Express Guide Preparing Rank 2012-2024 Form

You have received some incredibly brilliant answers, many from extremely qualified and well placed individuals too, so let me give you a foreigner's practical perspective, if I may.I was born in Italy, didn't speak a word of English when I first came to London thirty years ago, there were no 'online resources' then, and I remember going to the movies  bringing a pocket dictionary with me. The problem was though, I did not know the spelling of most words I heard on screen, so I always felt like attempting synchronized swimming in a force 10 gale at sea.One day, a very old guy who was sitting next to me at the cinema, noticing how furiously and frustratingly I was flicking my well worn out dictionary, asked me how well I wanted to speak. "Like I native" I answered. He laughed and said that that was not possible, but he could teach me so people would be impressed by my English nevertheless. We met regularly and talked about all sorts of things,  it turned up he was a retired professor of modern languages at Cambridge University, fluent in Italian too.He told me that the only way to become almost perfect at speaking a language, not just English, was to allow others to correct you, even constantly, as you speak. He said that that would irritate most people immensely, but surely it was the best and fastest way. So he did, and I remember these surreal and surely  irritatingly stuttered conversations, that eventually became more balanced, as he interrupted me less and less.One evening we were together at a dinner party and a lady sitting next to us complimented me on my English, saying it was perfect, asking where I came from. Before I could answer he said to her, visibly irritated, that if my English was truly perfect she wouldn't have noticed.As we were walking home I asked him how I could improve further, especially my diction, so to become perfect. He smiled, hugged me and said "Franz, what makes you special and 'exotic' is exactly that, your accent and your little imperfections and odd grammar, never lose it completely, it would be a huge mistake."I was very fond of him, he taught me not just English, but a most valuable lesson too: make the most of what you have received in life at birth, it is what makes you special.I felt confident enough eventually to write several books, and I even won a Creative Review Award for my writing. Nowadays I give lectures to all sorts of audiences, and whenever someone compliments on my "perfect" English I smile and answer "hopefully it isn't, so you'll remember me better".My English is far from perfect, but it has an unique style (or so I hope) and my accent is so undefined that people cannot really figure out where I come from, and that is enough.So find someone you can talk to regularly who is happy to correct you every time you make a mistake, but at the same time don't lose what makes you special, exotic.

Departments of education and school districts always have to make decisions about what to include in their curriculum.  There are a lot of life skills that people need that aren't taught in school.  The question is should those skills be taught in schools?I teach high school, so I'll talk about that.  The typical high school curriculum is supposed to give students a broad-based education that prepares them to be citizens in a democracy and to be able to think critically.  For a democracy to work, we need educated, discerning citizens with the ability to make good decisions based on evidence and objective thought.  In theory, people who are well informed about history, culture, science, mathematics, etc., and are capable of critical, unbiased thinking, will have the tools to participate in a democracy and make good decisions for themselves and for society at large.  In addition to that, they should be learning how to be learners, how to do effective, basic research, and collaborate with other people.  If that happens, figuring out how to do procedural tasks in real life should not provide much of a challenge.  We can't possibly teach every necessary life skill people need, but we can help students become better at knowing how to acquire the skills they need.  Should we teach them how to change a tire when they can easily consult a book or search the internet to find step by step instructions for that?  Should we teach them how to balance a check book or teach them how to think mathematically and make sense of problems so that the simple task of balancing a check book (which requires simple arithmetic and the ability to enter numbers and words in columns and rows in obvious ways) is easy for them to figure out.  If we teach them to be good at critical thinking and have some problem solving skills they will be able to apply those overarching skills to all sorts of every day tasks that shouldn't be difficult for someone with decent cognitive ability  to figure out.  It's analogous to asking why a culinary school didn't teach its students the steps and ingredients to a specific recipe.  The school taught them about more general food preparation and food science skills so that they can figure out how to make a lot of specific recipes without much trouble.  They're also able to create their own recipes.So, do we want citizens with very specific skill sets that they need to get through day to day life or do we want citizens with critical thinking, problem solving, and other overarching cognitive skills that will allow them to easily acquire ANY simple, procedural skill they may come to need at any point in their lives?

I understand you buddy. I understand you completely. I am in the exact same position as you. So let me tell you what i feel about the question and the answers written here.And if you like it give me an upvote ;)After reading this question i thought i am a patient of split personality and i only wrote this question in another of my avatar. So my brother from another mother i feel totally connected to you after reading this question. And about all the answers written here, i think everyone is correct here in their own way but they probably have a different kind of personality and that is why they have written answers without understanding your emotions and therefore, none of the answers made sense to me personally (Well one of them partially did and that's why i upvoted it)I feel we are alike and therefore i will talk about myself here and you might feel connected too. From childhood, i have always lived in my fantasy land that i will/can do this i will/can do that but never actually did anything. When i hear about others all i think is i could have done that thing. And i again go into my fantasy world that i should have done something in my past which would have made a difference. I go into my serious mode. Do something good for 2 days and then come back to the same routine of doing anything. I know i have the potential but still i don't do anything. I get motivated every time i read a book, watch a movie or hear people's story. But result is still nothing. I used to think that there will come a turning point in my life and everything will change suddenly, i will have a successful startup of my own, will go for world tours, will become fit (btw i am fat). But no, nothing of that sort happened in the past 26 years and won't happen in the next 26. I realized that people who are at successful position did not signNowed there overnight, they worked really hard for it. Because, nothing comes to anyone easily. So, i started working on things. It is as simple as that. Just start working on whatever you want to do; your job, startup, getting fit, anything. NO MATTER HOW SLOWLY OR HOW LATE IT IS JUST START DOING THINGS. As there is no other way to it. Absolutely no other way. You know you have it in you. But do you think you will signNow at your success point without doing anything. No you won't. So just start doing. And don't do it for anybody else, JUST DO IT FOR THAT MAN IN THE MIRROR BECAUSE THAT MAN DESERVES IT. ALL THE BEST.Sorry for the long answer.

The lawmakers expect a reasonable average person to be able to guide self through the maze of laws and regulations.Still, some people value their time or are truthful about their abilities to comprehend things, and instead of getting a self-taught degree in taxation or legal intricacies of a company formation (and accounting/financial issues associated with that), those people choose to hire a professional specializing in those areas.I am personally an accountant (corporate accounting) which is as far away from personal taxes as you can imagine; my tax returns are tied to my spouse's and due to presence of several items which are not a common occurrence in an average person's life, I am not even trying to complete our taxes.I do my due diligence with all the information gathering, schedules, support documentation, record retention and such but I can't spend days pouring over it all to come up with a final number.So, I pay a professional to be on time, on spec, and on budget.With respect to legal advice, laws in US vary by state, so me being able to spend 3 years in law school, and then more years trying to be admitted to each of the Bar associations, and then have the ability to research cases for precedents - that's just not reasonable.Still, there are others who actually love this process, are knowledgeable, and can tell me a solution to my problem within 20 mins. Isn't this worth my money?

I’m 57 year old, so I’m more than half-way through with my life. Here are some realistic ways I would fill out the quote “Life is too short to …”Life is too short NOT to eat my healthy homemade brownie for energy. It’s made with lots eggs, of cocoa powder, brewer’s yeast, flax meal, coconut meal, organic oatmeal, and buckwheat. It’s high fiber, high omega-3, and high protein & magnesium.Life is too short to be negative about anything. Being negative and pessimistic DID NOT PAY off for my prior 1/2 life spent.Life is too short NOT to be honest. Honesty saves time.Life is too short to worry. Worrying means I don’t trust in the almighty Creator who made me & will take care of me.

The Pony Express did not go across the country.Although it connected with various boat and railroad companies, the pony part started in St Louis Missouri and ran to Sacramento California.And it went out of business in 18 months.Pony Express - Wikipedia