I Speak English by Ruth Johnson Colvin

Title: I Speak English: A Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages--Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing
Author: Ruth Johnson Colvin
Type: Teaching Aid
Genre: Nonfiction
Series: No
Pages: 224
Copyright: 1997
Publisher: Literacy Volunteers of Amer; 4th edition
Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary:
This book is a guide for those learning to teach English for the first time. It goes through the steps of what you need to know, such as cultural differences, planning a lesson, and having activities included in the lesson to help the learner recall what they learn in the future.

Feelings: 
I read this book for an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class I took for my current job.

The book had a lot of examples of how someone could teach English at different levels.

depending on the goals or level of the student and both will be more or less helpful for you. With a higher level student it will be harder to use this book.

As a starting place for learning about teaching ESOL students it has a lot of good information. However I felt like there was a lot that I still didn't know and it is really only a starting place. Based on the first meeting with the student I have to say that this book didn't give me the tools for higher level student. I think it was a better starting place for beginner students are intermediate students who speaks very little English. 

A good place to start but more information in teaching is required. This book will not get you to teaching somebody how to speak English without some other instructions.

Clean Gut by Alejandro Junger

Title: Clean Gut

Author: Alejandro Junger

Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Health

Series: No but there is Clean and Clean Eats that are companions

Pages: 256
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: HarperOne

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
In Clean Gut, Alejandro Junger, M.D, New York Times bestselling author of Clean and creator of the world-famous Clean Program, delivers a complete toolkit for reversing disease and sustaining life-long health. Inside these pages, Junger offers a groundbreaking new program that attacks the root causes of illness and helps us to restore our own amazing healing capabilities.

With a few simple steps, you can repair and restore your gut health, and watch symptoms both minor and major disappear. This groundbreaking new protocol grew out of Dr. Junger's experience helping many people jump-start their way back to wellness. Dr. Junger also presents a set of guiding principles to keep you healthy for the long term. True health is about more than just what you put into your mouth: it's also about community and the people and things you surround yourself with; it's about how to know what your body loves, craves, and needs versus what assaults it. In Clean Gut, Dr. Junger gives us everything we need to discover what it means to be truly healthy.

Feelings: 
This book didn't feel like it was quite as well put together as Clean to me. I thought it would be more helpful for me that it was. I have been eating almost the diet that Clean Gut puts forward for over a month and it hasn't had the affects that he says it should. I don't the the smoothy for breakfast but it does seem like I should be seeing more benefit for the amount of time that I have put in. This book agrees with many of the other books I have read as far as the digestive system being the root of our health.

I am finding that it is a very important part of our well being but that there isn't all that much agreement on how to get there. I think that one thing Dr. Junger has going for his approach is a very large support system. The support system alone is enough to have me consider it a good program. The book is full of important information however I wish it would have gone into a little more detail about how the program deals with different issues of the gut and how it heals them.

The information is good but could have used more scientific backing. However, it seems like Dr. Junger has his own evidence to back up his findings. I would recommended the book for individuals looking for more information on digestion help.

Clean by Alejandro Junger

Title: Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself

Author: Alejandro Junger

Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Health

Series: Clean Gut and Clean Eats are of the same program

Pages: 352
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: HarperOne
Rating: 4 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads

A Life-Changing Medical BreakthroughClean is an M.D.'s program designed to be easily incorporated into our busy schedule while providing all the practical tools necessary to support and rejuvenate our bodies. The effect is transformative: nagging health problems will suddenly disappear, extra weight will drop away, and for the first time in our lives, we will experience what it truly means to feel healthy.

Expanded Edition Includes:
New Introduction • New Recipes • How to Become Clean for Life

Feelings:
I thought this book had a lot to offer. I'm not sure that it is the solution for my current health problems but it did really bring home something that has become more and more clear as I have been reading about health, that the digestive system is what keeps us healthy. When we have a digestive system that isn't working we aren't healthy.Whether it is depression or actual problems in our gut there is so much we don't know about the workings of the gut and so much to learn in regards to it.

I will be taking some of the advise from the book and incorporating it into what I do. I already take probiotics but I think this is something that is really important in our modern world. I'm leaving 12 hours between meals so that my body has a chance to rest and I'm more conscious of what I come into contact with as far as my skin, hair, and breathing.

I don't know if I am ready for a detox like clean offers, but I think this is something I will be looking into more. I'm defiantly going to read Clean Gut and see if it has anything to offer me.

I recommend this book to those looking to learn more about how our current lifestyle affects our bodies.

Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride

Title: Gut and Psychology Syndrome

Author: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride

Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Health

Series: No

Pages: 392
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Medinform Publishing

Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride set up The Cambridge Nutrition Clinic in 1998. As a parent of a child diagnosed with learning difficulties, she was acutely aware of the difficulties facing other parents like her, and she has devoted much of her time to helping these families. She realised that nutrition played a critical role in helping children and adults to overcome their disabilities, and has pioneered the use of probiotics in this field.

Her willingness to share her knowledge has resulted in her contributing to many publications, as well as presenting at numerous seminars and conferences on the subjects of learning disabilities and digestive disorders. Her book "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" captures her experience and knowledge, incorporating her most recent work.

She believes that the link between learning disabilities, the food and drink that we take, and the condition of our digestive system is absolute, and the results of her work have supported her position on this subject. In her clinic, parents discuss all aspects of their child's condition, confident in the knowledge that they are not only talking to a professional but to a parent who has lived their experience. Her deep understanding of the challenges they face, puts her advice in a class of it's own.

Feelings:
I felt like there was a lot of information in here. I was looking for something to deal with digestive problems. The medical community doesn't know what it is so I don't know either. However, I was sick, really sick for three months, and then spend one month doing a little better on a gluten-free diet before I started working with someone that suggested I try using the GAPS diet.

I read the full book and found that while I don't agree completely with everything that she talks about dealing with autism, dyspraxia, A.D.D., A.D.H.D, schizophrenia, dyslexia, and depression I did think she made some good points. I felt like some areas were very well researched and backed up, I live with a skeptic and he tends to disbelieve everything, and being dyslexic myself I found it hard when she made sweeping generalizations. I think she would have been better served focusing on autism which is really where her research backs her up.

As for the diet I decided that since I was really struggling, I would start with the introduction diet. It became clear quite fast that almost all of the recipes she includes in the book aren't really for the introduction diet but are more for the full GAPS diet. If I need guidance it is in the introduction diet. I felt like this is where the book could have been much stronger. The stages are laid out for you but it doesn't really give you a good feeling of what you might cook. I just wanted a few suggestions to get me started. I had to find this somewhere else. She also lists vegetables you can eat on the different stages of the intro diet and it has etc. That is so so helpful. I need a list not a partial list I want the whole list.

Over all I do think the diet is good for healing a gut or digestive system that is in need of that. I'm doing much better and I haven't even made it through the introduction diet yet. However, there are still some things that haven't gone away yet and I wonder how much time I need to give before I try something different.

I would recommend this book to people struggling with digestive and gut issues that the medical community doesn't understand. 

Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke

Title: Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear The Clutter, Find Your Life
Author: Gail Blanke
Type: Audiobook (abridged)
Narrator: Gail Blanke
Genre: Self-Improvement
Series: No
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5


Summary: from GoodReads.

Throw Out Fifty Things is truly an eye-opener. According to Blanke, our lives are so filled with junk from the past—from dries up tubes of crazy glue to old grudges—that it's a wonder we can get up in the morning, never mind get to work, care for our children and parents, and just put one foot in front of the other. Blanke wants to start a movement across America of people throwing out fifty things (magazines count as only one!) that will help liberate us from the stuff—both physical and mental—that clutters our lives. It’s the physical stuff that keeps us from being happy and calm in our house—not to mention keeps us from finding our keys in the morning! And it's the clutter in our mind that drags us down and holds us back from living the life we want to live. Blanke takes us through each room in the house and helps us get rid of 'toxic' possessions that remind us of failed relationships, bad jobs, etc., then she'll help us figure out what to keep so we can move forward and find out who we really are!

Feelings: 
Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke was not an exceptionally good book. The audiobook was abridged for which I am grateful. At times I wondered what was cut to make this the abridged version because it still felt clunky and cluttered with examples.

What this book did well was give motivation and guidelines to get up off the couch and do. In this case getting rid of the clutter both physical and mental. She is much better at telling us how to let go of the physical objects than the mental ones. She suggests or tells us to start by getting rid of the physical stuff and start one room at a time. Here the instructions are pretty clear. If you have to think about whether or not you should keep it you should let it go. Also, by no means should you throw out someone else's things. Darn, I was so looking forward to keeping all of my stuff and trashing others...just joking.

When it comes to helping us let go of mental things she is far less helpful. Saying, now that you got rid of all that stuff it should be a lot easier to let of of the mental stuff. She gives hints like you will have to keep reminding yourself not to do these things or you will have to work at it. That just isn't all that useful when it comes to letting go of mental things. She does provide lots of examples here too. this was when I was really grateful for them. Maybe this is when you would need to actually meet with her in person and have her council you through the process of mentally letting go. I'm not sure I would feel confident that talking would help that much more if she can't give a good explanation in the book. The examples of people who did changed or let go of mental bag are what inspire others to try.

If this wasn't a self-improvement, motivational, get up off the couch and stop thinking about doing it and actually do it kind of book I don't think I would have finished listening to it. The style of the writing was a bit much at times and it was helpful in the doing but not really written in a way that I enjoyed. At times I found it slightly annoying to listen to and I think reading would have evoked the same feelings.

What this book in audio form does do is start giving you the tools to get started on uncluttering your life and deciding what is really important to us. I know for myself that it can be hard to let go of things as well as to figure out why I don't want to let go of them. This book starts to give us the tools to let go of what we don't need physically and to mentally let go and redefine who we are, to reflect who we want to be.