Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincolns Killer by James L. Swanson.

A movie hero became the moving hero after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. For once, he fired not the dummy shots, but the ones that will give him fame and place in World History in general and American History in particular. The entire Nation was the audience for this movie. John Wilkes Booth knew that death was following him; perhaps his final acting assignment came to the end, on the 12th day of the ‘shooting!’ The author’s thesis in his book is simple and direct: Why John Wilkes Booth did what he did? Was it the spontaneous overflow of his deep anguish over the policies of the President? The assassin had just twelve days to live after he shot the President; the security forces chasing did   shoot him; but before that they burnt he barn in which he was hiding! The author’s perspective: The author James L. Swanson, will not get another subject matter like this, may God forbid! The man who was killed and the man who killed him, both wee well known personalities in their respective areas. The statesman-politician versus the versatile movie-man! The assassin was a famous, handsome actor, who otherwise commanded lots of respect. The ‘Booth Capturing’ ordeal lasted for 12 days, from April 14 to 26, 1865. The chase was a thriller; it would beat the best stunt and war movie as for the sequence of events! The author describes how the sympathetic individuals tried to save the killer and how he was finally outsmarted by the security forces! Swanson has written the book with a terrific sense of involvement. He has given a very interesting book and from the point of view of writing style, he gives total justice to the tragic subject. Why not! He is a member of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and must have sieved through the vast literature available on the life, death and after -death sequence of events related to the greatest President of USA, Abraham Lincoln. The man who initiated the Civil War for a great cause, and the man who rejoiced and applauded with open heart, its conclusion! The Nation then must have waited with bated breath as for the day to day hunt for the killer and heaved the sigh of relief when the assassin met with the gory end. On April 26, when Booth refused to surrender, troops set the barn in which he was hiding, on fire. Sergeant Boston Corbett shot the assassin. After a few hours at sunrise, Booth died. April 26-27 Booth's body was brought back to Washington, autopsied, photographed, and buried in a secret grave.   Ã‚  He got what he deserved. Lincoln deserved more to enjoy the fructification of his ideals. But destiny played its part. They say, â€Å"It is better to deserve without receiving, than to receive without deserving!† The theme of the novel is great! How the author handles the theme is even greater, which evokes unending curiosity. The level of detachment achieved by the author in handling a highly sensitive action-packed subject is commendable. Without giving room for too much sentimentalism, the various grim situations manifest clearly, grow and attain new dimensions. The book deserves an outstanding position and grade on account of this approach. It is not a book; it is the triumph! Conclusion: The action of John Wilkes Booth can not be termed as spontaneous. He wished to avenge the defeat of the South. His heart was the abode of racial hatred. On April 14, 1865 around noon Booth got the information that Lincoln was coming to Ford’s Theatre that night. Within eight hours he had prepared his plan of assassination. This shows that the decision to kill Lincoln was not spontaneous. He was mentally prepared for that, much earlier. The book is the story of the manhunt, but in a book of about 400 pages, Lincoln’s death occurs in page 139. Lots of related backgrounder information is provided in the book. It has all the qualities of mystery, history, detective story and tragedy. It is the delight of the psycho-analyst.                                                                     

Computer Virus Expository

Computer Virus â€Å"A true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance. † Computer virus has now become widespread. It’s almost everywhere in every computer. It is one of the major problems of the computer users. Viruses are like the disease of the computer. Letting the virus in it can cause harm or even destroy all files stored in the computer. Virus infection costs millions even billions of money if virus penetrates into major servers like government database system, bank and airport systems.Computer virus can destroy, control or even steal information without the knowledge of the user. There are three kinds of computer virus. First kind is the Trojan horse; it pretends to be a legitimate program. It attaches itself to a program then executes itself. Named after the Greek army’s tactic of hiding their soldiers in a giant wooden horse. This virus does not multiply but rather make the computer’s protection weaker and more susceptible to other threats. Second kind is the worm, is has a self replicating ability that spreads itself through computer network.It search for loopholes in the network copies itself and reaches another computer in the network. This kind of virus invades the kernel of the computer that makes it halt and become slow. It replicates in drastic number that make duplicates of files that cause confusion in the computer user. The third kind is the malware; it is a malicious program that steals information from the computer and the user. Steal personal information like bank accounts, credit card numbers and other information that can be used against you. This information is being used by hackers to generate money and make fraud.The program also downloads other files and viruses into the computer. There are also other kind, unusual kind of viruses that is less encountered by common computer users. These viruses may be found in corporations and companies for conspiracy. This is the rabbit/wabbit and the logic bombs. The rabbit also known as wabbit is a kind of virus that copies itself and sends twice through the ASP output stream. It copies itself in drastic number that makes the system clog, become slower and make the files more difficult to remove/delete.Cleaning of the infected system was became a long and complicated process. The other kind is the logic bomb, virus that acts like a time bomb. It is a piece of code intentionally inserted into a program or software system that will set-off malicious functions when certain conditions are met. The code is hidden in program and software written by hackers. Certain logic bombs sometimes execute at certain payloads or at pre-defined time like Friday of the 13th and April fool’s day (April 1st).Trojans that activates on certain dates are also called time-bombs. There are tips and trick that can be done to prevent the infection of the computer by viruses. First is to set-up your computer. Consider running a firewall on the co mputer. Also install an antivirus program. Regularly update the operating system and antivirus software, and delete all unnecessary files and programs. Second is on downloading files and email attachments. Be careful of opening files from untrusted sources. Always scan the file before opening.Also be aware that email attachments are also a source of computer viruses and last, be knowledgeable about viruses and the behavior of the computer. Computer virus is one of the major problems of the computer users. It can destroy, control or even steal information. Virus infection can be prevented by being aware of the viruses, about its behavior and the things that it can do. Always remember that a virus cannot spread by itself without human assistance. So be aware and be knowledgeable in all things that you don in computer. Think before you click.

Healthcare Benefits Essay

Identify and discuss the various types of private and/or social insurance available in and through your state and local government. Relate the application of social insurance to consumers based on their social and economic status using the profiles listed below. For which demographic(s) do gaps exist in your area? You can use the Internet and sites such as www. cms. gov for statistical data by state to locate this information. Do you feel it’s the government’s role to provide health insurance for these individuals? Why? Support your answers with research and reasoning. 1. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance 2. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes 3. A bank teller who has just been laid off 4. A homeless individual 5. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment I live in Richmond, VA. The various types of private and social insurances available through our state and local government are Aetna, Anthem, Carefirst, Celtic, Kaiser Permanente, Optima Health, and United Health One are some of the leading health insurances in Virginia. 6. A child of parents who do not have private health insurance: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. An elderly WWII veteran with diabetes: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicare. 8. A bank teller who has just been laid off: In Virginia this consumer would receive unemployment benefits. 9. A homeless individual: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. 10. A college student who has just graduated without a guaranteed employment: In Virginia this consumer would receive Medicaid. Where I currently live there are gaps in the demographic when it comes to the elderly WWII veteran because there are many war veterans in my area that are homeless and are seen on the streets begging for money. In all of the places I have been, I see this predominantly in Richmond, VA. The government should have a better grasp on who is a veteran and provide these people with the benefits they deserve for fighting for our country. I do believe the government should be responsible for the people who are struggling, but not for the people who take advantage of the system. There are many people who need help, either because they are in a bad situation or because they are physically incapable of helping themselves. These people should most definitely receive aid from the government; healthcare is a huge thing not to have. People lose their lives every day from not being covered by health insurance. In our text Medicare and Medicaid are described like this, â€Å"Although the expansionist social policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society in the 1960s are credited with development of the largest social health insurance programs this country has ever known, now known as Medicare and Medicaid, the seeds of these programs were actually sown by Congress during the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. At a time when private health insurance coverage was increasingly being provided for workers by their employers, the elderly had virtually no such coverage and yet were the group in society with the largest health costs and often the most limited financial resources. The ultimate passage of the Kerr-Mills Act by Congress in 1960 provided for federal matching grants to the states for a new category of â€Å"medically indigent† individuals, but still did not cover elders other than those who had become poor. However, this piece of legislation played a pivotal role as the precursor to Medicaid. It was actually President John F. Kennedy, backed by senior interest groups and supported by labor unions and nurses, who proposed the first Medicare bill to Congress in 1962 in keeping with his strong belief in the need for federal health care for the elderly. Although this measure was defeated by legislative opponents in the Senate, it did serve to raise public awareness of the issues and thus to build future public support. This set the stage for President Johnson to utilize his considerable political popularity, legislative liaisons, and persuasiveness in small groups (such as the AMA) to lead the charge for passage of the Medicare and Medicaid legislation in 1965.

M5 Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

M5 Reflection - Essay Example In trying to work with schools, parents face various challenges as in some cases they are not given a chance to participate wholly in the activities that affect the student regardless of the academic goals they may have for their children. Parents seek to be more involved in the classroom and the school through ensuring what their involvement in what the students learn in school by encouraging two-way communications with the learning institution (Epstein, 2007). The parents can increase the participation of the community in the activities of the school or the community through arranging flexible time for volunteers, making sure leadership roles have been filled by parents and providing information on time among other activities (Marshall & Toohey, 2010). The parents should be able to believe in and make a commitment to including all the stakeholders including the school and the community to create a collaborative learning community, which can promote academic achievement for everyone. The parents should further value and have a commitment to implementing shared visions with the school and the community so that they can promote lifelong learning for the students as well as the community in

HRD assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HRD assignment - Research Paper Example Introduction There are a range of evaluation theories that can confuse new practitioners and learners who intend to grasp on ways of evaluating programs. Examples of these evaluation theories include; goal free, empowerment, utilization- focused, and developmental (Lisa, 2006). The different forms of evaluation sprout from the same base of social accountability, social inquiry, and fiscal control (Valerie, 2004). From this base, evaluation orientations further branches out into three main areas; use, methods, and valuing. It is from these branches, various evaluation perspectives from various thought leaders get obtained. These perspectives get to offer learners and researchers on the various evaluation methods, their application, and how to align themselves with the evaluation orientation that best matches their program context or values (Darlene, 2008). It is vital that evaluators get to understand the cross cutting evaluation theories and terminology that is available for the stak eholders. It is vital that new and skilled evaluators get to determine and understand what the various evaluation theories or methods are for. Purpose of evaluation theories and methods Evaluation theory serves various purposes. However, its vital function is to act as a guide to practice. It is incomprehensible to learn on the latest methodological advancement without understanding the relevant evaluation theory concerned (Eleanor, 2013). This situation creates a scenario where evaluators get to learn what to do without understanding why or when to do what they do. It is vital that a good evaluator gets to understand the evaluation theories so that they can choose and employ the appropriate methods. Evaluation theories assist the evaluators past simply making good judgments on what kind of methods to employ but rather under what situations, and towards what kinds of evaluation influence. First off, evaluation theories help to bring back prior experience and thus consolidate lessons learned. Evaluation theories can help evaluators to posses a sophisticated and deep understanding of how organizations carry out their decisions and get influenced by evaluation findings (Lisa, 2006). Knowledge of the theories assists evaluators to learn from other people or organizations experiences. Evaluators who fail to grasp the knowledge of evaluation theories risk repeating past mistakes, which also leave them vulnerable to failure to sustaining and building on past successes. Secondly, the comparison of evaluation theories assists those in the field in determining and understanding the vital areas that illicit debate within the field. Through comparison of the evaluation theories, one gets to determine the gaps present within the field and how they affect their field. This comparative look at the evaluation theories assists evaluators to garner on what issues remains unsettled and elusive in their field of practice (Sung, 2002). Undertaking a look at the different theories present in the field assists the practitioners to obtain different perspectives on what the purpose of evaluation is or how it should get employed. Thirdly, it is vital that evaluators get to embody the knowledge of evaluation theories such that it becomes a part of their identity. Evaluation theory in its embodiment is the basis and core of becoming an evaluator (Valerie, 2004). The knowledge of ev

English Coursework - Questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

English - Questions - Coursework Example (Point #8) What’s the difference between class drilling and individual drilling? Are some language items more suitable for drilling than others? Which students might respond well to drilling and which might not? (Point #10) Would all kinds of writing practice be suitable for all kinds of students? How would the writing the writing you give to business people differs from the writing you give to school students? Is there any point in giving EAP students story-writing practice? Not all writing need to be done long – what kinds of writing would you give to people wanting to learn English for a holiday trip to England? ( Point#11) Which of the vocabulary methods do you think more useful? Why? What other strategies for teaching vocabulary are you aware? Describe each of the five points chosen. (Point 6) Listening to the radio to get the weather; listening to a television program that offers Bible study, and attending a seminar listening to information on job related material is a hearing/listening activity I do daily. Checking my emails for both academic and social communication; reading a magazine in the doctor’s office that provided information on the latest break through in treating different medical conditions; reviewing a study Power Point to work on an academic paper, are different examples of reading and listening for information I may accomplish on any given day.I think it is pretty amazing how much information we receive everyday and equally amazing how many sources it comes from. I think this Point to Consider just wants you to ‘notice’ how many different mediums of information we are exposed to everyday and understand how daunting it must be for someone learning another language to take it all in and make sense of it. (Point7 )Preparing questions for review for students having read a novel versus those prepared for students having read a short story takes into account a broader perspective. With a novel, the questions mig ht include what is the theme; what is the tone; what is the setting. Using deduction and inference applies to students reading a novel and answering questions about the reading. When students are provided questions ahead of a short reading of entertainment sections of a paper such as who, what, where, when, and why then they have an opportunity to use scanning the way native speakers use it to get specific information from smaller pieces of text. I agree. Here are some other types of questions to consider. Some of these are more applicable to one particular genre than the other. Analylitical: Tear the text apart piece by piece. Evaluating: Expressing judgment Inference: Being able to read between the lines, to understand something without having it written out. Synthesizing: Pulling the text together. Valuing: Making a choice, preferring one over the other. View Point: Who is telling the story? How would the story be different if it were told by X instead of Y? (Point 8)Both beginni ng and advanced students benefit from drilling when kept to two minute exercises that challenge answers by asking questions as part of the drill. Using drilling individually focuses on the student for answers while class drilling can involve everyone answering a question. Either way, the use of drilling is only effective when it involves having students respond to a specific inquiry rather than repeating what is said. Repeating what an instructor says is useful for beginning work one on one with a student or in having individuals repeat the

Discourse Community Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Discourse Community Analysis - Essay Example The way the group looked at Anne as she went towards them showed that they were not in the least bit interested in making friends with her. They did not reach out to make her feel welcome. The group being members of the church should have been gracious to welcome her since Anne happens to be the visitor. In fact when Anne reached out to them one turned her back to Anne to block her from communicating with the rest. These actions distinctly showed Anne that she does not belong to the group. The words â€Å"From what church are you from?† could have meant something positive like they want to get to know her more and possibly become friends but the succeeding remark, â€Å"But your Minister Rinaldi, is a foreigner, right?† and the negative intonation showed disapproval. Even if Anne mentioned that their churches were affiliates, they still didn’t accept Anne as part of their group. Their intention to disassociate from Anne can further be seen when they left her and they did not show interest if she followed them or not. The way they looked at Anne from under their noses and when they emphasized about Minister Rinaldi being a foreigner shows that they feel that they are higher in stature than Anne and Minister Rinaldi. It appears the women do not approve of the foreigner being a Minister for whatever reason and they also do not approve of Anne for being part of that Foreign Minister’s church. The group uses non verbal actions to show people they do not like their true feelings for them. They do not want to easily admit people in their tight circle. They would really try to make one feel the odd one out. They initially tried pushing Anne away by not reaching out to her, by moving and turning ones back to her, and by not letting her finish her sentences. They made their final point when they finally left her without cordially saying farewell. They are typical people who want to make a stand but prefer not to say things

Artist Report Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Artist Report - Research Paper Example Approaching Noise is done in oil upon a 40 x 34 inch wood panel. The woman in the painting is a brunette with her hair pulled back into a bun. The light skinned model has her arms crossed over her chest to prevent the olive green military style shirt from falling down. She is in a subtle, serene mood as she looks towards the ground in wonderment. The model is standing in front of a whitewashed grey wall with letting and numbers upon the wall behind her. The light that falls upon the model comes from the upper right, in front of the model. The hues used in the painting show the realism that the viewer seems to be immersed in when looking at the painting. The realism shown by Kassan in this painting has a photorealistic quality to it. One could almost reach out and touch the model as though she was standing right in front of the viewer. The realism also allows us to interpret that her skin is soft and looks to be in her mid 20s wearing pink nail polish. Also, the gradation of the painting seems subtle and continuous like a person would see in real life and stark and in contrast in the same way as though a person were blocking the light from another source. There are two places in the painting that seem to flow away from the focal point of her face. Her eyes seem to bring the viewer to follower what she is looking at by going towards the bottom of the painting. Furthermore, you can also follow the flow of her hair as you see the strands of hair pulled back into the bun atop the back of her head. He uses the asymmetrical balance of the human body and draws upon the fact that not all painting has to be symmetrically balanced to be a great work of art. The words on the wall to her right seem to balance out the space taken up by the model on the left side of the painting. Approaching Noise allows the viewer to feel as though they are standing in the studio with Kassan as he is working with his subject on this particular painting with the amount of time

You are called to a small terraced house where a man in his 80s has Essay

You are called to a small terraced house where a man in his 80s has fallen. He is unsure about what happened but his carer indicates that he has a long and complex medical history - Essay Example Older adults are vulnerable to various health issues. Due to their advanced age, they are also likely to suffer from chronic diseases which require full-time care (Poon, et.al., 2003, p. 53). They are also vulnerable to senile dementia which compromises their memory and their normal mental functions. Communicating with these patients can be a major challenge. Moreover, health care interventions cannot be implemented in their behalf without an adequate and accurate assessment carried out on their person (Poon, et.al., 2003, p. 54). However, with limitations in the communication process, the assessment, planning, and treatment of the patient may be compromised. It is possible however to make an accurate review and assessment of the patient based on his current conditions, and based on a review of his history and current health care needs (Poon, et.al., 2003, p. 54). A discussion of these issues can also provide adequate strategies to address the health care needs of the patient. Moreov er, through the application of adequate communication strategies, it is possible to secure a thorough and appropriate plan for the patient’s care. Informed consent and its various applications are part of the core values of health care delivery. There are however specific problems which can be seen when working with vulnerable groups (Milligan, 2011). For those with disabilities or with health issues which limit the application of informed consent, informed consent is still possible and the health care giver still has the obligation to ensure that such consent is gained from the patient. In instances when a patient is unable to make a fully informed decision or does not have the mental capacity to make a decision, the Mental Capacity Act of 2005 must apply. In these instances, the care giver must consult with specific persons, and gain their advice in relation to the patient’s care, as well as what the patient’s

The Impact of Sporting Events on Stock Markets Essay

The Impact of Sporting Events on Stock Markets - Essay Example If however the overall mood in the country is elated it often reflects in investment decisions and in return in the stock markets. At the advent of any mega sporting contest there is an increase in economic activity in the host country. Months before the event actually start, stadiums are built or renovated, roads are paved, investment is made in horticulture and in general a lot of hustle and bustle takes place. This way the major beneficiaries include developers, building material, engineering and construction companies. Sportswear and sporting equipment vendors enjoy amplified sales. Weeks prior to the event, air fares shoot up, hotel occupancy rises, restaurants get more business and in some cases, even cell phone companies enjoy greater sales and when the event actually starts consumer companies in general gain. In addition to this, media related revenues pick up prior to such mega sporting events. Sponsorship rates, advertising charges all increase promoting the media industry as a whole. In the cricket crazy nations of the Indian Subcontinent 75% of the sports-related advertising revenues are generated through cricket events1. In major sporting contests like Olympics and Soccer world cup, awarding or winnng the contest can greatly affect national pride. In the Indian Subcontinent, a cricket match of the World Cup between arch rivals India and Pakistan, can tremendously effect the general public's mood. The matches seem more like mini wars. The entire country backs its national team and so it can alleviate the investor mood therefore when his team wins, his self-confidence rises and so does his willingness to undertake new investments, and a loss may results in lower self-confidence and a curb new investment activity. One of the major events in the sporting industry, Olympics, strongly effect economic activity in the host country. . If we go back in history and look at the past 11 Olympics, the local index of the host country has risen 25 percent on average in the 12 months before the Games year. Table 12 indicates stock market performance in the year prior to the games among the six most recent Olympics hosts1 Year Host Country Index Impact (%) 1984 USA S&P 17 1988 Korea Kospi 90 1992 Spain IBEX 33 1996 USA S&P 33 2000 Australia ASX 14 2004 Greece ASE 29 Research by Edmans (2006) indicates that losses in critical soccer matches, elimination from the World Cup tournament is linked with a next-day return on the national stock market index that is 38 basis points lower than average. Similar losses are also seen in other sports like cricket, rugby and basketball but the impact is minor in size. Research by Wann (1994) shows that if teams perform well, their fans show a strong positive reaction and a similar negative reaction when the reverse is the case. Such mood swings may effect the stock market index. The decision of where a major sporting tournament will take place also holds significance. In 2006, South African stocks nose dived when the world soccer governing body FIFA declared Germany as the hosts of the tournament. This was primarily because majority of the South Africans believed that their country would be awarded the honor of hosting the World Cup. The general gloom in the country was reflected in the stock market. Subsequently, stocks in the building and industrial sector, construction

Final exam ( very important to finish on time ) Essay - 1

Final exam ( very important to finish on time ) - Essay Example As an example, legacy applications are software designed and implemented in the previous decade and have limited functionality. At the same time, web applications use the latest programming techniques, gather inputs from a variety of sources and offer many new functionalities, features and modules (p. 16-17). Hence, the same approach of software engineering cannot be applied to them. Prototyping model is a part of the prescriptive process model and is a part of the evolutionary process model. In prototyping, the customer defines a general set of objectives for functions and features. The developer then uses these requirements as the basis, identifies the requirements and then creates a prototype model for the software that is further refined until the final product is ready (p. 43-44). The prototype model is used to develop applications used by a organizations in different sectors namely, banking, insurance, manufacturing and retail. As an example, banking applications have requirements such as registering the customer, assigning an account number for each customer and tracking their account related activities. On the other hand, a manufacturing firm produces a small range of products with a fixed number of parts. In this case, the prototype model must allow the organization to track each part, assist the marketing department in sales, aid the accounts departmen t to carry out billing and so on (p. 45). The Manifesto for Agile Development has the objective of finding better ways of developing software and it is based on four values (p. 65). However, some situations can arise that can vitiate the development procedure and create trouble for the software team. These possible situations are briefly discussed as follows. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools: Process and tools specify protocols and methods in which they

Chemistry of Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Chemistry of Chocolate Essay Chocolate is made from the cacao bean. According to Rodney Lipson, â€Å"Cacao has been a cultivated crop for at least three thousand years, probably quite a bit more. The people who first utilized Cacao were the inhabitants of what is now Venezuela† (Lipson) This group of people would eventually spread the cacao bean in northwestern South America. Cacao was clearly highly valued by these people and they spread it northward through trade with their neighbors. It was probably the Maya, over 1500 years ago, who brought Cacao to Yucatan in what is now Mexico. The Aztecs who got Cacao from the Maya, used Cacao in a number of ways, one common way was as a bitter spice in food and possibly also as a base for pasta or bread, but the most well-known way that Cacao was as a drink. While the Maya drank Chocolate hot, the Aztecs seem to have often taken it cold. The Aztecs called the drink, and apparently the bean as well, Xocoatl. From this word comes the pan-European word Chocolate. When Europeans first made contact with the Aztec civilization, Cacao was being cultivated and used extensively. The Spanish Conquistadors quickly noticed the benefits of Chocolate and used it to keep their armies marching long distances with little food. From the Aztecs the Spanish took it to Europe. Chocolate was widely used in Catholic countries after 1569 when Pope Pius V declared that Chocolate, the drink, did not break the fast, despite the hearty nutritional aspects of Chocolate† (Lipson). Chocolate continued to be moved from country to country through trade and exploration. Soon chocolate found its way into America, and according to Lipson, â€Å"In 1900 Milton Snavely Hershey, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania, began producing milk-chocolate bars and kisses with great success. He was anti-alcohol and saw Chocolate as a good, profitable alternative. His empire grew even larger during World War I, when Milton Hershey encouraged the US Army to add four Hershey bars to each soldiers daily ration† (Lipson). Because of Hershey, chocolate was now affordable for everyone, and his methods of making chocolate are still used today. Peter’s chocolate tells us that chocolate is made by, â€Å"storing the cacao beans in silos or warehouse. These rooms are well aired, kept at cool temperature and the humidity regularly checked. Before the production stage, the beans are sorted and cleaned. Cocoa does not acquire the richness of its color and the fullness of its flavor until it is roasted. The degree of care given to this operation has considerable influence on the ultimate quality of the end product either cocoa powder or chocolate. When roasting is complete, the beans are cooled and their thin shells removed by a winnowing machine. The husked and winnowed beans are called nibs. Heres where the first secrets of the chocolate manufacturer come in. The nibs are blended, combining as many as eight to ten varieties. It is control of these subtle mixtures that maintains a constant quality and brings out the flavor of each particular variety of chocolate. The roasted and winnowed nibs then pass through refining mills and are ground. The heat generated by grinding causes the cocoa butter or fat to melt and form a fine paste or liquid known as chocolate liquor. This goes to large hydraulic presses which remove most of the cocoa butter. The cake which is left may eventually be made into cocoa powder. The cake goes through several processes in which it is crushed, milled and finely sifted. After the cocoa paste, cocoa butter, milk, sugar and additional flavorings have been carefully weighed out in accordance with the recipe, they go into a mixer where rotating, kneading arms thoroughly mix all the ingredients. The result is a homogeneous, paste-like mixture which is already pleasant to taste, but still feels gritty to the palate. The chocolate is put in a conching machine. While in the machine, the chocolate turns over in the conching machine, a controlled amount of air ventilates the mass, allowing the full aroma and flavor to develop. The still-warm conched chocolate is placed in a tempering machine so that it can be slowly and steadily cooled. The tempering prevents separation in the chocolate when its filled into bar molds and hardens† (Peter’s). This results in the average chocolate bar.

A case study on a domestic violence intervention

A case study on a domestic violence intervention Working with Individuals AGENCY PROFILE The student social worker is placed with Bharatiya Mahila Federation (BMF). Bharatiya Mahila Federation (BMF) is an all-India organization women’s mass organization, working with the victims of Domestic Violence. BMF was established by many leaders including Aruna Asaf Ali. Mahila Samasya Nivaaran Kendras (Family Counseling Centers for Women) are located in Thane, Kalyan, and Bhiwandi. In the purview of socially relevant issues, it also takes care of the education of the slum children through a non-formal approach towards education, under the name of ‘Disha Classes’. BMF has vigorously campaigned against female foeticide. It is also working in tandem with Malati Vaidya Trust to start a Resource Center in Ganeshwadi, Badlapur. The student works with the Family Counselling Center in Thane. The center is run by para-professionals, some of whom were themselves victims at some point in time. CASE For the purpose of explanation of the various aspects of working with individuals, the student will like to mention the case of a 30 year old women named Sanaa (name changed). Sanaa is Muslim by religion and was married off at the age of 26 as her husband’s second wife. He remarried after giving divorce to his first wife. Sanaa is residing with her parents, brother and sister-in-law in Mumbra. She has four children. The first two are twin daughters and one of them named Aalia(name changed) is intellectually challenged because of the injuries inflicted on Sanaa during pregnancy. The other daughter named Nazia was forcefully taken away by her father Khalid with him since unlike the first daughter she is normal. Clearly, the father has left the entire responsibility of the child who is intellectually- challenged on the mother, without giving any maintenance from his side. The third child, who is a boy, Naseer (name changed), is physically challenged and can’t walk normally . The fourth child, Ali, is 7 months and is chronically ill has been hospitalized many times. Sanaa approached the agency’s Family Counselling Centre. She complained of being beaten up by her husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law and the atrocities committed against her at the time of her pregnancy. Due to the injuries, she had a miscarriage the first time she got pregnant. The agency wanted the trainee to do a home-visit and verify the facts. The home visit revealed that the client is staying in a chawl in unhygienic conditions. The trainee interviewed the client and her mother. Her husband has refused to accept her and the children back and wants a divorce, but Sanaa wants to stay with him. Her husband has put a condition that he will let her come back only if she and her family give in writing that they will not file a police complaint against him and will not approach any NGO/agency for further help as they did earlier. Sanaa wants to be with him despite all the physical and mental tortures that her husband makes her go through. She does not wish to burden her parents with her and her children’s responsibility. As far as her education his concerned, she has obtained education till the secondary level. Before marriage, she used to teach kids of the primary level. The trainee tried to counsel her that staying with her husband would not change h er conditions. Instead she should file a case on him demanding maintenance for herself and her kids. The trainee also suggested that she takes up a job. Before a case could be filed, the trainee paid a visit to her husband to come for a meeting at the agency but he refused to all efforts of negotiation and said that he will confront her directly in the court. Later on, when the student called her up to know her decision about filing the case, she said she was ready to go ahead with it. Hence, she was asked to come for the meeting with the agency’s advocate on the given date. The advocate asked the trainee to submit Sanaa’s case history so that the petition could be filed in the court. The student social worker also figured out that Sanaa’s case has a lot of scope of medical intervention apart from assistance at the legal level. While the trainee was planning the further course of action for the case, the client took up a teaching job in a neighbourhood school in her locality. This indeed came as a happy news for the trainee as it reflected that mere triggering an idea can actually motivate the client to help herself. The client was also encouraged to further continue her studies. For the medical help for Sanaa’s kids, the trainee decided to take them to a BMC Hospital. After waiting in the queue for two-and-half hours outside the OPD for Skin Diseases, Naseer was diagnosed, medicines were prescribed and the doctor asked to bring him in the coming week for follow-up. The prescribed medicines were not available in the hospital’s pharmacy. So, the medicines were bought from outside. Naseer was also examined for his swollen abdomen. The doctor told that there is a doubt of him suffering from Langerhans cell Histiocytosis (LCH) and hence he needs to be admitted. Sanaa was apprehensive about admitting Naseer, since she would not be able to afford it. The trainee could observe an expression of fear on her face. It was time for the trainee to counsel her about the urgent need to get her son admitted. On the way back home, while talking to the client, the trainee found out that Sanaa’s mother wants her to quit the teaching job since its taking a l ot of her time and it becomes difficult for her mother to handle three kids when Sanaa’s is out for work in the afternoon school. As an alternative, her mother had suggested her to take up tailoring work. For the same, she expressed the need for a sewing machine. So now, there was a need to look for a donor for Naseer’s treatment and for the machine. The supervisor suggested that Sanaa’s case can be referred to another organization who is involved into such kind of work. After brainstorming, the trainee decided to refer Sanaa’s case to MESCO – an organization in Mumbra. The visit to MESCO turned out to be quite fruitful. In the meeting with its representatives, it was planned that the after submitting required documents the financial assistance would be provided for Naseer’s treatment. However, one constraint was that MESCO provides help only on first three days of every month so the trainee had to really pace up the process of arranging all the documents. For Sanaa’s tailoring venture, the representative mentioned that she will have to appear for a skill test after which she would be given a sewing machine. The documentation process can actually kill a lot of time and the trainee already had limited one in hand, since the end of the field work for the year was approaching. After running from post-to-post for one signature from the doctor at the hospital, trainee had a cost certificate in hand which turned out to be of no use since the social worker at the hospital asked to get another one for the total estimated cost of treatment, running around for which was postponed to another week by the doctor. In the meantime, the student was struggling with herself as to find a way to convince the client to get her son admitted. Every week he was falling ill and the medicine for the skin disease seemed to have an effect only in the first week. Follow-ups to the doctor after that did not make much of a difference. This led the trainee to ponder as to why this was happening and the speculation was that it is possible that the skin disease could be a symptom of LCH. After reading up on LCH, the doub t was confirmed. For weeks, Naseer was being treated for the symptom! But now the field work year was over! So what should one do in such a situation? The client cannot be left midway in the helping process. It raises a lot of ethical issues. STAGES IN WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS 1. Social Study 2. Social Assessment 3. Intervention 4. Termination 5. Evaluation The initial description of the case is clearly a Social Study of Sanaa’s case. Social Study is a systematic study of the client and her/his circumstances in relation to her/his problem Information is collected and organised with regard to the following: Problems (the initially stated problem and associated problems if any), Age, sex, marital status, Educational qualification, Nature of employment, income, Health conditions, Personality features, Home and neighbourhood, Family constellation, Family history (significant events, attitudes,relationships, etc.). Sanaa’s case was constantly assessed for the purpose of necessary intervention. Each course of action had to be simultaneously evaluated to check for loopholes. However, the case cannot be called to have reached the termination. But the intervention done so far has proved to be be fruitful to the extent that Sanaa took up a job on her when encouraged and motivated. The trainee could locate an organization who could p rovide her with a machine for starting tailoring work and fund the treatment of her child. Naseer did receive some OPD treatment, which revealed the need for a long term treatment. The trainee was also able to facilitate the process of providing legal assistance to the client. TOOLS TECHNIQUES Tools can be defined as the ways through which a particular profession, occupation or form of trade is practiced. In social casework, tools are the means of establishing and developing contact with the clients. Through casework tools, one can have access to the information about the client, her concerns, her family, her environment. The student made use of all the five casework tools, namely, Listening, Observation, Relationship, Home-Visit and Interview. According to Grace Mathew, the last three tools mentioned here, are the channels to make the casework techniques operative. Mathew has defined casework techniques as the systematic procedures of helping. These are- Acceptance, Assurance, Facilitation of Expression of Feelings, ,Allaying overpowering feelings, Accrediting and Building Self-Confidence, Encouragement and Reassurance, Being with the Client, Emotional Support, Action-Oriented Support. Then Grace Mathew listed down certain other techniques for the purpose of enhancing res ources. These are – Providing or Procuring Material Help, Change of Physical Environment, Enhancing Information and Knowledge. There are also techniques for changing the internal processes- Counselling techniques (Reflective Discussion, Advice, Motivation, Clarification, and Correcting Perception), Anticipatory Guidance, Modelling, Role Playing, Reality Orientation, Remove Guilt Feelings and using them constructively, Interpretation, Partialisation, Universalisation, Setting Limits, Confrontation, Reaching Out, Renewing Family Links, Improving Communication Patterns, Changing Attitudes. Listening as a tool is effective only if it is active and attentive to understand the client’s emotions and to know what she/he is conveying. Effective listening is facilitated by maintaining an eye contact with the client. Distractions, wool gathering and selective listening obstruct the listening process. Observation is used in casework to note the client’s facial expression, body language and signs of uneasiness in the process of interaction with the client. Relationship between the worker an the client is a professional one and is positive in nature. The positivity of the relationship is manifest in the rapport the caseworker has with the client. Home Visit is an instrument, which enables the social worker to verify the facts of the case being handled. It also conveys a message to the client about the social worker’s interest in his/her welfare. Sometimes home-visits can be be highly revealing and at times, may change the shape of the course. The facts me be turned upside down. Interview facilitates face-to-face interaction between the caseworker and the client. The objectives in such an interaction are to obtain information from the client or to impart some to the client, to study and assess the situation of the client’s problem unique to her/him and to give assistance. Drawing from the above case, first of all the caseworker had to evoke the confidence of the client since the constant victimization to the domestic violence had made her doubt her own capabilities. The client had to be told that she can regain her lost confidence by keeping herself busy and taking up a job. She was encouraged and motivated enough to take up the teaching job again. The caseworker has been working towards making provision for material help for the treatment of kids and for the required equipment so that she can take up tailoring work at home. The caseworker did a lot of advocacy work in Sanaa’s case such as visiting the hospital for procuring the certificate, meeting with the referral organization’s representatives for seeking financial assistance for the client. Many counseling techniques as Correcting Perception, Advice, Removing Guilt Feelings, Universalisation were made use of. In the beginning, when the Home-Visit was made the caseworker advised Sana a on the way to come out of her situation, how the agency would facilitate the process. When her son was taken for treatment, so due to waiting in the long queues and the whole documentation process of OPD treatment, Sanaa started feeling guilty that why did she marry in the first place, had she not married she would not have had to face such problems. In such a situation, she had to be told that marriage was not the fault and she does not need to be guilty about something for which she is not responsible. She was married off to a man, the background and other details of whom were not at all confirmed by her family. As it came to the caseworker’s amazement while talking to the client’s mother, the latter used to see a girl frequently in the locality and got acquainted with her and on her proposal, married off her daughter to her brother. When the caseworker asked the client to get an income proof from her school, without which she would not have received financial assistance from the referral organization, she did not do so for weeks despite repeated reminders. The social worker had to then step in and find out what the matter was and what came out was that she had a misconception about it. The client th ought that if she would submit an income proof, then she would not be provided any help since, according to her, they may think if she is earning then she does not need help. The caseworker then had to correct her perception that the income proof is a formality and because her income is meager to afford the treatment of her son she would definitely be provided with financial assistance. Once the client was very thwarted with herself. At that time, the caseworker brought to light the examples of many other woman who have been and who are in worse situation than hers. THEORETICAL APPROACHES USED The student trainee made use of the Empowerment and Advocacy Approach. It has been said that empowerment seeks to help clients gain power of decision and action over their own lives by reducing the effect of social or personal blocks to existing power, by increasing capacity and self-confidence to use power and by transferring power from the environment to clients. Advocacy seeks to represent the interests of the powerless clients to powerful individuals and structures. For Furlong, empowerment is an essential objective of casework because it avoids a crude polarization of social action and individualized perspectives, placing work with individuals and families in a context of concern for social objectives. In 1994, Anderson et al, presented a model of empowerment for social development in Africa concerned with the five dimensions of practice: personal, social, educational, economic and political. These dimensions are intertwined with each other and looking at them so allows people t o meet individual needs (personal power), improve their capacity to influence others (interpersonal power), which in turn creates an ability to influence the power distribution more widely (political power). Rees came up with a set of ideas with regard to empowerment, viz., a) biography b) power c) Political understanding d) Skills e) Interdependence of Policy and Practice. For Rees, the basic aim of empowerment is social justice, greater security, political and social equality to people, through mutual support and shared learning. Kondrat emphasized upon the value of local knowledge, specifically the one coming from the clients. One intricacy of advocacy lies in the duality of its interrelated meanings of ‘representation’. The representation in advocacy is in term of the acting and arguing for the interests of the clients. However, for Phillip (1979), advocacy entails ‘representation’ in terms of interpreting and displaying the value of clients to the powe rful groups in the society. Advocacy, in part, is said to be an aspect of empowerment, since it can be used to argue for resources, or change the interpretation which powerful groups make of clients. Anderson’s model of empowerment was crucial for application in Sanaa’s case, since socio-economic, personal and educational aspects were focused upon at the level of assessment as well as intervention. The caseworker also made use of Rees’s understanding of empowerment in terms of the Skill enhancement. The client’s tailoring skills was tapped on to enable her choose a suitable livelihood option. Advocacy work was also done by initiating the process of legal assistance and facilitating the process of financial assistance by MESCO. CHALLENGES, DILEMMAS RESISTANCE One of the challenges encountered was that not all three kids could be taken for consultation together since no one from the client’s family could accompany her to the hospital. So there was a lack in terms of human resources. Social Case Work Practice is a huge responsibility, especially when any form of medical intervention is involved, especially, when one’s target system involves infants. Another challenge was the unavailability of the prescribed medicines in municipal hospital’s pharmacy. Those who cannot afford to buy the expensive medicines from outside are not even able to start the treatment. At the macro level, this remains a big loophole in the health care sector of the country. It is an obstacle for the low-income group in accessing health care services. This also paralyses the government health care sector at a very basic level. Looking for a donor or an organisation where Sanaa’s case could be referred for another challenge. The biggest ethical dilemma was about the leaving the treatment process midway. The follow-up in the case is being planned to overcome the dilemma. The client has been very resistant to the idea of admitting the child in the hospital despite repeated reassurance that the financial assistance would be taken care of.

The Effects Of Task Based Listening English Language Essay

The Effects Of Task Based Listening English Language Essay In the Malaysian educational context, the main purpose of English language instruction is to prepare learners for effective and efficient communication in English in their social and professional situations (Chitravelu et al, 1995, p.4). In many organizations, English is the main language of communication and one needs to be competent in English in order to succeed and advance in the respective organization. The importance of English language as a global language has always been a major motivating feature in the learning and use of the language in Malaysia especially as a medium to gain information in science and technology, commerce and trade as well as for entertainment and media. In April 2000, there was an issue highlighted in the mass media about the reasons behind the inability of some 39,000 graduates in the country to get a job. Tan Sri Musa Mohamad the Minister of Education at that time as quoted in the New Straits Times stated that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ employers did not just lo ok at ones qualification but also factors like personality, potential, English proficiency and experience. This implies that job seekers should try to achieve certain level of mastery of English to help them secure appropriate jobs particularly in private sector. Besides, job interviews for professional vacancies in critical fields like Law, Accountancy and Engineering are generally understood to be conducted in English (Hanapiah, 2004) In many contexts where English is regarded as a foreign as opposed to a second language, there are many problems in developing real communicative competence in learners including the ability to listen and comprehend properly. Brown and Yule (1983) believe that many language learners regard speaking skills as the criteria for knowing a language. They defined fluency as the ability to communicate with others much more than the ability to read, write and comprehend oral language. However, learning to talk in the foreign language is often considered to be one of the difficult aspects of language learning for the teacher to help students with. Unlike written language, it is also not easy to provide good models of spoken language for the foreign learners. According to Bygate (1987), one of the basic problems in foreign-language teaching is to prepare learners to be able to use the language. How the preparation is done and how successful it will be, are very much depending on how the teachers understand the aim of teaching the language (p.3). The main features of speaking which can be traced to the processing conditions of communication involve the time factor in which the words are being spoken as they are being decided and understood. The fact that the language is being spoken as it is being decided affects the speakers ability to plan and organize the message, and to control the language. Thus, mistakes often occur in the message and in the choice of words during a conversation (ibid. p12). 1.3 Objective The objective of the study is to investigate the effects of task-based listening activities on the speaking performance of FELDAs EFL learners. The difference in students speaking performance before and after undergoing the Task -Based Listening activities would be one of the main concerns in this study. A comparison will be drawn between the TBL and non TBL classes to see whether there is any difference in students speaking performance. Besides, students confidence to speak is another area of interest to be investigated in this study. It is hoped that the study will be able to identify any significant difference in students level of confidence to converse in English after undergoing the Task- based listening activities as compared to those who have not been exposed to the activities. Another objective of the study is to investigate FELDAs EFL learners attitude towards the implementation of the task-based listening activities. Expressions of either positive or negative feelings towards the task-based listening activities will reflect impressions of the effectiveness of the activities in enhancing students speaking skill. 1.2 Problem Statement Speaking is considered one of the most difficult language skills to acquire among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. In rural setting schools, particularly in the FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) scheme, there is a lack of exposure and communicative use of the English language. Most students regard English as serving very limited function once they leave the classroom and as such they hardly see the need to use it in their daily life. As in the classroom setting most EFL learners rather remain silent or resort to rote learning when they are required to respond to a speaking task. As such, it is a demanding task for language teachers to provide sufficient inputs for students to be competent speakers of English (Bygate, 1987). Students usually feel insecure about their level of English and face problems communicating as well as expressing themselves in the target language. As a result, they rather remain silent as they are in fear of making mistakes and do not show active participation in speaking lessons. Ian G. Malcolm (1987) refers to the guarded and taciturn behavior of students who refuse to speak as the shyness syndrome and that this problem has been reported of Polynesians in New Zealand, various American Indian groups, Hispanics in the United States, Black Americans and Southeast Asians. Malcolm quoting Tan (1976) and Salleh (1981) says that many pupils in Southeast Asian classrooms are bilinguals whose use of the classroom language is hesitant. Yap (1979) also quoted as saying that the frequent complaint mainly in secondary schools is that learners do not respond or take too long to respond, or speak too softly (cited in Gaudart ,2003, p.2) Emphasis should thus be given to address this problem as speaking is an important element in mastering English language. Therefore, it is important to explore new methods of teaching in order to enhance students speaking performance and confidence to use the language. 1.4 Research Questions The study attempts to answer the questions that follow: 1) What is the speaking performance of FELDA learners after undergoing task-based learning activities? 2) Do task-based listening activities enhance EFL students confidence to speak in English? 3) What are the attitudes of the FELDA EFL learners towards task-based listening activities in enhancing their speaking performance? 1.5 Significance of study The findings may provide language teachers with specific language teaching procedures to enhance ESL learners ability and confidence to communicate orally in English. Besides, in a wider scope, the study can also be used as the yardstick in designing supplementary materials to assist teachers in teaching speaking skill more effectively in the Malaysian classrooms. 1.6 Definitions of terms The following terms are significant in this study: 1.6.1 Task-based Listening Activities Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) or Task-based Instruction (TBI) makes the performance of meaningful tasks central to the learning process. The Task-based listening activities which will be used are based on authentic materials used in teaching second language. Nunan (1999) defines authentic materials as spoken or written language data that has been produced in the course of genuine communication, and not specifically written for purposes of language teaching. The materials are based on the real world context outside classroom in situations in which they really occur. Gebhard (1996) suggested some examples of the authentic materials that may serve as source for lesson planning including for listening and speaking class. The authentic listening- viewing materials include TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audio-taped short stories and novels, radio advertisements, songs, documentaries and sales pitches. In this study, the task based listening activities will include the use of audio CDs on selected stories and songs. Throughout the implementation of the activities students are required to respond to certain tasks related to the selected materials following the framework for task-based learning proposed by Jane Willis (1996) which comprise of pre-task, task cycle and language focus. Among the tasks suggested include listing(e.g. brainstorm/ fact finding), ordering or sorting (e.g. sequencing/ ranking), comparing (e.g. matching/ finding similarities or differences), problem solving (e.g . analysing real situation/ decision making), sharing experience (e.g. narrating/opinions) and creative tasks which includes all the tasks mentioned. 1.6.2 Speaking Performance Speaking in a second language involves the development of a particular type of communication skills. Because of its circumstances of production, oral language tends to differ from written language in its typical grammar, lexical and discourse patterns (Tareq Mitib, 2009). A person can be considered to be able to perform well in speaking skill when he is able to speak a language using the components correctly for example by making the right sounds, choosing the right words and getting the constructions grammatically correct. Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary tasks will focus on the need for practice in language accuracy. At the same time, one also needs to get a clear message across and this involves choosing appropriate content or ideas to suit a situation, e.g. deciding what is polite or what might appear rude, how to interrupt or how to participate in a conversation. (http://www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistant/pdf/Unit4.pdf ) 1.6.3 School Based Oral Assessment Previously the English SPM examination had an oral examination component which was graded based on the candidates comprehension of a dialogue text and the ability to respond to a pictorial stimuli. However, the test was considered to be inadequate since students proficiency in English language continued to drop to the point where prospective employers in private and government sectors complained about the inability of graduates to converse in even the most rudimentary situations (Vinodini Murugesan, 2003). In 2002, the School-Based Oral Assessment (SBOA) was implemented for the first time on Form Four students who will be sitting for SPM in 2003 to replace the old oral assessment and this time it is considered to be in line with the communicative language teaching approach adopted in Malaysian schools. The School-Based Oral Assessment (SBOA) consists of 4 Models. The models are Model 1:Individual, Model 2:Student-Prompter, Model 3:Pair work and Model 4: Group work. Students are to be assessed twice in Form Four (using Model 1 and 2) and once in Form Five (using either Model 3 or Model 4). Marks are given based on students ability to converse on a topic effectively with appropriate responses, speak fluently using correct and acceptable pronunciation, speak coherently, speak the language using a wide range of appropriate vocabulary within context and speak using correct grammar. In some cases, students can actually request to repeat the test if deemed necessary especially when they are n ot satisfied with their mark. The total mark for each assessment is 30. When the students are in Form 5, the best mark among the three assessments will be taken and submitted together with other School Based Assessment Marks for SPM examination to the Malaysian Examination Board (Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia). 1.6.4 Confidence Confidence can be defined as a belief in one own ability to do things and be successful (Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary, 7th ed., 2005, p.318). It is ones perceptions of ones own abilities to achieve a stated outcome. ARCS Model of Motivational Design developed by John M. Keller of Florida State University identified Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction as the four steps for promoting and sustaining motivation in the learning process. According to Keller, confidence helps students to understand their likelihood for success. If they feel they cannot meet the objectives or that the cost (time or effort) is too high, their motivation will decrease. Besides, confidence also provides objectives and prerequisites that help students to estimate the probability of success by presenting performance requirements and evaluation criteria. It allows for small steps of growth during the learning process, provide feedback and support internal attributions for success. Not only lear ners should feel some degree of control over their learning and assessment, they too should believe that their success is a direct result of the amount of effort they have put forth (Keller, 1983 and 1987 cited in http://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html.). Confidence in speaking involves ability to speak the target language fluently using the right rules and appropriate choice of words. In speech situation, thinking, listening and speaking go on almost simultaneously and people expect feedback on or response to what they have said almost as soon as they stop speaking (Chitravelu et.al, 1995). Anxiety of making mistakes is one of the major obstacles that learners have to overcome in learning speaking because most of the time learners are reluctant to be judged by listeners. Of all the four language skills, speaking skill is probably the one most affected by personality features. Students who are confident and have experienced success are likely to be more motivated and more willing to try harder. Therefore, teachers have an important role in building up students confidence to speak by being sensitive, sympathetic and encouraging as well as selecting material that is motivating and within the ability of the students (ibid). 1.6.5 Attitudes Attitudes refer to a persons way of thinking or feeling about somebody or something; the way that he or she behaves towards somebody or something actually shows how the person thinks or feels (Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary, 7th ed., 2005, p.85). The measurement of language attitudes provides information that is useful in teaching and language planning (Richards, Platt and Platt, 1997 cited in Tareq Mitib, 2009). In this study the EFL learners attitudes towards the Task-based listening activities will be measured through the use of a questionnaire which will be developed from the findings from focus group discussions. The questions will comprise of an adaptation of Gardners (1985) Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) and Rossett (1982) Needs Analysis questionnaire. 1.7 Limitation/ Delimitation Since this study will be carried out within a relatively short period of time on students with average to good proficiency of English, it would thus be interesting to see if using task-based listening activities on a lower English-proficiency group of EFL students with varying time spent would have a different effect on the results. Thus, this study might not be able to represent the whole FELDA scheme students speaking performance because only two groups of students from a school will be selected. Further studies need to be conducted in order to seek similarities or differences on this issue. Chapter 2: Review of Literature 2.1 Relationship between listening and speaking Speech involves communication between people and the rules that apply to all forms of interpersonal behaviour also apply to speaking behaviour (Chitravelu et.al, 1995, p.59). Graham-Marr (2004) mentioned many reasons for focusing in listening and speaking in EFL classroom and one of them is the fact that speaking skills have been found to be a fundamental skill necessary to succeed in life. The ability to speak in the target language has always been associated with the success of learning the language. Before a person can speak the language he learnt, he should first be able to listen and understand the language. Listening should be the first and foremost skill to be acquired in learning a new language because understanding spoken words is prerequisite to speaking, reading and writing; and that comprehension should precede reproduction. Listening skill transfers to other skills and promoting listening skills before focusing on oral skills can result in increased second language acqui sition. (Cheung, 2010). The relationship of listening and speaking skills was further elaborated by Goss (1982) who claimed that listening is a process of taking what you hear and organizing it into verbal units to which you can apply meaning. Applied to speech processing, listening requires that you structure the sounds that you hear and organize them into words, phrases, sentences, or other linguistic units. Bowen, Madsen and Hilferty (1985) (ibid) defined listening as attending to and interpreting oral language. The student should be able to hear oral speech in English, segment the stream of sounds, group them into lexical and syntactic units (words, phrases, sentences), and understand the message they convey (p. 73). Gary (1975) cited in Ghazali, (2003) said that giving pre-eminence to listening comprehension particularly in the early stages of second language teaching and learning contributes advantages of four different types, namely cognitive, efficiency, utility and effective. As such, Doff (1988) added that speaking skills cannot be developed unless listening skill is also developed. In order to have successful conversation, students must understand what is said to them because later on the ability to understand spoken English may be very important for studying, listening to the radio or understanding foreign visitors. To develop this ability, students need plenty of practice in listening to English spoken at normal speed (p.163). A listening lesson gives students the opportunity to listen to native speakers conversations if the related materials are well-chosen, and, listening to the target language a lot can help the students improve in their pronunciation (Gethin and Gunnemark, 1996). Bruton (1997:14-15) argues that students need to listen to prepare themselves for their future listening. They need to listen in order to know how to produce. The better students understand what they hear, the better they will take part in spoken interactions. Although students usually face difficulties to understand the language produced by the native speakers in the listening activities, teachers have to be creative to tackle the problem by exposing students to more of the materials. At the beginning of the listening activities, teachers help may still be needed to explain to the students what is required from them. However, the dependency on teachers can slowly be eliminated later on when the students are working on the act ivities or in their groups. In order to measure the effectiveness of any speaking lesson, students need to be tested. The two main aspects of direct procedures for testing speaking according to Nation and Newton (2009) are the way in which the person who is being tested is encouraged to speak and the way in which the speaker performance is assessed. The first procedure can include interviewing, describing something for someone to draw and discussing while the latter can include rating scale, communicative result and assigning marks for the parts of an outcome (p.171). 2.2 Task-based Instruction in Language Classroom In task-based language teaching (TBLT), syllabus content and instructional processes are selected with reference to the communicative tasks which learners will (either actually or potentially) need to engage in outside the classroom and also with reference to theoretical and empirical insights into those social and psycholinguistic processes which facilitate language acquisition. Among the features identified by Nunan (1991) for this approach is the emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language, the introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation, the provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also on the learning process itself, an enhancement of the learners own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom. According to Brown (2001), Task- based Language Teaching (TBLT) puts tasks at the centre of the methodological focus. The learning process is viewed as a set of communicative tasks that are directly linked to the curricular goals they serve. The main characteristics of TBLT according to Ellis (2003) include the natural or naturalistic use of language, learners-centred activities rather than teacher-centred, focus on form and tasks serve as the means for achieving natural use of language. Ellis also claimed that the traditional approach of Present, Practice and Produce (PPP) are inadequate. Some critics also supported this and viewed PPP as clearly being teacher-centred and therefore sits uneasily in a more humanistic and learner-centred framework (Harmer, 1988, p.66). Task can be defined in various ways. Nunan (1999) in Bahrami (2010) for example, defined a task as a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, middle and an end. (p. 25). Long (1985a) as cited in Nunan (1991) suggests that a task is nothing more or less than the things people do in everyday life like for examples buying shoes, making reservations, finding destinations, and writing cheques. Breen (1987) similarly suggests that a task is any structured language learning endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the task. Task is therefore assumed to refer to a range of work plans which have the overall purpose of facilitating language learning-from the simple and brief exercise type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem- solving or simulations and decision making (p. 23). Prabhu (1987) stands as the first significant person in the development of Task-based instructions in language classrooms. He defines a task as an activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process (cited in Tareq Mitib ,2009). Nunan (1989) further defines a task as a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form (p.10). He suggests that in all definitions of tasks, one can see communicative language use where the learner focuses on meaning instead of linguistic structure. Many people have studied the implementation of Task-based instruction in language classrooms and have advised using tasks in language classrooms because students motivation rises through assigned tasks. On looking at the positive results that the use of tasks may bring about in the EFL classroom, it can be said that using a variety of tasks in class gives positive results (Ruso, 2007). Bahrami (2010) examined the influence of four specific types of task-based activities of matching, form-filling, labelling and selecting on the listening ability of 90 senior EFL learners of Sadra English Institute of Darood .The data for the quasi-experimental study included two task-based tests of listening comprehension and a test of language proficiency. The result shows that there was a significant relationship between the three tasks of matching, labelling and form filling on the other hand and listening comprehension on the other. However, there was no relationship observed for the task of selec ting and listening comprehension. In conclusion, not only the listening-comprehension skill of the EFL students tended to improve through exposure to task-based input; it is also proven to be suitable for students of various levels. Similarly, Tareq Mitib (2009) who also adopted a quasi experimental design to study the effects of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) on developing speaking skills among the Palestinian Secondary EFL students from two schools in Israel concluded that the method succeeded in improving the students speaking skills and develop students attitude towards English language. It was found that girls speaking skill improved more than the boys when classroom practice was organized and authentic as in the case of TBLT. Boys on the other hand, did better in the conventional teaching situations. Tareq therefore claimed that task-based language teaching can be the solution for the lack of exposure to authentic English as it enabled students to practise using the language through different activities in real world tasks and in a stress free atmosphere. This finding conforms to Underwood, (1998); Gethin and Gunnemark, (1996) and Kenworthys, (1987) claims, that, exposing students to native speakers o f English Language through listening gives them the opportunities to acquire the correct model of English pronunciation which will eventually leads to intelligibility (cited in Ghazali, 2003). Awang and Md. Supie (2011) stated that, one of the main issues in second language learning is ESL learners who are less proficient in the language opt to avoid speaking in English language classes. Some learners might find speaking English in front of the class as very intimidating. In a way it implies that regardless of how many English classes students have attended, if they do not practise the language, they will not be able to improve their communication skills as well as their self-confidence. Both researchers proposed that task-based speaking activities would enable students to communicate easily as the activities are usually conducted in pair work or group work. As such, a study was conducted in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM) on 30 second year students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering enrolled for the Advanced English for Academic Communication course in semester 2, 2007/2008. A set of questionnaire was designed and distributed to find out the students perspectiv es on task-based speaking activities in fostering their communication in English. This study also seeks to find out which types of Task-Based Speaking Activities (TBSA) that highly promotes learners communication in English. The types of task-based speaking activities used in the study were problem-solving, information-gap, and sharing personal experience or feelings. Results show that all the 30 participants agreed that task-based speaking activities improved their communication in English because the activities offered opportunities to practise the language. It was also found that students with low level of proficiency in English also participated in the TBSA during English classes and they were not intimidated by their low level of proficiency. As for the activities, problem-solving is found to be the most preferred type of TBSA that encouraged participation and use of English language. Other study related to the use of TBL includes an exploration of the implementation of TBLT in three primary classrooms in Hong Kong by Carless (2001). The subjects of the case study were three female English teachers who implemented task-based innovation over a seven months period in their primary one and primary two classrooms with children aged six to seven. Results reveal that there was a certain amount of interplay between different issues studied like for example, the more positive the teachers attitude towards TBLT, the more likely she was to take time doing the preparation of the supplementary materials for her class or to allocate time for carrying out activities (cited in Tareq Mitib, 2009). Despites many positive feedbacks of using TBL on EFL and ESL students, there are also evidences of sceptical perceptions on its implementation. One of them is in a case study conducted by In-Jae Jeon and Jung-won Hahn on EFL teachers perceptions on the practice of TBLT in Korean secondary School Classroom in 2005. Data were collected through questionnaires from 228 teachers at 38 different middle and high schools in Korea. The overall findings of the survey show that even though majority of the respondents have a higher level of understanding about TBLT concepts, teachers still retain some fear of adopting TBLT because of perceived disciplinary problems related to classroom practice. Other reason for teachers fear to adopt TBLT is related to their lack of confidence. Hence, much consideration should be given to overcome the potential obstacles such as on the part of the teachers before TBLT can really be successfully implemented. 2.3 Theoretical Framework of TBL Task-based learning (TBL) seems to gain currency since the publication of Jane Willis Framework for Task-Based Learning in 1996. N. Prabhu originally popularizes TBL in early 80s and since then has influenced subsequent models of Task Based Teaching such as Willis (1996) who developed a framework for task-based learning. Prabhu (1987) used a task-based approach with secondary school classes in Bangalore, India in his Communicational Teaching Project beginning 1979. Reports on the Bangalore project indicated that a syllabus organized around problem solving tasks and feedback can effectively accomplish and in many ways improve on what a traditional linguistic syllabus provides (cited in Tareq Mitib, 2009, pp. 53). In Framework for Task-Based Learning (1996), Willis proposed a three stages process of carrying out TBL. The stages include: pre-task (introduction to topic and task), task cycle (planning and reporting) and language focus (analysis and practice).The framework can be illustra ted as below: FRAMEWORK OF TBL (Jane Willis, 1996) Pre task Introduction to topic and task instruction (Exposure) Task cycle Use expose to tasks (6 tasks Types), planning (prepare to report outcomes), reporting, post task (optional) Focus on forms Language Focus Analysis: learners focus on form, Ask about language features Practice: teacher conduct activities TASK (Introduction to topic/ task) TASK CYCLE ( Task /Planning /Report) LANGUAGE FOCUS (Analysis Practice) In the Pre-Task stage, the learners and teachers explore the topic and the teacher may highlight useful words and phrases while helping students to understand the task instructions. The purpose of pre-task is to prepare students to perform the task in ways that will promote acquisition. As for the Task Cycle stage, the students perform the task in pairs or small groups while the teacher monitors or facilitate the lesson from a distance. During this stage students will also plan on how to report or present to the class what they have done and how they do it. At the same time teacher should encourage students to communicate in the target language while helping students to prepare w

Grapes of Wrath Essay: From Self-focus to Concern for Mankind :: Grapes Wrath essays

From Self-focus to Concern for Mankind in Grapes of Wrath    At one point in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, it was stated that a farmer lost his farm. As this man’s family picks up their belongings and heads west they meet up with another family dealing with a similar situation. Now these two families share a common bond. A brotherhood is forming. This is the catalyst. No longer is it one farmer saying he lost his land but two farmers united saying they lost their land. The transformation from self-focus to a concern for mankind can be seen in the characters of Ma Joad, Tome and Rose of Sharon. Ma Joad’s main concern at the beginning of the story is her family. She wants to keep the unit together and works diligently to achieve this goal. However, one by one, family members leave the group for various reasons leading to the slow but sure disintegration of the Joad clan. The first to go is Noah; then Grandpa and Grandma die; Connie walks off and leaves Rose of Sharon; Young Tom leaves because he has gotten into trouble again; and Al becomes engaged and decides to go with his fiancà ©e’s family. Ma deals with each loss as best she can. As the story progresses, we find Ma Joad becoming more and more concerned with people outside the family unit. She feels the need to share whatever meager food and belongings her family has with other families enduring hardships. She saw the needs of her own family at the beginning of the story and by the end of the novel, she sees the needs of her fellow man. Young Tom appears to be self-centered when he if first introduced. He has just left prison after serving four years for murder. Tom wants to enjoy life to the fullest and to be with his family. He is very disturbed to find the family home deserted and almost destroyed. He, by this time, has reacquainted himself with Jim Casey, an ex-preacher. The more Tom listens to Jim and his views on life, the soul of man, and the fellowship of mankind, the less he focuses on himself and his needs. He then begins to focus on the plight and abuse of the homeless farmers.   Tom begins to realize that in order for the migrant workers to survive and succeed they must unite.

The Execution of Private Slovik Essay -- Literary Analysis, William B

In the narrator’s quest for information about the bombing of Dresden, he wrote to the Air Force, hoping to gain more knowledge about what went into the decision. His only official response at the time was â€Å"that the information was top secret still† (11). How bombing of Dresden could ever be considered classified when it had such a devastating effect on so many people is just one of the many absurdities pointed out by the narrator in his quest to provide a balanced view of the war. One novel, The Execution of Private Slovik by William Bradford Huie, details the only execution of an American soldier for desertion during World War II. The narrator quotes from the opinion of a staff judge advocate who supported Slovik’s sentence, stating: â€Å"If the death penalty is ever to be imposed for desertion, it should be imposed in this case, not as a punitive measure nor as retribution, but to maintain that discipline upon which alone an army can succeed† (45). The view that a soldier should have to die in order for the military to maintain unit cohesion and essentially teach a lesson to other draftees who may want to desert their post is a hard one for those not in the military to sympathize with. Furthermore, it illustrates the paradoxical nature of militaristic actions, where one is forced to fight against enemies who wish to do them harm, or face death at the hands of their fellow servicemen if the choose not to fight. During a Lions Club luncheon meeting Billy attends back in Ilium, a Marine Corp Major who had served in Vietnam addressed the attendees. The Marine spoke of his experience serving in Vietnam, and his view that â€Å"the Americans had no choice but to keep fighting†¦ until the Communists realized that they could not force their wa... ...cation of the bombings of Dresden as tit for tat in an attempt to rationalize civilian killings is abhorrent to those who see life as sacred, regardless of which side of the civilian line one falls. Saundy is much more sympathetic than Eaker to those who lost their lives in the Dresden bombing. Saundy believed â€Å"that the bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy none can deny†, and that it wasn’t necessary to the Allies efforts to win the War (187). However, he does defend those who directed the bombing, stating they â€Å"were neither wicked nor cruel†, but instead forced into making a tough decision in a decisive time in the War (187). Saundy presents a much more humane view of the bombing of Dresden than Eaker. Saundy doesn’t attempt to justify or condemn the bombing; he instead portrays it as one of the many horrors of war that can only be viewed in hindsight as such.

Unbundled Business Models: Arm’s Focus on IP

This is my first not-technical blog post more towards the business side which I know very little about but still worth trying. I will be discussing the â€Å"unbundled business model† and why ARM is focusing only on designing IP cores. I came across the term unbundled business model in a book called â€Å"Business model generation† by Alexander OsterWalder and Yves Pigneur. Which is a fantastic book and they really take the reader through the entire planning process of a business or business model generation. As most electronic engineers will be aware, ARM holdings which stands for Advanced RISC Machines (Acorn RISC Machines at time of foundation) is a British Intellectual Property licensing company. So basically they license their proprietary processor cores to semiconductor companies like Apple, texas instruments, Freescale, Qualcomm, NVIDIA etc. These cores are specifically popular in mobile computing because of their low power consumption characteristics. In fact almost all of the recent smart phone processors are based on an ARM core. Err I guess we are diverting to electronics again, coming back to the company. So the company has a unique business model, unlike other semiconductor companies like Intel or microchip who design and manufacture their processors. ARM is specialized in designing the barebones of the processor, the core (which technically is a bunch of hardware synthesis files containing thousands of lines of Verilog code, or any other language) and gives out this code to semiconductor companies to let them manufacture their own customized processor. Unbundling Business Models: The term â€Å"unbundled corporation† was coined by John Hagel and Marc Singer and it suggests that there are three types of businesses: Customer Relationship businesses, product innovation businesses and Infrastructure businesses. These sectors require different skill sets are separate entities of a corporation or ideally a separate business itself. The role of Customer Relationship business is acquiring customer and building relationships with them. Similarly product innovation businesses are involved in development of new products and services, while the role of infrastructure businesses is to manage the platform for high volume, repetitive tasks like assembly lines, logistics etc. ARM can be effectively placed into the product innovation category; they are focused on development of their IP cores for which they are well-known for. This keeps the company’s operations aligned with the target which is to build low-power high performance cores. Their business is centered on engineers, talented and creative minds which design their products and keep them ahead of the competition. Customers are not their focus, well at least not directly, customer relationship are taken care at multiple levels by the chip manufacturer, the equipment manufacturer and then the end-user company. This is a win-win situation as the result is a better product and customer satisfaction. Another company which recently unbundled the business is Dell Inc. hich shifted its focus from manufacturing to customer relationship and marketing. Reason being contract manufacturers like Clevo produce computers more cheaply as their entire focus is on finding efficiencies in manufacturing. This means Dell can focus on the brand and building customer relationship which is a much more robust business plan. It is the basic question â€Å"What business are we in? † and finding what is the key business activity. If we try to manage activities across too broad a waterfront, we run a risk of losing our edge across more and more of his waterfront. The business model has worked out well for ARM and in year 2010, 6. 1 billion ARM based chips were sold. ARM’s goal is to have ARM-based processors in more than half of all tablets, mini-notebooks and other mobile PCs sold by 2015. Leave your comments below about what you think about the ARM business model and by the way check out my project Portoscope an open source mini oscilloscope, it runs on an ARM based processor

Earth Sociology Essay

The author of the book entitled Down to Earth Sociology focused his writings on conceptual issues regarding the social interactions of the people in everyday life including the aspect of understanding the individual experiences in the society and the analysis of the different dominant social cultures. The selections of the said book also emphasizes the different significant themes of the modern sociology including sociological analysis of the concept of gender, power, politics, sports, religion, racial tensions, crimes, poverty, homelessness, and the global outlook of economic capitalism. In this book, the author Henslin presented his ideas and analysis in the same scientific manner and process that is being implemented by the contemporary sociologist of the modern age. Through this, the book has able to critically analyze and present every intricate detail that is involved in the sociological research as guided by the main concept of the hypothesis. The book presented its views in relation to the present hypothetical concepts and theories in trying to explain and interpret the different social phenomena in the modern civilization. Included in the book of Henslin are detailed discussions of the different sociological theories that are guiding the research and development pursuit of the said field. These sociological theories are defined to have been developed at multiple levels, ranging from large theory to highly definite and explicit small-scale ones. Rather than thinking of one theory being excellent to the other theories it is more beneficial as well as informative to view these different theories as correlation with each other. One of the sociological theories on how to explain different phenomena that has been elaborated is the Structural-Functionalism, which is defined as a sociological theory that pertains on how to explain several social institutions as a means to be able to satisfy or fulfill the individual’s biological means. Another theory that has been discussed in Henslin’s book is the Conflict theory that is explained as a sociological theory that points out that society is not about unity or universal agreement but rather this theory is all about competition. According to this theory, society consists of different individuals who are competing for the limited supply of resources. An example of this conflict is in the Legislative branch of the United States Government wherein men are still viewed as more powerful and superior over women when it comes to the politics. As an effect, women’s privileges to express their opinions and ideas are still significantly limited. In this situation, it is clearly stated that there is a clash or conflict between genders, which also illustrate the obvious concept of inequality between men and women. Aside from the ones previously mentioned, another theory that was discussed by Henslin is the Symbolic Interactionalism that is discussed as a sociological approach on how to understand the proximity or relationship between human and society. The basic idea of Symbolic Interactionalism is that human action and interaction are only by means of exchanging substantial communications and symbols. Based on this theory, humans and lower forms of animals are different from each other because lower form of animals can easily respond to the environment while the human being has the capability to interrupt this process. In addition, lower forms of animals do not have the capability in conceiving different alternative responses to gestures unlike human beings they can easily grasp different gestures. Another theory is the Role Theory; this pertains to the different roles represented by an individual in their everyday lives such as the father, secretary, or friend. For instance, most people their notion or representations of secretary include: answering phone calls, making and managing appointments, filling different paper works, and typing memorandums. These different roles of a secretary could not be expected of professional basketball player. Basically, every individual have different personalities and roles in the society. In addition, the book entitled Down to earth sociology by James M. Henslin focused on real life situation in which all the readers can surely relate. Henslin’s book is indeed user friendly, entertaining to read and indeed valuable because it talks about actual life situations and social phenomenon. The sociological perspectives that is generally employed in the book enables the people to look below the surface of social life and examine different factors that shape our behavior, attitudes, and culture as well as our beliefs in life. Bibliography Henslin, J. M. (2005). Down to Earth Sociology. The Free Press, New York, USA. 13th Edition, Pages 281-296. ISBN 0743267605. Von Der Haar, Christine M. (2005). Social Psychology: A Sociological Perspective. Prentice Hall, USA. ISBN: 0130809837.