Foreign language studies opened many doors for me.  Initially when I declared a dual major in Spanish and Psychology it was because I had two loves.  I loved the  Hispanic/Latino culture. From the food to the music, the people and dances Salsa and Merengue, Flamenco, the Tango ANYTHING  Hispanic/Latino I loved it!

Anywaaaaayy that love inspired me to study Spanish throughout highschool and college. In my senior year I had the opportunity to study abroad in Mexico and it was an experience that truly changed my life.  It opened up doors to me and solidified my language study by imersing me in the language around the clock.

I have recently come across a few sites that are offering FREE opportunities for students (on various levels) to receive scholarships to study languages. I can not personally vouch for any of the programs or their political or religious affiliations etc. I am just passing the info along. But I think its a great opportunity if you are eligible then try and apply you never know where it can lead!  Check the programs out quickly because some of them have deadlines that are fast approaching.

Long live language studies!

Houtan Scholarship

Provided By: Houtan Scholarship Foundation

Deadline: Varies Type of Award:

Scholarship Amount: $5000

Awards Available: Unspecified

Website: http://www.houtan.org/

Description: The Houtan Scholarship is available to graduate students who have a working knowledge of Farsi and demonstrate an active interest in Iranian culture, heritage and literature. You must exhibit superior academic performance or a significant increase of performance over the course of your academic career to be eligible for this renewable award.

Applicable Majors: Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Near and Middle Eastern Studies

NSLI for Youth is part of a multi-agency U.S. government initiative launched in January 2006 to improve Americans’ ability to engage with people from around the world who speak Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Russian and Turkish. The Department of State, in cooperation with American Councils, AFS-USA, iEARN-USA, and Concordia Language Villages, awards full merit-based scholarships to high school students for participation in summer, semester, and academic-year language programs in countries where the seven NSLI for Youth languages are spoken. Programs immerse participants in the cultural life of the host country giving them invaluable formal and informal language practice and sparking a lifetime interest in foreign languages and cultures.

Language Scholarships
NSLI for Youth Scholarships cover all program costs, including round-trip travel to the program host city, tuition, educational and cultural activities, pre-departure and re-entry orientations, visa fees, room and board, and Accident and Sickness Program for Exchanges (ASPE) health benefits.

Program Durations and Locations
Summer, semester, and academic-year programs are located in China, Egypt, India, Jordan, Korea, Morocco, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkey.

Language Study and Cultural Immersion
NSLI for Youth scholars participate in intensive language classes (4 hr/day), homestays, and community service projects, embracing formal and informal opportunities for meaningful language practice with in-country counterparts.

Application Deadline: December 4, 2009
NSLI for Youth only accepts on-line applications. To apply go to: http://www.nsliforyouth.org/
Ask past NSLI for Youth scholars about their experience at the NSLI-Y Group social network: http://connect.state.gov/

Embrace Learning as a Lifetime Commitment!

Teacher Tamara

Asalamualaykum everyone!

I’m sorry I’ve been away from the blogosphere!  Back to school preparations required me to be on active home school-teacher- mom duty!

However I have been working on many exciting and new projects for both TeacherTamara and SisterShine LifeCoaching. One project that I’d like to share was an interview with ProductiveMuslim.com

Tamara L. Redfern_Productive-Muslim-Interview

Enjoy the interview and check back often for more news about our upcoming projects and special offers for the month of November!

~ Tamara

Happy Eid!

Knock knock…..who’s there…Teacher Tamara’s wondering  ….Teacher Tamara’s wondering who?  Teacher Tamara’s wondering who’s out there reading this blog and what you all are planning on doing for the upcoming Eid celebration.

I can see we have many visitors from all over and I’d like to see how Eid is spent in different parts of the world.

A few simple lines:

1. Where are you?
2. What is the customary Eid celebration like?
3. What was your most memorable Eid?

Wherever you are and whatever you find yourself doing, enjoy it and make the most of it. Tomorrow is not promised!

Take care everyone!

Happy Early Eid!

Teacher Tamara

p.s.  SisterShine LifeCoaching is having a limited time FREE open membership! Sign up now only the first 50 subscribers are free!   Get your freebies this Eid!

Hellooo everyone!!!

I know I have been MIA (missing in action) for the past several weeks.  It hasn’t been without good reason though. In the latter part of July a random toothache turned out to need oral surgery.  Then it’s healing was followed by the end of summer and beginning of Ramadan preparations, culminating in the finalization of my summer growth project: the unveiling of a new website for SisterShine LifeCoaching Services (SSLCS) and the jump-start of  R² Ramadan Revolutions program!  R² is designed to support sisters in making revolutions (not resolutions) that will last from Ramadan and beyond.

Visit the new site by clicking the link at the bottom of this post and check out our new testimonials page to see what sisters have to say about the program and SSLCS overall.   Be sure sign up for FREE MEMBERSHIP to be among the first to know of upcoming events, interviews, offers and to access the ALL NEW SISTER’S SUN DAY BLOG on the website!!

Our Ramadan Revolutions program was a special unadvertised offer to sisters that were on SSLCS  mailing list. So if you missed out on that offer don’t worry just get on the list and you won’t miss anymore!

There will be an added incentive emailed to those of you who sign up within the next 48 hrs (by 12:01 am EST on Friday, September 11th)!

Don’t forget to spread the word to your friends and family!  All my facebookers and twitterers please add to your pages as well!

Looking forward to seeing you all on the other side!

Supporting Sisters Successes!

Committed to learning new ways to let my light SHINE!

Teacher Tamara

www.SisterShineLifeCoaching.com

p.s. just for fun there is a secret password question to gain membership to the site:

Q: What is the S3 Philosophy?

A: Supporting Sisters Successes!

I’m not really sure how many of you all are old enough to remember Roxanne Shante -hip-hop music’s 1st female MC-however this story BEGGED to be told and shared.  This is some real breaking the chains that bind and moving along. Shine on Sis!

Teacher Tamara

Rapper behind ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ gets Warner Music to pay for Ph.D

BY Walter Dawkins
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS

Updated Sunday, August 23rd 2009, 1:07 PM

Related News

Articles

Roxanne’s revenge was sweet indeed.

Twenty-five years after the first queen of hip-hop was stiffed on her royalty checks, Dr. Roxanne Shante boasts an Ivy League Ph.D. – financed by a forgotten clause in her first record deal.

“This is a story that needs to be told,” Shante said. “I’m an example that you can be a teenage mom, come from the projects, and be raised by a single parent, and you can still come out of it a doctor.”

Her prognosis wasn’t as bright in the years after the ’80s icon scored a smash hit at age 14: “Roxanne’s Revenge,” a razor-tongued response to rap group UTFO’s mega-hit “Roxanne, Roxanne.”

The 1984 single sold 250,000 copies in New York City alone, making Shante (born Lolita Gooden) hip hop’s first female celebrity.

She blazed a trail followed by Lil’ Kim, Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah – although Shante didn’t share their success.

After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company. The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses, recalled how her life was shattered.

“Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies,” she said. “And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking.”

But Shante, then 19, remembered a clause in her Warner Music recording contract: The company would fund her education for life.

She eventually cashed in, earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell to the tune of $217,000 – all covered by the label. But getting Warner Music to cough up the dough was a battle.

“They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn’t have an exact reason why they were telling me no,” Shante said.

She figured Warner considered the clause a throwaway, never believing a teen mom in public housing would attend college. The company declined to comment for this story.

Shante found an arm-twisting ally in Marguerita Grecco, the dean at Marymount Manhattan College. Shante showed her the contract, and the dean let her attend classes for free while pursuing the money.

“I told Dean Grecco that either I’m going to go here or go to the streets, so I need your help,” Shante recalls. “She said, ‘We’re going to make them pay for this.’”

Grecco submitted and resubmitted the bills to the label, which finally agreed to honor the contract when Shante threatened to go public with the story.

Shante earned her doctorate in 2001, and launched an unconventional therapy practice focusing on urban African-Americans – a group traditionally reluctant to seek mental health help.

“People put such a taboo on therapy, they feel it means they’re going crazy,” she explained. “No, it doesn’t. It just means you need someone else to talk to.”

Shante often incorporates hip-hop music into her sessions, encouraging her clients to unleash their inner MC and shout out exactly what’s on their mind.

“They can’t really let loose and enjoy life,” she said. “So I just let them unlock those doors.”

Shante, 38, is also active in the community. She offers $5,000 college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the nonprofit Hip Hop Association.

She also dispenses advice to young women in the music business via a MySpace page.

“I call it a warning service, so their dreams don’t turn into nightmares,” she said.

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Shante is a shining role model for the rap community. “Dr. Shante’s life is inspiring,” Simmons said. “She was a go-getter who rose from the struggle and went from hustling to teaching. She is a prime example that you can do anything, and everything is possible.”

Welcome Ramadan – by Zain Bhikha
Welcome o ramadaan
Your are honoured
O month of the qur’aan
It is ramadaan

O one who sleeps
Stand up and declare
The oneness of Allah
The oneness of Allah

O one who fasts
Stand up in prayer at night
And Allah will forgive
And Allah will forgive

Welcome o ramadaan
Your are honoured
O month of the qur’aan
It is ramadaan

O you believe
Give charity
For the pleasure of Allah
For the pleasure of Allah

O you who believe
Read the qur’aan
Every night of ramadaan
Every night of ramadaan

Welcome o ramadaan
Your are honoured
O month of the qur’aan
It is ramadaan

O you who believe
Look out for the night
Most blessed of all nights
Most blessed of all nights

O you who believe
Take hold of this night
And lament to Allah
And lament to Allah

Welcome o ramadaan
Your are honoured
O month of the qur’aan
It is ramadaan

O you who believe
At the end of Ramadaan
Don’t weaken your iman
Don’t weaken your iman

O you who believe
Give thanks to Allah
For the month of Ramadaan
For the month of Ramadaan

Welcome o ramadaan
Your are honoured
O month of the qur’aan
It is ramadaan

May You and your family have a blessed and peaceful Ramadan!

Teacher Tamara

The Mount Washington Cog Railway

 

“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can”…

 
As the little engine trudged up the rugged mountain, he was afraid and doubted himself, but instead of focusing on his fear he challenged himself to believe that he could climb up that mountain side. Chanting to himself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can”  each time he was afraid, he was slowly-but surely reaching his destination.

3 Step Process for Changing a Limiting Belief

IDENTIFY-CHANGE-ACTION

1. Identify the belief. (ex. I am too small to climb that mountain.  I am too old to go back to school.  I don’t have time to memorize Quran.)
2. Change what you say to your self about the belief. (ex I think I can climb that mountain.  I think I could return to school at my age others have done it.  Maybe I can memorize a little Quran in the mornings after fajr.)
3. Put your new belief in action. (ex Today I started climbing the mountain.  I registered for a class at the local community college.  While the kids were asleep today I memorized a short surah.)

National Blog Posting Month’s theme for August is “Tomorrow”.  By tomorrow I challenge every reader no matter where they are to identify and post 1 limiting belief they have.  Be brave! or post anonymously Come on little engines! I know you can do it!!  What mountains are you facing today?

Commit to a lifetime of learning!

Teacher~Tamara

© 2009 Teacher~Tamara ™.  All rights reserved.

Not sure if everyone can identify with these or not as some things are simply are culturally or hemispherically dependent /translation: it depends where you from and where your people from But I’d like to share a list of some of my summer memories.

1. icees- $0.25, $0.15, $0.10 made by the lady in the neighborhood who ran a little store out of the house (she happened to be my mom so I was the icee maker as well as the cashier)
2. The Puerto-Rican Festival (now politically correctly known as Latin American Pride? ) a mainstay in mostly northeastern states but Jersey and New York  do it big!  Our was a week long festival that was on my birthday week, began with a little miss puerto rico pageant and parade and ended in racial motivated fights on the last day- such a waste but :( unfortunate  and true. 
3. Going to the Jersey shore. Wildwood NOT Atlantic City. Only people who didn’t live in Jersey go to AC true Jerseans went to Wildwood
4. Blueberries! Hammonton, NJ is the WORLD’s largest supplier of antioxidant rich blueberries! Little known fact about the garden state!
5. COWTOWN- can’t describe you must google it for yourselves
6. Philly on the weekend
7. Floor fans in the window (before everyone got those little window sized fans ) y’all know what I’m talkin about here, don’t act too cute it’s summer time
8. Eating watermelon on the front porch with newspaper underneath you
9. Eating crabs on the front porch with newpaper underneath you
10. Not being able to eat watermelon or crabs in the house because they were too messy
11. Flies chasing you while you are eating watermelon and crabs on the front porch
12. Citronella candles that DO NOT work!
13. Sweating and attracting more mosquitoes while sitting too close to citronella candles that DO NOT work! 
14. Avon monopolizing and jacking the price of skin-so-soft products up once they realized everyone was using it instead of OFF!
15. Radios in the window
16. Loud music from the cars that ride by (with the booming system) sorry couldn’t resist that one.
17. Last day of school
18. Back to school outfit 
19. New book bags
20. Getting the bus/school assignment in the mail addressed: “To the parents of”
21. Seeing teachers in the mall/grocery store/movie theater/library and being shocked that they have on casual clothes (now I am the teacher kids get excited to see outside …I now understand that distant look in the teacher’s eyes
22. Staying up to watch the dawn of a new day all summer long.

The Garden State

Comment, Share, Enjoy!     Gotta go so I can catch the sun.

Commit to a lifetime of learning!

Teacher~Tamara

© 2009 Teacher~Tamara ™.  All rights reserved.

 I LOVE JERSEY!!!  Anybody guess what state T~T’s  from?

Ok I’m on this new thing this week of doing lists. National Blog Posting Month’s theme for July is Routines.
So I will attempt to continue my blogging the rest of this month using the list format as a routine. Simple enough. InshaAllah!

Ok today the theme will be Gratitude! 

First let’s start with the meaning of gratitude. Gratitude= a  grateful attitude!

Today I am grateful that:

1. My son’s toe was only slightly cracked not broken!
2. My family seems to be getting over the bout of summer colds
3. There was a cool breeze blowing tonight, no fan necessary
4. We had sufficient food and drink
5. My son is able to reflect on lessons learned
6. The company of good friends near and far
7. Good fathers and the memories they create
8. Burnt cookies that still are edible
9. Good neighbors that will let you borrow a needle and thread or a spot on their floor to crash
10. An unstuffed nose ( even if it’s only one side) appreciate what you have!

ok that’s my top ten today.

Enjoy people and have a great day or night wherever you  are!

OOH Click on my new subscribe link! The first heading on the right at the top of the page ———-> to subscribe to Teacher Tamara’s posts via any reader or email! 

Commit to a lifetime of learning!

Teacher~Tamara

© 2009 Teacher~Tamara ™.  All rights reserved.

I had a birthday this week and I usually think of things that I can do to improve myself for the next year.  It’s kinda like a mid year evaluation for the New Year’s resolutions.  This year I am going to go from the top of my heart and just share with you my top 35 list of things to do:

1. Trust others more
2. Be less opinionated
3. Focus Forward
4. Keep promises to my children
5. Dance with my children
6. Sing with my children more
7. Eat out less
8. Seek solitude
9. Enjoy the moment
10. Worry less about the opinion of others
11. Pray more
12. Pray for my friends more often
13. Ask Allah for what I NEED not just what I want
14. Be content
15. Accept criticism openly
16. Seek growth work
17. Help others
18. Do unto others…
19. Support my dh
20. Be more active
21. Fast frequently
22. Read the Quran Daily
23. Memorize more Quran
24. Go to bed earlier
25. Exercise early in the morning
26. Give away some clothes
27. Buy from my grocery list
28. Seek first to understand
29. Live for now
30. Prepare for Tomorrow
31. Ask for forgiveness
32. Take care of unfinished business
33. Get closer to Allah
34. Love unconditionally
35. Forgive

A little harder than I thought but Alhumdulillah it’s written.  Anyone share any of my goals for next year or like to comment please feel free. I am open

Take care and have a lovely evening, day, morning! God Bless you.

T~T

oh one more 

36.  Accept others where they are.

Commit to a lifetime of learning!
Teacher~Tamara
© 2009 Teacher~Tamara ™. All rights reserved.