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Author: News Desk

  • D.C. Memo: As the midterm races heat up, so does the campaign fundraising

    D.C. Memo: As the midterm races heat up, so does the campaign fundraising

    WASHINGTON – The money chase in the most competitive Democratic primary race for a U.S. House seat in Minnesota is nearly a tie.

    According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, former state Sen. Matthew Little raised nearly $717,000 as of March 31 in his bid to represent the 2nd District. That seat will be vacated by Rep. Angie Craig, who is running for the U.S. Senate. But $155,000 of that money was raised as a personal loan by Little to his campaign.  

    Meanwhile, rival state Sen. Matthew Klein, who raised nearly $700,000, says he’s actually the top fundraiser in the race since Little raised some of his campaign cash from his own pocket.

    There’s another DFLer in the race, too. That’s state Rep. Kaela Berg, who has raised about $245,000 to challenge the two Matts.

    Related: Flanagan, Craig take fight to precinct caucuses roiled by ICE operation while Tafoya campaign makes debut

    On the Republican side, former Marine Tyler Kistner, who was vying for Craig’s seat for the second time, was the top fundraiser with nearly $416,000 in his war chest as of March 31. But Kistner dropped out of the race this week, saying he has been activated from the Marine reserves to redeploy to the Middle East.

    “This is where I am called to be right now,” Kistner said in a statement. “Perhaps someday I will be called to serve in the halls of Congress, but now is not that time.”

    That leaves state Sen. Eric Pratt, whose campaign raised about $260,000, as the only Republican in the race.

    Emmer is the fundraising king

    In an increasingly competitive general election matchup, the race for the 1st District seat, Rep. Brad Finstad has raised about $1.25 million for his bid for reelection, $340,000 of that money in the first quarter of this year.

    Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Jake Johnson, a math teacher, has raised $1.21 million, more than $461,000 in the first quarter of this year.

    Johnson said the surge in recent donations may show he is gaining traction in a mostly rural district that stretches along the Iowa border from Wisconsin to South Dakota.

    “These numbers are proof that our first-time campaign can take on a lifelong politician and win,” Johnson said in a statement.

    In the bruising fight for the Democratic endorsement for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat, Rep. Angie Craig, a prodigious fundraiser, has raised about $7.8 million for her campaign, about $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2026.

    Meanwhile, rival DFLer Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor, has raised nearly $4.6 million, about $1.4 million in the first quarter.

    In the crowded field of Republicans running for the open U.S. Senate seat, former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya has the lead as far as fundraising, with about $2 million raised as of March 31.

    Former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze raised $1.1 million, the filings show, former NBA player Royce White about $566,000, former Minnesota Republican Party Chairman David Hann about $130,000 and Navy veteran Tom Weiler about $105,000.

    While campaign spending in the race for Smith’s seat is going to swamp all of the Senate congressional races, it is a U.S. House member with little opposition who has raised the most money.

    Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, has leveraged his position as House Majority Whip to raise about $8.3 million in his main campaign account – and additional money in his leadership PACs. His campaign says the total amount of money Emmer has raised in this campaign cycle, which includes joint fundraising with the National Republican Congressional Committee, is $38 million.

    Related: In a tough election year for House Republicans, Brad Finstad campaign faces a serious challenge

    Emmer’s main challenger is DFLer Doug Chapin, who has raised about $239,000.

    Emmer’s massive war chest allowed him to spend $5.4 million from his primary campaign account, most of it in an effort to help the Republican Party hold on to its majority in the U.S. House in a difficult year for the party.

    According to his FEC filings, Emmer donated $1 million to the NRCC, which he once headed, and gave contributions to dozens of GOP lawmakers and GOP challengers.

    His campaign says the total amount Emmer has donated to try to keep the House in GOP hands is $13.3 million.

    “Americans across the country are all in on ensuring House Republicans maintain our majority,” Emmer said in a statement about his fundraising. “Thank you to the tens of thousands of grassroots donors who made this success possible. House Republicans have the message, the candidates, and the resources necessary to make history in November.”

    In other news:

    ▪️ Pentagon spending in the Trump administration was on the rise even before the cost of the Iran war began pressuring Congress to provide the armed services with more money, and Minnesota’s defense contractors are benefitting.

    ▪️ Congress is deadlocked over reforms of federal immigration agencies, but reporter Cleo Krejci writes that the Minnesota Legislature is tackling the issue. 

    ▪️ Congress’ rollback on protections from sulfide mining in the Boundary Waters was expected for months and finally happened this week, even as Sen. Tina Smith spent hours on the Senate floor trying to persuade Republicans to keep a mining moratorium in Superior National Forest in place.

    ▪️ Matthew Blake writes that months after the Annunciation Catholic School shooting, lawmakers are still not close to coming to an agreement on school safety legislation.  

    This and that

    A reader commented on a story about the rising fortunes of Minnesota’s defense industry as the Trump administration ramps up Pentagon spending.

    “Nice we are getting our share of this spending, but shredding our safety net, particularly with Trump’s civil war against Minnesota, is a very big price to pay,” the reader said. “Not so many bombs and bullets, more money for hospitals and healthcare is my preference.”

    Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.

    The post D.C. Memo: As the midterm races heat up, so does the campaign fundraising appeared first on MinnPost.

  • All Things Lost and Forgotten Must Be Found

    All Things Lost and Forgotten Must Be Found

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Different New Year Celebrations Around the World

    Different New Year Celebrations Around the World

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Experience The Great Wall of China on a Layover

    Experience The Great Wall of China on a Layover

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Getting Back to the Basics of Pure Education

    Getting Back to the Basics of Pure Education

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Beauties You Should Follow for Great Inspiration

    Beauties You Should Follow for Great Inspiration

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Discover Affordable Ways to Hide Fatigue

    Discover Affordable Ways to Hide Fatigue

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Must Have Beauty Kits & Palettes

    Must Have Beauty Kits & Palettes

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • Social Media is Changing the Face of the Beauty Industry

    Social Media is Changing the Face of the Beauty Industry

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).

  • The Coolest Vanity Apps for You and Your Girls

    The Coolest Vanity Apps for You and Your Girls

    What’s possible in a week? If you dedicated seven days to the achievement of one goal, how ambitious could you make this goal? These were the questions that the multilingual friends Katy and Sara posed themselves when they determined to learn English in one week, to prove that it can be done and anyone can do it with the right methods.

    They would attempt to liberate themselves from the distractions and responsibilities of modern-day life in order to cram eight hours of study time and I was observing some of the world’s most capable language learners at work.

    The language learning expert: Sara

    The friends set themselves the challenge of learning a language in a week in order to stretch themselves, and then it was a question of choosing which language to learn. English presented itself as a natural option; there are nigh on 300,000 English speakers in Germany’s capital, and the areas are dotted with stores adorned with signs in English.

    “Truly understanding one’s environment requires one to first understand English”

    The first operational step in the friends learning process was to decorate the entire apartment with sticky notes. This had an almost ceremonial touch to it as the friends delved into dictionaries and proceeded to label everything with its corresponding English name.

    Within the space of about an hour it was impossible to carry out any menial task, be it making a coffee or flicking off a light switch, without first being presented with at least three different words related to this action.

    Sara learning in the park

    The importance of the other twin’s presence became immediately apparent as Katy and Sara delegated responsibilities for rooms to decorate with sticky notes. This simple task was augmented by continuous little tests that they would spring on one another, and the fact that they split up their day slightly differently and studied different topics meant that each twin became a source of knowledge for the other.

    The most extraordinary moment came towards the end of the week!

    The friends simply switched their everyday conversations to English, asking one another if they wanted tea or coffee, were ready to cook dinner or when they were going to leave the house.

    Katy and Sara had numerous micro-challenges throughout the week. On the first day they were visited by a English friend who greeted them in English and complimented them on how quickly they’d picked up their first words and phrases.

    They then learned the names of fruits and the numbers from one to a billion so that they could visit the English market (although they refrained from purchasing nine hundred thousand kumquats). Displaying their haul after their first functional exchange in English, they beamed with pride and a palpable sense of accomplishment before marching back home to study further.

    Katy playing audio lessons

    On our second visit to the brother’s apartment 24 hours into the week, we found them sampling dozens of different kinds of English snacks.

    Like kids staring at the backs of cereal packs before heading to school, the nutritional information and various special offers and competitions on the packaging were analysed during snack breaks.

    There was no moment of complete removal from the language learning process during the eight hours that the friends had allotted to it.

    They were constantly using their existing knowledge to support the ever-growing knowledge of English, this being the root of their success.

    “you will likely come across words that share common origins with your native tongue”

    The friends spent a lot of time engrossed in books or on their computers and apps, flicking and swiping their way through exercises eagerly, but at other times they were to be found searching busily for English radio stations and write-ups of English football games on the web.

    There is no definitive method to learn a language fluently

    All too often, people enter their weekly language class to converse with their teacher, but then barely have any contact with other speakers and that’s not enough.

    The old saying that we can solve problems more effectively when we sleep on it may be especially true if the problem we’re trying to solve is learning a new language.

    Motivated Katy out to the library

    Researchers from two Swiss universities wanted to know if they could enhance the learning of words from a foreign language by exposing people to the words during non-rapid eye movement sleep the deep, dreamless sleep period that most of us experience during the first few hours of the night.

    To find out, they gathered two groups of study participants, all of whom were native German speakers, and gave them a series of Dutch-to-German word pairs to learn at 10 pm. One group was then instructed to get some sleep, while the other group was kept awake.For the next few hours both groups listened to an audio playback of the word pairs they’d already been exposed to and some they hadn’t yet heard.

    The researchers then re-gathered both groups at 2 am and gave them a test of the Dutch words to uncover any differences in learning. And indeed there was a difference:

    “The group that listened to the words during sleep did better at recalling the words they’d heard”

    The simple yet potent trick the researchers employed is known as verbal cueing, and this isn’t the first claim made for its success while sleeping. But what makes this study different is that it puts a finer point on the conditions necessary for this trick to actually work namely, it only works when we’ve already been exposed to the verbal cues before we sleep.

    Internet is always helpful

    The researchers added a techie dimension by conducting electroencephalographic (EEG)recordings of the sleeping participants brains to track neural electrical activity during the learning period.

    They found that learning the foreign words overlapped with the appearance of theta brain waves, an intriguing result since theta is the brain wave state often associated with heightened learning while awake (usually we’re in either the high-frequency, high-alertness alpha or beta states while awake, but it’s thought possible to induce theta state slower in frequency than alpha and beta through concentration techniques).