United States Bankruptcy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United States Bankruptcy - Essay Example Bankruptcy is defined as a person that has been legally declared insolvent due to having a level of debt that places a person in a status in which their regular income is insufficient to pay the person’s monthly obligations (Yahoo, 2008). A bankruptcy was a solution chosen by many reached a point in which lenders were extremely mad since many people with the ability to pay were filing bankruptcy in order to eliminate debt. These con artists were willing to give up the right to have credit for seven years in exchange for a clean slate gain through the elimination of all their debt. In 2005 the US government decided to make some changes to the bankruptcy laws in order to protect the credibility of the financial / banking system in the nation and to ensure people assume responsibility for their financial mishaps. Society at large pays the price of delinquent debtors since those bank losses are factors in the interest rates people receive in their loans such as their mortgage paym ents. This report studies the new bankruptcy law of 2005 referred too as the bankruptcy abuse prevention act. The bankruptcy laws are structure under different chapters which include chapter 13, 11 and 7. Chapter 11 is a bankruptcy alternative for business owners and corporation which provides protection for the business entities so that the lenders do not drive a company out of business if it becomes insolvent. It calls for a reorganization of the corporate debt and lower temporary debt payment so a company can have cash flow to create a new business plan to continue a business going. Chapter 13 is similar to chapter 11 as far as providing temporary relief from lenders, but it applies to individuals. Chapter 13 allows a person to salvage their overall credit by entering into arrangement with creditors to pay off the debt in longer time periods, reducing interest, and holding off all payments for predetermined periods of time

Respiratory Service Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Respiratory Service - Research Paper Example The proposed Respiratory Service has the following key features: The pulmonary rehabilitation programme will allow the patients with COPD to be discharged from the outpatients. "This will allow more access to the Respiratory Outpatients. Moreover by increasing the educational support to both the patients and the nursing staff the following objectives can be achieved: With this kind of a limited model of multi disciplinary working with the additional specialist respiratory practitioner and respiratory service assistant, it can be proved that with this set up and with more inputs the recommendations made by NICE can be easily achieved.3 Consequently a drop in the morbidity and reduction in the instances of hospitalization can be expected. This presentation forms the business case for a sponsorship of the Respiratory Service for a period of two years. As a part of this business case presentation an analysis of the current situation with respect to the provision of the Respiratory Service in general in Kensington and Chel... with respect to the provision of the Respiratory Service in general in Kensington and Chelsea locality as well as the situation prevailing in the Kensington and Chelsea PCT is appended to justify the increase in the number of staff for the provision of an improved service to the patients. 2.1 Diagnosis of COPD - An Overview: Present estimates indicate that in Kensington and Chelsea diagnosis of COPD is being done only in respect of only one third of the patients. It has been observed that on an average an estimated 200 people with the ailment of COPD is contained in the patients list of a GP. The following table (Table 1.1) presents the estimated and registered prevalence of COPD in the area of North West London. Table 2.1 Prevalence of COPD in NWL PCT Estimated Raw Prevalence Smoking Prevalence4 QOF Register Prevalence Est:QOF Register Ratio Lower Upper Mean Hammersmith & Fulham PCT 2,048 4,899 3,474 33.56 1,568 45.1% Hillingdon PCT 3,609 8,633 6,121 27.15 2,615 42.7% Kensington & Chelsea PCT 2,430 5,815 4,123 30.40 1,370 30.1% Westminster PCT 3,047 7,279 5,163 32.88 1,691 32.8% NW London SHA 26,038 62,248 44,143 28.16 14,820 33.6% From the above table it may be observed that in the Kensington and Chelsea area around 30 percent of the true prevalence of COPD was registered through QOF as of November 2005. 2.2 Shortcomings of the Current Care Plans in Terms of Cost Involved: On the basis of an assessment of the current level of the provision of the services it has been ascertained that the there is no integration of the care pathways which leads to lack of comprehension in the services to the patients. There is only a limited access to the Pulmonary Rehabilitation5. Since there are no ways of extending the treatment to the patients in the normal way most of the

Pollution Summary Essay Example for Free

Pollution Summary Essay What is Air Pollution? The air we breathe supplies the oxygen that sustains life. Humans need oxygen to survive, and plants and animals need oxygen to survive. Our air supply has become contaminated by human activity. We have created machinery that has produced smog and acid rain. We have created a green house effect and have made holes in our ozone layer. Each of these acts can cause serious health problems for humans and animals, and can cause grave harm to our vegetation and ecosystems. There are seven main types of air pollutants. Raven (2008) describes them as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbons, ozone, air toxics, and carbon oxides. Particulate matter can come from dust, soil, soot, and asbestos Nitrogen oxides come from gasses that are produced by chemical interactions between atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen. Sulfur oxides come from chemical interactions between sulfur and oxygen. Hydrocarbons come from chemical interactions between hydrogen and carbon. Ozone comes in two forms; (1) oxygen’s reaction with UV radiation in the stratosphere and, (2) oxygen reaction in the troposphere what creates smog. Air toxics can be radioactive substances, fluorides, and hydrochloric acid, and carbon oxides are carbon monoxide and dioxide. Causes of Air Pollution Chemicals, human sources, and natural sources contribute to air pollution. Air pollution can be traced all the way back to Ancient Roman times. â€Å"Every day, the average person inhales about 20,000 liters of air. Every time we breathe, we risk inhaling dangerous chemicals that have found their way into the air. † (Caroline, David, Michael, Mindy, Neil, and Vikas, 1999, The Environment: A Global Challenge. Air Pollution). Air pollution occurs in the atmosphere and can move easily from one location to another, it is a global concern. Air pollution is a problem both outdoors and inside homes. Chemicals There are seven main types of air pollutants according to a regulatory perspective. These are: particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon oxides, hydrocarbons, ozone, and air toxics. Particulate matter is made of thousands of solid and liquid particles hanging in the atmosphere. Solid particulate matter is commonly known as dust; whereas as liquid articulate matter is known as mist. Particulate matter includes the following pollutants: soot, lead, asbestos, soil particles, sea salt, and sulfuric acid droplets. Nitrogen oxides are gases produced as a result of interaction between nitrogen and oxygen involves a supply of energy such as combustion of fuels resulting in high temperatures. Sulfur oxides are gases. These gases are a result of a chemical interaction between sulfur and oxygen. When combined with water, the result is sulfuric acid. Carbon oxides consist of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Carbon monoxide has no color, smell, or taste and is second as an air pollutant only to carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also does not have color, smell, or taste and is a greenhouse gas. Hydrocarbons consist are a varied collection of organic compounds including hydrogen and carbon. Small hydrogen molecules are gaseous at room temperature. Hydrocarbons include methane (colorless and odorless gas principally included in natural gas), benzene (which is a liquid at room temperature), and paraffin (which is a solid at room temperature). Ozone is a form of oxygen that is a pollutant in one area of the atmosphere but essential in another area of the atmosphere. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) consist of hundreds of other air pollutants such as chlorine, lead, hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, radioactive substances, and fluorides. Humans Many chemicals that cause air pollution exist naturally in our world. These chemicals are harmful in both their natural form; however, become even more harmful when burned by humans for fuel, heat, or electricity. The two main causes of air pollutants in urban areas are transportation and fuel combustion from stationary sources. The stationary sources are heating and cooling for buildings and coal-burning power plants. Vehicles such as cars, trains, heavy-duty trucks, and airplanes, produce high amounts of carbon dioxide while fuel combustion produces high amounts of sulfur dioxide. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) â€Å"are man-made compounds that were originally developed in 1930 as a safer alternative to the refrigerants then in use such as sulfur dioxide and ammonia.

Immersion Education In Korean Elementary Education Education Essay

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

Moral Hazard in Banking Essay -- essays papers

Moral Hazard in Banking Moral hazard is an asymmetric information problem that occurs after a transaction. In essence, a lender runs the risk that a borrower will engage in activities that are undesirable from the lender's point of view, making it less likely that the loan will be paid back. Gary H. Stern's article, "Managing Moral Hazard with Market Signals: How Regulation Should Change with Banking", addresses the moral hazard problem inherent to the financial safety net provided by the government protection of depositors. Interest rates do not reflect the risk associated with bank activity, which in turn causes banks to finance higher-risk projects with price tags that are not parallel to the risk level. A solution to the moral hazard problem lies within government supervision and regulation. In the article, Stern challenges the assertion that proposals that rely exclusively on government regulation will satisfy the problem of moral hazard, especially for TBTFs (Too Big to Fail banks). Stern states several factors to support such assertions:  The ability of regulators to contain moral hazard directly is limited, due to the exploitable tactics of regulatory reform.  Limited confidence that regulation and supervision will lead to bank closures before institutions become insolvent.  The limited ability of regulators to asses bank risk due to asymmetric information and reliance of internal bank models that may be inaccurate. &...

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

Atticus once said You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them - Examine characters and relationships in to kill a mockingbird, in order to illustrate this maxim! TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Atticus once said "You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them" Examine characters and relationships in to kill a mockingbird, in order to illustrate this maxim! I think Atticus is trying to say that you never really know a man until you step in his shoes and do what he does. In the story there are different relationships where characters do this. I think the biggest relationship showing this is between brother and sister, Jem and Scout Finch. Through out the whole story they will be together doing things like playing with each other, helping each other and exploring things with each other etc. Even on the first page when they are talking to each other about the events leading up to Jem's broken elbow to the last page where Scout is watching over Jem who is in bed after his broken arm, they are always together even if it is Jem watching over Scout at school or Scout helping Jem think of plans. There are lots of examples in to kill a mockingbird where Jem and Scout are together. The first real time Jem and Scout are together is when they meet Charles Baker Harris and they start talking about reading. "How old are you" asked Jem, "Four-and-a-half?" "Going on seven" "Shoot no wonder, then" said Jem, jerking his thumb at me. "Scout yonder has been reading ever since she was born, and she aint even started to school yet" Here Jem is showing Scout off and showing how proud that his sister has not started school yet but she can read. When Charles B... ...ything. That night Mr Cunningham and his crew come wanting to hurt Tom but luckily for Tom, Atticus is there and Scout manages to talk to Mr Cunningham and get them to leave. When the trial comes Atticus tries his hardest to prove Tom is innocent. He tries different way's and one is when he tells Bob Ewell to write some thing which he does then Atticus asks which side of the face did Mayella get hit on. Atticus makes it so that he catches out Bob. Atticus then asks Tom to come up and asks him to pickup a glass fully knowing he can't. This shows signs that it was not Tom who committed the rape but someone else. Even though Atticus proves this the Jury still finds Tom guilty of rape obviously because he is black and Bob Ewell is white. I think these are the main relationships in to kill a mockingbird, but there are also more but which are no way near as big.

Coca Cola in Belgium

1) How could the Belgium problem have damaged Coca Cola? Coca-Cola had been creating a really strong and successful image, and people had great sympathy for the brand. But because of the Belgian scandal, the credibility of the umbrella brand was being doubted. First of all, customers (mainly from Belgium and France at the beginning) were scared of drinking Coca-Cola products. For example, parents did not want their kids to get contaminated. More so, the brand was not giving a specific reason for these incidents, and by not reacting soon enough the quality of their products was at stake.Because of that, the Belgian government imposed strict hygienic conditions to recover the right to sell their products again. Therefore, the rest of European countries had an â€Å"excuse† to distrust the brand, even if the Belgian authorities reacted a bit extremely due to the former chicken crisis. Suppliers and distributors around Europe were also impacted. Coca-Cola, as a global brand, had h ad to trust its bottlers to follow the quality values the company held, but this scandal challenged the current control of Coca-Cola over its supplier's plants.But these suppliers also were scared of the consequences of their relationship with Coca-Cola in this crisis. Coca-Cola also suffered a financial impact because of this crisis. The withdrawal of their products had a negative impact on the second quarter net income of the year 1999, with a decrease of 21%. Not only that, but the cost of the entire operation escalated to $103 million. All around the world investors were afraid of the money invested in the company, and this affected a decrease of the share value on Wall Street.The competitors saw this crisis as an opportunity, and increased their promotion in order to steal part of Coca-Cola's market share. They took advantage of Coca-Cola's weak image during those days to claim their own high quality. Despite all of this damage during June and July (partly due to the slow react ion of Coca-Cola), by the beginning of August the core users of Coca-Cola brands had regained the same purchasing intent than before the crisis. Hence, we can conclude that even if there was a big impact in the short term, this crisis did not affect the image of the company in the long term. ) Is the problem solely limited to Belgium? Solely to Europe? Or is it a global problem? It is worth mentioning that this was the first crisis of these characteristics that Coca-Cola suffered. Until then, it had been the most famous and successful global company, but a located problem in a relatively small country as Belgium had repercussions in Wall Street. It is true that the center of Europe was the most affected area for this problem: the cases of sickness were reported in Belgium and in France only, but it also affected the rest of the European market (Luxemburg and Dutch, for example.It even made the European Commission involved, which recriminated the company for not giving enough explana tions. However, it was not only the Eurpean market who was affected: they reported a worldwide loss of 1% of sales, and during 10 days they lost a 13% in share value. Therefore, the Atlanta Headquarter had to react, and Douglas Ivester (CEO) had to make a public international apologies. Nevertheless, Coca-Cola is produced locally rather than globally, so they could have reduced this global impact by informing about the production and distribution process.In conclusion, the brand image and reputation of Coca-Cola was affected globally, but especially in Europe, as it is where it had direct impact. Although thanks to Coca-Cola's strength, its global profitability only received a short term impact. 3) Is it feasible for the company to regain its image? In this particular case, we already know that Coca-Cola was able to regain its image. But it is interesting to see what were the reasons of the recovery, and whether they can be used by other companies.First of all, this crisis started a s a phenomenon of mass hysteria, which happen periodically. They tend to have huge impact in the short term, but the long term is barely affected. Most recent example would be the avian flu, which had few casualties but caused a great disturbance. Second, the company had more than enough resources, the know-how and the influence to regain the confidence of its stakeholders through communication. After all, they were highly regarded by most consumers and markets, and recognized as a global, â€Å"caring† brand.Third, we have now (not that much in Coca-Cola's particular case) the example of other global brands that had comparable problems and were able to recover, through both communication and other acts. One very well known problem was that of Nike, and the whole scandal of child labor during the 90's and early 00's. They reacted fast, and instead of trying to cover it up, admitted it and acted in order to end the problem, and convince their stakeholders that they had 4) If y ou had to design an advertising campaign, what objective would you propose? And what actions other than advertising would you undertake?The scandal suffered in Belgium was also a reason for European authorities (and each country's authorities) to expose their doubts about Coca-Cola. Thus it would be advised to have an all-around campaign to prove the company's integrity and its commitment on social responsibility in front of all of the stakeholders, not only the consumers. Some ideas we discussed that could be included in this campaign during the hysteria are the following: * The crisis was directly linked to Coca-Cola cans. Because of that, Coca-Cola should promote bottles rather than cans.Unconsciously the human brain would not link the bottles with the crisis. * The main focus of the campaign should be on emotional arguments, as functional arguments are compromised. * Similar to the first idea, prevent damage over other brands (Fanta, Nestea) by advertising them individually, so the consumers do not link them directly to Coca-Cola. These communications could be supported with PR. If we can convince the media of the commitment on quality, positive comments will help calm down the consumers and minimize the impact of the hysteria.John Emsley's article in The Independent is the perfect example of of how this comments can benefit Coca-Cola. Some ideas we discussed that could be changed in the company after the hysteria are the following: * Redefine the company's mission, to better show commitment with its stakeholders and with social corporate responsibility. * More collaboration with local governments on social projects. * Stronger conditions for suppliers, or stronger control over them, in order to make it harder for these crisis to appear.