FIRAT EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL The Educational Journal of Houston

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APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Welcome to Firat Educational Journal (FEJ),

April issue.

Our team has prepared a masterful piece of

Educational news for your family. This publica-

tion is written towards parents and children

who want to pursue upscale education in col-

lege. In this edition you are going to read

about how to get rid of “toxic company” and

also have access to amazing hints of Spanish

and Math.

Don‟t think twice! Flip our electronic pages

and get into information and great opportuni-

ties to get free special offers on page 4 and 9!

Enjoy it!

Ingrid Furtado

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

1

Dealing with a “Toxic Company”

Image courtesy of http://www.sombradasbananeiras.blogspot.com/

By Roberto Noce*

Do you know a toxic person? Of-

ten, when we have toxic people in our

lives, we can't put our finger on it. We just

know that "something's not right" with the

way this person interacts with us and the

world. Therefore, instead of giving you a

definition of a toxic person, I think it

would be more helpful to include exam-

ples. Here are some common traits of

toxic people, as I have experienced

them and others have shared with me:

Someone who invariably has a better

idea than yours ("Yes, but...").

Someone who whines constantly

about everything

Someone who makes you feel sad,

angry or just plain tired.

Someone who seems happier when

things go wrong ("I knew it" or "Told you

so").

Someone who constantly finds fault

with you or others (what you said,

what you're wearing, who you're with, the

decisions you make, etc.).

Someone who will rant and rave and

then act like nothing happened. Someone

who is never satisfied, even when they get

what they want.

Someone who is consistently late,

breaks promises, and always has excuses -

even though their "excuses" never really ex-

plain anything that would make a person

late or unable to meet a commitment.

During a recent conversation on the

topic of the importance of support sys-

tems , someone brought to my attention

how his dealings with some negative and

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APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

obnoxious people at the office stifled

his ability to work effectively. Similarly,

a father explained how the "bad com-

pany" his son kept caused him to stray

from being otherwise a diligent student

to getting involved with drugs and sub-

sequently being suspended from his

high school.

In this newsletter, I decided to write

about the "company we keep". We all

live in society and are part of

multiple communities. As so-

cial beings

we are af-

fected by

the be-

havior, ac-

tions, and

thoughts of those around us -

family, friends, co-workers.

Additionally, we are in the

company of our thoughts and feelings,

which are in constant development.

Exterior company is always changing;

interior company is ever-present.

For this reason, I view not only the

people around us but our thoughts

and feelings as the "company we

keep". They continuously transform

the essence of who we are, our true

selves, and drive our reactions and daily

behavior. How we deal with both external

and internal company affects how we

deal with those around us. This, in turn, af-

fects their perception of us. Thus, creates

the cycle of interaction that defines our

relationships - to ourselves and others.

Toxic Company

If you have been wise or lucky enough to

eliminate all the toxic people from your

life, congratulations! However,

most of us, either in our personal

or professional lives, must deal

with at least one toxic person: a

family member, a friend, a col-

league, a boss, other profession-

als, etc. They show up, and sud-

denly the day takes a turn for

the worst. They zap us with their

Negativity Rays, draining us of

precious physical and emotional

energy. And then you find yourself spend-

ing time, energy, and emotional strength

trying to deal with them or recovering from

the encounter.

Similarly, have you ever woken up in the

best of moods, stretched your arms way up in

the air, enjoyed a nutritious breakfast, basked

in the smiles of your spouse and/or children,

only to suddenly find yourself bored and up-

Educating our future with solutions for

life. ™

www.firateducation.com

.

2

“I view not only the people

around us but our thoughts

and feelings as the

„company we keep‟ ”

Roberto Noce

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Educating our future with solutions for life. ™

www.firateducation.com 3

set just a few hours later? The same as an

obnoxious boss, these feelings pass

through us and drag us into their dark cir-

cle of influence.

So how do we deal with Toxic Com-

pany? First, we need to recognize these

rascals and be prepared to deal with

them all:

1. Those who drag up old painful events

and then revel in the anger, resentment,

or bitterness that such unhappy memo-

ries hold.

2. Those who pull themselves up by drag-

ging others through the mud. These are

the gossipers, the backstabbers, and the

ones who begin conversations with

phrases like, "Normally I don't talk about

these kinds of things..."

Those who resist the beauty of life. They

trick us into "helping" them by trying to

get them to see the good in life. They

never do.

Their currency is gossip, anger, unhap-

piness, criticism, judgment, and com-

plaints. No one can afford to spend time

with them. Therefore, we must remember

that keeping the company of negative

exterior or interior company is a choice,

NOT an obligation. In both cases, just as

it's possible for us to keep bad exterior or

interior company that pulls us down, so

is it possible to choose to keep positive

company that works to raise us up in

any moment. In other words, we can

choose not to get dragged down when

we find ourselves in the presence of

negative people, and we can choose

not to get dragged down when we are

alone as well. When we don't buy in to

the toxic people around us and the tox-

ic thoughts and feelings inside of us, we

leave them bankrupt.

Good riddance.

*Roberto Noce holds a Bachelor of Science

degree in Mechanical Engineering from the

University of Notre Dame and two masters de-

gree. He is also the founder of Pivotal Changes

~ Life and Business Coaching. Noce chose

coaching as a means to share his insight and

expertise and help others live their passions. He

has also completed extensive continuing edu-

cation on coaching and executive develop-

ment. Noce writes monthly for Firat Education-

al Journal. Contact: roberto.noce@pivotalchanges.com

or 713-505-5576

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Educating our future with solutions for life. ™

www.firateducation.com 4

2 one-month packages for Free !

As a parent, nothing is more gratifying than seeing

that a child is confident and prepared for the exciting

opportunities and challenges of life - able to take full

advantage of the investments we make in his or her

future. We are committed to inspiring our clients to put their

vision into action and live their passions.

This month Pivotal Changes is offering 2 one-month

packages of free and no obligation youth coaching.

Please e-mail at roberto.noce@pivotalchanges.com or call

at 713-505-5576 by April 30td.

The first two calls will be selected!

Feel free to forward this email to anyone you might know

who would benefit from this program!

PIVOTAL CHANGES

LIFE AND BUSINESS COACHING WHEN THE STATUS QUO IS NOT AN OPTION

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Educating our future with solutions for life. ™

www.firateducation.com 5

By Deyanira Balboa*

In our last Quick Tips for Spanish

we talked about how important is to

develop an “ear” for Spanish and also

avoid to look for perfection in the

learning process. For this month we

are going to see tips 3, 4 and 5. With

those, you will soon become a great

Spanish speaker!

3) Do SPEAKING!

The only way to learn to speak Span-

ish or any other language is by actual-

ly SPEAKING it. You can study for

many years, and try your best at mas-

tering the grammar rules, but unless

you actually practice speaking, the

language will not become fluent. It is

very important that when you prac-

tice speaking you do it out loud and

don‟t be afraid of messing up; be-

cause sometimes only by making a

mistake, we make a correction.

4) Be CONSISTENT

Commitment is the key to be not only good

but successful at anything we do therefore

consistency is far and away the most im-

portant factor. If you can at least commit a

solid 15-20 minutes a day, mostly every day,

you will be way more victorious than if you

“hit the books” for an hour or two, but only

periodically.

5) Be TOLERANT

Advance in language learning does not al-

ways follow a straight-line graph. You can-

not expect to get the same amount of pro-

Continues on next page

Quick Tips For Spanish Learners

Image courtesy of http://spanish-translation-blog.spanishtranslation.us/topics/english-language-translation

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Educating our future with solutions for life. ™

www.firateducation.com 6

*Deyanira Balboa was born

in Salamanca, Great Mexi-

co. She graduated from

Texas Southern University

with a Bachelors Degree in

Science. Deya has been tu-

toring Spanish with FES for

almost 2 years now.

Besides that, she works for

an Engineering Company and teaches

Tennis when she is not in the office.

gress or results, every day, week or

month. You may find yourself battling at

times, and at the end it might seem to

make no progress so that‟s when you

have to be tolerant with yourself and re-

member that first day on the bike and

how you tried and tried until you finally

got on the road. It is normal to reach

plateaus in your learning progress and

what I‟ve realized and what might help

you to get out of the bump is to go

back reviewing the basics of the area

you are struggling in, and many times

this will help you to be even more ready

for the next level.

“Language is the ar-

mory of the human

mind, and at once

contains the trophies

of its past and the

weapons of its future

conquests”

Samuel Taylor Cole-

ridge

* This text was courtesy of Wis-consin State Journal ( Produced in cooperation with University Com-munications) http://host.madison.com/wsj/

news/local/article_2eb06d6d-ca7e-53db-b0e5-

9fdb217d2033.html

Spanish Curiosities!

Why are so many Hispanic surnames

hyphenated?*

The two surnames are ancestral, with the

father's family name followed by the mother's

family name. In Colombia, for example, "Ernesto

Escobar Vega" uses two surnames ("Escobar Ve-

ga") as his legal name, with "Escobar" coming

from his father and "Vega" coming from his

mother.

This naming convention is the rule in Span-

ish-speaking countries, says Jeff Kirsch, a faculty

associate in the Division of Continuing Studies at

UW-Madison, "but it's subject to confusion when

people come to the United States. Many Hispan-

ics in the U.S. hyphenate „Escobar-Vega' as their

surname so that people know that „Escobar' is

not a middle name. The concept of a middle

name is foreign to most Hispanic cultures."

Given names can also cause confusion,

Kirsch adds. "The given name of „Juan Carlos

Vargas Blanco ' is not „Juan,' but „Juan Carlos.'"

Some first names are simple, such as Ana, while

others are compound, such as Ana Teresa, he

adds.

What does this tradition say about culture

in Spanish-speaking countries? "It recognizes the

family heritage of the mother, gives her greater

importance than in some other cultures," says

Kirsch.

* This text was a courtesy of Wisconsin State Journal ( Pro-duced in cooperation with University Communications) http://

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_2eb06d6d-ca7e-53db-b0e5-9fdb217d2033.html

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

Educating our future with solutions for life. ™

www.firateducation.com 7

Hints Of Math

By Edward Garcia Jr*

Today we will talk about input,

output. When you out a value into a

function you will get another value.

First, let‟s talk about a function. A

function is an expression like:

y = 2(x) + 3

When you look at this expression, you

see an x and a y. Well x is your input

and you y is your output.

Think about a soda machine, when

you put the correct change in, you get

a beverage of your choice. Well the

expression is your soda machine, the x

is your change and y is your beverage.

Let‟s use the same expression for an

example:

Take x = 4, substitute 4 for x

y = 2(4) + 3

y = 8 + 3

y = 11

So your input was 4 and your output

was 11.

Now let‟s add a word problem using

the same expression:

There is a pair of pants Sally really

likes, but the store has a $3 dollar sales

Image courtesy of http://www.spanishbythehour.com

tax added to every purchase. Sally de-

cides to buy two pairs anyways at $15

each. How much did Sally pay for them?

So now we have the same expression

but;

x = cost of pants and y = total cost

total cost = 2(cost of pants) + $3

x = $15

total cost = 2($15) + $3

total cost = $30 + $3

total cost = $33

Sally ended up paying $33 for her two pairs

of pants.

Next month we will continue about the

same topic but introducing coordinate

points. See you then!

PIVOTAL CHANGES ~

LIFE AND BUSINESS

COACHING WHEN THE STATUS QUO IS

NOT AN OPTION

*Edward Garcia Jr. is a

graduate from the

University of Houston-

Downtown with Bachelor’s

in Science for Applied

Mathematics and a Minor

in Statistics. He is also one

of FES Math tutors.

"Educating our future with solutions for life" ™

Firat Educational Solutions (FES), LLC provides state-of-the-art aca-

demic counseling services to students of all ages in the Greater

Houston area. What sets us apart is the fact that our services are

modified to each individual student based on his or her needs

and learning styles, thereby bringing out his or her unique poten-

tial.

Our educational solutions are catered to you by a team of aca-

demic professionals who have various areas of expertise such as

Academic Tutoring, Test Preparation, Academic Coaching, Col-

lege Counseling and Strong Minds, Strong Bodies. In order to know

more about our services, please go to our website

www.firateducationalsolutions.com and prepare yourself for a

new world of education.

APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9

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APRIL 2011 VOL 1 ISSUE 9 Educational Headlines

The following are headlines found in international, national, and local newspapers and mag-

azines concerning education in today‟s world.

Welcome to FES 2nd SATurday

Our goal at FES is to best serve our com-

munity. Under our initiative 2ndSATurday, we

will be offering a full length practice SAT® or

ACT® to our community every 2nd Saturday of

every month! The full length tests will be scored

and analyzed by the FES President within five

(5) business days! The cost to you: FREE!

Please note that we have limited seat-

ing available in two (2) locations in the Great-

er Houston area. Please review the dates and

register here to reserve your seat today!

As Student Absenteeism Rises, a Chater School Fights back

by The New York Times

Can Universities Keep the Minority Students They Woo?

by Education News