You begin to speak, “Today’s grammar focus lesson will be on …” Your EFL learners groan aloud interrupting you. “Oh no, grammar again?”, they chant, almost in unison. You’re not exactly all that enthused yourself, but what can you do? It’s in the program.

Grammar teaching is almost always in demand and often difficult to tackle. In the article, “Three Fun Ideas for Teaching Grammar to TEFL Learners” we discussed the use of such aids as games, movie clips, radio and CDs / DVDs to generate fun, interesting grammar-teaching activities. But let’s not stop there. Another useful source for creating grammar reinforcement activities learners will love comes from the heat of language itself - Literature. “All the world’s a stage” if you have access at all to contemporary novels or classic literature. Here are some ideas for using literature to break out of a slump. We’ll start with contemporary novels.

Contemporary Novels

From Harry Potter to Kinsey Millhone and Jack Ryan, there is a treasure-trove of characters waiting to teach your language learners English grammar. Since these, and many other characters, are so willing, why should you do it? If you’re like me - you let Harry, Kinsey or Jack do the job for you. They don’t even ask for part of your pay. Now isn’t that nice of them?

Here’s what you do. Pick a page or passage. Work the grammar in it. Make it into dialogues, scenes and skits. Practice it aloud. Change it. Rewrite it. Have fun with it. By the way, use props, realia, costumes, sound effects and sets if you can. They needn’t be elaborate to be effective. A cape, a hat, a cane, a telephone, a doll, a flashlight, bag or bottle can do wonders for a simple dialogue. By all means do make a “production” out it. Not only will your learners not object, they’ll likely ask, “Can we do this again, teacher?” You answer of course, will be …

Classic Literature

Everybody loves Shakespeare. “Romeo and Juliet” has been repeated in theme countless times. The question, “Can I have more, Sir?” starts off a series of events that has spawned movies, documentaries, children’s versions, plays and idealism that has intrigued millions for centuries. The list of great books is more than lengthy enough to generate scores of ideas and opportunities for productive grammar work with your learners. Let Alice and her friends, characters from Shakespeare and fairy tales give you the hand you need in getting grammar in context across to your learners. You or your learners can create a dialogue between Hansel and Gretel, the three little pigs and the wolf, Cinderella and her Stepmother or the Prince. The list could go on and on. You see? “It’s elementary, my dear Watson.”

By the way, if you don’t know who Harry Potter is, well what planet have you been living on? Kinsey Milhone? She’s the fiercely independent lady detective created by Sue Grafton. Author Tom Clancy produced CIA operative Jack Ryan who rambles, sometimes rather recklessly, through several of his novels. Let these and countless other characters provide the fodder for dialogues your learners will relish. Leave that dry course book stuff for the lames.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

There are various fruitful benefits to wall-hanging a flat panel telly, like that of freeing up ground or desk space, although for the majority of individuals the foremost motive is completely visual - because lets agree, a wall-suspended television looks very attractive. And the beauty of wall suspending telly is that any person with even the most negligible “Do It Yourself” (DIY) proficiency can accomplish it.

Getting a television bracket, the commencing action is to locate the right bracket for your TV. There’s a massive quantity of brackets to decide from, accessible for TVs of all shapes, sizes and weights, so it is important that you make sure you’re prepared with your TV set’s vital information prior to setting off to the online retail shops. Moreover before purchasing, ponder over what type of rigidity you may perhaps require as soon the television is set up, as varying classes of Plasma TV brackets deliver differing amounts of lateral and vertical movement.

Fixed brackets keep the TV close to the wall, and do not let you to modify the horizontal or vertical angle. Their lack of obstacles usually means that they are the most cost-effective decision, nevertheless it can be difficult to reach rear-suspended sockets. Numerous TV Wall Brackets can be found on offer online at Digital Direct.

Tilt brackets, on the other hand, permit you to tip the TV screen up or down to alter the vertical viewing position, where as ’tilt & swivel’ telly brackets let you tilt the display forward and twirl it from side to side.

Small screen Liquid Crystal Display (more generally known as LCD) tellies can additionally be mounted by brackets with more complex means for additional flexibility, making them great for kitchen or bedroom installations. You can buy brackets with an arm that revolve from left to right, or ones that tilt, swivel, pan & pull out. These permit you to place the TV at any possible angle and then tuck it away simply when you are finished.

When the signs of a new technology for developing web content appeared, nobody was aware about its growth speed. Now, after months, the podcasting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting) is going to be more and more popular and new publishers are developing content, based on this technology. They have found this method intuitive and attractive to clients. But regardless of the fascinating aspects of multimedia content, what other options make the podcasting different than other methods of providing and publishing content? Here, I have listed five major differences. Perhaps, at the time that you read this article, as this technology is going to be more mature day by day, new reasons could be added to my list. I leave it to the readers’ interests to search for new options.

1. In spite of other known methods of delivering content which are mostly based on Push technology, the podcasting is based on pull technology. In push technology, the content is delivered, directed from the source to the consumer. The consumer has no control over it. For example, when a radio channel starts at a specific time, follows based on a predefined and fixed program and ends at a specific time, the consumer has no chance or permission to alter any part of it. If you lose a part of the program, you won’t be able to re-listen to it. You can not rewind it, stop it and think a while about the subject then re-play it. This is push technology. But, if you could have control of the flow of the content, it would be pull. The consumer selects the content and controls it. Podcasting is a kind of pull technology. You download selected content and use it based on your own desire and full control over the flow of content.

2. However there are many notifying and automatic content syndication utilities, but you should always surf different websites for different content. This is your responsibility, as the consumer of the content, to go and visit the source of the content, on a website. But podcasting removes this step. Just one time, for ever, you choose your desire radio channel, news feed, poet channel or else. Then the aggregation software would be responsible to deliver the most recent casts right in your mobile MP3 player. After a while, you would even forget the address of websites and just listening to the downloaded up to date content would be your daily fashion.

3. Internet connection is not that much easy to be available every time and every where. So, using web contents would be impossible in many cases. When you are driving, climbing, resting and walking in the morning, you would be deprived of having access to web content. No web log, no web surfing, no radio channel and else. But, the downloaded podcasts are available in the MP3 player which could be accessible to you in different occasions and places, making casts ready to use. No laptop and phone line to connect to the Internet is needed. No clean place to sit and use your PC for surfing the web sites is required. Everything is loaded in your tiny MP3 player which is able to play hours without any need to electricity plugged.

4. The device for using podcasts is a tiny, every time and everywhere available MP3 player. The iPod is a brand which is owned by Apple company. It is why this technology is called Podcasting. The Pod is derived from iPod and cast from Broadcast. The iPod is not the only MP3 device that could be used. There are numerous providers of MP3 player devices that the consumer could use for listening to podcasts. These small devices are mobile. Consume very low energy to work. They are light and small. They are not expensive and are available with different capacities. MP3 players are very popular and you can see many people in the street that have hung them over their neck and are listening to the music. They are now part of the daily life. It makes the penetration ratio of the podcasts deeper than other type of contents that are basically dependant of having a PC, or laptop and Internet connection.

5. Possibility of developing podcasts is high. It is cheap and easy to develop. From very professional radio channel owners to amateur poets who have little audiences among their school friends would be able to easily develop podcasts. Just a personal computer with very basic multimedia capabilities, like, microphone input, audio output and software to record voice, combine with background music and convert to low quality and small size MP3 format. Then you need just a FTP account for uploading the MP3s. A very basic knowledge about RSS 2.0 standards is also required. For this last option, you can use current available feeds and alter them for your own needs. I just started using this method, as learning RSS 2.0 needs times. I copied an already created RSS file and edited it based on my own needs and it worked without having enough knowledge. To download your podcasts, the consumer should install very basic aggregator software, one like iPodder (http://ipodder.sourceforge.net) which is free. And finally a MP3 player software like iTune (http://www.itune.com) or Microsoft Media Player which is already installed on Windows operating systems.

Podcasting, like web logging, is rapidly growing and every day, new podcasts in different fields, from poetry to technology, from training to radio channels are being created and published on the Internet. There are special directories and websites that index podcasts and podcasting websites. You can start from one of these directories and reach hundreds and thousands available and known podcasts on the Internet. One of these directories is http://www.podcast.net which has categorized podcasts in a directory structure. It could be a good start point for your adventure.

As you know podcasting is simply an audio file that is placed on a website. If it is combined with an RSS file — people can subscribe to your feed, and listen to your words of wisdom at their leisure. This is a good thing, it is getting your words — your voice — your identity to the masses.

Podcasting — Getting Started
Publishing your podcast is simple as well — look to Blogger, TypePad, and then use Feedburner to convert your podcast into a feed.

Simple Way to Make A Podcast
The simpliest way to get setup and to start experimenting with your own podcasting– is to simply get a microphone and of course, free software from Audacity.

Okay, as we all know, not many are comfortable with hearing their own voice — but hey, it’s your voice — and the voice allows your listeners to know that, yes, I am a real human, and not a machine.

Once done, you will need to upload your podcast onto your server. The only limitations I see would be how much, or little space, you have on your server– as well as the bandwidth usage.

Submitting your Podcast to Feeds
To get your podcast out to the masses, you will need to hit the directories that cater to podcasting. Well, one of the quickest way to get this done, is through Feedburner. Just check the “Podcasting button” and you will be directed to a page with all the information you need. In fact, they have a site called “PingShot” that will automatically notify the directories and web-based aggregators when you publish new content — I mention this one, because it is free. No sense, paying for something if you are in the experimental mode, right? But . . .

There is still a learning curve here, and you will need to take a little time to devour some of the info on the different sites to get the information you want, as well as, how to use it. But it looks like podcasting is now the in thing. Will it last? I think it may. But it looks like the next, new and great thing coming to the Internet is the Video Casts. The only thing I see that may keep some from partaking in this media is the bandwidth and storage. But we will see.

Vickie J Scanlon — Visit her site at: My Affiliate Place for a repository of tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate opportunities and information, software, webhost providers and computers for the Afffiliate/Internet Marketing person online. Check out Mill’s book Podcast Secrets Revealed

Some will quote you precise, competitive rates 10 percent. See mortgage loan for residential mortgage lending, and commercial mortgage for lending against commercial property. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed.

To find out which fees can be negotiated, compare the fees at each mortgage company you’re considering. Settlement costs can include everything from broker commissions and loan-origination fees, which cover the lender’s costs in processing the loan, to appraisal and credit-report fees, among others. But others will claim low rates to bring in customers or tell you that the rates 6 percent offered by competitors will change.

So how do you find a lender or broker you can trust’ Many of these fees are fixed but some can be negotiated.

The Dutch translation says: Woon je in Veldhoven of Schiermonnikoog en heb je BKR notering’ Lenen met een BKR notering is nog nooit zo eenvoudig geweest. Koop een ander huis met gelijk geld lenen, 459995 euro is geen probleem om te financieren. Van Wijdemeren tot Horst aan de Maas, geld lenen met een BKR notering is altijd mogelijk.

Different lenders charge different fees. And of course, each loan and each borrower are different. Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals and businesses can purchase residential and commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt of 5 percent. Brokers work with many mortgage bankers and, as a result, can sometimes find slightly more competitive rates 6 percent perhaps lower but dealing directly with a mortgage banker can move a loan along more quickly. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower. Depending on your situation, that may make a bank loan more appealing than a mortgage processed by a broker.

Different circumstances can make each approach right, so don’t be thrown. In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans 8 percent secured on real estate rather than other property and in some cases only land may be mortgaged. Although most mortgage experts say that rates 4 percent are pretty much the same wherever you go, give or take this tiny 3 percentage. A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan for 11 percent. Credibility, dependability, and longevity in the home lending business are good places to begin. See which lenders are charging fees 10 percent and for how much. Both banks and brokers have their strengths and weaknesses. Start with credibility. It’s not easy to know if the prices quoted by lenders are reliable.

UK’s market research company, YouGov claims that Mobile Broadband is beginning to inch in on the fixed line market. This among other things is actually a threat to the business of fixed line operators. YouGov’s DongleTrack report indicates that there are some people who are not quite happy with using just dongles. An estimated 64 percent of mobile broadband users still seem to like having dongles or datacards as an alternative. In fact, the survey indicated that some four percent of these mobile broadband users are fortunate to have employers who equip them with datacards. There is a small percent (12%) of users who have completely discarded their fixed line, or will rather not have a landline installed at all.

An analysis of the digital market by Ofcom indicated that dongle sales in the UK almost doubled during the period February to June. From 69,000, sale figures have now soared to 133,000 a month. This is definitely a factor that is a threat to the fixed line market. Added to that, more and more people are relying solely on mobile phones for their phone calls. As a result 12 percent of homes today are without landlines. And if that

Writing about Wahabism and Salafi-Islam, could fill many books. I will however in this article, try to make clear why it is of tremendous importance in our time. Both movements are considered as the origin of Islamic terrorism. A lot of recent Islamic terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, have been inspired by Wahabism.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703 - 1792 ) was an Arab theologian born in Saudi Arabia and can be considered as the founder of Wahabism. Wahab is considered by many to be a great reformer of Islam, and at the same time as the “father of Islamic terrorism. Iwill not go deeply into his teachings, but expose the teachings of two of his contemporary followers.

Salman bin Fahed al-Auda, in his book “The End of History”, asserts that the solution to Islamic distress , that may bring about the fall of America and the Western world, “exists in one word which is Jihad”. According to al-Auda, the meaning of jihad is much broader than fighting with a sword. Appealing to Muslims throughout the world, he wrote: “We should not simplify this issue and narrow its meaning to a restricted military battle in one of the Islamic regions or even to an all-out war against the West, which is possible and predicted and we assume is arriving… Life as a whole is a battlefield. The weapons are not only the rifle, the bullet, the airplane, the tank, and the cannon. Not at all! Thinking is a weapon, the economy is a weapon, money is a weapon, water is a weapon, planning is a weapon, unity is a weapon, and so there are many types of weapons.” In “The End of History”, al-Auda concluded that the West by itself was already in an advanced state of decay: “The West, and above all the United States, and Western culture, in general are undergoing a historical process that is deterministic. This process leads to its total collapse, sooner or later.” His jihad was intended to accelerate that collapse. During the 1990’s, he was regarded as the most influential preacher in Saudi Arabia and Osama Bin Laden often cites out of his work.

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, lin his book “Democracy is a Religion”, denies the traditional protection given by Islam to Jews and Christians. For al-Maqdisi, democracy is a prohibited innovation that contradicts Islamic values and embodies a new heretical religion. Its followers are “infidels” and “polytheists,” even if they consider themselves as Jews or Christians by religion. Al-Maqdisi based his claim on the following arguments:
1. “Democracy gives legitimacy to the legislation of the masses or to the despotic regime. It is not the rule of Allah….Allah ordered his Prophet to execute the commands given to him and forbade him to follow the emotions of the nation, the masses, and the people.”
2. “Democracy is the rule of the masses or the rule of paganism, which is conducted according to a constitution and not according Allah’s laws….Democracy has become the mother of laws and is considered by as a holy book. The religion of democracy has no relation to Quranic verses or the Prophet’s way of life and it is not possible to legislate according to them unless they are compatible with the holy book (the constitution).”
3. “Democracy is an outcome of despicable secularism and its illegitimate daughter, since secularism is a heretical school striving to separate religion from state and government.”
Al-Maqdisi concludes: “Democracy is a religion that is not Allah’s religion….It is the rule of paganism…it is a religion which includes other gods in its belief…the people represented in the religion of democracy by its delegates in the parliament…who are actually standing idols and false gods placed in their chapels and their pagan fortresses, namely, their legislative councils. They and their followers rule according to the religion of democracy and the constitution’s laws upon which the government is based, and according to the paragraphs of their legislation….Their master is their God, their big idols who approve or reject legislation. He is their emir, their king, or their president

Wahabism (together with the related Salafi-movement), is not representing the majority of Islam. Actually, it is however the most aggressive teaching and it act as if it represents all Muslims. Many terrorist groupings such as Hamas, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Al Quaida, Abu Sayyaf…,are followers of Wahabism (or Salafi). Enormous quantities of money are funneled through Charity organisations to these terrorist groups. Most of the money is distributed by the Saudi Monarchy. The U.S. has already blocked many of these channels. New ways for financing the radicals, will however always be found.
The only way to stop terrorism is eradicating its roots and these roots are the teachings of Wahabism and the Salafi movement.These intolerant teachings have to be stopped. The House of Saud that has been connected to Wahabism since Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, must with the help of the moderate Muslims, renounce and forbid the Wahabi teachings and if necessary, banish the terror-preaching clergy. This is however an internal Muslim problem. The question is: has the moderate Muslim-world the wil and the strenght to realize this.
Meanwhile, the “West” has no other choice than continue it’s “War on Terror”
http://www.westernfreedom.com

Robert Maegh is a Belgian engineer, born in Germany in 1945. He spent several years in Africa and the Middle East. “A Holy Terror” is his first novel and a sequel can soon be expected. www.westernfreedom.com
degree@skynet.be

The recent KenGen I.P.O. got me thinking. The requirement was Ksh 7 billion shillings and the subscription was in excess of Ksh 26 billion. Allan Bloom, a US philosopher said that “whereas economists tell us how to make money; psychiatrists give us a place to spend it.” I wonder whether or not this thought will hold any water when pay-time comes for those who borrowed to invest but will get refunds. However, I digress.

Given the overwhelming interest in the KenGen share, it was encouraging to see many young people queuing to buy. It’s time to own this country and take charge of our lives.

I recall the good old days. I attended a high school where Aviation was taught. Many people thought this would make one a pilot. Alex, a friend of mine who was several years ahead of me wanted to be a pilot.
Upon completion secondary education, he discovered he had a long way to go. He had to either enroll at an Aviation College or pursue his studies abroad. Coming from a modest background, he could do neither.
Given that he had passed his exams very well, he settled for an Engineering course at the University of Nairobi, hoping that this would earn him a job at Kenya Airways. However, life was never easy. He even failed to get placement for internship at KQ.

Upon graduation, he applied for a position with the company. He was short listed for a management trainee position but did not qualify for appointment. Never to give up, Alex persisted and kept on applying for all relevant positions. Months turned into years. No offer was forthcoming. This was very bad.
Alex was adversely affected psychologically. As a very qualified graduate, he watched as his dreams came to naught. He wondered how he would make money out of Kenya Airways without working for them.
A golden opportunity presented itself when Kenya Airways was privatized. As James Baldwin would say, “Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.”
His main problem was how to get initial capital to invest in the airline. Luckily, Alex had long prepared himself for the Kenya Airways I.P.O. by saving some money. He was at the time working on contract with a leading oil firm in the country.

To get extra cash, Alex went back to shaggz. Being highly determined, he never gave a small damn what his friends and neighbors would think. He was on a mission and come what may, he would succeed.

He settled on small scale farming of onions and potatoes. Fortunately, climatic conditions were favorable. Within months, he sold his harvest. Armed with cash, he came back to Nairobi.

When trading commenced, Alex bought 5,000 shares. He stuck with the company all through even with no dividend as many of us can attest about that share. When the share price started dropping, Alex held on.

I remember one particular time when we met and he told me that he’d increased his shareholding at KQ to 10,000 shares. At the time, I didn’t see the wisdom in that. I now know better.

When the group started declaring huge profits, winning awards and paying dividends, Alex started smiling all the way to the bank. He was now making money without ever setting foot in a plane. This was money working for him, for he was working some place else.

At a time when many young Kenyans are wondering how to make money, the above story offers an example worth considering, albeit with some lessons. “Money differs from an automobile, a mistress, or cancer in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not,” said J. K. Galbraith.

The key lesson is that opportunities to make money in this country abound. For those who really hate to report to work every morning, this happens to be an easy way to make capital gains by letting your money work for you.

The second reason may be a bit ill- intended but I’ll highlight it nonetheless. Some years back, some guys attended interviews in a very reputable company in Nairobi. Later, the ones who weren’t appointed accessed privileged information detailing their performance in the aptitude tests they sat and in the interviews. The guy who was appointed had performed dismally. Since his uncle worked there, he had been offered a place.

These unfortunate guys decided to buy the company’s shares to at least make some money from the company. Sounds familiar? Then go out and buy the shares of some of those companies who purposely didn’t employ you though you qualified. You will make capital gains and earn dividends.

The long and short of this whole share business is that you can make money without working for it. Also, you don’t have to start big. Since I am addressing fellow young people, we do have the advantage of time. You can grow bit by bit.

Talking of bit by bit, an inmate went to see the prison doctor and was astonished to be told that he needed to have one of his kidneys removed.

“Look,” said the prisoner. “You’ve already removed my tonsils, my adenoids, my spleen and my gall bladder. Now you want one of my kidneys. I only came to see if you could get me out of here.”

“And that’s exactly what I am doing,” the doctor replied. “Bit by bit.”

Trainers, please picture this… You are presenting in a new location to a new group. You are prepared for a one day workshop. Your materials are ready and you are “on”. Things seem to be going well. You are building a nice rapport with the class and the pace of the training is right on schedule. About two hours into your day one participant starts to demonstrate disruptive behavior. This individual begins talking to the person beside him during the lecture. A few minutes later, during an activity this gentleman is doing everything in his power to take people’s attention away from the subject at hand. As the calm cool trainer you are, you try to work with him to no avail, and his behavior is really starting to affect the others in the workshop. You’ve got about one hour to lunch, and you are now behind on your timeline…For the sake of the training, what do you do?

As a trainer have you ever experienced presenting to a group with one or more difficult participants? The behaviors and attitudes of one or two of your class members can easily throw off the learning of the entire group. In my early experience as a trainer, there were several times when I found I had to make difficult decisions about how to handle a challenging participant. I posed the question to my manager and mentor, “When it’s obvious that a participant is not interested in the training, and determined to disrupt the entire class; do you ever just ask that person to leave?”

Before I give you the answer that she gave me, let me tell you a little about my thoughts on training, and give you some ideas for identifying and dealing with difficult participants.

Now, I am someone who is dedicated to developing and teaching others. I feel that it is one of my callings in life. Because of this belief the idea of not allowing someone to continue attending a class or a workshop is difficult for me to accept. My philosophy is that the company hired me to train the team members - the team members are in the training session for the benefit of their job - we are all in the situation for ultimately the same reason: to make the company stronger through development. So, why is it sometimes so difficult for people to accept the idea of being in training?

Here are some examples of difficult participants

The Prisoner - This participant is unhappy to be in the classroom. They feel trapped in a training session that they do not see the need for. A Prisoner can be spotted in two ways.
They may be disengaged; not making eye contact, not paying attention, not participating in discussion or activities

They may be confrontational; challenging information provided in order to discredit the training or the trainer.

The Sniper - This participant uses rude comments, sarcasm, as well as verbal & nonverbal behaviors to interrupt the learning process for themselves and others. The sniper is targeting the instructor. Statements may include:

“She (the instructor) doesn’t know what she is talking about”
“I think that is stupid”
“You don’t have authority or creditability with me”

The Challenger - This is a participant who challenges subjects on small details; they like to display their knowledge (which they perceive to be greater than the trainers).

A Challenger differs from a Sniper in the questioning. The Challenger will question or challenge the information. For example:

“Where did you get that fact?”

“I was told to do it this way…”

“I’ve tried that way and it doesn’t work…”

The Lost - This is a participant that is not grasping the concepts being presented. The Lost can be spotted in two ways.

They usually display nonverbal expressions of not comprehending.
They may ask questions that show their lack of understanding.

Check out some suggestions I have collected from colleges to handle participant behavior like the prisoner, challenger & sniper.

WIIFM - “What’s in it for me?”
Within the first five minutes create the idea that the training is relevant for the participants. Let the class know why they are in the session and what they will get out of the time they spend there.

Deal with challenging participants firmly, but nicely
Ask yourself, do you want to win, or do you want the learner to learn?

If anger is expressed and learning is disrupted
Ask the participant if they want to discuss the problem now or later. Let them have control. Don’t discuss the anger in the classroom setting. Take the participant aside to have the discussion or send the class on break.

Listen without interrupting
Listen carefully and then restate what they are feeling.

“If I understand you correctly…”

Don’t make the learner wrong
Trying to prove that the learner is incorrect is likely to escalate the problem.

“Let me explain what I think has happened so you can understand my thinking. I think we can work this out together.”

Find something you can agree on
Make it specific to the topic at hand (the reason for the training, the benefits for the company or the benefits for the individual).

Use Language to create engagement

Positive phrasing has the following qualities:

• Tells the learner what can be done
• Suggests alternatives and choices
• Sound helpful and encouraging rather than bureaucratic
• Stresses positive actions and positive consequences that can be anticipated

Some examples:

• One option open to you is…
• We can help you to (whatever) if you would…
• I might suggest…
• Let me explain the background…or the perspective….

Negative phrasing has the following characteristics:

• Telling the learner what cannot be done
• Has a subtle tone of blame
• Includes words like: Can’t, Won’t, Shouldn’t

Some examples that can be interpreted as sarcastic or patronizing:

• No doubt…
• You understand, of course
• We can not…
• You are overlooking the fact that…
• You claim that…
• I cannot see how you….

Link the solution to the learners needs or frustrations
You cannot make someone listen, but you can make it worthwhile for them to listen from their perspective.

Indicate that the learner is not the only one with the same fears or frustrations

Indicate that others are working on possible solutions

• Utilize a feedback process for their suggestions
• Ask them to be open to the concept in class
• Ask them to identify areas of strength or weakness
• Ask them to write up an analysis and suggestions for a better procedure
• Invite them to channel the information to the appropriate people

Handling the lost, working with the challenger

Clarify if the issue is skill or will. Ask them to indicate which part they don’t understand. Offer to provide additional support during activities. Team a lost individual up with a challenger; make the challenger use their knowledge to help “the lost” grasp concepts.

I learned all of the things above from manager’s, mentors, other trainers, and through my own experience. When I experienced a challenging participant (Prisoner) again, I followed the rules above. I spoke to the individual on a break, listened to their feelings and gave him the option to leave if he felt it warranted. In the end he understood why his behavior challenged the whole class. He chose to stay and found a way to make the session work for him.

My mentor helped me specifically with my original challenge from the beginning of this article.

“When it’s obvious that a participant is not interested in the training, and determined to disrupt the entire class; do you ever just ask that person to leave?”

She explained as an instructor you should talk to the participant, respect them and explain your perspective to them in a way that does not turn you into the disciplinarian and them into a child. As adults in a business setting you can give them the option to step out of the training, but let them know they will be responsible for their decision. Responsible for the material missed and explaining the situation to their manager. The participant will let you know when they need to leave.

As trainers you have tools to handle and management difficult participants. Give some of these a try and you will never have to say, “You are excused from training”.

If you are interest in leadership theory and practices then you need to visit: http://www.righttolead.com. Jenny Kerwin is a contributing writer and thinker for our organization. For training tools visit: http://trainercorner.righttolead.com/index.html

All moving objects create wake or air movement and they cannot help but emit some sound. Can we use the airflow disturbances to detect stealth aircraft by use of laser light plus radar? Thus even though the stealth aircraft would have a minute radar signature nearly undetectable, it would be moving a lot of air. That disturbance would make a unique signature and thus you would know that it is there?

Every aircraft makes wake and this wake is different depending on useful load, speed, angle of attack and thrust applied, yet no matter what it would fall within a range. This range could be considered its signature and thus thru the “process of elimination” give away its stealth. The use of drop tanks, bomb loads and fuel would tell us where in its range the wake the aircraft was and thus you could potentially know its range and potential targets as it flies over.

If such laser light, plus radar systems were over water on the way into our territory we would see the enemy before they got close enough to take out one of our major cities. Perhaps we could put these systems on an oilrig, ship or AUV autonomous underwater vehicle; maybe in the shape of a whale?

With a video of the aircraft passing thru the light waves of the stars, background light using infrared green from a tiny hole in the fake whale and 360 degree line of sight from the oceans surface or the top of a cactus to get drug dealers flying over the border, even in the dark of night? We could stop any bomber aircraft that attempted to attack our nation.

You would know the aircraft type, guestimate the mission based on an XML spread sheet of all types of aircraft, cruising speeds, useful load, gross weight and a split second search feature. We could load all the known data into the system using all the data in Jane’s Book of Aircraft; just borrow there data base. We could even use this as a defense net for early detection and defending against skimmer missiles with terrain following.

Plus the system could prioritize targets this way too and you could do it all in seconds. Less than 10 seconds to see if it is a UFO, friendly, threat and milliseconds to search database and send information. Transmission time 1/2 time delay to satellite, command and control data identification and computer protocol to determine action. Shoot down aggressors or send out and scramble fighters to others.

If our enemy had this then our 747 laser plane would need to be the same signature as a fully loaded KLM 747. This way the enemy would not shoot at it, because they would assume commercial with passengers, unlike the Russians when the downed a commercial jet they could not identify. Because of that is no longer an acceptable risk due to international backlash of a mistake.

Yes this laser light idea is doable and it could be done in such a way as no one would ever know it existed, you would defend your nation without any knowledge that you had such defenses and the enemy would simply lose all their hardware and you would be safe. Carl von Clauswitz would be proud of Swift from Las Vegas who first proposed a similar concept in our think tank. It is obvious that Swift is well served by previous Viking Ancestry. If you have ideas in defending our nation from attack, we would sure like to hear them. Think on this concept as well.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/