Supply Chain Integration Essay Example for Free

Supply Chain Integration Essay As a market leader in the fruit drinks industry, Delicious Fruity Company (DFC) offers fresh juice, long life fruit juice and juice concentrates to the consumer market. It has been establish in year 2001 located at Butterworth, Penang and with 12 years of experience, Delicious Fruity Company serve their consumers with the highest honour by practise continuous improvement and innovation in the fruit production process. The vision of Delicious Fruity Company is ‘To become one of the leading company in fruit beverage manufacturers and develop healthy and high quality products to serve our customers. ’ There is a wide distribution of network that enable customers to purchase fruit juice and juice concentrates of Delicious Fruity Company as the company situated their products in the most biggest supermarket in Malaysia which they are Tesco, Giant, Carrefour, Sunshine , Aeon, Jusco , Pacific and Econsave. The main consumer market that is target by Delicious Fruity Company is consumers in Malaysia which Delicious Fruity Company concentrate on local distribution channel. Description of Product According to The Times of India, benefits of drinking fruit juice such as oranges will keep your skin glow and keep you away from cold. Besides that, fruits juice contains essential nutrients that is much higher than a meal normally consumed by an individual. Delicious Fruity Company formulates fruits juices, long life fruit juice and juice concentrates that is high in nutrients and also quality as a promise to their customer where they think of quality, they will think of Delicious Fruity Company. They use fresh oranges, apples, lemons and etc. to extract the natural flavour of the fruit which there is no artificial flavouring used in the process of formulating the fruit juice and juice concentrates. This would reflect the safety of ingredient used by Delicious Fruity Company as it is insured from excessive use of chemical in their products. Problem Statement As mention before, Delicious Fruity Company use the extraction of fruits to transform the unprocessed fruit juice to become long life fruit juice. The main raw material that is largely used by Delicious Fruity would be fresh fruits like oranges, apples, lemons, grapes and etc. Repeated ordering from local growers below a significant time would likely to raise the cost of ordering, shipping and holding of fresh fruits and also the availability of materials which is always a major issue for Delicious Fruits Company. However, in the last two years, General Manager of Delicious Fruity Company, Ms Serena had come out with a plan which raw material would be order in bulk, which this idea would effectively help to brings down the figure of cost of ordering and shipping, ensure the availability of raw material but it would cause an increase in holding cost as those raw materials were about to keep under Delicious Fruity Company’s warehouse and facilities like huge refrigerator would have to be ready for the arrival of those fresh fruits. The benefit of the decision seems to be higher than the cost of the decision which in the end, Delicious Fruity Company started practice Ms Serena’s plan. Economies of scale would sound pleasant to Delicious Fruity Company but there is a serious problem arise from this decision which this approach creates overstocking problems, and as those fresh fruits are perishable commodities, the issue transform from bad to worse as the fruits lifespan ends. Proposal of Solution Nowadays, corporation with supply chain partners seems to be a new and better option for most of the company to run their businesses. The problem faced by Delicious Fruity Company would be able to be solve by using some of the strategies in supply chain integration which they are cross docking, collaborative, planning, forecasting, replenishment (CPFR) and joint product development. These strategies would be explain in details in the following paragraph. Cross Docking As cost of holding and handling materials is quite expensive which Delicious Fruity Company is not just pay for the rental of warehouse but they also pay for other overhead cost such as utilities of warehouse, insurance of raw materials and etc. Cross Docking would help to reduce this cost to minimum which cross docking is the practise of loading goods from an incoming truck and shift the goods directly in to another truck, trailers or rail cars. It is a combination of shipment and warehouse are not function as a storage house but it act as a distribution centre that receive shipment in bulk and break them into specific packaging and then send them out immediately to the manufacturer. As a fruit beverage manufacturing company, raw materials of Delicious Fruity Company are mostly perishable items which they are better suited to cross docking than others. Cross docking will ensure the freshness of those fruits that needs to be process. As the fruits needed to be kept in wooden crates and held in refrigerated cool rooms which the time required to be stored would decrease the lifespan of those fruits, therefore, fresh fruits is essential for Delicious Fruity Company which with this, ordering in large quantities and in large volumes would not work. The benefit that comes with this strategy would be cut down the time from the beginning of production which raw material could be deliver in a short period of time and the finished goods would be able to send out to customers faster which would keep the freshness of the fruit juice that brings out customer satisfaction. But to really implement this strategy, Delicious Fruity Company need to understand the demands in the market so that forecast would be carryout and accurate estimation of needs in the market would provide sufficient information to those local growers so that the quantity of each shipment can be send correctly and also the freshness of those fruits would be ensured. Joint Product Development One of the reasons that causes the General Manager, Ms Serena to make the wrong decision is because of insufficient information regarding Delicious Fruity Company. Ms Serena fail to make forecast of the market demand and focusing on only cost effectiveness and left the most important issue behind which is the equilibrium of the consumer market. Joint product development is an alliance between two or more parties in the supply chain. Delicious Fruity Company could implement this strategy with their retailers as retailers understands more on how consumer behave, this is because of retailers are the one who have daily contact with the final consumers and they share some of the customers’ preference by better understanding and keep up-date the consumers’ behaviour. With the help of Delicious Fruity Company’s partners such as Tesco, Giant and etc. Delicious Fruity Company should be able to forecast the demand of fruit juice beverage more accurate than before. Collaborative, Planning, Forecasting, Replenishment (CPFR) This strategy facilitate the demand forecasting process which the demand patterns and plan promotion activities for product were run cooperatively with supply chain partners. As CPFR not only just forecasting market demand and doing logistics stuff to help a firm, instead, it proactively articipate the whole process of business between the firm and its supply chain partners. For Example, may be the reason for bulk ordering to be fail is not cause by the inaccurate of forecasting market demand, but it is cause by the economic crisis that hits the consumers. Hence, if CPFR is about to implement, suppliers of raw materials would help in decreasing the price of fruits and the retailer of the company would introduce promotion to t he final consumers so that the market demand would not fall too sharply from normal season. There is a few steps that need to be followed while implementing CPFR which the first step would be Front-end agreement where participating company such as those local growers and retailers such as Jusco, Tesco agree to confidentiality and dispute resolution processes, develop a scorecard to track key supply chain metrics relative to success criteria, and establish any financial incentives or penalties. The second steps would be joint business plan where suppliers, retailers and also Delicious Fruity Company develop plans for promotions, inventory policy changes, store openings and closings, and product changes for each beverage category as to adopt the changes brought by CPFR. After that, retailers such as Tesco, and Delicious Fruity Company share consumer demand forecasts, and identify exceptions that occur when the plans that design do not match, or change dramatically. Delicious Fruity Company and their retailers resolve exceptions by determining causal factors, adjusting plans where necessary. This process is known as sales forecast collaboration. The next steps would be order forecast collaboration, which Delicious Fruity Company and its retailers and also raw material suppliers share the replenishment plan that had been design collaboratively with the retailer and then identify and resolving exceptions that would altered the initial plan. Finally, Order generation or delivery execution will be performed and the results from database of the retailer such as point of sales (POS), orders, shipment data and etc. s widely shared among supply chain partners. This would resolved the issue that mention before by this paper such as forecast accuracy problems, overstock or understock conditions, and execution issues. Challenges of Implementing Supply Chain Integration Although supply chain integration had been recognized as a successful strategy to manage the problem face during the operation process from a manufacturer to a retailer, however, there are issues and challenges that face by most of the industry to perform supply chain integration. Delicious Fruity Company need to overcome some of these barriers so that the implementation of supply chain integration would be successful. Trust would be the first element that a Delicious Fruity Company had to keep practising once the firm went into a supply chain integration which with if Delicious Fruity Company do not keep in faith in their suppliers, they will be unwilling to share data with their suppliers. In the end, the supply chain integration would not be able to perform. As a company is about to implement new policy, some stages of changes within the company will be required. As Delicious Fruity Company will implement this new strategy in the future, the management personal should consider the adaptiveness of the firm upon the implementation of new strategies. Besides that, there will be an increase in interdependency as Delicious Fruity Company engage in supply chain integration which suppliers, retailers and the firm are dependent on each other to survive in the market place. Yet, this interdependency would rise another issue which in reality there will be one or few parties or stakeholders in supply chain would better off and they enjoy the supply chain integration strategy the most, this situation been known as uneven partner benefit which Delicious Fruity Company needs to tame their emotion while they face such kinds of situation in reality. Lastly, most of the supply chain integration strategies requires extensive information technologies which Delicious Fruity Company need to equip themselves with hardware and software that is needed to implement a brand new supply chain integration policy. This would actually means that Delicious Fruity Company needs to allocate a large amount of cash flow as the restructuring cost that will be invested into the relationship with their supply chain partners. Conclusion Implementation of supply chain integration by Delicious Fruity Company is needed in order to keep up with its company vision which is ‘To become one of the leading company in fruit beverage manufacturers and develop healthy and high quality products to serve our customers. This is because of supply chain integration create more value for Delicious Fruity Company and also its customers, which can create stronger attraction for its products and services as extra competitive advantage. As stated in this proposal, where some of the practise of supply chain integration may lead Delicious Fruity Company to a better platform of serving their customers. But obstacles that faced by Delicious Fruity Company need to be overcome so that the successfulness of implementing suppl y chain integration strategy would be ensured.

Teaching Writing Skills To Vietnamese Students Education Essay

Teaching Writing Skills To Vietnamese Students Education Essay Background of the problem Writing skill which includes language, private knowledge and skill, emotion and the interaction of personal opinion is difficult and challenging to learn and develop for many students in EFL contexts in general and in Vietnam in particular. In Vietnam, there are many teachers of English who even believe that teaching writing skill to EFL learners is more complex than teaching other communicative skills (Mazdayasna Tahririan, 2001). Although language learners have to learn hard to have good compositions, they still have made a variety of errors or mistakes when writing. In other words, EFL learners often feel stressful and anxious when writing in a foreign language (Spratt Leung, 2000). Consequently, language teachers and researchers have made an effort to know how they can do to help students be able to minimize their mistakes in their writing. However, they also admit that it is impossible for them or any teacher to read and correct all the students compositions on writing lessons because correcting written work is time-consuming (Ur, 1999, p.74), especially for large classes. Peer feedback (also peer correction, peer response or peer review) with its advantages can be a promising way which can be used to encourage students to read and give comments and suggestions together for enrichment of their peers writings before the final versions of their products are submitted to their teachers. Peer correction works as a vital part in the process approach to teaching writing because it helps learners realize their learning level as well as their demands for enhancement of writing ability. Brown (1994) and Gipps (1994) have the same opinion that feed back is one of the main factors in the process of English learning and teaching. Many other researchers, for example, Paulus (1999), Min (2006) promote the idea that verbal and written feedback should be applied to foster writing skills. This strategy, thus, has been used popularly on the writing lessons of many English classes in Vietnam consisting of those at centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, Thai Nguyen College of Education, Thai Nguyen Uni. Ur (1999, p.74) states that peer correction can help us not only save time, but also develop the critical reading skill for content, organization, style and language accuracy. Additionally, peer feedback can receive an efficient method to make students to have critical thinking of writing and assessment skills than teacher feedback. In other words, peer feedback helps learners make good use of their own effort to make their writings expressive and effective. However, in spite of its roles and impact on the process of writing, peer feedback has not been paid much attention in Vietnam. Some researchers such as Tran (2007), Phan (2007) who are interested in peer response in writing introduce their point of view, knowledge and experience about this topic in their researches which show the present state of employing peer feedback learners attitude and especially offer some suggestions to better the current response training. Purpose of the study As mentioned above, it is not difficult to find out studies which research the role of peer feedback in writing skill on the way to foster it. However, the writer of this study with to do the research to know about the fact of peer feedback in Vietnam in general and the Centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, TNCE, TNU more clearly. This study also investigates whether peer feedback can have positive impact on ESL writing process among pre-intermediate non major students at this Centre or not; they can revise their own writing works to develop their writing skill or not and how this process really happens. Bearing in mind, the writer decides the research with title Using peer correction in teaching writing skill to help Vietnamese college non-major students at CIF, CE, TNU reduce errors in their written compositions Research question(s) or statement of hypothesis This study aims at finding answer to the following research question: How can peer correction helps EFL learners reduce mistakes in their written compositions? The question is addressed to one of the writing classes that I am teaching this term in Centre of Informatics and Foreign Language, College of Education, Thai Nguyen University with the aim to examine how peer correction affects the process of revising and writing a complete composition of my students here. Organization of the study This study can be divided into five chapters. In this chapter, background of the EFL writing in local context is given and the aim of this study is also identified. Chapter 2 mentions some reviews of the literature which go through related literature and researches, in which, general of writing teaching and a brief idea of peer feedback in writing skill will be focused. In chapter 3, the writer describes the methodology and processes of the research. Chapter 4 presents data analysis and findings. Chapter 5 gives some implications of the study, summarizes main point discussed in the study, indicates some limitations and proposes some suggestions for the further researches. Lastly, the final parts of the study are appendixes and references. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Overview of writing process Lannon (1989) claims that writing is a process delivering meaningful messages and including its own specific goal. This process requires students to work hard instead of regarding it as an uncomplicated act (Byrne, 1988). However, in language teaching and learning process, Tribble (1996, p.3) defines writing as a language skill that involves not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way. This means writers need to arrange their ideas logically and systematically. There have been different approaches to teaching writing EFL classes but two most popular ones are product approach and process one. Product approach can be the traditional method of writing which stresses the final outcome of the writing process as well as grammar, usage, form and mechanics of the composition. Students are often asked to write a similar paragraph basing on the model and using new taught structures, vocabularies or any aspects of language. A fter that, the teacher will correct students writings or feedback in the class commonly means the correction of the students language errors (Mazdayasna Tahririan, 2001, p.56). Therefore, students find difficult to know why and how they made errors to avoid repeating them on the next tasks. Though thanks to this method students can sometimes reject errors (Tribble, 1996), it does not encourage students create in writing at all, the use of language is manipulate of fixed patterns; the patterns are learned by imitation (Pincas, 1962, p.185). Over the last forty years, there has been remarkable interest in writing process. There are many researchers and educators suggesting language teachers that they should pay attention to students writing process instead of only their final writing version (Paige Way, Joiner and Seaman, 2000). Process writing can contain stages such as rewriting, writing, revising and rewriting or editing. However, Reid (1993) supplement this process with three more stages, namely, responding, evaluating and post-writing, in which peer feedback is focused more in responding. Prewriting: something done before drafting such as choosing a topic, brainstorming, collecting data, organizing. Composing / drafting: actually writing. Revising: selecting organization, structures, edition or collection word. Rewriting: completing stage step by step. Responding: getting the teacher and peers responses, discussing with them about papers to improve the content. Evaluating: receiving marks or scores from the teachers. Post-writing: any activities happened after completing rewriting and getting assessment (role-play) Cresswell claims that to as students to exchange their writing draft is an effective way to foster their learning autonomy and help them become alert reader when proofreading their partners written tasks (2000). As the result, they also have critical thinking when they read their own paper to find and correct themselves their mistakes in those, i.e. their writing ability can be develop (Markino, 1993). It is necessary to allow students to have more time to write and get feedback from their teachers and classmates, and then rewrite the drafts so that they can let reader be abele to understand their idea expressed on the paper better (Frankenberg-Garcia, 1999). Definition and some types of errors Different researchers have different ways to categorize errors. In this study, the writer only wishes to refer one of classification strategies based on the relation to comprehensibility given by Burt and Kiparsky (1972) because of its close concern with the notion of mistakes mentioned in this study. These researchers divided error into two main types: global errors and local ones. Henclrikson (1978) notes that we will be able to realize which error is global or local, because error can be regard as communicative or non-communicative ones. According to Ellis (1997), while global errors such as over generalization or simplification have an effect on explanation of the whole structure of sentence, local error just affect a single factor in sentences, i.e. word, phrases, closures or grammatical morphemes. Burt and Kiparsky (1974) also claim that global error have higher hierarchy than local errors. Thus the global ones seem to be care about and be corrected more than local ones Norish (1983). However, those local errors can be considered as minor ones, error in tense and aspect, they are popular mistakes of English writing learners. Peer feedback and its impact on reducing mistakes and developing writing skill Knowledge is best acquired through negotiated interaction (Grabe Kaplan, 1996, p.380). There are many approaches to error correction and also definitions of peer feedback from many linguists and experts. According to Richards, et al, Peer feedback is an activity in the revising stage of writing in which students receive feedback about their writing from other students-their peers. Typically students work in pairs or small groups, read each others compositions and ask questions or give comments or suggestions (1992, p.268). Some other researchers of EFL writing state that feedback play an essential role in the process of writing. Keh (1990) claims that giving feedback means giving comments and suggestions, which helps the writer edit his or her composition. Through teachers or classmates feedback, students can know what kinds of mistakes they made and how to cope with those mistakes. Therefore, if students can get a productive feedback, they can correct their own errors and avoiding making the similar mistakes in the later writing tasks. It is wise for teachers to require learners responsibilities for their own writing performance and their peers ones because of the strong effect of peer feedback on students review as well as their writing skill. Zamel (1987) supposes that peers are actual and direct readers or reviewers. In the fact that, there are a number of methods teachers utilize to assist students check their mistakes but indeed teachers seem to not be able to resolve the problem individually. Students play the parts of both writers and readers or givers and receivers. Hefernick (1983) regards peer editing as learning and teaching instrument for teachers and learners because students can give helpful feedback each other. Peer writers can edit their own written compositions basing on the readers remarks and comments (Mendonca and John, 1994; Rollison, 1998), so the writers can be better at learning writing. Students can also have superior performance by the student-to-student activities because these activities are often more detailed than teacher feedback (Caulk, 1994). Also, Mangelsdorfin thinks that peer review can help many students to have diverse perception about their topics as well as foster the ideas and make them more clearly in the EFL writings. Therefore, researchers believe that peer feedback can have a positive effect on classroom dynamics and can help to train learners in skills they need to become autonomous (Spratt et al, 2005, p.157). Joyce (1997) employs a research to explore main strategies so as to respond to the EFL students composition writings. After the twelve-week period, by comparing the initial writing sample and the third one after using peer editing, he shows that writing competency of students grows strongly and concludes this strategy is efficient and necessary. In the research conducted by Wong (1999), peer correction was carried out and discovered by qualitative data to ease the process of EFL writing in four factors: grammar, rules and concepts, meaning and emotional elements. In addition, it helps students improve awareness of writing skill. Quantitative findings of this study introduce 97% students admit that they want to apply peer correction in the future. It is important to stress that the writer of this study learns a lot from Wong research, and longs to use some his methods in this research to examine whether it is suitable for the writer teaching fact. Kurt and Atay (2007) also experimented with 86 Turkish Prospective Teachers of English. Those participants are divided into 2 groups: Experimental group (writing an essay and receiving peer feedback) and control group (writing an essay and receiving teacher feedback only). This study concluded that peer feedback helps Turkish PTs reduce writing anxiety and it is really considered as a complementary factor of the teacher feedback. Despite its advantages, peer response has its own weakness. Its procedure requests the training and organization from the teacher as well as it depends on students ability of collaboration with peers. Many students give their partners too general and ambiguous reviews. They make their peers find it difficult to understand and catch messages or information. The writing ability, thus, seems to not improve (Tsui Ng, 2000). CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND PROCEDURES Methods of the study The research is done qualitatively in the context of a 30-student English class. They are non-major students; their level of English proficiency is pre-intermediate and their writing ability is average. In this report, the writer uses two research tools to collect and analyze the needed data, i.e. recording and interview. Recording is used to record the process of peer correction. Chosen subjects were invited to record their discussions and then they were transcribed (Appendix C) for analyzing. Voice recorder is chosen instead of video recorder to prevent their discussions from the presence of another people, which may interrupt their current process of peer correction. The writer also hopes that through recordings she can derive how students check and correct their writings each other and what types of mistakes are corrected most. The second tool used in this study is interviews with students at the end of the research to study whether this strategy is really suitable for them or not, that is, expose students attitude toward peer correction strategy as well as their opinions and get their suggestions to make this process better. According to Herbert and Irene (1995), in interviews students need to know the way of actual listening. Because they are pre-intermediate non-major students, they can only use English during the interviews, so they can speak in Vietnamese and then the writer record and translate them into English. Procedure As a matter of ethics, the whole procedure of teaching and learning is implemented similarly to all students of the class after all of them give consent to be part of the research. However, due to the limit of the study, I only focus to record and interview the learning engagement of two students (who I call anonymously in this report as A1 and A2 as a matter of ethics) during this process as the data for analysis. The writer after considering carefully decide to make peer correcting tasks in class. Before the real peer correction, the writer design some exercises to introduce the way to check a composition. They were guided to focus on some discrete mistake. Items are subject-verb agreement, spells, tense, verb form, number, part of speech. The structure of sentence, content, and organization of the composition/essay is also asked to be commented. Firstly, the students were asked to check sentence by sentence and then, they worked in pairs to check the paragraph (Appendix B) This research lasted for 8 weeks, and the writer chose 3 topics to ask students to write, discus and correct and then rewrite before submitting to give the teacher. These topics are informal letter to a pen friend; a descriptive passage about a close relative in your family; a biography passage of a famous person. During this process, the writer asks students to give them tape-recorder to record their own discussions. In this paper, interviews are well-prepared. After recording them, the writer will transcribe and translate them (Appendix ?) ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS Data analysis Analysis of data from the recordings The writer, in this part, wish to learn about the process of peer correction through discussions taken recordings of subjects and interviews between the writers and them. After that, the writer would assess the result of the recorded discussions and interviews. It is undeniable that peer correction help students improve EFL writing a lot, although the level of subjects is not high, they can give comments on a variety of types of mistakes language such as article, preposition, S-V agreement, infinitive or gerund an sometimes even whole structure of the composition or word choice. When correcting mistakes, they also give some suggestions and explain the reasons for those mistakes. Below are some examples in collected data. Extract 1(topic 1, A1s composition) Before correction: She and I are very different but we got on well together. She is short and Im tall. She likes stay at home and watch television with my parentss. A2: Ok. Sentence 1 is ok. In sentence 2, you should use get, not got, simple present. Next sentences let me see, here, like add v-ing not bare verb. My parentss, I dont know my parentss here mean, without possessive mark is correct. Do you agree? A1: Yeah of course After correction: She and I are very different but we get on well togetherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. She is shorter than meà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. She likes staying at home and watching television with my parents Extract 2 (topic 1, A2s composition) Before correction: My young brother is a 15 year old and I am 20 year old. My brother learn at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education. A1: My young brother is a 15 year old. You dont need an article here, it is not a noun and years, not year. Its plural. My brother learn at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education, wrong form of the verb the third singular person. A2: Okie. Learns not learn After correction: My young brother is 15 years old and I am 20 years old. He learns at Song Cong town and I learn at TN college of education. Extract 3 (topic 2, A1s composition) Before correction: I was born in a family of farmer. My parents are workers in a company and my brother is married and works for the post office. A2: I dont understand the next sentences. I was born in a family of farmer. My parents are workers in a company. Why? A1: Oh, so so sorry, I mean classes in society. But I cant express this idea. A2: Working class, you mean? Or you will not ? sentence. Are you clear? Now, next, any brother is married, was, not is and works for the post office. After correction: My parents are workers in a company and my brother is married and works for the post office. Extract 4 (topic 2, A2s composition) Before correction: Its verry wonderful. A1: Verry? Wrong spelling. Its Very. Can you find out the sentence? A2: Yes. Thats right. After correction: Its very wonderful! Through recordings, the writer also realizes that apart from getting knowledge to improve their writing skill, students are very interested in their discussions. They seem to feel confident and have responsibilities with their task. Analysis of data from the interviews The information from the interviewed reveals students thoughts, feelings and ideas toward this process. Although A1 has not tried peer correction before, she is convinced of this strategy after this study. She feels that she can realize her mistakes clearly and correct them. She is also able to avoid repeating on the next task. She wants to work in group of 3 or 4 to get more feedback from her peers. That means she admit the role of the peer feedback in developing her writing skill. Extract 6 (interview between the writer and A1) W: Will you use this strategy again? A1: Yes, of course. W: Can you give some suggestions to make the process better? A1: I like working in group of three or four. Thats all. W: Thank you very much! Unlike A1, A2 has used this strategy many times. Therefore she has a lot of experiences. Her ideas express her deep understanding of peer correction. She also likes it and she knows how it assists her in her writing process. However, she stresses the role of the teacher in the process of revising. Extract 7 (interview between the writer and A2) A2: I like it. But I still want teachers correct it finally. W: Why do you think so? A2: Because I myself sometimes find out my own mistakes. My partner can help me that. Moreover, when reading the text of my partner, I can learn something from it. However, there are some mistakes we cant correct we need teacher. ! Findings According to the data analysis from the two lessons, it can be personally concluded that the most important feature that makes my students to engage more in the lesson is the kind of assessment which forces them to learn although the meaningfulness of tasks also more or less affect the level of engagement the most meaningful tasks to my students are tasks that can help them to pass the tests at the end of the semester not tasks that give them reasons to communicate as I expected REFLECTIONS This study has given me a chance to know more about my students, about what goes wrong with them when they are not engaged in my reading class. In the study, I also have chance to access a number of researches of many experienced language educators and teachers, from which I obtain new knowledge of language teaching and learning in general and knowledge of meaningful tasks in teaching extensive reading in particular. During the research, I also learn more about the methods of doing research in a scientific way. Firstly, I learn to look at the situation of my English teaching and learning critically and make research questions with the hope of improving it. I also learn to arrange and organize my ideas and my work systematically to fit the timetable of the research procedure. But the most important thing is that I learn how to put my background knowledge into the knowledge repertoire of related previous studies to have a broader view of the situation and to make my research skills (such summarizing and synthesizing) useful by activating them creatively and critically. However, the research still has some drawbacks regarding the methods of data collection and analysis that I might change in my next research if I have more time. Firstly, instead of just doing the research on 2 lessons, I intend to do research from the beginning of the semester so that my students not only have chances to choose the texts themselves but also have chances to choose the topics they are interested in. Moreover, when I observe them in the whole semester, the effect of other aspects like the pressure of testing, the emotion of learners, etc. can be avoided and thus, the data I collect may become more reliable. Secondly, instead of interviewing my students after the research, I will interview them during the research, which may give me more chances to adjust my lessons to be more suitable and meaningful to them. CONCLUSION To sum up, the research has brought to me some important lessons of English teaching and learning in general and of working with my students in particular. Firstly, the research affirms for me that extensive reading activities are good activities that students want to do. It is not because in the activities, students have opportunities to choose the texts of their own interest and at their own level of proficiency but also because extensive reading activities give them another environment of reading in which they are not in pressure to read. Thus, they can comfortably improve their English fluency. It is also proved by the research that students are more engaged in the extensive reading activities when the tasks are more meaningful to them. More specifically, in my case that means the tasks that give my students a more meaningful reason to complete engage them more. However, it is also noted that the purpose of learning for mark (i.e. learning to prepare for final-term tests) should also be taken into considerations as a factor that affects the engagement of students. However, since the research is not totally as good as I expected, I would like to do further research on this topic on the following issues: How to balance the two kinds of reading (i.e. more communicative extensive reading and test-based intensive reading) to make reading activities more meaningful? How do the extensive reading activities look like if the students are allowed to choose the texts in groups? REFERENCES Brown, J.D. (1994). Research methods for Applied Linguistics: Scope, characteristics, and standards. In A. Davies C. Elder (Eds.), The handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 476-500). Oxford: Blackwell. Burt, M.K., Kisparsky, C. (1972). The gooficon: A repair manual for English. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House. Burt, M.K., Kisparsky, C. (1974). The gooficon: A repair manual for English. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House. Byrne, D. (1988). Teaching writing skills. Longman: London Creswell, A. (2000). Self-monitoring in student writing: developing learner responsibility. ELT Journal, 54(3). Frankenberg Garcia, A. (1999). Providing student writer with pretext feedback. ELT Journal, 53 (2). Gipps, C (1994). Beyond Testing: Towards a Theory of Educational Assessment. London: The Falmer Gabe, W. Kaplan, RB. (1996). Theory and practice of writing. The USA: Long Man. Keh, C. L. (1990). Feedback in writing process: A model and methods for implementation. EFT Journal, 44(4). Lannon, J.M. (1989). The Writing Process. A concise rhetoric. Southeastern Massachusetts University Press. Markino, T. Y. (1993). Leaner self-correction in ESL written composition. ELT Journal, 47(4). Mazdayasna, G. Tahririan, M.H. (2001,). Peer-review, Teacher Feedback and EFL learners Writing Development.   Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJAL), 5(1), 55-67. Retrieved December 10, 2009 from SID database http://www.sid.ir/En/VEWSSID/ J_PDF/87620010104.pdf Min, H.T. (2006). The Effects of Trained Peer Review on EFL Students Revision and Writing Quality. Journal of Second Language Writing, 7(2), 113-131. Norish, J. (1983).  Language Learners and Theirs Errors. London : The Macmillan Press. Paige Way, D., Joiner, E., Seaman, M. (2000). Writing in the secondary foreign language classroom: the effects of prompts and tasks on novice learners of French. Modern Language Journal, 84(2). Paulus, T.M (1999). The effect of peer and teacher feedback on student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing 8(3), 265-289. Phan, T.K.C (2007). Peer written feedback in writing portfolios by third year students in the English department, CFL, VNU. Unpublished Graduation Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Pincas, A. (1962). Structured linguistics and systematic composition teaching to students of English as a Foreign Language. Language learning, 2(3), 184-185. Rechards J.C., Platt, J., Platt.H. (1992). Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Malaysia: Longman Reid, J.M. (1993). Teaching ESL writing. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Shokrpour, N. Fallahzadeh, M.H. (2007, March). A survey of the students and interns EFL writing problems in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Asian EFL Journal, 9(1). Retrieved October 15, 2009 from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/March_07_ns mf.php Spratt, M. and Leung, B. (2000). Peer teaching and peer learning revisited. ELT Journal, 54(3), 218-226. Spratt, M., Pulveness, A., Williams, M. (2005). The TKT Course: Teaching Knowledge Test. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tran, T.Q.T (2007). An investigation into the use of peer written feedback in the first-year writing classes at the ED, CFL, VNU, Hanoi. Unpublished Graduation Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Tsui, A.B.M. Ng, M. (2000). Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer comments? en Journal of Second Language Writing, No.9 (2), pp.147-170 ), Henclrikson (1978), Ellis (1997),) Hefernick, Joyce (1997), Atay (2007) improve (Tsui Ng, 2000). to Herbert and Irene (1995), Tribble, C. (1996). Writing. Brazil: Oxford University Press. Ur, P. (1999). A course in language teaching: trainee book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zamel, V.(1987). Writing: the process of discovering meaning. New York: Newbury House Publishers APPENDICES

carnegie hall :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On Sunday afternoon November 21, 1999, at 2:00 p.m.at 419th Concert Worldwide, 330th in New York, 218th in Carnegie Hall I attended a MidAmerica production that presented the New England Symphonic Ensemble. This concert contained several different compositions by large groups of musicians, including an orchestra band, and chorus. This concert was divided into three different parts. First there was the Vivaldi which was divided into 12 sections. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse was the music director, Raymond Sprague was the conductor, Judith Von Housers Voice was the soprano, Mary Nessinger voice was the Mezzo soprano, and Elizabeth Hastings was the portative. There was a reprise in the first section Gloria which opened up the symphony.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following the first intermission the musicians performed Magnificant by Mohaycn, Ave Maria op 12 by Brahms, Magnificant by Vaughan Williams, and Canticle of Mary by Larson. Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser's voice was the soprano and Mary Nessinger the Mezzo-soprano. The first three sections were settings of the magnificant text all for women's of tremble voices and orchestra. This recital was more dramatic due to the addition of the precussion that added a yelling sound in the end of the last section Canticle of Mary which portrayed Mary's free spirit. Also they played a solovin oboe Manificant by Williams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following the second intermission the musicians performed the Puccini which was divided into six sections. Solveig Holmquist was the conductor, Thomas C. Laine was the tenor and James Demler voice was the baritone. The chorus carries the major burden of their music. Thomas C. Laine presented the tenor in Credo, and James Demler presented the baritone in Agnas Dei. This piece also contained fugue and a chorale. Also all the instruments were blended together to produce harmony.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the first part of this recital the vivaldi, contained a string Quartet. After the first intermission, I looked down at the podium and noticed that the precussions were added which included the timpani, bass drum, tylophone, and cymbals. In this recital Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser was the soprano which played a high note, and Mary Nessinger was the Mezzo-soprano which played a slight softer note. This part of the concert was divided into four pieces. First there was the Magnificant by M. Haydn (the orchestra accompaniment was edited from the composer's manuscript by Mark Nabholz). This piece consisted of strings without violas, two french horns, and an organ. carnegie hall :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On Sunday afternoon November 21, 1999, at 2:00 p.m.at 419th Concert Worldwide, 330th in New York, 218th in Carnegie Hall I attended a MidAmerica production that presented the New England Symphonic Ensemble. This concert contained several different compositions by large groups of musicians, including an orchestra band, and chorus. This concert was divided into three different parts. First there was the Vivaldi which was divided into 12 sections. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse was the music director, Raymond Sprague was the conductor, Judith Von Housers Voice was the soprano, Mary Nessinger voice was the Mezzo soprano, and Elizabeth Hastings was the portative. There was a reprise in the first section Gloria which opened up the symphony.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following the first intermission the musicians performed Magnificant by Mohaycn, Ave Maria op 12 by Brahms, Magnificant by Vaughan Williams, and Canticle of Mary by Larson. Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser's voice was the soprano and Mary Nessinger the Mezzo-soprano. The first three sections were settings of the magnificant text all for women's of tremble voices and orchestra. This recital was more dramatic due to the addition of the precussion that added a yelling sound in the end of the last section Canticle of Mary which portrayed Mary's free spirit. Also they played a solovin oboe Manificant by Williams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Following the second intermission the musicians performed the Puccini which was divided into six sections. Solveig Holmquist was the conductor, Thomas C. Laine was the tenor and James Demler voice was the baritone. The chorus carries the major burden of their music. Thomas C. Laine presented the tenor in Credo, and James Demler presented the baritone in Agnas Dei. This piece also contained fugue and a chorale. Also all the instruments were blended together to produce harmony.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the first part of this recital the vivaldi, contained a string Quartet. After the first intermission, I looked down at the podium and noticed that the precussions were added which included the timpani, bass drum, tylophone, and cymbals. In this recital Nancy Menk was the conductor, Judith Von Houser was the soprano which played a high note, and Mary Nessinger was the Mezzo-soprano which played a slight softer note. This part of the concert was divided into four pieces. First there was the Magnificant by M. Haydn (the orchestra accompaniment was edited from the composer's manuscript by Mark Nabholz). This piece consisted of strings without violas, two french horns, and an organ.

Adam Smith v. Karl Marx Essays -- Papers Capitalism Communism Essays

Adam Smith v. Karl Marx Being reared in the typical capitalist community in the United States, it is much easier for me to relate to the thoughts of Adam Smith. This is not to say that I do not agree with some of the precepts of pure Communism, but like the old adage says, "Communism looks good on paper, but in practice, it is completely ineffective." Historically, this form of government does not tend to succeed because of many factors. Some of these include basic economic differences, individualism, and technology and how it advances or serves as a detriment to the state. My stance is clear: I believe that Adam Smith has the more credible stance. Beginning with the economic side of the discussion Smith takes a Western approach in his thought processes. He states in so many words that workers are continually looking for the best job and the best wage. Marx believes that a wage-labor war will break down society and cause a downfall of the economic structure. The Capitalist belief is that each individual is continually exerting himself to find the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command (Smith 15). Smith says also in paragraph 15 that it is human nature for a person to better society while bettering himself. In Adam's opinion each person has the right to the pursuit of happiness, and that each person has to take it in their own hands to advance within society. Marx disagrees by saying that when a person betters himself he does not improve but instead endangers society. For example, when the bourgeois cuts employment because of technology, the bourgeois hurts society by "†¦instead of rising the laborers with the progress of industry, sinks them deeper below the conditions of existence of their own class... ...both of their ideas. They seem to use similar methods, using logical statements to convey their points that seem to very much contrast each other. Marx’s philosophies deal with improving society for the better to reach industrial prosperity while Smith believes that the incentives of a free market will allow this happen and that human nature will cause Marx’s theory to fail. In the end both men want one common goal which is the best possible economic system for society because both realize that economics is single greatest controller of the major aspects of society. Bibliography: Works Cited Page Marx, Karl. â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† A World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 209-32. Smith, Adam. â€Å"Of the Principle of the Commercial or Mercantile System.† A World Of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 195-205.

Richard Essay -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Richard Wright: Author of Black Boy†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Richard Wright’s â€Å"Black Boy† depicts the different observations of the South and the North. In the South, Wright faces pre-depression and racism. In the North, Wright faces the conflicts from the Communist party. At the end of Black Boy, Wright quotes â€Å"What had I got out of living in the city? What had I got out of living in the South?†(Wright 452)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wright’s thought of the South was that the South was a socially unreconstructed region where blacks who asserted their basic human rights invited punishment or death. Black Boy forces the reader to imagine the Southern life from a Negro point of view. The perspective of the South is that the entire society is assembled to keep the Negro in his place. White society of the South restricts a black person’s freedom of movement, discourages his ambition, and banishes the black person to a place of inferiority. In Black Boy, an elevator boy named Shorty invites a white man to kick him for a quarter. Shorty is a symbol of nothingness because he does not have any pride in himself and towards his race. Wright would rather die that have himself kicked. Wright marvels at the willingness of southern Negroes who control themselves, their hopes and dreams. Black Boy states that the South is so dark that Wright wanders over the fact that the sun is still shining. 1 )   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Readers are felt free to make false charges on the South were forced to inspect the problems of race, oppression and class in the North. Due to segregation in the South, it was unthinkable for a black boy to become a writer. Wright learns that his people grope at the Southern life making them believe in a better world up North. Wright leaves the South so that he could engage himself with reality. Wright’s reflections on the South ended with a quote, â€Å"This was the culture from which I sprang, this was the terror from which I fled.†(Wright 303)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Wright goes to Chicago, Wright did not go North with a sense of what he wanted to become. In the North, Wright faces the pressure of the Communist Party. In the Communist Party, the themes of black and white are less intense. The issue of black and white as a race continues but Wright notes, he now feels â€Å"a different sort of tens... ...for the Walls bringing in firewood and the Walls consider their house a second home to Wright where he understands them more than his own family. Wright wrote Black Boy knowing that the book should not be read as a historical truth which struggles to report those false facts, but read as a narrative truth. Wright does not mention that his mother was a successful schoolteacher and that many of his friends were college faculty members. Wright also leaves out his father’s family background, which could have explained what type of person Wright’s father was. 5) The story that Richard Wright creates in Black Boy, whatever it is a historical record, is important both in telling the reader how the author remembers life in the South and in showing the reader what kind of person the author was to have written Wright’s story as he did. 6) Bibliography 1) Harold Bloom, Modern Critical Views: Richard Wright, New York, Chelsea House Publishers @1987 2) Richard Wright, Black Boy: A Recollection of Childhood And Youth, New York, Harper Perennial Publishers @1945 3) Hayley Mitchell, Readings on Black Boy, San Diego, Ca, David L. Bender @2000

A Home Depot Analysis

Final Exam Questions 1a. The way that Nardelli laid out his plan for change was one of the reasons I think it was so successful. He came in and addressed the problems that were easy to point out and also the ones that weren’t apparent to other employees. Nardelli needed to rebuild an organization that could easily compete with other big names, and this was relatively easy because the people at Home Depot knew the importance of taking advantage of its growing size. Nardelli did this by implementing a three strategy plan that involved enhancing the core, extending the business, and expanding the market.Nardelli’s first step in the process was enhancing the core. This involved improving the profitability of current and future stores, as well as in existing markets. From the article Heart of Change, I think that Kotter’s first step, increase urgency, relates the most to Nardelli’s first step. Kotter describes his first step like this; â€Å"A sense of urgency , sometimes developed by very creative means, gets people off the couch, out of the bunker, and ready to move† (Cohen and Kotter 690) essay writer life hacks. I think that this is what Nardelli was trying to make happen in his first step for change.He needed the people of the company to see what the issues were, and make a point to say that if we stay where are now, we will fall behind in a few years. This sense of urgency and improvement was the right step to getting Home Depot employees to care and start to make the best change for the company. The first step leads right into Nardelli’s second step which was, extend the business. Nardelli’s purpose with this step was to get employees to come up with ways to better serve the customers. This was to not only enhance customer service, but to become a standout figure among competitors.This was probably one of the most important steps and I think that Nardelli implemented it very well. I related this step to Kotterâ €™s fifth step of empowering action. I chose this because Kotter outlines this step as â€Å"Key obstacles that stop people from acting on the vision are removed† (Cohen and Kotter 697). The obstacle that Nardelli needed to remove was the similarities between his company and competitors. He did this by offering related home improvement services such as tool rental and home installation of products. This set them apart and allowed them to overcome that â€Å"obstacle† and continue to move forward.I think that this was the most important step because it represents the major ‘bump in the road’ that Home Depot needed to overcome in order to continue to keep growing. The final step in Nardelli’s plan was expanding the market. This was one of the easiest steps to correlate to Kotter because I think that it made the most sense, without specifically saying that same thing. Kotter’s seventh step of don’t let up is described as this; â€Å" a change effort will have direction and momentum†¦ build on this momentum and make a vision a reality†. (Cohen and Kotter 700).The whole point of Nardelli’s third step is to take what they have learned and implemented in the company thus far and expand geographically, even serve new kinds of customers. This was his way of carrying the momentum of success out as far as it could go, and making sure that Home Depot didn’t let their success slip through their fingers. This a very good move on Nardelli’s part, and attracting new customers such as commercial contractors and even women, made a huge impact on the overall morale, and success of the store. The only thing that I would have suggested Kotter adds to his plan, was the implementation of metrics.The Home Depot article talks about how in the beginning there was some harsh resistance to the change, â€Å"Resistance to the changes was fierce, particularly from managers: Much of the top executive team l eft during Nardelli’s first year† (Charan 64). Nardelli did use metrics, and they did make a difference. However, I think that if he had made them a part of his plan and used them earlier in the process they would have made an impression on the executives that did end up leaving. If Nardelli had used metrics I think that they would have correlated with Kotter’s fourth step, communicate for buy-in.This is described as â€Å"simple heartfelt messages sent through many unclogged channels† (Cohen and Kotter 697). Those metrics were the heartfelt messages that needed to be expressed to get people motivated even sooner. With my suggestion Nardelli’s plan should have looked like the following: Enhance the Core, Express Metrics, Extend the Business and Expand the market. Overall, I think that Nardelli did an excellent job, and that taking my advice, would have only yielded better results. 1b. When Nardelli first arrived at Home Depot, the culture was one th at was very close-knit and family oriented.I chose this term to describe the culture because the former CEO and chairman were often thought of as father figures by other employees; â€Å"Many employees simply couldn’t picture this company without these father figures† (Charan 63). When reading the article about Home Depot, there was one specific sentence that stood out to me because it described the pre-Nardelli culture very well, â€Å"It was marked by and entrepreneurial high-spiritedness, a willingness to take risks; a passionate commitment to customers, colleagues, the company, and to the community; and an aversion to anything that felt bureaucratic or hierarchical† (Charan 62-63).Looking specifically at this description of the culture, I can find characteristics that relate directly to low-context cultures, as well as to O’Reily, Chatman and Caldwell’s Cultural Characteristics. I came to the conclusion that the culture at Home Depot was a low- context culture specifically because high-context cultures are based largely on hierarchy. According to our class notes on culture low-context cultures are described as â€Å"cultures that focus on that which is explicit. People are specific and clear in their communication† (Culture Notes 1).This description fits the culture of Home Depot, not only because it strays away from hierarchy, but also because it was very much based on entrepreneurship; which requires specific and clear communication. I believe that the entrepreneurial high-spiritedness that is described above contributes to the feeling of a family oriented and close knit company. Relating the culture to the cultural characteristics of O’Reily, Chatman and Caldwell was relatively easy as well. Specifically there were three characteristics that stood out to me: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, and people orientation.I chose these because of the way the culture is described. Innovation and risk taking is described as the degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks. Not only was it said outright that this was a characteristic of the company, but I feel as though the close-knit environment promoted this kind of thinking; making everyone feel comfortable and open to sharing their ideas. Attention to detail was not as direct as the previous example, but I related this to the description of entrepreneurial high-spiritedness.Attention to detail is described as the degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis and attention to detail. This definition drew me to lean towards entrepreneurship because I thought that all of the qualities listed are qualities that would be necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. Again, these are all characteristics that thrive in a close-knit family style culture. Finally, I chose people orientation. This is described as the degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.This definition not only relates to the passionate commitment to customers, colleagues, the company, and to the community part of the description, but it also relates to the definition of low context culture. I know that specifically people orientation talks about people within the company, but I think that part of the reason Home Depot was so successful was that it reached outside of the company to impact people’s lives. Lastly, a major part of the low-context culture definition is that people are specific and clear in their communication, and I believe that people orientation would not be successful if this were not a major factor.The pre-Nardelli culture was very easy to define, and point out specific aspects that made it easy to describe and compare. When talking about the post-Nardelli culture, the only thing that really stood out to me was a difference in the feel of the culture. By this I mean specifically it went from a c lose-knit, family style culture, to a big corporation style that is highly focused on building the organization to take advantage of its outrageous growth. Instead of focusing specifically on the people in and outside of the community, this post culture was a focus on merchandising and collaboration between regional and store operators.Everything was on a larger scale, and even little thinks such as shelf organization and signage were standardized and enhanced, so they were able to stay on the playing field with competitors such as Wal-Mart. While I think that this doesn’t change the fact that it is a low-context culture, because there is still a focus on people and communication and an avoidance of hierarchy, I do think that it changes some of the relatable characteristics of O’Reily, Chatman, and Caldwell’s cultural characteristics.I do not think that they lost innovation and risk taking, attention to detail and people orientation, but simply that the focus wa s significantly diminished. Instead a focus on team orientation and aggressiveness was emphasized. Team orientation is defined in our notes as the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals. While the pre culture wasn’t so individually focused that it was everyman for himself, it’s that the post culture needed teams to make sure that all of the new projects like, merchandizing and reevaluation of the store environment, were successful.Finally for the post culture, there was a definite lean toward aggressiveness, which is defined in our notes as the degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing. I do not think that in the pre culture that they were quite on the level of stability from our culture notes, but that Nardelli promoted an environment that allowed people to be assertive and aggressive towards achieving more growth. For the most part I thought that pre- and post-Nardelli cultures were very si milar, minus the shift in focus from family business, to large corporation.

Theresa Kennedy Instructor

The business plan I chose was a child care services business plan titled Kid’s Community College, this business plan is very well thought out and provides much strength. The owner/proprietor has seventeen years of executive management experience, budgeting experience, and has a lot of knowledge in advanced technology. The industry consultant is relied upon for industry expertise and offers insight regarding rules and regulations, and government programs.This person is qualified as they own their own licensed day care. The campus director has a BS in education, two years experience as a Facility Administrator, two years experience as an Operations Manager, five years of managerial experience, and three years of grant writing experience. The vice president offers college level public relations experience, five years of customer service experience, eight years of child care services experience, and extensive knowledge in dance, art, and theatre.The business plan expresses a need for an experienced CPA and expresses that some of the current members need to obtain their Child Care Development Associate credentials, which will be a requirement among future upper-level employees. The business model is very well developed and researched. The plan provides breakdowns of what capital is needed to start-up, maintain the business, and provides an anticipated growth plan for the next three years. The plan also provides information on how many students are required to be enrolled, on an average weekly basis, to break even.Furthermore, the plan provides information for anticipated growth into a franchise consisting of three separate locations. The owner also researched the need for services in the area, the competitors and how to offer services to differentiate the Kid’s College from competitors, and how many â€Å"target† homes were within the ten mile radius. The owner also researched what the projected growth of the community is by researching construc tion of new homes. I believe the services this plan depicts are well-designed to compete with competitors in the surrounding areas.I also think the company has a sound mission statement and has put much thought into how to go about achieving the goals stated in the mission statement. I think this business will attract many clients as the owner intends to be active in the community, form partnerships with local businesses, and offer discounts to clients of partnering businesses. I believe the market segments are accurately targeted. The price the organization will charge for the services they intend to offer will meet this segment’s budget, and there is definitely a need for quality child care services when both parents have a career.The location of the proposed business is in a medical plaza which also houses a fitness center. Clients of the fitness center have already expressed a need for child care services. The company has ideal plans for marketing their services. I think the pre-enrollment drives, waiver of application fees on initial start-up of the business, and community weekends will be a superior way of attracting clients and building a strong reputation.The start-up members provide adequate support for customer service relations and management responsibilities, but I feel as the business grows these areas will need to be strengthened. I also feel the educational instructors and activities instructors need to be implemented as soon as possible so as not to weaken the mission statement and goals of the facility. The plan was very well organized and thought out. The charts provide a detailed break down of revenue which shows that the company will be stable, and make a profit.Further break downs show that a minimum average of thirty four students a week is necessary to break even. The customer demand for child care services in the area is increasing. The owner cites the 2000 Florida Business Census shows there is an annual population growth of 2% per year and with the residential construction that is under way this growth is supposed to reach 14. 6% per year. The existing business plan has room for potential growth if necessary. The employees’ growth is anticipated and encouraged through various incentives.The plan proposes encouraging employees by offering incentives for obtaining quarterly financial and enrollment goals, probationary completion, passing county inspections that may be required, perfect attendance, tuition reimbursement, and customer service awards for those who exceed customer expectations. These incentives will motivate employees in their jobs and increase product quality.References  http://www. bplans. com/child_day_care_services_business_plan/executive_summary_fc. cfm