I have talked to hundreds of students about the way they think learn and most people claim to be visual learners. That is, they learn better when the new concepts are associated with images.

In fact, visualization for learning, already starts in infancy, during first language acquisition as we are biologically predisposed to link images and sounds to create and learn language. Reading to children from early on is crucial for their language development, and we cannot underestimate the importance of those very simplistic picture books that are available for babies. Pointing at pictures, or the actual objects in the real world is necessary for healthy language development and it is also part of our parenting instincts.

Though teaching infants to read (recognize words) is becoming more and more popular, we should not forget about the usefulness of visualization for second language acquisition. And don’t think of just pictures! This interesting article explains that when we look at a word, our brain sees it like a picture, not a group of letters. This ability will help us not only with acquiring new vocabulary but also to correctly spell the words in the future (or at least recognize if something is “off”). So read on and learn!

The benefits of knowing another language have been discussed in many different forums, few doubt that it is better to know two languages than one, yet only about a quarter of Americans can speak another language. Considering the high number of immigrants from around the world, this number is incredibly low.

Yes, English is the most widely spoken second language, and if you can speak English, you can get by in most countries, but this does not mean that we should never be interested in learning another language. From higher test scores to higher pay, there are countless benefits of being bilingual, just read on: 

Poster link here

We have recently started our series where we learn idioms that can be used in business situations. We now continue with our new chapter with expressions including “take”:

Let’s take a look at them!

to take the lead: to take the position in advance of others, to lead something
E.g.      Jerry, we trust your expertise on this matter, you take the lead!
            The new candidate is taking the lead in the polls despite everyone’s expectations.

take it from there: to wait and see what else needs to be done
E.g.      First, we need to calculate the initial cost for setting up the franchise location, then we will take it from there
            The situation is complicated, so let’s have a meeting, and we will take it from there.

take it from here: to assume responsibility and control of this situation from this point forward
E.g.      I've done everything to prepare the account for you, you'll have to take it from here.
            Thank you for your efforts, but we will take it from here.

take credit for something: to claim recognition for something
E.g.      Jill managed to find a way to reduce the production cost but her boss too the credit for it.
            I cannot take all the credit for the success of the company, it was a team effort.

to take the cake: to be the best (or worst) in something
E.g.      Brett spent hours to prepare his presentation. It definitely took the cake!
Their new assignment was a disaster, we have not seen anything like this before - it really takes the cake!

take someone into someone’s confidence: to tell someone confidential information
E.g.      She took the new employee in her confidence, and told him that half of the company’s employees would be laid off.
            The boss will never take anyone into his confidence and tell them about how the company is doing.

to take a crack at something: to try something
E.g.      It’s going to be very hard to reduce the manufacturing cost, but we will have to take a crack at it so we can acquire more customers.
            Why don’t you take a crack at using social media for advertising?