Strategies for How to Improve English Listening Skills

Strategies for How to Improve English Listening Skills As a new English speaker, your language skills are progressing well grammar is now familiar, your  reading comprehension is no problem, and you are communicating quite fluently   but listening is still posing a problem. First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening comprehension is probably the most difficult task for almost all learners of English as a foreign language. The most important thing is to listen, and that means as often as possible. The next step is to find listening resources. This is where the Internet really comes in handy (idiom to be useful) as a tool for English students. A few  suggestions for interesting listening selections are  CBC Podcasts,  Ã‚  All Things Considered (on NPR), and  the BBC. Listening Strategies Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated  by your limited understanding. Here are a few courses of action you can take: Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything.Stay relaxed when you do not understand even if you continue to have trouble understanding for a while.Do not translate into your native language.Listen for the gist (or general idea) of the conversation. Dont concentrate on detail until you have understood the main idea(s). First, translating creates a barrier between the listener and the speaker. Second, most people repeat themselves constantly. By remaining calm, you can usually understand what the speaker had said. Translating Creates a Barrier Between Yourself and the Person Who Is Speaking While you are listening to another person speaking a foreign language (English in this case), the temptation is to immediately translate into your native language. This temptation becomes much stronger when you hear a word you dont understand. This is only natural as we want to understand everything that is said. However, when you translate into your native language, you are taking the focus  of your attention away from the speaker and concentrating on the translation process taking place in your brain. This would be fine if you could put the speaker on hold. In real life, however, the person continues talking while you translate. This situation obviously leads to less not more understanding. Translation leads to a mental block in your brain, which sometimes doesnt allow you to understand anything at all. Most People Repeat Themselves Think for a moment about your friends, family, and colleagues. When they speak in your native tongue, do they repeat themselves? If they are like most people, they probably do. That means that whenever you listen to someone speaking, it is very likely that they will repeat the information, giving you a second, third or even fourth chance to understand what has been said. By remaining calm, allowing yourself to not understand, and not translating while listening, your brain is free to concentrate on the most important thing: understanding English in English. Probably the greatest advantage of using the Internet to improve your listening skills is that you can choose what you would like to listen to and how many and times you would like to listen to it. By listening to something you enjoy, you are also likely to know a lot more of the vocabulary required. Use Key Words Use keywords or key phrases to help you understand the general ideas. If you understand New York, business trip, last year you can assume that the person is speaking about a business trip to New York last year. This may seem obvious to you, but remember that understanding the main idea will help you to understand the detail as the person continues to speak. Listen for Context Lets imagine that your English speaking friend says, I bought this great tuner  at JRs. It was really cheap and now I can finally listen to National Public Radio broadcasts. You dont understand what a tuner  is, and if you focus on the word tuner  you might become frustrated. If you think in context, you probably will begin to understand. For example; bought is the past of buy, listen is no problem and radio is obvious. Now you understand: He bought something the  tuner to listen to the radio. A tuner must be a kind of radio. This is a simple example but it demonstrates what you need to focus on: Not the word that you dont understand, but the words you do understand. Listening often is the most important way to improve your listening skills. Enjoy the listening possibilities offered by the Internet and remember to relax.

Exam 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Exam 3 - Essay Example This paper will focus on two theories of organizational communication, that is The Contingency theory and the Bureaucracy theory. Joan Woodward put the contingency theory forward as part of the scientific studies of management. It states that there is no single way in which management of an organization can solve a problem. Every situation is different and therefore calls for a different approach in providing a solution. This means that an organization should be dynamic and ready to embrace changes in order to enhance its operations. These contingencies are various constraints that can be originating either internally or externally. Internal constraints originate from the organization and they include demographic constraints, traditional, output and structural contingencies. Those that are external constraints include factors from the external environment such as political factors, environmental, economic, technological, legal and socio-cultural factors. Hence, an organization’s communication strategies are dependent upon different factors. 1. The contingency theory of decision-making; this perspective explains that for one to make a decision in an organization, the decision best suites the situation if it was made through consultations and is specific to that situation. Hence emphasizes the basic argument of the contingency theory that there is no one specific way of solving matters, they are all dependent upon situations. This theory was applied in Davis Instrument Company where by the management was face by a challenge in operations. This was because it wanted to change its systems. However, there was a challenge of how this would be done in the best way possible such that the workers would be receptive about the new system. Various proposals were made on how to handle the situation and it was quite difficult to settle on one.

Managing Global Hospitality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Global Hospitality - Essay Example Global hospitality industry is growing at a good pace. The increase in holiday trends is one of the reasons of the growth. People now try to visit to different tourist destinations in their leisure time. Globalization has also contributed towards this trend and people all over the world get to see more and more beautiful destinations on television and internet. But with growth hospitality industry globally is also encountering many issues like regulations, natural disasters, high cost of service and greater competition. This has caused many global giants in the industry to look for new avenues of investment. Background of the Company Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is one of the largest hotel chains of the world. The company started its operations in 1971from Singapore but currently it has hotels and resorts in around 17 countries all over the world. The company grew in Asia at a very fast pace and right now has a significant market share in Asia. Overall the company has presence in all continents of the world except Africa. Company is also planning to open a new hotel in London in 2012 (Shangri-La Hotels Website, 2011). The company has wonderful customer service and has won many awards for of excellence. The diversity at the Shangri-La Hotels is very well known all over the world (Clark & Chen, 2007). Shangri-La Hotels are high class hotel and are catered towards the rich class and for this reason a high quality of service is maintained. The company is also planning to expand in China, Canada and India in years to come. The brand name of the company is prestigious and known all over the world. The expansion of the company is based upon the innovative practices of the company.

Article Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Review - Article Example It provides alternative to Kenyans living in urban communities to send money to their loved ones living in the provinces. It beats having to spend time falling inline on banks and other money transfer services. The convenience, security, and portability of doing the transaction anytime, anywhere made M- PESA a preferred method for money transfer for 9.5 million Kenyans, that’s over 20 percent of the total population (The Economist, 2010). M- PESA works by converting the user’s cash to ‘e-float’, wherein money is digitalized and is credited to their phone. They could exchange or purchase ‘e-float’ through accredited banks and partnered agents who also sell airtime/ prepaid cards. When they want to send money or ‘e-float’ to another person, they would just key-in the amount they want to send. The receiving party—who also would have to be a Safaricom subscriber to be able to receive the e-float, would just simply show his phone —which contains the text message and reference number to the transaction, to redeem the e-float and exchange it to cash.

Measuring the development of rural women

Measuring the development of rural women Although it has been difficult to break down the gender blindness of development history, since 1970, gender’s role in family welfare was made as a visible social construct in development (Kingsbury et al., 2004; Bannon and Correia, 2006). Parallel to improvements made in womens position in many societies, the importance of gender to economic analyses (Kadam, 2012) and their active participation in development has been one of the most troubled aspects of the development debate (Kingsbury et al., 2004). In the rural sector, the attention to gender issues is even more challenging. This means that understanding the linkages between gender equity and development effectiveness is essential aspect of rural studies. Therefore, gender issues have been a core priority of governments including Iran. Although Iran has made considerable progress in terms of human development, its rural areas face some important challenges. Today rural people have, more than ever before, access to educatio n, health facilities and occupational opportunities. But close examination of their living conditions indicates that although the aggregate level of production and consumption has increased, the distribution of benefits continues to show persistent inequalities, including the need for more equitable income and wealth distribution, improved access to health and basic sanitation services. The concern for increasing the development of the rural women makes researchers eager to focus on enormous diversity of pathways to human development monitoring and evaluation. These attempts lead to determining list of indicators for monitoring and evaluation a range of economic, social and environmental goals. However, various life domains directly contribute to individual development. Perhaps, human development approach presents an opportunity not only to review achievements in human development domain, but also to determine challenges at different global, national and regional levels, systematica lly. Not surprisingly, the human development approach, which proved very popular in public discussion, has a crudeness that is somewhat similar to mechanical devices of economic development. Besides, this approach is concentrating on what remains undone especially for different regions. Therefore, the validity of the original human development vision has been criticized on a number of fronts. This paper discusses a modified index for measuring rural women development. The present study outlines different concepts important for concerning rural women development, specifically: (1) quality of life; (2) income; (3) social capital; (4) health and sanitation; (5) food security; (6) rate of education; and (7) life expectancy among rural women in Choram County, South-Werstern of Iran. These concepts provide understanding that rural communities are both an environment of care and a cause of disease. Background Since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published a series of annual Human Development Reports (HDRs) in which the human development index (HDI) is computed for each country (Sagar and Najam, 1998). HDI embodies Amartya Sen’s â€Å"capabilities† approach to understanding human well-being, which emphasizes the importance of ends (Stanton, 2007). This framework has continued to be the keystone of annual reports from the UNDP on dimensions of human development demand most attention in the contemporary world: to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and have access to resources for a decent standard of living. Adult literacy and combined enrolment ratios have been selected as indicators for the knowledge dimension, life expectancy at birth as the indicator for a healthy life and an adjusted GDP as the indicator for the standard of living. In essence, the HDRs have pushed the development debate boundaries beyond a traditional economic per spective (Sagar and Najam, 1998). Despite the positive view of these qualities by many scholars (Streeten, 1994), yet not all sides of the story are positive. However, substantial progress has seen in many aspects of human development, even in countries facing adverse economic conditions (Human development report, 2010). In the other words, the progress was proved in improving health and education and raising income, which expand people’s social capital (power to select leaders, influence public decisions and share knowledge). But not in poverty and deprivation reduction to end the inequality and insecurity around the world. As much as the HDI has introduced new way of development thinking, it has also been faced with a number of criticisms (Sanusi, 2008). Unfortunately, over the years, the HDRs seem to have become stagnant, repeating the same rhetoric without necessarily increasing the HDI’s utility. Progress has varied, and increasing inequality has also seen among people in different countries, across regions, and especially rural areas both within and across countries. The HDI is a measure which reflects its aims imperfectly; and other important questions concerning human development are left out of the HDI altogether. Srinivasan (1994) summarizes the HDI critiques in five main categories: poor data, incorrect choice of indicators, various problems with the HDI’s formula in general, incorrect specification of income in particular, and redundancy. In fact, the authors have modified the index to address many of its sharpest criticisms, and thus the HDI has evolved over the seven issues of the Human Development Report. Plans that maximize the modified index directly trade-off the allocations to consumption, education and health against each other. This leads to plans that balance expenditures across the three components. Engineer et al (2008) consider net income, in education and health expenditure domain, as indicating capabilities not already reflected in the index and argue for a modified HDI that replaces the income component with a net income component; i.e. income that is net of expenditures on education and health. The multi-dimensional nature of poverty is being emphasized by many analysts and policy makers. Addressing these issues requires new tools. Hicks (1997) proposed a method of incorporating distributional inequalities of three measures of income, education and longevity into the HDI framework. He believed that Gi ni coefficients could potentially measure inequalities in human development (annual income, educational, and life-span attainment). A number of attempts have been made to adjust the raw measure of life expectancy to take into account quality of life and time spent in poor health. One concern is that while females generally live longer, their quality of life may be lower due to poorer health than men. The Global Burden of Disease project popularized one such measure, namely disability-adjusted life expectancy (Murray and Là ³pez 1996). The World Health Organization (WHO) measures healthy life expectancy (HALE) based on life expectancy at birth adjusted for time spent in poor health. Although, these new thinking approaches and thus the new measurement tools reinforce the continuing validity of the human development vision (HDR, 2010), the study of development in regional contexts, rural areas, bring a second debate on the fore, that focuses on the extent to which the definition and experience of development is culturally specific. And, are the standardised indicators appropriate applied devises for all regions? Even when progress in the HDI is experienced in the country level, this does not necessarily excel in the local and regional levels. In the other words, as averages can be misleading, it is possible to have an acceptable rate of progress in HDI and be unequal. These patterns pose important challenges for how to think about human development dimensions, its measurement and the policies to improve outcomes and processes over time especially in regional areas and among the mass development neglected target groups, rural women. Perhaps, the understanding, measurement, and improvement of human development especially in local level have been commonly expressed by the term quality of life (QOL) across multiple disciplines (including sociology, economics, psychology, environmental science, and medicine). The term QOL is a complex, multi-faceted concept (Farquhar, 1995; Carr et al., 2001; Holmes, 2005) which according to Costanza et al (2007) is generally meant to represent either how well human needs are met or the extent to which individuals or groups perceive satisfaction or dissatisfaction in various dimensions of their lives. Similarly, Calman as stated by Vyavaharkar et al (2012) defined QOL as a gap or difference between hopes and expectations of a person and the person’s present experiences at a given moment in time. The limited amount of research has focused on QOL in development studies. However, it seems that QOL in the rural setting according to Phillips (2006) is a multifaceted phenomenon determined by the cumulative and interactive impacts of numerous and varied factors (Zaid and Popoola, 2010) like housing conditions, services, infrastructure, access to various qualities and amenities, income, living standards, satisfaction about the physical and social environment (Phillip, 2006). An integrative definition of quality of life contains two sets of subjective (Carr et al., 2001; Holmes, 2005; Phillips, 2006; Costanza et al., 2007) and objective indicators (Phillips, 2006; Costanza, 2007). The subjective indicator focuses on respondents own assessments of pleasure as the basic building block of human satisfaction, happiness well-being or some near synonym of their lived experiences. However, so-called â€Å"objective† indicators of QOL on the other hand, focuses on indices and data that can be gathered without a subjective evaluation being made by the individual being assessed (economic production and security, health, food security, literacy rates, life expectancy, †¦) and may be used singly or in combination to form summary indexes, as in the UNs Human Development Index (Costanza et al., 2007). However, there are well-documented differences in subjective QOL between men and women, and in different localities as reflected in various researches. While discussing the definition of well-being, Arku et al (2008) emphasized that the indicators can differ between urban and rural residents within a country and similarly between men and women within the same society because of differences in needs, priorities (Chambers, 1997). Shek et al (2005) and Diener and Suh (2000) mention that the indicators are socially and locally constructed based on the cultural values of communities. Veenhoven (2005) also arguing for the need of incorporation of cultural-specific indicators in determining people’s quality-of-life. Similar results are found in the study of happiness. In a recent exploration of this theme, Camfield et al (2009) revealed that the definition and experience of happiness is culturally specific. To understand the position of Iranian rural women in the development debate, it is necessary to modify HDI and thus examine the status of women within household and community structures regarding indicators which were chosen to reflect the average quality of life (QOL) – defined as subjective social well-being, food security, social capital, education and training, income, and life expectancy. Women living in rural areas of Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Iran, are generally known to be suffering from general deprivation including access to and control over land and other productive resources, services and infrustructures, opportunities for employment and income-generating activities, and access to health care. This paper sets out to evaluate development status of rural women in Choram County, Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad province, South-Western Iran. It proposes ways in which the modified HDI can be improved to better reflect its conceptual intent. The scope of this essay then is not to nit-pick on the finer details of the proposed index, but rather to conceptualize a constructive discussion on how the modified proposed index can be improved to better fulfill its own goal of measuring human development in rural areas.

To Dream Out Loud :: College Admissions Essays

To Dream Out Loud    is it the fear for losing freedom, or is it that the unripe fruit of idealism we begin with has finally become ripe? because it seems that the youthful starry-eyed liberalism fades. our fruit becomes rotten, stinking of uncaring, self-serving, change-fearing conservatism. precariousness becomes anathema. some keep out the fear of losing comfort. I hope I do. Lou Reed, face wrinkle-worn, still not-sings about a poor boy in New York, still refers to the Statue of Bigotry. but my father tolerantly smiles as I dream out loud as I try to believe that there is good in most as I talk about trying to make things better. he's cynically calling himself conservative as he pretends to dislike feminism and truly believes that people should want to help others. that people should not have to. that most people do not want to. my father is good, and sturdy. generous. stoic. he believes that I will gain wisdom with age   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (I will) and that I will come to think liberalism is misguided and overly hopeful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (I hope I won't.) my father is not an artist. he is a lawyer. he still struggles to help people but he has stopped believing they'll be grateful. his fruit of idealism has become rotten. where are the Romantics? the Transcendentalists? they've just turned 19 and are going to a college I can't afford. hair, jeans, love, and hope all fade. I respect my father, and I respect Lou Reed. I respect the freedom-loving hopeful criticizing words of Bob Dylan. my father still respects those too. perhaps the hope doesn't die; perhaps it is cloaked in the fear of losing what you've already gained. precarious youthful hope feeds off the youthful need for freedom-

SWOT analysis of Samsung Mobile in China Essay

Strengths Weaknesses ï ¼  Six Sigma’s Quality Control ï ¼  Product Design of Fashion and Beauty ï ¼  Advanced Technology and Innovative Capability ï ¼  Peculiar Strategy to Attract Talent ï ¼  Excellent International Brand Image ï ¼ Operating strategy is conservative, and there is supplier shortage ï ¼ Low contribution rate to the low-end consumer market ï ¼ Rely heavily on Android System ,there is instability factor. Opportunities Threats ï ¼  With advancement of digital technology, there is enormous room for commercial development ï ¼  Huge Potential for Development of Smart-phone market ï ¼  Apple has become Samsung’s strong competitor at the high-end, popular mobile phone market ï ¼  In the mid-to-low price range market, there is Nokia Strengths: 1. The first of Samsung Mobile’s strengths lies in Six Sigma Production, Which is as follows: a. Emphasizing on utilizing grassroots and front line workers for quality control functions b. Emphasizing on strengthening the early stages of production management; Focus on stages of product design, production of samples and adjustment of product c. Paying attention to continuous and stable production of goods to ensure quality d. Using QCC methods to improve quality e. Utilizing quality control education for employees 2. The second strength is in Samsung’s product design that combines Personalized exterior with humanized design. Along with its innovative  features, Samsung’s sleek designs have made Samsung mobile devices a popular choice among the masses. Samsung’s tactic of making bigger screens for its smartphone devices, particularly the Galaxy Note series, has been a big part of its success in differentiating the brand from its competitors. The big screams have become trendy and appealing. 3. Samsung’s lead in technology and innovation comprise its third strength a. Leading the digital fusion revolution – Digital Company b. Subsidizing mobile operating platforms, self-application (AP) processors, and screens 4. Samsung’s fourth strength lies in its strategy to attract the world’s best talent. a. Attracting genius talents through unique talents b. Making public service activities required courses for staff c. Implementing career training for employees d. Using four principles to determine salary – importance of job post, social identity, comparison to original salary, and creation of value 5. Samsung’s fifth strength lies in its brand image. Samsung is named as top rising brand by Inter brand and is the 9th most valuable brand with value nearly $33 billion. It has risen by 40% from 2011 to 2012. Samsung has been able to transform its brand image from a â€Å"value for money† brand to an innovative leader that â€Å"cares for everybody.† Samsung has tried its best to build a contrast between its biggest competitors Apple as a â€Å"self-centered brand† versus itself, a brand that cares for everybody. For example, a recent ad for the Samsung Galaxy S3 shows images of married couples and families with kids, in an attempt to attract a broader audience with slogans like â€Å"designed for humans, inspired by nature.† Weaknesses: 1. The first weakness lies in Samsung’s operating strategy. Samsung does not want to establish business relationships with many suppliers, and this is one of the reasons why Samsung’s development is restricted. Even though Samsung defends this by saying that it is better able to protect its intellectual properties this way, in current time’s environment with fierce  competition, companies with more suppliers are more competitive. Thus, Samsung needs to be more flexible in the company’s operating strategies. 2. Another of Samsung’s weaknesses also lies in not targeting low-end consumer market. Samsung focus on product fashion, so the price is relatively high. And Working in the WiBro (Wireless Broadband access service) and DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) market, but return on investment cycle is long. 3. Samsung’s reliance on the Android operating system (OS) is another weakness. Android phones are extremely customizable and they give you the freedom to experiment to your heart’s desire. One inevitable side effect of this freedom, however, is that sometimes your phone encounters a problem or two. Maybe it won’t boot or maybe it randomly shuts down. Maybe you lost a critical file and now some features won’t work. Opportunities: 1. The first opportunity is that with advancement of digital technology, there is enormous room for commercial development. a. In the digital age – the age of electronic information – there are two major stars: mobile phones and the Internet b. With the advent of the digital age, consumers desire high quality of mobile phone products c. Chinese communication consumers develops rapidly 2. Samsung also has an opportunity in the smart phone market’s development potential. a. The release of Apple iPhones began the wave of smart-phones b. In the mobile Internet age, every large mobile phone manufacturer and operator has promoted and popularized mid-to-low price range smart-phones. China is leading the arrival of the era of smartphone evaluation. Threats: 1. The first threat to Samsung is ï ¼  Apple has become Samsung’s strong competitor at the high-end, popular mobile phone market Apple’s cell phone has a high-end and popular image, and shares high similarity with Samsung. Thus, more than the mid and low-end markets, Samsung experiences a greater  impact from Apple’s competition at the high-end market. Considering mobile phone products of different smart-phone price ranges, Apple attracts greater user interest and has more product competitiveness than Samsung, despite the larger numbers of Samsung mobile phones on the market. This is related to Apple’s unprecedented brand appeal and affiliated operator support force. 2. The second threat to Samsung is ï ¼ In the mid-to-low price range market, there is Nokia a. According to statistics, Nokia had attracted a larger amount of user interest than Samsung at the mid-to-low end mobile phone market, in both the overall and smart-phone market. b. Nokia’s mobile phone market share relies mostly relies on the mid/low-end mobile products. In the past two years, with Nokia’s decline on the mobile phone, particularly high-end smart-phone market. c. The mid/low-end market has become the last sector of the market where Nokia has a lead. Nokia naturally will not ignore this.