Critical reader response from education class(Teaching English as an Essay

Critical reader response from education class(Teaching English as an Additional Language) - Essay Example One of the most important things teachers can do to support literacy development of students is to choose and expose them to quality literature. Children's literature is particularly rich with illustrations, images, genre and cultures; it reflects the maturational development process with regards to cognitive, emotional and social, as well as language development. Reading strategies are developed to retrieve information from 3 categories: 1) meaning cues, 2) visual cues, and 3) structural or syntactic cues. There are eight steps to implementing think-aloud strategies: 1) choose a small portion of the text, 2) chooses a few strategies, 3) communicate the reading purpose, 4) model the think-aloud strategy to the students as you read the text aloud, 5) instruct students on annotating the text, 6) discuss and think through the strategies used, 7) show students how to generalize reading strategies, and 8) reinforce think-aloud techniques with follow-up lessons. As an EAL teacher, I feel t his is an excellent method for helping L2 learners to deal with literature. Absolutely they should use a winning strategy for digesting literature; at best they usually struggle with the vocabulary to the point that frustration takes over and the richness of the literature is lost. Students develop a much stronger command of the language through open reading of literature among peers. Their fluency and diction develops quickly in the presence of a native speaker of L2. In the case where cultures are vastly different, the students need a lot of support to connect with and internalize the story. Often open discussion occurs in comparing and contrasting the cultural differences allowing not only for a deeper understanding and connection to the story, but also to peers. This further reinforces L2 bonding as well as building self-confidence in expressing ideas in L2. This think-aloud strategy helps develop the self-confidence of the L2 learners in their ability to read and comprehend lit erature at the L2 level. They also begin to apply this strategy to their other core L2 subjects, which resulted in higher academic achievement. They even begin to challenge themselves to speak L2 with peers, further reinforcing their self-confidence and pronunciation. The component of the think-aloud strategy that is probably understated is the one of prediction. Often L2 learners don’t have highly developed critical thinking or creativity skills. Predicting what would happen throughout the story is a new challenge for them as it causes them to imagine new possibilities for where the author may be leading the story. As they begin to work with the stories more, their abilities at prediction sharpen, even to the point that they increase their critical thinking skills in other academic areas, such as science and math. At first, the visual cues are critical for them; a picture makes fighting vocabulary and learning through contextual clues easier. With time, they increase their v ocabulary base to independently take on significantly more difficult stories. They enjoy being able to discuss the behind the scenes meaning, messages, and values being taught by the author. Role playing to understand what is happening in the story is another approach that can be

Season and Winter Essay Example for Free

Season and Winter Essay Snow is when family and friends play and laugh together, which is what brings us closer together. Furthermore, people can do many fun activities in the snow. We not only play in the snow but also sliegh ride, build snowmen, have a snowball fight with your family, and make snow angels. When I was young, I used to hang out with neighborhood kids after school even if the weather was severe. Actually, we were looking for the heavy snow at the very beginning of winter. Because we were fond of having snowball fights and making snowman as well as going sledding. We were so happy when playing in the snow. We didn’t care how cold our hands would get, or how dirty our cloths were. The only things we cared about were who could win in the fight, who could make the best snowman and who could sled the fastest. Moreover, all the outdoor activities bring all your families closer because all the kids tend to play and have fun outside in the cold. Family is special because you become close and share thoughtful things with the ones that mean the most to you. Christmas brings family out and shows how much your family truly means to you. Family is the number one thing that matters the most to you and especially when it comes to Christmas. Also, Lastly, baking is also a wonderful thing about winter. You walk into the kitchen and smell the freshly baked cookies or Moms homemade casserole. Baking is amazing because it carries on through tradition and it gets passed down to generation. Baking also warms your heart and lets you know how much time and effort your family or parent puts into making the wonderful food you receive. Baking on Christmas morning is the best because you get the house all decorated up and get the food ready for friends and family who come over to celebrate the special time with you. In addition, one thing winter wouldn’t be complete without is the memories. The memories are always good because you create amazing memories when you’re with friends and family. Winter makes you want to create the most memorable moment of all time especially if you’re in an amazing country or state. Imagine being in a place where it snows or you hear the rain dripping down the window pane. Winter has many memories weather its being somewhere for the first time or going back to it. Memories are meant to be created weather its good memories or bad memories. In overall, winter is a good season because you can expect good things from it like snow, christmas, family, snuggling, baking, and friends. You’re with family and friends and you’re having all these events going on. Winter shows how much closer family can bring you. Winter is amazing and it brings out all the good energy around you. You can be in the worst moods or the happiest moods and its okay because winter brings this feeling out in you that you love and always want to carry with you. Winter is definitely a great season and always will have different memories that will always be in your heart.

Juvenile Delinquency Essay examples -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Juvenile delinquents, or youth that have been convicted of a crime, seem to be the norm these days. Citizens, families, and poliy makers want new programs and policies within the juvenile justice system. Researchers have found that the family structure can be a precursor to delinquent behavior, and families do not have the control or blance that they once did. As such, mew measures need to be implemented to help these families in crisis. Rehabilitation of the family unit is the answer, say many, not punishment. In response to this, new ideas have formed to rehabilitate the family unit, but first, the family structures that are precursors to delinquent behavior must be identified. â€Å"Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymaker’s Guide,†compiled by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, introduces us to the theory that the family structure is a precursor to delinquent behavior. The authors and research contributors cite various family â€Å"dysfunctions† that contribute to delinquent behavior. Some of the family dysfunctions that the authors focus on are; parental criminality, parental interaction, parental supervision, and single-parent families. Parental criminality plays an important role in relation to delinquency, but based upon the stdies reviewed, poor parenting appears to be among the most powerful predictors of juvnile dleinquency. A good parent/child relationship has a positive impact on desistance from delinquent behavior. Two researchers, West and Farrington, sum it up by concluding in their research that, â€Å"the fact that delinquency is transmitted from one generation to the next is indisputabl e.† (West and Farrington, 1973, p.109) They also conclude that poor parenting is linked with delinquent behavior. Parental interaction and supervision, or lack of, also contributes to delinquent behavior. The authors are unequivocal in their beliefs and studies that children that have parents who do not interact with them, or supervise them are much more likely to become juvenile delinquents. Parents need to teach their children morals and values, and when there is a lack of parental interaction and supervision these morals are not being taught. Researchers also suggest that there is a direct relationship between single-parent families and delinquency. Most researchers agree that the trauma of separation fro... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   4. Please use the space provided below to tell us how the FIP could better serve the needs of families. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Religion, Wealth and Poverty Essay

Outline the work of one religious agency working for world development and explain why it does this work. The religious agency, Christian Aid was set up in 1944, originally known as the British Churches Ecumenical Refugee Council. It was primarily created to help the thousands of homeless Europeans as a result of the Second World War. It became known as Christian Aid in 1945 and was filed as only a segregated department of all of the non-Roman Catholic churches the British Council of Churches and provided great help to the poorer people surviving in lesser economically developed areas. Christian Aid is now a worldwide organisation and has become an agency for the churches of the United Kingdom and in Ireland, working wherever their need is superlative, irrespective of the religion of this area. As well as doing this work, Christian Aid supports local organisations who are better at understanding the needs in their specified areas, whilst continually helping those in need with the sixteen offices they retain overseas. Christian Aid believes in helping people gain strength in finding their own solution to a particular problem rather than simply helping and leaving, Christian Aid provides withstanding support. In addition to this work, Christian Aid strives to transform a New World by ending poverty and continuously campaigns for the change of the morals and rules that allow the poor to get poorer. Christian Aid works and provides help in over sixty countries in the world today, supplying emergency aid and long term aid to organisations, which are working to create the end of poverty. Christian Aid prefers to work through local organisations in areas of lesser-developed economies, as they believe that these organisations understand the needs of their people best. A great plus of the agency of Christian Aid is that it works in all areas despite the religion or race of the place they are working in. In order to achieve the high aims set by Christian Aid, their work can be divided into four sections and they are as follows. Fund raising is a major issue and to be able to start any work in relieving the issue of poverty, Christian Aid has to tackle the problem of funds, which can be raised in several ways. In 1975, it was organised so that every year in May, Christian Aid week could be held as a nationwide even. This is where churches provide information about Christian Aid to almost every home in certain areas by posting letters through their letterboxes and asking for donations. In 1995, a record à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8.6 million was raised for Christian Aid via this process. In addition to this, certain parishes and individuals organise events to raise money for the agency and in the past have contributed more by this process than in Christian Aid week. Emergency aid is also taken into consideration as Christian Aid set up a fund known as the â€Å"disaster fund† so it could be immediately used if a natural disaster were to occur and has often overtaken long term aid due to its efficiency in helping people survive the effects of a natural disaster. The work done by Christian Aid involves providing and sending food, medicine and materials to build shelters for the victims of such natural disasters as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. An example of this aid was when blankets, tents and food were sent to refugees in Bosnia and Rwanda and when food was provided for drought-stricken Zimbabwe. This specified version of aid is so important that nearly 15% of Christian Aid’s funds are spent on it per annum. Long term aid is equally important and fortunately, Christian Aid is greatly advantaged in this area as it has contact with the organisations who receive the aid and the majority of Christian Aid’s emergency and long-term aid is diverted through Christian associations within the country concerned. If is often for these establishments to come up with fund-raising ideas to help relieve certain aspects of poverty in their area and then ask Christian Aid to finance these propositions. An example of this is when in Columbia, poor farmers were being threatened to be evicted from their homes. Fortunately, the farmers were able to establish an alternative environmentally friendly method which allowed them to develop their area that would provide an income for these farmers and their families. Christian Aid and the European Union are negotiating the finance of this scheme. Another example of Christian Aid helping lesser developed countries is in Bangladesh, where Christian Aid are funding a group of Christian workers to make basic drugs for medicine which are unavailable in Bangladesh. Consequently, as Christian Aid helps in all of these diverse and different areas, their main aim is to help people to help themselves. Education is a key factor to the success of Christian Aid. Nearly 5% of Christian Aid’s funds is consumed on education about the greater need of development and the way in which Christians are enabled to provide this help to those in need. The association of Christian Aid produces a newspaper, Christian Aid News, along with many other educational articles which not only provide information on the projects that Christian Aid is working on but how they are improving the rate of development in lesser economically developed areas. Christian Aid advocates campaigns for the improvement of living and health conditions in lesser-developed areas. Christian Aids motivation is built upon the Christian belief that all people are equal in the eyes of God and so therefore all deserve the same things. This organisation is driven by the beliefs that God cares about the poor and their lifestyle, wanting them to be treated accordingly. It is also believed that the worth and importance of a person is not measured on how much money they have or the material belongings that they may possess. It is written in the Bible that what counts is a persons desire to do good, their faith in God and actions towards other people. Due to these Christian beliefs, Christian Aid does everything within its power to help those who are less fortunate in both this country and abroad. The quotation, â€Å"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all once in Christ† taken from Galatians 3:25 is the basis of the Christian Aid’s work. It is believed that everyone has rights and so deserves to be treated the same, despite their circumstances, creed, nationality, religion or colour. In conclusion to the work of Christian Aid and its motivation, it is clear that their main aim is not only to assist the poor, but help them learn to help themselves and by doing this, Christian Aid are increasing the development of the developing world. The motivation of this agency is obvious due to the fact that they are Christian and it is God’s belief that you should use everything within your power to help those in need of your help. Christian Aid believes that â€Å"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole Earth,† Acts 17: 26, so that everyone is equal in the eyes of God as they were all created from the same mould, therefore everyone should be treated respectfully. Thanks to these beliefs, Christian Aid’s work is helping to eradicate the growth of poverty and sustain a development in the lesser-developed areas.

Macroeconomics Living Standards

1.   Define the GDP price index.   Identify the person(s) who gave this idea. A GDP price index is a measure of the price of a specified collection of goods and services in a given year as compared to the price of an identical or highly similar collection of goods and services in a reference year. William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) provided the earliest contribution to the development of index numbers. Later Wesley Clair Mitchell (1874-1948) contributed broader efforts to gather statistical data and improve economists' ability to assess economic well-being. 2. Define find the concept and measurement of `Business Cycles. Identify the person(s) who gave this idea. Economy normally goes through a series of cycles, of booms and depressions condition. For example, a slowing business activity may undergo revival activity which in turn results in business prosperity, prosperity then may breed economic crisis, economic crisis then leads to depression, after a long period of depression it may then go back to some revival activity which goes back to the same cycle. Business cycles could represent the most serious of economic instability. Survey data and cyclical indicators are the most effective measurements of business cycles. This would allow prediction of economic crisis for prevention purposes. The economist who contributed the most to this idea of business cycles is Wesley Clair Mitchell (1874-1948).   John Maynard Keynes formalized the analysis of business cycles. 3. Define the idea of `real interest rates’. Identify the person(s) who gave this idea. The â€Å"real interest rate† is calculated from the nominal rate of interest, adjusted for compounding, minus the inflation rate. Real interest rate is will depend primarily on the volatile inflation rates which poses some risk on borrowers and lenders. The person who gave meaning to ‘real interest rates’ was Irving Fisher (1867-1947). The increase in nominal interest rates in anticipation of inflation is even called as â€Å"Fisher Effect† because of his contribution. 4. Indicate who first advanced the modern theory of business cycles and where he taught. John Maynard Keynes contributed the most on the advancement of modern theory of business cycles. He lectured in Cambridge. References: C. MacConnell, S. Brue (2005). Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 16/e. Origins of Idea (Chapter 7). Retrieved January 7, 2007 from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072819359/student_view0/chapter7/origin_of_the_idea.html C. MacConnell, S. Brue (2005). Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 16/e. Origins of Idea (Chapter 8). Retrieved January 19, 2007 from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072819359/student_view0/chapter8/origin_of_the_idea.html