AOL SWOT essays

AOL SWOT essays When a person does something wrong there is always a friend or someone that takes care of that person and tells him/her that he/she is doing something wrong and at the same time addresses the strengths and the opportunities that they have in them. The same way this procedure or this vindication is done on a personal level and it is also done on a business level. How is a company to know just like the person where they are good, where they are lacking, and where they have potential points of growth, or where they have outside factors that can affect them? On a personal level there is not really a name of this, but if a person wanted to it can probably be called self-awareness or a critique of the person. On the business level this is called a SWOT analysis, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for a firm or company. This is the main objective or goal of this paper. In particular the company that will be discussed or remedied in this paper is AOL T ime Warner. As with a person, before one can judge or say anything, one has to understand that person, the history, so that will be addressed first in this paper. Then after the history and the background are understood the next thing to look at is where the company stands right now and all the forces of the competitors that are rivaling the company, or try to pinpoint where the company and its competitors are right now. If one does not do this, he/she will not be able to give suggestions of where the company needs to grow or where the company is lacking, etc. After this is done, the next step in the paper will be an in-depth look at the company, basically the SWOT analysis of the company. These points will not just be highlights but along with that there will be suggestions and recommendations on what AOL Time Warner, our company, should do in order to either keep what it has if the situation is a strength. Ways of improving or ways that they can ma...

Free Essays on American Civil War

The American Civil War â€Å"Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal† (Barney 147). Abraham Lincoln’s famous opening statement of the Gettysburg Address shows the general attitude of the Northern United States in this Civil War. The American Civil War was a war fought between the northern sixteen states making up the United States and the eleven seceded states creating the Confederate States of America between 1861 and 1865 (Civil 1- 5)(Catton 567). There were many different economical and political reasons for this war, but as Lincoln often noted slavery was the root cause (Barney 61). Most of the battles in this great war occurred very close to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, although many key battles were won and lost in the heart of the nation (Barney 349). The American Civil War was one of the most influential events in American history. Lincoln’s victory in the election of 1860 was the "straw" that broke the Union into two separate countries, the north and the south. The first state to leave the union was South Carolina; it was soon followed by six other states: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. History showed that it wasn’t until Lincoln called for troops in April of 1861 that Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee join the south completing the eleven state confederacy (Civil 1-5). Lincolns call for troops had an overwhelming turnout from all sixteen of the United States: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin (Katcher 155-56). The list of great generals and soldiers on both sides of this conflict seems to never end. There were many great... Free Essays on American Civil War Free Essays on American Civil War The American Civil War â€Å"Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal† (Barney 147). Abraham Lincoln’s famous opening statement of the Gettysburg Address shows the general attitude of the Northern United States in this Civil War. The American Civil War was a war fought between the northern sixteen states making up the United States and the eleven seceded states creating the Confederate States of America between 1861 and 1865 (Civil 1- 5)(Catton 567). There were many different economical and political reasons for this war, but as Lincoln often noted slavery was the root cause (Barney 61). Most of the battles in this great war occurred very close to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, although many key battles were won and lost in the heart of the nation (Barney 349). The American Civil War was one of the most influential events in American history. Lincoln’s victory in the election of 1860 was the "straw" that broke the Union into two separate countries, the north and the south. The first state to leave the union was South Carolina; it was soon followed by six other states: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. History showed that it wasn’t until Lincoln called for troops in April of 1861 that Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee join the south completing the eleven state confederacy (Civil 1-5). Lincolns call for troops had an overwhelming turnout from all sixteen of the United States: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin (Katcher 155-56). The list of great generals and soldiers on both sides of this conflict seems to never end. There were many great... Free Essays on American Civil War The American Civil War I. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the events surrounding the end of the American Civil War. This war was a war of epic proportion. Never before and not since have so many Americans died in battle. The American Civil War was truly tragic in terms of human life. In this document, I will speak mainly around those involved on the battlefield in the closing days of the conflict. Also, reference will be made to the leading men behind the Union and Confederate forces. The war was beginning to end by January of 1865. By then, Federal (Federal was another name given to the Union Army) armies were spread throughout the Confederacy and the Confederate Army had shrunk extremely in size. In the year before, the North had lost an enormous amount of lives, but had more than enough to lose in comparison to the South. General Grant became known as the "Butcher" (Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co.,1894) and many wanted to see him removed. But Lincoln stood firm with his General, and the war continued. This paper will follow the happenings and events between the winter of 1864-65 and the surrender of The Confederate States of America. All of this will most certainly illustrate that April 9, 1865 was indeed the end of a tragedy. II. CUTTING OFF THE SOUTH In September of 1864, General William T. Sherman and his army cleared the city of Atlanta of its civilian population then rested ever so briefly. It was from there that General Sherman and his army began its famous "march to the sea". The march covered a distance of 400 miles and was 60 miles wide on the way. For 32 days no news of him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of supplies, and his men lived on what ever they could get from the country through which they passed. On their route, the army destroyed anything and everything that they could not use but was presumed usable to t...

Zulu Film Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Zulu Film Review - Essay Example Zulu Film Review The executive producer was joseph E. Levine. The film focusses on an article by a historical writer called John Prebble who also is the screenplay together with Endfield, the production director of the film. It was shot at the Diamond Films Limited Production and Embassy Pictures took an initiative to release the Zulu film at the 47th street; the Seventh Avenue and the 58th street; Third Avenue at the palace, as well as other theatres within the area of metropolitan. It takes a total of 138 minutes, as the running time, to watch the film. The film has about fifteen main actors who play different roles. In the film, Richard Hurton provides the narration of the opening and closing, Mangosuthu Buthelezi plays Zulu king while Cetshwayo KaMpade plays Zulu’s great grandfather. As the first main part, Stanley Baker (The star of the film) introduces Michael Caine together with the supporting cast that comprises of James Booth, Jack Hawkins, Nigel Green, Ulla Jacobsson, Paul Daneman, Patrick Magea, Glyn Edwards and Ivor Emmanuel. In addition, other actors that play major roles in the film include Kerry Jordan, Gert van den Berg, Gary Bond and Neil McCarthy. As the history records, there was so much anticolonial discordance and overwhelming racial tension in the period of 19th and early 2oth century. In this regard, Zulu film depicts the bloody and senseless battle which transpired in this era between the British soldiers and force of Zulu warriors in South Africa.

Ethics and Criminal Justice CRJS345 Research Paper

Ethics and Criminal Justice CRJS345 - Research Paper Example Use of COPPS will be imperative in mining vital information from members of the public and through scanning, analysis, response and assessment will utterly empower police to solve the prevalent problems of underage drinking and street racing in Westwood. Social crimes such as drugs trafficking and mugging continue to prevail in the contemporary society. It is intelligible that police agencies cannot handle such serious issues without encouraging public participation. The development of COPPS will be of assistance to condense causes and diminish social disorder through analytical devices and community-policy joint venture. Scanning phase will be of prodigious support in channeling preliminary investigation and in establishing if underage drinking and street racing problem exist in Westwood. Scanning phase will help in identifying the actual area in Westwood that juvenile drinking is practiced. I will visit traffic unit so that I can get to know if street racing do exist in Westwood roads. After this, I will analyze data on underage drinking and street racing delinquency both from the public and police agency as this will be helpfulness in attaining substantial details for determining whether the two offenses are existent (Sozer, 2010). I will use the analysis phase in solving the problems by first examining to which extend has underage drinking, and street racing problem broadened in Westwood. My major source is from the community and the police agency; therefore, I will initiate a solemn study that will help out in discovering the major cause of these two problems. In my study to underage drinking, I will try to explore what may be the its cause or navigating factors (Williams & Arrigo,  2008). This can help me to understand the key causes thus formulate the best strategies of resolving the issues. Is it caused by young people’s curiosity of venturing into risk-taking or is caused by heritable feature and other

Objective and subjecive ( you have the file you can read and see its Essay

Objective and subjecive ( you have the file you can read and see its dont have to be the room at algoma u any room - Essay Example The classroom floor uses white glazed tiles. The classroom is lit by rows of fluorescent lighting. This particular classroom has a more professional feel and design to it. Comprised of 3 rows of semi modular computer tables, each row seats up to 4 persons. The computers are mounted to each table and each student uses a top of the line LCD monitor for class lecture purposes. The seats themselves are modern and ergonomic in design and look so that each student can be seated comfortably during the long stretches of class hours. Most of the class lectures in this modern classroom are done via power point presentation as evidenced by the projection screen hanging in front of the students area. The professor has his own table off to the right side corner of the room. The table houses his own computer and other teaching paraphernalia. Mounted to the back of the teachers desk is the white board where manual drawings and notes may be written down for further reference during the lecture. Off to the left side of the room is another small counter that is used to hold other teaching equipmen t or

Immersion Education In Korean Elementary Education Education Essay

Immersion Education In Korean Elementary Education Education Essay As the world is globalised and English-speaking countries have dominant roles in politics, economy and culture, English is universally recognised as a global language. With the importance of English as a global lingua franca and the necessity of having a command of English, South Korea (hereafter Korea) has perceived the importance of English language education and tried to improve students English proficiency by suggesting multilateral methods. Many language education specialists, scholars and policy-makers have suggested many methodologies applicable to the Korean public education system. In 2009, the Korea Herald (2009) reported, for example, that Korea ranks 89th out of 120 countries in terms of TOEFL (Test of English as foreign language, led by Educational Testing Service, U.S.A) results, achieving a score below the international average. Korea has still been ranked bottom in the English Proficiency Test, especially in the speaking section (Korea Times, 2011). Demand for a high level of English is increasing because English has become the most important part of Korean peoples lives. English proficiency tests, such as university entrance exams, TOEIC (Test of English for international communication, see reference C) are now essential elements for going to a good university or getting a good job or promotion. Especially, English proficiency is a major component in university admission. A recent survey led by KDI (Korea Development Institute) mentions that academic cliques are voted as the top-ranked factor of individual success. This leads to English education fever in Korea and students parents have spent colossal amounts of time and money on English education for their children. When the current government was launched in 2008, its campaign in terms of English education was Anyone who graduates from high-school can communicate with English without inconvenience, and when President Lee was selected, his transition committee of education brought in the Immersion education concept, known in Korea as Mol-ib. In particular, the committee focused on early English education, and targeted elementary school students for this imme rsion scheme. After severe controversy, the committee had to withdraw the policy, but some offices of education from cities and provinces still encourage their elementary/middle schools to adopt immersion education voluntarily. Especially, the government allowed four international middle schools to adopt English immersion education and accordingly many offices of education in cities and provinces considered establishing a specialised middle school. Accordingly, the new governments cancelled policy resulted in unintended consequences that led to overheated early English education. There was a rush of students who would go to private language institutes to prepare for going to the new schools. Students living in rural areas moved to the cities where four International middle schools are located. Other students and their parents have also recognised that English education in public school is not enough and searched for private institutes which provide the Immersion programme and classe s taught by English native speakers. Contrary to the governments expectations, many middle-class students have to rely on private language institutes and their parents have to spend more money for private English tutoring and sending their children abroad for Summer/Winter language programmes. Especially, as the new presidential election approaches, this policy is mentioned again by new candidates, education policy-makers and educators. Accordingly, the interests of teachers at public schools and private institutes are reaching the climax of new policy. This case study explores the suitability of the English immersion programme in South Korea from two immersion teachers experiences and attempts to answer the following research questions: 1) How do Korean immersion teachers teach in an immersion education environment for elementary students? 2) What difficulties do non-native speakers have when teaching in the target language? 3) Is immersion education suitable for English language e ducation in Korea? The study first observes Korean immersion teachers classes. It then investigates their opinions in terms of immersion education. Finally, it looks into the suitability of immersion education in the Korean education system. Although this case study is small-scale, the findings will show some suggestions to the persons concerned with English education in the next government. 2. Background 2.1 Theories of bilingual education From the twentieth century, the worlds globalisation has greatly influenced language education in every country. According to Baker (1996: 165), one of the illusions about bilingual education is that it is a twentieth century phenomenon. Some countries, such as Hungary, Finland in Europe, Canada, and Hong Kong have applied bilingual education officially or unofficially and optionally or compulsorily. This phenomenon explains why people cannot deny current globalised times and must recognise the importance of communication across the globe. Paulston (1992: 80) argues that unless we try in some way to account for the socio-historical, cultural, and economic-political factors which lead to certain forms of bilingual education, we will never understand the consequences of that education. In this sense, characteristics of bilingual education can be deeply related to ones societys history, culture, economy, and politics and can be changed according to these aspects. Two terms, immersion education and CLIL, are introduced briefly in this chapter, as they require a wide range of theoretic background. One of very well-known bilingual education programmes is immersion education. Baker (1996: 180) introduces the term Immersion bilingual education as an intended outcome, and therefore represents a strong use of the term bilingual education. In this sense, from the view of teaching general subjects in English, English immersion education is a different approach from TEE (Teaching English in English) or teaching other subjects integ rated partially in an English class. Johnson and Swain (1997: 6-8) discuss the core features of a prototypical immersion program. They present that there are eight common features which exist in spite of the variable features in each immersion education programme: 1. The L2 is a medium of instruction. 2. The immersion curriculum parallels the local L1 curriculum. 3. Overt support exists for the L1. 4. The programme aims for additive bilingualism. 5. Exposure to the L2 is largely confined to the classroom. 6. Students enter with similar (and limited) levels of L2 proficiency. 7. The teachers are bilingual. 8. The classroom culture is that of the local L1 community. On the other hand, there is another immersion education programme, which is called CLIL; Content and Language Integrated Learning. According to Dalton-Puffer (2007: 1), CLIL refers to an educational setting where a language other than the students mother tongue is used as a medium of instruction. Garcà ­a (2010: 210) takes the stance that CLIL-type programmes aim at achieving a functional competence in both receptive and productive skills, particularly when the target language takes a low portion of curriculum time, as in vocational or professional training. Garcà ­a refers to Hammerly and Swain in noting the difference between them, as follows: (2009:209-2010) Full immersion offers intensive contact with the target language and aims for native or near-native competence at least in receptive skills of comprehension and reading. However, many early total Canadian immersion pupils, even by the end of the program, continue to reveal striking grammatical inaccuracies in their speaking and writing (Hammerly 1991; Swain, 1985). 2.2 Current theoretic trend of English immersion education in Korea Since the latter part of the 20th century, the introduction of the immersion programme as one of bilingual education and the research of its necessity in the Korean education system has been shown. J. Park (2000) suggests the importance of bilingual education, and especially the application of immersion education to English classes in Korea. His paper provides three key objectives; showing successful cases of other countries in terms of immersion education, exploring the applicability of the immersion scheme in Korean education and arguing that partial subjects need to be taught in the immersion education system. There is updated research based on teachers cognition to apply immersion education in the Korean curriculum. S. Park (2004) broadly surveys the subject of teachers ideas in relation to English immersion education in Korean elementary schools in the Seoul metropolitan area. He suggests several ideas based on his research findings and some representative suggestions from parti cipants are summarised as follows (2004: 277-278): English immersion education should be fundamentally implemented after cultivating professional immersion teachers and should not give pressure on general subjects teachers. Teachers emphasise the need for government policies to give thoughtful consideration to immersion teachers in order to make them into immersion teachers. Additionally, preliminary arrangements in terms of curricula and materials would be needed to minimise the possibility of disorder and inconvenience caused by insufficient preparation. In relation to induction timing, they recommend slow and partial induction of immersion education and the government should suggest this policy to schools in the form of a voluntary, not compulsory, aspect in the beginning stage. The idea of working with English native speakers is recommended and desirable for team-teaching, but Korean teachers should lead the initiative. They recommend that in the later phase, Korean teachers who are fluent in English should lead the class alone. Especially, social equality between the students from diverse family backgrounds is insisted upon and policy-makers are required to suggest proper methods of selecting beneficiaries. Furthermore, teachers argue that the induction of immersion education should not foster the growth of the private education market. Additionally, J. Park and S. Park (2007) suggest a time of induction of English immersion education, appropriate subjects of immersion, its curriculum, a selection scheme for students of this programme, immersion education teachers, types of immersion class, a plan for improving teachers English proficiency, and developing materials in a practical manner. 3. Methodology This chapter describes the methodological framework. It first describes participants and their recruitment. The description is followed by a detailed description of the procedures and techniques of data collection. The chapter ends with an account of data analysis methods as well as ethical issues related to the study. 3.1. Participants Two immersion teachers participated in the survey. I recruited them at a public elementary school and a private educational institute through my personal network. Both are male and their average age was 32. I made this decision in order to listen to different voices from public and private institutes. A public school teacher (hereafter Teacher A) received a BA in Math Education from one local university and gained a teaching license from the Korean education council. He has taught English in elementary school for 7 years, but his immersion teaching experience is only 1 year. Another teacher (hereafter Teacher B) from a private institute gained a BA in science education and spent a total 6 years in U.S.A. His immersion teaching experience is 2 years in Korea. 3.2. Data collection This study tries to employ qualitative data collection and analysis methods. These characteristics of qualitative research match this studys research purposes. The focus of the study is to observe immersion classes in Korea and particularly to get Korean teachers opinions about English immersion education. Therefore, qualitative research methods were prioritised in this study. Among various qualitative data collecting tools, interview was used as a primary data collection tool, and observation served the purpose of getting referencing data. 3.2.1. Observation Due to geographical distance, I had to observe their classes via videos which were uploaded on their institutions websites. Teacher As video was produced and uploaded onto the web because the school was designated as an exemplary immersion school. On the other hand, teacher Bs video was produced for the purpose of marketing for recruiting students. One reason for classroom observation was mainly to build up a background knowledge of immersion education in Korea. The second reason is to develop my questionnaire and see the consistency between what interviewees think about immersion education and what they actually do in their classroom teaching. 3.2.2. Interview The interview was followed by two interviews separately via Skype and was conducted with a pre-provided questionnaire (Appendix A) which was sent to them by E-mail. In order to allow for flexibility, some questionnaires were additionally made to get their opinions. All the interviews were conducted in Korean and audio-recorded with Evaer Skype Recorder. 3.3. Ethical issues When I found the appropriate participants, I contacted them via Facebook and explained the purposes of the case study. They informed me that they would accept my offer under the condition of anonymity. I had to promise to protect the confidentiality of the participants and that I would secure their anonymity by using pseudonyms as well as the institutes names. I assured them that the interview results would not be released to anyone with whom they work, or to any institutes at which they work. 4. Research findings 4.1 Immersion programme in two institutions The below contents are collected from interviews with two participants and information from school/institute homepages and are summed up. The general approach to immersion is similar but they have slight differences of purpose and characteristics. 4.1.1 Programme purpose and characteristics of Teacher As school This programme is sponsored by the Office of education, Busan city. This school is designated as an exemplary school which provides immersion education. Three subjects, which are maths, science, and sociology, are taught in English, not in regular classes but in extracurricular classes for voluntary students. Students English levels are diverse. The mission of the programme is to assist EFL elementary students in developing English language proficiency while fostering an interest in their studies. This programme enables the students to learn English additionally at school and review subjects which were taught in Korean at regular classes. In class, the Korean teacher leads the class and an English native speaker supports the Korean teacher. The textbooks are provided by the government and have similar contents to Korean textbooks. 4.1.2 Programme purpose and characteristics of Teacher Bs institute The programme enables highly intelligent elementary students who have a good command of English to complete a series of elementary-level subjects in immersion education. This programme is designed to meet the interests of elementary students who plan to go to International Middle school (Appendix B) or secondary school in English-speaking countries. In order to be considered for this programme, candidates must possess over 700 points in their TOEIC score and their ranking in their class should be within the top 5% of total subjects. The mission of the programme is to provide the upper level contents to elite students and to enable them to prepare for studying in an English environment. The main subjects, such as maths, science, and sociology, which are core courses required to prepare for junior high school, are taught in English. All teachers are English native speakers or Koreans who speak English fluently and have a relevant degree from English-speaking countries. The materials ar e diverse; from American elementary books to self-translated books into English. 4.2 Classroom observation In order to observe two different classrooms, I borrowed Fortune (2000)s immersion teaching strategies observation checklist (appendix D). I observed how teachers would operate the class and how students responded to find similarities and make comparisons between their two programmes. There are several areas of classroom observation, but I focused on teachers methods of 1) Making input comprehensible, 2) Integrating language with contents, and 3) Interacting with students. 4.2.1 Teacher As class Teacher A teaches maths for the 5th grade (age 11) in English immersion. In his class, there are about 25 students. This class is not in the regular course curriculum but is additionally conducted for the purpose of immersion education. This is an alternative measure to avoid making students parents worried in terms of childrens scholastic attainments. When the class begins, teacher A and a native speaker share greetings in English to catch the students attention and to inform them that only English is to be used in the class. He leads the class with relative ease and simplicity in order not to give pressure or stress to students. His intention seems to focus on the understanding of the English language, especially vocabulary. He tries to provide activities by asking questions. He also asks the native speaker to talk to students individually. The native speaker tries to tailor her English to a level that the students, with their limited English proficiency, can understand. 4.2.2 Teacher Bs class Teacher B teaches science to the 6th grade (age 12) in English immersion. In his class, there are 12 students. He explains some contents and their structures and vocabularies simultaneously. He focuses not only on speaking, but also on reading and writing skills. In order to develop students English skills, he encourages students to write their thinking after the teachers explanation and to have a discussion with a partner. He uses American material from California state for grade 7 (12-13 years of age). He tries to correct the students English and seems more focused on students understanding of content. In order to familiarise them with Western classrooms and culture, he uses an American Home school DVD as a visual aid to supplement information to get positive feedback from his students. 4.2.3 Similarities and differences between them The main intentions of both of the programmes are to promote academic instruction so that all students become proficient in English through the implementation of immersion education. Their classes aim to provide students with a Western-like environment and to provide some opportunities for positive interactions. Both programmes seem to employ a lesson plan that facilitates English language development. Lessons are designed to promote English language skills, rather than to deliver content. As students have a limited understanding of English, teachers try to speak English slowly and explain things simply. They allocate some minutes for providing opportunities for students to produce language on their own to practice English. After their response, teachers provide positive feedback, although the students make some mistakes, so that students get involved and interested in another language and class. Although there was not a significant difference between the two classrooms, one particul ar finding is that Teacher A delivers some content in Korean to help students understand information. His class focuses on helping children become comfortable with the English language. His intention is to make his students become familiarised with the English language and to grow slowly in their English skills. Students feedback is rather limited and this class is generally teacher-centred. This case is not the original class of immersion education because this class is for reviewing what students have already learned. Repeating the lesson in the target language is the main purpose; thus, it does not fit in the basic principle of immersion education. In contrast, teacher Bs class is slightly different. Because of the student body, which is composed of elite students, his class provides an environment that promotes positive attitudes towards the English language. It allows them to simultaneously learn content on a topic as well as acquiring vocabulary and the ability to speak in Eng lish. This programme seems to focus on individual academic strengths. The teachers main interest includes students developing high levels of proficiency in the English language and performing at or above grade level in academic areas in both languages. 4.3. Interview results and discussions This section shows the findings from the interviews based on questionnaires. A copy of the questionnaire can be found in appendix A and copies of the completed questionnaires can be found in appendix B. The public school teacher is referred to as Teacher A and the private institute one is referred to as Teacher B. I summarise the findings with 4 themes, as shown below. 4.3.1 Target language proficiency and self-confidence Teachers are not sure whether immersion education should be introduced in public school. They point out that their English proficiency is the main problem and they lose confidence when teaching. They also worry about the teaching quality due to delivering lessons. When I was selected as an immersion teacher, I was excited, but on the other hand, I was worried about my English proficiency. I had some English communication classes in college, but that was for general English classes. Although I have quite a high score in TOEIC (Test of English for international communication by ETS), I have had no exposure to an English environment. I am planning to go abroad for intensive English. (Teacher A) Although I studied and gained a B.A. degree in U.S, its very challenging to teach in English. Policy-makers need to understand that an American degree cannot make foreign students get the language level of native speakers. There is no option but to improve English proficiency at this moment. (Teacher B) These two participants recognise the teachers English proficiency as a starting point for immersion education. They understand that the language issue is critical for adopting immersion education. However, they appreciate that the future trend of English education in Korea will be similar to the immersion education system. Thus, in order to strengthen their teaching competitiveness, they are going to language schools after work or are planning to go overseas. 4.3.2 Relationship with their parents and the market of private institutes One of the key issues in introducing immersion education is dealing with students and their parents. Especially, they have common ideas that immersion education should require parents permission and agreement. These are quotations in terms of this theme: In the beginning, it was very difficult to persuade parents. Thats why immersion class is executed in extra-curricular class, not regular class. One particular thing is they regard my class as another opportunity to expose themselves to English language. (Teacher A) Parents intentionally send their children to my institute, as it is one of a few institutes which provide immersion education in this town. Most of them expect their children to go to middle school of science; thus, their expectation is very high. They pay a significant amount of money. I think immersion teaching would be limited in public school and the market of private institutes will be bigger. (Teacher B) As shown above, it is found that getting permission from students parents is not easy and general explanation needs to be provided to parents in the beginning stage. One interesting finding is that this immersion programme increases the role of private education, which is contrary to the governments intention. Furthermore, this points to the fact that the immersion programme creates a gulf between the rich and poor. 4.3.3 Interaction with students Interaction between teachers and students is a very important factor in the classroom. As a teacher, he/she needs to monitor whether students understand the content and can follow what he/she teaches and be aware of any difficulties the students have. Especially, this is very important in the immersion classroom because a foreign language is the main delivery method. This is the most important issue that I object to in the adoption of immersion education. Most students start learning English from the age of ten in public school. To be honest, their English proficiency is not enough to understand a class in English. Accordingly, they lose interest in the class. Although the class deals with elementary-level content, students feel difficulty in understanding new English words and contexts. (Teacher A) As a matter of fact, class in a foreign language is difficult not only for teachers but also for students. My students English is definitely better than other students in the same grade. However, understanding, presenting and asking questions is not that easy. Fortunately, they are aiming to go to international middle school and they try their best. In my position, I try to utilise many visual aids to catch their attention. (Teacher B) In terms of this issue, the language issue is mentioned again. One of the key principles of immersion education is linguistic knowledge. In Korea, one of EFL countries, where English is rarely used in real life, it is once again confirmed that by teaching in a foreign language, it is not easy to make academic content comprehensible to learners. 4.3.4 Qualified native speaker and tailored materials The basic requirement for any class is material. The two participants agreed that they were not sure about which materials they should use. They also had some difficulties in finding qualified native-speakers to work with. These remarks are exemplary in relation to this theme: To be honest, selecting materials is beyond my capacity. There is no official textbook for immersion education. I use an American textbook but the curriculum is very different. Thus, I translate Korean textbooks into English before class and hand them out in class. (Teacher B) Working with a native speaker is very beneficial to me and to students. However, I have to spend more time to prepare for class because the native speaker and I have to prepare together in advance. In particular, getting a qualified one is very difficult. Most of them come to Korea to teach English, not maths or science. Even finding a qualified one who meets the school recruitment standard is very rare. (Teacher A) As shown above, producing material tailored to the Korean education curriculum is recognised as one of the most challenging aspects. Currently, the average monthly wage for a native-speaker is about 1300-1500 pounds, which is quite a lot lower than other East Asian countries. The Korean government needs to organise a task-force for implementing the necessary conditions. 4.3.5 Testing and assessment Language assessment is a very important factor in helping to understand students academic outcomes or proper development and even help them to learn the target language effectively. Unfortunately, at this moment, it is difficult to assess students learning process. City office education has not mentioned about testing. Fundamentally, my class is not on regular curriculum and I feel little necessity of testing. If I have to, then I need some support from school or city office of education. (Teacher A) As the interview result shows, Bax (2010: 52) also describes in terms of immersion education in Korea that there is an absence of firm test data by which to evaluate the academic success of English language learning in Korea in comparison with other countries. Assessment should have been considered when the immersion scheme was introduced in Korea. 5. Conclusion 5.1. The findings and implications This case study shows some limitations of employing the immersion programme. In order to gain a successful immersion programme, sustainable support and interest is needed from educational policy-makers, administrators, teachers and students. In this sense, the results of this case study have some implications for other schools and private educational institutes, and particularly for policy makers of English language education. As discussed in the interview chapter, the teachers have difficulty in teaching their subjects in an immersion education environment in several respects. First of all, English language proficiency is considered to be a very important tool in educational contexts. Secondly, although the immersion educational policy has attempted to strengthen English language proficiency for students, the current educational system cannot cover their willingness. Thirdly, the sudden change in language education policy has been generating many constraints, such as teachers low En glish proficiency, the lack of materials and English native speakers. In this sense, all of the relevant people share many weaknesses and shortfalls of immersion education in Korea and thus may benefit from the results and findings of this study. The results of the study may also have implications for people who plan to teach their subjects within immersion programmes. They need to study how they can deliver their education to students within immersion environments effectively. Native English speakers who plan to teach English in South Korea or EFL settings may also benefit from this study about English language teaching, as they are informed of the realities of teaching EFL in the current trend of South Korean situations. For these reasons, this case study can be a useful source of information. Korea has a tendency to quickly benchmark things which are deemed good policies, or systems from developed countries, without thorough preparation. This also seems to apply in this case. Stu dents and teachers recognise this scheme is clumsily prepared without all circumstances being set up. 5.2. Limitations and suggestions for future research directions This study employs two means of data collection; interview and observation. However, in terms of combining quantitative and qualitative research instruments, the study has not fully provided a better understanding of the suitability of English immersion education in South Korean education. Instead, this study rather focuses on teachers beliefs about the English immersion education, their perceptions of it, and their attempts to implement newly suggested immersion education into their classroom teaching. In this sense, the study is rather small-scale. There are three big limitations of this study. One is the difficulty of persuading participants to have interviews. For finding interviewees, I managed to recruit some of the candidates through my personal network. However, it was very difficult to get their permission for interviews. As I described in the interview results section, they hesitated to accept my interview proposal, because they also understood that most of their ideas would possess negative views of immersion education. Therefore, at their request, we agreed to have interviews on condition of the anonymity of all of their names, schools and mentioned people. The second limitation concerns a lack of real class observation. Due to the long distance between us, although they provided me with video cl

Creative Story: Racing Along Walls :: essays research papers

Creative Story: Racing Along Walls "Hey Joe, hand me the 3/16 socket," I mumbled into the underside of my car. I felt a nudge in my ribs as my friend, Joe, handed me the socket I asked for. Matching the ends of the hexagonal shaped socket with the stub on my wrench, I pushed the two together. A loud click signaled the two ends of the socket and wrench fit perfectly. Reluctantly, I went to work tightening the chassis of my car. I felt overwhelmed by the number of lugs I would have to check and tighten. It took me almost a half an hour to completely tighten each bolt and there were still eight more to go. To add to my frustration, the sun was starting to set which forced me to use an inadequate electrical lamp to illuminate my garage at home. Joe, was working on his own car in the garage space next to mine. He was inspecting and cleaning the outside of his white 1993 Honda Civic SI. He had a soft cloth in one hand and a spray bottle of wax in the other. The hand with the soft cloth would wipe for ten seconds followed by the â€Å"sqshhh sqshhh† of the spray bottle. Always being the meticulous one, he continued his wipe and spray cycle for many hours to make sure his car was immaculate. As I turned one of the bolts clockwise to tighten it, I felt a sharp, searing pain on the upper portion of my hand. Instinctively, I swore, forgetting all the lessons on good manners my parents had taught me. I brought my hand up to inspect the wound but the darkness of the garage, the setting sun, and the little remaining light my car blocked made it so I couldn't see my hand at all. As I climbed out from underneath the car, I noticed that I was leaving a trail of thick, dark, drops with my movements. I carelessly wiped off the dripping blood on my shirt and looked at the length and depth of the cut in my hand. â€Å"Oh man! Joe check out this cut. I'm going to love this scar! It will make my hand look more manly. Oh yeah! But my hand hurts really bad.† I happily exclaimed. The cut ran the whole length of my hand. Luckily, it was the top of my hand that was cut and not the palm side of it, so I knew I didn't get any important veins that would make me bleed to death. Creative Story: Racing Along Walls :: essays research papers Creative Story: Racing Along Walls "Hey Joe, hand me the 3/16 socket," I mumbled into the underside of my car. I felt a nudge in my ribs as my friend, Joe, handed me the socket I asked for. Matching the ends of the hexagonal shaped socket with the stub on my wrench, I pushed the two together. A loud click signaled the two ends of the socket and wrench fit perfectly. Reluctantly, I went to work tightening the chassis of my car. I felt overwhelmed by the number of lugs I would have to check and tighten. It took me almost a half an hour to completely tighten each bolt and there were still eight more to go. To add to my frustration, the sun was starting to set which forced me to use an inadequate electrical lamp to illuminate my garage at home. Joe, was working on his own car in the garage space next to mine. He was inspecting and cleaning the outside of his white 1993 Honda Civic SI. He had a soft cloth in one hand and a spray bottle of wax in the other. The hand with the soft cloth would wipe for ten seconds followed by the â€Å"sqshhh sqshhh† of the spray bottle. Always being the meticulous one, he continued his wipe and spray cycle for many hours to make sure his car was immaculate. As I turned one of the bolts clockwise to tighten it, I felt a sharp, searing pain on the upper portion of my hand. Instinctively, I swore, forgetting all the lessons on good manners my parents had taught me. I brought my hand up to inspect the wound but the darkness of the garage, the setting sun, and the little remaining light my car blocked made it so I couldn't see my hand at all. As I climbed out from underneath the car, I noticed that I was leaving a trail of thick, dark, drops with my movements. I carelessly wiped off the dripping blood on my shirt and looked at the length and depth of the cut in my hand. â€Å"Oh man! Joe check out this cut. I'm going to love this scar! It will make my hand look more manly. Oh yeah! But my hand hurts really bad.† I happily exclaimed. The cut ran the whole length of my hand. Luckily, it was the top of my hand that was cut and not the palm side of it, so I knew I didn't get any important veins that would make me bleed to death.

Integrating learning styles Essay

Facilitators use different learning styles such as auditory, kinetic, and visual methods to enhance each student’s ability to grasp material the simplest way possible. Through research, instructors have adapted many instructing methods to tap into each student’s learning style without alienated other strategies necessary for various learners. Auditory strategies may include speeches, tapes, or auditoria tutorials so the students can complete their work as they listen to the facilitator’s instructions thoroughly (Felder and Soloman, p.1). Instructors should emphasize the key words during their speeches to trigger the student’s critical listening skills. The keywords of the speech should be relative to their new material, but it must advise them on how to carry out the motions as well (Family Education, p. 2). As in online tutorials, the student must be able to hear the instructions and place the instructions in action by kinetic learning methods. Kinetic methods can include on-hands learning opportunities such as drawing, playing, or writing. An example of this would be to write out the format of a mathematical equation. The students learn to articulate the mathematical structure of the equation in order to answer the question more thoroughly (Felder and Soloman, p. 2). Instructors can use hands-on applications to break the barrier between the textbooks and the information’s overall objective. For instance, an electrical engineer must use their knowledge in the field in order to work diligently through their coursework. It is very important to give the students a chance to have a complete understanding of what their class material is about through kinetic methods. Visual instructions show students how to replicate the sequence for a given answer (Family Education, p. 1). For example, a student must know the basics of a mathematical equations in a more, in-depth way to capitalize on the verbal (auditory) and kinetic (working out) aspects of the subject matter. Reference Cited Felder, R. M. and Soloman, B. A. Learning Styles and Strategies. North Carolina State University. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from http://www. ncsu. edu/felder-public /ILSdir/styles. htm. â€Å"Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic Learners. † (2006). Family Education. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from http://school. familyeducation. com/intelligence/teaching-methods/38519. html.

Free Essays on Pesticide Use In Agriculture â€A Controversy

Pesticide Use in Agriculture –A Controversy Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, which kill insects, weeds, and are harmful to humans. They often have direct or indirect effects on other living things. Synthetic pesticides are chemical compounds; some are more toxic than others. Synthetic pesticides can release compounds that are more toxic than the original pesticides when they break down in the environment. Some called persistent materials just "hang around" and don't break down for long periods of time. Botanical pesticides, almost all of which are insecticides, are derived directly from plants or animals. It breaks down rapidly in the environment, usually in a matter of hours or days, and are not known to accumulate in the environment. Materials such as lead arsenate, salt, copper, soap, sulfur, oil and wood ashes, have been used as pesticides with varying levels of success and varying rates of toxicity. Most are still used today, fortunately with a better understanding of their effects. No pesticid e is considered "safe." Using pesticides may be necessary at times, but in many cases there are alternatives that are often more effective in the long run and less harmful to the environment and the applicator. In response to Maurice Gordon’s comment, one can disagree with his statement because there is not enough evidence to prove that without pesticides, starvation will become a problem. However, there are many reasons to believe that alternatives may have a greater benefit to the environment as well as effective in productivity. Besides pesticides, there are controls such as biological, cultivation methods, genetic, pheromones and hormones, and Quarantine. The proper timing of planting, fertilizing, and irrigating enable the plants to resist pests because they are stressed by other environmental factors. Biological controls use natural disease organisms, parasites, or predators to control pests (an exam... Free Essays on Pesticide Use In Agriculture –A Controversy Free Essays on Pesticide Use In Agriculture –A Controversy Pesticide Use in Agriculture –A Controversy Pesticides include insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, which kill insects, weeds, and are harmful to humans. They often have direct or indirect effects on other living things. Synthetic pesticides are chemical compounds; some are more toxic than others. Synthetic pesticides can release compounds that are more toxic than the original pesticides when they break down in the environment. Some called persistent materials just "hang around" and don't break down for long periods of time. Botanical pesticides, almost all of which are insecticides, are derived directly from plants or animals. It breaks down rapidly in the environment, usually in a matter of hours or days, and are not known to accumulate in the environment. Materials such as lead arsenate, salt, copper, soap, sulfur, oil and wood ashes, have been used as pesticides with varying levels of success and varying rates of toxicity. Most are still used today, fortunately with a better understanding of their effects. No pesticid e is considered "safe." Using pesticides may be necessary at times, but in many cases there are alternatives that are often more effective in the long run and less harmful to the environment and the applicator. In response to Maurice Gordon’s comment, one can disagree with his statement because there is not enough evidence to prove that without pesticides, starvation will become a problem. However, there are many reasons to believe that alternatives may have a greater benefit to the environment as well as effective in productivity. Besides pesticides, there are controls such as biological, cultivation methods, genetic, pheromones and hormones, and Quarantine. The proper timing of planting, fertilizing, and irrigating enable the plants to resist pests because they are stressed by other environmental factors. Biological controls use natural disease organisms, parasites, or predators to control pests (an exam...

Evolution of Warfare - Ancient Greece, Romans and Chinese essays

Evolution of Warfare - Ancient Greece, Romans and Chinese essays Throughout the ages, weapons, armor, and even warfare have evolved in astonishing ways to suit societys needs. Many reasons exist for the changes in all these tools. Armor evolved through the need for one to protect him/her-self and weapons evolved alongside to break through this protection. Warfare evolved with society, just as society was evolving itself through time. No other societies better than Ancient Greece, Rome and China can show us how the Age of Armor began and evolved. These societies were the dawn of the great cultures of the world. Greeces epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey best describe the kind of warfare that was used in battle, along with the weaponry and armor of the time. Ancient texts and artifacts grant us access of how Greek warfare had changed and how some aspects of war remained the same, until the Roman times. The Romans improvised and improved a lot of the tactics that were used by the Greeks and along with new inventions they brought warfare into a whole new level. And the Chinese (Qin Dynasty) were the pioneers of many intriguing weaponry and battle tactics. The Greek soldiers were called hoplites (acquired this name from the hoplon, a convex, circular shield, approximately three feet in diameter, made of composite wood and bronze.(Encyclopedia Britannica). These soldiers were characteristically equipped with about seventy pounds of armor, most of which was made of bronze. Hoplites were equipped with a hoplon (shield), a cuirass, a helmet and a greaves which all consistent of bronze and a long thrusting spear with an iron tip and butt, along with a sword. The heavy bronze shield, which was secured on the left arm and hand by a metal band on its inner rim, was the most important part of a hoplite's panoply, as it was his chief defense. Hoplites were the primary focus of the phalanx (an organized, dense line of battle, Jona Lenderin...

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

Proposal - Essay Example They have enabled people who teach, speak or often give presentations make their presentations wherever they are. For example, journalists are able to make their presentations from whatever location they are and present this information to audiences efficiently. People who love to travel are also benefited by the portable tablets because they can keep them entertained throughout their journey. With Internet connection, portable tablets have become extremely useful in the dissemination of information and for communication purposes. Today having a portable tablet is as if someone has a computer on their arms, and with this comes the numerous benefits associated with proper information handling. Different technology providers, such as Samsung, Apple, and Coby have come up with their own models of portable tablets, and this has greatly increased competition in the market (J&R Electronics Inc). This is because every provider wants to make their product the best so that they can get the greater share of the market. This has resulted to new models being developed over time, and this has greatly improved how people manage their information and entertain

Logistics management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Logistics management - Essay Example The rapid growth of technology has significantly changed the social, economic, and political aspects of life. The immense impact of technological advancements has made enterprises to embrace technologies in ways that enhance their competitive advantage. It has become apparent to enterprises that their survival in the knowledge-based economy greatly depends on how they improve their technological capability. In particular regard to logistics, firms have realized the essence of developing adequate methodologies so as to successfully adopt new technologies in this field, as well as integrating logistics into their corporate strategy for gaining more competitive advantage (Waters, 2007, p. 76). Since the conception of computerization, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) have assumed supporting role for functions of the organizations. In recent years, logistics has changed with the growth and adoption in the use of ICT systems such as GIS, Warehouse Management System, Transpor t Management System, and GPS among others. The use of these ICT systems has considerably improved the way companies manage their supply chains. Major ICT systems have impacted on each of the logistics component (Sauvage, 2003, p. 237). It is against this background that this paper will seek to evaluate the key components of Logistics Management and discuss the major ICT systems in each component of logistics. In addition, the paper will provide a critical analysis of benefits and challenges in adopting and applying the technology in logistics. Components of Logistics Management It is important to point out that components of logistics management are aimed at achieving the following: satisfying customers’ needs; product selection; monitoring quality of services and goods; dealing with logistics information accordingly; inventory management; and forecasting and procurement (Grant, 2006, p. 24). Mainly, there are eight components of logistics management. i) Customer Order Proces sing This component is designed to facilitate customer satisfaction. It involves flow of the following actions: filling of the order form; making decisions on the specifications of particular product; making decision on the quality check list of the product; deciding on the delivery schedule and deciding on the delivery location of the goods. The flow of actions is highly customer-focused and aims at meeting all the requirements of the customer. This component takes into consideration several important factors. Firstly, it takes into account the cost of order processing and ensures that this type of cost is appropriate for both the customer and the logistic firm. The second factor that is considered is whether the logistic firm has the capacity to produce the required component (Langley, 2006, p. 42). The third factor that is considered under this component is the detailed list of specifications; the company should ensure that the component being processed for customer has met all t he specifications required by the customer. The component of customer order processing has adopted and used ICT systems to make its operations effective and efficient. The major ICT systems that has been adopted and used in this component are Electronic Data Interchange, Web Portal, and E-ERP. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is an ICT system that facilitates structured transmission of data by electronic means between organizations (Sauvage, 2003, p. 240). Logistics companies have used