Thursday, December 5, 2013

THE THREE MAGICAL KEYS TO COLLEGE SUCCESS

As a student, schedules and overall work can get overwhelming. Most students will try to strive through school year by missing classes, eating fast food, and pulling all-nighters. We all have been there before, and hence we all know it is counterproductive to maintain these habits. In order to guide students toward a healthy lifestyle and a greater success, we give here the three magical key to college success. Good luck!


FOOD EXERCISE SLEEP

FOOD
The food you eat will have a strong impact on your performance. Unlike what most people think, even one fast food meal a week will affect your overall health. By fast food we refer to any time of meal that was prepared and serve by your cafeteria. Indeed, not only big hamburgers chains are bad for your health. Anything that was prepared in advance and then stored to be served at a large scale is likely to contain ingredients full of salt, sugar, trans fat, and other bad ingredients for your health. Remember the golden rule: if the food can´t go bad means it is bad for you. Indeed, food served in cafeteria usually contains ingredients with high rate of preservatives in it. In order to avoid eating un-healthy, and usually expensive, cafeteria food, you should prepare simple lunch box. Within a click on Google, thousands of easy meals are awaiting you! Not having time is only a question of "taking" the time.
Also, three meals a day is not a suggestion, it is an obligation. Breakfast is essential for keeping you awaken and focused throughout the day. It also provides you with the essential energy you need to start your day. If you skip breakfast, you´ll have less energy and will be tired within the first half of your day. Again, if you have no idea of what is a healthy breakfast, take a look at ideas on Pinterest or blogs. The web is full of information on nutrition! Lunch is almost as important as breakfast given that it will allow you to go through your afternoon and avoid falling for junk cravings. You know that chocolate bar you want to buy so badly around 3pm, right before your long and boring stat class? Yeah, it is only going to increase your craving! Also when you´re craving for sweets it usually means that your body lacks of chromium, carbon phosphorus, sulfur, or tryptophan. This lack can be counterpartyed by eating broccoli, fresh fruits, chicken, cranberries, kale, cheese, and other food.
For further information on how to address your cravings and your healthy daily diet in general, visit our Pinterest board called A Healthy Student Life at http://www.pinterest.com/babilonlanguage/a-healthy-student-life/

EXERCISE
Even if integrating 1 hour at the gym three times a week seems like almost impossible, it is utterly recommended by specialists to stay active. Your mind works hard at school, and your body should do so too. If going to the gym is really impossible, then you can integrate physical activities in your daily routine. The bus ride to school is 10 minutes? Chances are you could walk that in 30 minutes! Need to take a study break? Take a walk around your neighborhood! Class is on the third floor? Take the stairs! Try to be as active as possible throughout your day. When your body moves it increase your metabolism. A faster metabolism means a greater reserve of energy!
Also, don´t be shy to decline social invitations in order to have more time on your hand for sports. If you join a sport team at your school it will allow you to have social interactions within a healthy activity. Furthermore, it will create a commitment with going to the practices.

SLEEP
Did you know that one night without sleep leaves you in the same state than if you were legally drunk at a blood alcohol content of 0.08?  So, would you show up to an exam with this blood alcohol content? No. So why would you pull all-nighters? Sleeping allow your body to rest. Just as our computers need to restart in order to complete the installation of a program, your body needs to shut down for a little while in order to process what you learn every day at school. This is especially true during exam periods.
Furthermore, good sleep habits, such as a regular sleep schedule and a great sleep environment will help you to develop an “efficient” sleep. Again, with a quick research on Google you can find hundreds of trick to improve your sleep habits.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Top 5 Room Cleaning Tips

KEEP YOUR ROOM CLEAN IN FIVE EASY STEPS




We all recall how our parents use to repeat us all the time to clean our bedroom when we were kids. Well even now that we grew up we still need some advises in order to keep our bedroom in a reasonable order.



1. NATURAL LIGHT By allowing more natural light to illuminate your room it will encourage you free the space from any unnecessary stuffs.





2. LIST Make a list of everything you must do in order to fully clean your room. The idea is not to overwhelm you with an over-detailed list, but to encourage you every time you scratch something off the list. Therefore, you should have enough items on your list so you scratch a little something every two or three minutes, but not too many so your list seems infinite. Furthermore, if you stick to one list that you review every day, you will eventually get use to it and incorporate the chores in your daily habit.



3. RIGHTFUL PLACE Put every items in your room to their rightful place. Cloths in the closet, towels in the bathroom, plates and food in the kitchen, rubbishes in the garbage, and so on. It is always a good idea to keep to a minimum the among of "struff" you have in your room. The less you keep in your bedroom, the less there is to clean.





4. ORGANIZE If your cloths are laying on the floor because there is no space for them in your closet it means it is time for a major clean up within your closet. If all your storage spaces are well organize you will be able to keep your room cleaner for a longer time.





5. REWARD If you fell that you accomplished a good cleaning then reward yourself. Every time you clean well your room you should allow yourself a small reward. It can be as simple as a hot bubble bath. But remember that you should keep the reward proportional the amount of work you putted in the cleaning.




At Babilon we always provide a clean environment to our students. We expect the same respect from them in regard to their accommodations. In a host family or in an hostel, we proud ourselves on the behaviour our students have outside the school walls.






Come and visit us at http://learnspanishblc.com/

Thursday, November 21, 2013

How to Have The Perfect Study Room in Five Step

HOW TO HAVE THE PERFECT 
STUDY ROOM IN FIVE STEPS

As students, we all wish to have the optimum environment to study. The perfect room where you will be able to concentrate for more than two minutes, so we finally give you the tips our students told us they use the most.

1. LESS IS MORE Keep it simple, you want your study room to be personal, yet you should retain from wallpapered it with posters or other excessive art pieces. The walls of your room should be alike the one of your school library.

2. LIGHT IT UP You should be able to read without hurting your eyes. If possible study with a source of natural light;it keeps your body awake and prevent you to feel sleepy.

3. COMFORT FIRST Student will study, or have school related activities for an average of 6 hours a day. Therefore, the space where you will sit should be comfortable. A nice office chair is never a lost investment!
4. ZERO DISTRACTION Even the smallest thing can jeopardize your focus. A cute little pink lamp on the side of your desk? No no. Opt for simple and minimalist object that will not grasp your attention every five minutes. Same goes for your electronic devices; they should not be allowed in your study room!

5. METHOD AND ORDER Keep the room well organized. Messy environments impact your ability to concentrate. Nothing that is not directly related to school should not be in the room.

Hope you will apply these tips in your study room. Here at Babilon our classrooms are simple, well lighted, and extra clean! Come and visit us at http://learnspanishblc.com/!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

DOs and DONTs when studying

THE DOs AND DONTs 

DOs


1. ATTITUDE When studying think positively. Try to have a positive approach to your work. Think about your skills positively or about the results of your study time.

2. LOCATION As stressed in our previous post on efficiency in college, you need to find a distraction-free location to study. Avoid busy café or school hall, you must find a place where there is low circulation and almost absolute silence. Different spots may be needed for different subjects.

3. SCHEDULE By planning ahead you will prevent useless and inefficient last minute cram session. It is always easier to work in chunks.

4. ALTERNATION Try to alternate the subjects. Instead of spending one whole day on one unique subject, design 30 minutes session with three different topics a day. This way you will be more alert to each new subject.

5. QUANTITY Design your study session according to goals rather than time. If you work with timed study session chances are that you will pay more attention to your watch than the subject. In order to keep you going withing your schedule, set a timer. This way you will pay attention to the subject until the timer reminds you to change subject.

6. PRIORITY The hardest parts you need to study should come first. It is easier to plan the rest of a study session once the biggest chunk of it is done. Also, when you start with the hardest part first, all the fallowing one seem much more easier!
7. NOTES It is UBER important to take good notes. Read them and rewrite them. They are your primary source of information given that most teacher will use the material focused in class in their exams.

8. MEANING Make sure to write notes that are meaningful to you. While studying you can also create code to retain the maximum amount of information.
9. BREAK Taking breaks while studying helps you brain to process the information. Alternating study session and breaks will allow the information you learn to be encoded in you memory. That being said, it is important to keep breaks proportional to the related study time. Otherwise, you are most likely to start procrastinating.

10. SLEEP Long term memory works when you sleep. If you pull an all nighter and go strait to your exam you will do poorer than if you had had come sleep. Also, by getting some sleep you allow you body and mind to restart to a fresher state.


DON´Ts

1. LOCATION You should never study in a cafe or at your house/dorm/apartment. Distractions are your enemies. Therefore your best option is to go to the library, find a quiet spot and stay there with your electronic devices turned off.
2. MUSIC Listening music while studying is sadly too common. Unlike what many people think music will only distract you and lower your focus. Ultimately it is only an extra distraction. effectively the changing words and tempo only divide your attention. The silence of a library is more beneficial to you.

3. GROUPS Study groups can be beneficial only if they are combined with personal study time. Even with serious friends you will be required to study on your own. Hence don´t loose time in planing un-fulfilling study period jump ahead yourself.

4. ALL-NIGHTERS Your brain NEEDS you to sleep in order to fully memorize what you study. When you pull all-nighters your study is useless, and your body exhausted. Nothing good comes out of it.

5. PROCRASTINATION Procrastinating is a very common behavior, we all do it! That being said, it is not it is a very bad habit to keep when it comes to studying. It will only push you to scram and pull all-nighters. Plan ahead and make a study plan, with a bit of discipline you will be able to avoid procrastination.
6.  HIGHLIGHT It doesn´t serve much purpose to over-highlight your textbook. Instead of coloring your books or notes, you should write your own outlines, and quiz yourself. you retain much more information when you write then when you read.




Hopefully these DOs and DON´Ts will help you to ace your exams. Remember that small assignments are as important as final exams. You should always give your 110% in everything you do. Here at Babilon Language Coaching we encourage our student to push further their limits by fully investing themselves in the in their language class. Come and visit us at http://learnspanishblc.com/!!!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Ten Tips to Balance Friends and School

1. PLAN When planning ahead of time you can see busy periods coming and plan consequently your social activities. It is not necessary to avoid all social activities. Be smart. Try to go toward activities that requires less of your time, choose to go out to locations that are close from where you live or to "dry" activities so you will not be hungover the next morning, as well as activities that wont be too tiring. Also, be firm on the time you will allow to each activities; if you decide to stay 1 hour at your friends house, then only stay this time and no more.
2. MOVE Make sure to stay active: go to the gym, walk back home, do some yoga in between two study period. When you stay active it prevents you of getting use to relax. Even though it is important to keep relaxation time in your schedule, you should not have an habit of doing nothing.
3. CLUB ASSOCIATION SOCIETY Join a club, it will provide you the opportunity to meet new people while being in school. Most time it will also give you the chance to be part of activities that don´t involve alcohol or abusive behaviors. Furthermore, participation and involvement in school sponsored activities always look good on a resume.
4. HOST A good way to control your social life is to host events or gathering at your house. You can determine the time of beginning and ending of the event and you don´t loose time in transportation. Also you can monitor better who attend the events; keeping trouble makers away.
6. NO Saying no is not being anti-social. Sometimes you need to be realistic and refuse to go out. Good friends will understand that you cant always hang out with them. On the other hand you should also understand that everybody has a different schedule, hence, not everybody can hang out with you when you are free.
7. LIBRARY Study at the library where there are less distractions. Don´t tell people you are there if you wish to focus at 100%. If you invite other students to join you, make sure these friends are truly willing to study. Studying at the library is like working under surveillance. If you are temped to go on social medias people around you will notice it.   Don´t be the kid who just loose time on internet; finish your work so you can go see your friends!
8. LOCATION Choose you accommodation wisely. If possible gather information on the different dorms your university offers in order to know which one is more or less study-friendly. If you are planning on renting an apartment, make sure to chose a good roommate. The best roommate is not always your best friend. Also make sure to keep your study environment clean, no matter where you will stay!
9. REACH OUT Don´t be shy do reach out for help. Get outside help by telling a friend or family member what is your study plans for the next week and ask them to check on you. You will feel more supported, which is essential during the rough times.

10. GOALS Set goals, if you have a hard time studying and only wants to party, set yourself goals.Make a competition with yourself. If you exactly know what you expect and what you need to archive, you will surely be more motivated. You can also take example on role model and people you know that are doing well. Seeing other people success is a motivation.

In conclusion is all rounds up around time management and personal priorities. Only you can impose yourself the necessary discipline needed to reach your goals.
Here at Babilon Language Coaching we spoil our student with great personal support, pass by our website and see it yourself!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

How to Manage an Agenda

AGENDA

          Instead of writing down things on flying sheets or notebook OWN and USE an agenda.People have budget for their money and should also have budget for their time. In the case of busy student it is very frequent to lose time in useless activities or too many social activities. As a student myself, I highly recommend to plan a time budget. Don´t planned it during the summer; wait until the end of your first week of class. This way you will have a more accurate idea of the time you truly need to give to each class.Usually a schedule going by 30 minutes time slot is efficient. When organizing your agenda make sure to take EVERYTHING in account including transportation time and sleeping time.


     OFFICIAL COMMITMENTS Classes, assignments´ deadlines, readings, papers, tutorial, work, appointments, and extra engagements (sorority philanthropy, language class, volunteer work, etc.) write EVERYTHING down on the right date, at the right time. 


MORNING AND NIGHT TIME Write down the time you will wake up taking in consideration your commitments and how much time you need to get ready. A good idea is to always wake up at the same time in order to create a healthy routine. Make sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep a day.


STUDY In average one hour of class lecture will need one hour of home study. It is very important to dedicate time for exclusive study time.  Don´t rely on your “free time” to study. You need to provide specific time slot to sit down and do whatever school work you need to get done (reading, assignment, research, etc.).


ASSIGNMENTS As you can see due dates coming make sure to prepare special time slots for these. A good idea is also to break readings and study time in several small sessions throughout weeks. This allows more flexibility in your schedule.


TRANSPORTATION Make sure to also include laps between activities to take in account the time you will spend in transportation. It is a good plan to take readings with you when having long transportation time.


SOCIAL When all your official commitments are included in your weekly planner, look at the free spots you still have. Include your social activities. Make sure to take in consideration that if you go out on a Friday night, your Saturday morning will probably not be the most productive one. Therefore you need to take each and every activities you have in a week and see if they don´t contradict.   


WEEKENDS Obviously the weekend can have a separate schedule with different priorities and time frame. For instance instead of waking up every morning at 7h, make it at 9h, and instead of going to bed at 10h, make it at 12h. Just make sure to be fresh on Monday morning.
Hope this article was usefull, don´t be shy and visit our website: http://learnspanishblc.com/

Thursday, October 24, 2013

TOP NINE TIP TO BE EFFICIENT IN UNIVERISTY

EFFICIENCY

IN

UNIVERSITY


Research showed that organized people have a tendency to be more successful in school. Being organized helps you to prepare for any work load teachers can drop on you. Here are the top nine tips to be better organized.



1. BINDER It is very easy to find affordable binders that will hold everything you need together. It is a good plan to divide it into different section for each of your class, and then into different subsection (example: syllabus, calendar, readings, grades/graded assignments, other).  This binder should never leave your home desk. By always keeping the Binder in the exact same spot, you make sure to never lose it. Also, when leaving the house make sure to have your agenda in hand, which is the portable version of your binder.

2. AGENDA Instead of writing down things on flying sheets or notebook OWN and USE an agenda. People have budgets for their money and should also have budget for their time. In the case of busy student it is very frequent to lose time in useless activities or too many social activities. As a student myself, I highly recommend to plan a time budget. Don´t planned it during the summer; wait until the end of your first week of class. This way you will be more aware of the time you truly need to give to each class. Usually a schedule going by 30 minutes time slot is efficient. When organizing your agenda make sure to take EVERYTHING in account including transportation time and sleep time. The example below is very utilitarian. Your agenda can be brighter, it should reflects who you are.





3. ARCHIVE Keep track of what you do. When writing down what you have done in a day, including for how long and where, you can better measure how much time you really need, and hence make an accurate time budget.




4. CALENDAR In one calendar where you can see all the school weeks in one look, write down your due date for assignments and others, this way you can always see in advance what is coming up and plan accordingly to it. You´ll never be surprise by big exam or research paper.





5. GEAR In order to avoid any gear lack that could jeopardize your ability to finish an assignment, always keep a stock of pencil, post-it, lined and white sheets, printer ink, and so on. Plus it is always nice to work with staples in good conditions, it is an extra motivation!














6. CENTRALIZE Instead of having several mini spots for different things, centralize all the school stuff in one place, all the sport stuff in another and so on. This way, when you will be looking for something, although you do not remember where you left it, you can find it with logic.







7. CLEAN When cleaning you realize how many useless things you keep. By throwing away what is unnecessary it allows you to only keep track of what is relevant. Also, when living in a clean environment you are most likely to be calm and relax which helps you concentrate and prepare for school work. Your room should be the cleanest place of the house.




8. PRIORITIES what do you need the most? Some items that you use very often should be easily accessible whereas items you don´t need very often can be a bit less easy to access. Also by putting things in the spot where you usually use them you will save time.




9. MEDITATION Meditation can help you gain perspective and strength. Take few minutes of your day to sit and think. Interrogate yourself on how you sill archive your goals and what you want to be done in a certain time period. Then, make sure to write these down in your agenda or calendar and stick to it!





The hardest thing while being in university is to have enough autodicipline to stick to a plan. Tons of distractions will come along the way, making you drift away from good resolutions. Try to share your plan with family members or close friends, this way they will notice if you don’t fallow it. They can support and encourage you through the rough times. Universities also usually offer psychological supports, as well as study help. Don´t be shy to reach out to these resources.