Death in the open Essay Example

Death in the open Essay Example Death in the open Essay Death in the open Essay Death in the open In the essay Death in the Open Lewis Thomas talks about the dead animals he finds on the side of the road and how he feels about such death. Life is about leaving an Impression in one way or another. Death is a reflection on what a person has done in the world. Thomas feelings towards death Is sadness and anger because of the way he reacts towards dead animals on the side of the road, how he feels about life as a whole Is a positive feeling, and how he thinks animals deal with death. When the author sees death in the open, he feels as though It a reminder of death. This Is proven when he reacts by seeing a dead animal on the side of the road. Thomas says, [t]he outrage Is more than Just the location; It Is the Impropriety of such voluble death, anywhere (Thomas 534). This shows that Just by witnessing death of another living animal the author feels anger because this dead animal Is a reminder that one day he will die. When the author talks about elite he has a slightly different tone Thomas says, [Of it were not for the constant renewal and replacement going on before your eyes, the whole place would turn to stone and sand under your et (Thomas 534). This shows that even though he views the world as a place where living creatures die on a constant basis but to the author life is able to defeat death by reproducing and never giving up. He gives this example when he talks about single cells. Thomas says, [t]here are some creatures that do seem to die at all; they simply vanish totally into their own progeny. Single cells do this (Thomas 535). He goes on to explain how the cell first starts as Just one but then multiplies itself into two then four and so on. This demonstrate the authors amazement of life, the cell doesnt die but just reproduces with itself to make more life. Thomas also wrote about how death is also well hidden in most cases. At the begging of the essay he talks about dead animals on the road and how it makes him upset, although he admits that many animals die and there remains are hardly seen in plain view. He says [a]animals seem to have an instinct for performing death alone, hidden. Even the largest, most conspicuous ones find ways to conceal themselves in time (Thomas 34). He goes on to say how some animals deal with death, for example Thomas said If an elephant missteps and dies the herd will not leave him there; the others will pick him up and carry the body from place to place, finally putting it down In some Inexplicably suitable location (Thomas 534). This shows that even though we may think dealing with death is a human attribute It Is also possible for other species to feel the same way. The author also wrote another essay about life called The Worlds Biggest Membrane. In this essay Thomas also feels as though life was given to us by luck. He states we are lucky to have oxygen In the alarm to breathe, he even talks about how Important it was when life first began to form. He says, there were two such explosion of new life, like vast embryological transformation, both dependent on the threshold levels of oxygen (Thomas 537). This shows that he not only appreciates life but also understands Its value, which Is why he even talks about how the luck we have oxygen. He says, [l]t Is another Illustration of our fantastic luck that oxygen filter UT the very bands of ultraviolet light that are most devastating for nucleic acids and photosynthesis (Thomas 537). He demonstrates his perception on how rare and complex life is. When the Thomas talks about not only the oxygen in the air but how it protects us from dangerous lights while letting in safe visible light to help plants with their photosynthesis. So as one can see the author feelings towards death is sadness and anger because of the way he reacts towards dead animals on the side of the road because it reminds him of his imminent death.

The Heros Walk essays

The Heros Walk essays In The Heros Walk, the author Anita Rau Badami depicts the family problems faced and shared upon losing a beloved family member. The premature death of an estranged but beloved adult child, Maya, forces a family to focus on all of the things they've created in their lives. After Sripathi loses his first child, Maya, and comes to regret the rejection of her, he realizes the compromises needed to raise a child properly must be shared with everyone. The seven-year-old Nandana loses her parents, Maya and Alan, in a car accident and must go live with her grandparents in India. When Nandana arrives with her family in India, her grandparents, Sripathi and Nirmala, her uncle, Arun, her great-grandmother, Ammaya, and her aunt, Putti must cooperate with this little memory of Maya. During the course of the novel, the characters begin to realize the importance of compromises that must be made in order to sustain and improve their relationships with their children. This, of course, has to be imp lemented not only to bring a positive change in their relationship, but also to maintain a stable healthy environment in the house. The death of Maya had the greatest impact on Nirmala. At first, she couldnt believe that the daughter she gave birth to was no longer alive. Upon hearing news about Mayas death, she blamed Sripathi entirely for cutting off Maya from his life. Later on, she comes to an understanding that it was necessary to think about the future rather than thinking about the past and putting themselves in constant suffering. Most important of all, she decides to forego the fact that Maya is dead mainly because of Nandanas upbringing in their family. Would it be necessary and appropriate to constantly remind a little child about her parents tragic death, especially in her childhood years? Of course not. It was extremely necessary for them to maintain a healthy and safe environment in the house due ...

McDonald going to Russia Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

McDonald going to Russia - Coursework Example The company does this by itself and in consideration of the communities around which they operate. One major factor that has made the company going is that, they have been a focused on doing the right thing just from the beginning. This has made their values define who they are, what they do and how they operate (McDonald, 2010). If McDonald would like to take its restaurant services to Russia, there are various considerations that the company management should take into consideration before doing the launch. The considerations are on the marketing issue of the company. After carrying out an adequate environmental analysis of the companys external environment, it would be wise for the company to include an analysis of how the possibility of launching its products and services in Russia. To be able to do this, the company can consider the analysis around communication, consumption, country culture, and consumer behavior. These are issues in marketing that re usually categorized under 12Cs of marketing. However; for this kind of assignment, just the five Cs are found more appropriate and will highly count when trying to launch McDonalds products in Russia. This report will majorly dwell on the discussion of the consideration of McDonalds entry into Russia and the extent to which part of the 12 Cs mention above will influence its entry into this market. The first C that McDonald would mind thinking about before deciding to enter into Russia will be on Communication. Communication in this sense will mean a lot as communication usually means a lot in any form of business. McDonald, to begin with, will have the task of knowing the major language that is being spoken u the Russians. This would be important as it is a language that facilitates communication. The essence of this is that, it is usually necessary that the company staff communicates with the customers on various issues of concern so that most of the business can be solved. The

Potential Causes for the Growth of Organic Food Market in UK Dissertation

Potential Causes for the Growth of Organic Food Market in UK - Dissertation Example Potential Causes for the Growth of Organic Food Market in UK 2.1. Relevance of Choosing the Research Topic As elaborated above, familiarity is a significant aspect for the enlargement of the organic food market. Orlikowski, (2010) reported that according to the researchers’ individuals are uninformed about the practises and process employed for organic produces and lots of them are puzzled about the term ‘organic’. In view of the existing market conditions it very vital to identify what customer means by the term ‘organic’. The UK consumer’s awareness about organic food and the reasons that persuade them to demand organic food can be explored by this research. A foundation to appreciate what customers believe regarding organic food is presented by this research. To promote their products, marketers require exploring the motive for demands and apply it as an instrument to even target definite segments. 2.2. Importance of this Research Consumer’s awareness of the product and its production has an extremely significant role in their purchase decision making. The decision regarding purchasing a product can be influenced by familiarity. Even customer is encouraged to procure the particular product because of superior knowledge. It directs and transforms them into habitual purchasers and develops an optimistic attitude about the manufactured goods in them. To promote the product and to seek(target) different segments, causes for product’s demand may possibly be employed as a tool.

Violating Norms and Food Wastage Personal Statement

Violating Norms and Food Wastage - Personal Statement Example The manager of a cafeteria, kind of knows me since I am her regular visitor. I went to the restaurant with my friend, who too did not have any clues of my purpose that day. We chatted for about 40 minutes, and then thought to grab something. I ordered a plate of pasta. Had no more than three spoons from the content available to me in my dish. More, I did not ask for a separate plate that I could serve myself some in that different plate. I very much started from that bowl only. Just to make a humor out of a whole thing. Then, we finished and I asked for the bill. It was $60 that we were supposed to pay. $20 for a sandwich that my friend had ordered, and $40 for my pasta. I paid $40, for a complete bill. The boy came to me and said it wasn't $40 but $60 that we were supposed to pay. The boys were in the process of collecting the leftovers on our table. I stopped them to keep the evidence that it indeed was half a plate pasta that I consumed, and the other half I was sending back to them. Poor boy said, "Sir, irrespective of what you eat, you are charged for a complete dish." "And you know that, don't you" "Why would I pay for a full plate when I ate only half of it. There still is some food, which I am sending back. You are not going to throw it off, are you This food is supposed to be consumed by somebody else, isn't it" I said. And by the time, it was a scene created in a restaurant. My friend was not able to believe what was happening. Neither were the boys around. The manager smelt the noise and came to the floor too. I threw a big laughter. A very big laughter. And then took a serious position. With everybody's attention towards me, I started, "a management can be judged with its wastage percentage, lesser the wastage percentage efficient is the management: it is applicable for cafeteria, restaurant, family, organization as well as state. There are many types of wastage among which food wastage is on the top as it has great impact on the family expenditure as well as national economy. By saving food wastage we can save billions of dollars in developed countries, which may help us to make hunger free world." I continued, "In the USA alone, 30% of prepared, baked, canned and fresh food is pitched into landfills daily. The estimated loss to the U.S. economy is over $48 billion a year. British government statistics show that, per person, their citizens throw out 378 pounds (171 kg) of food a year. The Australians pitch 145 kilos per person annually." "Elsewhere in the food processing chain, problems that cause food poisoning cost hundreds of millions in recalls and food waste happen more often than we realize. Listeria bacteria in one company's processed meats caused several deaths and made hundreds ill, due to incomplete cleaning of meat slicers. The loss of the public's trust in their products reduced that company's annual income even further." "Food wastage may occurs in many ways: the frozen food stored in the freezer last year that is now rock-hard and stripped of nutrients; the 50 kilos of potatoes the restaurant

Web 2.0 Applications Essay Example for Free

Web 2.0 Applications Essay O’Reilly (2006) in his Commencement Speech at UC Berkley , explained that the genuine Web 2. 0 application is the one where there is a proportionality between the number of users and the development of the application. Because of this, it is argued that the core value of Web 2. 0 is being able to effectively harness the innovativeness of everyone in the group. This kind of development is a step forward as compared to the previous state of the internet where the Web as a platform remained a baffling mess of buzzwords with no real clarity. Spolsky(2005) agreed with this stating that Web 2.0 is â€Å"a big, vague, nebulous cloud of pure architectural nothingness† and that â€Å"when people use the term Web 2. 0, I always feel a little bit stupider for the rest of the day. † Although this is obviously true, in this specific sense, the concept of the Web 2. 0 application is nothing new at all to the World Wide Web. The term Web 2. 0 is used when a read-write aspect of the Web is used in a participatory way that actually creates greater shared knowledge for all. It was the widespread adoption of blogs, wikis, MySpace and other read-write techniques that ushered in a common I-write-and-everyone-reads-it usage pattern (Hinchcliffe 2006). The concept of Weblog or Blogging has been defined by Drezner and Farrell (2004) as â€Å"A web page with minimal to no external editing, providing on-line commentary, periodically updated and presented in reverse chronological order, with hyperlinks to other online sources. † Yet even though this definition exists, other researchers such as Nardi et al (2004) express that weblogs currently accessible in the internet have a great diversity that is there is not a single dominant style of activity in the net. Others (Dyrud , Worley Quible, 2005) agree with this but on the hand, they expressed that there is something common to all blogs and that is they are primarily a venue in order to share information (regardless of the amount and manner) between people, groups, and organizations. According to Blood (2000) there are essentially two types of weblog: those that emphasize the diary and comment aspect, and those that emphasize hyperlinks. The former may seek to influence wider public opinion, or merely to raise the profile of the blogger; the latter act as a filter system, looking at what exists on the Web and recommending content that might be of interest to visitors. If bloggers make mistakes in the information they publish, they rely on their peers to point out any errors (Johnson and Kaye 2004) – this sentence is very ‘stand alone’ you may wish to introduce the idea of authority of authority of Web 2. 0 technologies (which will presumably covered again in Wikis etc) . Thus, Blogs have unique features that traditional web media does not have. About 2. 7 million bloggers update their blogs at least weekly. According to Technorati, new blog creation continues to grow Figure X shows the number of new blogs created each day, from January 2004 to January 2006: As was mentioned above, there are various types of blogs and each variation provides the information to the user as different as possible. Factors to be considered are the type of the media to be used in order to transfer the information, the device that is used, the genre, the legal status of the publishers, blog search engines, and blogging communities and directories. One varying consideration to blogs is the kind of media that is used in order to share the message from the person/organization that would want to give the message to the recipient of the message. Take for example; a video blog is called a vlog, a blog that is comprised of links to other sites or networks is called a linklog. Another kind of blog that contains a series of sets of sketches is called a sketchblog and another type similar to a sketchblog is called a photoblog – one that comprises of photos being shared, uploaded and downloaded.

Speaking Skills Issues And Solution English Language Essay

Speaking Skills Issues And Solution English Language Essay For the longest time, the idea of testing language have always revolved around testing the knowledge of the language itself but now, the idea of testing for communicative competence is getting more and more popular. In testing communicative competence, speaking and listening tasks are commonly used. Those require tasks such as the completion of an information gap and role play (Kitao Kitao, 1996). As teachers of ESL, it is imperative for us to enhance the students delivery skills, increase their confidence, and develop their methods of organization and critical thinking skills. In order to do this, a valid and reliable way of assessment to determine whether the set goals were met is required. The oral communication field needs a clear-cut method of evaluation as can be found in discrete language skill classes such as listening comprehension (Nakamura Valens, 2001). Language teachers and language testers need a method which takes subjective qualitative observations and then transforms them into objective quantitative measures. A critical issue in the assessment is the selection of criteria for evaluating performance. Stiggins (as cited in Butler Stevens, 1997) points out that the selection of these criteria should be one of the first steps in designing performance assessments. Students should understand ahead of time what is expected of them. This can actually help them determine on what basis their performance will be judged. When students are actively involved in establishing assessment criteria for tasks, they do not only have a better understanding of what is expected of them when they perform the tasks, but they will be able to more fully appreciate why the criteria are important (Butler Stevens, 1997). The Issue of Assessing Speaking Skills. Speaking is probably one of the most difficult skills to test. It combines skills that may have little or no correlation with each other, and which do not do well to objective testing. In ( Kitao Kitao, 1996), it was mentioned that there are not yet good answers to questions about the criteria for testing these skills and the weighing of these factors. It is possible to find people who can produce the different sounds of a foreign language appropriately; hence they lack the ability to communicate their ideas correctly. This is one of the difficulties that testers encounter when testing the oral production of learners. However, the opposite situation could occur as well; some people do have the ability of expressing their ideas clearly, but at the same time they cannot pronounce all the sounds correctly. Another difficulty is the actual implementation of speaking skills testing. That is because it is difficult to test a large number of learners in a relatively short time. Therefore, the examiner is put under great pressure (Heaton, 1988). The next difficulty is that speaking and listening skills are very much related to one another; it is impossible to keep them mutually exclusive. In most cases, there is an interchange between listening and speaking, and speaking appropriately depends on comprehending spoken input. Therefore, this has an impact on testing speaking because the testers will not know whether they are testing purely speaking or speaking and listening together. Finally, the assessment and scoring of speaking skills is one of its biggest problems. If possible, it is better to record the examinees performance and the scoring will be done upon listening to the tape. The aspects of speaking that are considered part of its assessment include grammar, pronunciation, fluency, content, organization, and vocabulary. (Kitao Kitao, 1996). Depending on the situation and the purpose of the test, testers need to choose the appropriate methods and techniques of testing. The Solution: Method of Assessing Speaking Skills. 3.1. Monologue, Dialogue and Multilogue Speaking Test. Nakamura Valens (2001) conducted a study on Japanese graduate students at Keio University. They used three different types of speaking tests as a form of assessment. The first type is the Monologue Speaking Test which is also called the presentation. Students were asked to perform some tasks such as; show and tell where they talk about anything they choose. This gives the students a chance to make a mini presentation. The second type is Dialogue Speaking Test which is also known as the interview. It is an open-ended test where the students lead a discussion with the teacher, and students in that kind of test are required to use conversation skills that they have learned before. The third type is Multilogue Speaking Test that is also called the discussion and debating. Here, the discussions are student-generated, and students are put into groups where as a group, they decide on a topic they feel would be of interest for the rest of the classroom. The evaluation criteria that was used in that study was as follows: Evaluation Items: Presentations: Content Language Eye contact Interviews: Comprehensibility Pronunciation Fluency Ability to explain an idea Discussing and debating: Able to be part of the conversation to help it flow naturally Uses fillers/ additional questions to include others in conversation Transfers skills used in dialogues to group discussions The rating scale ranged between poor and good with the symbols from 1 to 4. The finding of their study reveals that among the three test types, the discussion tests was the most difficult followed by interview test and the presentation test. In Malaysia, we saw a similar system being implemented but were poorly regulated and too restrictive. Dialogues are used in the school-based assessment and Monologues and Multilogues are common in both school-based assessment and the MUET speaking test. Although it follows this model, it failed to accurately gauge students speaking ability as the tests were poorly regulated (prevalent in school-based assessment) and too restrictive (MUET). 3.2. Testing speaking using visual material Without even comprehending spoken or written material, it is possible to test speaking using visuals such as pictures, diagrams, and maps. Through a careful selection of material, the testers can control the use of vocabulary and the grammatical structures as required. There are different types of visual materials that range in their difficulty to suit all the levels of learners. One common stimulus material could be a series of pictures showing a story, where the student should describe. It requires the student to put together a coherent narrative. Another way to do that is by putting the pictures in a random order of the story to a group of student. The students decide on the sequence of the pictures without showing them to each other, and then put them down in the order that they have decided on. They then have the opportunity to reorder the pictures if they feel it is necessary. In the Malaysian context, this system is already in use in the school-based oral assessment for primar y school. Another way of using visual stimulus is by giving two students similar pictures with slight differences between them, and without seeing each others pictures they describe their own pictures in order to figure out the differences. However, there is a problem in using visual stimulus in testing speaking, it lies in that the choice of the materials used must be something that all the students can interpret equally well, since if one student has a difficulty understanding the visual information, it will influence the way he/she is evaluated (Kitao Kitao, 1996). 3.3. The Taped Oral Proficiency Test In that approach, the students performances are recorded on tapes and then assessed later by the examiner. This method has some advantage and some disadvantages. According to Cartier (1980), one disadvantage of the taped test is that it is less personal; the examinee is talking to a machine and not to a person. Another disadvantage is that it has a low validity. Moreover, the taped test is inflexible; if something goes wrong during the recording, it is virtually impossible to adjust for it. On the other hand, there are some advantages of that type of test. It can be given to a group of students in a language lab, it is more standardized and more objective since each student receives identical stimuli, and scoring can be performed at the most convenient or economical time and location. I believe that the taped test method is very practical when it comes to testing large numbers of students where the teacher would not have enough time to assess each one of them individually. However, the problem lies in not having enough language labs in some schools which, in turn, creates a big difficulty for teachers. Conclusion Previous research on classroom testing of ESL speech skills provides several models of both task types and rubrics for rating, and suggestions regarding procedures for testing speaking with large numbers of learners. However, there is no clear, widely disseminated consensus in the profession on the appropriate paradigm to guide the testing and rating of learner performance in a new language, either from second language acquisition research or from the best practices of successful teachers. While there is similarity of descriptors from one rubric to another in professional publications, these statements are at best subjective. Thus, the rating of learners performance rests heavily on individual instructors interpretations of those descriptors (Pino, 1998). In spite of the difficulties inherent in testing speaking, a speaking test can be a source of beneficial backwash. If speaking is tested, unless it is tested at a very low level, such as reading aloud, this encourages the teaching of speaking in classes. In my opinion, testing speaking skills could be a very interesting experience, and it gives teachers an opportunity to creative in selecting the test items and materials. Moreover, it has a great impact on students by making them enjoy taking the test and feel comfortable doing so if the teacher chooses the materials that interest their students and that is suitable to their age and levels of knowledge. References Butler, F. A., Stevens, R. (1997) Oral languages assessment in the classroom. Theory Into Practice, 36 (4). 214-219. Cartier, F. A. (1980). Alternative methods of oral proficiency assessment. In J. R. Firth (Ed.), Measuring spoken language proficiency (7-14). GA: Georgetown University. Heaton, J. B. (1988). Writing English language tests. Longman. Kitao, S. K., Kitao, K. (1996). Testing speaking (Report No.TM025215). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED398261) Kitao, S. K., Kitao, K. (1996). Testing communicative competence (Report No. TM025214). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED398260) Nakamura, Y., Valens, M. (2001). Teaching and testing oral communication skills. Journal of Humanities and Natural Sciences,3, 43-53. Pino, B. G. (1998). Prochievement testing of speaking: matching instructor expectations, learner proficiency level, and task types. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 3, (3), 119-133.