Operational Risk Management in Banking Sector: an Overview

ReseaRch PaPeR Commerce Volume : 3 | Issue : 1 | January 2013 | ISSN – 2249-555X Operational Risk Management in Banking Sector: An overview Keywords Rakesh Chutia Assistant, State Bank of India Margheita-786181 Dist. -Tinsukia Assam ABSTRACT Operational risk is inherent in all banking products, activities and processes and systems and the effective management of operational risk is of paramount importance for every bank’s board and senior management.With globalization and deregulation of financial markets, increased competition combined with the advent of high-end, innovative, sophisticated technology tremendous changes have taken place in the products distribution channels and service delivery mechanism of the banking sector. These have introduced more complexities into the banking operations and consequently the risk patterns and profiles of the industry have also become complex, diverse and catastrophic. The New Capital Adequacy Framework of the Reserve Bank of India requires bank to maintain capital explicitly towards operational risk.This paper tries to study the various methodologies used by the banks in their operational risk management activity and to study the regulatory framework related to operational risk management. Introduction Since the late 1990s, globalization, deregulation, consolidation, outsourcing, breaking of geographical barriers by use of sophisticated technology, growth of e-commerce etc. have significantly changed the business, economic and regulatory climate of the banking sector. These developments introduced more complexities into the activities of banks and their risk profiles.Consequently a series of high profile operational loss events at Societe Generale, UBS, AIB, and National Australia Bank etc. have led banks and their managements world over to increasingly view operational risk management as an integral part of their risk management activity like the management of market risk and credit risk. The identification and measurement of operational risk is a significant issue for modern-day banks, particularly since the decision by the  Basel Committee on Banking Supervision  (BCBS) to introduce a capital charge for this risk as part of the new capital adequacy framework (Basel II).Operational risk has been defined by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision as the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. This definition is based on the underlying causes of operational risk. It seeks to identify the causes of a loss event and at the broadest level includes the breakdown by four causes: people, processes, systems and external factors. Operational risk may materialise directly, e. g. , in electronic fund transfer (transfer of funds to the wrong person) or could result indirectly as a credit or market loss.Since there is a close linkage of operational risk with other types of risks, it is very important for banks to first have a clear understanding of the concept of operational risk before designing the appropriate operational risk measurement and management framework. Different types of operational risk in Banking Sector The Basel Committee has identified the following types of operational risk events as having the potential to result in substantial losses for banks: †¢ Internal fraud. For example, intentional misreporting of positions, employee theft, and insider trading on an employee’s own account. Externalfraud. Forexample,robbery,forgery,chequekiting, and damage from computer hacking. †¢ Employment practices and workplace safety. For example, workers compensation claims, violation of employee health and safety rules, organised labour activities, discrimination claims, and general liability. †¢ Clients, products and business practices. For example, fiduciary breaches, misuse of confidential customer information, improper trading activities on the bank’s account, mon ey laundering, and sale of unauthorized products. Damagetophysicalassets. Forexample,terrorism,vandalism, earthquakes, fires and floods. †¢ Business disruption and system failures. For example, hardware and software failures, telecommunication problems, and utility outages. †¢ Execution,deliveryandprocessmanagement. Forexample: data entry errors, collateral management failures, incomplete legal documentation, and unauthorized access given to client accounts, non-client counterparty misperformance, and vendor disputes. OPERATIONAL RISKMANAGEMENT PROCESS: Operational Risk management generally encompasses the process of identifying risks to the bank, measuring exposures to those risks), ensuring that an effective capital planning and monitoring programme is in place, monitoring risk exposures and corresponding capital needs on an ongoing basis, taking steps to control or mitigate risk exposures. †¢ Identification of operational risk. Banks should identify and assess the operational risk inherent in all products, services,activities,processesandsystems. You can read also Portfolio Management QuizzesEffectiverisk identification should consider both internal factors (such as the bank’s structure, the nature of the bank’s activities, the quality of the bank’s human resources, organizational changes and employee turnover) and external factors (such as changes in the industry and technological advances) that could adversely affect the achievement of the bank’s objectives. †¢ AssessmentofOperationalRisk. Inadditiontoidentifying the risk events, banks should assess their vulnerability to these risk events.Effective risk assessment allows a bank to better understand its risk profile and most effectively target risk management resources. Amongst the possible tools that may be used by banks for assessing operational risk are: ? Self Risk Assessment: A bank assesses its operations and activities against a menu of potential operational risk vulnerabilities. This process is internally driven and often incorporate s checklists and/or workshops to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the operational risk environment. 6 X INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH ReseaRch PaPeR Risk Mapping: In this process, various business units, organizational functions or process flows are mapped by risk type. This exercise can reveal areas of weakness and help prioritise subsequent management action. ? Key Risk Indicators: Key risk indicators are statistics and/ or metrics, often financial, which can provide insight into a bank’s risk position. Such indicators may include the number of failed trades, staff turnover rates and the frequency and/or severity of errors and omissions. †¢ Measurement. A key element of risk management is measuring the size and scope of the bank’s risk exposures.However, there is no clearly established, single method to measure operational risk on a bank-wide basis. Banks may develop risk assessment techniques that are appropriate to the size and complexities of the ir portfolio, their resources and data availability. A good assessment model must cover certain standard features. An example is the â€Å"matrix† approach in which losses are categorized according to the type of event and the business line in which the event occurred. Banks may quantify their exposure to operational risk using a variety of approaches.Forexample,dataonabank’shistoricallossexperience could provide meaningful information for assessing the bank’s exposure to operational risk and developing a policy to mitigate/control the risk. †¢ MonitoringofOperationalRisk. Aneffectivemonitoring process is essential for adequately managing operational risk. Banks should implement a process to regularly monitor operational risk profiles and material exposures to losses. In addition to monitoring operational loss events, banks should identify appropriate indicators that provide early warning of an increased risk of futurelosses.Such indicators should be forwar d-looking and could reflect potential sources of operational risk such as rapid growth, the introduction of new products, employee turnover, transaction breaks, system downtime, and so on. There should be regular reporting of pertinent informationtoseniormanagementandtheBoardofDirectors that supports the proactive management of operational risk †¢ Controls/MitigationofOperationalRisk. Withregardto operational risk, several methods may be adopted for mitigatingtherisk. Forexample,lossesthatmightarise on account of natural disasters can be insured against.Losses that might arise from business disruptions due to telecommunication or electrical failures can be mitigated by establishing redundant backup facilities. Loss due to internal factors, like employee fraud or product flaws, which may be difficult to identify and insure against, can be mitigated through strong internal auditing procedures. The Board of Directors and senior management must make efforts for establishing a stron g internal control culture in which control activities are an integral part of the regular activities of a bank.Banks should periodically review their risk limitation and control strategies and should adjust their operational risk profile accordingly using appropriate strategies, in light of their overall risk appetite and profile. Investment in appropriate processing technology and information technology security are also important for risk mitigation. Banks should also have in place contingency and business continuity plans to ensure their ability to operate on an ongoing basis and limit losses in the event of severe business disruption.OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACHES IN BASEL II The Basel framework (2004) proposes a range of approaches for setting aside regulatory capital for operational risk under Pillar 1: The Basic Indicator Approach (BIA), The Standardised Approach(TSA)andtheAdvancedMeasurementApproach (AMA). Allthethreeapproachesdifferintheircomplexityand the banks ar e encouraged to move along the spectrum of approaches as they obtain more sophistication in their risk management practices.The Basic Indicator Approach is the simplest approach for estimating regulatory capital, wherein Volume : 3 | Issue : 1 | January 2013 | ISSN – 2249-555X banks are required to set apart an amount equal to the average over the previous three years of 15% of positive annual gross income. In The Standardised Approach, banks’ activities are divided into eight business lines: Corporate finance, Trading & Sales, Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Payment & Settlement, Agency Services, Asset Management and Retail Brokerage.While gross income continues to be the main indicator of operational risk as under the Basic Indicator Approach, the specific amount to be set apart as a percentage of the gross income varies between business lines, ranging from 12 to 18% , as compared to the 15% overall under the Basic Indicator Approach. This approach is more refine d than the Basic Indicator Approach as it takes into the account the fact that some business lines are riskier than others and therefore a higher proportion of capital has to be set apart for those business lines.The Advanced MeasurementApproach(AMA)isbasedonthebanks’internalmodels to quantify operational risk. The framework gives flexibility to the banks in the characteristics of the choice of internal models, though it requires banks to demonstrate that the operational risk measures meet a soundness standard comparable to a one-year holding period and a 99. 9% confidence level, which means that a bank’s capital charge should be equal to at least 99. 9% quantile of their annual aggregate loss distribution.Banks are required to factor in four key elementsindesigningtheirAdvancedMeasurementApproach framework: internal loss data, external loss data, scenario analysis and bank specific business environmental and internal control factors. The methodologies under the advanc ed approach are evolving and there are a range of methods in practice in banks internationally. OPERATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF INDIAN BANKING SECTOR: The Reserve Bank of India is the regulator and supervisor of the banking system in India and is entrusted with the task of framing the capital adequacy guidelines for banks in India under Basel II.Public sector banks, where the Government of India is the major shareholder, dominate the Indian banking system, accounting for nearly three-fourths of total assets and income. These banks are large and very old banks, operating through thousands of branches spread all over the country. The new private sector banks are fully automated from day-one and operate like other high-tech foreign banks. The private sector banks have grown rapidly since the onset of reforms and have increased their share in total assets of the banking industry, whereas the public sector banks have witnessed shrinkage in their market share.The public sect or banks have only recently started automating their processes and operations. This transition has posed significant challenges in the management of operational risk to the banks as introduction of new technology and complete overhauling of the existing systems requires a re-engineering of business processes, training of manpower, audit in a computerized environment and other related operational risk challenges. The new generation private sector banks on the other hand have to deal with the risks arising from growth at a scorchingpace.WiththereformsintheIndianbankingsectorand banks being allowed to access new markets and sophisticated products, the Reserve Bank of India has also been repeatedly advising the banks to have in place an effective and resilient control framework in place to manage operational risks. Specific guidance on management of operational risk has also been issued as per which some banks; especially the larger and internationally active banks are expected to move along the range towards more sophisticated pproaches as they develop more sophisticated operational risk management systems and practices which meet the prescribed qualifying criteria. Conclusion: ManagingOperationalRiskisemergingasanimportantelement of sound risk management practice in modern day banks in the wake of phenomenal increase in volume of transactions, high degree of structural changes and complex technological support systems. RBI expects all Indian banks to strengthen their operation risk management system and to INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH X 7 ReseaRch PaPeR e in readiness to graduate to more sophisticated approaches of operational risk management under Basel norms. In order to derive maximum gains banks need to gear up efforts for speedy and effective implementation of comprehensive Volume : 3 | Issue : 1 | January 2013 | ISSN – 2249-555X operational risk management frameworks and thereby bring more efficiency, transparency, profitability and sustainabi lity into their operations. REFERENCE Reserve Bank of India, Department of Banking Operations and Development, Central Office, Mumbai, (2005), â€Å"Draft guidance note on management of operational risk†, 2.Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (August, 2003) â€Å"The Joint Forum Operational risk transfer across financial sectors†, 3. Usha, Janaki, Raman, (2008) â€Å"Operational Risk Management in Indian Banks in the Context of Basel II: A Survey of the State of Preparedness and Challenges in Developing the Framework†, 4. Rao, D, Tripati and Ghosh, Prodipta, (2008) â€Å"Preparedness of Indian Banks in Managing Operational Risk†, 5. Kale, Ketan and Agarwal, Mohit, Marsh India, (2011) â€Å"Operational Risk Mitigation & Basel II Accord – Challenges & Opportunities†. 8 X INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH

Birth Control in Schools Essay

Schools are the one institution in our society regularly attended by most young people-nearly 95% of all youth aged 5 to 17 years are enrolled in elementary or secondary schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 1993). Large percentage of youth attend schools for years before they encounter sexual risk-taking behaviors and a majority is enrolled at the time they initiate intercourse. Just as youth in communities with high rates of poverty and social unawareness are more likely to become pregnant so youth in schools with high rates of poverty and social inadequacy are also more likely to become pregnant. In particular, when female teens attend schools with high percentages of dropout rates and with higher rates of school vandalism they are more likely to become pregnant. The lack of opportunity and greater disorganization in some minority communities in this country, teens in schools with higher percentages of minority students are also more likely to have higher pregnancy rates than teens in schools with lower percentages of minority(Manlove, 1998).. Students in these studies, it is often difficult to distinguish the impact of school character from the impact of the community characteristics in which they reside. Social scientists and educators have suggested a wide variety of explanations for how schools reduce sexual risk-taking behavior. Some of their explanations have observed research supporting them, while others are credible, but lack supporting research. For example, educators concerned with adolescent sexual behavior have suggested that: 1. Schools structure students’ time and limit the amount of time that students can be alone and engage in sex. 2. Schools increase interaction with and attachment to adults who discourage risk-taking behavior of any kind (e.g., substance use, sexual risk-taking, or accident-producing behavior). More generally, they create an environment which discourages risk-taking. 3. Schools affect selection of friends and larger peer groups that are important to them. Because peer norms about sex and contraception significantly influence teens’ behavior, this impact on schools may be substantial. However, just how schools affect selection of friends and peers is not clearly understood. 4. Schools can increase belief in the future and help youth plan for higher education and careers. Such planning may increase the motivation to avoid early childbearing. As noted above, multiple studies demonstrate that educational and career aspiration are related to use of contraception, pregnancy, and childbearing. 5. Schools can increase students’ self-esteem, sense of competence, and communication and refusal skills. These skills may help students avoid unprotected sex. Despite the growing strength of the abstinence movement across the country, large majorities of adults favor SEX and AIDS education that includes discussions of condoms and contraceptives. For example, a 1998 poll of American adults found that 87% thought birth control should be covered (Rose & Gallup, 41-53), a 1998 poll found that 90% of adults thought condoms should be covered (Haffner & Wagoner, 22-23)and another 1999 poll found that 82% of adults believed all aspects of sex education including birth control and safer sex should be taught . (Hoff, Greene, McIntosh, Rawlings, & D’Amico, 2000). Given both the need for effective educational programs and public support for such programs, schools have responded. According to a 1999 national survey of school teachers in grades 7 to 12, about 93% of their schools offered sexuality or HIV education (Darroch, Landry, & Singh, 204-211, 265). Of those schools teaching any topics in sexuality education, between 85% and 100% included instruction on consequences of teenage parenthood, STD, HIV/AIDS, abstinence, and ways to resist peer pressure to have sex. Between 75% and 85% of the schools provided instruction about puberty, dating, sexual abuse, and birth control methods. Teachers reported that the most important messages they wanted to convey were about abstinence and responsibility. During the same year, survey results from a second survey of teachers and students in grades 7 to 12 were completed (Hoff et al., 2000). Their results were similar to the study above. They revealed that at least 75% of the students and similar percentages of the teachers indicated the following topics were covered in their instruction: basics of reproduction, STD and HIV/AIDS, abstinence, dealing with pressures to have sex, and birth control. Despite the fact that most adolescents receive at least a minimum amount of sexuality or HIV education, it is widely believed by professionals in the field that most programs are short, are not comprehensive, fail to cover some important topics, and are less effective than they could be (Britton, deMauro, & Gambrell, 1-8; Darroch, Landry, & Singh, 2000; Gambrell & Haffner, 1993; Hoff, et al., 2000). For example, both surveys of teachers discussed above found that only half to two thirds of the teachers covered how to use condoms or how to get and use birth control. there is very little information about the extent to which sex- and HIV-education curriculum have been found to be effective and are implemented with fidelity in additional schools. However, considerable unreliable information indicates few schools implemented the lessons. There is a widely held belief that schools have established a foundation for programs, but that effective programs need to be implementing more broadly and with greater dedication throughout the country. I want to take you back to when I was a teenager and how I personally can relate to the same choices and decisions our teenagers is face with today, in my personal experience; My boyfriend and I had our sex talk we decide I should go to my mother and talk to her about some form of birth control, her response was no. there was no explanation, no reasoning, and no questions ask about why I want to go on it. It was simply no! The end result I have 21yrs old. I’m not saying that we made the best choice because I still had an option to use a condom and contraceptives. Today’s teenagers resources are plentiful, they can go to cook county hospital, they have Planned Parenthood and there local clinic in there neighborhood and now they have program that are being implemented in their high schools. Children, who do not have supported parents, can not talk to their parents. I want to bring in another aspect as to what can happen when you do not enforce communication about birth control, sex and consequences with your teenager, as you know I’m a grandmother I wouldn’t trade my granddaughter in for anything in the world. Not enforcing the use of contraceptive, I feel one of the reasons that I became a grandmother in my thirty. because I did not get as involved with my son as I should have after he inform me that he was sexually active. The high Schools offer them open lines of communication and provide a safe atmosphere in which allows them to express their thought as to why they are there in the first place. It’s possible it can lead to single parenthood and a high drop out rate. Pregnancy among teenagers is continuing to rise despite a 40 million Government campaign to reduce the problem, while sexually transmitted diseases are reaching epidemic levels. The Royal College of Nursing revealed that increasing numbers of teenagers are indulging in sex and even taking part in orgies called ‘daisy chaining’. The Department for Education and Skills has admitted that 66 out of 150 local education authorities have at least one ‘ school based health service’ in their area providing advice, access to or direct provision of contraception. You have statistics on birth control and personal experience wouldn’t you rather your teenager be knowledgeable than not? Biliography Britton, P. O., DeMauro, D., & Gambrell, A. E. HIV/AIDS education: SIECUS study on HIV/AIDS education for schools finds states make progress, but work remains. SIECUS Report, 21(1), 1-8 (1992) Chandy, J. M., Harris, L., Blum, R. W., & Resnick, M. D. Female adolescents of alcohol misusers: Sexual behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 23, 695-709 (1994) Darroch, J. E., Landry, D. J., & Singh, S. Changing emphases in sexuality education in U.S. pubic secondary schools, 1988-1999. Family Planning Perspectives, 32, 204-211, 265 (2000) Gambrell, A. E., & Haffner, D. Unfinished business: A SIECUS assessment of state sexuality education programs. New York: SIECUS (1993) Haffner, D., & Wagoner, J. Vast majority of Americans support sexuality education. SIECUS Report, 27(6), 22-23 (1999) Hoff, T., Greene, L., McIntosh, M., Rawlings, N., & D’Amico, J. Sex education in America: A series of national surveys of students, parents, teachers, and Jones 8 principals. Menlo Park, CA: The Kaiser Family Foundation. (2000) Manlove, J. The influence of high school dropout and school disengagement on the risk of school-age pregnancy. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 187-220 (1998) National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics, 1993. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1993) Rose, L. C., & Gallup, A. M. The 30th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the public’s attitudes toward the public schools. Phi Delta Kappan, Sept., 41-53 (1998, September) Singh S. Adolescent pregnancy in the United States: An interstate analysis. Family Planning Perspectives, 18, 210-220 (1986)

20th Centaury Poetry Assignment – Welsh Poetry Comparison

This essay will examine ideas of Welshness presented by Kelly Jones the lead singer of the Stereophonics and Welsh Poet R S Thomas and explore how they put them across. Both convey similar ideas in their work but in very different contexts Kelly Jones was born in June 1974, in the same hospital as Richard Jones. They grew up in a small village called Cwmaman. It is describes as a dull and lifeless area where nothing much goes on. With a population of only 1000, it's a very closed in community, with old women twitching their curtains and everybody knows each other's business. The small village of Cwmaman was a mining village, though the pit has long since shut the houses that Kelly Jones grew up in were originally built for colliery bosses with the loftier ones being occupied by colliery bosses. Kelly Credits Cwmaman as having a good pub culture by which he means kids is allowed to go into licensed premises with their parents. There are four main key ideas/themes in this poem, time, boredom, routine, and escaping. The time of the song is important, because in the video to this song we see people walking back, and the Stereophonics are the only people walking forward this suggesting that Cwmaman is a place where there is no opportunities, and only the Sterephonics are making something out of a bad situation. The theme routine, suggests that there is nothing new going on in Cwmaman, and that everything is the same, people do the same thing day in day out so nothing ever changes, and the last theme escaping could be talking about the local character â€Å"Mac the knife† and â€Å"the ladies wearing lipstick on their teeth† and how they escape by drinking and having fun, forgetting all the problems in this village The song â€Å"More Life In A Tramp's Vest† was written by Kelly Hones on the back of a paper back one day while he was working in the fruit and veg stall in the market. The title â€Å"More Life In A Tramp's Vest† has a special meaning to it, this being that a trams vest which hasn't been washed more months on end could have lots of flees in it, therefore the flees are happily bouncing around, so what Kelly Jones is trying to say is the flees are having more fun by being on the tramp than Cwmaman has year in year out. Kelly Jones opens the poem by saying † I get camping eyes in the final hour† If you are said to have camping eyes then generally you are very tired, because if you go camping then you hardly get any sleep, so what he is saying is he's tired. In the final hour could mean his final hour of work. He is trying to say he's tired in the last hour of work â€Å"Last mute shoppers picking cauliflower† Here Kelly Jones is saying how the last minute shoppers are being so fussy on the vegetables they are picking, and they are holding him up from closing the stall down. â€Å"The fuss you make, you swear They were buying a car† The people who are choosing cauliflower are being so fussy that they are talking lots of time picking through them trying to find the one that has the least marks, and this is making Kelly Jones very angry because he is waiting to go home. â€Å"Always moan, moan its not so cheap, Cheaper still, cheaper still down the street† This could mean that the people who are holding him up from going home are being picky and trying to get the price even cheaper, by saying the person on the stall down the road have the same goods for cheaper. â€Å"I loose my rag and tell them Take your back and shop down there† Kelly Jones is now very frustrated because these people are being so fussy, stopping him from closing his stall, coning about the price of goods, so he yells at them and says go down there to shop. We can sympathise because he has been working all day and is probably tired of boredom. â€Å"Closing down, closing down another road One-way system steals the show† Closing down, closing down another road could mean that they are closing down another road of their life, they are running out of alternatives just like if you were in a car going down a one way street you have no where to go but if you have a normal road you can go up and down it, one way system steals the show, this could be the equivalent to their lives, meaning that there is no future what so ever in Cwmaman, and they that the people are doing nothing about it. â€Å"Mac the knife swings a can And sings the day away† These sentences could mean that this local character Mac the Knife is trying to escape from boredom by drinking and trying to drown his sorrows, and singing the day away could seem like good entertainment for him because he doesn't know what he is doing. The chorus of this song has a persuasive technique, because instead of just saying there is more life in a tramps vest they say more life three times before continuing with in a tramps vest, then they repeat the whole line again. This is a repetitive technique used to make something stand out more and get a point across that there is more life in a tramps vest. â€Å"Flower man sits down in the street Surrounded by stock that he brought back last week† The flower man who had bought stock last week cannot sell it, so he is in the middle of it probably trying to sell it, which could be a hard task because people normally buy flowers to celebrate something but because in Cwmaman there is nothing to celebrate no body is buying any flowers. In this next line there is a very clever word association, there is no real effect for this, its just better than having a normal sentence, it says â€Å"Bring back the ladies wearing lipstick on their teeth Make up, we make up a crappy joke† The word association is with â€Å"lipstick† and â€Å"make up,† but why do they want the ladies to come back, is it because they were the only source of fun and life in that town? And why are they making up a crappy joke? Why not make a good one? The answer is that since these ladies have left Cwmaman for whatever reason the life of the village has gone down and become boring. The jokes that were considered as rubbish now seem like good jokes that people will laugh at. â€Å"Sit back, relax and have a smoke† If you read this sentence, it says sit back which could mean take a step back and look at our life, then you have a comma which is like a little pause, then you have relax, and have a smoke. This could mean that Kelly Jones wants us the reader to sit back, pause, relax which is like another pause, and take a look at his life, and the stressfulness of work, and how he smokes to relax. On the last 2 lines of the song it says â€Å"Mac the knife swings a can And sings the day away† This is a repeat of what is said on the end of the 3rd verse of this song, which could be to try and say this is what we all should be doing because Mac the Knife is enjoying himself. The last part of the song is the chorus, which is said again. This brings a negative end to the poem because not only has it ended where it begun, it proves that there has been no progress in the development of Cwmaman. Kelly Jones' aim was not to show the readers/listeners that Wales is a boring place to live, but to say that there is nothing to do in Cwmaman. The tone of this poem was mainly sad â€Å"I get camping eyes in the final hour† he's getting tired of work and stressed over what he is doing, the song if very negative â€Å"there's more life more life more life in a tramps vest† if you are saying that there is more life in a tramp that goes around smelling all day long then things must be very bad! This song shows some signs of Kelly Jones getting frustrated â€Å"I loose my rag and tell them take your bag and shop down there† if he is saying this to a customer, he must be very angry because he is telling somebody to go and shop somewhere else instead of coming to his stall to shop. The pace of this poem seems to speed up as they get closer to the main chorus, probably because they are trying to let of some steam and have some fun. Over all Kelly Jones makes welsh life in Cwmaman look dull, lifeless and boarding, he is continually negative about Cwmaman in the song and it seems that this mining village is going no where fast!

Global Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global Financial Management - Essay Example ROE has the advantage of flexibility. When selecting projects to invest in overseas, it enables one to either use the simple way of calculating and measuring income or use a more complex way with so much details. Return on Equity can of benefit when used in trend analysis. This means that using ROE can enable a company to calculate its return on equity over a number of years. However, ROE has some disadvantages when selecting projects to invest in overseas. It only shows the company’s equity investment performance. Therefore, a company might have leveraged its investment in a huge amount of debt, but improving its ROE as long as the debt is creating income. Another disadvantage of ROE is the fact that it only measures the net income. Net income includes revenue without the expenses, which means that ROE is affected and lowered if a company has large amounts of capital assets. Internal Rate on Return can be defined as the return rate used to measure the amount of profit generated by investment in capital budgeting. It’s used to indicate the efficiency and quality of an investment. IRR is also used to measure whether projects and investments are appealing. Its advantages when selecting projects to invest in overseas include; time value whereby the cash flow is weighed equally using the time value of money. This is because the future cash flow timing is put into consideration. Another advantage is the way IRR makes it simple to measure the value of several projects together that have been put into consideration. Internal Rate on Return has a number of disadvantages. This method does not consider future costs as it only calculates the cash flow created by a project hence leaving out the capability of the project creating cash flow in future. Another disadvantage is the fact that IRR does not consider the size of the project. It only measures cash flow in comparison to the amount of capital creating that cash

Management Accounting and how it can be defined Essay

Management Accounting and how it can be defined - Essay Example In other words a more complex definition of Management Accounting expands the simple one and states that the process of providing the information required by management for planning, Organizing and controlling for goals such as: ïÆ'  Recording, Analyzing and reporting on the actual cost and inputs of products, services and processes in which we are very much concerned and which is also our first question ïÆ'  Working with starting cost, function, standard of performance, revenue and quantity budgets, which is related to our second and third questions, ïÆ'  Evaluating Alternative Opportunities, this is last and fourth question. Starting with our first question and second question simultaneously, we will find out the Total Fixed Cost, Contribution Margin, variable cost and Brake Even Point Andre is running a hair cutting saloon in which 5 Barbers work for him 40 hours/week, 50 weeks/year and being paid $9.90 per hour regardless of the number of the haircuts and every one who has a h air cut gets his hair washed so the charger for the shampoo or hair wash is assumed to be already included in it which will come under fixed cost by which his Fixed Cost per year will be $99,000 and $1,750 is the rent and other fixed expenses per month which again comes under Fixed cost by which his Total Fixed Cost per year will increase by $21,000 and the Total Fixed Cost will be $120,000/year and $10,000/month (this calculation is done on yearly ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã¯Æ'  monthly basis). ... Yearlymonthly basis (this calculation is done generally). As we now have our T.F.C i.e. $120,000 we have to calculate Break Even Point i.e. how many haircuts should be done so that we get $120,000 and i.e. 10,000haircuts/year should be done so that we don't get a loss and that is our B.E.P in units. Here there is no Variable cost i.e. no such sort of charges which will increase or decrease the total cost.Moving to our 3rd question i.e. if 20,000 haircuts are performed what will be the Operating income (profit), as we have calculated before our T.F.C i.e. $120,000 which will not change if we do either 1or 10,000 Haircuts/year. Assuming that the cost for one hair cut $12 and if we do 20,000 haircuts our income will be $240,000 and now subtracting the total expenses or T.F.C i.e. $120,000 we get an Operating income i.e. a profit of $120,000. As we have assumed $12/haircut we have included the taxes, Wages, rent, all the fixed expenses, the cost of shampoo and other required material in it. After all this we get a good profit of $120,000 if the saloon works as mentioned i.e. 50weeks/year and the barbers work for 40hours/week. Now for supporting this statement one barber works 2000hours/year as per the calculation and has to do a Minimum of 2haircuts/hour, 80haircuts/week if he works 8hours/day, 5days/week which is again 40hours/week and in 50weeks he can do 4000haircut, if similar calculation is done for the other 4 Barbers our task for 20,000 haircuts will be achieved. In our 4th and last question Andre decides to pay in a revised or in a different way i.e. by decreasing the Wages/hour and giving money/haircut. Andre decides to pay $4/hour i.e. fixed cost and $6/haircut which is

Solar Power Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Solar Power Industry - Essay Example The success of U.S oil production company, Shale, has caused various producers sleepless nights. GCC countries are greatly concerned with this ‘unhealthy’ trend that is hurting their economies badly. Augustine (2013, December 9) reports that many cities and countries in the GCC such as Doha, Qatar have undergone massive development due to high oil prices. This article piqued my interest as it focuses on the future and affects every country. Also, it spots various loopholes in the developing countries. Further,it proposes various measures that the young citizens of various developing countries should put to task to ensure their respective countries are at par with global standards in various sectors such as technology, education, and the service industry in the future. In an effort to explore the on-surface effects, as well as the extended market effect, I will explore various microeconomic concepts such as the theory of the firms, consumer theory, and the demand and supply side of the market. The ease with which new firms enter market imposes great threat to existing firms and the future of such industry (Perloff, 2011, p. 154). This can result to possible exit of other firms in the event a firm that enjoys great economies of scale engages in unhealthy business competition. Shale company successful positioning in the market due to high technology it employs in mining has made it increase its output with the current level of inputs. It experiences increase return to scale due to efficiency with which it conducts its operation. Consequently, it can decide to lower the prices of its product and this will impact negatively on the future of other firm, and various positions they hold in the market. A single firm’s action in a competitive market affects other firms. The global oil price is expected to fall below $100 a

Perfume Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Perfume - Essay Example ty and fantasy into one credible and believable tale, especially when the book has been originally published during a period dominated by rational thinking and the Enlightenment. In Perfume’s Grenouille, a character is created who is repulsive and ugly but that he had an uncanny skill to recognize beauty more than most. The characterization is very realistic, with Suskind painstakingly depicting the period and setting including the norms, prevailing philosophies, and so forth, making his fantastic claim about Grenouille’s uncanny olfactory ability believable. Grenouille’s apprenticeship, for instance, demonstrated the fidelity by which the author described the commercial system in France during the period. Then, there was the information about the odor of a female virgin as one with potential to capture the very smell of desirability. Another case in point is the scrutiny on Grenouille in the eyes of the pseudo-scientist Marquis de la Taillade-Espinasse, who opined that the poor man’s spotted and scarred body is caused by the corruptive effects of gases on the body (141). The notion was of course silly, but that given how ugly Gre nouille’s body looked, such depiction, in some perverse way, seem to actually make sense. Together, these information demonstrated the interplay of what is realistic and what is fictitious and that it is strong enough for Suskind to suggest a certain man without any odor whatsoever, and his readers certainly believed it is the most natural thing in the world. All in all, such device was employed in order to effectively present Perfume is about fairness – meting out punishment for bad deeds committed. It is actually a classically structured horror literature in the tradition of crime genre, glossed over by employing a unique narrative approach. Grenouille committed his killing spree and in the end, the very reason for his murders was what caused his destruction as well – poetic justice. But if one paid closer attention,

Reaction paper on David Cole Interviews Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reaction paper on David Cole Interviews - Essay Example I tried to remain objective while listening to the interview because ideas in my head were contradicting the facts presented by Mr. Cole. Over-all, the investigation presents a very strong argument and Cole has definitely created a big question in the minds of people like me. I asked the question to myself† What would I be telling my children about the Holocaust one day?† If pesticides were cyanide, then it could be unethical for argument sake but not entirely homicidal on the part of the Germans. I am completely perplexed about what happened during the Holocaust. Nevertheless, I would still recommend to fellow students to listen to this controversial interview. In a way, a person would learn how to think critically about the issue and make sensible judgment about the issue. One thing to remember though, make sure emotions are kept at bay. In short, I liked the interview because this is the most sensible thing I have ever watched.

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty Research Paper

Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty - Research Paper Example Today, close to 58 countries around the world actively employ the penalty against those who commit capital offenses. Although close to 96 countries have abolished the use of death penalties against humans, several others still have it still entrenched within their judicial systems without practicing it for at least the last ten years owing to its controversial nature. The death penalty has drawn great and uncommon controversy throughout the world with different groups and members of society taking different stands concerning the subject. In fact, the subject of death penalty is a matter of active debate even among states, nations and territories. With regard to the subject, people often take differing stands even though they may share similar political, religious and cultural ideologies. This paper discusses the subject of death penalty and will mainly focus on the pros and cons of employing the mode of punishment according to different viewers and commentators. The death penalty is the pre-meditated and planned process of killing a human being in reaction to an offence committed by the person (Banner, 2002).. Also known as capital punishment, the act is normally done by a government against a person who has legally been convicted through a legal or judicial process. There are several methods that have been employed in executing capital punishments against people accused of committing capital offenses as noted by Hood (2002). Historically, the death sentence was carried out mostly in the most painful of ways. In many ancient societies, convicts were often stoned to death while in other societies the convicts’ heads were severed using different means. For example in ancient Russia, executioners used swords to chop of the heads of those who were condemned to die while in France, the victim’s head was cut off using a guillotine. Ferocious or venomous animals were also used in some societies to cause the deaths of those who

The Story of Us Essay Example for Free

The Story of Us Essay The film â€Å"The Story of Us† that we have watched last week gave me the full of insights and learned how difficult a marriage could be. This movie was about the story of a couple married for about fifteen years and from their perfect marriage, it almost ends up to divorce. They have two children that through them they still pretend as good parents even if their relationship is not working anymore. They decided to send their children to a summer camp so they can start their trial separation before telling it to their kids. In the end, because they still love each other and also for the best of their children, they had chosen to be strong and set aside all the detestation and hatred from them. People may engage into marriage thru various reasons. The majority of it is usually because of legal and social aspects. But the reality is that a person is not only associated to emotional or a feeling to someone but also it is the spiritual and religious aspects that lead to marriage. For me, a person who entered into a relationship with someone should be committed to the person he loved so the partnership between them will be strong and the marriage will be eternal. Marriage for me is not just a formal contract or agreement of two persons who love each other which is usually followed by a wedding ceremony. It is really important for me because it does not only show how relationship works but it is instituted and destined by God for the permanent relationship between a man and a woman. My point of view towards relationship to a good marriage is that it should not be developed according to our anticipation. With the conformity of a husband and wife that are married, they should not be separated and will stand for every hardship that they will encounter. As shown in the movie, like what almost happened to Ben and Katie Jordan in the film was because of misunderstandings and the exchange of throbbing with each other. There are lots of couples nowadays that encountered similar problems like this. They also run into a situation that a couple cannot stand each other anymore which mostly ends up to divorce. Some of the couples may reconcile and choose to stay what is ordained while thers may lead to worst thing like separation or divorce. This film had given me lot of insights on the views of marriage. I can say that this movie made me realized that in order for a marriage to work well it is important that couples should learn how to reconcile and accept the love of their partners despite of their dissimilarities. People choose to marry the person they like not just because of feelings, affection or likeness to their spouse but because they fated their love to God and willingness to accept all the differences of their partner. I have learned that not all marriage will lead to lifelong relationship unless they truly love and vowed to each other. I also recognized that not all relationships are perfect thus we should continue ourselves to be loyal, devoted and still faithful to love ones. This film also taught me on what we should do or the best thing to perform if a situation happened in the marriage life like this. Also, we should learn how to accompany with others and to forgive and forget the mistakes of a person you love which will direct into a good marriage life.

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

The Ancient Astronaut Theory Theology Religion Essay

The Ancient Astronaut Theory Theology Religion Essay What if everything that you thought about ancient civilization was false, what if human technology as we know it was catapulted forward by ancient visitors, what if early in human history, the earth was visited by extra-terrestrials and humans came in contact with them. The whole idea of alien visitors is very intriguing, to even think that our earth was a place for outsiders and is so hard to even fathom, this is why it is so interesting. But what other explanations are there for pieces of evidence that have been found that werent humanly possible for humans to create. Ancient visitors is the only theory out there right now that can explain it, and I believe in it because there is just too much evidence and not enough human technology at the time to not believe that something weird was going on. Is it so hard to believe? Is it so hard to believe that ancient hieroglyphs depicting gods and birds coming out of the sky and giving the locals tools and information were actually UFOs comi ng out of the sky and these gods were aliens giving them survival techniques or blueprints for gigantic structures? These are just some of the questions that fuel the ancient alien theory. All of this speculation about human history and contact with ancient aliens started with the Ancient Astronaut Theory which is a culmination of theories of many different scientists particularly in the latter half of the 20th century. The Ancient Astronaut Theory was mainly proposed by a scientist named Erich Von Daniken. He proposed that extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on the Earth thousands of years ago, allocating their craft with early civilizations and perpetually changing human history. The fact remains that there is so much evidence and weird happenings in our history that Von Danikens theory has validity. (Erich Von Daniken and Ancient Aliens) The Ancient Astronaut Theory is definitely the umbrella over everything regarding ancient aliens and is what has led to this explosion in the past couple of years about this weird topic. The new show Ancient Aliens on the History Channel has been a harbinger for beliefs like this and has opened the eyes of scientists everywhere. It is one thing to hear about all of these ancient artifacts and crazy buildings that could not have been built by humans, but something entirely different to actually see these practically impossible feats that early humans were able to achieve with no understanding of technology and with nothing but a hammer. http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/ancient-aliens-image-gallery/sky-people.jpg -The Sky People: this was found at the Mayan ruins in Tikal, Guatemala and resembles an astronaut in a space helmet. Now there is a definite counterargument against this theory and it is about a couple of different things. Firstly, there is an argument that it would take between 600 and 1,200 light years for a system that could support life to get to Earth. Next, that if aliens actually did get here, why would they help us. And third, why would extra-terrestrials visit us a long time ago and then just stop and not visit us now? (Ljubuncic) These are three of the strongest counterarguments made against theories of ancient visitors and while they are substantial, they are explanations against them, as there are in every argument- which is what makes an argument legitimate. For the first claim, we have no idea how advanced life would be if it were to exist beyond us, they could be 600-1,200 light years ahead of us in technology so that 600-1,200 light year trip to earth is more like a year of travel. Secondly, why not help? I think that if we visited another life form and we were far more advanced tha n them that we would definitely help them out. And lastly, because now we are advanced enough and on our way to huge leaps in technology, the astronauts just helped us get started. There are so many pieces of evidence that just has to raise the question, has the earth been visited my outsiders? Places like Stonehenge, and the Moai of Easter Island are filled with mysterious traits that really does make you think about what if? How could human beings without sophisticated tools or the knowledge of engineering craft, transport such incredible structures? If somebody who told you that there was a deity, who could control the universe and be able to make a planet, would it be that farfetched to believe that there were ancient visitors that came to the planet and helped civilizations with technology and tools? I took a survey asking kids who lived in my dorm if they thought just with prior background knowledge that ancient aliens actually existed or that there was some sort of outside intervention to explain things that are here on earth today. Out of 10 CU students that I asked, there were only 3 of them that thought there was no outside intervention. This is so tr ue that people really dont know what happened explain these structures or depictions of aliens in caves so there had to be something that was going on back then for these impossible feats to happen. All of these monumental places and weird occurrences that had happened in the past are truly amazing considering the technology that they had back then, really almost too amazing to believe that these people built them. All of these different places can all be directly related to one thing- ancient astronauts. A place called Ollantaytambo located in Peru is an absolutely monumental fortification located about 30 miles from Machu Picchu. There is something very strange about Ollantaytambo. The citadel served as both a temple and a fortress. At some time unknown, and for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project. The gigantic monoliths are part of what was to be a shrine or temple. At some time unknown, and for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project (Barclay). At the northern end of the Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo has a weird but special spirit about it. The legend goes that a white bearded God, Wiracocha, came into the town and blessed the people. The people honored him so much that they carved his face in the side of the mountain where you can see it today. Was this white bearded god perhaps a white cloaked alien? How was this giant obelisk put into place so uniformly and well? How were the giant slabs of stone taken to the top of the mountai n where Ollantaytambo resides? How were these intricate cuts made on these stones enabling them to fit together? Truly this is amazing that these stones were forged together with nothing more than a hammer by the Incas. It just doesnt fit the bill, how could these ancient Incans have built this astonishing structure with a chisel? The stones had said to be almost welded together and with such sound precision that the obelisk is perfectly fit together with no cracks or splits after thousands of years of erosion and wear. Ollantaytambo is unbelievable, just look at it. How was it put together by humans? http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_8otru.jpg How was this massive structure assembled by ancient humans? It really just doesnt make any sense that this was actually made by early humans with no tractors or welding, ancient aliens? There are so many artifacts on earth are that are affiliated with, or suspected to be the result of ancient alien technology. A location like this is the Carnac Stones located in Carnac, France. These stones are a collection of gigantic rocks that have been set in place in meticulous and calculated assortments. Some configurations resemble straight lines and rows while others are circular shapes. The Carnac stones together, simulate a series of triangles that make up a complicated mathematical formula the Pythagorean Theorem. Another appealing issue around the structure of these stones is the very difficult calculations needed to actually put them in sync to where they are, and just when exactly these stones were assembled. The Carnac Stones were made in 3300 BC which is during the time of the stone ages. Pythagoras didnt invent the Pythagorean Theorem until 530 BC its impossible that people in the stone ages had the competence that was needed to calculate and create the shapes requ ired to execute the Pythagorean Theorem. Because of the size of the stones and the very limited tools available to people of that time its also very doubtful that they were able to lift these humongous stones into their upright place. Researchers have not yet found out the real objective of the Carnac Stones. The stones have places inside of the composition that couldve been antique tombs or burial chambers. Were these stones used to have burial ceremonies for ancient aliens? The Carnac Stones might have even been used to guide alien UFOs as they are one of the three structures on earth that can be seen from space. There is also research that is being done on possible astronomical pieces of the structures. The Carnac Stones are located at the latitude where the sun on winter and summer solstices forms a Pythagorean triangle. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQj-i1RCGuUm29DENi7X_sC-XzNoIcpC8ylhwBD2AbC1nQzt1GfOOnp8m29jKZRGCq-Z6iIJ0t5Kp1Qlit0rIcyNEyrHDezKp_HBCUSVWgV6Tk6cDqztXKyzEEZ2BJO5El1hz3KdBcAak/s1600/carnac-stones.jpg Is this site evidence that ancient aliens came to the Earth and administered our ancestors knowledge of new mathematical calculations and wisdom of great technology from other worlds? How was the Pythagorean Theorem being incorporated into the stones formation when the Pythagorean Theorem hadnt even been invented yet? The Carnac stones are very unusual and something that has to raise the question of ancient extraterrestrial intervention. (Hixon) Another one of the many oddities in the world related to ancient astronauts is called the Nazca Lines in Peru. Drawn into a highland in Perus Nazca Desert, are a series of ancient depictions stretching more than 50 miles has dumbfounded archaeologists. Along with simple lines and intricate shapes, they include drawings of animals, and humans, some measuring more than 600 feet wide. Because of their vast size, the lines can only even be seen clearly from high in the sky-and there is no evidence that these Nazcans, who lived in this area between 300 B.C. and 800 A.D., had any sort of way to see these lines in their full entirety because they couldnt go up in the sky, or could they? According to ancient alien theorists, the figures were used to guide spaceships when they landed, and the lines were used as runways. What on earth would the Nazca people use these ample lines for? http://www.mysterycasebook.com/2007/nazcalines2.jpg The Nazca Lines are a complete mystery. No one has proof of who built them or why they were built. They are truly a befuddling landmark. The Nazca Lines have many explanations including ancient gods, or a landing strip for returning aliens, which would have been very helpful to outsiders to have been able to have an airstrip. The ground patterns are dated back to between 200 BC and 600 AD (Ronquillo). Because these lines are so old it really brings up the question what were they using this airstrip for and how on earth did they even build such precise lines. This plain or plateau where theseslines are located is very dry and calm. Because there is not much wind or rain to erode anything off of this plain, these lines have stayed here for such a long period of time. This place is an ideal setting for someone that wanted to leave their mark. The concentration and precision of the Nazca lines leave no doubt that there was required long-term, intensive labor required to construct them wh ich is strange because they serve an unkown purpose. Why would the Nazca people spend so much time on something that has no apparent purpose? Were they in fact constructing an airstrip for outsiders? Could it have been a place where UFOs landed? Why would the Nazca people do all of this for nothing? They wouldnt just construct this giant sized, stone etched, concrete sheets of earth for a tribal or even practical purpose for like roads or something. Could it have been a DIA for ancient astronauts? (Ronquillo) One of the most troubling questions about our ancient civilizations and ancient aliens has to do with religion. When examining old religious texts there are a number of stories that seem to be describing people coming from the sky, which they thought were angles, demons, and even God. Ancient astronaut theorists believe that these stories and encounters could have actually been contact with ancient aliens. We know that these ancient civilizations would describe things using pictures and hieroglyphs. So if they would create these glyphs based on what they saw is it not strange that we have found countless pictures of what looks like flying objects? These ancient peoples believed that the gods of their religions came down from the sky and had the ability to fly on these machines. When you consider the stories of King Solomon in Israel they talk about him flying around on a magic carpet. It was said that he would fly in the sky and map the surrounding areas. Was this their way of descri bing a real flying machine that was used thousands of years ago? There are also mountains near Tibet that King Solomon would fly to and the tops of the mountains resemble what looks like a runway. It is uncommon for these mountains to have such flat surfaces. Could they have actually constructed runways for these flying machines to land on? One of the things to consider is how ancient civilizations would refer to gods as powerful beings that were superior to man. Its possible that these in fact werent gods but aliens who possessed advanced technology that may have made them seem Godly. It doesnt seem impossible that these people would worship these legendary Gods that came from the sky and seemed so superior. Were they actually Aliens? And is it possible that the aliens wanted these ancient civilizations to worship them? Maybe in return for the praise they were getting the aliens in fact did supply us with equipment and technology and knowledge to advance our civilization. This could have been the very beginning of all religious beliefs. (Ancient Aliens) http://www.history.com/images/media/slideshow/ancient-aliens-image-gallery/ascention-of-solomon.jpg -Ascension of King Solomon: According to some experts, King Solomon of Israel owned a flying machine that let him navigate great distances and be a cartographer of the world. Ancient alien theorists have observed that many religious texts feature numerous types of aircraft. (History.com) If there were ever ancient astronauts that came to the earth and helped human civilization with knowledge and tools, they definitely left some good evidence behind for conspirators to feast on. If there these theories are true, which there is enough evidence to validate it, it would change everything that we know about human history and change our whole perspective on our earth in the universe. This is the world that we live in and to think that if ancient aliens came to earth and altered what we think of as human doings, really affects how each and every one of us live our lives in this world. This whole topic is just so interesting because there are just so many weird things that are happening and have happened in human history and just has to make each and every one of us think, what really went on here? It is so astonishing that some of these things exist today and even more astonishing that we have absolutely no idea how or why some things are the way they are. All we can do is theorize and speculate about ancient outsiders coming down to earth and forever changing the course of human history. What if everything that you thought about ancient civilization was false, what if human technology as we know it was catapulted by ancient visitors, what if early in human history, the earth was visited by extra-terrestrials and humans and these visitors came in contact. What if we were alive because of ancient aliens? What if we are where we are here today because of ancient astronaut technology. You have to wonderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

The Quiet American Essay -- essays research papers

Fowler constructs Pyle as a naà ¯ve young man who is an innocent victim of dogmatic and simplistic ideologies. Fowler sees American culture and Democracy as a corrupting influence on an innocent Pyle. This is exhibited th relational processes, where Pyle, as the carrier, is given attributes such as â€Å"innocent†, â€Å"young and ignorant and silly†. This innocence is highlight by contrasting it with the attribute of â€Å"the whole pack of them†, Fowlers serotypes of Americans. Pyle’s corruption is seen in the single instance of his operating as a goal, where â€Å"they† are processed as having â€Å"killed† him. This construction of Pyle as corrupted by his environment is further solidified in Pyle’s role in material processes. The conceptual goal, which Pyle is acting upon â€Å"the east†, is processed in service o...

Eat Right 4 Your Type by Dr. Peter J. DAdamo :: Health Diet Essays

Eat Right 4 Your Type by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo Eat Right 4 Your Type, by Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo, was one of many diet books that hit the bookstores in 1996. This diet program uses the four blood types as a premise for what foods one should eat, what type of exercise one should do, and to what diseases one is susceptible. After careful review of the scientific literature, I was unable to find any studies that evaluated the validity of the book’s claims. There are numerous scientific studies that examine the roles of certain foods on health and diet, and there are plenty of studies that focus on the correlation between blood type and disease. However, there seem to be no studies devoted to the entire D’Adamo program itself. Dr. Peter D’Adamo and his father, Dr. James D’Adamo, worked in the field of blood type analysis. His father noticed that many patients from European Spas who were on strict vegetarian diets or low-fat diets did not lose weight. Some patients actually worsened. Dr. James D’Adamo eventually suspected that blood type might be the cause. Since blood is the fundamental source of nourishment to the body, perhaps some aspect of the blood could help identify the differing results. The study was successful in that blood type was correlated with the patients’ successes or failures on specific diets. Type A did poorly on high-protein diets, but did very well on vegetable proteins such as tofu and soy. Type A benefited from lighter forms of exercise, such as yoga. On the other hand, Type O did well on high-protein diets and benefited from intense physical activity. This led Dr. Peter D’Adamo to expand upon his father’s findings. The result was Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer, and Achieving Your Ideal Weight (D’Adamo XIV). Eat Right 4 Your Type begins by explaining why blood type is important to a person’s diet. The human body has unique chemical markers called antigens that can identify foreign substances that enter the body. One of the most powerful antigens in the body is the one that determines blood type. The different blood type antigens are so sensitive that they are the immune system’s best defense. A person’s blood type is named for the blood type antigen that he/she possesses on the red blood cells (D’Adamo 18).