The conventions of a soap Essay Example for Free

The conventions of a soap Essay To deal with the following issues : The conventions of a soap, the Genre, the target audiences, sound and editing as well as the camera objectives. After initial problems in setting up a group, a selection of four students including myself were grouped together. Deadlines were given and this made it even more constraining. The soap is intended to be targeted to a mainly black/white working class audience mainly but also to a middle class, but not equally proportional. Targeting also a 16 -30 age group though preferably to 16-18 as thats the student audience, but is viewable by all other age groups. The time slot chosen is 19:00 so that it doesnt rival with the other television channels soaps at 19:30, 20:00 and 20:30 respectively. Also at this time most working parents and students would have been back at home whether it be that they perform a 9-5 occupation or unskilled late laborious work. This prequel to the soap is not an easy showing. It has taken a lot of weeks to design the script alone, and to gather characters is still yet an ongoing process. The concept of the soap involves a teacher, a main student as a lead character and then other students are merely extras with exceptions to two other female students who will have a major role in the soap. My responsibility is to be a main actor as the Teacher and to ensure that the soap gets produced, thus I am a quality assurancer which means that the work produced is looked over by myself for quality and then passed onto Taio who happens to be the director to ensure that it is viewable and acceptable for evening time television viewing as well as creating the storyboard from the scripts. Natalie who works in the group is the main script writer whilst Eastern is the associate camera man as opposed to all of us sharing roles as the camera man from time to time. I myself tried to be the camera man for a two-day shooting scene. Unfortunately, it was not at all good. Learning from this mistake I just kept to my role as an actor and both supporting the group when there and looking/editing the work. The first stage in the production process is the creation of the script. This determines not only the dialogue of a piece, but lays down the basis of the soaps plot. In modern television before a soap episode goes into production it is probable that its script has gone through a series of treatments and re-writes. Once a script is completed it is given to a producer whos job is to realise the script. When devising a script, it has come to the attention that it will need a lot of re-writes and perhaps complete changes altogether. Each member of the group has something to co-ordinate with the group as a whole on. We all have individual roles, but due to the shortages in the group of members we all help one another, thus there is no set positions. When developing the soap opera a lot of research was conducted by the group where a discussion of the characters and their personality profiles was viewed. Gender and euthanasia research was amongst the top on the list of the discussions within the group. Age and race was important as it had to show the racial and age ration being portrayed in the college and also what would be socially acceptable. We did not want this to be similar in anyway to grange hill but a real life soap scene. As it had to define possible events that occur in real life with a thrill to keep its viewers hooked. All the characters will have different traits to their personality, one of which will posses traits similar to that of dumbo type person whilst another will be superficially intelligent. The teacher character will play an important role as our research concluded that the teacher would be prejudice to students who are not similar to his norms. The settings and social issues will take place within the Bromley College Facilities and the plot will cover a teacher having taught a class and replacing a previous teacher. Due to stress of his students and how the students support the teacher and how the teacher deals with bullying as an issue. As a girl/boy relationship broken up by a girl having a relationship with an elder man from outside the college and all round arguments and troubled issues relating studies. The characters are from 16-20 in age with exception to the teacher whose age will be mid 30s. Channel 5 does not currently have an active soap and it was the prime selection especially for its informality in presenting shows of interest. The technical aspects of this soap have yet to be performed, although all the roles have been established camera recording has not been fully completed and is still in the draft basis. Evaluation The purpose of this evaluation is to analyse the project of creating a soap and all the practical aspects into the development of such a production. This is after completion of the final practical production. There were many problems associated with the production as there many advantageous developments. To create this production took time and, unfortunately as I had entered the group quite late did not have a stable role as such. Members of my original group had left the college, and thus joined another g roup before that individual was on the verge of being asked to leave the course. Thereby, I progressed into another group, which is currently the group now. However they had started to create the scenes and at the time of joining they had completed the script. Upon joining the group, it was already decided that Taio was the director, Natalie was the scriptwriter and co-director whiles Chris was the editor and Easten was the producer and cameraman. I started to assist as the cameraman, however, unfortunately it seems that it did not work out well. I was zooming too much into the picture frame similar to zooming pan shots in the movies. Although I did not get to see the footage I had taken, the group members informed me that it was bad. I was however still eager to help the group and although they had a different timetable to mine, I still came through. There were more problems as due to the class times of different lessons, not everyone from the team was available to assist in the filming. However, I made myself available or offered to help in all instances of their filming. On some instances, my help was not required as they had enough people to do it. I centred on my acting instead for the group and my role as the teacher. These were actually sub-categorised into two main scenes but were divided into at least 5 or more sub scenes. One recollective event is when filming the corridor scene where Evans played the bullied student, the scene was performed after the 4th repeated time of filming. This was because, at one point security within the college thought that an actual pupil was being bullied, and that on another ocassion the class room scene, it needed to be re-recorded again and again as our postures were incorrect. Taio being the director corrected the problems as and when they occurred and ensured that it was completed. Equipment Used: VHS Cameras for film capture Video Suite for Editing DV to VHS and VHS to DV convertors Tripods Microphones Room Microphones Natural Lighting Zoom Lenses Characters References : Source Materials Soap Operas Unveiled Terrence and Higgins Information on how to create soaps Ins and Outs of Soap Operas J.L.Kenzo Scenes and Practical aspects of soaps Media 1 Stanley Thornes Text Book for Media AS Dyer, Richard et al. 1981: Coronation Street. London: BFI Geraghty, Christine [1991]: Women and Soap Opera. Cambridge Political Press Goodwin, Andrew and Gary Whannel [Eds] [1990]: Understanding TV. London: Routledge Kilborn, Richard [1992]: Television Soaps. London: Batsford Livingstone, Sonia [1990]: Making Sense of Television. Butterworth Heinemann The Media Donated by my teacher Sean Stammers Information on the Media www.brookside.com Official Soap site for Brookside entailing character information www.channel4.com Tallent Information on creating scripts and soaps www.channel5.com Channel where soap should be aired and tv guide listing http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/bucking1.html

Intro to Ethics Study Guide Essay Example for Free

Intro to Ethics Study Guide Essay 1. social contract theory is to give up right to have a government, animals come in the public court of opinion. Animals are involved †¦ implicit †¦ it can be inferred they contribute to human beings and killing them would interfere with the balance in the ecosystem 2. virtue ethics-aristotle would argue that if you were to kill an animal without morality would be immoral. Using too much compassion or too little. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing. 1st categorical imperative. If that maxim is able to become a universal law. A maxim would be to care for animals 3. Util- it depends on the situation who it makes happy more who is satisfied? Can you do better with your time 2. If John has a day off from work and stays home all day getting drunk, then Utilitarianism would say that it is okay for john to do that seeing that he is home alone and he is not bothering anyone. His family and friends are not aware of what he is doing and he decided to get drunk which makes his happiness the highest. Yet, it must be considered what John could have done in that period of time that could have been most beneficial to the community. The morally right thing action brings the highest net or overall happiness which John did not provide. This brings up Hedonism where the right actions only have best results that are measured so the goal should be to maximize the total measure of happiness. John could have done other things throughout that day like volunteering at a hospital or visiting his family. According to Utilitarianism, John decided to get drunk which is not following through with the Utilitarian right of action by doing something that would give the most happiness. Morality is the effort to guide one’s conduct by reason and have the best reasons for doing them. So, if John’s drinking is not backed up with the best reasons possible for doing them, then John’s decision is not morally correct according to utilitarianism. 3. 4. We are obligated to keep our promises according to all four theories. Utilitarianism: If my happiness outweighs the net happiness of the person of whom I want to break the promise with, then utilitarianism would say that it is okay to break the promise seeing that it would give me the most amount of happiness. But, if you break that promise and continue to break promises you made to your friend, then that would eventually lead to your best friend being unhappy with you and break the friendship apart unless that friend does not care about broken promises. Kantian ethics: We should keep our promises because we are to act only according to that maxim by which it will at the same time become a universal law. If we were to promise to pay someone back and never planned to pay them back for real and broke that promise, then if that was to become a universal law no one would trusts each other or believe people when they say they will owe them back. Thus, this will break friendships and leave the world with broken promises. Social contract theory: depends if the person lying is doing something for good virtue ethics: practical wisdom on which virtue to use. Knowing what virtue to use in what situation. 5. Kant thought lying was immoral because our behavior should be guided by universal laws which are moral rules that hold true in all circumstances. Kant says that lying under any circumstances is â€Å"the obliteration of one’s dignity as a human being† Even a small white law is unacceptable. His argument consisted of it being okay to lie or lying becoming popular. You should act in a way if it was to become a universal law so this universal law of lying would lead to everyone lying and the purpose would be self-defeating, no one would believe each other, and no one would pay attention to what you say. Essentially, Kant believes that we should only do the actions that conform to rules that we would adopt universally. 7.virtue is a state of character that lies between by doing a virtuous act you will become virtuous because it will become a habit coward-courage 8. If known murder comes to your home searching your friend, A virtue theorist would tell the truth. Although he has virtues like loyalty and honesty which he want to keep true, I would have to choose between one or the other. Virtues are desired states of character that are also excellence that brings into good conditions therefore people strive to have these virtues. The friend must choose to whether tell the truth to the murderer which is a virtue of having honesty or tell a lie to the murderer to help his friend which is a virtue of loyalty to their friend. Although both virtues are important and one would not want to participate in the murder of their friend, a virtue theorist would essentially tell the murderer the truth since lying is treating a person as mere means because you are using them to lie instead of using them as endsvirtue is a state of character concerned with choice and so lying in a mean would be determined by the rational principle which can only be determined by a man of practical wisdom.-virtue looks for what is intermediate.

Coursebook And Materials Evaluation English Language Essay

Coursebook And Materials Evaluation English Language Essay Introduction English language holds a great significance in Pakistan. It is the second language of our country yet enjoys the status of first language. It is the medium of instruction in the institutions of higher education and is widely used on radio and television in the country. Several newspapers, periodicals and books on different subjects are published in English. It is the official language of all the government departments and private organizations in Pakistan. Most importantly, our body of law is codified in English and the knowledge of English is considered to be essential for getting good jobs as exams and interviews for civil services, armed forces and other attractive posts are conducted in this language. The inevitability of English, not only in Pakistan but in the whole world, lies in its dominance in the three major areas of development: science, humanities and trade. Keeping in view the importance and the need to learn this language, Cunningsworth (1984:5) highlights three main perspectives on English Language Teaching as follows: The students need to learn the language to use it for communicative purposes It needs to be taught as a system of grammar and vocabulary in structural perspective The learners need to develop their four basic skills-reading, writing, listening and speaking in this language ELT materials play a very important role in many language classrooms but in recent years there has been a lot of debate on the actual role of materials in teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language. A successful course book requires a working balance between the three perspectives mentioned above. Arguments about the textbooks include both the advantages and the limitations of materials for students as well as the needs and preferences of teachers who are using them. Other modern issues regarding material evaluation include textbook design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the authenticity and the appropriateness of subject matter, and cultural components. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that we establish and apply a wide variety of relevant and contextually appropriate criteria for the evaluation of the textbooks that we use in our language classrooms. This paper aims at an analytical study of a published ELT course book (Stepping Forward) with regards to its underpinning approach and methodological principles to be drawn through an external as well internal evaluation of the book. LITERATURE REVIEW 1- Importance of Textbooks in ELT context: English language instruction has many important components but the essential constituents of many ESL/EFL classrooms and programs are the textbooks and instructional materials that are often used by language instructors. As in their argument to prove textbooks affective agents of change, Hutchinson and Torres (1994) suggest: The textbook is an almost universal element of teachingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook. (p. 315). Many other theorists agree with this observation as Sheldon (1988) states that textbooks not only represent the visible heart of any ELT program (p.237) but also offer considerable advantages for both the student and the teacher when they are being used in the ESL/EFL classroom. Moreover, he believes that published materials are more reliable for the students because they have more credibility than teacher-generated or in-house materials. Textbooks yield a respectable practicality as they are relatively inexpensive and involve low lesson preparation time, whereas teacher-generated materials can be ineffective in terms of time, cost and quality. In this way, textbooks can reduce professional workload and allow teachers the opportunity to spend more time in concentrating on the material available instead of arranging for a new one every time. As Hutchinson and Torres (1994) point out that textbooks play a pivotal role in innovation and support teachers in potentially disturbing and threatening change processes, for they demonstrate new methodologies, introduce change gradually, and create a framework upon which teachers can build a more creative methodology of their own. 2- Reasons for Textbook Evaluation: Since the 1970s there has been a movement to make learners the center of language instruction and it is probably best to view textbooks as resources in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs. Therefore, we must make every effort to establish and apply a wide variety of relevant and contextually appropriate criteria for the evaluation of the textbooks that we use in our language classrooms. We should also ensure that careful selection is made, and that the materials selected closely reflect the aims, methods, and values of the teaching program. (Cunningsworth, 1995:7). Another reason for textbook evaluation is the fact that it can be very useful in teacher development and professional growth. Cunningsworth (1995) states that textbook evaluation helps teachers to acquire useful, accurate, systematic, and contextual insights into the overall nature of textbook material. Sheldon (1988) offers justification through several other reasons for textbook evaluation. He suggests that the selection of an ELT textbook often signals an important administrative and educational decision with considerable financial investment. A thorough evaluation, therefore, would enable the management and teaching staff of a specific institution to choose amongst all of the available textbooks in the market. Moreover, it would provide a sense of familiarity with a books content assisting the educators to compare it with the strengths and weaknesses in textbooks already in use. Textbook evaluation, therefore, can potentially be a means of conducting research as well as a form of professional empowerment and improvement. 3- Methods of Evaluating Textbooks: On the subject of textbook evaluation various researchers have suggested ways of helping teachers to be more systematic in their evaluative approach, by presenting evaluation checklists based on general criteria that can be used by both teachers and students in many different situations. Although Sheldon (1988) suggests that no general list of criteria can ever really be applied to all teaching and learning contexts without considerable modification. Thats why, almost all the educational theorists agree that evaluation checklists should be having some criteria pertaining to the physical characteristics of textbooks such as layout, organizational, usable and logistical characteristics. Thus, in this regard, the evaluative criteria presented by McDonough and Shaw (1997), is most suitable and applicable in any ELT context. The model of evaluation offered by McDonough and Shaw (1997) consists of two stages: (A) External evaluation and (B) Internal evaluation. They believe that the teachers should perform an external evaluation first of all in order to gain an overview of the organizational principles involved. After this they should move onto a detailed internal evaluation of the materials to see how far the materials in question match up to what the author claims as well as to the aims and objectives of a given teaching program. Thus, the next section of this paper will present an external as well as internal analysis of an ELT course book (Stepping Forward) based on McDonough and Shaws (1997) model of evaluation. TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS: AN EVALUATIVE STUDY 1- Key Facts about the Book-Authors and Publishers: One of the most useful starting points in any textbook evaluation is an analysis of the authors and publishers details. The authors of Stepping Forward are Heather Jones and Robyn Mann and the publisher is a well-established company based in Singapore, EPB Pan Pacific publishers, a trademark of Times Publishing Limited. Ample information about the publishing company such as the contact address, telephone and fax numbers can be found on the inside front cover. Moreover, information about the authors formal education, amounts and types of teaching, administration, and curriculum/syllabus and materials development experience is also given which presents a clear picture of the authors having a recognized standing in the field of education and a strong reputation for producing innovative materials. 2- Target Audience and Proficiency Level: Stepping Forward by Heather Jones and Robyn Mann comprises a series of textbooks. The book under analysis has been designed for the students of grade six belonging to an age group of around eleven years. The book includes challenging topics, chosen especially for the interest level of the target students. The topics like My Family, Growing Up, Dinosaurs, Tourism, and Science Fiction etc are highly attractive and motivating for the learners. 3- Cost Effectiveness: Another important factor that relates to the choice of a textbook is cost. Some might feel that price is not necessarily an important factor in textbook evaluation, but the fact that most ESL/EFL textbooks are published and manufactured in wealthy English-speaking nations such as England and the United States but used in many less-developed nations like Pakistan suggests that price should play a pertinent role in textbook selection. This is particularly the case in countries in which the economic conditions are somewhat less than desirable and many students with limited incomes are required to purchase the books for language courses. In this case, Stepping Forward is also a little expensive as it costs Rs.365/-, however, the printing standard and paper quality worth the price. 4- Accessibility and Availability: Some additional concerns regarding external evaluation are accessibility and availability. In order to be purchasable for a textbook, it must be currently in print and readily available. Moreover, the publisher should be accessible for additional information, teaching demonstrations, and order requests. At first glance it would seem that Stepping Forward meets many of these requirements for it is a relatively new book that was most recently published in 1995 and then reprinted every year till 2007. Moreover, representatives from the publisher (EPB Pan Pacific) can be easily contacted for ordering information and assistance. 5- Audio-Visual Aids and Supplementary Materials: The book contains several charts, models, and photographs that help clarify and contextualize information. The presence of real life pictures portrays a friendly and motivating atmosphere. The pictures are not merely added for a cosmetic effect, they are rather of an integrative value that they help explaining the theme to the learners. In addition, Stepping Forward contains an excellent package of supplementary materials including items such as classroom tape cassettes or CDs, a student workbook, and a teachers guide. More specifically, the teachers guide includes useful page-by-page instructions, teaching suggestions and instructional input, lesson notes, optional tasks and alternatives, classroom management advice, language notes, general notes about the task and cultural data, expansion activities and game ideas, tests, answer keys, transcripts for listening activities, and opportunities for teacher reflection. The student workbook, on the other hand, provides review exercises an d a variety of practice exercises that help the development of students proficiency in grammar, reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary, and speaking and has enormous potential for classroom use or for home assignments. 6- Overall Organization of Textbook: The layout and design of a textbook refers to its organization and presentation of language items and activities. In Stepping Forward, for instance, the learning objectives are clear and concise and a detailed overview of the topics, functions, structures/grammar, and skills within each unit can be found in the introductory table of contents. The book follows a thematic/modular format as the course components are effectively and clearly organized in six thematic sections: Personal relations, Nature, Community and Nation, Imagination, Science and Technology and Other people. Four sections contain three units each and two include two units each, which makes it a sum total of sixteen units. 7- Authors Claims- the Methodological Principles underpinning the Book: One of the most important and essential criterion that pertains to the overall textbook evaluation is the authors approach to teaching methodology. Brown (1995) and Cunningsworth (1995) suggest that it is absolutely essential in evaluating any textbook to determine whether or not its inherent methodology matches the aims and objectives and conforms to the classroom context. The simplest and quickest way for initially discovering a textbooks theoretical premises and methodological underpinnings is to examine its back cover (the blurb). So, a closer examination of Stepping Forwards back cover reveals that the authors (Heather Jones and Robyn Mann) claim to adhere to the Communicative Approach and the textbook contains a multi-skills curriculum and follows a topical/functional format. The book also tends to focus on both accurate and fluent communication emphasizing linguistic as well as communicative value of the topics. The promotion of integrated language-skills practice and the incl usion of topical themes, grammatical structures and functions, as well as lexical development are focused. Particular emphasis is placed on meaningful and authentic communication with the goal of establishing communicative competence in production and comprehension as the authors state in the blurb, students as well as teachers will find Stepping Forward an exciting and stimulating language learning experience, one that will result in the learners being competent and confident users of the English language. Moreover, many of the pair and group activities such as role-playing and information-gap tasks are claimed to facilitate learning through genuine interaction and the language skills and sub-skills are presented and practiced through the use of both inductive and deductive approaches. 8- Cultural Biases: The book under analysis, Stepping Forward, can be termed as culturally biased or specific in some regards, for the names of people and places as well as pictures are mostly taken from the Singaporean culture. For example, the travel brochure given on page 131-133 in the textbook, particularly informs about places in Singapore and Malaysia. Similarly, on page 130 the listening activity talks about Hotel Mirimar in Singapore. Moreover, the writing task on page 135 requires drawing the map of Singapore and the pictures shown on page 129 and 149 have also been taken from real life situations in Singapore. 9- Universal Context: Nevertheless, in spite of certain cultural specific data, Stepping Forward, has a universal appeal and generates in a world-wide context. Because the activities and tasks designed around this culturally bound material are not confined to any geographical boundary. Thus, they can be carried out in any context throughout the world. (B) INTERNAL EVALUATION-Units 8 and 9: Since the external evaluation displays a positive image of the book, therefore, an internal evaluation needs to be executed further. The following discussion is going to evaluate the book internally with particular reference to the units 8 and 9. 1- Grading and Sequencing of Materials: The materials in Stepping Forward are organized in a linear sequence within the units of the book. Every unit begins with a Preview of the topic for eliciting the learners background knowledge and activating their schemata. Then, the four language skills are presented and practised in a systematic manner moving from listening to speaking and then reading to writing with grammar and vocabulary coming between the reading and writing activities. The authors truly claimed in the blurb that the book follows a communicative approach which is achieved through task-based learning (TBL). Such an approach creates a need for learners to acquire new language through the setting of tasks that require them to carry out and struggle through a communicative task, before going on to focus on specific language items that the students find difficult or problematic. The communicative tasks such as (in units 8 and 9) working on persuasive travel brochures, completing the crosswords, playing grammar-games, filling in the tables, making cards or using thesaurus and library tend to stimulate interaction as well as require the use of language items. These tasks not only intended to introduce language forms through authentic material but also engage the learners in truly meaningful and effective communication such as negotiation of meaning and ideas. 2- Presentation of the Language Skills: Stepping Forward is a multi-skills syllabus and therefore covers and integrates both productive (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading). The authors advocate an integrated, multi-skills syllabus because it considers and incorporates several categories of both meaning and form. A more positive characteristic of the integrated syllabus within Stepping Forward is the fact that the linguistic elements of the textbook such as grammar and vocabulary items are closely connected to the skills-base. So, as the grammar element and the vocabulary base become more demanding, the skills work also gets more challenging. An internal evaluation of the book reveals that material used for each skill becomes more complex as the units progress. An in-depth analysis of the treatment of language skills in units 8 and 9 is presented below. (i) Listening: Listening activities are designed in Stepping Forward for practicing such sub-skills as making predictions, extracting specific items (scanning/listening for detail), acquiring general information (skimming/listening for gist), extracting detailed information, recognizing function and discourse patterns/markers, and for inferring meaning from context. Every unit in the book deals with a different sub-skill in listening. For instance, in unit 8 the learners are supposed to listen for making inferences about the speakers statements as being persuasive or not. However, in unit 9 the students are made to listen for specific information in order to clarify meaning and make corrections. (ii) Speaking: Speaking practice, in this book, is integrated with other language skills. Every time after presenting a Preview of the topic the learners are given discussion questions for the activation of schemata. Then they are required to talk about the information they gather while listening activities. For example, on page 130, the description of the listening task ends on the note: Be prepared to argue your opinion later!. Moreover, after or while doing most of the reading and writing tasks, the learners are required to discuss the information in pairs or groups. For instance, in unit 8 (page 140) after reading a poem the learners are moved on to a speaking task of verse speaking in groups. Similarly, in unit 9 (page 160), the students are required to perform a role-play after reading a dialogue and on page 166 questions for class discussion are given within a writing activity of creating cards. Such tasks match the authors claim in the blurb: Stepping Forward provides numerous activities to enable students to work individually, in pairs, groups as well as class discussion. This provides scope for creative thinking and critical discussion. Speaking tasks and discussions are intended to involve the students in active information sharing, freer cooperative group tasks, and other types of exercises designed to encourage communication skills as they allow the students to extend, refine, and personalize the material they have practised in each unit. (iii) Reading: Reading activities in Stepping Forward are designed to practise sub-skills such as reading for detail or for skimming, scanning, inferring etc. In every unit, reading tasks are divided into two sections: Fiction and Non-fiction. In unit 8, the section of non-fiction contains activities around a travel brochure and the fiction section deals with reading a poem. While in unit 9, non-fiction reading is designed around a feature article and fiction reading presents a dramatic play script. Moreover, in order to expose the learners to the reading material beyond the course book, they are also asked to use thesaurus and library (pg 143, 164, 165). These tasks provide a practice of reading for detail, for meaning and for ideas. Reading activities in every unit follow the practice on grammar and vocabulary further leading to the writing tasks. (iv) Writing: Writing activities in Stepping Forward typically ask students to perform tasks of various kinds such as descriptions, narratives, postcards, reviews, letters etc. It can be suggested, therefore, that the writing skills in Stepping Forward are based on both product and process approaches. Essentially, a product-oriented approach centers on the end-result of writing, whereas a process-oriented approach centers on the process of writing itself. In addition, product-oriented approaches typically engage learners in imitating, copying and transforming models of correct language texts while process-oriented approaches emphasize brainstorming, planning, drafting, revision, and editing. The writing task given in unit 8 (pg 145-146) is based on process approach in which the learners have to write a travel brochure by gathering and organizing information and then revising and editing the first draft. However, in unit 9, the writing activity is designed around the product approach in which the students will be working towards an end-product-the greeting card that they have to create. Despite their differences, both approaches to the teaching of writing skills have their advantages. Product writing, for example, emphasizes sentence structure and grammar and is often utilized as an excellent means of preparing students for written examinations. The process approach, on the other hand, prepares them for the complex procedure involved in writing compositions. For these reasons, the authors of Stepping Forward have included activities that incorporate both product and process approaches of writing in this particular textbook. 3- Different Learning Styles-Self-study: Another interesting feature of this book is the website (www.panpaceducation.com) that has been designed to accompany the textbook. The integration of the personal computer and information technology to language learning is becoming increasingly commonplace in many institutions and it seems as though the authors and publishers of Stepping Forward are well aware of this growing phenomenon. In this particular case the publishers have developed an accompanying web-site that teachers can use to find Internet links to professional articles and that students can use to gain additional practice with the material covered in the textbook. This web-site can be used as a useful teaching and learning tool as it provides teachers with assistance in professional development and also provides students with an opportunity to become increasingly self-reliant and less teacher-dependent. Moreover, the promotion of student self-directed study is integral in allowing students to become increasingly aware of their own abilities to remember, learn, and solve problems and more strategic and reflective in their learning, thinking, and problem solving. 4- Language Type and Content: Language type and content refers to whether the language included in the materials is realistic and authentic and what type of linguistic items are evident in the book. In terms of grammatical structures and functions, Stepping Forward places much emphasis on grammatical accuracy and repetition of structures and functions. Grammar and vocabulary are organized into separate sections in each unit. In unit 8, grammar section deals with pronouns and in unit 9 it provides a practice of simple present and present perfect tense. The section of vocabulary also includes thesaurus use in every unit, so that the students can build on new vocabulary on their own. A fair weightage given to grammar and vocabulary in the book justifies the authors claims as it is stated on the back cover of the book: a wide range of grammar and vocabulary exercises are especially designed to help students acquire the necessary language skills and vocabulary to discuss and write on the topic in each unit. The author s believe that correct knowledge of grammar and functions are an essential aspect of communicative competence and they have adopted the task-based learning technique as a means of accomplishing their objectives. Since the introduction of the Communicative Approach to language teaching in the 1970s and 80s, there has been a growing school of thought that says that authentic reading, speaking, listening, writing, and grammatical language models should be used to teach English language skills as long as the activities or tasks associated with them are also authentic and suitably graded to the level of the students with whom they are being used. Whereas, many researchers belonging to another school of thought believe that authentic content can often create a number of difficulties and problems for students who are lacking in the proper cultural background knowledge or schemata to properly comprehend a messages meaning and content. Moreover, the selection of authentic texts is frequently quite difficult and challenging and a students inability to understand a text can be extremely demoralizing and de-motivating in some instances. Thats why, Stepping Forward presents a combination of both authenti c and inauthentic/scripted materials to ensure the success of the book. CONCLUSION The preceding analysis shows that Stepping Forward is a relatively modern addition to ELT supermarket. The external and internal evaluation traces out a number of notable and worthwhile characteristics of the book. For example, the entire textbook package is well conceived and it contains a wide variety of useful supplementary materials. The book is also very attractive and organized in a clear, logical, and coherent manner. This organization reflects a topic-based (thematic) structural-functional syllabus that is designed with the goal of facilitating communicative competence which is the underpinning objective of the book. In addition, Stepping Forward reflects a multi-skills syllabus, and manages to integrate the four language skills without neglecting other important aspects of ELT such as grammar and vocabulary development which is aimed at integrating the communicative and structural approaches of language teaching. In addition, receptive and productive skills are covered throu gh a wide variety of teaching and learning strategies such as top-down and bottom-up listening and reading exercises and both product and process oriented approaches to writing skills. According to the evaluative model presented by McDonough and Shaw (1997), a successful external evaluation moves onto the internal study and satisfactory results of the internal evaluation further lead towards the adoption/selection of the book. Thus, the positive outcomes of both types of evaluation, validity of the authors claims and its suitability to the learners needs make Stepping Forward a fairly recommendable product for an effective instruction in the dynamic field of English Language Teaching. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦far from being a problem, the textbook is an important means of satisfying the range of needs that emerge from the classroom and its wider context. Education is a complex and messy matter, what a textbook does is to create a degree of order within potential chaosà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦around which many forces and demands of teaching-learning process can cohereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for purposeful action in the classroom.

Prisoners of War During WWII Essay -- World War II

Wars have essentially been the backbone of history. A war can make or break a country. As the result of war, a country can lose or gain territory and a war directly impacts a countries’ economy. When we learn about wars in schools we usually are taught about when they start, major events/ battles, and when they end. It would take a year or two to cover one war if we were to learn about everything. One thing that is commonly overlooked and we take for granted, is prisoners of war. Most people think of concentration camps and the millions of Jews that suffered when prisoners and war are mentioned in the same sentence. Yes it is terrible what happened during WWII, but what about our troops that were captured and potentially tortured trying to save the Jews? How did they suffer? Being captured as a prisoner of war is just an on the job hazard. In this paper I will explain what POWs went through and how it has changes between countries, and I will only scratch the surface. Taking prisoners of war have been a battle tactic for ages. Capturing an enemy troop could be done for many reasons. Mainly enemy soldiers are captured to be interrogated for unknown information on the enemy. There were usually common rules and procedures for taking a prisoner of war, weather they were followed or not was really up to the country. Come 1929, there was a document in the works that set rules regarding prisoners of war. More than 40 countries got together to sign and agree on these new set of rules (â€Å"Life† 11). The signing of the Geneva Convention was held in Geneva, Switzerland. This document of ninety-seven articles defined a prisoner of war as a member of a regular military unit, wearing a uniform (thus spies were excluded). The Convention decl... ... Red Cross and learning the facts about the brutality, General Eisenhower stopped sending POWs to the French. (Tarczal) Works Cited Bowman, Michael. "World War II Prisoner of War Camps - Encyclopedia of Arkansas." The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. . Hutchinson, Daniel. We . . . Are the Most Fortunate of Prisoners": The Axis POW Experience at Camp Opelika during World War II. Publication. Alabama Review, 2011. Print. Tarczal, Bela. Hungarian POW in French Captivity. Publication. Trans. Eva B. Bessenyey. Print. "World War Two - Japanese Prisoner of War Camps." World War Two. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. . Wukovits, John F. Life as a POW. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2000. Print.

The Cold War Essay -- History, Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cold War was a worldwide conflict that went on for over 40 years. Many people today do not understand how much it cost in terms of lives and money. During the Cold War, many events helped shape today’s United State’s military, foreign relations, and policies. The Cuban Missile Crisis helped prove that the US was a strong nation. The Space Race helped technology advance and allowed man to go where we had never been before. Another well-known conflict was the Vietnam War, which started long before the US got involved. France lost the first Indochina war to the Vietminh. Soon after, Communist North Vietnam showed interest in invading Capitalist South Vietnam and the country eventually split in two. At the time, the US had political representation in South Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the US military became activists and sent over 50,000 troops to fight (Murray, 13). Those troops endured horrors no one could imagine, including new weapon advances suc h as Agent Orange and Napalm that were used to clear forests and fight. Back in the US, many people protested the war with rallies and marches. They had a reason. The United States was not justified in entering the Vietnam conflict because it caused more damage than advances for the US. Many different people and countries were involved with the Vietnam conflict. It began during WWII, when Japan took France’s Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia. The communist leader Ho Chi Minh led forces called the Vietminh to fight Japan. These forces had been trained by United States advisers. After Japan’s defeat in WWII, France had set their sights on regaining control of Indochina. By that time, Ho had already declared Vietnam independent, but France refused to recognize... ...t the spreads of communism. After the USS Maddox was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson sent military personnel to fight. After all hope seemed lost and people back home gave up, President Nixon tried to end things with a cease fire. Unfortunately in the end, the US and South Vietnam lost to North Vietnam. The war proved to be pointless after all the destruction it caused. 58,214 soldiers were killed and over 1,700 are still unaccounted for (History Channel). From the very beginning of the war, there was not much hope. The North Vietnamese were already sure of victory. The very reason the US entered the war was partly because of misinformation. Had we known then that there was no second attack coming in the Gulf of Tonkin, where would we be now? Would the US be better in foreign policies? Thanks to one misread signal, we will never know.

Dehumanization in Death of a Salesman Essay -- Death Salesman essays

Dehumanization in Death of a Salesman      Ã‚   Alienation and loneliness are two of the frequently explored themes in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.   Yet they can also cause other effects which are just as harmful, if not more so.   In Death of a Salesman, two of these other results are dehumanization and a loss of individual freedom.   This is a very complex web of emotions, but as Miller said, â€Å"Death of a Salesman is not, of course, in the realistic tradition, having broken out into quite a new synthesis of psychological and social dimensions† (Eight vii).   It did indeed â€Å"break out† in the modernist direction.   It is a wonderful example of the way modernist writers expressed their beliefs.   They believed that the industrialization of society caused people to lose their individuality.   Willy’s seniority at his advertising firm means very little in the larger scheme of things.   He is just one of the many workers.   He begins to wear out and be of little use.   Therefore, he is discarded and presumably replaced with someone who will do the job more efficiently.   He is not treated as a human being but as a part of a larger mechanism, a larger machine.   This crushes what little self-esteem he has left.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This mechanized society can also lead to a loss of individual freedom.   In order to survive, one must be a part of the competitiveness.   This may mean giving up having the freedom to choose a pleasing occupation.   Biff wants to find his own way and do what he wants; he is looked down upon because of his wish.   Happy, his brother, wants to be financially successful.   He knows that in order to do that, he needs to join the work force and persevere where his father failed.   In this society, one can either do what he ch... ...g the Loman family, Miller relates the larger, all encompassing themes of the modernists to a common American family.   Miller relates them, specifically Willy Loman, to society as a whole and to the smaller societal unit of the family.   He then goes on to show the psychological responses to and results of societal conditions.   Specifically, he demonstrates that interaction with modern society without some understanding of what is occurring can lead to alienation and loneliness.   These, in turn, can lead to dehumanization and a loss of freedom for the individual.    Works Cited Baym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al., eds.   The Norton Anthology of American Literature.   4th ed.   New York: Norton, 1994. Florio, Thomas A., ed. â€Å"Miller’s Tales.† The New Yorker.   70 (1994): 35-36. ---.   Eight Plays.   New York:   Nelson Doubleday, 1981.         

Scarlet Letter – Pearl Character Analysis

Pearl is a major character in the novel because she impacts everyone’s decisions in the book in some way. Though she is young throughout most of the novel, she acts older than most of the adults. With being the product of a sin, Pearl has to deal with a lot. She defends herself and her mother from the cruel remarks of the town. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the character, Pearl, as a symbol for a hint of happiness in the sadness and regret of a sin. Pearl, throughout the novel, is used as a main character and a symbol. Her presence in the book brings out the other main characters’ true character. She asks them questions they have to think hard about themselves. Pearl draws attention to their faults, such as what they are overlooking in their lives. She is portrayed as wiser than her years. The author wants her to seem more honest and more understanding than the adults in the novel. After Hester gets out of jail, Pearl is the only thing she has. â€Å"She named the infant â€Å"Pearl,† as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother's only treasure!† (Hawthorne, 61) Her name means that she came at a â€Å"great price† to Hester, and she is all her mother has. Pearl is a victim of Hester sins. She has to deal with children and adults harassing her. Pearl is constantly referred to as a devil child in the book. Pearl is a living thing symbolizing the scarlet letter. Pearl is very perceptive to things around her. â€Å"Children will not abide any, the slightest, change in the accustomed aspect of things that are daily before their eyes. Pearl misses something that she has always seen me wear!† (Hawthorne, 144) Her mother decides to take her letter off, and Pearl notices. She was so used to seeing her mother with the letter, so she throws a temper tantrum. Pearl observes many things, like the way people act around her. In The Scarlet Letter, the author uses Pearl, as a symbol for happiness in the regret of a sin. She helps most of the adults learn more about themselves, and look deeper than on the surface. She makes them come out with their sins. She is a major character in the book because she touches everyone’s lives in some way.