Maybe you noticed it already : we love XMind !

Why is that ?  Well, there are lots of reasons :

• easy to learn
• ergonomics : all functions are at your fingertips in a very handy dashboard that you discover in a glimpse
• countless graphic functions like : colours, branches shapes and thickness, images, etc.
• different formats : Mindmaps, Fishbones, Spreadsheets…
• easy integration of links, notes, icones, images…
• focus on one topic or a group of topics
• spell checker
• filters and legends
• etc.

All this for free !

If you don’t have it yet, you can download your XMind 3.2.1 from  the links in this article.  See below). (Click  on the mindmap to see it on XMind.net).

But do you know you could do much more ?

If you buy XMind Pro, you can also use :

• brainstorming and presentation modules
• encryption for the protection of your data
• private maps accessible only to you and collaborators you selected
• Gantt Charts for an optimal project management
• unlimited export to PDF, Word, PowerPoint
• mapshot : take a snapshot of a map or a part of it and export it as an image in another document
• merge : merge several maps from you or your collaborators
• gallery : easily integrate  professional quality  images
• tasks info : visualize in a glimpse who is responsible for a task, when it starts or is over, etc.
• design your own themes : you can use them as default colours, shapes, lines, etc.  for all your documents…

The Chistmas promotion is over (Guess why !)

but you can still buy Your Mindmapping software Here !

Click on the PayPal button here below :

As soon as we get your payment, we send you an activation code and you can instantly use your new software professional features.

Don’t you have your own XMind software, yet ?

Download it for free, here !  Choose your Operating System :

For Windows : click here !

For Mac OS : click here !

For Ubuntu or Debian : click here !

For Ubuntu or Debian 64 : click here !

For portable version (all OS on your USB key) : click here !

Today, we offer you a free and very handy downloadable tool !

This is the self-evaluation grid that experts designed for the European Common Frame of Reference for Languages.  It allows you to self-evaluate your skill levels in any language.

So, before you subscribe for a language course or move to any European country, you can read the different items related to the level of understanding, speaking and writing skills.

This tool can also help you to fill in your CV correctly!  Yes, more often than not, I read what’s written on very brilliant and interesting CV’s :

• English : mother language,
• Italian : school level,
• Spanish : good.

All this doesn’t mean anything for your future boss !  So, instead of these generalities, fill in your CV with clear statements like :

• Italian : I can understand the main points of a clear standard speech, I can write standard business letters, and I can take an active part in familar professional context.

Doesn’t it sound more professional ?

You can read, dowload, share, print and embed the following document.  For a more comfortable reading, click on fullscreen and then adjust the zoom by clicking on the magnifying glass below, on the left.

These are some of the questions  Katie Read, currently studying in Belgium, is offering you in this very interesting article on the Expatica Website.  She also considers how to open a bank account, how to get help from the European institutions or reductions on public transports, how to find the best place for fun and entertainment…  And some information about students working possibilities too.

Don't expect the Belgian trainstations to be as cosy as that...

We also strongly recommend you to visit the European Commission Website “Welcome to study in Europe“ to get more formal information about the stay and the living standard in any EU Member State.

Some Job Ads this Morning ?

   Monster’s name is well chosen since this website is the world # 1 for jobboards – these websites specializing in job search and on which you can leave your CV.      

The Monster Virtual Job Fair allows you, from your armchair, to :    

• visit virtual stands
• find out detail information about the participating companies and the jobs they offer
• to chat with employers and professional recruiters
• to let your CV on the “stand” of an interesting company
• to apply online for an attracting new job

   All of this will be free, from the 27th to the 29th of September 2010 !     

   Click here and you’ll be able to not only visit the fair, but to subscribe as well to this event !     

Marco Bertolini proposes you a new workshop in the Hub Brussels : Mind Mapping Basics for Students.  This is all about how to improve your study skills by using the mind mapping techniques and an opensource mind mapping software : XMind.  Summarize books and documents, take better notes, give a better structure to your assessments, improve your memory, prepare oral and written examinations, and much more.

First, we’ll learn the basic principles of mind mapping :

- radiant and associative thinking

- hierarchy and structure

- keywords and pictures

- branches and space structure

MM workshop program

Then, you’ll design your first mind map on paper :

- about you and… No, we don’t want to tell to much now ! -We’ll explore together some ways to structure your documents, to take efficient notes, to analyze and organize your courses, to prepare your exams…    

We’ll use XMind

Which is a opensource mind mapping software that you can use during and after the workshop. Let’s discover how to organize things and events with the time and tasks features of this amazing sofware !

Bring along your laptop and we will give you the program for free !

Looking forward to learn together,

Marco Bertolini.

(Marco Bertolini has been working as a trainer and human resources consultant for more than 20 years.  Now,co-founder of the Lingua Franca Foundation, he dedicates his time and passion to innovative training methods such as mind mapping, visual thinking, framegames, etc.  He applies these awesome techniques to job search, business set up and learning efficiency.  He is also a member of the team which is currently translating the XMind software into French).

Practical information

On Saturday 25th September 2010 at from 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM

At the Hub Brussels – rue du Prince Royal 37

1050 Brussels – See Google Maps

Buy your Ticket here

More info on info@linguafrancaacademy.org

Discover also our conference on this subject !

]]> http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2010/08/29/our-new-workshop-mind-mapping-basics-for-students/feed/ 2 marcobertolini MM Workshop http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2010/08/29/improve-your-study-skills-with-mind-mapping/ http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2010/08/29/improve-your-study-skills-with-mind-mapping/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:10:57 +0000 Marco Bertolini http://linguafrancafoundation.org/?p=1594 Continue reading →]]> How can mind mapping help you to succeed with your studies ?  What advantage can visual thinking tools give you ?

These are the themes we will explore through a conference and a workshop at the Hub Brussels in September.

Firstly, let’s focus on the conference.

People usually say that we use 10 % of our brain capacities.  That is totally untrue.  The brain is an awesome organic machine that brings to work millions of neurones at the same time.  But we use it in different ways according to our genre, our age, our culture.

And we can use it in better ways !

Our brain is composed of two hemispheres but our education and our school training favors only one of them : the left brain.  Which is the rational, sequential and logical part of our brain.  But there is another part, the right one, which is more intuitive, associative and which grasps everything in one go.  The picture here below perfectly illustrates that partition of our brains.

Most of the time, men use their left brain, while women tend to use both hemispheres at the same time.  Mind mapping reconciles us with a more holistic use of our grey matter : with its very logical and hierarchical structure, its stimulates the left brain, while the use of keywords, pictures and colours tickles our right brain and enhances our creativity skills.

Mind mapping, with its radiant and associative thinking also helps you to memorize better, which for students is a real gift : with the support of mind mapping, visual and lateral thinking techniques, you will learn faster and remember for a longer time.  Isn’t that good news ?

During this conference, we will :

• discover together the principles of mind mapping
• find out why it works
• how students can best use it for :
  • taking efficient notes  
  • structuring documents,
  • memorizing courses
  • preparing exams

• see what you can get from mind mapping softwares
• And much more !

Practical informations

Buy your ticket here

More info on info@linguafrancaacademy.org

Discover our Workshop too !

Now, it is Dr Naif Al-Mutawa himself who is the invited speaker of a new TED talk about his own creation.

In this funny and fascinating conference, Dr Al-Mutawa shows how American superheroes were inspired by biblical myths and values, christian archtypes that resonated with the American society positive values.

He created the 99 with the same kind of idea in mind.  In fact, the superheroes embody the 99 attributes of God, Allah : mercy, generosity and so on.  For instance, Jabbar, The Powerful; Noora, The Light; Darr, The Afflicter; Jami, The Assembler; Widad, The Loving; Fattah, The Opener, etc.  So far, not all of the 99 characters have been unveiled.  Each of the 99 is living in a different country which makes the series a kind of universal story.

Another link with Western culture is the recruits Dr Al-Mutawa brought in his project : these are all aknowledged artists in the comic books industry.  There is Fabian Nicieza, writer of the X-Men and Power Rangers ; Dan Panosian, characters creator for the X-Men ; Stuart Moore, best known as the writer for Iron Man; June Brigman, illustrator for StarWars and Supergirl; Ron Wagner,  illustrator for Batman and DareDevil; and, last but not least, John Mc Crea, who was an inker for the late Spiderman…  No wonder if the drawing looks so familiar to the superheroes series readers !

What is fascinating in this series, is the combination of different cultural elements : the characters are Allah’s attribute, but the Noor Stones (the “Light” Stones, in Arabic) are the ones which chose you and not the opposite, and that’s what Dr Al-Mutawa calls the “King Arthur element of the story line”.  The medium itself, the comic book, is a Western form of art and the chosen artists are mainly of Western origin or background.  If the values conveyed in this series are inspired by Islam, they are actually universal : generosity, knowledge, tolerance, freedom.  Who on earth would deny such a set of values ? (Perhaps some extremists, who are likely to be found everywhere, in whichever society…). 

Amazingly, Dr Al-Mutawa’s the 99 readers include President Obama  who praised the the importance of these characters in spreading tolerance and open-mindedness.  He said about the 99 , as a response of his Cairo Speech to the Muslim World : “I have to say, perhaps the most innovative response was from Dr Naif Al-Mutawa, from Kuwait. [...] His comic books have captured the imagination of so many young people with superheroes that embodied the teaching of tolerance of Islam.”

The 99 are now a 26 episode animated TV series and Kuwait built a theme park called The 99 Village Theme Park.

But for Dr Al-Mutawa, the importance doesn’t lay in publishing success. Being responsible of a training program for the survivors of political torture in Bellevue Hospital (New York), he knows what intolerance means.  And for him, it is the spreading of positive elements about Islam and the understanding between cultures that matters.

You can download your free copy of the first episode, THE 99 Origins, just by cliking here.

Yes, Germany is looking for 65.000 skilled workers and cannot find them in the homeland.  So it is calling for volunteers from abroad.

Why is that ?

Well there are several reasons :

1. Germany is the first exporting country in the world.  And it doesn’t export much raw material but manufactured goods and high value services. 
2. Germany has developed a protection policy for its workers and the recent economic crisis hardly affected its employment rate contrary to most European countries which are still facing high unemployment figures.
3. The German population is growing older and many of the so called “baby boomers” are going to retire very soon.  The current birthrate is not sufficient to replace people who are retiring, so the country is compelled to called for foreign skilled workers in order to sustain its huge and competitive industry…

What kind of workers are they searching for ?

 They are mostly looking for workers in these for fields :

1. Computer sciences
2. Natural sciences
3. Mechanics
4. Mathematics

What are the required procedure to work there ?

For workers from EU Member States, there are no special requirements : they can live and work in Germany without staying and/or working permit.  For people from outside EU (Chinese, Indian or Brasilian workers or students), authorities are considering creating a new specific working permit for skilled workers, something similar to the Canadian procedure.  So far, it is not clear if this will be the so-called European Blue Card or some local new system…

To discover more on visas and permit you can visit this page for tips or the official page of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

What are the working conditions in Germany ?

Actually, German working conditions are among the best in Europe :

•  Salary : German wages are amongst the highest in Europe.  German workers are well organized and their trade unions negotiate pay rises each year.
• Time tables : Germans seldom work more than 8 hours per day and it is forbidden to stay more than 10 hours at your workplace. 

What are the advantages and inconvenients ?

With the German wages you can really have a comfortable life.  German salaries generally come with some extra advantages such as company car, telephone, laptop, health insurances and so on.  The German welfare system is very generous and taxes vary according to your salary but also according to your family situation (working partner, number of children, etc.).

 Food tend to be cheaper than in France for instance, but it is also less varied.  As Germany hosts the broadest Turkish community in Europe, you can easily find halal food. 

Housing is rather cheap compared to European prices.   The heating cost are a little higher than in France or Belgium, but generally the German installations are more recent and therefore consume less energy.  Most German cities have plenty of green spaces, cultural and sports resorts.

The language, with its everlasting changing cases,  is pretty difficult : but, generally, people talk or at least understand English.  Germans, like Dutch people, tend to be pretty direct.  They also speak very loud : you get the impression they are always scolding you.  No : they just talk.  For people of Asian or Latin origin, this can be a little bit disturbing, but after a while you get used to it…

So we can say, that Germany can be a thriving and exciting experience for young skilled workers…

Some more tips to find a job in germany

To find a job anywhere in the European Economic Space, you can visite the Eures website.  For young Europeans who would like to discover the working life in another European country, the European Commission proposes stages through its Leonardo Program.

The main job boards have their own page in Germany, as StepStones or Monster.

WikiLeaks defines itself as “a multi-jurisdictional public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public.” (Definition given in the introduction of the main website : clic here to access to this page).

The website gained an enormous popularity since it published secret documents related to the war in Afghanistan.  Since then it has been relentlessy attacked and criticized by American officials and the Pentagon – the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense – in particular.

Today, other voices joined to denounce the Website lack of “consideration about civilian lives“.  According to weekly magazine Time, Human Right groups sent letters to WikiLeaks to asked for the name of civilian people to be redacted to avoid further reprisals from the Talibans.  These groups comprise The Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, the Open Society Institute (the foundation of George Soros, the American billionaire of Hungarian origin)  and the International Crisis Group.

 Amnesty International, which in 2009 attributed a rewards for defence of the human rights toWikiLeaks, contacted the responsible of  the website to discuss about the issue of civilian protection.  But Suzanna Flood, the spokeperson of the organization, still didn’t say if Amnesty would endeavour some work of censorship with WikiLeaks.

Other attacks come from some blooger who accuse Julian Assange to blackmail “Amnesty International and other human rights groups for $700,000 to remove names of Afghan civilians who might get killed by the Taliban if their names get released on Wikileaks“.  But these “revelations” don’t seem to me to correspond to WikiLeaks philosophy and I would discard them until further verification, which I doubt…

Last minute info

Julian Assange, now in Stockholm ( Sweden) for a seminar, announces that WikiLeaks will release the new 15.000 documents on Afghanistan war as planned, despite warnings from the U.S. government.

Assange said “innocent parties who are under reasonable threat” would be redacted from the material.

During the seminar itself, some participants called the Safety Net Project an Eye-Opener !  We are very honored to be perceived as such !      

But what is it about ? 

Event before we created the Lingua Franca Foundation, we were worried about the fate of some Asian women we saw in dire strait around us, in the Netherland.  Some of them divorced in the most desperate – and more often then not – violent conditions.    We decided to react and to create a specific project to help these women : the Safety Net Project (more details about this project in these pages).      

 This project in multidimensional, we aim to contribute to :      

• prevention
• coaching, training & networking
• aid & empowerment
• information & training of the welcoming countries institutions
• partnership   

We went all the way to Malaysia and organize this seminar in order to reach two of these goals :      

• prevention : by giving the participants information about life in Europe and how to get married, to work or to set up a business there in the best possible conditions
• partnership : we wanted to meet NGO’s, local authorities and companies to agree on common resources and actions 

We coudn’t have done half of it without the patience and invaluable support of our local partner : Hotel Abadi Sdn Bhd (Hotel Abadi Melaka).  So we are deeply thankful to these wonderful people who helped to make this seminar a successful event !      

If you missed this seminar, here are the presentations we made that day :     

First, an introduction to the program of the day.      

Then, Suzi started the real presentation with a Prezi about the Lingua Franca Foundation and the Safety Net Project itself. (Cick on t the presentation).       

Safety Net Project Prezi

I, then, followed with a short (and boring, I warned you, people !) Prezi on Europe and its institutions…      

Europe Prezi

After that, I gave the floor back to Suzi who then presented the first part of this Powerpoint on Moving to Europe : she explained the European rules regarding marriage and relationship.  Everybody needed a pause after such an intense morning work  and we all enjoyed the delicious Malaysian cuisine served in the hotel restaurant before I presented the sequel of this combination of Mind mapping and PowerPoint about working and setting up a business in Europe.      

Frame Game : learning with fun 

After more than a half day of presentations, we all needed to move.   The (in)famous disease ALSS (After Lunch Sleeping Syndrom) was threatening everybody in the seminar room and we started the Frame Game : Let’s Net Together !      

This game is a personal adaptation of a Thiagi’s Frame Game.  We distributed 4 cards to the participants and asked them to write 4 items about the question : What can people expect from a project like Safety Net ?        

The goal was to collect the ideas of the group, to broaden our scope regarding the aims of the project and to validate our assumptions about the needs of people and the actions we started.        

We then collected all the cards.  We mixed them up and gave back two cards to each participant.        

They had to place their cards in order of preference.  If they didn’t like their cards, they could exchange them with the rest of the cards, which laid on a table.      

Then, the participants could exchange their remaining cards with another or several participants.  As much cards they wished, but one for one.        

We then asked them to read other people’s card and to gather with the ones who have the closest statements on their card to form several groups.  Three groups resulted of these exchanges, of very different sizes, between two and ten people !         

We, then, prompted the participants to determine the 3 favorite cards of each group.         

When this has been done, we proposed them to present their choice to the rest of the participants.  But… there were some rules they have to respect :         

• no words, no letters 
• No figures and as few symbols as possible 

• draw
• sing, but without lyrics
• mime
• imitate the noise of object 

After a few minutes of hesitations, all the groups endeavour their work with a great fun and a lot of creativity : we had drawings, mime, song (national anthems) and noise (a plane taking off and landing), etc.         

And we got the answers to our questions : yes, the Safety Net Project is an interesting one, it’s a eye-opener, it can give the right information, it can make life easier for people going abroad.     But it could also help student to move abroad, it could  make more taylored conferences and seminars for targeted audiences, it could give handouts at the end of the day, and so on…

 We

 We ended the day by thanking the participants for their pretty good job and with a warning : you thought you could get rid of us so easily, but actually we could be back at the end of the year, with a new conference…   

  Click to view slideshow.