What Type of Learner Are You?

I recently - as of Tuesday! - started a new course, one which I am very excited about.  I am doing a Professional Diploma of TESOL, which stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  It is a 600 hour course, and once I have completed the foundation course and the nine electives, I will be qualified to teach English as a second language in any international country.  It feels so good to be studying again after being at a bit of a loose end for the past 6 months or so!  

I was learning today about the different learning types.  There are four main categories, and numerous smaller ones.  "The four main learning styles are visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and tactile.  A visual learner learns best by seeing the information set out clearly and recalls information by remembering where it was located on a page.  An auditory student learns best by hearing the lesson, discussing and talking about it and then by using rhythm and sound to recall the information.  A kinaesthetic learner uses movement as a memory aid.  They prefer to learn while doing and often find it hard to sit still through a lecture.  A tactile student learns by touching and so therefore prefers writing and drawing as ways to not only convey information but also to remember it.  They also learn well in hands on activities and through presentations and demonstrations." (taken from my answer to the 16th assessment question).

There was a test included in my 450 page text book, to determine what learning type you are. I thought it would be fun to put it in here so you all can find out for yourselves...if you feel so inclined. :)

Directions:

Rank each statement below as 0, 1 or 2. Write 0 next to the statement if it is not true. Write 2 next to the statement if you strongly agree with the statement. Write 1 if this is sometimes true.

The intelligences which you score the highest in are the ones in which you are

strongest. In the Left Brain and Right Brain Learning section simply mark a yes or a no relating to the question. The section where you mark a ‘yes’ the most times is the learning styles you identify with the most.

Linguistic Intelligence

I like to write stories and poems. ………
I read something everyday for enjoyment ………
I enjoy doing crossword puzzles. ………
I am a good letter writer. ………

Total Score ………

Musical Intelligence
I often sing in the shower. ………
I know the tunes to many songs. ………
I have no trouble identifying or following a beat. ………
I have a very expressive voice, varying in intensity, pitch,
and emphasis. ………

Total Score ………

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
I can calculate numbers easily in my head. ………
I liked maths classes at school. ………
I am interested in new developments in science. ………
I believe that most things have a logical and rational
explanation. ………

Total Score ………

Spatial Intelligence I like to draw. ……… It is easy for me to find my way around unfamiliar places. ……… I pay attention to the colours I wear. ……… I like photography ………
Total Score ………
Bodily/ Kinaesthetic Intelligence I like to dance. ……… I engage in at least one sport. ……… I find it hard to sit for long periods of time. ……… Most of my hobbies involve physical activity or sports. ………
Total Score ………
Intrapersonal Intelligence
I consider myself independent. ……… I have hobbies or interests that I enjoy doing on my own. ……… I keep a journal and record my thoughts. ……… I like to work on my own instead of working in groups. ………
Total Score ………
Interpersonal Intelligence I have more than one close friend. ……… I consider myself a leader and often assume leadership roles. ……… I like to entertain friends and have parties. ……… People often come to me with their problems. ………
Total Score ………
Left Brain Learning
I am more aware of the beat than the melody in music Yes/No I learn by listening and taking notes Yes/No I understand something new by piecing it together Yes/No I prefer to write directions rather than use a map Yes/No
Right Brain Learning
I remember people by their faces rather than their names Yes/No I am more co-operative than competitive Yes/No I like to be spontaneous instead of planning ahead Yes/No I prefer my workplace to be comfortable and messy Yes/No

Results (remember that these results are taken from a learning English and a teacher's point of view) :
Linguistic learners are interested in words and their origins and word puzzles such as crosswords.
Musical learners enjoy working with the rhythm of the language. Speaking activities focusing on expression and pronunciation and any activities involving music or poems will appeal to this group. Logical and Mathematical learners enjoy solving problems and may enjoy a task based approach. Students with a high spatial intelligence will enjoy tasks that incorporate creative activities such as art and crafts. Students with a bodily/kinaesthetic learning style will respond well to tasks that involve movement such as role plays and running games. Students with strong interpersonal intelligence will work well on group tasks and on collaborative projects. Students with strong intrapersonal intelligence will work well on individual projects. They are able to reflect on their own learning and may respond well to keeping a journal.

What were your results? If you'd like to, please share them in the comments, I'd love to hear about them. :) I was a Intrapersonal Learner, with a left brain dominance, and am a visual learner, if you were going to categorize from just those 4 options.  It was interesting that I was a left brain dominance, because I am also left handed, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it...?? I scored a 7 in the Intrapersonal category, and the bodily/ kinaesthetic learner category earned the lowest score with a sad 1.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a great week and have fun with the quiz!

The Secret of Contentment

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."

~ Philippians 4:11-13

Do you ever feel like you are in a stagnant stage of your life?  You know, when you finish school, or studying, or some other milestone in you life.  Milestones are a major point, but it is only until we are passed them that they becomes a marker in our life's journey, not a boulder which we can't seem to get through.

"Just wait on God, you are in a time of waiting at the moment."

"It is easier to steer a moving car; drive in the light you have."

Have these ever been spoken to you?  I have heard both, and what makes life confusing is that they seem to contradict each other.  One is saying to wait for God to show you His plan, while other is saying go forward, and He will direct you has you go.  So do you wait for His guidance, or do you move forward, believing that He will guide your steps?  I believe both are a word in season, and  both are equally true.  But I think it depends on one crucial point: Being content where you are at the moment.  God never ever wastes time, and so if you are following and seeking Him with all your heart, mind and strength, then He will direct your paths.  That's a promise:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

~Proverbs 3:5-6

You have to trust that God will lead you, when the time is right.  And while it might seem that you are chafing at the bit, and not doing anything for yourself, for Him or for anyone else, the lessons and character which are being built and developed are well worth the wait.  God never wastes time, and so everything you experience, is for a reason and for a benefit.  True, not all circumstances are God's plan, because we live in a broken, fallen world, but

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose.

~ Romans 8:28

We have all been called.  Some of us are called to the international mission field, others to the mission field in our town, and still others are called to the mission of our house, home and families.  But nonetheless, we are all called and none is more important than the other.  But sometimes it seems that the calling will never come true, and although you are saying yes to God and to whatever His plans are for your life, nothing is happening. 

It is then that we have to learn to Trust.  Simply sit back and learn to trust God.  God won't move us on in life until we have learned the lessons from the situations we are in.  And when there seems not to be any lessons to learn, well, that is a lesson too.  

So it all boils down to this simple point: The Secret of Contentment is to trust in our Lord and our Saviour.  And lastly, look at the last verse of the Philippians passage, verse 13:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

~Philippians 4:13

All things.  That means everything, the things which are both hard and easy.  It takes just as much strength to sit back and wait for God's plan, seemingly to be doing nothing, than it does to be on the front line everyday and every hour.  There are seasons for both the busy and the quiet.  There are reasons for both.  And there is strength available for us in every season - the seasons of action, and the season of waiting.  

The secret to contentment is to Trust in our Lord, knowing that He is there for us every minute of every day be it full of achievements, battles and breakthroughs, or be it full of the quiet waiting on His promises, His strength, His love, and His peace is there, ours for the t

70th Birthday Cake Days 4-5 & Elise's Birthday

So here is the last two days of the cake, a little late, but nonetheless, here it is...  :)

Day 4 - Covering and Spraying

Part-way through putting cocoa through the fondant - it took a long
time and boy did my wrists know it by the end!  :P

I had thought long and hard about how to make black icing.  You can buy pre-c
oloured fondant, but it is so much more expensive, and also it is a different brand, which can make a lot of difference if you are not used to working with it.  So, I was looking for some different options.   Although you can buy black food dye, it doesn't work because the icing is pure white, and so  you can only get a grey.  (The same happens with red, by the way.)  After doing lots of research, I finally came up with the following method, and hoped it would work...  When kneading the icing to make it pliable, I mixed in a lot of cocoa powder as well.  This gave the fondant a chocolate colour as well as flavour, which I thought was really nice.  To cover the cake, I used 1.5 kg of fondant.  I could have really used some more, as I found out later, but you can never truly tell until it is too late with these things!

After the Fondant is on.  If you look in the top of the left sleeve,
you can see the patchy icing job.  

Then I rolled out the fondant big enough to cover the cake.  I didn't take many photos of this phase, because I get in the zone of cake decorating, and don't think about much else while I am concentrating.  :)  To work out how big you need to roll the fondant, measure the widest part of your cake, plus the sides, and add a couple more centimeters all together and then roll out the fondant that large.  I  have a PVC pipe which I use to help roll out large pieces of icing.  When it is big enough, I rolled up the icing around the pipe, and then unrolled it over the cake.  Fondant is quite heavy and so you need to cut off the excess quite quickly otherwise it will tear over the corners.  Smoothing down the edges and pressing into the corners, I cut of the excess and used my fondant smoother to make sure it was lying as flat as possible.  Unfortunately. because of the extra cocoa powder, the fondant dried out a lot quicker than usual, and I had trouble getting it off the table and onto the cake.  This led to a rather dodgy icing corner on the cake, which we smoothed over as best as we could, but it still wasn't perfect.  The rest of the icing went on quite well.

Spray painting!!  :D

Then for the black!  I bought some Wilton Black colour mist, and literally spray painted my entire cake.  I used the whole can, and had to go back to the shops to get another one to cover some patchy areas.  But it worked quite well.  The spray takes a long time to dry, so I left it overnight.  The colour seemed to be a bit too brown at one stage in the drying process which had me quite concerned, but it darkened as it dried, to a nice black, which I was happy with.

This is just after I sprayed the cake.  It is a little patchy, which
I did fix up later, and you can see how the colour darkens later
on.

Day 5 - Decorating

The finished product!

The next day, I used both the paper map of the cake and the original picture to help me get the decorating right.  I coloured some fondant orange (using a mixture of red, black and yellow food dye) and let it to rest about half an hour.  Normally I colour the icing the day before, because it gives the fondant time to set again with the extra liquid in it, and also the colour can deepen with time.  But we had been too busy the day before, and I hadn't had time.

I cut out the white and orange pieces, and layed them onto the cake, arranging them until I was happy with the look.  Then I flipped the pieces of fondant over, and rubbed a little water on the back to make it stick, and then I was done!  (there are no photos of this process, because, once again, I was in the zone, and it is too hard to take photos while decorating.  :P)

 ~

The cake - it is not a particularly good photo,
because of the sun, but you get the idea.  

Saturday was also Elise's 13th Birthday.  She had a lovely day.  We opened presents in the morning, and she was most delighted with her Kindle Reader from Mum and Dad, and an assortment of other things from us kids.

Grace and I made her birthday cake.  It is Cinderella from the new movie which was only released a few days before her birthday, and consequently was also one of her birthday presents....

(A side funny story  :D...... When Grace and I were making the cake, we were having trouble getting the shape of the cake right (aka the skirt).  The doll we had bought was quite tall, and we had to build the cake up to make it proportionally accurate.  Then, after we had shaped it up, we had to cut a hole down the middle for the doll to sit.  However, that too proved to be difficult.  I cut down about half way, and then we had the bright idea of chopping the doll at the knees.  So, with no anesthetic, and a bread knife, our poor Cinderella became an amputee! :P)

Rosie waiting for the show to start, all dressed
up like a pirate.  :)

In the afternoon, we all went to see the stage show of Pirates of Penzance that Mum and Dad were playing in.  We had all been to see it at least twice before, but this time we had front row seats, and it never gets old.  I did take some photos, but was later told that photos weren't allowed, so unfortunately I won't post them....

That evening, Mum and Dad had another show, so we rushed home, had dinner, and then they left again.  Elise got to rediscover all her presents and answer the numerous phone calls!

Being the last show, Mum and Dad had to pack up the instruments and everything and then attend the presentations afterwards, which meant they didn't get home until about 1 am.  Dad and I had an early start at Church the next morning (we had to be there by 8:00 am) so we were all exhausted by the days end, but it was good.