the textbooks are read and learned by the advocates of this method. 

Group C. Card 'players'. A pack of self-made cards with one language on one side and their equivalents on the other one. 

Group D. Printed/hand-written lists of words collected from the texts or other sources.

A tiny bit more thoughts about each approach. First of all. Whatever is done is netter than nothing is done at all. Period. 

With method A learners have little motivation for blindly repeating the vocabulary and the temptation to divide the words on 'necessary' and 'unnecessary'. Let's say a student sees the word and based on his own native language experience accepts this word or phrase as a candidate for probable future life usage or, on the other hand, for neglecting. The real life situations where the ones or the others may or may not be used can be very much different. 

Method B seems more productive for a learner knows the situation described in the text and hopes that something similar may some day happen to him. This learning makes more sense, though. 

Method C doesn't make much sense to me as it evolves a mechanical memory for learning the words and phrases that are not gathered into a story and learned separately from the contest. 

Method D is the most useful as it goes as a logical continuation of the process of learning that was started in a classroom.

As a conclusion, we can acknowledge the fact that the bus, train or metro atmosphere with people talking around can hardly help us concentrate on the words and phrases we so no wonder that most of transport learning has little or no progress at all.

Till next time 

George 

Nine 'most useful' methods of learning English.

Dear Friends,
Let's talk about nine, accepted by many, 'most useful' methods of learning English.
Starting from the least effective, here's my list.
1. Watching American movies with subtitles.
2. Learning vocabulary in city transport on the way to and from work.
3. Reading books, underlining unknown words, finding them in dictionaries and later...(see point 2)
4. Listening to American music
5. Exchanging messages with English-speaking forums' participants
6. Listening to educational CDs in a car.
7. Having free online lessons.
8. Learning English in groups.
9. Watching video lessons.

1. Watching American movies with subtitles.
I have never met one person who had not advocated this method of learning English.
Well, as in many areas of human life, we like living in the world of nice dreams, fantasies and illusions.
 Watching American movies with subtitles is one of our most pleasant learning English fantasies.
Most of my students believe that the fact of seeing an American movie will automatically and inevitably bring them to a higher level of their English.
This just not true and here is why:
We go to movies, don't we, to spend good time, to enjoy a nice work of movie-makers, esp. if their film had received movie awards. Popcorn, coca-cola, and other attributes of movie-trips multiply the enjoyment.
Now, imagine an English learner who is at a start of her endeavor of developing English speaking skills, watches the movie, tries to grasp a few words of English speech and simultaneously reads the lines of translated sentences.
(sometimes a far cry from what it is in English).
After a few minutes she finds herself in the position of neither spectacle nor learner.
Do you agree?
About the next point, #2, tomorrow.
Till then, bye-bye
George

Spiritual Values vs Materialistic Values

Something about a well-known subject of happiness.
I believe there are two basic concepts of getting closer to the state of happiness:

• Collecting materialistic values and 
• Gaining spiritual treasures.

Do I have to say which is much more acknowledged by the majority of the humankind?

Collecting material values is the number one choice for most of us.
Here is the trap, however.
The more we have the more we want to have. It holds true with anything: houses, islands, cars, lands, money...you name it.
To satisfy the hunger of our pride, this 'monster' living in us, is almost impossible.
As soon as we have a new car, we think of another one bigger, more modern or more comfortable.
At the very instant we see something worth seeing in the possession of our neighbors, we become restless, sleepless unless we own the same something or preferably, better...
But the worse thing is that these values do not please us for a long time-a day a week a month, perhaps.
Than, at once we find out that a nice journey is what we need for a complete happiness!
We return home and realize that geography is not the way to escape from yourself. 
Yet, even much worse that we feel we are still far from the so long awaited state of happiness: something is still missing and we are sure that as soon as we possess this something we will become happy.

Now, spiritual way of moving towards happiness.
This is how you grow spiritually: what kind of wise books you read, what people you listen to and how much you think about what you are ready to bring to people around you.
In short, your mission.
Your message to the people of the world. Why 'the world'?
Simple: the messages you post in your blogs, the comments you post are read by people from as many as seventeen -twenty countries from all corners of the planet!
You are responsible for forming your readers' philosophy.
Today one of my students asked me if I hoped that what I shared with my listeners would immediately change something in the way they see they thing of behave.
"I'm just doing what I believe is true, correct!" I replied.
I am responsible for anything I say and do.This is my credo and this is my message.
We are responsible for our own spiritual growth because spiritual treasures do not change daily!
That is their real value!
Till next time!
George

Know-How of English Pronunciation.

In my latest message I shared with you some ideas about three basic elements for speaking or starting to speak English
Now let's look critically at the fourth aspect of speaking English which is:
Pronunciation
Who has never been troubled by the way English speakers talk to themselves and to their listeners around the world.
Learners of English are amazed by the variety of sounds produced by the speakers from different parts of the English -speaking world.
But, do you ever think that even in such a small territoriality country as the Czech Republic dwellers also enjoy a variety of accents and dialects?
They can easily recognize a native of Moravia (Eastern part ) or villagers next to the town of Cheb on the West as soon as the moravians or chebians address to the natives of Prague.
 OK, what to do with the English pronunciation? Which one to accept as the right one for you?
Let me ask you a simple question:
"Have you noticed that when you spend a lot of time in the company of someone who often repeats some words and expressions, you unconsciously, begin using the same phrases after your communicative partner?"
 Yes, you got it!
Whatever the way you pronounce the words in English, as soon as you spend some time in the English-speaking environment, you will automatically imitate the accent of people around you.
I have met Czech speakers of English who adopted Irish pronunciation after a couple of months spent in Ireland or American accent during their two-months stay in LA.
What if you have no .... to live/work in an English-speaking country?
Good question!
Find out on the Internet the speakers you enjoy listening and imitate them!    
Just that simple!
The best way, however, is to use the dictionaries where the words are pronounced (Google-translator, for example) and keep repeating the words!
Just get going!
And the final recommendation:
 The more you repeat the better you are at ANYTHING!
English is no exception!
So, repeat dozens of times words and phrases and you'll be fine!
Cheers
George

Three Basic Elements to Speak English

Dear Learners of English
In order to say a sentence in English, you should know the Three Basic Elements:

• The Tense.
• The Word order.
• The Vocabulary.

The Tense. 
If you want to explain something and to be understood, you should use a proper English grammar tense, one of the twelve tenses.
In fact the more educated you are the more tenses you are able to speak with.
But, for a start learn these four: three Simple and the Present Continuous Tenses. With these four you can say anything you need to describe past present and future events and future intentions (Present Continuous). This is a must, a necessary minimum.
Some even native speakers have hardly any ideas of the total number of the tenses or the names of the ones they use (tested and checked, trust me).

The Word Order.
Simple sentences in English have a strict word order for affirmative, interrogative and negative forms. Learn them and you'll be safe til the moment you feel the impulse of getting ahead towards more complicated (advanced) English.

The Vocabulary.
Record your native command of the language during the day, fix the words you use for daily life situations, be amazed by a limited amount of your vocabulary and make a list of the same words in English.
Learn them and you'll be happy till the instant you have upgraded yourself mentally to the level when you started speaking a more sophisticated native language. This will inevitably lead you to a better English performance desired.

Pronunciation???
It's the talk of the next post.
Till then,
Bye-bye
George

Giving vs Getting

Having filled in the gas into my car, I went to pay for the gas 391 Czech crowns with the intention of giving 9 czk to the cashier.
It was Friday and I felt I could do something nice.
I took of the pocket 500 czk and boldly said to the woman behind the counter:
"Keep the change,"
clearly understanding that 9 czk wouldn't be to much of a loss to me.
The woman behind the counter did as she was asked.
Pleased with myself I left the gas station.
How terrified I was when I after 5 minutes, realized that instead of nine czk I had given a 100 and nine!
I went on driving angry with myself for having made such a stupid mistake when I suddenly thought:
"If it happened, it must have happened!"
After such a self-calming observation I tried to leave this annoying thought and switch my mind into something else.
On the next day I went to a saxophone repairman to show him a borrowed instrument and to buy a new one and to my complete surprise, the serviceman repaired my old sax free ( a work worth of 800 czk) and then agreed to give me a discount of 675 czk for the new one!
Even without a calculator it was clear: the Lord compensated my loss 15 times more (800 czk + 675 czk )!!!
You know what?
When we hear theses stories from others we never believe them (at least I don't )
But how to not believe when this happens to you?
Cheers
George



  

Do You Use the verb ' to like ' correctly?

Hi Everyone
A few days ago, Dasha, one of my students asked me to explain the use of the verb to like.
The link below will take you to this short video lesson.
Enjoy
George
                                 http://www.youtu.be/1B3UTQHSJC0

Written Grammar Exercises: Pros and Cons.

                     Years of teaching English have brought me a great deal of interesting observations about the ways that adult learners use to improve their English speaking skills.
Doing written exercises is one of the most loved by a good number of students.
Why?
Because sets of written exercises are always included in all kinds of entrance tests and final exams.
Gone are the days when the examiners talked to their students trying to test their knowledge during a short conversation on a topic with asking questions and checking student's abilities to react adequately on various language tasks.
                     Patterns with correct answers have become a usual procedure for checking the students' choices for receiving a needed number of points for winning a lucky entrance/ passing ticket.
Such a method of learning English may work for passing tests of a high school, but
         will not work for developing your speaking skills.
               In my video lessons I give the basic rules of saying sentences in all tenses active and passive voice and offer drills to practice your speaking skills.
        Remember: speaking is developed only thru speaking, 
practicing, trying to create sentences, react on questions and asking all kinds of questions.  In short-being able to communicate in English.
Here's another video lesson of my video course :
Learning English Grammar Tenses.

Enjoy!
George
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMjGhS8ohlQ 

  

Listening is the Key to Success

                           Yesterday one of my students proudly showed me a series of exercises consisting of a number of sentences from the text with the questions to each sentence.
"I spent more than an hour doing these exercises," he said.
                       Having not received an immediate, seeming so obvious appreciation, he was waiting for my reaction. I knew, my reply would not please the student, but I felt obliged to damage his false theory of doing the work that lead to now-where. Proving the latter didn't take me long: I read the sentences and offered Honza without looking into his home work, to ask special questions.
He failed to do so. The paradox, however, was that almost all the questions had been written correctly!
Simply said, Honza followed so nicely tested by time and generations of students an old-fashioned method of doing written grammar exercises.

Dear learners of English,
Writing is the wrong path of learning that will never lead to speaking!
        Speaking is only a product of doing oral exercises!
"What on earth, do I have to do?!" my poor student exclaimed.
"Trust me," I replied.
"Watch my videos and do what you are supposed to do," was my final advice.
"Click the link below and follow the video instructions," I added.
By the way, you can do that too. Just click the following link.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJQj9i8_3A
 Wishing you the best of success
George Rusky

Dear Learners of English
After having learned and then taught English for more than half a century (that long!) I've come to a conclusion that speaking a foreign language is not about getting a number of explanations from your educator. BUT!
Here's a more effective way of fast and stable progress-the following formula:
Demonstration(trainer)
        ->brief instructions(trainer)
                 ->repeating (trainee)
                         ->correcting (trainer)                    
                                        ->practicing (trainee)
 The final result is an imitation of the tutor's performance.
Since I have found out this 'magic' formula, I have helped tens of students who agreed to accept my concept.
Now is the time for you to make a decision of speaking English following my instructions.
Video Lesson Two: Present Simple tense with the verb to have:
                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX2mAXcd-40 

Happy Learning
George

The First Video Lesson

Dear Learners of English

             Before we go to the first video lesson, I want to share with you a few main ideas that lead me to recording this video course.

             The Learning English Grammar Tenses Video Course is a set of forty video lessons where I am giving you the basics of speaking about past, present and future with the help of all 12 English grammar tenses.

             The course consists of forty lessons that are divided into two groups: one group of lessons will teach you to make affirmative sentences, to ask yes/no and special questions and answer the questions.

              The other group is a set of drills for training the patterns you learned in the previous lessons.

              I haven’t included alternative (“Do you like this or that?”) and tag  ( It’s an interesting book, isn’t it?) questions in my lessons because in some languages these questions are not frequently used (Russian, for example)…

              The rest of the information about the tenses and how they are used in the language, you can read in your native language in the grammar books available in your book stores, libraries or on the Internet.

              Please, read everything in your native language and of your national English Language gurus. They know better than anyone else how to use the English language for expressing your thoughts and ideas that you want.

Later, when you become better practitioners of English you will get more instructions from English native speakers and read more monolingual textbooks.

             Today I am posting the first video lesson where I’m giving you the basic formulas of using the verb to be in affirmative sentences and Yes/No and special questions.

Enjoy the video lesson and remember:

                             Repetition is the Mother of learning.

So, learn the patterns and practice them as often as you can.

Happy Learning

George
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqzXMWhB8Kw

Happy New Year,
Dear Learners of English!
 May all you dreams of speaking good English come true in 2013!

The end of 2012 was very hard to me: I had to finish my
Learning English Grammar Tenses DVD before Christmas.
Today I am offering you the first video lesson that I had included in the DVD.
I hope you will find these materials useful and practical.
Happy Learning in 2013!
George
Video lesson: Introduction into English Grammar tenses.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haOLli7n5qs