Oral Language Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Oral Language Development - Essay Example As projected by psychologists oral language development effectively takes place from the child’s early years, where in a child is capable of learning two or more languages easily as compared with adult learners. It is vital for a child to learn to communicate from a very early age, in order to become a fully literate and educated person. Since so much is developed and learned by a child early on, the education and proper training should be the most important component of the child’s life and into adolescent’s. Early literacy is defined as the stages undergone by a child in developing their language skills which includes reading and writing. Oral language performs essential functions in the development and enhancement of the child’s thinking skills. Through the development of oral language the critical thinking ability of a child undergoes the same pace. Familiarizing themselves with the vocabulary and the language basically makes them think of the proper a nd appropriate words on how to present and express their thoughts with other people. The aforementioned things provide a strong link between the child’s oral language development and early literacy. The more a child can interpret and deeply understand oral language, the greater the possibility that a child has the capacity to interpret, analyze, and understand written texts. Research findings have revealed that a child at his/her young age possessing an exemplary oral language development is more likely to reach a commendable literacy level; while in the reverse, a child with poor oral language development has a greater probability of having low level of literacy skills. Oral language, despite of its being one of the foundations of literacy, is often neglected or given lesser importance in emphasizing the enhancement of literacy skills. Oral language performs various essential roles in academic success as studies with monolingual English speakers illustrated. The skills used in deciphering knowledge and information cultivated by having oral language proficiency is the threshold toward the development of reading comprehension among these young learners. This shows the interrelationships among the four macro skills in language learning such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The vocabulary words that a child learned from his or her environment through listening and used in speaking are essential in developing his or her reading comprehension. IMPORTANCE OF READING SKILLS According to the article entitled â€Å"Reading, Literacy, and Your Child†, research has distinguished five basic reading skills which are all important in improving the literacy level of every child such as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, distinguish, and play with isolated sounds known as â€Å"phonemes† in oral language; Phonics is the capability of connecting with the lette rs of the written language with the inclusion of the phonemes of the spoken language; Vocabulary which is considered as the words that a child needs to recognize in order to communicate proficiently; reading comprehension is the ability to deeply understand and derive meaning from

How violent video games have positive and negative effects on children Essay

How violent video games have positive and negative effects on children - Essay Example Harmless games like Pac-man started catching the child’s attention for hours and this was the beginning of game addiction in kids. With time, development of graphics and better appealing games started appearing in the market. With rapid increase of the gaming market, the genres of games started to change and new eon was set, where games did not look harmless anymore and the violence level inhabited by these games started becoming pretty alarming. One of the first high violent games that caught the world by storm was ‘Mortal Kombat’, a unique two player fighting game. The violence however was the nature of fighting and the brutal moves that were incorporated by each character. The game also showcased extreme violence in the end of each level, in which the losing game character would die a sadistic death by getting his body parts ripped by the other character. Due to this attribute of the game, it became an instant rage especially amongst teenagers. Media has played a major part installing ideas of violence amongst children and teenagers. Violence filled games has taken this to the next level. The following study of comparison between a violent game and a non violent game indicates the impact they can have on teenager’s mind: â€Å"They also found (Study 2) that participants who played Wolfenstein 3D (a violent game where the player â€Å"walks â€Å"through a castle, armed with various weapons, and attempts to kill people) in the lab behaved more aggressively than participants who played a nonviolent game† (Bruce D. Bartholow & Craig A. Anderson. Page 2.2001) The question that arises is can we co-relate extreme violence in schools with violence in video games. Pre-teens boys are always using the techniques and moves shown in the games on each other. However the alarming part comes, when these school kids decide to kill their classmates and teachers in similar game fashion. The one player shooting games has a deep effect on teenagers and if the child is

Fans and their Diehard Spirit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fans and their Diehard Spirit - Essay Example Fans and their Diehard Spirit Indeed even today millions go through the writings and the meanings and perceptions, that one can gather from Karl Marx engraved thoughts, can very much be likened to the crowd behaving at the NBA game. People differ in their perceptional qualities and attitudes and it is this difference, which the writer really wants to portray in the context of the NBA game. The writer has been quite successful in this process and allows the reader to very well project the human tendency, to view things differently under altering conditions and situations. It is very true that in one sense this renders a subtle effect, which helps the players to get on with the game. But fans and spectators who watch a game differ in their viewpoints based on what they see and believe. It is this inner reaction which is produced, that is very well exhibited by them, in the form of different kinds of emotions during the course of the game. In certain cases such emotionally charged up fans turn out to be fanatics, when their spirits burst out of them in the form of violent actions. In many cases where the fans have become fanatics, they lose control on their self and most of them indulge in activities, which cause harm to the surroundings. Indeed a very good example can be had from the incidences that happened during the course of the NBA game between the Boston Celtics versus Utah Jazz, which would give a very good perspective of the fans and their behavior during the course of the game.... But to sum it up it is really the fans that enliven any game, no matter which ever part of earth it is being played, that brings the true spirit of the game. Though the perceptions and their attitudes are totally different, the fans really crowd together and spend their valuable time to cheer up for their home teams. This very well show that people really club together as per their likes and also are more attached to their natives, than to the foreigners. In some cases it is this team spirit and the excessive fan spirit, which really spoils the games since there have been several past occasions of fans turning very rude and indulging in clashes. This is clearly revealed in the below lines that states â€Å"The filmmaker was even struck blurring the camera from taking clear shots of the event†. (www.thegazette.com) This above said human perceptions and the difference in attitudes bringing contrasting actions can be very much likened to the Karl Marx writings, which have the sam e effect on the reader even after so many years. Karl Marx People around the world perceive things differently because they are quite intrinsically different and are sure to hold different view points, about a certain thing that occurs in the world. This could be with regards to a particular object, a phenomenon occurring in nature or it could be any incidence that normally happens, in the course of the day today life. It is this difference in the view point or the perception of the individual human beings, which Karl Marx tries to bring out through his writings. It very well proves that the same terms, whatever it may be philosophical or any other word that may be used with regards to a particular context, could bring into picture one set

When Texting While Driving is to be Seriously Considered Essay

When Texting While Driving is to be Seriously Considered - Essay Example As a technological device that is considered a necessity these days, the cell phone is so indispensable it is already causing deaths because of its use even when a person is busy driving. Driving on the other hand, is an activity that requires the full attention of individuals even if one is considered an expert on it so that using the phone or doing other things than driving lessens the required attentiveness the driver should have. Christopher Cooper investigates the possibility of texting while driving being considered as a crime as suggested by the McDonald’s legislation (msn.com), authored by Joyce McDonald, a Republican member of the Washington House of Representatives. The bill has a strong argument eyeing receiving and sending messages as possible distractions to the driver especially that the practice is prevalent among teenage drivers who may be breaking up with their lovers over the phone, a possible circumstance that could affect a person’s attention on the road. Despite the aforementioned plausible argument, the bill still has many flaws that make it questionable, unable to be passed as a law that will punish drivers who use their cell phones while on the road. For instance, texting as a reason for the banning of the use of cell phones while driving is very specific while the use of the device is quite wide, making it difficult for officers to determine what the driver could have been using the mobile phone for in case one is apprehended. On another note, while it is true that cell phones distract the attention of drivers, there are also other possible causes of car accidents that also need to be considered like eating, drinking (texting-while-driving.org) and the like. Texting-while-driving.org considers texting while driving as a dangerous activity comparable to Russian roulette. Although the site points on other activities of drivers that may cause car accidents, it sets the use of the cell phone on a high level because when textin g, one has to use the other hand to compose messages or to manipulate the cell phone in order to read the messages. In addition, the driver has to look away from the road to his phone when he needs to read or compose a message, causing his attention to be divided which consequently places him in a dangerous situation. A phone call is also counted as a great cause for the distraction of a driver’s attention from the road even if one claims the phone is a hands-free device because the conversations that take place require the driver to think and concentrate about what is being discussed thus, having a divided attention. Michael Austin (caranddriver.com) tries to explain the situation through an experiment where drivers where the speed of reaction of their reactions to lights were taken into consideration when they were concentrating on the road, when they were reading a message aloud and when they were encoding the text message. This has shown that texting distracts a driver to react to light in a longer time while reading a message takes even longer. Compared to being intoxicated which was also performed in the said experiment, by the same drivers, the difference was not significant, meaning texting while driving is as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. A similar experiment was performed by a group from the University of Utah where they measured the response of participants to traffic rules and other road conditions as they use their cell phones to plan an evening activity together. The participants were given the instructions and were made sure that they knew how to use their short messaging services which was the primary means to the communication that was to take place while they were

Intersection of energy and international transport management Thesis

Intersection of energy and international transport management - Thesis Example Countries around the world have realized the fact that they are interdependent on one another, and their survival is dependent upon sharing of resources or in simple words exchanging the resources. As no country on this planet earth is self sufficient in all regards. It requires help and assistance of other countries in order to achieve development and to provide ameliorating ambiance for the masses. Considering this concept globalization came into existence, which has resulted in changing the shape of the world. with the advancement in different fields of life for instance technology, transportations, industries, health and care etc., and through sharing of cognition, experiences using computers and internet have revolutionized this world. As a result countries around the world on the daily basis share resources through import and export. Conventionally orthodox approach was put into practice i.e. they only traded basic necessities of life, however this approach was later changed (w ith the passage of time) with the modernization and globalization of the world. At present countries around the world are importing and exporting varieties of different products, no matter its cars, railway engines, airplanes, electronic gadgets, arms and ammunition, medical and healthcare equipments, agriculture and livestock, clothing, construction materials or it may be even the sources of energy like petrol, solar panel cells, bio gas, uranium, nuclear energy etc. Albeit there are varieties of products that countries export or import, however key focus is given in this research paper on the trade of energy sources with reference to international transport management. Abundance in Energy is the integral, prime and key most requirements for any country in order to entertain the purpose of development. As there is no concept of a developed country if that particular country does not have enough resources in terms of catering its energy needs. However countries in order to cope up w ith this problem import energy sources (different types of energy products like oil, bio gas etc.) from other countries and store these different energies in their reservoirs so that these energy products can be succinctly used in the future. As energy plays significant role in terms of contributing towards the economy of the country, with it, energy is the basic driving force for the innovation in technology or it is the basic requirement for technological advancements. Moreover since technological advancement has been carried out all over the world these days, therefore massive resources of energy should be available for them as the advancement in technology is dependent upon the availability of energy. Consequence this has not only resulted in increasing the use of energy but it has also resulted in creating more demand of energy as well. As energy is utilized in carrying out industrial and home work or if it is said that energy is the basic ingredient for the survival of the cou ntry or masses, that this statement would not be wrong. In terms of consumption of energy by different people or countries around the world, energy consumption or the demand of energy varies across the globe. If generalizing the situation one can classify easily that the countries that are developed or first world countries they consume more energy as compared with the third world or under developing countries. Moreover according to Yergin (2011) another classification can be made in terms of climatic conditions.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay Example for Free

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay Charles Darwin once said that, â€Å"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.† In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is an honest and chivalrous knight, as seen in his pentangle, â€Å"The fifth five I find the famous man practiced Were – Liberality and Lovingkindness leading the rest; Then his Continence and Courtesy, which were never corrupted; And Piety, the surpassing virtue† (Gawain, 651-654). Sir Gawain’s chivalrous character seems superficial and wasted to some individuals because it means he cannot live a fulfilled life. In the words of Darwin, this would mean that Sir Gawain does not understand what the value of life is. Certain green objects, such as the green girdle, the Green Knight’s accoutrement, and the Green Chapel, represent the quest of truth in Gawain’s character and the understanding of the value of life, which is the ability to learn from mistakes and continuously grow as life goes on. The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begins with a mythical creature, the Green Knight, interrupting a New Year’s feast in King Arthur’s court. We can see that this green knight is the symbol for corruption and dangerousness, in comparison to the symbolism of Arthur’s court, including Sir Gawain, being orderliness and safety. He is clothed in all green garments, â€Å"And garments of green girt the fellow about—A two-third length tunic, tight at the waist† (Gawain, 151-152). The green in his appearance is the symbol for evil because he becomes the adversary of Sir Gawain, the one who challenges Gawain’s morality. The Green Knight’s weapons are also decorated in green, â€Å"The head of that axe was an ell-rod long. Of green hammered gold and steel was the socket, And the blade was burnished bright, with a broad edge† (Gawain, 211-212). The abundance of the color of green is important because it represents Gawain’s instability and uncertainty. The Green Knight uses the weapons to take three blows at Sir Gawain, but Gawain flinches before he is able to strike him. The creature leaves a scar Gawain’s neck when they finally clash; the wound is symbolic for the deterioration of Gawain’s knighthood. Sir Gawain was a person full of virtue and believed in the goodness of the world, as the poet describes him as â€Å"like gold well refined, He was devoid of all villainy, every virtue displaying In the field† (Gawain 633-635). He is called up to fight this  Green Knight. Before he starts his quest to encounter the knight, he is welcomed as a guest at Lord Bertilak’s castle to stay and rest easily for a couple of days. As a knight of King Arthur’s court, the Lord expects Gawain to be courteous and do whatever action the Lady performs on Gawain to the Lord himself. While the Lord is out hunting deer, boars, and foxes in the forest, the Lady sneaks into Gawain’s bedroom, closes the door shut, and attempts to seduce him like how her husband is hunting the animals. Following the code of the knights, Gawain tries to politely push the Lady away by dancing around the conversation and letting her down easy as he says, â€Å"‘Indeed, dear lady, you did better,’ said the knight, And solemnly as your servant say you are my sovereign. May Christ requite it you: I have become your knight’† (Gawain, 1276-1278). The knightliness forbids Gawain from growing as a person because chivalry is all he follows. When the Lady doesn’t get what she wants, she decides to takes another approach and challenges Gawain’s knighthood with a gift of the green girdle that contains magical powers such as immortality. Gawain finally commits an error by taking this gift from the Lady; the green girdle gives a hint at Gawain’s instability and uncertainty to be an honest knight. He is supposed to do what the Lady does to him back to the Lord, which means that Gawain is expected to give this girdle back to the Lord. Instead, Gawain ends up not doing so and tries to avoid telling the Lord what happened while he was out hunting animals. By sinning, Gawain loses all his virtues as a knight and finally begins to learn the value of life. The other prominent green object in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the green chapel, where Sir Gawain and the Green Knight were supposed to meet for battle. His guide warns Gawain that no one has successfully defeated the mythical creature before. This doesn’t change his decision to fight the green knight. When Gawain finally reaches the Green Chapel, it is described as chaotic just like when the Green Knight interrupts King Arthur’s court. The poet describes it by saying, â€Å"It had a hole in each end and on either side, And was overgrown by grass in great patches. All hollow it was within, only an old cavern† (Gawain, 2180-2184). It outlines the true messiness and disorderliness of the place in great detail. The poet also describes the chapel’s satanic characteristics when he says, â€Å"‘O God, is the Chapel Green This mound?’ said the noble knight. ‘At such might Satan be seen Saying matins at midnight’†Ã‚  (Gawain, 2187-2189). These corruptive characteristics of the Green Chapel foreshadow the outcome of the duel between Gawain and the Green Knight. When the two of them finally encounter each other at the Green Chapel, the Green Knight claims that Gawain isn’t acting like himself, â€Å"‘You’re not Gawain,’ said the gallant, ‘whose greatness is such That by hill or hollow no army ever frightened him; For now you flinch for fear before you feel harm† (Gawain, 2270-2272). With his unique weapons, the Green Knight strikes three blows at Gawain, but only one of them has any impact on him. This scar on his neck is an example of Memento Mori, a keepsake that helps Gawain remember his mortality and ability to commit human error. Sir Gawain learns the true value of life through a convoluted process. He is no longer the chivalrous knight that he originally was because he makes the mistake of not telling Lord Bertilak, who turns out to be the corrupted Green Knight in disguise, about the gift of the magical green girdle. The Lord eventually finds out because he is actually testing Gawain’s ability to be a true knight. As a consequence of his lie, Gawain ultimately loses his perfectness and virtues. In the denouement of the poem, Gawain continues to wear the green girdle in Arthur’s court also as a Memento Mori, as a reminder of his mistake of lying, which signifies that he is finally learning from it and progressing altogether as a person.

The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay

The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay When pursuing a degree in social work, a student experiences equal exposure to group work and individual case work. The curriculum set out by the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE) requires that a healthy mixture of the two be taught in order to grant a degree in social work (CSWE, 2010). Every person becomes involves with different groups during their life, but within social work, groups are a tool for helping bring people together and solve problems, not only for recreation. One of the people responsible for the foundation of group work education in America was Gertrude Wilson. Gertrude Wilson was born in 1895, three years before the first course on social work was available at Columbia University in 1898. She was raised in a town with fewer than 200 people in Dana, Illinois (Chambers, 1986). Miss Wilson grew up seeing women like Jane Adams and Frances Perkins having an impact on the social fabric of America through the settlement house movement. She entered Illinois Womens College in 1915, but ended up receiving a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago (Chambers). After two years of teaching high school, she became a secretary for the Young Womens Christian Academy (YWCA) in Pennsylvania. Ten years later, she returned to Chicago as the administrator of the new Women in the Workforce branch of the YWCA. Miss Wilson has stated that her experience with the YWCA opened her eyes to the ability of groups to influence peoples lives for the better (Greenwood, 1985). It was during her time with the YWCA that she met Grace Coyle, a sociologist, who convinced her to leave the YWCA and take a position teaching at Western Case University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935. Wilson attended the University of Chicago part time while teaching in Ohio and received her M.A. from its School of Social Service Administration in 1938 (Chambers, 1986). She became a member of the American Association for the Study of Group Work (AASGW) and assisted Coyle with some of the first research done on groups in social work. Shortly after receiving her degree, Wilson moved to the University of Pittsburgh. It was here that she published her first two, and what many believe, most influential books (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Her first book, Case Work and Group Work was published in 1941.When Wilson began writing, the field of social work was dominated by case work, a more individual based approach that applied methods of psychoanalytic theory rather than examine environmental factors. Along with Coyle, she was among the first to argue that personal problems were not solely internal, but also found in external sources such as family organization and interaction. She advocated an integrated approach that involved both case work and group work to treat separate issues together rather than individually (Wilson G. , Case work and group work, 1941). Case Work and Group Work was not written with the intent to make group work seem more important than case work. In the first few pages of Case Work and Group Work, Wilson decried the short-visioned little cults of method and function that claim their superiority at the expense of healthy clients (Wilson, 1941). Hers was an argument to consolidate the two approaches rather than create separate disciplines. Group social work existed, but still lacked any single academic foundation for study. She presented the book before the AASGW, the Psychiatric Social Workers Association (PSWA), and multiple schools of social work around the country. At the National Conference on Social Work in 1942, Gertrude Wilson further expanded on what she began discussing in Case Work and Group Work. Wilson believed that group work could bring about changes in the values of individuals and society as a whole. She argued that a worker could dynamically influence the environment of the group for the better by directing certain processes towards specific social goals (Wilson G. , 1942). At this conference she defined three different ways in which the worker might influence the group by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦directing the process toward the accomplishment of a social goal conceived in a democratic philosophy. They are 1) developmental, as it provided for normal social growth; 2) protective or corrective, in that it could be offered to people without groups; and 3) instrumental in achieving of socially desirable ends. (Wilson) Her view put forth the idea that the good of the one and the good of the many were dependent on each other and social workers had a social responsibility to address both in order to build society (Weil, K., Southerland, 1991) After several years at Pittsburgh University, Miss Wilson and her colleague Gladys Ryland published Social Group Work Practice. Group work had lacked this academic foundation for so many years. It offered a systematic method of applying group work for social work practice. As the first book to actually offer a process for applying group work, it became the first textbook for group work and was used in schools of social work across the United States. It was called the Green Bible due to the color of its cover and size (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Many still consider it the most influential book on group work in social work history (Chambers, 1986). The 700-page book can be divided into two sections: practice methods and case studies. The first half of the book described group work methods and theories about groups. For the first time, a social group work method was described. This was based on Wilson and Rylands experience with groups and Grace Coyles research. Miss Wilson expressed the key goal of group workers as such: The workers aim is to help the members of groups develop the capacity to carry on their own group life and achieve goals (Wilson, 1949). This goal is still considered important and appears in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics to this day NASW, 2009). The second half of the book contained analyses of different groups, their specific activities and how the social group work method applies to them. Miss Wilsons research over the years is seen here in the detailed case studies included in this section. The case studies cover groups from preschool to retirement, reflecting the extent that Miss Wilson went to in researching the book. Significantly, much of the case study material was drawn from work in recreational and informal educational agencies because group social work was not practiced often in a clinical setting at that time (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). The case studies included in Wilsons book may be dated, but the concepts of group work that they represent have withstood the test of time. The last half-century has seen a great deal of social change and numerous group work textbooks since Social Group Work Practice, but Wilsons original ideas about group work have remained largely unchanged and few modern texts can refer to group work without referencing the work of Gertrude Wilson, especially this book. One of the most tempestuous times in Gertrude Wilsons life was during the time that she and Gladys Ryland were putting Social Group Work Practice together at the University of Pittsburgh. During the late 1940s, anti-communist politicians began attacking the field of social work because of its progressive views and support of New Deal policies to assist the needy (Andrews Reisch, 1997). One of the main targets was Marion Hathaway, the director of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh (Reisch Andrews, 2001). Wilson was among the several educators and students that supported Hathaway and her support (along with many other faculty members) caused friction between the School of Social Work in Pittsburgh and the university chancellor (Wilson, 1978). Wilson was one of the many professors who resigned from the college in 1950 under pressure (Wilson). Ryland was terminated after refusing to resign a few months after Wilson left (Andrews Reisch). Wilson did not let this controversy stop her career. She joined the School of Social Welfare at Berkeley in 1951. It was here that she developed a professional education program focused on training new social workers. Originally known as the Certificate Program in the Social Services, it contained specific courses over a two-year period that ended with a two-week seminar on campus (Greenwood, 1985). The Council on Social Work education (CSWE) in 1952 adopted this program as the model for national accreditation (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). At Berkeley, Wilson taught courses in both theory and practice in group work. She was a frequent speaker at seminars and conventions all over the United States and she guest-lectured at the Columbia, Smith, and Tulane Schools of Social Work. Even after retirement, she served as a consultant to social agencies, schools of social work and professional associations. Wilson used her own experience to constantly refine what she considered a dynamic aspect of social work (From practice to theory: a personalized history, 1976). Wilson wrote dozens of conference papers, journal articles, chapters in books, and monographs although she will most likely always be remembered for Social Group Work Practice with Gladys Ryland in 1949. She was one of eight social work pioneers chosen for the NASW Oral History Project in 1978. Each participant took part in a 1-2 hour interview that was recorded and placed in the Library of Congress. Berkley performed a similar interview on videotape in 1982. Both recordings are very difficult to obtain. Although she officially retired from Berkeley in 1963, the college was very gracious following her death from cancer in 1985 (Greenwood, 1985). Gertrude Wilson was an amazing woman who pushed social barriers as an educator and activist. She was one of very few women with a full professorship in the 1930s. Her work in the first half of the 20th century still influences social work today in the 21st. She had a passion for helping people that encouraged her to study a field of practice that was barely recognized until the 1940s. Not only did she pursue that field, she made it possible for others to do so as well by writing the first textbook on the practice of group work. Her certificate program at Berkley was the foundation for modern undergraduate social work curriculum in universities across the nation. These are all accomplishments she made in her field that show her impression on the practice, theory and future practitioners of social work. Personally, I am inspired by her resolve to follow her passion even though there wasnt a road to follow; she dug it out herself so that she could reach her destination and so that others could follow her. It is this attitude that inspires me in my pursuit to implement school social work in Oklahoma. It will never exist in Oklahoma if people do not fight for it and have a practical way to practice it once it does.