Team Roles of a Football Team Essay Example for Free

Team Roles of a Football Team Essay There are many different roles in the modern football team; teams consist of 11 players with one player in the goal and the rest playing outfield all the roles of the different members of the team are vital in the team winning a game. Goalkeeper The goalkeeper is a very specialised role compared to all the other members of a team, a goalkeeper will rarely end up playing in a different position, where as other members of the team e. . midfielder may swap positions with a winger. Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands, but only within the penalty area, this is why goalkeepers wear a different jersey to the rest of the team so the referee can distinguish them between other players. The referee’s job is stop the other team scoring by preventing the ball from entering the goal for this reason there role is mainly defensive Defender The Defender plays behind the midfielders usually playing in the half of the field that there goal is located, There main responsibility is to prevent the opposition having a chance to get a shot on goal Defenders are split up into different categories-Left back, right centre-back, left centre-back, centre-back, right-back. Midfielder Midfielders are players who play between the strikers and the midfielders, there main responsibilities are to keep possession of the ball, receive the ball from the defenders and get it to the strikers and tackle other opposing players, most teams have a central midfielder with their main responsibility being to break up the other teams attacks while the other midfielders main objective is to create goal opportunities, midfielders play all over the pitch as at certain times during a match they may be required to help with defence or help attack with the strikers Strikers Strikers play nearest to the other team’s goal, the main responsibility of strikers is to score goals; there other responsibilities include setting up goals and holding the ball while waiting for other players to come join with attacking There are three main player styles Defensive, Midfield, and attackers Defensive player styles Libero A Libero or sweeper is a versatile type of defender that â€Å"sweeps up† the ball if an opponent manages to get past the defensive line They are usually faster than normal defenders, and move around the field more than usual defenders as they don’t have designated players to mark Stopper Stoppers are players who are strong , have good stamina and man marking abilities to be able to stop the other teams attacking play by making strong tackles, they usually play as defensive full backs or centre backs Wingbacks A wingback Is a defender that plays on the side of the pitch like a winger but’s main role are to play attack and defence heavily, as the role is a combined winger and full back, wing-backs need good stamina, as they have 3 centre backs supporting them, they can concentrate more on supporting strikers Mid fielding player styles Ball winners Ball winners are skilled players trained in making strong tackles and good at heading the ball to stop the other teams attacking play; they are usually defensive mid fielders or central midfielders Defensive midfielders Defensive midfielders are midfielders who mainly focus on defence, they are good at making strong tackles and require good stamina and must be good at passing the ball up to the attacking midfielders/Strikers Box To Box Box to box midfielders help with every part of the game, They cover almost every area of the pitch so they need lots of stamina as well as good passing skills, they usually play as central midfielders Playmaker Playmakers are midfielders whose main objective is to create goal scoring opportunities, it’s essential their able to read the game so they can get in the right position to create play, it’s also essential they have good ball control and good passing skill, they usually play as attacking midfielders Attacking playing styles Dribblers Dribblers use their speed and dribbling skill to get past defenders, there main aim is to create goal opportunities for other strikers, and they usually play as wingers or secondary strikers Counter Attackers Counter attackers use their speed to beat defenders and create unexpected goal opportunities, they also need good shooting skill, and they usually play as centre forwards Clinical Strikers Clinical striker’s main objective is to score goals so they are trained heavily to increase their shooting ability; they usually play as centre forwards Goal poachers Are players who wait in the penalty area for a cross or pass, as soon as they receive a ball they try to score straight away, they usually play as centre forwards Conclusion In conclusion a standard football team is split up into 4 main categories (Goalkeeper, Defense,Midfield,Strikers) usually with defence, midfield and strikers having different specialisations e. g. Counter attack-strikers, wingback-defender, every player has to work together to create a successful football team, they must all have good communication so every team member is aware if the team want to make an attacking play on goal or a more defensive play, Without good communication players will not know when the team is going to make an attacking play and will not be in the right position to help their team score a goal.

Literacies for Learning Essay Example for Free

Literacies for Learning Essay The necessity for educational institutions to equip students with the skills to cope in a rapidly changing, culturally diverse and globalised 21st century society, has led academics, such as the New London Group, to encourage educators to acknowledge the various literacy forms utilised in the new millennium (The New London Group, 1996) and to adopt a pedagogy of multiliteracies. This essay will explore the components of a pedagogy of multiliteracies and identify the transformations needed for the successful implementation of multiliteracies into educational practice. Likewise, the notion of language as a social practice which influences teaching content and assessment practices in secondary education will be examined, as will the use of multiliteracies in the teaching of the Mathematics curriculum. To understand the role of multiliteracies in pedagogy theory development, it is important to define the term literacy. Literacy is an evolving term that refers to an individual’s ability to construct and comprehend meaning via the accepted symbol systems of one’s country or language group (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, Holliday, 2010). These symbol systems include written and spoken language and visual information such as icons and other graphical information. While literacy was traditionally viewed as a cognitive process with a focus on reading, writing and numeracy identification, in recent years its definition has become broadened to encompass the burgeoning text types being generated via multimedia and information technology (Winch et al., 2010). These electronic text types have quickly established themselves as integral components of a diverse range of 21st century vocations and social interactions (Tan, 2006).  A pedagogy of multiliteracies encompasses multimedia and digital text forms as well as traditional written and spoken texts. Likewise, the central role of literacy in a diverse range of knowledge domains and vocations has resulted in educators being encouraged to view literacy as a vital skill underpinning successful teaching and learning in all curriculum areas. The New London Group (1996) viewed the role of design as an ever changing paradigm of three stage teaching and learning processes. The first step, ‘Available Designs’ is determining what resources are available. These resources include texts, symbols, audio and visual resources. The second step is ‘Designing’ which takes these ‘Available Designs’ and places them within a social context, such as the classroom or learning environment, and is facilitated by an individual such as a teacher. This step creates an output with new meaning for both the learning environment and facilitator. This knowledge or new meaning is known as ‘Redesign’ (The New London Group, 1996). Literacy is a social practice that is not just taught in secondary schools, it is something which is part of each individual’s everyday life. According to Anstey Bull (2000), the way in which an individual may read the world will be strongly linked to the contexts of their own life. The NSW Department of Education and Training (2006) maintains that literacy is a skill that continues to grow and develop and is fundamental to students’ success at school as well as for the rest of their life. For literacy to be successful in schools, it is planned in collaboration with parents and teachers. This collaborative approach reinforces that literacy is inherently a social practice. This approach must include a range of social influences and practices, in order to increase student’s knowledge and skill in the real world for real purposes (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2006). As literacy development is undoubtedly a whole school and community approach, it is essential that a multiliteracies pedagogy, be utilised in the teaching of all curriculum areas. The impact of societal and cultural change is clearly reflected in the mathematics curriculum through the use of digital technologies such as graphical programs and spreadsheets. This use of technology provides numerous opportunities for the teaching of multiliteracies. Through explicit teaching and learning  experiences of digital texts, students are provided with the skills to successfully navigate and comprehend information communicated digitally. These skills can be acquired through students being provided with opportunities to access information via Internet websites. Likewise, students can use information technology to construct their own texts, thus allowing them to communicate their understanding of concepts to others. This may be achieved by encouraging students to construct texts through the use of software programs such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Visio, both of which allow students to communicate information graphically. These digital mediums allow students to acquire skills which will assist them in acquiring real world skills which they can utilise to gain and construct meaning, both in and out of the classroom. (Winch et al., 2010). Technology is an essential part of the transformations taking place in the social, political, cultural and economic spheres of contemporary society (Groundwater- Smith, Brennan, McFadden, Mitchell and Munns, 2009). Secondary school teachers need to prepare students with the skills necessary for life in a rapidly changing, technological world. In order to equip students with these skills, teachers must possess deep knowledge of relevant technologies (Treadwell, 2008). The Mathematics curriculum includes teaching of: statistics, probability, algebra, financial concepts, economics, technology, measurement and trigonometry. These strands include skills applicable to an individual’s school/work life, social life and personal life. Mathematics content areas, focus on aspects of society, reform, technology and life skills. It is important for teachers to link the social practice of literacy with the factors of a pedagogy of multiliteracies to create the best teaching environment they can (The New London Group, 1996). Walsh (2006) cites an example of successfully teaching his students literacy practices, through social relationships. Students worked in groups and were able to demonstrate specific social language structures. They were able to â€Å"enact, recognise and negotiate† in a social environment (The New London Group, 1996, p. 3) by design and re-design of Internet web pages. The created web pages were diverse, with each student using their own discourse to create what they believed the web page should contain. Prior to using multi-modal and digital literacy mediums in their teaching, it is essential that teachers be aware of cognitive and language factors in learning. The  ability to use multimodal learning, digital literacies and genres specific to each curriculum area must be carefully planned by the teacher. According to Winch et al., (2010) a multiliteracy pedagogy involves developing the ability to use language purposefully and skillfully in a range of social settings, rather than learning isolated segments of knowledge such as grammar conventions and spelling. Multiliteracy includes the use and creation of multimodal and multimedia texts (Winch et al., 2010). Multiliteracy seeks to address the rapid changes in literacy brought about by globalisation, cultural and social diversity and information technology (Winch et al., 2010). In response to these societal changes, The New London Group (1996), questioned the role of schools and outlined a need for change in literacy teaching due to key changes in three areas of life: working life, public life and personal life (life worlds). Central to these changes, was the need for schools to integrate learning with life experiences that students have both in and out of the classroom. â€Å"As these three major realms of social activity have shifted, so the roles and responsibilities of schools must shift† (The New London Group, 1996, p.18). The New London Group advocated for a change in the way, education was delivered, by enhancing the existing structures and overlaying with a new â€Å"what† and â€Å"how† of literacy teaching (The New London Group, 1996). The ‘how’ of pedagogy comes from a view of how learning is acquired, embedded and utilised. The New London Group (1996) proposed that a pedagogy of multiliteracies is a complex blend of four methods of design. The first is Situated Practice which involves learning by creating meaningful learning experiences that allow students be in an environment where the learning replicates the social use of what is being learnt. It is an environment where risks can be taken and ‘trial and error’ is used to gain mastery of skills or knowledge. It should be used â€Å"developmentally, to guide learners to the experiences and the assistance they need to develop further as members of the community, capable of drawing on, and ultimately contributing to, the full range of it’s resources.† (The New London Group, 1996, p. 33). Situated Practice should be designed to motivate students to want to know, and engage students in their learning in a safe environment . Assessment or evaluation is not considered part of Situated Practice. Overt Instruction is the second method of how a pedagogy of mulitliteracies is  implemented.  This involves teachers guiding and using effective teaching techniques such as scaffolding or explicit instruction to build student’s knowledge and confidence. Examination of the current secondary school’s Mathematics curriculum, (NSW department of Education and Training, 2010) reveals many opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate and engage in dialogue related to mathematical concepts which will guide and provide a scaffold for student learning. For example, the teacher makes links with prior learning, through asking open questions to the group, and uses multi-modal methods such as mathematical symbols, diagrams, charts and pictures to add to the learning. With each progression of new learning in the lesson, the teacher labels a new part of the diagram. Overt Instruction â€Å".includes centrally the sorts of collaborative efforts between teacher and student wherein the student is both allowed to accomplish a task more complex than they can accompli sh on their own and they are conscious of the teacher’s representation and interpretation of that task.† (The New London Group (1996, p. 20). Thirdly, Critical Framing focuses on the â€Å"how† of a pedagogy of multiliteracies, through the use and application of real world knowledge. This method is where assessment and evaluation of one’s self understanding can begin in relation to cultural, social, political and historical influences on what has been learned (New London Group, 1996). Teachers are able to encourage students to apply their learning in a practical sense and assess the transfer of student’s knowledge or skill. This knowledge is based on what they have previously learned, and requires students to â€Å"constructively critique it, account for its cultural location; creatively extend and apply it and eventually innovate own† and strengthen their ability to demonstrate what they have learned (The New London Group, 1996, p. 37). A mathematical example of this process is the conversion of degrees to radians. Its real life use is the calculation of the speed of a piece of machin ery. This calculation includes the formula in terms of radians rather than degrees. Finally, Transformed Practice is â€Å"where we try and re-enact a discourse by engaging in it for our real purposes† (The New London Group, 1996, p. 36).  Students need to think and learn outside their own discourse and think about how they can re-create their meaning, linking their own discourses to understand what they have learned. An example of this practice was where students were asked to plan and present a lesson including a Wiki activity and a Prezi (presentation tool) that teaches the concepts from a previous mathematics lesson. In groups, students collaboratively utilised the Internet to research topics, and create: work sheets for others to complete, interactive wiki activities, team tasks, and their own YouTube clips. The lesson included the use and creation of multimodal texts and scaffolding of existing knowledge. Students developed new knowledge through authentic multimodal texts such as image, sound, video and written text (Tan, 2006). Gunning (2002) explores the impact of reading and writing difficulties in a social stance, and highlights that poor instructions given by teachers can contribute to a student’s difficulties. Gunning’s (2002) observations and research serve as a reminder that teachers must be sure to provide the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of multiliteracies, to ensure each student has the opportunity to progress. Teachers need to evaluate their current practice and identify the text types typically used in the Mathematics content areas and consider the social needs and teaching strategies that will develop student’s literacy skills (Goos, Stillman., Vale, 2007). In a mathematics lesson, students were introduced to the ‘Simpson’s rule’ formula. The lesson’s aim was for students to measure the area beneath a real life object, gain an understanding of what is needed to complete the formula and how the variables are calculated. Students were required to work collaboratively in pairs, discussing various ways in which measurements were taken in order to obtain an accurate result in working out the area of the object. Likewise, students were required to engage in higher order thinking, in order to formulate possible solutions to the dilemma. These experiences provided students with the opportunity to be inclusive in their learning, and consolidate their understanding of key concepts that are relevant to the lesson goals (Prain Hand, 1999). Teacher observations and questioning during group work, guided the student’s discussions, with the teacher embracing a teaching style where multiliteracies were used. The New London Group (1996) have profoundly impacted on teaching practices, literacy research, policy curriculum and pedagogy (Mills, 2006). Gee (1991) explores  social literacy and the impact of a student’s discourse that are established outside the classroom, from their social group, fa mily and cultural ties. Their view of literacy as social practice and their emphasis on incorporating the rapidly increasing number of electronic and multimodal text types in 21st century society into teaching practice represents a clear break away from the single dimensional teaching of literacy. However, for multiliteracies such as digital literacies, multimodal resources and ICT to provide best learning for students, teachers must be prepared to embrace the view that literacy is a social practice and and an essential skill underpinning all curriculum areas. Teachers also need to recognise that each lesson they teach to students provides the opportunity to develop the student’s literacy skills. In order to facilitate this change in pedagogical ideology, teachers must be prepared to evaluate their current teaching practice and adopt a more holistic approach to developing literacy skills in their students. As a consequence, students should be exposed to participative learning experiences with re al life learning outcomes. References Anstey, M., Bull, G. (2000). Developing multiple and critical readings of text. Reading the visual: Written and illustrated children’s literature (pp. 201-214). Sydney: Harcourt. Gee, J. (1991) What is literacy? In C.Mitchell K. Weiler (Eds.), Rewriting literacy. New York: Bergin Garvey Goos, M. Stillman, G. Vale,C. (2007). Teaching secondary mathematics. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen Unwin. Gunning, T. (2002). Factors involved in reading and writing difficulties. Assessing and correcting reading and writing difficulties (2nd ed., pp. 26-62). Sydney: Allyn Bacon. Mills, K. (2006). Discovering design possibilities through a pedagogy of multiliteracies. Journal of Leading Design, 1(3), 61-72 NSW Department of Education and Training. (2010). NSW Department of Education and Training. (2007). Literacy K-12 Policy Retrieved from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/curriculum/schools/literacy/PD20050288.shtml?query=literacy+policy New South Wales Department of Education and Training. (2006). State literacy plan 2006-2008: Equitable literacy achievements for all students. Retrieved from http://www.curriculumsupprt.education.nsw.gov.au/policies/literacy/guidelinies/plan/index.htm Prain Hand (1999) Tan, L. (2006). Literacy for the 21st Century. Retrieved from http://iresearch.osprey.url3.net/iresearch/slot/u110/litreviews/literacy4_21st_century.pdf The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. In B.Cope M. Klantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies, literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 9-37). London: Macmillan. Walsh, C. (2006). Beyond the workshop. Doing multiliteracies with adolescents. English in Australia, 41(3), 49-58 Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy: Reading, writing and childrens literature (4th ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis (eds), Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge, London, 2000, 350pp. | link

How Can You Reduce Fresh Water Scarcity in a Country?

How Can You Reduce Fresh Water Scarcity in a Country? Student Name: Harry Abstract This scientific report introduced a new method of water conservation after several research conducted on water problems in Dubai. The information was sourced from several educational and governmental websites which described water woes. The finding was that current solutions of water scarcity were irrigation and desalination. However, burgeoning of civilization and increasing supply reach the limit of availability of those methods. Newly introduced method such as afforestation would be effective because it paves the way for everlasting water recycling. The outcome confirmed the hypothesis though there are some questions about practicability. Further investigation is required to test the feasibility of afforestation and advocate innovations in water conserving technology. 1.0 Introduction This research aims to announce new effective scheme for the water scarcity in order to provide edible water for the people in the countries which having water woes. Dubai is a country which located in Middle East with strong water crisis. Most area of Dubai is covered by deserts without any water resources on the ground which means that there are no aquatic ecosystems inside the country. Although there are few subterranean water resources, it is not enough for the whole countrys supply. Because edible water resources are insufficient in Dubai, Dubai government is highly attached on water recycling. They produce the water in expensive ways and often use waste water to irrigate the agriculture. Those poor environmental conditions and urgent issues drove the country to the cliff. The hypothesis is that paying more attention on afforesting the desert and promoting the irrigation would be the most efficient strategy because it can make long-term contribution to the country. 2.0 Methodology In order to reach the objective of this research, the plan was to conduct several reliable websites which are governmental or peer-reviewed paper to get information about water scarcity in Dubai. Simultaneously, understanding of local environment was another significant point to analyze a new strategy. After finding the sources, I spend a long time to carefully organizing currently capitalized methods and concentrated on selecting expensive but the best solution appropriate to Dubai. This was because Dubai is rich enough to pay for all the requirements, and long-term effect is the most significant point in order to avoid even worse water crisis in the future. 3.0 Findings Dubai is a large prosperous country built on desert. Undoubtedly, the main element which caused water scarcity is arid locale and climate. In 2013, the World Bank reported that climate change in this region will slowly increase the temperature with other destructive circumstances. (Dewa, 2016 This means that the country is facing not only water scarcity but also decline of tourism. This problem is associated with water issue because recession of economy slows down the development of technology and it may reduce the efficiency of water producing. Figure 1: Desalination not only produce water but also affect water à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ source: construction week online,2009 To go further, transferring of water resources is another important issue. As it is mentioned before, the country is providing potable and fresh water to the industries and households by desalination. However, it is founded that the country is still using old and rusted pipes and water tanks which may pollute the water while transferring them (Dakkak,2015). The table below showed more specific data to present the current situation. The unit did not influence the results though it was in Arab. Table 1: The total water produced and demand of the country   Ã‚   (Unit: unknown, it is in Arab) Year 2008 2009 2015 Produced 87196 89452 102301 Demand 88405 90823 113786   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (source: Dewa Annual Report) As we can see in this table, produced water is under the demand in 2008, 2009 and 2015, the years between 2009 to 2015 are not listed because the website does not provide information of water supply in those years, but still, it is easy to anticipate that the demand is a few larger than the supply every year. Another thing is that although water is produced from desalination, the process of desalination utilizes water a lot itself. Table 2: Water consumption (unit: percentage) Year 2009 2012 2015 Commercial 24.92 28.17 27.02 Industrial 3.68 3.09 3.09 Residential 60.61 57.82 59.92 Others 10.79 10.92 9.97 (source: Dewa Annual Report) This table shows that residential water consumption is the most, and unexpectedly, the industrial water consumption is the least. Agricultural consumption may include in residential column because it is complained that agriculture is the major user of water resources (Hussein, 2011) 4.0 Discussion The result almost confirmed the hypothesis mentioned at the beginning except some points and questions. After recapping those findings that appeared before, most of current solutions are related to agricultural and technological development, but it seems insufficient for all countrys supply and it would not last for long term. As the oil exhaust or the rising temperature causes decline in tourism, the country will face recession one day. It is found that residents utilize most water (Dewa, 2016), and the increasing in water demand reflected increasing in demographics. These issues implied that country needs solution which provide long-term effect. To my solution, the country should replace these old and rusted pipelines for irrigation, and build new pipes for more various functions such as for afforestation, recycling and waste water. Additionally, artificial rivers, lakes, and forests are required due to increasing population and rise in tourism. However, some aspects of my solution did not confirm the hypothesis. People are constructing man-made lands on the sea coast in order to provide lands for citizens but pollute the water at the same time (Horner, 2010). This means that both urbanization and afforestation is important but the question is which one to concentrate more. Another point is that there are few questions about the practicability because it is hard for plants to survive at such climate and adding pipelines would potentially causes water pollution. However, inland afforestation is still the best way of solving water scarcity because it not only heals the water shortage but also prevent the natural disasters such as sandstorms from coming. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the new solution would be difficult to achieve but it contains long term benefits to the country. After the work is done, not only water crisis would be solved but also takes huge progress in air quality which can prevent sand storms from coming. This paper has some limitations because it is done based on internet research without any practical investigation. There are still many uncertain elements related to this solution, so investigations of inland environment or examine the reliability and feasibility would promote further research of this paper. References: Horner K., (2010). Parched for Peace: The UAE has Oil and Money, but No Water (2010), State of the Planet [online], Available from: http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/11/22/parched-for-peace-the-uae-has-oil-and-money-but-no-water/ [ Accessed 17 October 2016] Annual Statistics (2009), Government of Dubai [online], Available from: https://www.dewa.gov.ae/en/about-dewa/about-us/dewa-publications/annual-statistics [ Accessed 27 December 2016] Annual Statistics (2013), Government of Dubai [online], Available from: https://www.dewa.gov.ae/en/about-dewa/about-us/dewa-publications/annual-statistics [ Accessed 27 December 2016] Annual Statistics (2015), Government of Dubai [online], Available from: https://www.dewa.gov.ae/en/about-dewa/about-us/dewa-publications/annual-statistics [ Accessed 27 December 2016] Dakkak A., (2016). Irrigation Systems in the United Arab Emirates (2016), EcoMENA [online], Available from: http://www.ecomena.org/tag/water-scarcity-in-uae/ [ Accessed 7 October 2016] Hussein M. A., (2011). Impacts of Water Scarcity on the Social Welfare of Citizens in the Middle East (2010), Middle East Institute [online], Available from:   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.mei.edu/content/impacts-water-scarcity-social-welfare-citizens-middle-east [Accessed 8 October 2016] UAE Water Aid: UAE will continue to support poor and affected communities (2016), Government of Dubai [online], Available from: https://www.dewa.gov.ae/en/about-dewa/news-and-media/press-and-news/latest-news/2016/06/uae-water-aid-uae-will-continue-to-support-poor-and-affected-communities [Accessed 8 October 2016]

No United States without Mexico :: essays research papers

No U.S. without Mexicans   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a Mexican American in the United States I can honestly say that Spanish colonialism plays a crucial role in understanding the history of Mexicans in the United States. Spanish colonialism brought forth many factors that shaped the Mexican. One huge factor is religion. The Spanish brought a unified form of religion, we know it as Christianity. Secondly, with its priority of converting the indigenous people to Christianity, they migrated and created pueblos in what is now part of South Western United States. With its expansion and creation of Haciendas and Ranchos, the Spanish created a new style of culture, which is important in the shaping of the Mexican in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most influential aspects of the Mexican in the United States is his religious beliefs. If not for the Spanish and their devotion to convert people to Christianity, life would be differently for the average Mexican. Spiritually, the Mexican looks to god for guidance and support. Growing up in a Mexican household, I can say that religion played an enormous role in my life. As a family, we would attend church every Sunday. I also attended catechism through the course of my childhood, which shaped me into the individual that I am today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With its expansion of Christianity, the Spanish Colonialism created Haciendas, Ranchos and pueblos in the Southwestern United States. With these Haciendas and ranchos the Spanish brought a unique form of architecture. This Spanish Style architecture as it is now known is evident throughout the southwestern United States today. Large portions of Chicanos live in homes that are influenced by the expansion of Spanish colonialism. Spanish style architecture, with its enormous archways and brick cultured construction is one of the most elaborate and popular forms of architecture found today. Within these haciendas lies a cattle cultured economy which is extremely important now in the United States. The Spanish brought horses, cows, goats, and sheep to the United States. Cattle play a role on just about every person in the United States, for the United States thrives as a meat eating country. With the creation of haciendas a new style of culture would be created from th ese flourishing communities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mexican culture is extremely important in the lives of a Mexican. Religion, food, folklore as well as community contribute to the culture of a Mexican. The Spanish culture is well and alive throughout the United States.

Feasibility Study of Starting a New Business :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Feasibility Study of Starting a New Business Introduction This investigation will carry out a study to see if it would be feasible to open a new nightclub, 'Sinners' in Maidenhead town centre. Maidenhead is a small town in the southeast of England, located in the county Berkshire. The nearest major city is London, which is located twenty-five miles east of the town. The reason I have chose to investigate this type of business venture is because I take an interest in this type of business as I would like to look into it in the future, and also feel Maidenhead possesses the qualities, and provides a great opportunity to start up a business of this nature and for it to be successful. To find out whether this business venture would be feasible, a feasibility study needs to be carried out covering all aspects relating to starting up a new business. Several tools will have to implemented to do so. There are two main types of tools that will be used; these include research tools and analysis tools. Firstly the primary research will include interviews and questionnaires, and from this the information needed such as demand levels and financial information will be analysed to help with the final decision of the study. For secondary research company account will be used, along with books, maps, and Internet sites. All these sources will allow me to find out about the local area of Maidenhead such as demographic information and statistics. All this research will aid me in being able to make my location decision. There are several analytical tools that will be implemented, and these will be marketing tools such as PEST analysis and SWOT analysis, financial tools such as cash flow forecast and break-even analysis. Then the final part of the report will be the analysis and conclusion, to actually see if it is viable to open a nightclub as a business venture in Maidenhead. Secondary Research Objectives and methodology Objective 1 The first is to decide where in Maidenhead Sinners is going to be located. Research on the infrastructure and rent values in maidenhead needs to be carried out so information can be gained on some of my start up costs. Locations of direct competition (other nightclubs), and indirect competitors (public houses/bars), which are located in the area will be researched, so the best possible location can be chosen in Maidenhead for Sinners. Method To find out information on land values in and around Maidenhead I will visit the local town hall and pick up some local information booklets. To find out about the local infrastructure and competitors of Maidenhead, I will use the local Windsor and Maidenhead borough

Are the Views of the Roman Catholic Church Out of Touchs?

This essay does not intend to cause offence, come across as heretical or blasphemous in any way. Obviously, every single view the Roman Catholic Church holds are not out of touch with modern day attitudes, but this essay focuses on the views of the Church which are currently discussed most frequently. The controversy and criticism surrounding the Catholic Church in this day and age is of staggering proportions.It would be very difficult to pick up the same newspaper every day for a year and not at least once read a headline like ‘Catholic Bishop Denounces Gay Couples’ Right to Marriage’ or ‘Catholic Church Once Again Speaks Out Against Contraception Use’. It’s clear that some of the views of the Catholic Church can discriminate, intimidate, and generally infuriate people. The modern man or woman, in most cultures and societies is free to be gay, use contraception or become a priest regardless of your gender.However, the Catholic Church still ta kes an almost medieval approach to these issues, and by doing so has caused much outrage over the past few decades. Is this an ‘adapt or die’ situation? Is it the case that the Roman Catholic Church needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century? Or are their traditional views still applicable today? It’s very easy to say that some of the views of the Roman Catholic Church are outrageously out of touch with the modern world, what with all the bad press it receives these days.But these views are based on beliefs that date back thousands of years. You might argue that, to keep up with today’s open and ever-changing society, the Catholic Church should allow room for adjustments to their views that they hold so firmly. However, some find it quite arrogant that people could be so bold as to suggest such a thing, considering these views are millennia old. Certain theories (and I stress the word ‘theories’) about some issues, such as the idea that homosexuality is acceptable, have been around for merely decades.Why should Catholics change their belief system, which is based on the near-on two thousand year old scriptures and the teachings of their current church, just because widely popular but relatively new ‘theories’ about matters that they deem sinful are becoming commonly accepted among many different cultures? It would be like demolishing the Sistine Chapel and rebuilding it but with galvanised steel and glass, just because those materials are popular choices for many large buildings these days. We cannot simply get rid of some beliefs that date back two millennia because of the opposing beliefs of opular demand. It’s important in this time when authority is challenged, people with a strong moral compass are hard to come by and human life is not valued very highly that we hold on to traditional Christian beliefs. If we did away with tradition and completely modernised the Catholic Chur ch we’d have the Pope going out on Saturday nights, drinking his own body weight in alcoholic beverages, starting violent fights with anyone who accidently bumps into him then find the nearest tipsy female and get her pregnant in a drunken one-night-stand.This may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the point: if we start picking away and changing the traditional beliefs then we end up with a church people will find hard to take seriously because of its lack of moral principal. If you signed a contract and then without telling you the contractor went against certain terms and condition within the contract I would imagine that you’d be jolly annoyed and completely lose any trust you had in that contractor. Some say that the Catholic Church is not out of touch with modern day mores, but simply sticking to tradition in order to remain a strong and consistent church.Whilst tradition is important, for the Catholic Church to grow and to rid itself of its controversial labe ls, the fact of the matter is it needs to adjust and update itself to fit modern day attitudes. Its views on homosexuality, contraception and female ordination are very much stuck in a previous century, and if it does wish to grow then it will have to find a new approach to such issues. It’s clear to most that being gay is acceptable in this day and age. Contraception usage is encouraged in most parts of the world.Women becoming priests is allowed by many cultures. However, the Catholic Church denounces all of these things, most of the time openly. In the eyes of the Roman Catholic faith, being gay or using a condom is sinful. Can a Church that classifies these such things as sinful really grow in today’s open, free-speaking society? The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behaviour is a violation of divine and natural law; basically, being gay is sinful. 10% of the population of the world is gay or has had a homosexual experience.Linking these two facts together, surely this doesn’t mean that the Catholic Church deems 10% of the population sinners, doomed to spend an eternity in the fiery pits of hell? Today, homosexuality is widely accepted by many communities. You would’ve thought that because of this, the Catholic Church would keep relatively quiet about their views on the subject. But they are not afraid to preach their beliefs through the media. In September last year, it made the headlines that the Scottish government was holding a consultation on whether gay marriage should be introduced.Not long after this did the proposal come under fire from the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishop of Paisley Philip Tartaglia (who was tipped to be the next Archbishop of Glasgow) said that a Scottish government that backed gay marriage did not deserve the support of the Catholic community. This came after the most senior Scottish catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, said legalising gay marriage would â€Å"shame Scotland in the eyes of the world†. There’s no doubt that this story would not fail in making homosexuals in Scotland feel discriminated.Discrimination on this scale belongs in pre-1970’s America and in history books and should not still be making headlines today. The Catholic Church does not have the right to discriminate against homosexuals, and if they feel that it is their faith that teaches them to do so, then their faith is most certainly out of touch with the world as it is and needs to update itself. Christian acceptance of contraception use is relatively new; up until the start of the 20th century all churches frowned upon the use of artificial contraception.In modern times, many churches say it is acceptable to use contraception, but the Roman Catholic Church still forbids it. It regards the use of contraception as intrinsically evil for a variety of reasons. The main issue for Catholics is that using contraception is against ‘natural law’; the purpose of sex is to pr oduce offspring. Catholics have held this belief about sex and contraception since the beginning of Christianity. These days, birth control is widely accepted and even promoted in the West, and it looks like the Catholic Church might be fighting a losing battle.A study carried out in 2008 suggests that most practising Catholics are ignoring the Church's teachings on contraception and sex. 1,500 Mass-goers in England and Wales were surveyed by The Tablet magazine. It was found that the contraceptive pill is used by 54. 5% and nearly 69% had used or would consider using condoms. These statistics come 40 years after Pope Paul VI forbade birth control use in his encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life). The survey also found that more than half think that the teaching should be revised.With figures such as this, coupled with the fact that most people in the West consider using a condom or other forms of contraception the normal and right thing to do, it appears that the Catholic Church is out of touch with modern society on the issue of contraception usage. The idea that a female should become a priest would have been utterly preposterous just a few decades ago, but now in many churches, such as the Anglican Church and most branches of the Protestant Church, the ordination of women is completely acceptable.Although not the only Church that does so, the Roman Catholic Church is possibly the most vocal of Christian churches to denounce the right for women to be ordained. In fact, in 2007 the Holy See issued a decree stating that the attempted ordination of women would result in automatic excommunication for the women and priests trying to ordain them. Once again, here we see an example where the Roman Catholic Church is lagging behind the fast moving modern day. The idea that only a man should be allowed to become a priest is, many believe, sexist.Granted, other Churches, such as the Orthodox Church, take the same view on such matters, but it’s not a case of ‘everybody does it, so it’s fine’. If the Catholic Church wants to seem less repellent towards the modern day man or (in this case in particular) woman, it needs to adapt itself. A survey carried out by the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) showed that 77% of Irish Catholics wanted women priests. With figures such as these, it’s clear that an update of the views of the Roman Catholic Church is very much in demand.The subject of abortion is one of great debate and controversy. Not everybody agrees with abortion, but if women choses to abort an unborn baby, for whatever reason, then that is her decision and she will have to live with that. The Roman Catholic Church takes a very firm line on the matter of abortion, saying that deliberately causing one is a grave moral wrong. Having an abortion has led to automatic excommunication from the Catholic Church since the sixteenth century.Unless under strict conditions (laid out by the Canon Law, which states te n extreme circumstances In the past, the Roman Catholic Church has come under attack for being too strict and too extreme over some issues that, in the 21st century, are in common practice, such as being gay or using a condom during sex. Admittedly, tradition is important and sticking to it shows a firm and consistent church, but is a church which openly deems homosexuality, contraception and female ordination sinful really able to remain strong in a society where such things are widely accepted?To use a final analogy: every successful species on earth has had the ability to evolve – adapt to its surrounding. If an animal does not evolve then in more cases than not, that animal will die. The fact of the matter is the Catholic Church has not evolved since its birth some two thousand years ago. To survive it must adapt, because at the moment the only conclusion I can come to is that some of the views of the Roman Catholic Church are very much out of touch with modern day mores.

Ebay Problems in Asian Markets Essay

This paper will identify some of the reasons why E-Bay has problems in the Asian Markets as an internet auction provider. After examining articles from Philip Kotler and David Gertner as well as Moon Ihlwan among others, this paper will provide my answers about why did EBay want to expand globally as well as why any of these Asian nations wanted their business? It will explain some research explored about what types of Entry decisions the company used in the Asian Markets. Utilizing the knowledge gained about the history of global business. Answering the question about the problems that EBay has in the Asian market will allow me to discuss and apply concepts of the global market learned in module one in support of my answers. Lastly this correspondence will assess how EBay’s Marketing Mix assessment of the Four P’s assisted them in the global marketing strategy the company adopted for the Asian Markets? Why did EBay want to expand globally and why did nations wanted their business? The reasons EBay decided to expand globally were various and resulted in an overall loss for the San Diego, CA based company headed by the former CEO at the time and California Gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman. Some of the decisions made and acted upon by the company’s leadership were akin to the way Meg Whitman ran her political campaign. Instead of researching the culture and traditions of the places they chose to do business and working on an image of being local or at least embracing local cultures and traditions; they chose to feed issues with money. In Whitman’s case borrow millions of dollars from herself to try to resolve the issue of losing as a candidate. Getting back on subject, the countries that eBay chose to expand globally in, were like all nations; ones that needed jobs. EBay sought the cheaper labor wages as a win-win situation for themselves or some instances the prediction of a high level of success due to their business reputation. Getting into the market was not difficult as the new market fell in line with what these countries wanted in ordered to develop their economies; while in turn enhancing domestic quality of life for their citizens. EBay felt compelled to expand globally to remain competitive as the US domestic market share was becoming mature resulting in stagnant profits and overall growth. As all companies looking to globally expand eBay was investing in Asia to increase profits by gaining a positive entry into this new market share however there was no need to create a new market. The majority of the countries they chose had local internet auction industry established already. EBay’s ultimate goals were to introduce their open auction business model at an international scale starting in places like Japan, China and South Korea to take advantage of these nation’s emerging economies in order to increase wealth. Entry Decisions Through the struggles in gaining entry into these emerging market areas, EBay learned that they must adapt as well as embrace some of the new technologies and products offered by their competitors in the Asian domesticmarkets in order to be successful or at least competitive in the market. The beating they took in Asia was not justfrom Chinese and South Korean competition, but from two US based competitors in Yahoo and Google. A currentdomestic alliance with Yahoo against the giant Google has not resulted in any increase in positive business in theglobal market share as Yahoo is continuing to gain more shares of the market through its ventures with localcompetitors. EBay market entry decisions were integral to their failure in Asia. As ascertained from a case studypublished May 2008 about EBay’s Strategy in Japan 1, â€Å"†¦they entered the Japanese market late after Yahoo Japan had already established and failed to retain customers. It took them two years to concede the failure of the EBay Japan and instead of making a deal with local investors they finally folded in 2002. Ironically, in 2007 EBay made a deal with Yahoo Japan to share internet sites and products in Japan in a joint web site called â€Å"Sekaimon† 1. Their failures in Asia has eventually led to layoff of workers in countries like Taiwan and shutting down of several sites in Asia while rerouting customers to US based sites to maintain a virtual presence. In 2006 EBay’s South Korean venture Internet Auction was bested by a South Korean competitor named Gmarket whereas they equaled or eclipsed EBay’s profit share in South Korea that year. Gmarket also produced innovating products to the internet auction industry such as making shopping via internet fun and using tie-in promotions. Excerpts taken from a Moon Ilhwan internet article in Business Week2, further explain the stiff competition EBay had in South Korea from Yahoo and the local upstart, â€Å"Gmarket’s business model places less emphasis on an open auction format than eBay’s. The company offers goods that one can order at fixed prices, with an option to negotiate prices with a seller on an exclusive basis. This allows buyers to conclude deals instantly instead of requiring them to wait until all bids are completed in open auctions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"†¦another tie in marketing program is a lottery called â€Å"lucky auction.It gives buyers chances to buy everything from LCD televisions to T-shirts at a fraction of the market value. A seller promoting an MP3 player, for example, invites consumers to bid for two of them within a given price range—usually less than 10% of the retail price. Then Gmarket’s computer picks two bids at random to decide the winners. Others visitors can buy the MP3 player at a special offer price. The seller attracts consumers, while Gmarket happily hauls in commissions. Another incentive at Gmarket is that retailers can offer online links to their own mini homepages within the site, issue discount coupons, run joint mileage points programs, and use an internal messenger service called G-messenger for instant chatting with sellers. Some shops listed on the site have also drawn traffic by promising to donate 10 cents to a favored charity every time a product is sold†¦Ã¢â‚¬  2Thus far EBay has attempted joint ventures and mergers to enter the Asian market share and has met negative results. This has had a negative effect on their overall performance to expense ratio in their stock valuation from 2000 thru the present time but has not deterred management from continuing to compete for a market share in Asia. An ongoing joint venture with Yahoo keeps EBay with a foot in the door of the foreign market and continues the strategic alliance against Google. EBay has expanded to Southeast Asia to see what they can obtain in Singapore, Malaysia and through operations in the Philippines. Currently they are doing promotional sites in Thailand and Vietnam to gauge future profits in those nations as well. EBay’s use of the Four P’s in their marketing mix assessmentEBay’s use of the Four P’s in their assessment of their global market strategy was regretful in Asia when in comparison to Yahoo’s success. Lost on the EBay leadership was the desire to be a part of the local market and understanding cultural diversity of each Asian nation they wanted to establish a market. From my personal experiences going to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Guam, or the Philippines for business this is vital to earning shares of the Asian market and as a personal prospective as well. Yahoo’s co-founder, Yang is a male businessman of Chinese-Taiwanese descent which had to give Yahoo an edge in Japan, China and South Korea over EBay’s CEO at the time Meg Whitman; who was female, Caucasian descent and unaware culturally of how to gain the confidence of local leaders and business persons. 3The product that EBay had to offer was nothing innovative to the Asian market as there was already a local variant of online auctions/internet industry thriving in Japan, China and South Korea. Timing and placement of EBay’s business model was late and over reaching as Yahoo already was established in each of the locations chosen and early profits resulted in a false analysis of future outcomes for EBay in Asia. Promotions used on the global EBay sites had advertising geared globally instead of locally which went ignored by local customer’s. More emphasis toward local advertising of domestic interests could have attracted and retained their customer base. Lastly, pricing of their product which was part of the business model was somewhat excessive and confusing. So when an upstart company like Gmarket introduces something simple like, fixed prices and special deals the customer’s internet shopping experience just became more simplified to use and less time to use resulting in a more desirable overall product than EBay was offering at the time. The EBay pricing system had customer’s waiting out the end of a bidding process which still did not guarantee the customer the outcome desired if they were outbid. EBay’s management’s inflexibility hindered the local management’s ability to make decisions that would help them get more of the local market share and build from there in their own country and marketplace. 3 Discussion EBay’s ventures in expanding to a global market were incurred several surmountable challenges. As stated in the lesson the Asian market share is vital and profitable for many companies. As the research depicted one of EBay’s primary challenges was completion at several levels; global and local/domestic competitors all vying for a market share of the internet auction industry. EBay attempted to manage market entry problems long after their original business model was viable in the region, by adapting lowering or waiving fees for its services to keep up with the competition from Yahoo, Google, Chinese stall worth Internet Auction and South Korean upstart GMarket. EBay failed to incorporate some of the local technical innovations that likes of GMarket produced for its customer base such as, local advertising on the sites, fixed price so that internet shoppers could get what they were shopping for and not have to outbid others and wait for the outcome of who actually won/bought the products advertised. History was another problem for EBay, they did not study the culture and traditions of the places they chose to enter the market at. Cultural traditions and business practices are conversely different in China which operates under quasi-governmental entities, and Japan and South Korea where they operate under version of the â€Å"Free Market† concept. Along with not understanding Asian cultures the company did not attempt to adapt its global business model to the local market when incorporating its management and leadership philosophies to the region. This resulted in a management and leadership staff overseas that would not be capable of maturing as a team to meet the local demands of the market. Just being in the region did not give EBay the advantage they seemed it would, thus their own inflexibility and lack of foresight contributed greatly to the problems they are facing in the Asian market. To EBay’s credit they have not thrown in the towel and have remained in Asia through joint ventures and are actually conducting promotion in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Vietnam) as well operations in Singapore, the Philippines and other places.