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We are considering moving out of the US in the next few years once we retire. Portugal is currently our top choice. I would like to learn some Portuguese - at first just enough to function as tourist when we visit Portugal to check it out and then later enough to function as a resident. For now, I want something on-line that I can do at my own pace that will start at the very beginning. Suggestions?
posted by metahawk at 11:39 PM - 10 answers

How did the people there come to have this time free? How are they occupying that time? How are they getting along with the other people there? What are they discussing? What are their professional preoccupations? (The more surprising the answer would be to the students in the hall outside, the better.)
posted by Lemkin at 9:53 AM - 21 answers

After two years of taking community college classes as a high school student, I’m deciding between attending a small, private university in the US and a large, public university in Canada. I could use some help. [more inside]
posted by SockboroughFair at 9:31 PM - 21 answers

Can you recommend an accessible introduction to the study of African-American Vernacular English? Preferably something written for a popular audience.
posted by Lemkin at 6:51 PM - 9 answers

My wife is a LCSW. Part of maintaining her license is taking some number of class hours each year as continuing education. One can't be a fully qualified social worker while having learned nothing professional in the last 20 years. Can one be a fully qualified high school language teacher while having learned nothing professional in the last 20 years?
posted by Lemkin at 4:12 PM - 13 answers

I’ve never been diagnosed AD/HD, but I am bipolar II, which is very similar diagnostically. I think it’d be helpful to employ some strategies designed for AD/HD. I have a lot of writing and art projects lingering in the end zone and I can’t seem to make myself finish. Do any of you AD/HD folks have finishing strategies I can try?
posted by mermaidcafe at 7:36 PM - 9 answers

To this son of Suffolk, the accent of Jill Zarin is the sound of home. In technical language, how is she producing that accent? Or put a different way: What would a trained listener hear in that accent that codifies it as “Great Neck”?
posted by Lemkin at 4:30 PM - 4 answers

Looking for ways to record university lectures / classes onto my laptop (windows) and transcribing them later. [more inside]
posted by GernBlandston at 10:53 AM - 12 answers

What happens? Why does the teacher choose that particular student? How does the favoritism manifest itself? (Bonus points: What adverse reactions might either party encounter from their peers?)
posted by Lemkin at 5:15 PM - 15 answers

i'm a self taught hobbyist sketch artist in my mid thirties - i have a mfa in creative writing, and make genuinely not-enough money in my current field of adjunct teaching and writing - recently i started taking a few art classes at a community art school and it has radically changed my relationship to my art. i am fantasizing about going to art school full time and dedicating myself to my art - is this reasonable or should i stick with keeping it a 'hobby'? more, long details within - [more inside]
posted by lightgray at 3:21 PM - 39 answers

John McPhee describes the effect of blending saffron into a mixture as changing its color from “flax to jonquil to canary to high lemon chrome”. How can I acquire a color vocabulary like that?
posted by Lemkin at 11:03 AM - 19 answers

How are you fighting for your IEP / 504 / Title I kid right now, amidst the intentional dismantling of the Dept of Education? How do we secure our kids' rights, nationwide? [more inside]
posted by splitpeasoup at 7:53 PM - 9 answers

What kinds of colleges give "credit" for good AP test scores? Does this "credit" means the student has to take fewer classes in college in order to graduate and can potentially save money? Or does the "credit" mean the student can skip an introductory class and go directly to a more advanced class, but still has to take the same number classes (credit hours?) in order to graduate? And does that even happen? [more inside]
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:36 PM - 49 answers

My teenager got a marketing packet from the National Student Leadership Conference. The packet makes it sound like an exclusive invite, but a little bit of research shows that this is not an invite-only program at all! Given that... [more inside]
posted by mkb at 9:49 AM - 7 answers

Please recommend me books on the Jewish presence in the historic Muslim world. [more inside]
posted by Sunflower88 at 8:46 AM - 6 answers

I'm faculty at large weakly-unionized private university in the US. It's clear that cuts are coming for the Department of Ed and loans/support of universities from the Feds. Our Faculty Union is coming up for negotiations, and going to want to maximize faculty benefits and employment. Even before Trump-disaster our enrollment was dropping and admin was planning serious cuts. Despite medium-sized endowment and momentum from our size, I am genuinely concerned for 5-year survivability of institution. How to be a good union member and argue both for faculty and sensible retrenchment so we can survive as an institution? [more inside]
posted by anonymous at 7:20 AM - 17 answers

I'm considering getting a Master's or PhD on a part-time basis as a personal challenge, but I'm so far out of undergrad that I'm just beginning to think about selection and comparison. Did you do something like this, and if so what did you learn? Short of the spreadsheet I've started, what were some best practices and/or surprises that you found? [more inside]
posted by reader at 2:47 PM - 9 answers

What alternatives are available for use in a school setting? Sharing of educational materials for teachers and students a priority. Email would also be useful. And an alternative to Google Classroom (although I understand this is a big ask as Classroom is a leader in this field). [more inside]
posted by BrStekker at 6:35 PM - 1 answers

Please share the best statements or other responses you've seen responding to the Trump executive order on K-12 education. Looking for examples to help shape/embolden an organization's response. This statement from the NEA is an example of the type of thing I mean.
posted by Wretch729 at 1:57 PM - 3 answers

I am inundated by the options available to write, revise, and use lesson plans and their tools, handouts, etc. Can you recommend Mac software, app or other easy to follow tools for lesson planning and preparing handouts?
posted by parmanparman at 5:04 AM - 1 answers