A Rhetorical Analysis of Claude McKays Africa

A Rhetorical Analysis of Claude McKay's Africa In this critical essay, student Heather Glover offers a concise rhetorical analysis of the sonnet Africa by Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay. McKays poem originally appeared in the collection Harlem Shadows (1922). Heather Glover composed her essay in April 2005 for a course in rhetoric at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. For definitions and additional examples of the rhetorical terms mentioned in this essay, follow the links to our Glossary of Grammatical Rhetorical Terms. Africas Loss of Grace by Heather L. Glover Africa1 The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light,2 The sciences were sucklings at thy breast;3 When all the world was young in pregnant night4 Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.5 Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize,6 New peoples marvel at thy pyramids!7 The years roll on, thy sphinx of riddle eyes8 Watches the mad world with immobile lids.9 The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaohs name.10 Cradle of Power! Yet all things were in vain!11 Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!12 They went. The darkness swallowed thee again.13 Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,14 Of all the mighty nations of the sun. Keeping with Shakespearean literary tradition, Claude McKay’s â€Å"Africa† is an English sonnet relating the short but tragic life of a fallen heroine. The poem opens with a lengthy sentence of paratactically arranged clauses, the first of which states, â€Å"The sun sought thy dim bed and brought forth light† (line 1). Referencing scientific and historical discourses on humanity’s African origins, the line alludes to Genesis, in which God brings forth light with one command. The adjective dim demonstrates Africa’s unlighted knowledge prior to God’s intervention and also connotes the dark complexions of Africa’s descendants, unspoken figures whose plight is a recurrent subject in McKay’s work. The next line, â€Å"The sciences were sucklings at thy breasts,† establishes the poem’s female personification of Africa and lends further support to the cradle of civilization metaphor introduced in the first line. Mother Africa, a nurturer, raises and encourages the â€Å"sciences,† actions that foreshadow another brightening of the world to come in the Enlightenment. Lines 3 and 4 also evoke a maternal image with the word pregnant, but return to an indirect expression of the African and African-American experience: â€Å"When all the world was young in pregnant night / Thy slaves toiled at thy monumental best.† A subtle nod to the difference between African servitude and American slavery, the lines complete an encomium of Africa’s success before the advent of â€Å"new peoples† (6). While McKay’s next quatrain does not take the drastic turn reserved for the final couplet in Shakespearean sonnets, it clearly indicates a shift in the poem. The lines transform Africa from enterprise’s champion to its object, thereby placing the Mother of Civilization into an antithetically lower position. Opening with an isocolon that stresses Africa’s changing positionâ€Å"Thou ancient treasure-land, thou modern prize†the quatrain continues to demote Africa, placing agency in the hands of â€Å"new peoples† who â€Å"marvel at thy pyramids† (5-6). As the cliched expression of rolling time suggests the permanency of Africa’s new condition, the quatrain concludes, â€Å"thy sphinx of riddle eyes / Watches the mad world with immobile lids† (7-8). The sphinx, a mythical creature often used in caricatures of Egyptian Africa, kills anyone who fails to answer its difficult riddles. The image of a physically and intellectually challenging monster risks undermining the gradual degradation of Africa that is the poem’s theme. But, if unpacked, McKay’s words reveal his sphinx’s lack of power. In a demonstration of anthimeria, the word riddle acts not as a noun or verb, but as an adjective that invokes the sense of perplexity usually associated with riddles or to riddle. The sphinx, then, does not invent a riddle; a riddle makes a confused sphinx. The â€Å"immobile lids† of the dazed sphinx frame eyes that do not detect the mission of the â€Å"new people; the eyes do not move back and forth to keep the strangers in constant sight. Blinded by the activity of the â€Å"mad world,† a world both busy and crazed with expansion, the sphinx, Africa’s representative, fails to see its imminent destru ction. The third quatrain, like the first, begins by retelling a moment of Biblical history: â€Å"The Hebrews humbled them at Pharaoh’s name† (9). These â€Å"humbled people† differ from the slaves mentioned in line 4, proud slaves that â€Å"toiled at thy monumental best† to construct an African heritage. Africa, now without the spirit of her youth, succumbs to a lowly existence. After a tricolonic list of attributes linked with conjunctions to convey the magnitude of her former excellenceâ€Å"Cradle of Power! [†¦] / Honor and Glory, Arrogance and Fame!†Africa is undone with one short, plain phrase: â€Å"They went† (10-12). Lacking the elaborate style and obvious devices contained throughout the poem, â€Å"They went† powerfully understates Africa’s demise. Following the pronouncement is another declarationâ€Å"The darkness swallowed thee again†that connotes discrimination of Africans based upon their skin color and th e failure of their â€Å"dark† souls to reflect the light offered by the Christian God in line 1. In a final blow to Africa’s once shining image, the couplet offers a scathing description of her present state: â€Å"Thou art a harlot, now thy time is done, / Of all the mighty nations of the sun† (13-14). Africa thus seems to fall on the wrong side of the virgin mother/tainted whore dichotomy, and the personification formerly used to sing her praises now condemns her. Her reputation, however, is saved by the couplet’s inverted syntax. If the lines read â€Å"Of all the mighty nations of the sun, / Thou art the harlot, now thy time is done,† Africa would be rendered a wayward woman worthy of scorn because of her licentiousness. Instead, the lines state, â€Å"Thou art the harlot, [†¦] / Of all the mighty nations of the sun.† The couplet suggests that Europe and America, nations enjoying the Son and the â€Å"sun† because they are predominantly Christian and scientifically advanced, pimped Africa in their quests to own her. In a clever positioning of words, then, McKay’s Africa does not fall from grace; grace is snatched from Africa. Work Cited McKay, Claude. Africa.† Harlem Shadows: The Poems of Claude McKay. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. 35.

Definition, Discussion, and Examples of Close Reading

Definition, Discussion, and Examples of Close Reading Close reading is a thoughtful, disciplined reading of a text. Also called close analysis and explication de texte. Though close reading is commonly associated with New Criticism (a movement that dominated literary studies in the U.S. from the 1930s to the 1970s), the method is ancient. It was advocated by the Roman rhetorician Quintilian in his Institutio Oratoria (c. 95 AD). Close reading remains a fundamental critical method practiced in diverse ways by a wide range of readers in different disciplines. (As discussed below, close reading is a skill thats encouraged by the new Common Core State Standards Initiative in the U.S.) One form of close reading is rhetorical analysis. Observations English studies is founded on the notion of close reading, and while there was a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s when this idea was frequently disparaged, it is undoubtedly true that nothing of any interest can happen in this subject without close reading.(Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, 2nd ed. Manchester University Press, 2002) Francine Prose on Close Reading We all begin as close readers. Even before we learn to read, the process of being read aloud to, and of listening, is one in which we are taking in one word after another, one phrase at a time, in which we are paying attention to whatever each word or phrase is transmitting. Word by word is how we learn to hear and then read, which seems only fitting, because it is how the books we are reading were written in the first place. The more we read, the faster we can perform that magic trick of seeing how the letters have been combined into words that have meaning. The more we read, the more we comprehend, the more likely we are to discover new ways to read, each one tailored to the reason why we are reading a particular book.(Francine Prose, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. HarperCollins, 2006) The New Criticism and Close Reading In its analyses, new criticism . . . focuses on phenomena such as multiple meaning, paradox, irony, word play, puns, or rhetorical figures, whichas the smallest distinguishable elements of a literary workform interdependent links with the overall context. A central term often used synonymously with new criticism is close reading. It denotes the meticulous analysis of these elementary features, which mirror larger structures of a text.(Mario Klarer, An Introduction to Literary Studies, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2004) The Aims of Close Reading [A] rhetorical text appears to hideto draw attention away fromits constitutive strategies and tactics. Consequently, close readers have to employ some mechanism for piercing the veil that covers the text so as to see how it works. . . . The principal object of close reading is to unpack the text. Close readers linger over words, verbal images, elements of style, sentences, argument patterns, and entire paragraphs and larger discursive units within the text to explore their significance on multiple levels.(James Jasinski, Sourcebook on Rhetoric: Key Concepts in Contemporary Rhetorical Studies. Sage, 2001) [I]n the traditional view, close reading does not aim to produce the meaning of the text, but rather to unearth all possible types of ambiguities and ironies.(Jan van Looy and Jan Baetens, Introduction: Close Reading Electronic Literature. Close Reading New Media: Analyzing Electronic Literature. Leuven University Press, 2003) What, really, does a critical close reader do that the average person on the street does not do? I argue that the close-reading critic reveals meanings that are shared but not universally and also meanings that are known but not articulated. The benefit of revealing such meanings is to teach or enlighten those who hear or read the critique. . . . The critics job is to uncover these meanings in such a way that people have an aha! moment in which they suddenly agree to the reading, the meanings the critic suggests suddenly come into focus. The standard of success for the close reader who is also a critic is therefore the enlightenment, insights, and agreement of those who hear or read what he or she has to say.(Barry Brummett, Techniques of Close Reading. Sage, 2010) Close Reading and the Common Core Chez Robinson, eighth-grade Language Arts teacher and part of the leadership team at Pomolita Middle School, says, Its a process; educators are still learning about it. . . . Close reading is one strategy being implemented for teaching students higher level thinking skills, focusing on depth rather than breadth. You take a piece of text, fiction or non-fiction, and you and your students examine it closely, she says. In the classroom, Robinson introduces the overall purpose of the reading assignment and then has students work independently and in partners and groups to share what they have learned. They circle words that are confusing or unknown, write out questions, use exclamation marks for ideas that surprise, underline key points. . . . Robinson uses examples from Langston Hughes work, especially rich in figurative language, and refers specifically to his poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. Together, she and her students investigate each line, each stanza, piece by piece, leading to deeper levels of understanding. She plays an interview with him, assigns a five-paragraph essay on the Harlem Renaissance. Its not that this hasnt been done before, she says, but Common Core is bringing a new focus to the strategies.(Karen Rifkin, Common Core: New Ideas for Teachingand for Learning. The Ukiah Daily Journal, May 10, 2014) The Fallacy in Close Reading There is a small but immitigable fallacy in the theory of close reading, . . . and it applies to political journalism as well as to the reading of poetry. The text doesn’t reveal its secrets just by being stared at. It reveals its secrets to those who already pretty much know what secrets they expect to find. Texts are always packed, by the reader’s prior knowledge and expectations, before they are unpacked. The teacher has already inserted into the hat the rabbit whose production in the classroom awes the undergraduates.(Louis Menand, Out of Bethlehem. The New Yorker, August 24, 2015)

The Effects of One-On-One Intervention on Letter Recognition in Dissertation

The Effects of One-On-One Intervention on Letter Recognition in Kindergartners - Dissertation Example ention is not justified because at the end of the day, individual letters do not matter very much and other lesser grilling  methods of teaching can be applied (Gillon, 2004). This study is, therefore, going to look at the effects that some of these interventions have on the kindergarten and establish whether to promote them or curtail their usage. Background and Justification According to Fulk (1997) et al., â€Å"there are various conflicts and concerns about the best way to help the pupil to achieve a concrete letter recognition ability, if at all that is needed.† There have been countless critics of the best way to approach this issue with the maximum result. They carried out a study which will be given shortly in the literature review section. It was clear that there were several methods of intervention such as picture mnemonics, letter speed race, letter, matches, rhyming concepts, ordering methods and so forth. The methods have existed from a very long time but also t here are those that have come up in the recent past which are either created by the individual teachers creatively approaching the subject. The other references that have been applied in this context also agree that the methods are a good mode of teaching (Bastano, 2008). The study is, therefore, justified to seek answers about the effectiveness of the specific letter-recognition intervention method that are being applied by many people in the learning institutions. Martinez (2010) argues that â€Å"despite the curriculum of teaching in schools putting emphasis on the pupils to be able to know letters in all formats and correctly name them, it is not as important as the effort that is put in it†. This poses a big conflict about the justification of the one-on-one intervention of the letter recognition... From this dissertation it is clear that there are various conflicts and concerns about the best way to help the pupil to achieve a concrete letter recognition ability, if at all that is needed. There have been countless critics of the best way to approach this issue with the maximum result. They carried out a study which will be given shortly in the literature review section. It was clear that there were several methods of intervention such as picture mnemonics, letter speed race, letter, matches, rhyming concepts, ordering methods and so forth. The methods have existed from a very long time but also there are those that have come up in the recent past which are either created by the individual teachers creatively approaching the subject. The other references that have been applied in this context also agree that the methods are a good mode of teaching. Martinez argues that â€Å"despite the curriculum of teaching in schools putting emphasis on the pupils to be able to know letters in all formats and correctly name them, it is not as important as the effort that is put in it†. This poses a big conflict about the justification of the one-on-one intervention of the letter recognition exercise. Because of these arguments the instructional techniques that are used in kindergarten setting ought to be customized for the pupils for better results. The question here there ore is how effective are those instructional strategies in the teaching environment and what are the impacts of them on the young minds.

Developing as a Teacher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Developing as a Teacher - Essay Example In regard to motivation, pupils who are interested and active in school tend to have higher goal orientations and higher self-efficacy, which has been shown to be positively related to self-regulatory strategies such as planning, monitoring, and regulation resulting in increased pupil performance (Alsop, Bencze, & Pedretti, 2005). social concerns. As Osborne, Simon and Collins (2003) state, "attitudes are enduring while knowledge often has an ephemeral quality (and) the price of ignoring this simple fact and its implications is the potential alienation of our youth phenomenon that many countries are now experiencing" (p. 1074). Through the learning environment, teachers should motivate their pupils; teachers should convince their pupils to see the relevance of education and learning to their lives; should give their pupils the strategies, skills, and abilities to be successful in the classroom as well as out in the "real world." Therefore, the problem to be addressed in this paper is how teachers can help their pupils to actively engage in their own learning. Pintrich, Marx, and Boyle (1993) describe classroom contextual factors as six structures that define a leaning environment. These structures are: task structures, authority structures, evaluation structures, classroom management, teacher modeling and teacher scaffolding. Task structures deal with providing pupils with authentic, challenging and meaningful tasks in the classroom (Hamilton, 2007). Authority structures address the issues of providing pupils with optimal choice, optimal control and optimal challenge in the classroom. Evaluation structures (or assessment) address the issue of allowing pupil work to be improvement based and mistakes are seen as positive (Hamilton, 2007) and as an opportunity for mastery learning. Classroom management concerns the use of time and norms for engagement in the classroom. Teacher modeling directs the efforts and attention of scientific thinking and scientific dispositions as engaged by the teacher in the classroom. Teacher scaffolding addresse s the issues of cognition and motivation. In many secondary classrooms, pupils are often cognitively, emotionally, and socially dependent on their teachers who formulate the learning goals, determine the type of interaction allowed, and generally require pupils to adjust to the learning environment they have created (Boekaerts, 2002). However, classroom contextual factors such as authentic tasks or projects "without one right answer" that allow longer periods of time for completion may drive off closure and facilitate more cognitive activity and conceptual change" and may serve to actively motivate learners as well (Pintrich quoted in Alsop, Bencze, & Pedretti, 2005). Pupils who adopt a goal orientation approach (motivation) do engage in more selfregulated learning than those who do not (Pintrich, 2000). Self-regulated learning

Act of Kindness Essay Example for Free

Act of Kindness Essay Today i will be telling you about one of my act of kindness, but before i do that i will be giving you hints as to what your about to read. It happen at a store that was one city over from me and was one of the best places to be be around because of the places near it. I was really young and it happen in the toy aisle because when your little and a boy its your favorite place. There was a young boy who was crying out for his mom. I was a worried alot when i was little and so i had my older sister help me look for the kids mother so he could smile. Those are my hints to what your about to read in my essay about my act of kindness. My act of kindness takes place at Kmart in Simi Valley, Califronia. I lived one city over from Simi and it was the only major shopping store close to us that was like a Walmart. I loved going to Kmart with my mom and sister because i would most likey get a toy for going with them. Once before when i went to Kmart with my mom i got lost from her and it was the scariest thing a young boy can feel being lost from his mother. When i got lost there was someone there to help me get back to my mom, so i always felt that i should help someone else who was lost from someone they love. MY act of kindness happened in Kmart but to be more precise it happened in the toy aisle in Kmart. When your a young boy the toy aisle is like a candy shop and every toy is like a different flavor. I was six years old with my mom and sister and i would always go to the toys to look and see what i wanted for chrismas because chrismas was like a month and a half away. I saw a little boy in the toy aisle with me he had his hands on his face and i didnt know what he was doing. The little boy was three years old and his hands were over his face because he was crying and i didnt know why he was crying i was thinking it was for a toy and he mom wouldnt let him get it. Then i hear him starting to cry mama mama where are you mama. I started to worry for the three year old boy even though i was only six years old i worried and to this day i still worry about stuff. When i went up to my mom i told her i think that boy is lost from his mom. I got to the point where i didnt want him to be sad any more because i knew when i got lost from my mom someone helped me. I ask my sister if she would help me with looking from his mom, my sister was 12 so she was older than me and could do alot more than i could. We started to look around the toy aisle because that where the three year old boy was so we thought his mother would be close by. Then we started to look other places we went to the food  aisle and the young kids clothing aisle. We looked everywhere we were thinking his mom left Kmart and left her son in the toy aisle. We went to the cash register have an employee page that a little boy lost his mom, but right when we got there we heard the mom yell the three year old boys name and he yelled mommy and she thanked us for helping her son look for his mom and i was happy knowing he got back with his mom. That is one of my act of kindness but to me this is one of the biggest act of kindness i have done because i was six when i did this act of kindness. To some people it might not seem like a big act of kindness but even the littlest acts of kindness can help someone in the long run. So if i could say that someones act of kindness to me made me in turn help someone else. I hope what you get from this story is that you can help someone no matter the age or the place. These are my words of wisdom for someone who was helped and who in return helped someone else.

I Want to Explore the Dark :: Graduate Admissions Essays

I Want to Explore the Dark The vacuum of space defined by modern particle theory is a strange place indeed. From an unchanging "void" it has become an active arena out of which particles might be created or into which they might be destroyed. Just as light was supposed to excite waves in the aether according to Newton, we now envisage elementary particles to be excitations out of the vacuum state. That vacuum might even be the "source" of all matter in the universe. We may have dispensed with the classical aether of Aristotle and Huygens, but in the process have come to speculate about matters which may seem even more bizarre. Perhaps we have just come full circle. After all, how much closer can we come to the "indefinite" of [the early Greek philosopher] Anaximander? Recall once again his words: the "indefinite". . . . . . is neither water nor any other of the so-called elements, but some different, boundless nature, from which all the heavens arise and the worlds within them; out of those things whence is the generation for existing things, into these again does their destruction take place, according to what must needs be. Anaximander's words now appear prophetically familiar. Although we have come a long way from the cosmogony of Anaximander and the earlier myths of the primeval ocean, and our explanations have become more sophisticated and more scientific, the basic questions driving our inquiries are the same. We are still searching for the fundamental constituents of the matter that we can see and touch, and we still wonder about the origin, nature, and existence of the dominant "stuff" in the universe. As our knowledge of one realm has improved so has our ability to speculate about and probe another.

Happiness and Money

Money has become one of the main things In our modern life. Some people live their lives to earn money. They work hard, trying to earn as much money as they can. Some of them become crazy about It and lose their dlgnlty hunting money. They dont appreciate such Important things as family, friendship, love and other feelings. Such people become greedy, they spend their lives in loneliness. I don't deny that money influences our life a lot. As W. S. Maugham said † Money is like the sixth feeling ithout which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. I quite agree. A person can't be happy if he has no money to satisfy his natural needs. But I think that money should have a limit. A person shouldn't have too much money. It begins destroying him and becomes his curse. It is said in the Bible that â€Å"The love of money is the root of all evil. † Yes, big sums of money really bring dfferent problems because people feel very envious and Jealous of other's fortune. The m ajority of all the crimes are made because of money. I'm among the people who consider that money Is not ll-powerful.Humanity, dignity, intelligence, kindness and other good qualltles of a person can't be bought for money. We'll never be able to buy pure love, real friendship and loving and caring family. But life Isnt worth living without these things. It's not worth living if money has become the point of it either. 9HAeKC. AnpeKT Can Money Buy Happiness Can money buy happiness? Various people have various answers. Some people think that money is the source of happiness. With money, one can buy whatever he enjoys. With money, one can do whatever he likes.So, In their minds, money can bring omfort, security, and so on. Money, as they think. Is the source of happiness. But there are still a lot of others who think that money Is the root of all evil. Money drives people to steal, to rob, and to break the law. A lot of people became criminals just because they were in search of money. And in the Western countries, there is nothing that can t be bought by money. Many people lose their own lives when hunting it. I think that money is essential to life and we cannot do without money. But even though money is necessary to life, it can t buy happiness.Happiness s not something that can be measured by money. It is a state of mind. One can have plenty of money, with which he can buy whatever he wants, and at the same time he is not happy because he is never satisfied or he is troubled by various kinds of problems. Therefore, although money is necessary for a happy life, it can t buy happiness. People usually dont think too much about the meaning of money. The only Idea and concern Is to make more than they usually have. Of course having money Is a good thing because they give us the possibility to satisfy our needs and desires.People they don't usually think too much, the waste it buying expensive cars, eating out or buying expensive things Just for being in fashion. Y et, money has a certain feature â€Å"to come† easier to those who treat it well. Money tends to go to those who can use it in the most productive way to produce useful services and valuable goods and who has the ability to invest the in a profitable economical field. At the same time money uses to flow away from those who don't have the habit to use them in a profitable way. I think everyone should learn to save money and to invest it in rder to gain more.If we know the value of money we can easily manage it. It becomes a habit that leads to a successful life and career. The more effective period for learning the value of money is childhood because children usually don't value money because they don't know how much effort their parents put in their work in order to earn a certain some of money. Thus, parents are responsible for showing the real value of money when their kids are still small, than it will be much easier for them to value money without being even told about th is.

Communication Studies: Examples of preface Essay

A poem was chosen to portray this piece because readers seem to be more appreciative of poems. This genre allowed the opportunity to create the perfect setting in which a young girl is enticed into prostitution. I was inspired to do this piece because I wanted to help some of my friends and hope that this genre of the poem will reach them. The intended audience is adolescent girls as they are at high risk of being lured into this practice via media influences that make it seem ‘acceptable’ to indulge in vulgar behaviour and promiscuous acts. An appropriate place for this reflective piece would be in a school newspaper/class notice board, as well as in a school library for easy accessibility. This piece was written in an attempt to sensitize the public of this ever growing epidemic among the young girls of the Caribbean. Example B A dialogue was chosen for this reflective piece because it was the most effective genre to express my thought and feelings about the topic of discussion. It gave the opportunity for my ideas to flow freely. This piece entitled â€Å"Last Resort† discusses one prostitute’s situation and the reasons for her current lifestyle. A dialogue was also chosen to portray this piece as I wished to present at real life scenario that one can easily relate to and understand. The intended audience for this piece is young girls, particularly in their teenage years as they are most susceptible to becoming prostitutes due to poverty and sexual abuse at home. The best place for this piece would be in a teen magazine or newspaper, posted on notice boards at various schools and in the public libraries for wide accessibility. â€Å"Last Resort† intends to sensitize young females in the Caribbean in a dramatic way on the circumstances that may lead to prostitution in an attempt to avoid this lifestyle as much as possible , and hopefully lead to action where precautionary measures may be taken into curb this prevalence.

Writing English Drama Scripts in ESL Class

Writing English Drama Scripts in ESL Class English learners need to use their English in productive settings to improve their communicative skills. One of the most fun ways to do this is by working on collaborative projects. Students work together towards some tangible goal such as a business presentation, creating a powerpoint slide or by performing a short work for each other. This lesson plan focuses on helping students write a short script, practice the dialogue and perform for fellow students. Having students perform a short drama script that theyve developed combines a number of production skills through working in groups. Some of the territory covered includes: Writing skills - writing up the scriptPronunciation - working on stress and intonation when actingFocus on specific terminology depending on subject - including target vocabulary taken from previous lessonsNegotiation skills with other students - working together to choose a romantic film, choosing appropriate language for linesImproving confidence - acting in front of others This activity is especially useful after students have been studying a particular topic area over a period of time. In the example lesson, Ive chosen romantic films for classes that have been developing their understanding of relationships. Its best to start off by exploring related vocabulary through the use of vocabulary trees and related exercises. Once students have expanded their vocabulary knowledge, they can work on speaking about relationships through the use of modal verbs of deduction for giving advice. Finally, students can put together their newly won knowledge by putting it all together creating a script on their own.   Drama Script Lesson Plan Aim: Building conversational and team working skills in English Activity: Creating an English drama script based on a romantic film Level: Intermediate to advanced level learners Outline: Ask students to name a romantic film. Make sure that most if not all of the students are familiar with the film.As a class, have the students choose a film with a limited (best two, three, or four) number of characters that are crucial to the overall plot of the film.Write the characters up on the board as in a dialogue between the characters.Solicit lines from the class for a short portion of the scene. Encourage students to use vocabulary theyve learned throughout the course of the past few lessons.Read the lines dramatically, have students practice the lines in their own small groups. Keep the focus on the acting to help focus on stress and intonation in pronunciation.Explain the project to the class. Stress that students should create the lines themselves, rather than try to find a clip from the film and reproduce the lines individually.Pass out the project worksheet.Have students access the internet to find the plot outlines on the site suggested below or another movie spoiler s ite. Once students have found the plot outlines, print out the outline so students can work together in groups to choose the appropriate scene.Follow the directions below in the handout for the students. Project: Writing a Drama Script You’re going to write your own script for a scene from a movie about a romantic relationship. Here are the steps: Go to themoviespoiler.com.Choose a romantic movie that you already know.Read through the movie description and choose one short scene (or paragraph) from the description to write a script for.Choose your characters. There should be one character for each person in your group.Write the script using the description as your guideline. Try to imagine what each person would say in that situation.Practice your script in your group until you feel comfortable with your lines.Get up and perform! You’re a STAR baby!! Next stop: Hollywood!

How To Say But in Spanish

How To Say But in Spanish Although pero and sino are the most common words translated from Spanish as but, they are used in different ways and cannot be substituted for each other. Like but often is,  pero and sino are coordinating conjunctions, meaning that they connect two words or phrases of similar grammatical status. And like but, pero and sino are used in forming contrasts. Differences Between Pero and Sino Usually, the Spanish conjunction to be used to indicate a contrast is pero. But sino is used instead when two conditions are true: when the part of the sentence coming before the conjunction is stated in the negative, and when the part after the conjunction directly contradicts what is negated in the first part. In mathematical-like terms, sino is used for but in sentences of type not A but B when A contradicts B. The examples below should make this clear. Heres another way of putting it: Both pero and sino can be translated as but. But in almost all cases, rather, but rather or instead also could be used as an appropriate translation where sino is used, but not for pero. Examples of Pero in Use Me gustarà ­a salir, pero no puedo. (I would like to leave, but I cant. The first part of the sentence isnt stated in the negative, so pero is used.)Marà ­a es alta pero no es fuerte. (Mary is tall, but she isnt strong. The first part of the sentence isnt stated in the negative, so pero is used.)Los huevos son fritos pero no revueltos. (The eggs are fried but not scrambled. Again, the first part of the sentence is stated in the affirmative.)Marà ­a no es alta pero es inteligente. (Mary isnt tall, but shes intelligent. Although the first part of this sentence is in the negative, pero is used because theres no direct contrast - theres no contradiction with being short and smart.)No son muchos pero buenos. (There arent many, but theyre good. Again, theres no direct contrast, so pero is used.)El virus Cà ³digo Rojo no afecta usuarios, pero Sircam no remite. (The Code Red virus doesnt affect users, but Sircam doesnt let up. The two parts of this sentence are used as a comparison rath er than a contrast, so pero is used.) Examples of Sino  in Use Marà ­a no es alta sino baja. (Mary isnt tall, but short, or Mary isnt tall, rather shes short. Theres a direct contrast between tall and short.)No creemos lo que vemos, sino que vemos lo que creemos. (We dont believe what we see, but we see what we believe, or we dont believe what we see, rather we see what we believe. Theres a clear and direct contrast between cause and effect used in this sentence.)El protagonista no era conde sino seà ±or. (The protagonist wasnt a count but a lord, or the protagonist wasnt a count, rather he was a lord. Although conde and seà ±or arent opposites, they are used in this sentence to contrast with each other.)No he venido a ser servido sino a servir. (I havent come to be served but to serve, or I havent come to be served; instead I have come to serve. Again, theres a direct contrast between the two purposes stated in the sentence.)El problema no es tuyo sino mà ­o. (The problem isnt yours but mine. Sino shows a contrast in ownership.) Other Ways of Saying But in Spanish When except can substitute for but, it is often possible to use excepto, menos, or salvo. In these cases, however, but and the Spanish word are arent used to form a contrast but to function as a preposition. Creo en la justicia para todos, excepto mis enemigos. (I believe in justice for everyone but  my enemies.)No conozco a nadie, excepto mi hija. (I dont know anybody but my daughter.)Me gustan todos los comentarios, menos el primero. (I liked all the comments but the first one.)Debemos considerar todas las posibilidades, menos esa. (We should consider all the possibilities but that one.)Todos los formularios,  salvo uno, estn disponibles en inglà ©s. (All the forms but one are available in English.)Nadie, salvo yo, sabe lo que es bueno para mà ­. (Nobody but me knows what is good for me.)

Operation Management about EasyJet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operation Management about EasyJet - Essay Example EasyJet will be forced to layoff some of its employees after the tremendous drop of passengers seeking its services. The management prefers the government to impose a tax on planes rather than tax passengers. Operation management is caught between maintenance of customers and generation of revenue on one hand, and government taxation on the other (Lewis & Slack, 2003, p64). The third challenge experienced by operation management is the incapability of EasyJet to provide adequate customer satisfaction. This issue is evident when the customer wants to present a complaint to the airline’s management. At EasyJet operation management does not have enough staffs to handle customer complaints, even though; they have enough staffs to handle booking and payment services. Hiring more staffs mean allocating more resources to pay these staffs, which EasyJet cannot afford (Peters, 2011, p12). A number of customers have expressed the criticism that booking and paying for services are easier than issuing out a complaint. This fact is detrimental to the organization’s success in that it can lose out on its customers, who are important for its survival and success (Lewis & Slack, 2003, p321). The fourth factor that is commonly experienced as a challenge in operating management at EasyJet is the dynamic airline industry. The industry is dynamic in that there are numerous technological advancements and regular fluctuation of flight prices. It is advantageous for organizations to be advanced technologically. Swift adaptation to technological changes taking place in the airline industry at times is a problem to EasyJet (Peters, 2011, p6). This is as a result of a lot of resources needed in acquiring a more recent technology, which can be in terms of acquiring the latest... Operation management is essential to a company’s success or survival in the industry. However, this aspect is bound to come across various challenges, which inhibit its capabilities. EasyJet, an airline company, is not an exception; it has succumbed to a number of challenges that have inhibited its normal operation management. The challenges involve; cancellation of flights due to volcanic eruptions, a new government tax policy, complaints from customers, a dynamic airline industry, lack of market diversification, and change of strategy. The challenges have had negative impacts on EasyJet’s performance and reputation in the airline industry. Although, EasyJet experiences these negative challenges on its operation management, it has proved to be one of the most thriving airline companies in Europe. Its success is attributed to its operation management, which is highly focused towards its primary strategy of providing cheaper air transport.

Women in Leadership Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women in Leadership - Article Example Use of softer words has been a source of more trouble to women leaders; this tends to show the audience the level of seriousness and confidence the leader upholds. The nervousness in their talking greatly affects their leadership as they talk mainly about a group of people they show signs of panic. The signs can be captured by the audience and be used to criticize her personality as a leader. Choice of words weaken the women leaders statements, women tend to use words they believe are more humble to create a conducive environment but in turn makes them sound less of leaders. When Margaret Thatcher spoke in an interview conducted by BBC, she sounded uncomfortable in her role as a leader she said, â€Å"Ive been so busy that I havent had really much time to think about it. After all, I know I am still only me, and so do my family. However, I am very much aware of the responsibilities. In addition, a little bit apprehensive. Who wouldnt be, when you think of the names that I follow?" (Humphrey, 2015, p.1). With time Margaret Thatcher, the iron woman had to learn choice of words, which made her an inspiring leader. The class material Women in leadership is related to our article speaking habits that weaken women. For deliberation of leadesrhip, a woman must learn best ways to speak and put across relevant ideas with confidence. A good leader always depicts confidence and courage. Speaking must not derail a woman’s leadership at any cost. Women in leadership must learn to use words that will not demean their authority. The speaking habits that weaken women leadership was discussed in class. This was during a class on women in leadership. I chose this article since women leaders must be motivated to be as good as the male counterparts. Speaking habits must not be the main reason to undermine women leaders in our society. We must encourage our women leaders to learn the best ways and tactics to handle situations by just speaking. They must learn how to