Boost of Economic Prosperity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Boost of Economic Prosperity - Essay Example Every field demands effective decision making that enables the producers to conduct their business with the least amount of resources. It was Adam Smith’s theory of the â€Å"invisible hand† that facilitated the comprehension of the mechanics of a society in the simplest manner. The knowledge of economics not only benefits one professionally, it also helps to know the difference between right choices and wrong ones on a personal level. It facilitates the comprehension of the global ongoing activities in the economic sector and how everything affects the life of a common man. Specifically, the global depression has changed the world and has made the common man suffer due to few wrong choices by decision makers in the economic arena. I aspire to attain greater knowledge in the field of economics and acquire a Masters degree to comprehend economic activities to a greater extent and devise solutions to reduce the effect of wrong decisions. I shall be very grateful if you grant me the admission and help me pursue my dream of acquiring further education.

Identification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Identification - Essay Example Politically, socialist parties in the United States began fairing very poorly in the run up to the general elections. For instance, in the year 2008, socialist candidates and their parties received less than two of the three socialist candidates. This is way below what other socialist candidates in other nations receive. In Germany for example, socialist parties gathered close to 50% of the total votes cast in each successive election since the 1970’s. There are several theories, however, that explain this phenomena in United States politics or governance. The United States has never had a feudal system. Other nations had hierarchical systems which was lead from the top by a supreme deity while at the bottom of the system lay the commoner. Such systems were discriminatory in nature since it gave too much power to the person at the top at the expense of the common man at the bottom. A good example of such a system is the United Kingdom which has always been headed by the Royal family members. Since there is no known history of such a system in the history of the United States, it would be difficult to establish one presently. Most United States citizen prefer or think that they live a modest lifestyle therefore can be categorized as living in the middle class. Even the filthy rich would like to believe this fallacy. This means that majority of United States citizens fear class systems since it would make them look different from others. They do not appreciate the fact that some of them may be superior or wealthier than others but would rather be seen as equal to one another. For instance, the head of state from one regime to another have all been seen or reported to be engaging in activities that are considered to be done by the regular person such as collecting firewood or swimming by the sea shores. Unlike other socialist nations, the United States workers were not mandated to from parties so as to be heard in the national elections. Instead, workers we re granted freedom to vote or run for office without necessarily forming a labor party. Additionally, many political parties were ready and willing to welcome any worker who had interest in running for a particular political office. This can be seen in the way presidential candidates woo workers during campaigns by visiting them at their work stations and extending a welcoming arm to anyone who would like to join the campaign as well as searching for potential votes. Absence of socialism in the United States has played greatly to its advantage. It has encouraged equality among its citizens whereby everyone is given a chance to be heard or participate in whichever economic, social or political activity he or she wishes to engage in. This means that everyone has an equal opportunity to battle on a level ground without outside interference or having unfair advantage. It has also brought the government closer to the people and therefore can easily address issues affecting the general po pulation since the government has hands on experience and is accessible to the people. 2. Die Welle It is a German film released in the year 2008 by movie director Denis Gansel. The term ‘Die Welle’ is a German word that translates to ‘The Wave’. Based on a real life story, aims to address the issue of Nazism and potential outbreaks of this group in future. The plot of the story is set in Germany in local German School which is attended by rich and very intelligent students as well as the teaching staff. It all starts when a

Woman Crouching and Pollard Birches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Woman Crouching and Pollard Birches - Essay Example Since Van Gogh used a special ink in his drawing, an iron gall ink, the artwork got through a deterioration due to the decaying of the ink. This made the paper of his artwork consume itself. â€Å"The drawing is 34 x 54 cm in size, produced in Nuenen of March 1884. The artwork is displayed in Van Gogh Museum at Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Europe†1. The â€Å"Woman Crouching† by Egon Schiele. This drawing is a 70 x 100 artwork pencil drawing on a durable vellum paper, 1918. His artworks were known for distorted nude and semi-nude drawings that transpires eroticism and suffering. Schiele was sometime imprisoned due to immortality and during his arrest he was able to create a number of drawings and watercolors that really showcased his artistry. â€Å"He was able to produce around 3,500 artworks during his lifetime (1890 – 1918)†2. ______________________ 1 Van Gogh, Vincent. â€Å"Pollard Birches† 1884. Online, http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Dra wing/1395/Pollard-Birches.html 7 November 2011. 2 Schiele, Egon. â€Å"Crouching Woman† 1918. Online, http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Woman-Crouching-1918-Posters_i8065143_.htm 7 November 2011. 2. Comparison The first point to compare is the aerial or the atmospheric perspective of the two images. Image number one showcases great distinctive intrusion as it transpires better depth than image number two. It gives beating of contrast and element as it draws farther in view which illustrates its depth and illusion of space. â€Å"The partial overlapping of one object from the other also brings about heightened emphasis and greater perspective to the image which supersedes its focus and identity†3. The shades, shadow, brightness and texture bring in life to the first image than the image number two. Thus for the point of foreshortening, image #2 is better than image #1. It appears that the objects emerge compacted which therefore takes in an effect on its perspective that li ves out distortion as what has mostly seen in the works of the artist in image number two. â€Å"Consequently, it makes the foreshortening of the image to be an artistic medium that brings about volume and dimension†4. It has successfully executed drama and emphasized greater space. The first picture emphasizes depth while image number two alleviates it artistry through the volume and dimension of the picture. Lastly is the value of the drawing. The aim is to make your drawing realistic. In this case, image #1 was able to create value to the drawing through shading and focus between areas. â€Å"Building up the bare surroundings and lightly shading the focus areas is the approach given to this that therefore creates an illusion of dimension†5. Image #2 thus on the other hand fails to give a value drawing for it has distinct lines which made it a linear drawing than a value one. 3 N.p. â€Å"Atmospheric or Aerial Perspective† 2004. Online, http://studiochalkboard .evansville.edu/ap-aerial.html 7 November 2011. 4 Helen South. â€Å"Foreshortening†. Online, http://drawsketch.about.com/od/drawingglossary/g/foreshortening.htm 7 November 2011. 5 Helen South. â€Å"Drawing Value – Shading Tonal Values with Graphite Pencil†. Online, http://drawsketch.about.com/cs/pencilgraphite/a/tonal_drawing.htm 7 November 2011. 3. Conclusion Taking into consideration the three bases of comparison in this paper which includes; Atmospheric Perspective, Foreshortening and Value we can now therefore conclude that image number one (Pollard Birches) is better than image number two (Crouching Woman). To support this conclusion, here are other artworks made by the two artists (Right by; â€Å"Vincent Van Gogh† 6 and Left by; â€Å"Egon Schiele† 7). It can be clearly seen that the drawings of Van Gogh are more in-depth that the works of Schiele. Though they are beautiful in

An inconvenient truth (Movie report) Movie Review

An inconvenient truth ( report) - Movie Review Example Some men heeded Marsh’s call and forest reserves were established soon after. Meanwhile, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club helped in the establishment of the Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Park because he believed that all living things had a part to play in the subsistence of the whole world, and must be preserved because they exist. From these early efforts sprung worldwide environmental organizations calling for a more ethical use of the earth’s resources. By 1972, out of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the Stockholm Declaration was born The Declaration recognized man as both a â€Å"creature and molder† of his environment, acknowledged the role of the environment in the sustainability of mankind, and mandated man to protect his environment (United Nations Conference on the Human Environment). It demanded accountability in all citizens and communities, enterprises and institutions to shape the future of the environment. From the early awareness of the importance of nature to man’s survival came an understanding that the Earth is a living being. In 2010, the Earth Declaration (World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth) afforded Mother Earth with equal rights as humans. It was perhaps the first document to compel nations to reco gnize the interdependence of life on the planet and that â€Å"in an interdependent living community it is not possible to recognize the rights of only human beings without causing an imbalance within Mother Earth† (World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth). I mention these developments in the environmental movement because I wish to believe that climate change will not end the world, instead, it will help man discover who he truly is. George Mash once said, The fact that, of all organic beings, man alone is to be regarded as essentially a destructive power, and that he wields energies to resist which,

Sectors in tourism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sectors in tourism - Research Paper Example Barriers to trade and entry relating to the specific region and industry would also be evaluated in the paper to help in generation of effective inferences. Likewise any other industry, tourism industry is also divided into various segments. The segmentation allows the industry to specifically target certain groups and cater to their needs by offering them with their requirements. The Tourism Industry is essentially divided into eight different sectors that can be listed as follows. Accommodation: The accommodation sector in the tourism industry of Canada reflects considerable growth thereby generating greater opportunities for potential investments to be made in the development of hotels and lodges. Estimates reflect that from 2012 to the current period the sector reflects increased contribution to the GDP of Canada and also helps in generating potential employment (Yokon Government , 2013). Adventure and Recreation: The scenic beauty of the tourism spots is observed to largely attract growing number of tourists from foreign countries and other locations. Moreover, the growth of adventure minded tourists also helps in generating needed revenue for this sector. Attractions: This tourism sector is developed based on the existence of heritage sites and also places of national and religious interest that helps in attracting large number of tourists to the regions. Events and Conferences: The emergence of business or corporate tourism accounts for the growth of potentials revenues for the different regions. This accounts for the development of trade and conference centers helping in the holding of key trade events and meetings. Food and Beverage: The growth of the flow of tourists to the different region is observed to contribute in the growth of food and beverage industry in the regions. This sector is observed to generate both potential employment and revenues relating to the different tourism regions. Tourism

The analysis of TV shows Essay Example for Free

The analysis of TV shows Essay 1.1. Background Language is an illogical naming system of vocal symbol by means of which members of social group to cooperate or communicate (Bloomfield, 1933). Language has many variations since humans as the users of it are very creative. The more creative they are, the more variety the language has, but before the language experiences variations, it first undergoes changes, which make it look variable. Such changes occur mainly because humans are interacting with each other, whether it is through face to face meeting or through social media, like TV. TV has been influencing people’s speech in the term of their lexicon, by airing some shows, which expose many new terms. In this case, those shows involve influencing characters to spread the new terms. The influence is not only caused by their good look, but also from their typical lexicons that they use in their shows. Such influence is easy to make a change in the speech specially those, who watch and admire the characters fervently, the teenagers. The teenagers here are those, who are physically and mentally still growing in adolescent period, particularly teenagers in the age of nine to fifteen years old. They tend to use some lexicons, used in the TV shows. No wonder, this phenomenon is a must to be analyzed. A study done in London says that people undergo language change because they are introduced linguistic changes by members of social group with most social status (Holmes, 1947: 208). In this case, the artists or the characters, admired by the children, introduce them a new lexicon that influences their speech. The introduced lexicons are sometimes using foreign languages such as English and Malay, and they are always uttered in a typical intonation by the speakers. Thus, this happening must be analyzed in concern of the decreasing ability of children to use the standard form of Bahasa Indonesia or EYD (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan). However, we do not have to force the children not to use those specific lexicons, because we still have to appreciate that those lexicons are the products of the speakers’ creativity. 1.2. Research Problems Based on the elaboration above, there are four formulated problems as follow: 1. How is the speech, used by children, that undergoes a language change? 2.How is the use of the changed language? 3. Why do children adapt the new lexicons? 4. How do children react towards the change in their speech? 1.3. Purposes of the study According to the background and the formulated questions, there are two purposes of the study. They are the general purpose and the specific purpose. The general purpose of this study is to appreciate the creativity of humans to produce new terms in a language in order to make the language vary. The specific purposes are drawn below. 1. To describe the speech used by children that undergoes a language change. 2. To describe the use of the changed language.  3. To describe the reasons why children adapt the new lexicons. 4. To describe children’s reaction towards the change in their speech. 1.4. Scope of the study The scope of this study is children in the age of nine to fifteen years old in Singaraja, who watch TV at least once per day. There are some concerns being analyzed in the study. They are the changed speech, the use of the changed speech, the reasons why children adapt the new lexicons, and the children’s reaction towards the change in their speech. In regards to the use of the changed speech, this study is limited to the oral communication done between children and children, and between children and adults. In finding the data, this study will be done in two places. The first place is on Jalan Pulau Komodo, Gang Aditya and the second one is in SMP Negeri 1 Singaraja, which is located at Jalan Gajah Mada 109, Banjar Bali, Buleleng. Those places are chosen because there are many children found there. The methods used in this study are observation, questionnaire, and interview. 1.5. Significance of the study The results of this study are expected to give benefits as follow: 1. Theoretically, this study results the description of TV shows’ influences towards children’s language, which is hoped to increase the enrichment of Sociolinguistics, specifically in the term of language change that happens due to the influence of TV shows. 2. Practically, this study is beneficial for university students and lecturers. For university students, this study  can be used as additional information about the influences of TV shows towards children’s language from the view of Sociolinguistics. For lecturers, this study can be used as a teaching material in relation to the happening of children’s language change. Besides, the result of this study is also expected to help other researchers as a reference when doing a study that is related to Sociolinguistics. 3. The result of this study is also helping society to react wisely towards the language change that happens to their children. The society will also be aware that various changes in a language are a normal condition because humans are becoming more creative as time goes by. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURES REVIEW In order to solve the problems in this study, the researcher is using some theories stated in some literatures. It is believed that a good study is a study that is based on strong and relevant theories. The theories used are stated as follow. 2.1. Language and Society As noted on neoenglish.wordpress.com in December 2010, language is a social-cultural-geographical phenomenon. To identify a language, people have to bear in mind that it will involve the geographical area in which the language is spoken, the culture and the society in which it is uttered, the speakers, the listeners, and also the purpose of the language. Language and society are two substances that are inseparable. Members of society cannot interact without a language and language does not exist if there is no society living. It is in society that humans acquire and use a language. In brief, by a language, humans can communicate and adapt to the environment socially and physically. Without a language, humans hardly communicate to each other. Even if they are able to, by using gestures, it will be very limited since gestures cannot describe all words that human think. The use of spoken language gives more chances to human to cooperate or interact rather than using media outside a language. 2.2. Speech Community Speech community is a group of people who use the same variety of a language,  share specific rules for speaking, and for interpreting speech (Nordquist, 2014). Speech is a form of social identity and is used, consciously or unconsciously, to indicate membership of different social groups of different speech communities (The Study of Language, 5th ed., 2014). Members of a community share a same feeling that they belong to the same group by using one variety of speech. In a speech community, the members are not only sharing the speech that they use, but also the norms in the speech itself. If members of a society use a same variety of speech, it means that they see the norms in the speech itself in a same way. People may become the members of a same community because they share at least on thing in their lives with the other people. In brief, people who share the same occupations, livings, or hobbies have the same view of the norms in a speech that make them become a speech community. 2.3. Language’s functions There are three basic functions of a language as noted on www.philosophy.lander.edu , in 2009, they are informative, expressive, and directive. Language is informative means that it functions to describe the world or reasons about it and it has a truth value. Language is expressive means that it reports the feelings or attitudes of the writer or the speaker. Meanwhile, the directive function of a language means that it is used for the purpose of causing or preventing overt action. In a nut shell, it is clear that every language has its own purpose. Even, it may be sometimes unacceptable for a certain group of people, but there is still a purpose made by the speaker in the language itself. The functions of a language are actually abundant. Because humans as the users of the language, use it to convey every activity that they do, and humans’ activities are uncountable. 2.4. Kinds of Language Cicero in 2011 stated that there seemed to be three kinds of language; they are namely slogan, factual, and thought. Slogan is a language that contains clichà ©s or ritualistic statements. It is usually found in a romance or fantasy writing. Sometimes, slogan language is also called idle talk, because when it is said, it does not matter for the hearers, since they already knew what was going to be said. Factual language is a language that involves science or statistical data. It is usually used by the speakers to  support what they have said before in order to convince the hearers that their statements are true. On the other hand, thought language is a language that neither use clichà ©s nor statements of truth. This type of language differs from the others in the way that it involves thinking. Thus, it is rarely used by people, since it requires the hearers to think about the utterance that they receive. Thought also sometimes makes the speakers change their utterance, because t he hearers might not receive their thought well. 2.5. Language Attitude Based on www.sil.org, in 2014, people have attitudes, feelings, beliefs, about language in general, their language, and the language of other people. The attitude of someone towards his language cannot be directly observed because it is demonstrated through actual behavior. Such happenings like how people treat other languages, how people do speech convergence, and how people stay stubbornly by doing speech divergence show their attitude towards particular language. The assessment of language attitudes necessitates asking questions about opinions of someone towards other people’s language. A positive attitude to another language will make a good maintenance towards the language being perceived. In the contrary, a negative attitude to another language may cause a neglecting towards each other’s language. CHAPTER 3 METHODS This study is done in order to elicit the needed data or information. The problems discussed in this study are analyzed by using some methods that include: (1) Research Design, (2) Setting of the Study, (3) Subjects of the Study, (4) Instruments, (5) Procedure of Data Collection, and (6) Procedure of Data Analysis. 3.1. Research Design This study is using descriptive qualitative design. This design is used as a procedure in identifying or depicting the real phenomenon happening in the setting of the study. Thus, the data in this study include the changed speech, the use of the changed speech, the reasons why children adapt the new lexicons, and the children’s reaction towards the change in their  speech, which are described in narrative verbal words. The purpose of descriptive qualitative study is to describe the real information based on the analyzed variables. Before this study was conducted, the researcher firstly visited the places that should be observed, they were on Jalan Pulau Komodo, Gang Aditya and in SMP Negeri 1 Singaraja, in order to familiarize the researcher and the children that are involved in this study. 3.2. Settings of the Study There are two places are used as the settings of the study. The first one was in a housing that is located on Jalan Pulau Komodo, Gang Aditya. There were 5 children being observed in this place. The second one was in SMP Negeri 1 Singaraja, which is located at Jalan Gajah Mada 109, Banjar Bali, Buleleng. In this place, there were also 5 children observed by the researcher. 3.3. Subjects of the Study The subjects of this study are the children in the settings of this study. Subjects of the study fall into three, they are (1) people, humans that researcher ask about the studied variables, (2) paper, documents or other printed media that are used by the researcher and has a correlation with the study, (3) place, spaces that the activities are conducted in (Arikunto, 1989). The subjects of this study are 10 children in total, on Jalan Pulau Komodo, Gang Aditya and in SMP Negeri 1 Singaraja. 3.4. Instruments As a support to the method in collecting the data, the researcher used some appropriate instruments that were coherent with the goal of this study. The instruments are observation, questionnaire, a note book, and a hand phone to record the interview. All the instruments are well-prepared to get supportive data for this study. 3.5. Procedure of Data Collection Based on the problems being discussed, there are some methods used to find the data of the problems. The methods that are used to find the data of children’s speech that undergoes a language change are passive participation observation and interview. This observation was done by using a recorder in a hand phone to record the specific lexicons used by the children of this study. To gain the data of the use of the changed language, the researcher  used observation method, particularly, passive observation method. A questionnaire was also given to each of the children to get the data of the reasons why children adapt the new lexicons. The questionnaire contained some comprehensible questions to answer. Before the questionnaire was answered, the researcher gave some explanations to the children about the questionnaire. To obtain the data of children’s reaction towards the change in their speech, a questionnaire was used. 3.6. Procedure of Data Analysis After having the collected data from the recording of the passive participation observation and interview, the results were then transcribed in the research. The data of the questionnaire answered by the children were also transcribed in the research. The data were next descriptive qualitatively written in the form of narrative verbal words. At the end, there was a conclusion taken about the influence of TV shows towards the children’s speech. CHAPTER 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION In this part, the result of the study is described consecutively based on the studied problems that include: (1) The speech used by children that undergoes a language change, (2) The use of the changed language, (3) The reasons why children adapt the new lexicons, and (4) Children’s reaction towards the change in their speech. 4.1. Result of the study In this study, there were five questionnaires given to children, two times of observation, and five interviews were done to the other five children. The interviews were done between an adult and a child involved in each session. The data which are related to the problems studied, drawn as follow 4.1.1. The speech used by children that undergoes a language change The method used to elicit the data of the speech used by children that undergo a language change is observation. It can be seen that the lexicons adapted by children are still in the form of short phrases. They are used occasionally when the meaning of the lexicons can be delivered to the hearers. The example is the lexicons â€Å"Betul, betul, betul† adapted by two children at the age of nine. They used those lexicons only when they could get the chance to say that. One of the two children used those lexicons when he was asked by his friend whether he was going to move to another place. Still, most of the children’s speech adapts small numbers of lexicons, only from the TV shows that they like or even the character that they favor. Most of the lexicons used by 10 children are still simple. They reach words that are used in the TV shows that they like, which are mostly dedicated for children. The most obvious symptom gotten from their speech is that they used certain intonation to deliver the adapted lexicons. As in the lexicons â€Å"Betul, betul, betul† the intonation tends to be raising. It happened because they just solely imitate what the TV shows air to them. If the TV shows broadcast certain adapted lexicons by children with a raising intonation, then the children who copy that will tend to use the same intonation. However, in small cases, like what happened to another two children at the age of fifteen, they could make a bit variation to the lexicons that they adapt. Sometimes, they joked by slowing down or fastening the speed of saying the lexicons. Even the last syllables of the lexicons may be sometimes taken, as in the lexicons â€Å"Betul, betul, betul†, which were shortened into â€Å"Tul, tul, tul† by one of the fifteen-year-old children. The use of the changed speech was mostly done with their friends. It is because their friends could accept that and find that the use of the changed speech was fun. Another possible reason is their friends were using some adapted lexicons from other TV shows. Conversely, the use of the changed speech decreased when they talked to their parents or adults around them. The reason might be because the adults could not accept that as a form of appropriate speech when the children were talking to the elderly. Another plausible reason was because the adults did not use the lexicons, adapted by children, in their daily speech. The relationship between the children with the people that they are talking to also determines the use of the changed speech. It was found that the changed speech of children came up when they talked to close relatives or close friends. It is likely because they feel that the hearers can accept whatever speech that they use due to the closeness. However, when they talked to foreigners, guests, or other people that they rarely saw, the speech used by the children changed into the casual one that is the speech that could be accepted by anyone in their surroundings. 4.1.2. The use of the changed speech The data of the use of the changed speech are the results of the observation, questionnaires, and interview done by the researcher, which are presented as follow. 4.1.2.1. Communication between children and children Communication 1 Child 1: Yang nawang ape artine hot dog. Child 2: Tawang, anjing panas artine Child 1: Naa Naaa tidong ento tidong ento. Communication 2 Child 1: Yang be maan Shen Long tuni di Bloody Roare Child 2: Ajaan? Nyen keanggon? Child 1: Jenny keanggon Child 2: Meh nyaan, kan Shen Long aeng. Ngolok- ngolok gen gaene Child 1: Hahaha gurau je Communication 3 Child 1: Ri, abaang charger laptope Child 2: Oke fix, gampang From the data presented above, it can be seen that the adapted lexicons were used frequently by children when they were talking to each other. Mostly, the situation was very informal and they combined the lexicons with their regional dialect. The adapted lexicons were mostly used to fulfill the feeling of contentment of the speaker, because when they used the lexicons, they felt like they resembled the characters in the TV shows. Another function of the adapted lexicons is to soften the situation. As shown, in Communication 2, child one wanted to soften the situation between him and the interlocutor because he had lied to the interlocutor in the beginning. The use of the adapted lexicons is mostly accompanied with Balinese and Bahasa Indonesia. The accompaniment of Balinese is used when they are at home or playing in the housings around their living. However, the accompaniment of Bahasa Indonesia is used when they are at school, because most students are using Bahasa Indonesia there.

Meaning, form and use: The past

Meaning, form and use: The past The role of grammar in English language teaching For many teachers, grammar plays a central role in their classroom methodology. However, in 1980s there was an anti-grammar movement which was influenced from the idea of Krashen that grammar can be acquired naturally from meaningful input and opportunity to interact in the classroom: in other words, the grammartical competence can be developed in a fluency-oriented environment without conscious focus on language forms. For Hymes, said that rules of use without which the ruled of grammar would be useless. Just as rules of syntax can control aspects of phonology, and just as rules of semantics perhaps control aspects of syntax, so rules of speech acts enter as a controlling factor for linguistic form as a whole ( Hymes 1972 : 278 ) From his suggestion, the grammar is one of the most important factors in language teaching and learning, especially it is the communicative element to communicative language ability. The components of communicative language ability are linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence strategic competence and fluency. The linguistics competence is composed from a knowledge of spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical structure and linguistic semantics. Meaning, form and use : The past Course description This course is involved the past tense which refers to the meaning of the tense, the form of the tense and the use of the tense. The learners must know the rules of the tense and can form the patterns of the tense and can use it correctly. The learners are able to apply the tense in the real situations. Content The past tense is divided into 3 categories which are: Past simple tense past continuous tense Past perfect tense Past perfect continuous tense The four types have their own forms, meanings and uses. Past Simple is used to indicate the actions which already happened in the past and finished at the specific time in the past. The actions might be long or short. And there are some kinds of rules should be remembered about this tense : regular verb , irregular verbs, questions and negative sentences. Past Continuous is used to describe the past actions in progress. Past Perfect is used to talk about the situations which begin in the past and continue to the period of time in the past and then finish at the time. The Model of teaching grammar: the PPP model There are 3 stages to teach grammar: presentation, practice and production. The first stage is presentation. These are some kinds of activities of teachers to apply in their teaching, for example, the teachers present new language in context so that meaning is clear. The teachers may present the new form in a natural spoken or written text so that students can see its use in discourse. Then, he/ she links the new form to what students already know. Next, he/ she checks comprehension. The teacher elicits the form from students where possible and exploit their existing knowledge. The second stage is practice. The teacher helps the students memorize the form and produce the word order. Then, he/she give intensive practice through repetition and provide opportunities for feedback and error correction. Next, the teacher develop confidence of the students. The last stage is production. The teacher reduces control and encourage students to find out what they can do. Then, the teacher encourage the students to use the forms in expressing their own content and teacher helps students see the usefulness of what they have learned and then to check what has been learned and diagnose problems. Example of the lesson plan This is a good example of the lesson plan which is a very interesting one and can help all language teacher to teach and try new way to teach grammar through narrative. Narratives in the Simple Past Teacher: Catherine Eslinger Class: Linguistics 577 Date of Explanation: October 14th, 1997 Proficiency Level: Beginning Age of Learners: High School Age and Above Objectives: Students will be able to compliment others past actions. Students will be able to describe actions in the past using the simple past tense. Students will be able to understand and recognize the simple past forms in a folktale. They will be able to supply some of these forms when asked. Materials Required: A simple folk tale, colored markers, 1117 paper, a personal photograph, photographs that students have brought from home. Warm up/Review: Model giving compliments in the present tense, which students have recently studied. Give several examples and write them on the board, such as I like your smile and I like the way you read aloud. Have students move around the room giving compliments to each other, following this model (in addition to listening to Students as they practice, give class members compliments). Presentation Practice Evaluation: Stop the fluid pair activity and model giving compliments that use the past tense: I appreciated the way you helped return papers to the class yesterday or I loved the food you cooked for our class party last week. Write these forms on the board, underlining the time expression. Write some of the compliments students gave each other that use the same verbs in the present tense. Underline the verbs. Have students induce the rule. Include auxiliaries in the past, particularly in question formation. Play Alibi. Have two students leave the room, pretending to be suspects of a crime. Model the types of questions students could ask of a suspect, writing some patterns on the board. One suspect returns when called and students ask questions about his or her whereabouts at the time of the crime. When they have exhausted the questioning possibilities, the first student again leaves the room and the second is asked the same questions to see if their alibis match. Pay attention to students use o f the past tense. Are they able to use it correctly? Note any irregular verbs for which students have overgeneralized the rule for putting in the past tense. Present patterns for types of irregular past tense verbs that students have used in Alibi. If students have used these and overgeneralized, present categories like feel-felt, steal-stole, bring-brought and begin-began. Preview Llama and the Great Flood by talking about legends and folk tales in other cultures, finding Peru on a map, etc. Read it aloud, leaving out regular and irregular verbs the students have just studied in the past tense. Ask them to supply those verbs. Cue them with the present tense of the verb. Listen to the students. Are they able to supply the correct form of the verb in the simple past tense? If other irregular forms have come up in the folktale, present these exceptions to the rule. Show students a personal photo of some interesting past event. Describe it using the simple past tense. Have the students write a short description of their own photo in the simple past. In pairs, they will share their description and photo with another class member. Contingency plan: If some students have forgotten photos, have them imagine the scene of a photo they have at home. Listen to the pairs practice. Are the students able to use the past tense fluently and accurately? Note any new irregular past tense forms that come up. If other irregular verb forms have come up in the descriptions of photos, present those exceptions to the rule. If not, I will not present any new material at this time. Although this activity provides more practice, it is primarily intended to evaluate students learning. Post six pieces of 11 x 17 paper around the room. Each page has a different sentence prompt on it. These include: When I was a child. . . , When I first started to learn English. . . , Last week. . . , After my last birthday . . . , Yesterday. . . , and This morning . . . . In teams of three, each team with a different colored marker, students go around the room to the various papers and write narrative endings to these prompts. To correct serious errors, send a student from a team that is doing that aspect of the activity correctly to help the struggling team for a moment. Note the names of team members using particular colors and examine the papers after class to see which students are struggling with the forms. If students have again overgeneralized the rule for the simple past in other categories of verbs, present those verbs to them. Allow students to add to the sheets of paper with prompts on them using the irregular verbs they have just learned. Pay attention to how students are forming all past forms, particularly the irregular ones. Again, note who is struggling by identifying teams using particular colored markers. Application: Assign students to find a picture from a magazine or book of a fashionable item of clothing people wore in the past. It can be from any time period in the past, whether the nineteen sixties in the U.S. or the fifteenth century in their own countries. Students will show the class the picture of this clothing, tell who wore it, in what time period, and in what place. They must also tell the class for what occasions they believe the clothing was worn, and any other information they know or have found out about the clothing. Finally, they should tell the class whether or not they would like to wear it, and where and when they would wear it. Self-evaluation: This lesson is too long and has too little focus on narratives to really be effective. I have underestimated the time required for students to induce rules, be able to apply them in the story, and especially write and then tell their own past narrative about a photograph. I dont want to have to rush that; Im hoping it will be interesting and important enough to them that they will want to tell the full story, and tell it well. I have decided that although Alibi is a good game for practice of the past tense, it doesnt belong in this lesson. It can come in a later lesson.