Home Essay -- Personal Narrative Home Descriptive Observation

Home   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My definition of home is not a word I can say or a thought I can think, but a feeling. This feeling is like a calm that settles over me like a blanket, just a quiet assurance telling me I belong in that place. It took me forever to understand where exactly that place was, and the answer was always right in front of me. This feeling would come and go, and I would never recognize it because I knew that only my address and the house that I parked my car at and went in to eat and sleep for 18 years was my home. I never realized that the place I lived wasn’t my home, and I really didn’t want to either.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I was a child, I would accompany my family on Sunday outings. We would drive up to the mountains for a picnic or to take short hikes. I would hop in the back of the big burgundy minivan and watch the scenery change as we winded up the mountain roads, continually saying, â€Å"Are we there yet?† Every time though, I would look around at all of the trees and the mountains, and feel the sharp cold that it brought in the early fall through winter. I would get that feeling then, but wouldn’t know what to do about it. I just thought it was the weather or the mountain air that was doing it. I came up here fly fishing once with my father and we camped in a state park somewhere up here. But I really didn’t want to leave, even though it was two six foot plus men in a small tent. There was just a lingering feeling the mountains gave me. Needless to say, the location was one of the determining factors that led me to choose this college. Since Iâ€⠄¢ve begun to live here I have had that feeling that this is my home. But it took me a few weeks to realize that. What led me to the realization of this was a trip I took last week.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tuesday night while sitting in a lonely nursing home my great-grandfather’s long and successful life came to it’s end. Since my mother didn’t have a strong father figure, she was pretty much raised my him and was close to him all her life. I could tell when she called me to tell me that he had died that she wasn’t doing so well. I knew I couldn’t come home then since I had classes on Wednesday, so I decided to come home after my last class that afternoon to be with my mom. I left the school in the afternoon and got home as it was just beginning to get dark at good old Rutherfordton. I pulled up to the house and immediately it hi... ...ng that I got when I pulled into the parking lot. Just about everyone in the hall was watching a movie in my room and I was lying motionless on the floor, but I had a calm reassurance seeping through my mind. It wasn’t the people there, it wasn’t the building, it wasn’t my girlfriend asking me if I was ok, it was just that feeling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Waking up the next morning in my own bed was a glorious experience in every way. Just hearing the roar of the air conditioner and the light seeping in through the closed blinds, combined with the mixed smell of pizza and floor cleaner, gave me such a wonderful feeling. As I went through my morning ritual I had an extra step in my stride, whether it was brushing my teeth or sipping my coffee while listening to music. As I was going to my first class I went out the side door and immediately the crisp, sharp mountain air hit me. I walked around the partition and saw the huge trees right outside my window, and just looked around at everything as if I had been given a new set of eyes. The mountains give off such a beautiful glow at all times during the day and night, giving me that feeling of comfort and security that tells me that this is my home.

godfater character comparison Essay examples -- essays research papers

Comparison of the Characters Michael Sonny in â€Å"The Godfather† At a first glance Michael and Sonny appear to be quite different. Upon further observation, however, they do have some similarities. Although they are very different in their personality, values, and tempers, they are similar in areas of loyalty, their respect for their father, and their strong family ties. Their personalities are a study in contrasts. Sonny is brash and arrogant, where as Michael is calm and cool. When Don Corleone was in the hospital and Sonny was placed in charge, the family became kind of careless. He didn’t seem to care what could happen due to his actions. He wanted to kill the police captain and didn’t think about the repercussions. Tom has to tell him that it wouldn't be good to kill a cop, but they end up doing it anyway. I think Michael was pushed into it because of his loyalty to the family. He is more calculating in manner. Near the end when he "takes care of all the family business" on the day of the Baptism is a prime example of this. Because he was this way, the objects of his violence had no idea that it was coming. Their senses of values are also very dissimilar. Michael is a man of honor. He doesn't run around having affairs with different women. He only marries twice because his first wife was killed in the explosion. Sonny is an adulterer. He is with another woman during his sisters wedding, along with a few other times throughout the movie. The two brothers h...

Marketing A New Baby Food In Sweden For Nestle

The company that is planning to introduce a new baby food product in Sweden already has a presence and it is among a group of companies that are under Nestle Nordic where other Nestle companies that are operating in Denmark, Finland, and Norway are under and these four companies work in concert and represent Nestle’s operations in Northern Europe.This means Nestle is not new for Sweden where it is selling a number of products among which there are a few baby food products such as Bona and Piltti that have a wide range of acceptance among those that are using breast milk substitutes. [1] The baby food business had been and still is lucrative even if it is a very sensitive area of business that has a lot of controversies around it simply because there are a big number of organizations that are against breast milk substitutes and had been highlighting the problems that are related to it.[2] Because of that the company had always been on the defensive in order to do business in th is particular sector and it had made a concession with consumers and the concerned members of society, by putting a statement out on the very outset declaring that there is nothing better for a child than the mother’s milk and every mother had been encouraged to use breast milk at least for the first four to six month, even more if possible.The only time the company recommends the use of its mother milk substitutes early on is whenever mothers are not in a position to provide breast milk for their children, which could be because of a premature birth of a child or when the mother is either sick or deceased. Since it is not always possible to find wet nurses the breast milk substitutes come close to what the breast milk will provide the newborn children. [3]There are a few problems surrounding breast feeding where if somehow mothers start using the breast milk substitute early in a child’s life the possibility that their own natural milk producing process could be disru pted and they will have no choice other than to depend on the breast milk substitutes that are scientifically proven to be as good as a breast milk, albeit some shortcomings where the breast milk is proven to have a natural immune building mechanism that will enable children to fight disease better.At the same time in the absence of the scientifically processed and manufactured baby foods such as what Nestle is selling in Sweden, it is difficult to come up with a baby food recipe that could be prepared at home that will have all the required nutrition, and the only substitute that could come close to the mother’s breast milk, which is cow milk is not digestible by a small child’s metabolism process creating problems such as anemia in addition to forcing the child’s system to absorb a large amount of calcium and fat that it is not ready to do so.[4] Because of all these controversies organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) had to intervene and c ome up with a code that every company that is manufacturing and selling baby food products will have to adhere to and it has the support of all government bodies. The particular code is not new to Nestle that had been applying it for all these years, but when it is time to come up with a new baby food product and marketing it effectively, there are difficult procedures to follow, one of them being the code has to be observed.The main focus of the WHO Code is in preventing such companies that are marketing baby food products to have a direct access to mothers and to regulate the interaction they could have with those who are providing them essential services such as physicians, nurses, and other health care staff, because those who are against companies that are coming up with breast milk substitute products believe that mothers will have to be protected from their marketing ploy as much as possible, at least for the first six months of a child’s life.[5] Such approach is diff icult since most mothers living in societies such as Sweden will be strapped for time because most of them could be working outside of the home and nature itself is such that if the breast is not used continuously after birth it will stop producing milk. And in between the mother milk advocates believe that if mothers are not approached with various marketing tactics this problem could be averted and mothers will start to feed breast milk right after birth up to six months and more if possible.Without disputing this assumption, it is not difficult to visualize the hurdle a marketing team that is trying to promote a new product that the company had gotten a permit to manufacture and put into the market has to overcome. Nestle had been focusing lately on what is called functional or nutraceuticals baby food that has a dual purpose of serving as a nutritional breast milk substitutes while at the same time it has medicinal advantage that the children using the product will be benefited from.[6] The company did not want to come up with a new name for a product and what it did was it took one of its popular products Piltti and created a different version that is converted into a functional baby food and simply named it Functional Piltti. In doing so it added three ingredients, â€Å"selenium† which is a substance that helps the body get rid of harmful oxidants since it is a proven antioxidant that has the capacity to turn harmful radicals that appear in the body into innocuous water and oxygen.The second ingredient it added was â€Å"nucleotides† whose main function is helping the growth of good bacteria in the gut so that the gut can fight bad bacteria and this ingredient is available in breast milk enabling children to build a natural immune system. And when children are using breast milk substitute formula, unless this substance is added they could be vulnerable to many kind of diseases, one of the reasons breast milk advocates had been highlighting , although it could be solved by simply introducing this substance into baby foods, which nestle did.The third ingredient was â€Å"beta-carotene† whose main function is to create a fortified immune system in the body since it is an antioxidant and it also helps in developing good vision early on, as well as it adds to the good development of the skin. [7] These are ingredients that are supposed to raise the eyebrows of mothers and their pediatricians who are mostly responsible for recommending what kind of baby food formula is good for the newborn children.From the outset the team knew that it has a winning product on its hand and this product is expected to cannibalize the regular Piltti in the long run, which is a little bit cheaper, but it is also presumed to beat many of the competing products that have not yet introduced functional baby food products in their baby food product line, even if their catching up quickly is imminent.However, until that happens the team was a ware that there would be a window of time the company could do a quick profitable business. They have everything at their disposal except that they were aware of the WHO Code, which stipulates rules that make all the areas where an effective promotion could have taken place off limit.They are not allowed to have a direct contact with pregnant women or mothers of small children, although in today’s marketing campaigns that might not be essential, yet sometimes it is possible to come up with events where a close interaction between the marketing team and those who would be firsthand users of their product would have been possible. Because not only they can educate the mothers about their products but also they can give out samples and gifts that will build good relationship, which the code prohibits nonetheless.[8] It is not only that they cannot advertise using the known methods where they can put their ads on billboards, distribute brochures, or give out samples. All that can be carried out is through approved institutions by the WHO Code and if any of the allowed institutions are engaged in giving out free samples that are allowed to receive free samples from the manufacturers they have to make sure that there will be enough supply for the involved mothers for as long as they need it.This is so because this tactic had been highlighted where marketers and distributors of baby food products would usually start giving out free samples and if the mothers become dependent on it at the earlier stage of their breast feeding days and avoid breast feeding it will affect their ability to produce milk leading to their forced dependency on the substitute, which would mean they will be forced to buy the breast milk substitute products. Those who might not afford it could harm the normal growth of a child, which is a justifiable cause to be concerned about.[9] Therefore, there are very limited channels the marketing team could be promoting through and spotting those channels is very important. In addition, it is important the marketing team as well as the company should know that their new product should aim at those that are four months old and higher in normal circumstances and the only exception is when the mothers are not in a position to do breast-feeding for various reasons, there are no wet nurses, and at times access to breast milk banks might not be available since there are some of them in some communities.This would mean their marketing interaction is severely limited to interacting with health care personnel only and it is through them their would be customers will be educated to use their product as advertising to the general public is not allowed. Marketers do not have permission to show their existence at the point of sale, put posters, or any other means of advertising to promote their products.They cannot solicit mothers directly or indirectly or cannot give them gift nor free samples. Even if the health care system has the di scretion of recommending the use of breast milk substitutes, they cannot allow their workplace for promoting any kind of such products. Nor any of the staff of such establishments have permission to accept any money from distributors and manufacturers of such products.But at least if the authorities see it beneficial they can make arrangement where pregnant women and mothers of young children to be educated or to be informed by a sales team, but the purpose of the meeting is far from pitching a product and it will be educational, where they will always be advised there is nothing better than breast-feeding for the newborn children. The labels on the products should not display a child’s picture and labels should clearly describe what the ingredients are, how to prepare it, and at what kind of temperature to store the product.In addition, they have to testify that the substitute does not come near to breast-feeding and the message will have to be to the point, without idealizi ng the breast milk substitute. The overall scenario when promoting baby food formula resembles medicine where there are go betweens who are the health officials and the authorities, and manufacturers of medicine target physicians when it comes to promoting their product since they are the ones who would subscribe it to their patients.Furthermore, almost no medicines are available without prescription, even if there are a few over-the-counter products. With the same token, even if the breast milk substitutes could find their way into grocery stores or even drug stores where anyone can pick them off the shelf without prescription, the consumers of such products could get their information from health workers only or from the labels that are required to follow some procedures, and marketers should not try to reach the direct consumers who are mothers of young born children or expectant mothers.Therefore, the team only had to approach a given number of institutions, mostly health establ ishments, where they are allowed to distribute their samples, gifts, and educational material so that the health officers will be informed about the benefit of their products and pass it on to the mothers of the young children.Due to this restriction the cost and the effort involved in marketing a baby food brand is not very high since they are not allowed to put billboards on the highways of several comminutes, or they do not have to advertise on TV, print, or are not allowed to print brochures and distribute them to the public, but they can pass such material to the health officials to help them with their educating the mothers. Hence, the undertaking would not be expensive since doing it in a continuous basis until the product becomes popular is not required as the case is when promoting other products.Instead, what is involved here is arranging an appointment with the involved officials or at times, all it might take is visiting these establishments in person that might number l ess than hundred. Since such officials are not allowed to ask any payment directly or indirectly that also saves the company a lot of money and it can focus only on samples and at times gifts, to be given to the mothers through the health officials in a form of utensils and the like. Nevertheless, giving physicians bonus is a common practice in the pharmaceutical industry since it is through them all the manufactures are selling their products.When it comes to baby food market it is not allowed, yet the sales team had started taking note to see if there will be some that will qualify in the long run for a preferential treatment and if there is a possibility of getting around the restriction to introduce a bonus even if the code prohibits it, but since it is a marketing scheme there has to be some way of compensating some of the health care workers who would choose to recommend the particular Nestle product for their clients when there are other competing products, because even if Fu nctional Piltti is new in the market, it might not take more than three months for the other manufactures to come up with similar products. Consequently, the job of the sales team is cut out for them where they have made a list of the establishments that are responsible for advising mothers and expectant women what kind of breast milk substitute to use. The job of the establishments that are medical and health care centers, hospitals and private pediatricians is to educate the mothers when to start mixing the breast milk substitute with their breast-feeding and what quantity and frequency to use, a knowledge they would acquire from the manufacturers and from their own experience as a health care officials.There is always a department at the bigger institution that will deal with the various marketers and when the need arises it is possible to arrange a one-on-one appointment and the promoting and the education process could take any form and any length of time. But the anticipated e nd result is in due time the company will start selling its products, either through the drug stores of big hospitals and health centers that can arrange to receive a shipment or the mothers will have to go and buy it from outside market once it is recommended to them by the health officers. And here the other job of the sales team will kick in because they have to go around to talk with the retail establishment, big and small, in the cities they are operating, which will require an extended travel as sometimes they have to cover the outskirts of the city as well as the outlying regions.There is a huge competition to get space in the crowded shelves of retailers that will have to be convinced that the product is worth their recommendation and meets all the legal requirements to be sold for the public, which is part of the job of the sales team to furnish proof and explanation. This is also a very crucial part of their job, although at times it could be done through the distributors. However, the smaller retailers that are not chain stores might have to be approached individually or it might be the job of the distributors to convince them to carry the new product that should attract many buyers because of what it is offering, which is not only unique but functional foods are new even for the general food market that is catering for the adult buyers.After doing that, the particular brand depending on its popularity might start to sell itself, where distributors and retailers would want to put it in their stock and on their shelves because it is selling well, and when that point is reached the sales team could say their job is partially done, but they can still search for new locations and retailers in the same regions or in other regions. The conclusion is the baby food market is a highly regulated market and it is similar to the pharmaceutical market where manufacturers do not have a direct access to the buyers and users of their products, because of the sensit ive nature of what is involved, which is the life of young children whose growth could be harmed irreversibly if they are not given what they exactly need for their normal growth from the beginning.Even if there is no outright opposition to the existence of the breast milk substitutes, the authorities and other concerned groups would have preferred if mothers start using it between four and five months, but since that might not be possible because of the nature of the life of the mothers themselves who could be working outside of the home, which will result in their being time strapped, and instead of preparing food for their children at home it will be easier for them to pick the substitutes form the various stores and mix the feeding process with their own breast-feeding since it is proven to be vital for the children. Similarly, the existence of the breast milk substitutes will become handy for children whose mothers cannot breast-feed them for various reasons that were mentioned earlier, and in their case the breast milk substitute will come close to breast milk and they will grow up healthy as there are sources that are saying even if people simply wanted to believe that breast milk is better for the child and it will create some kind of bondage between mother and child, in reality the substitutes are proven scientifically to be as good as the breast milk if not better.Therefore, any company that is selling baby food, which has a global market of close to $21 billion a year will have to go over many hurdles to put the substitute on the hands of the mothers that will use it to feed their baby properly and everyone will be benefited at the end of the day. [10] REFERENCE 1. Nestle in Northern Europe. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. nestle. se/neobuilder/200108091943_6622_3b72cbb9544e1. html 2. Baby Food Business Assessment. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. researchandmarkets. com/reports/3492 3. Baby Food Industry Lobbies WHO. Retr ieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. bmj. com/cji/content/full/321/7273/1411 4. The Ecologist. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. theecologist. org/archive_detail. asp? 5. International Code. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. ibfan. org/english/resource/who/fullcode. html 6. Nestles Market War.HighBeam Encyclopedia. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G1-131934511. html 7. Breast Feeding. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. geocities. com/HotSprings/spa/3156/code. htm 8. Health Workers and the Baby Food Industry. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. bmj. com/cji/content/full/312/7046/1556 9. Nestle Public Relation Machine Exposed. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. babymilkaction. org/boycott/prmachine. html 10. Health-Conscious-Drive-Baby-Food-Market-Growth. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. rncos. com/Press_Release/Health-Conscious-Drive-Baby-Food-Market-Growth-July. htm

Assessing Young Learners’ Speaking Ability in the Fifth Grade of Three Elementary Schools in Padang Essay

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Problem Communicative view development in English learning makes the focus on English teaching changed. What once became structurally focused, it now moves toward meaningful language-focused. Students are not asked to memorize structure-based dialogues without knowing the meaning anymore. There are no more grammatically controlled sentences for students’ meaningless repetition. Dialogues, if used, center around communicative functions and are not normally memorized (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). That makes the teaching of speaking becomes the core part of English teaching. Just like the adults, young learners today are also taught speaking meaningfully and communicatively. However, young learners have distinctive characteristics compared with adult learners. One of them is children are still developing cognitively, linguistically, socially, emotionally, and physically (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). In other words, in teaching speaking to them, teachers need to consider children’s development of skills in the native language first. Young learners also enjoy rhythmic and repetitive language more than adults do. They are more likely to play with language than adults are, and they can be more effectively engaged through stories and games (Peck, 2009). The different techniques and approaches in teaching speaking to young learners lead to different ways in the speaking assessment. This is the problem faced by Indonesian young learners’ teachers nowadays. Most teachers do not know how they should assess their young learners’ speaking ability; some finally choose to skip the speaking assessment and focus on pencil-paper-tests. Thus, this research is conducted to discover and reveal ways of assessing young learners’ speaking ability. B. Identification of the Problem Based on the background above, the speaking assessment techniques used for young learners should be different from the adult. It should be suited with their cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. As we looked upon Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices by Brown (2010) and integrated it with curriculum standard in Indonesia, KTSP 2006, young learners will be better to be assessed in imitative and intensive speaking categories, such as imitating teachers’ saying, directed response tasks, read-aloud tasks, and dialogue completion tasks. Alternative assessments such as interviews and conferences can also be applied for them. C. Limitation of the Problem In this research, the problem will be focused on the speaking assessment techniques in the fifth grade of three selected elementary schools in Padang. D. Formulation of the Problem * What kind of speaking assessment technique used by elementary school English teachers? * Why do they use such techniques? E. Purpose of the Research The purpose of this research is to discover and reveal the technique used by English teachers to assess elementary school students’ speaking ability. F. Significance of the Research Theoretically, this research is aimed to give a description of how speaking assessment for young learners done in Indonesia. Practically, some techniques used by English teachers provided here can be a source of alternative speaking assessment. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. The Nature of Assessment There has been various explanation of what assessment is. Brindley (as stated in Linse, 2005) refers assessment as â€Å"collecting information and making judgments on a learner’s knowledge†. It means that in assessing students, we need to find out what students know about the subject being taught and how far that understanding has reached the learning indicator. In the same line with Brindley but with an addition, Brown (2010) states assessment as â€Å"an ongoing process of collecting information about a given object of interest according to procedures that are systematic and substantively grounded.† In his statement above, Brown implies that the process of collecting and judging students’ understanding is not done orderly in one single time; it is done continuously. Harris and McCann (1994) also give an essential note that in doing assessment teachers have to measure the performance of their students and the progress they make, as well as diagnose the problems they have and provide useful feedback. In other words, collecting and judging students’ intelligence is not enough; finding out what becomes students’ problem and giving advice to them to overcome the problems is also important to create a more successful learning process. Based on the theories above, it can be seen that assessment involves collecting information about students’ knowledge and judging their understanding in order to diagnose the learning problems they have so that students can get useful feedback to be more-successful learners. B. The Nature of Speaking As stated in the previous chapter, today’s English teaching focuses more on communicative purpose of language learning than in the past. It leads to the more important consideration of speaking skills than in previous time. Just like assessment, there is also various definition of speaking. One of them is from Lingua Links (1998) that defines speaking as productive skill in the oral mode that involves more than just pronouncing words. Referring to today’s communicative view, of course speaking cannot be thought as just pronouncing words; it needs to be meaningful, and communicative. Furthermore, Noonan (2003) states that, if pronunciation included, speaking involves three areas: mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction), and social cultural norms and rules (turn-taking, rate of speech, etc). All of them are connected to each other and prove that speaking is not only about what is uttered, but also the meaning and social purpose. C. The Nature of Young Learners Young learner is a child who is in their first six year of formal education, from age 6 to 12 (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). Many experts argue that it is beneficial to teach the children English since young age. TKT Young Learners (2010) notes one of the advantages that those children will have positive self-esteem toward English and it will help them to learn English more once they are adult. That is why teaching English to young learners considered important today. However, young learners have characteristics that make them different from the adults (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). First, they are still morally, cognitively, psychologically developed. Based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, children in age 6-12 years old are still in concrete operational thought stage, they already have the ability to do logical reasoning and understand reversibility with the help of concrete objects (Santrock, 1998). It means that explaining theory will not do for them, we need to make them move, do games, sing, etc. Second, young learners often have no obvious reason for learning English. Unlike adults who want to do it because of the career-related reasons or teenagers that do it to pass an exam, young learners do not have concrete reason why they must learn English. However, it does not mean they are not motivated to learn English; their goodwill, energy, and curiosity to learning overcome that. Third, they may not always have well-developed literacy skills to support their learning of English. Many children in the age of 6-12 years old are just getting to know their first language. It means that as a teacher we need to not have too-high expectation and do more. Fourth, young learners often learn slowly and forget quickly. It is related to the first characteristic that young learners are still developed morally, socially, and cognitively. Their still-ongoing developments in those basic things make them forget easily and learn slowly. This is why songs, agmes, and chants do best for them. D. Principles of Assessing Young Learners According to METU Open Course Ware (2006), principles of assessing children’s language learning are: 1. Assessment should be seen from a learning-centered perspective. It means that we cannot get a true assessment by testing kids what they can do alone. It has been stated by many experts that the goal of learning English is to be able to communicate meaningfully in English. Testing students, let alone young children, as a tool to get true assessment will not congruent with the real goal of English learning and it will just be wasting time. 2. Assessment should support learning and teaching. This is something that is not also becomes a problem with young learners, but also with the adult. Before performance-based assessment is introduced, teachers chose paper-and-pencil tests as their source of assessing (Puppin, 2006). It becomes a problematic then since students do not see the connection between the learning and the test they are doing, ; they see them as two different incongruent things. If the assessment done is congruent with the learning they did, children will feel that what they have learned is useful. 3. Children and parents should understand assessment issues. Their understanding will make the assessment process more meaningful since they can participate and supports greatly on behave of children’s English development. On the other hand, if they do not understand why the teacher does this and that, there will be no good communication between these three subjects to help children’s development. E. Techniques of Speaking Assessment Brown (2010) states some techniques of speaking assessment based on students’ language development level: Imitative Speaking This kind of assessment is intended to see whether students can imitate saying in English correctly. Eventhough it focuses on the accuracy of repeating words, it does not mean that it cannot be communicative and meaningful. Besides, in recent years many experts have discovered that an overemphasis on fluency can sometimes lead to the decline of accuracy in speech. Intensive Speaking There are four tasks in this kind of assessing: directed response task, oral questionnaire, and picture-cued task. In oral questionnaires, students are first given time to read the dialogue to get its main idea and to think about the appropriate lines to fill in. Then, as the tape, teacher produces one part orally; the students respond. In directed response task, students elicit a particular grammatical form of a transformation of a sentence. Such tasks are clearly mechanical and not communicative, but they do require minimal processing of meaning in order to produce the correct grammatical output. Picture-cued task requires a description from the students. Pictures may be very simple, designed to elicit a word or a phrase, or composed of a series that tells a story or incident. This task is meaningful since sometime a little sense of humor is injected. Responsive Speaking Assessment of responsive tasks involves brief interactions with an interlocutor, differing from intensive tasks in increased creativity given to the student and from interactive tasks by somewhat limited length of utterances. The kinds of this assessment are question and answer, giving instructions and directions, and paraphrasing. Questions and answers involve oral interaction with teacher.

Balanced Scorecard Essay

Introduction Performance management systems are often designed to enable organizations to plan, measure and control their performance, so that decisions, resources and activities can be better aligned with business strategies to achieve desired results and create shareholder value. The Balanced Scorecard is a performance tool using financial and nonfinancial measures. It provides an organization with ways to develop and evaluate strategic objectives and goals. For the past two decades, the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has been proposed as an integrated framework for the implementation of financial and nonfinancial performance measures that helps organizations align their initiatives with the organization’s strategy (Kaplan ; Norton, 1992). The United States Postal Service delivers more mail to more addresses in a larger geographical area than any other post in the world. The Postal Service delivers to more than152 million homes, businesses and Post Office boxes in every state, city, town and borough in this country. Everyone living in the United States and its territories has access to postal products and services and pays the same postage regardless of their location (USPS, 2014). This paper will examine the effectiveness of the implementation of the balanced score card approach. Key Issues for Discussion Explain how the Voice of the Employee supports improved internal processes (Voice of the Business), and how the Voice of the Business supports customer satisfaction (Voice of the Customer). Employees have a huge impact on their organization’s financial results. When employees are empowered to make decisions they share information relating to the strategic processes and direction of that organization. When it comes to carrying out the message and mission of the organization the voice of the employee is very crucial. Through empowerment, the employees are able to create an opportunity to show management how they will apply the company vision to their daily task. The voice of the business relates to information derived from financial data. This data can be used to indentify weakness in certain market areas and the status of the research and development process. In order to move the organization forward or closer to its overall objectives, analyst must understand the relevance of the balanced scorecard process. The voice of the customer indentifies the needs of the customer which are keys to the strategy to defining which processes can be viewed as value added products or services. The customers are a continuous source of feedback both good and bad. Customer feedback can also provide new opportunities to identify and develop new products. Kaplan and Norton advocated a well-connected map ping that leads from an organization’s main strategy to the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard: Financial, Customer Satisfaction, Internal Process, and Learning and Growth. Each element works to support the strategic objectives in a linked process. Customer satisfaction leads to the desired financial outcome, which in the case of the Postal Service is sufficient revenue to support the universal delivery service mission (Evans, Lindsay, 2011). While Figure 8. 14 shows only representative measures associated with the balanced scorecard, suggest some other measures that might be included using your knowledge of postal operations. Based on my personal experience and knowledge of the United States Postal Service, I would suggest that the organization add some additional measures to it balanced scorecard. The organization should measure customer complaints relating to package handling and damaged goods. Damaged packages generally lead to claims brought forward by customers which is certainly a value associated with it that should be tracked and measured. The organization should also measure and analyze the effects of the employee turnover rate. Employee replacement cost can have a huge affect on the financial element. Cost associated with the orientation and training of a new employee as well as the cost associated with employee separation can have an effect on the bottom-line. Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Balanced Scorecard Some organizations have a difficult time establishing a process that can translate its strategic vision into concrete goals and actions. There are clearly some beneficial advantages to applying the balanced scorecard approach. Some of these benefits include gaining a cross organizational team that will open channels of communications. The company will have enthusiastic people who are focused on carrying out the organization’s mission and commitment to quality. Also, the company will gain a unique competitive advantage relating to reduce time frames, improved decisions and better solutions. Most importantly, initiatives are continually measured and evaluated against industry standards. There can be some disadvantages as well. The balanced scorecard takes a lot of planning and forethought. Defining clearly stated objectives and setting goals are crucial to the process. There can be resistance from employees or even management. Some individuals may see the implementation as a threat or indication of a lack of performance on their part. While the balanced scorecard gives an extensive overview of the organization’s performance, it does not give recommendations regarding how to resolve discovered problem performance areas. Conclusion The case study involving the United States Postal Service presents evidence that the balanced scorecard approach can have a positive effect on an organizations overall performance. If integrated successfully, the balance scorecard will be a tool that ensures clarity and consistency across all departments or individuals involved. Solving quality management issues rely on the right approach and planning. Understanding the importance of the linkage among all four of the balanced scorecard is crucial to its success. Special attention should be given to the proper implementation and cultivation of intangible assets relating to learning and growth. The USPS has improved its service and has increased customer satisfaction. First-class mail performance has improved to over 95 percent of overnight mail being delivered on time, with improvements in other categories of first-class mail (Evans, Lindsay, 2011).

Cache Level 3 Unit 2

c- Analyse the issues which are essential to confidentiality and objective observations Partnership With Parents. Parents know their child best therefore it is essential to establish a co-operative partnership with the parents of the children. It is ideal to build a trusting and respectful relationship with parents so that they feel comfortable speaking with the practitioner if they have concerns. Parents are entitled to be kept informed on how their child is progressing and are told what the child will be doing in the setting, for example following The Early Years Curriculum.This can help the child develop and feel comfortable. Parents should also be made aware that their child will be observed and assessed throughout the year in the setting. If a trusting relationship exists between a practitioner and a parent it is more likely information on problems or changes at home will be discussed with the setting. Parents can also help to shed light on observation findings therefore practit ioners can understand the child’s stage of development and personal needs more.However if there is a breach of confidentiality parents will be hasty to share information again and have a negative outlook towards the practitioner, this means it is essential for information handling to be in a secure and safe manner. Safe Storage of Information. Storage of observations must be dealt with care, it must be stored in a secure manner in folders which are locked, password protected and encrypted.Yet they must be accessible to designated practitioners and files also must be backed up. Only trusted members of staff should have access to personal information as part of the Confidentiality Policy under the Data Protection Act 1998 all children’s right to privacy should be respected and upheld. Sharing Information Information on observations can be shared with other professionals involved with the child, for example in a multi-agency team information on observations can be shared. Parents also are allowed and encouraged to view observations that have been made on their child as they can help the practitioner understand the results and even take action towards the child’s personal needs themselves. Objectivity Pre-judgement, personal beliefs and values are not allowed to come into the observation however a skilled observer will acknowledge that everyone has these traits and will try to be objective. To be objective means to be without bias and not allow your personal experiences influence what you observe in the child.However practitioners must be careful they don’t give the child a self-fulfilling prophecy whether negative or positive because every child is different and will develop at their own pace. Children with learning difficulties, different ethnic backgrounds or family background might be seen as developing English skills slower. This may not be the case and a practitioner must give every child the chance to develop and be given the same amount of one-on-one teaching time as well as group class activities. (e7)

From emigration to immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

From emigration to immigration - Essay Example The population of Ireland is 5.5 million at present, but had been over 8 million in 1841. It had augmented hastily from 4 or 5 million at the Act of Union with Britain in 1801. As the population was to be destroyed by the Famine of 1845 to1848, together by death and mass emigration, there had been elevated emigration well before the Famine. More than 1.5 million had emigrated between 1815 and 1840. One third of these left to Britain and of those who went west, half came towards Canada, and the other half to the United States in that period. This stage of emigration which was to rise swiftly in the stage instantly after the Famine was an extraordinary high proportion of the total population, unparalleled in other European states. The Famine directed to the death and emigration of over one million people. The population fell to 6.5 million by 1851 and by an additional million to 5.5 million by 1871. There was de-industrialization, as stated by the author (Crotty, R., 1986), in the 19th century in the majority of Ireland, with the exemption of the North East. Five million people emigrated between 1851 and 1921 and most of these were sole adults. The tough farmers left the farm to the eldest son and many siblings went abroad and so the honesty of their farms was preserved. People had far less children and those who had property were to become tough in their attitude to heritage. Emigration and transforms in productiveness permitted for augmented profits for those who stayed behind. The following table gives the net outflow each decade from 1850 up to the ending of the 20th century and in addition for the three years to 2003 inclusive. It shows a huge outflow of people from Ireland mainly given the small size of the population. (Crotty, R., 1986). The reasons for the continued growth of the Irish economy are difficult, yet