Candidate Performance Evidence Record For Holistic Assessment Essay

Understand the importance of speech, language and communication for children’s overall development. Explain each of these terms: Speech: Communication via verbal means. The art of expressing or describing thoughts, feelings or perceptions by the articulation of words. Language: Communication of thoughts and feelings through systematic signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. Communication: To communicate is to be able to convey thoughts, information or feelings using signals, speech, body language, or by the written word. Speech, language and communication needs: A child who is diagnosed with a SLCN is experiencing a communication breakdown due to a difficulty with one or more of the different elements of speech, language or communication. This may be a minor, temporary or a long-term difficulty, which requires extra assistance to support the child’s development needs. Explain how speech, language and communication skills support each of the following areas in children’s development: Learning, Speech and language skills allows a child to communicate and develop their skills. This enables them to participate in activities and allows them to share their opinions and develop their own ideas. Emotional, Speech and language skills enables a child to communicate how they’re feeling effectively. This helps towards their own social development and it also enables them to convey their emotions in a more socially accepted way. Behaviour, speech and language skills enable a child to learn and understand boundaries and limits. This encourages a child to learn to behave in an appropriate and acceptable way. Social, Speech, language and communication skills support social development as a child can start to recognise how others feel by watching their body language and listening to what they say and learn to adjust their behaviour accordingly. Children also start to understand social codes and how to behave appropriately. This helps children to start to bond relationships with their peers and learn social skills they will use throughout life. Describe the potential impact of speech, language and communication difficulties on the overall development of a child, both currently and longer term. For a child that is experiencing problems with speech, language and  communication it can affect a lot of aspects of their development: social, behaviour, emotional and learning will all be impacted. In most cases a child will catch up but this is not always the case and could lead to difficulties throughout their life. With some children their disability cannot be prevented, but early intervention is just as vital as those with less severe difficulties to help give a child the best possible support that they need. The impact of these difficulties will vary according to the severity of the problem. Early identification is paramount to offer a child as much help to develop their skills as much as possible. Short term affects: Frustration: A child will become easily frustrated at not being able to tell you what they want or if something is upsetting them. Anger: A child will easily become angry at being unable to communicate their needs. Withdrawn: A child may seem withdrawn and tend to play by themselves more. Understanding games and play their peers are doing will be difficult for them to understand. Low levels of confidence: A child may lose confidence in themselves. They won’t have to confidence to approach others as they don’t have the communication skills to be understood. Difficulties in friendships: (socialising) A child may be left behind as their peers communicate and build relationships. Difficulties in learning new information: Lack of communication will leave a child finding it hard to learn new information. Listening to game rules and adapting them into practice will be difficult and the child may not have the ability to ask for help or for the instructions to be repeated. Unwanted behaviour: They may be labelled naughty from acting out but the problem could be stemming from frustration on not being able to articulate their needs. Or they may not have understood the verbal instructions given and labelled as being defiant or thought to be misbehaving. Longer term affects: Lower self-esteem: Lack of speech, language and communication skills may leave an adult with low self-esteem. Will find it hard to achieve a career, social life and may feel isolated to the outside world. Not achieved their potential: Will find following any career hard to do. May not have done well in school. Find it hard to make and maintain relationships: May find it hard to achieve any friendship. May have never bond a relationship or family life. Become isolated: If never found solid friendship or a career, may feel isolated at home. Money and lack of friendship may restrict any outings. Not reach independence: Lack of employment may have never given them the freedom to leave the family home. Developed anti-social behaviour in some cases: High levels of speech, language and communication difficulties are found among the young offender population (Bryan, 2004). Low education, speech and literacy difficulties are risk factors for offending (Tomblin, 2000). A person with speech language and communication skills can have a huge impact on literacy development, Academic achievement, social relationships and personal skills, self-esteem and confidence levels, emotional and behaviour. This can impact further on employment, socialising, and everyday life  chances. Understand the importance and the benefits of adults supporting the speech, language and communication development of the children in own setting. Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during early years. There are a number of ways an adult can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development with children during the early years. As a childcare practitioner I need to adapt my own language to the ability and age of the child. If a child uses English as a second language or not yet using speech themselves, I may point to an object and simply say what it is. When offering them a piece of apple at snack, I may just offer it out to the child and say â€Å"apple.† or when it is nap time and placing them on their sleep mat, simply say â€Å"nap time.† or â€Å"lay down.† if they keep getting up. I may accompany that with an action as if I was laying down too. When a child passes me an item or toy I would say what the item is. Say if a child passes me a car I would say â€Å"car.† This gives the child an opportunity to repeat the word back to me and start to recognise what the item is. A child I look after needs daily cream on his skin. When it comes to time for me to put it on, I always smile and say â€Å"*his name* cream† he started by smiling and repeating this back. Now as soon as I get the cream out he says it before I do. This has helped him understand it’s his cream and seems to put him more at ease when I do apply it. Singing and action songs help bring on a child’s speech, they will start by listening, in time start to follow the actions and later on start singing some of the words which will eventually lead to singing the full song. For instance ‘wheels on the bus’ is sung most days with-in nursery. A child may start doing the actions for the doors open and shut, or the horn goes beep, beep, beep. In time they will sing â€Å"open and shut† and â€Å"beep, beep, beep† along with the action for the song. There was one child in nursery that used to sing â€Å"all day long† at random intervals throughout the day. When I heard him sing this, I used to try and sing the song and involve the other children too. As a child starts to grow older I’ll use simple sentences. Instead of just holding out a piece of apple and saying â€Å"apple.† I will ask â€Å"would you like some apple?† when passing over the apple say â€Å"thank you.† And encourage the child to say â€Å"thank you† too. When a child is playing with some bricks try to ask what they’re building. Or if they’re a little younger say â€Å"are you building?† always giving a child an opportunity to reply and never replying for them. This helps a child learn simple conversation skills. Copying and extending helps when developing children’s speech skills. Say if a child points to a car and says â€Å"car† say â€Å"yes, it is a yellow car.† I could try and say â€Å"is it a fast car?† to try and encourage a reply from the child, even a â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† is a good start in early years communication. If they’re more advanced I would say â€Å"do you think it is a fast car?† and try to promote a conversation with the child. Looking through books and reading is another way to support speech, language and communication skills. For a baby, I would read the story and just point to the pictures and say what the object is or the name of the character. As they get a little older, ask them to point to the object or character â€Å"where is the balloon?† As they progress I may ask them what just happened in the story, the questions getting more advanced as the child’s skills develop. From reception age in school, children are given books to take home to read. This act helps parents get involved in their child’s development. I try to encourage the parent to ask their child questions while reading the book. This helps the parent to see if their child is understanding the story they’re reading and also promotes communication skills for the child. Homework is also given to the child and the same rule applied, I’ve asked the parents to look through the homework after a child has finished or while they’re still doing the homework. Encourage parents to play games with the children. If a child has particularly enjoyed playing a game that afternoon, say a game of snap. Tell the parents and mention it may be fun to do at home if they get the chance. A child will communicate and talk more while having fun. Explain the positive effects of adult support for the children and their carers. As a practitioner I need to make positive, professional relationships with a child’s carer. There should be a two-way flow of knowledge and information between parents and myself about their child’s speech, language and communication development. For example, a setting needs to know the words or gestures that a child uses at home, and parents will appreciate being told about the rhymes and songs that their child enjoys in nursery so that they can repeat them at home. You should be celebrating each child’s successes with parents, being enthusiastic and sharing the high aspirations you have for their child’s progress. Parents should be confidently contributing to their child’s learning and development record and being kept well informed about their child’s progress. As a practitioner I need to make sure that hand gestures and signals are the same as the ones being used at home. I don’t want to be using one signal for lunchtime and the child’s carer is using a different one at home. This would lead to confusion for the child and could possibly hinder their learning. A parent will more than likely be happy to run through what they do at home and will also help to build the parents confidence in what I’m doing to help the child achieve their communication skills goals. We need to be singing from the same sheet to help the child as much as possible. I need to demonstrate to parents that their contributions are valued. For example, I need to think carefully about how I would respond, both verbally and non-verbally, to a parent who tells me that their child knows all the words to ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ when I know that in the setting the child doesn’t join in at all. Do I think ‘I’m not sure that’s true’ while saying to the parent ‘oh yes’ in a noncommittal way, or do I ask them what other rhymes the child likes to sing, make a note of them and then reflect on what may be inhibiting the child from singing in the setting? An effective setting should be sharing its good practice with parents, and also indicating to them where they can receive extra support or advice about children’s speech, language and communication development. Most children’s  centres provide support groups or training for parents. Basically the support I give to a child and their carer, whether it be advice on how to promote speech, language communication at home, just listening to what a parent says about their child and being a friendly ear, offering help in finding a support group or training can have an impact on a child’s future and help a parent/carer to help/guide their child to the child’s full capabilities. If a parent feels confident in what I’m doing just a child will, they’ll talk more to me and we can together make their child’s learning journey a positive one. Explain how levels of speech and language development vary between children entering early years provision and need to be taken into account during settling in and planning. Every child is different and children learn at different speeds, not only this but the personality of a child needs to be taken into account. Some children are very daring and upfront, while others may be a little shy and not want to jump into an activity at first, may need a little coaxing. Before a child’s first day, I should have met the parents, they come for an initial one hour visit with their child, this gives me a chance to speak and meet the parents/carers as well as the child. Gives me chance to find out a little more about the child, what stage they may be at and I can see how they get themselves around the nursery. This is also day one of building a relationship with the parent and child. This meeting gives me a chance to plan on the childs second visit which is a hour on their own in the room. I will have an idea if the child needs me to sit with them, maybe just read a story or play a game. Try to comfort them and distract them from the fact their carer is not there. Or if the child is very outgoing, they may prefer this first opportunity to explore the room, play with the other children. In this case I would try to set up a group activity, for example get out some paper and crayons or open the sand pit. In both cases I will try to get as much information as I can via an activity to find more out about what learning stage a child is at so that I can plan for when they start nursery  what I need to be doing. One child may start nursery knowing basic language skills, be able to say â€Å"Mum† â€Å"Dad† â€Å"Car† â€Å"Cat† â€Å"Dog† ect†¦ Another of the same age may just be babbling or may even not be saying anything at all yet. It is important I e.stablish pretty quickly where a child is, to help them achieve their next stage.

Online Education vs Traditional Education Essay

Nowadays, with the technology furtherance and the increased use of the internet, online education has gained significant acceptance and popularity all over the world. Not too long ago, online education offered no competition to traditional education . Today, with more choices being offered online, traditional education is now facing a number of challenges in every level. This has as a result, the competition between those two educational programs, having to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both methods of study, being measured since those methods are means for us to expand our opportunities and advance our careers. In the following paragraphs, I will expand the differences and similarities between online education and traditional education and compare their characteristics. Online education is defined as the creation and proliferation of the personal computer, the globalization of ideas and other human acts, and the use of technology in exchanging ideas and providing access to more people. Audio, video, computer, and networking technologies are often combined to create a multifaceted instructional delivery system. The fundamental method to unite the distance learning instructor with the distance learner is the network. Networks suitable for distance learning implementations include satellite, cable modem, digital subscriber lines (DSL), and wireless cable, (Collins, 2002). According to an article, students need to monitor their progress to the technology evolution and adjust their strategies for learning based on their development. Plus they need to control a time management schedule in order to complete online learning activities in the proper timeframes, (Orellana, 2009, p. 470). Online education requires time management skills and requires self-discipline. It takes patience, time and energy to be able to do that with success. The online student must be able to balance school, work, and a family. However, proper management must be maintained in order to balance all of the responsibilities and be successful in all areas. Online education gives you the opportunity to pursue quality and affordable education without interrupting your personal or professional life. It allows more flexibility and you are able to manage your study schedule according to your comfort and availability of time. So, you can program your personal life respectively with your studies thanks to the online education’s special mode of learning. This gives to the students the comfort to study from their homes, workplaces or anywhere they are in the world. What’s more is that, many distance programs allow to their student to complete the coursework any time during the day, while still adhering to overall deadlines. Online education has lower cost. It is considered more affordable than traditional because there are no transportations costs, no need to buy textbooks and you do not need to rent a place to live close to the university. Also, online education programs offer scholarships, financial aid packages, including loans and grants, exactly as the traditional education institutions. Another characteristic that cannot be ignored is communication. In online education programs you can communicate with your tutors anytime you want, anywhere, with any way you prefer to communicate (with the technology you have available). Online educational techniques are not only flexible and interactive, but at the same time interesting as. Besides, the fact that the student has straight access to an assigned professor or lecturer, allows each student to learn with the methods that work best for them. Another feature of online education is that if you are not a social person, an online school may be the right choice for you. You do not have to deal with meeting up new people. Moreover, a big part of people choose to follow the online education route for the quantity of material they are able to find, or because the tutors are more obtainable via internet than they would be in a normal classroom setting. At the same time, there are some similarities which can be seen in an online and traditional system of education. First of all, assignments are a part of learning, whether you choose to attend classes online or in a traditional system, you will be assigned homework to complete. The assignments are expected to be done about the course you are enrolled in and delivered them to your personal tutor between the deadlines. A second similarity between online and traditional system is that the reference material – text books are common for both systems. Even though a course may be taken online, text books are still central to learning relevant information and many of the students are using the electronic books. In traditional education, students have to buy the books because they study from them in the class and home. Thirdly, tests and exams are used to test your understanding and retention of a particular topic/subject. It is usually given to students during the academic semesters including midterms. Even though you may study in an online course, you have to expect to be required for course exams. Exams may be given online, or you may be required to visit the institution’s campus to complete the exam. In both education systems, students have common information to study thus they have common exams. Last but not least, academic instructors make themselves available to students to help them learn the required material. Whether you are attending school online or on campus, professors are likely to have office hours, where you can get clarification on an issue or otherwise communicate with your professor. In both the types of classes, teachers will be available to help the students in any matter. Alternatives ways to contact them would be email. Traditional education, also known as back-to-basics, conventional education or customary education, refers to long-established customs found in schools that society has traditionally deemed appropriate. Some forms of education reform promote the adoption of progressive education practices, a more holistic approach which focuses on individual students’ needs and self-expression. In the eyes of reformers, traditional teacher-centered methods focused on rote learning and memorization must be abandoned in favor of student-centered and task-based approaches to learning. However, many parents and conservative citizens are concerned with the maintenance of objective educational standards based on testing, which favors a more traditional approach. (Wikipedia,2011) First of all, school is a main place which you can meet up people from different places in your community. Friendship is too important, no-one can live without having a friend around. School is the most important place for humanity to learn. It is very important for everyone because is a place that people can build up strong relationships with each other and also is a place to learn a lot of information. In addition, communication is easy because everyone is on the same building the same hours. So, it is easier for students to study together and help each other. You can ask questions whenever you deal with difficulties either to your teacher either to your classmates because you are all in each other lives. Lastly, study at school is easy for the teacher to take care of the students, help them and get to know how he/she should behave according to the student. Whenever a student has questions or difficulties, he or she can ask teacher right away, also students don’t need to wait for a long time just for a question. Now, comparing the traditional education with online education system there are and some differences too. Starting with online education, firstly, students do not have the opportunity to socialize with friends and do not communicate with other people. Also, students are spending too many hours in front of one screen and that can causes back pain and eye problems. Moreover, if you have limited access to internet (connections are slow) and you do not know how to use technology then you probably fail to your lessons. Continuing with the traditional education, enables students to have more creativity and be more sociable thus they can cooperate and collaborate with each other and the teachers. It is easier to communicate because you have face-to-face contact. Furthermore, teachers can provide instant feedbacks to the students and motivate them to succeed and teach them about discipline. In my opinion, REFERENCES: * Collins, (2002), Definition of online education * Schutte, J. G. , (1996),â€Å"Virtual Teaching in Higher Education: The new intellectual superhighway or just another traffic jam? †, California State University, Northridge. * http://www. acadenia. com/education-articles/Online-education-traditional. asp * http://www. dagorret. net/difference-between-online-education-vs-traditional-education/ * http://lyzreblin. blogspot. com/2012/02/online-education-vs-traditional. html – The challenges of online education * Jeni Johnson, (2012), Online Education Vs. Traditional Education, April 4 * Wikipedia, (2011), Traditional education, May, * (Orellana, Hudgins, & Simonson, 2009, p. 470). * Elise Wile, Advantages and Disadvantages of Traditional Education, eHow Contributor * Similarities Between Online & Traditional Classes,eHow. com In conclusion, although online education have some beneficial impacts for students, but traditional education provide better place for students to study and socialize with friends. As well as some people limitations to access technology can occurs students can not have education. An online education program can be a very rewarding experience for those individuals wanting to earn a degree in a non-traditional education environment. Studies have shown that students who are mature, self-motivated and organized are extremely successful in their online learning pursuits. By allowing students to control where and when they study, online programs are best-suited to those individuals who possess strong time management skills and are independent learners. Online learning also offers prospective students who are employed or have children and other family commitments the opportunity to earn a degree without sacrificing other important areas of their lives. Younger students, such as elementary or secondary school age, and students who are dependent learners, may find it difficult to assume the responsibilities required by an online program. Ultimately, you make the final decision as to which education program is right for you.

Hurricane Katrina Essay

Crisis and Disasters On August 23, 2005 the tropical depression 12 formed in the Caribbean then it rapidly became tropical storm Katrina on August 24, 2005 as it drifted toward southern Florida. Then on August 25 it strengthened into hurricane Katrina. No one at this time had any idea of what was coming, that this would be on the five deadliest hurricanes in Untied States History. Resulting in the death of around 1, 820 people. From the Gulf coast along Florida to Texas much damage was caused from storm surge. The main amount of damage was in New Orleans, Louisiana which flooded due to levee systems failing, resulting in 80% of the city being flooded and the flood waters lasted for weeks, destroying homes, buildings, and entire communities. . Hurricane Katrina began in the Bahamas on August 23 and as it made it was into southern Florida it became a category 1 hurricane before it grew rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf in became a category 5 hurricane but weakened before it hit southern Louisiana on August 29 becoming a category 3 hurricane. In just 9 hours the storm went from a category 3 to a category 5 hurricane, this was due to the storms movements over the warm waters of the loop current, which increased the wind speeds of the hurricane. On August 26, the National Guard was activated in Mississippi to help prepare for the oncoming storm. The next day the state activated its Emergency Operations center along with 57 other emergency shelters opened along the coastline and evacuation orders were put into effect. Louisiana’s hurricane evacuation plan calls for local governments in areas along and near the coast to evacuate in three phases, starting with the immediate coast 50 hours before the start of tropical storm force winds. Persons in areas designated Phase II begin evacuating 40 hours before the onset of tropical storm winds and those in Phase III areas (including New Orleans) evacuate 30 hours before the start of such winds although many people at the time were unwilling to evacuate due to the fact they didn’t want to leave their homes, business, or even pets. Many private facilities that relied to bus companies and ambulance services to evacuate people failed due to the fact that they waited too long. This happened when the Governor did not sign an emergency waiver to allow licensed drivers to transport evacuees on  school buses. On August 27, George W. Bush, President of the United States, declared a state of emergency in certain areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. On August 28 almost all infrastructe had been shut down along the coast making it even harder to evacuate people. On the morning of August 28 with winds up to 175 mph and category 5 statues it hit Louisiana. On August 2 9 Katrina made its second landfall as a category 3 with winds up to 125mph near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. Katrina’s third landfall was near the Louisiana/ Mississippi line as a category 3 hurricane with 120mph winds. After reaching Tennessee it was downgraded to a tropical depression and finally lost it’s power over the Great Lakes region. From the Gulf coast along Florida to Texas much damage was caused from storm surge. The main amount of damage was in New Orleans, Louisiana which flooded due to levee systems failing, resulting in 80% of the city being flooded and the flood waters lasted for weeks, destroying homes, buildings, and entire communities. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said this was â€Å"probably the worst catastrophe, in the country’s history.† The aftermath from Katrina had many negative effects. The economic effects from the storm were the worst. The Bush Administration asked for 105 billion dollars in repairs and reconstruction for the area. Katrina destroyed 30 oil rings in the Gulf Coast and caused 9 to permeably close. Mi ssissippi’s forestry industry was affected being that 1.3 million acres of timber was destroyed, this was around 5 billion dollars worth of damage. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without jobs after Katrina. Hundreds of thousands of people were sent all across the United States to different shelter locations. The levee failures in New Orleans are accounted to be the worst civil engineering fail in U.S history and a lawsuit was filled against the U.S Army Corps of Engineers who built the levees by Judge Stanwood Duval but this was thrown out due to the sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1965. There was also another investigation of federal agencies which resulted in the resignation of FEMA director Michael D. Brown. On September 12, 2005 Brown resigned, stating that it was â€Å"in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president.† Before his resignation Brown had already been taken away from his job as coordinator in federal efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast by Homeland Security secretary Michael  Chertoff . It was been said that Brown was forced out of the administration rather that voluntarily resigning.. . Katrina destroyed many wildlife habitats and breeding grounds for marine mammals such as turtles, fish, birds, and many marshes for migrating ducks were destroyed. Seven million gallons of oil were leaked into the ocean. Many spills were cleaned up but some managed to leak into the ecosystem and some towns were even flooded with oil mixed waters. During the clean up, flood waters were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, which took 43 days. Those waters contained many toxic things to wildlife such as bacteria, raw sewage, pesticides, toxic chemicals, and oil. Many citizens starting looting stores in New Orleans in search of food, water, and many other items for personal gain. The news media reported rapes, murders, thefts during this but many reports turned out to be inaccurate. The National Guard was sent in to restore order and over the first week that’s what they accomplished. The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team was sent into Louisiana to to verify, document, and cha racterize deaths caused by hurricane Katrina. It was found that there were 971 Katrina-related deaths in Louisiana and 15 deaths among Katrina evacuees in other states. Drowning was the cause of (40% of deaths, injury and trauma caused 25% of deaths, and heart conditions caused 11% of the deaths that were the major causes of death among Louisiana victims. After hurricane Katrina many state, local, and federal agencies were aware of the serious devastation of the area but were unable to communicate with each other properly into order to coordinate a rescue response such as help citizens, provide law enforcement, and evacuate the rest of the city. During the first two days the federal government forces had no commutation with the states national guard . resulting in either agency being able to operate at full efficiency. No one had any idea what the other agency was doing or had already done. This resulted in the delay of many ground forces be assisted to the area. FEMA requested assistance from DOD not knowing what the National guard had already done to fill the same needs. This also resulted in no formal command relationship which caused confusion o n what jobs both sides need to do. The destruction of communications infrastructure made it impossible for emergency responders and citizens to communicate effectively. With 70 percent of the city’s  police officers being victims themselves there was not enough law enforcements to restore order. The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security had to send it different agencies of law enforcement t to help the New Orleans police department . Many hospitals were destroyed during Katrina and with thousands of people needing assistance it was devastating. Most local and State public health and medical assets were overwhelmed by these conditions, placing even more responsibility on federal agencies.. The process for approval for the reimbursement for medical and public health services provided by Federal agencies created delays and frustrations among health care providers, patients and the general public. Triage was also a big factor during Hurricane Katrina considering the fact that the number of people needing help was much greater than the number of first responders. Many people needed to be rescued and were injured and with the conditions of the city it was a hard task to find people and be able to transport to them a care center. This was a long task considering first responders had to locate a victim, transport them somewhere for help, get back to the same area and keep looking only to repeat the process over and over. It was hard to pick and choose to would get help first considering the fact that only numbers of people would be found at a time. During Hurricane Katrina DMORT set up the Find Family National Call Center in Louisiana. This was the center of operations for finding the location and reuniting families that were separated during Hurricane Katrina. Out of 13,000 people that were missing, around 7,000 were reunited to their families thanks to the DMORTS operation. DMORT were given two missions during Hurricane Katrina. One was to set up a base camp for DMORT and the other was to set up a base camp for the 1600 person Urban Search and Rescue crew. Other duties were to set up temporary morgue facilities, do victim identification, forensic dental pathology on diseased bodies, processing, preparation of diseased bodies. One major thing that was learned during Hurricane Katrina is that during such a major disaster declaring a state of emergency and an evacuation of a area is not enough to reduce the amount of fatalities during a disaster. A big problem was that During Katrina many agencies had no ways to communicate and set up a chain of command in order to operate at full efficiency of their abilities. When it is known that a natural disaster is going to take place , the agencies that are going to respond being state or federal need   to know in advance in order to set up a plan for each agency so that no one is doing the same thing over. Good communication methods need be planned out before hand since this way such a major issue during Hurricane Katrina. Another major issue during Katrina was triage and the lack of first responders. Once it is known that a major disaster is about to take place local medical centers can not be relied on being that there is a great chance they can be destroyed or without any power as seen during hurricane Katrina. Centers need to be set up away from the danger area and transportation of these civilians need to be prepared in advance. Small issues that can lead into big problems such as the Governor during Katrina w did not sign an emergency waiver to allow licensed drivers to transport evacuees on school buses are objectives that need to be taken care of in advance to avoid such issues. Centers that are set up need to be well equipped and supplied to handle the amount to people that will be sent there. Organizations such as the American Red Cross should be asked in advance for their assistance, not after the disaster has already taken place. Assistance on how hospitals to get paid back by federal funds for their assistance should be taken care of during advance being that this was a major issue during Katrina. Federal teams that will be needed just be warned in advance for their assistance and be told to be on immediate standby. This should include professional search and rescue teams , the National Search and Rescue Response team, the National Guard, DMORT, Psychologists, EMS, Firefighter, state and federal police agencies, and DMAT should all be prepared .

Questions 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Questions 2 - Essay Example It is the question of what could be done IF something else was to precipitate the exercise of power. Potential for power is arguably the most impactful on employees. If a specific individual determines that there is no further potential for advancement (power), i.e., they are topped out at their current level with a particular company, they are not likely to show initiative or even necessarily dedication to the position. Conversely, if there is a potential for gaining power, most employees are incentivized to do whatever is necessary to realize that potential. 2. Discuss positive and negative examples from your own work experience regarding political power bases in organizations. Also, address areas regarding the use of decision-making or the lack of it in organizations. I have seen both the positive and the negative side of political power in companies for whom I have worked. In one situation, the power of the company was solidly consolidated in the director/managers, with one being offsite and never around, and the other two working together. All department heads and supervisors reported to one of the two executives who always discussed everything and preserved a solid front. The employees at the lower levels had a low morale, as there was really nothing to aspire to in terms of promotion beyond the current place and as a result, there was a high turnover. At another place, there was a bit of an organic structure where the boss sought input from everybody. There was no doubt who the boss was—she owned the company—but everyone had a feeling of potential power when it came to important concepts because her management style was inclusive and non-threatening. Attorneys contribute a lot to the criminal justice system; if fact, were it not for attorneys the argument could be made that there would be no system. In the American criminal justice system (adversarial), two parties are represented by an

Online courses versus Traditional courses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Online courses versus Traditional courses - Essay Example Sometimes students get involved in discussions because they feel more comfortable sharing their opinions than in a normal face to face manner. Furthermore, there are varieties of free education tools (audio or video) that will create the feeling of a classroom setting. It is difficult to make friends in an online class because one never meets one another, as well as their professor in real life. Additionally, it might be extremely difficult to discipline one self enough especially when one is computer illiterate or unfamiliar with accessing the web. Traditional courses give students the liberty to be in class on time for lectures, turn in assignments, meet with groups or take test at a scheduled time. There are chances to connect with a lot of people in the classroom, make friends easily with your classmate, have easy access to your professor during office hours, ask questions and get instant help. It is not open, sometimes when people keep out of class they might go far behind on the course especially when taking quizzes. As a family and a working student, there are classes that may not fit your schedule; one may have to drop some classes to find room for another one. One can connect to a lot of people in the classroom, make friends easily with their classmates, have easy access to your professor during office hours, ask questions and get instant

Higher National Diploma in Business, Managing Financial Resources and Assignment

Higher National Diploma in Business, Managing Financial Resources and Decisions - Assignment Example The funding of a company’s operations through the use of debentures has become a commonly followed practice in the United Kingdom. Therefore, Excellence Solution Plc. can access debentures as a mode of funding. Share capital is a main form of external financing for a private limited company. Since Excellence Solution Plc. is listed in a premium stock exchange like London Stock Exchange, it would be comparatively easy for the company to sell its shares in the capital market to raise the required finances. Bank loans are usually considered as easily accessible sources of financing. The company may take a term loan which would be repayable at equal monthly instalments and which would carry a predefined interest rate. A bank loan is tax deductible and is feasible for the company because it would help to meet the goal of the company to pay back the loan in a year’s time. The bank loans would be easily accessible by Excellence Solution Plc. This is because, the company is an established company and banks and other types of financial institutions are much interested to extend financing to an established public limited company as compared to the small business entities. Taking loans from the bank would ensure that the company does not experience any dilution of control because the banks do not have any say in the decisions and management of the company. The interests paid on bank loans are tax deductible which would be highly advantageous for a company with high scale operations. But, in case of bankruptcy, the loan would act as a major burden because it is obligatory for the company to pay back the loan irrespective of its financial position. For an established public limited company like the case company, it would be very easy to access share capital. Not only are the shares capable of generating high amounts in the capital markets but also, they are likely to be bought by the shareholders in

Schoenberg and Stravinsky Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Schoenberg and Stravinsky - Essay Example Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky thrived during this period and were greatly influenced by the aforementioned events. Their works were regarded as under the 20th century musical style which is characterized by the extreme utilization of chromatics and dissonances. Both composers explored different compositional styles and their innovations fundamentally affected latter composers and shaped the course of 20th century music. Their early works followed strict classical way. Examples of these are the string quartet composed by Schoenberg in 1897 and the Stravinsky's symphony in E major. In 1907, Arnold Schoenberg totally abandoned composing under the traditional tonal system. He proposed his new innovation the twelve tone system, a system which used tone rows as a basis of musical compositions (Lebrecht 63). This new twelve tone system is now regarded as a compositional style which is highly mathematically oriented. However, this new compositional style introduced by Schoenberg brought about a division between the followers of the two composers. The group who favored the preservation of some type of tonality became adherents of Stravinsky, while those who adopted of the twelve tone system became the followers of Schoenberg. Schoenberg used twelve tone system to their extreme while Stravinsky used a more diatonic and tonal idiom. Though they have a different perspective and compositional style, some of their works have some common characteristics. Their compositions both possess the style of neoclassicism, that is, music having transparency and clarity in the presence of dissonances. Examples of these are Schoenberg’s five piano pieces (Lebrecht 194), Op. 23 No. 1 and Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat (Lebrecht 169).

Risk Assessment and Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Risk Assessment and Risk Management - Essay Example The essay "Risk Assessment and Risk Management" talks about the knowledge bases in risk assessment and risk management and the consensus-based model of risk assessment. The knowledge base is the foundation of any profession; this refers to a body of specialist knowledge, which acts as the base of professional practice. Therefore, it has become increasingly essential for individuals and organizations to demonstrate underpinning knowledge base while undertaking any task within human services, aimed at achieving professional status. In the development of a framework for risk assessment and risk management, three interweaving features of knowledge bases are needed: theoretical knowledge, practical or personal knowledge, and factual knowledge. The theoretical knowledge base includes the existing literature that analysis risk incidents, situations, or events, literature that analysis our role and tasks in risk assessment and risk management, and literature that offers guidance on the pract ical approaches to be followed in assessing and managing risks. Practical or personal knowledge base refers to the practical skills or knowledge that is acquired at workplace related to risk assessment and risk management. These practical skills may be acquired through training, or through learning from experience, which leads to new knowledge. Finally, factual knowledge refers to the professional standards, rules, regulations, and ethical values developed in the past to provide guidance during professional practice.

Visual Encoding Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Visual Encoding - Assignment Example For Acoustic encoding, students may not understand if the words are just read to them, they must be learnt how to spell them and how to pronounce them. For example, about 500 years ago, 'Protestantism' was declared to the religion of California. Now the students may not be able to even pronounce the word, leave alone understanding it. So getting their syllables right is the first basic thing. For Semantic encoding, students once they get to know how to pronounce them, they would be able to get the difference between similar sounded words. After getting the difference, the next thing is to understand the meaning of what is being said. For example, take the above word, though people get to know how to spell it, they must be thought on how to understand it. For that, a common language description of its meaning is must. In Californian history class, lot of things would be about artilleries that they used in warfare. A lot of descriptions would be about it. So, if students are given to experience the models of those artilleries physically, they will be able to understand the descriptions about it. This is tactile encoding.

Writing Process Check Point Essay Example for Free

Writing Process Check Point Essay The writing process I read about in this class differs from the processes that I have used in the past, in that I have never used on purpose in-text citations. I do not like the look of papers that have citations in text they break my concentration when I am reading. I am trying to use them more in papers because the instructors want them, and they do make the paper look better. I always use mind-mapping, listing, and free writing. The listing and mind-mapping steps are the easiest for me to complete, and they get my mind completely focused on the task at hand. I list by making a very informal ugly outline, and that is my first step. A teacher would not credit my outlines, but they help me get my thoughts in order so that my paper flows better. Mind-mapping I do by hand with pencil and paper, I put my main idea in the middle of the page, and then draw anything related to the topic on the page in little bubbles. The step that is the most difficult for me is designing a thesis statement that grabs the attention of the audience, includes everything my paper is about. The thesis statement is something that I have never tried to do, so it is a little scary. I will be able to overcome this obstacle over thesis statements in this class when we learn about them. I know after that week I will be able to make a proper thesis statement for my final project. Reference Page: Steps in the Writing Process, Axia College Material

EU’s Adoption of IFRS

EU’s Adoption of IFRS Introduction From 1st January 2005, all European countries are required under EU law to use the IFRS[1]standards for their financial reporting statements, which includes corporations domiciled within the UK (Nobes and Parker, 2006, p.103). This applies to all year-ends that complete after that date. In addition to this requirement, it is a requirement of the standards that, for comparison purposes, the previous year financial included within the statements must be recomputed to reflect a true IFRS position. The main proposals for these standards and their first year usage are contained within IFRS 1. The change of standards has had a significant impact upon financial reporting in the UK. Therefore the intention of this paper is to discuss why the EU felt it necessary to adopt the IFRS; provide an understand of the IFRS main goals and to ascertain the areas in which this has affected the UK reporting methods, outlining the key areas of change by comparing them to the previous financial reporting methods used. Adoption of IFRS by the EU In previous books (published in 1998 and before), Nobes and Parker (2006) discussed the Varity of different standards that were being operated within the member states of Europe, including those that have converted to capitalism from the former communist bloc, which included countries such as Poland and Romania. These differences have been determined by the political and capitalist attitudes of individual nations and can be separated into two main groups, those where markets and reporting is driven by the state, with weak equity markets, and those driven by business, where the equity market is strong. It has long been accepted that the differing financial reporting standards that have existed in the past has led to difficulties, particular in terms of international trade and financing (Gregoriou and Gaber 2006, p.460). The EU recognised that, within its own region, this was affecting the flow of capital and finance between member states. In an attempt to address this issue, the commission sought to achieve harmonisation through raising legislation and regulations. However, when these failed to work, somewhat reluctantly the commission then changed its position and became an active supporter of the US dominated IFRS standards (Nobes and Parker 2006, p.105). IFRS standards have become increasing accepted as an international method of financial reporting, primarily because of its benefits in improving the globalisation of trade and financial activities, which will become less complex. In addition to the US, an ever-increasing number of countries have adopted IFRS, thus it was only a matter of time before the EU acquiesced. The intention is to move towards a system of fairer values (Bruce 2004), and to make the EU as a regional and international trading bloc far more competitive. However, the EU adoption of the standards, intended to be relatively straightforward, was not without difficulties (Bruce 2004). In the initial stages there were areas of dispute and, in particular, parts of the standards that the EU would not accept, for example IFRS 39 the standard that deals with â€Å"fair value†, although this has recently been adopted in a limited form. Furthermore, despite IFRS, differences between the financial reporting methods used in Europe still exist (Nobes and Parker (2006, p.19). Nevertheless, in view of the pressure from a number of stakeholders, it is inevitable that the impact of individual national standards will continue to be eroded in favour of a globally recognised system (Nobes and Parker 2006, p.13) Executive summary of IFRS IFRS 1, the mainstay of the standards has seen two amendments, the latest implemented in January 2007, although most of these have not affected the underlying core focus of the standards. Whilst each standard has a defined objective, there are a number of overall goals embodied within the process. Objectives The key focus and goal of the International Financial Reporting Standards is to achieve a position where, globally, one system will be seen to be the norm and form the basis upon which all trade, capital and financially motivated decisions in the international marketplace will be relied upon. The intention is that, through the acceptance of these standards, existing investment barriers will cease to exist as well, which will improve capital market performance. Furthermore, it is intended to promote reliable system of universal accuracy and comparability, together with a method that will ensure a standard model for corporate governance that can be referred to equally by all stakeholders, whether they are involved with the corporation or not. It is stated that the improvement to the reporting processes will also develop management data and lead to reduction of risk Individually, the standards have their own goals. For example, IAS 1.7 focuses on the presentation of the financial statements and Cash Flow in a manner that is understandable to everyone. Similarly, the objective of IFRS 7 are to ensure that corporate management discloses all information that has had an impact upon the business during the year covered within the financial statements. In particularly, emphasis is placed upon the accuracy of the corporate balance sheets, cash flows, as these are the areas where historically, as has been evidenced in cases such as Enron, and WorldCom, significant issues of financial stability arose, causing the loss of millions of jobs and investment monies. Achieving reliability within these areas is one of the fundamental goals of IFRS. Once of the main difficulties that arose with previous standards was the method of accounting for value, particularly with respect to assets and other balance sheet items. This situation was exacerbated in situations of the increasing incidence of mergers and acquisitions. Where a corporation takes over or merges with another, the cost of such a move, known as the goodwill payment, under the â€Å"historical cost convention† would be reflected in the balance sheet as the current value. However, goodwill is not a tangible asset in the sense that one can physically touch or use it. Its value will fluctuate in accordance with market determinates. Under the IFRS system items such as goodwill have to be accounted for in respect of the â€Å"fair value† at the time of the statements. Therefore, the core objective is that the statements reflect a realisable value rather than one that may have been eroded over time. To ensure that the financial statements of individual corporations reflected these objectives, IFRS also requires officers of the company and external experts to warrant that all the statements made, and financial information provided within the statements have been prepared in accordance with those objectives. The process of measurement is another key factor within the reporting standards. Here again, concentrating upon the relationship to the â€Å"current fair value,† the individual standards set our prescribed rules and guidelines as to how each item contained within the financial statement should be measured and what will be recognised as an acceptable method. Meticulous attention is paid to the valuation of assets, which apart from the year of acquisition when cost can be used, should have been based upon current realisable value as certified from a reliable and expert source, unless there is a justifiable reason for not doing so. These measurement guidelines are also extended to debts, other liabilities and equity items contained in the financial statements. Requirements for presentation and disclosure in financial statements feature prominently within the IFRS standards. The presentation requirements in particular determine the way in which the financial data should be analysed within each segment of the corporation’s main financial statements and supporting notes. The purpose of this is to ensure that relevant information cannot be, either deliberately or inadvertently, concealed from interested stakeholders. For example, IAS 1.68 identifies the minimum requirement for information analysis in the business balance sheet, and there are similar instructions in IAS 1.81 that relate to the revenue statements, which identify how revenue, finance costs, and profit or loss distribution should be displayed. As indicated earlier, the IFR standards include numerous requirements in respect of the information that corporations are expected to disclose, as can be evidenced from the information checklist that has been prepared by Deloitte (2005), one of the â€Å"big four† auditing firms. In addition to all of the factors already discussed within this papers, further disclosures are expected to be made in relation to the how the business has complied with corporate governance rules and regulations and the assessment of risk. Despite the arguments that have arisen in various circles in respect of individual aspects of the IFRS system, it is generally accepted that they do provide a framework which, when fully implemented and adopted internationally, will be of benefit in relation to the globalisation of trade. A case study of the IFRS impact on a UK corporation The financial statement of every UK Corporation has been affected by the implementation of IFRS and it has impacted upon the resultant financial information. To provide an example of these changes British Telecom is being used as an example. The 2006 statements in support of this analysis are attached in the appendix of this paper. As is allowable under IFRS 1, BT has availed itself of some of the exemptions and exceptions that are provided for in the preparation of the accounts. The exceptions applicable in this case are defined as follows: Business combinations. Employee benefits Share payments Cumulative translation differences Financial Instruments In the main, these exceptions relate to the retrospective treatment of the above items together with other aspects of the treatment of these items at the date of transition. For example, IFRS 3 is not being applied in a retrospective manner to business combinations. Pages 111 and 112 of British Telecom’s annual report for 2006 outlines the major areas of change that have impacted on the financials: Equity. The most important change relates to the reduction in equity. Brought about mainly by the change in employee benefits and adjustment to leases, this has seen a reduction of  £3.9 billion. Profit. As can be seen from the pages referred to, there was little impact from IFRS on the returned profit earned by the business during the year, with the debit and credit amounts cancelling themselves out. Except for an addition of  £8 million. Under the UK GAAP system, firma were allowed to account for divided provisions within the profit and loss account. IFRS standards state that this should not be the case, and that the dividends can only be included within the year that they are payable, therefore these has been excluded. Assets and Liabilities. In terms of the Individual items heading, as can be seen, there have been a number of significant changes, for example with the reorganisation and re-evaluation of the various assets. However, overall the net reduction of the equity format of the balance sheet was only just over  £200 million. In terms of the cash flow statement, there has been no change to the cash flow that has been generated by the business during the year. In essence, this shows that whilst UK business have been concerned with the impact of IFRS, when one takes into account that all competitors are likewise affected, these changes make little or no difference to the market position of BT. Bibliography Whittington, Geoffrey (2005). The adoption of International Accounting Standards in the European Union. European Accounting Review, Vol. 14, issue 1, pages 127-153. Nobes, C. and Parker, R. (2006). Comparative International Accounting. 9th Edition. FT Prentice Hall. UK. Deloitte (2005). IFRS 7: A disclosure checklist. Retrieved 1 May 2007 from http://www.iasplus.com/fs/0510ifrs7checklist.pdf Gregoriou, Greg N and Gaber, Mohamed (2006). International Accounting: Standards, Regulations, Financial Reporting. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Oxford, UK. Blake, John and Amat, Oriol (1993). European Accounting. FT Prentice Hall. Perry Michelle (2005). IFRS – The Next Steps. Accountancy Age. London, UK. Flower, John (2004). European Financial Reporting: Adapting to a changing World. Palgrave Macmillan. London, UK. Bruce, Robert (2004). Setting a new standard. Financial Times. London, UK. IFRS (2007). Summary of reporting standards. IFRS. Delaware, US. Retrieved 1 May 2007 from http://www.iasb.org/NR/rdonlyres/8177F9A2-EB2F-45A3-BBF3-3DE7DCB13E1A/0/IFRS7.pdf Footnotes [1] International Financial Reporting Standards

Structure Of The Travel Tourism And Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

Structure Of The Travel Tourism And Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay The purposes for this essay are to present the structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Firstly, we need to know what the definition of tourism is. As the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), tourism is the activities of person travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes (World Tourism Organisation, 1993). Therefore, the tourist is a person who travels to another place outside of their normal place of residence at least 100 miles for more than 24 hours and less than 12 months. Travel and tourism does not necessary involve travelling abroad. It could be in domestic tourism such as peoples home country, on visits to attractions, city breaks, trips to business meetings, sports events or concerts, and visits to friends or relatives. According to Weaver Lawton (2002, p.3), tourism includes the businesses that provide goods and services wholly or mainly for tourist consumption such as restaurants and food/beverage services, and lodging. Hence, it linked to hospitality industry which including accommodations segments, food services segment and other hospitality operations segments. Structure of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry The travel, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It includes many sectors that we need to go through each part of the industry on its own. The key sectors in the travel and tourism industry can be distributed into three different parts. They are public, private and voluntary sectors. Figure 1: Tourism industry Tourism industry The private sector The public sector The voluntary sector Tour operators Travel agents Accommodations Government NTOs NATA UFTAA IATA SHA Private sector The private sector is generated of commercial operators run or owned by individuals or companies such as travel insurance, travel press, travel marketing, private colleges, tour operators or travel agents, whose main purpose is to produce benefits from the facilities and goods, which they deliver to their consumers. In addition, these agencies play a very important role in the development of the travel and tourism industry. They are the components which communicate directly with customers. For instance, they arranged a group which understand the demands of visitors and advertise their packages at different tourist locations through interactive methods of communication such as distribute brochure or advertise in their websites. Accommodations are the basic needs in tourism industry which including hotels, resorts and timeshares or condominiums, conference centres, camp and park lodges, food and beverages. For example, resorts offer good services such as spa, massage, hot tub for customers who come to relax on holiday. They gain high benefits due to customers consumptions when they provide good services. Therefore, the private sectors are commercial businesses with the objective of making a profit for shareholders and owners. They run businesses at all levels of the distribution chain suppliers, wholesalers and retailers. Public sector Public sectors are major groups who decide on the strategy and leadership for the growth of the tourism sector. This is the government body which supporting the tourism industry. The role of this organisation is to work with the industry and provide the required amount of support. The services offered by the public sector are delivered to the public and paid through government. Public sector includes NTOs and RTOs (national regional tourist offices). It may also be suppliers, especially in transportation and visitor attractions. Most of the public services are non-profit-making. Voluntary sector Voluntary sector contains different bodies involved in the lobbying and being the force factors who work for the benefit of the tourism sector and the benefit of the respective associations they represent. They are namely National Parks Association, YHA (Youth Hostels Association), National Trust, ANTOR (Association of National Tourist Office Representatives), FTO (Federation of tour Operators), ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies), Museums Association, UK Inbound Tourism, Tourism Concern and PSA (Passenger Shipping Association). Organizations of the voluntary sector are controlled and ran mainly by volunteers. These organizations are usually not making profit or contributively. This creates some financial benefits that may include reduced rates and VAT, income tax exemption for investments, covenants and bank deposits. Voluntary sector organisations that register as contributions have to satisfy specific terms. Their purposes must be charitable, non-profit-making, for the educations improvement or for other aims beneficial to the society. Horizontal integration According to Weaver Lawton (2002), horizontal integration takes place when firms reach a higher level of consolidation or control within their own sector. Horizontal integration is where an organisation owns two or more companies, on the same level of the buying chain. For example, EasyJet took over Go! in 2002. It was a case of one budget airline taking over another no-frills airline. Although the two companies became one, they could have retained their different brand names. In fact in this case, EasyJet rapidly re-branded all of Go!s planes with their own distinctive livery. Principal Figure 2: Horizontal integration Principal Tour operator Tour operator Travel agent Travel agent Vertical integration Vertical integration occurs when a company achieve greater control over elements of the product chain outside its own sector (Weaver Lawton, 2002). This integration can be forward in the direction of the chain, or backward against the direction of the chain. Forward vertical integration is more common. Company gains greater control over distribution. It helps them getting closer to the customer. For example, an airline sets up a subsidiary to distribute or market products to consumers such as buying-out a hotel chain or car rental operation. Figure 3: Forward vertical integration Tour operator Principal Travel agent Backward vertical integration is buying upward in the distribution chain. In contrast to forward vertical integration, company gains greater control over supplies using backward vertical integration. For instance, First Choice is a tour operator which also has an airline named First Choice Airways, or Thomas Cook Holidays setting up Thomas Cook Airways. Principal Figure 4: Backward vertical integration Tour operator Travel agent Key historical developments Socio-economic Leisure time: Tourism currently very popular and it is widely acknowledged as a global social phenomenon. In most advanced developed countries, the natural of society has now changed from an economy based on manufacturing and production to focus on the services and consumer industries. Simultaneously, the disposable income and the amount of leisure time and holiday in many countries increased in the post-war period. Therefore, employees have the opportunity to engage in the new forms of consumption such as tourism. Incomes/holiday taking: The income is produced from wages, profits and interest, has increased every year. The UK economy is one of the strongest in Europe, levels of disposable income and consumer credit are rising and expenditure on leisure is growing at around 6 per cent. Depend on that, employees life is improved. They can spend time to enjoy their life such as travel without worry too much about money. Most people today will have travelled abroad and expect to take at least one holiday a year. When tourists are willing to pay for travel, tourism industry will generate more profit. Car ownership: By the early 1900s the car was being used for public transport in most cities. But it wasnt until the 1950 when the car really took off. There were only 8,000 cars in the whole of Britain at the start of the 20th century. By the end of the century the car population had soared to 21 million. Car ownership statistics gives an indication of the level of personal mobility in a population (domestic, continental travel). In 1989 in Britain, each car was used for an average of 30 trips per week, which declined to 24 by 2006. The distance travelled by car per week slightly decreased. Car ownership in the UK has increased considerably in recent decades. It is not uncommon for a household owning two or more cars in nowadays. Technological Transportation is an essential need in the tourism sector. It is divided into different areas such as air, road, rail, sea. Transportation is a tool to assist travellers to get to where they want to go. Sea: Up until the 1920s the only way to travel abroad was by boat. It used to take days/weeks to travel abroad. Nowadays, ships are mainly used for ferries to mainland Europe and for cruises. Road: Road travel is the first method people used to travel. In the past, people used to travel by horses, camels,  or even humans carrying goods over dirt tracks that often followed game trails. The most famous road in the past is Silk Road. The start of the Silk Road was on 2nd century BC when Chinese ambassador Zhang Qian visited the countries of Central Asia with diplomatic mission. Thus, travel by road is the pioneer in tourism. Nowadays, road travel can be buses, private cars, bicycles, motorbike, etc. People using those transportations to travel are much faster than in the past. Rail: After sea and road, rail is the third method people use to travel. By the end of the 2nd world war (1940s) the rail network covered nearly every town and village. Japan is the country famous for mass and high-speed trains. Moreover, Japan has an impressive number of subway systems. Air: Travel by air is the latest and fastest transportation in the world. The first commercial flight from the UK was to Paris in 1919, but it was very expensive. In the 1970 the introduction of the Boeing 747 brought flying cost down dramatically and open doors to mass tourism. In our time, people can travel from one place to another place very convenience. For example, a flight from Singapore to Vietnam only need 4 hours including food and beverage in the plane, while traveling by sea needs days. As we can see, tourism cannot develop without technological. It is a part has a great contribution to the tourism industry. Business developments Airlines/air travel: Airlines or air travel play a very important role in the travel and tourism industry. Early forms of technology in the travel and tourism industry were systems which linked tour operators to travel agencies via terminals and allowed travel agents to make bookings through the system. Meanwhile, airlines developed computer reservation systems (CRS). Airlines started to use computers in the 1950s to store and change the huge amount of information they needed to access. The CRS was used internally by airlines, and agents would use the OAG publication to look up flight times etc., and then telephone the airline to make a booking. Tour operators: The role of tour operators is to put together all the different components that make up a holiday and sell them as packages to the consumer. They make contracts with hoteliers, airlines and other transport companies to put the package together. All the holiday details are incorporated into a brochure which is distributed either to travel agents or directly to customers. In simple terms, they organise and package different elements of the tourism experience, then offer the product for sale to the public through different mediums like leaflets, brochures, advertisements, etc. Travel agents: The role of travel agents is to give advice and information and sell and administer bookings for a number of tour operators. They also sell flights, ferry bookings, car hire, insurance and accommodation as separate products. Thus, they are distributors of products. Increasingly, travel agents also do a little tour operating, for example putting together a holiday for a group. Some industry professionals believe that the role of the travel agent is in decline as many people are booking their own holidays and travel on the Internet or by telephone directly to tour operators. Conclusion In conclusion, this assignment helps me know more about the structure of travel, tourism and hospitality and key historical developments of its industry. Hence, I will know how tourism and hospitality work. Briefly, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It plays a very important role in the industry. There are many sectors which contribute and help to generate the tourism and hospitality industry. They are indispensable parts of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

The Powerful Opening of Kafkas Metamorphosis :: Metamorphosis essays

The Powerful Opening of Kafka's Metamorphosis    'When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.' Franz Kafka opens his novella Metamorphosis (also The Transformation and The Transfiguration) with the above phrase, a simple statement of fact. He startles the reader with this bold first sentence. It draws the reader directly to the question of why? Why is Gregor Samsa a monstrous vermin. The inclusion that Samsa has had 'unsettling dreams' could indicate that he was subconsciously aware of his metamorphosis taking place. It also tells us that his mind is not at rest. The words 'monstrous vermin' in the publication translated by Stanley Corngold differ from the description in the original German. The German translates directly to 'horrific bug' . 'Monstrous vermin' still leaves the reader space to imagine a number of different vermin that Samsa could have become, but the use of 'horrific bug' narrows this down somewhat. Kafka's opening sentence sh ows the path that Samsa's feelings follow, to the point, with little hope.    F. Kafka goes on in the remainder of the first paragraph to describe Samsa's physical appearance. His back, described as 'as hard as an armor plate' gives an impression that Samsa has gained more protection from life, from who or whatever changed his physical form. The cover, as it is said that it is about to fall off of his domed brown belly, can be likened to society in Metamorphosis. The cover (nor society) could not fulfill its purpose, and clings to Samsa. An important image is that of Samsa's 'many legs... ...waving helplessly before his eyes.' This gives the reader an impression of Samsa's inability to control the situation.    Gregor Samsa's first thought is to ask himself what has happened to him. Obviously from this one can assume that Samsa was not expecting his metamorphosis and is indeed quite surprised by the whole event. His instant deduction that it was no dream implies that Samsa has control of his mind, and a certain grasp of the reality of his new situation. Kafka describes Samsa's room as 'a regular human room' allowing the reader the necessary understanding that it is just Samsa that has changed, not the world around him. The Powerful Opening of Kafka's Metamorphosis :: Metamorphosis essays The Powerful Opening of Kafka's Metamorphosis    'When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.' Franz Kafka opens his novella Metamorphosis (also The Transformation and The Transfiguration) with the above phrase, a simple statement of fact. He startles the reader with this bold first sentence. It draws the reader directly to the question of why? Why is Gregor Samsa a monstrous vermin. The inclusion that Samsa has had 'unsettling dreams' could indicate that he was subconsciously aware of his metamorphosis taking place. It also tells us that his mind is not at rest. The words 'monstrous vermin' in the publication translated by Stanley Corngold differ from the description in the original German. The German translates directly to 'horrific bug' . 'Monstrous vermin' still leaves the reader space to imagine a number of different vermin that Samsa could have become, but the use of 'horrific bug' narrows this down somewhat. Kafka's opening sentence sh ows the path that Samsa's feelings follow, to the point, with little hope.    F. Kafka goes on in the remainder of the first paragraph to describe Samsa's physical appearance. His back, described as 'as hard as an armor plate' gives an impression that Samsa has gained more protection from life, from who or whatever changed his physical form. The cover, as it is said that it is about to fall off of his domed brown belly, can be likened to society in Metamorphosis. The cover (nor society) could not fulfill its purpose, and clings to Samsa. An important image is that of Samsa's 'many legs... ...waving helplessly before his eyes.' This gives the reader an impression of Samsa's inability to control the situation.    Gregor Samsa's first thought is to ask himself what has happened to him. Obviously from this one can assume that Samsa was not expecting his metamorphosis and is indeed quite surprised by the whole event. His instant deduction that it was no dream implies that Samsa has control of his mind, and a certain grasp of the reality of his new situation. Kafka describes Samsa's room as 'a regular human room' allowing the reader the necessary understanding that it is just Samsa that has changed, not the world around him.

Teaching Critical Reflection :: Education Educational Essays

Teaching Critical Reflection The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowl edge constructions and new behaviors or insights. Learning by critical reflection creates new understandings by making conscious the social, political, professional, economic, and ethical assumptions constraining or supporting one’s action in a specific context (Ecclestone 1996; Mackintosh 1998). Critical reflection’s appeal as an adult learning strategy lies in the claim of intellectual growth and improvement in one’s ability to see the need for and effect personal and system change. Reflection can be a learning tool for directing and informing practice, choosing among alternatives in a practice setting, or transforming and reconstructing the social environment (Williamson 1997). Can critical reflection be taught in a classroom? Does the new knowledge created foster change? This Myths and Realities investigates the extent to which critical reflection can be taught to adult learners. How Do Adults Learn to Be Critically Reflective? Without agreement on what reflective practice is, it is difficult to decide on teaching‑learning strategies. Reflective practice may be a developmental learning process (Williamson 1997), may have different levels of attainment (Wellington 1996), and may be affected by a learner’s cognitive ability (James and Clarke 1994), willingness to engage in the process (Bright 1996; Haddock 1997), and orientation to change (Wellington 1996). However, there does seem to be some agreement that critical reflection consists of a process that can be taught to adults. Brookfield (1988) identified four processes central to learning how to be critically reflective: assumption analysis, contextual awareness, imaginative speculation, and reflective skepticism. Assumption analysis describes the activity adults engage in to bring to awareness beliefs, values, cultural practices, and social structures regulating behavior and to assess their impact on daily activities.