Beginning Level Curriculum for ESL Classes

Beginning Level Curriculum for ESL Classes This curriculum summary is designed for false beginners. False beginners are typically learners who have had a few years training at some point in time and are now returning to start learning English again for a variety of reasons, such as for work, travel, or as a hobby. Most of these learners are familiar with English and can move pretty quickly to more advanced language learning concepts. This curriculum summary is written for a course of approximately 60 hours of instruction and takes students from the verb To be through present, past, and future forms, as well as other basic structures such as the comparative and superlative forms, the use of some and any, have got, etc. This course is geared towards adult learners who need English for work and, as such, concentrates on vocabulary and forms that are useful for the working world. Each group of eight lessons is followed by a planned review lesson which allows students a chance to review what they have learned. This syllabus can be adapted to fit students needs and is presented as a basis on which to build an elementary level ESL EFL English course. Listening Skills Beginning English learners often find listening skills the most challenging. Its a good idea to follow some of these tips when working on listening skills: To begin with, try to use only one voice for listening comprehension activities. A variety of accents can be added later.Exercises should begin with short form understanding such as spelling, numbers, understanding word form differences, etc.  Gap fill exercises work well for the next step in listening comprehension. Begin with sentence level understanding and move on to paragraph length listening selections.  Once students understand the basics, begin work on understanding gist by providing longer conversations with a focus on understanding the main idea. Teaching Grammar Teaching grammar is a big part of effectively teaching beginners. While full immersion is ideal, the reality is that students expect to learn grammar. Rote grammar learning is very effective in this environment.   At this level, rote activities can help learners understand intuitively. Dont worry too much about grammar explanations.  To help focus on sound rather than rules, repetitive activities can help establish a strong base.Take it in small bites. Pare things down to their essentials once you begin to teach. For example, if you were introducing the present simple dont begin with an example that includes an adverb of frequency such as He usually has lunch at work.  For tenses, stress the importance of time expressions tied to tense. Continually ask students to first identify the time expression or context before making a decision on tense usage.  Correct only those mistakes made in a current objective. In other words, if a student misuses in rather than at but the focus is on the past simple, dont make a point of correcting the mistake in preposition use. Speaking Skills Encourage students to make mistakes, many, many mistakes. Adult learners are often concerned about making too many mistakes and can be hesitant. Do your best to relieve them of this fear!Focus on function for beginning level activities. Set a goal such as ordering food in a restaurant. Help students learn how to functionally succeed in each situation.Switch groups up often. Some students tend to dominate conversations. Nip this in the bud, and change group composition up early and often.   Writing Skills Follow the language: begin with letters, create words, build words into sentences and let those sentences blossom into paragraphs.  Prohibit certain words when writing! Unfortunately, students often fall into the bad habit of using the same words over and over (go, drive, eat, work, come to school, etc.) Brainstorm word lists together as a class and then challenge students to only use certain words or phrases  in their writing.Use symbols to correct. Get students used to the idea that youll use symbols to help them edit their writing. The onus is on the students to correct their own writing.

Juvenal - Roman Writer of Satire

Juvenal - Roman Writer of Satire Satura tota nostra est.Satire is all ours. Some of our favorite television shows and movies are satires. This usually biting form of entertainment owes its creation not to the artistic Greeks, who developed comedy, tragedy, lyric poetry, and more, but to the usually thought of as more practical Romans. Roman verse satire, a literary genre created by the Romans, is personal and subjective, providing insight into the poet and a look (albeit, warped) at social mores. Invective and obscenities, dining habits, corruption, and personal flaws all have a place in it. Juvenal was a master of exposing the foibles of society, with elegance. Roots of Satire What We Dont Know About Juvenal While we must always be leery of assuming the persona (the speaker in the poem) speaks for the poet, in the case of the last and greatest of the Roman satirists, Juvenal, we dont have much choice. He wasnt mentioned by most contemporary poets and is not included in Quintilians history of satire. It wasnt until Servius, in the late 4th century, that Juvenal received recognition. We think Juvenals full name was Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis. Juvenal may have come from near Monte Cassino. His father may have been a rich freedman and rhetorician. This deduction is based on the lack of a dedication in Juvenals satires. Since Juvenal didnt dedicate his work, he probably didnt have a patron, and so may have been independently wealthy, but he may have been very poor. We dont know Juvenals birth or death date. Even the period at which he flourished is debatable. It is possible he outlived Hadrian. What is clear is that he endured the reign of Domitian and was still alive under Hadrian. Topics of Juvenals Satires Juvenal wrote 16 satires the last unfinished varying in length from (xvi) 60 lines to (vi) 660. Topics, as stated in his opening programmatic satire, include all aspects of real life, past and present. In reality, the topics center on all aspects of vice. Book 1 Satire 1 (In English)Programmatic satire in which Juvenal states that his purpose is to write satire in a world where sinners are men of power.Satire 2 (In English)Satire on homosexuality and the betrayal of traditional Roman values.Satire 3 (In English)Contrasts corruption of modern Rome with the older simple way of life still found in the country.Satire 4Farcical political satire about the meeting of an imperial council to determine how to cook an outlandish fish.Satire 5Dinner party at which the patron continually humiliates his guest client. Book 2 Satire 6A wonder of misogyny, a catalogue of evil, eccentric, and depraved women. Book 3 Satire 7Without patronage in high places, intellectual pursuits suffer privations.Satire 8Aristocratic birth should be accompanied by noble behavior.Satire 9A dialogue in which the author assures Naevolus, a male prostitute, there will always be work for him in Rome. Book 4 Satire 10What should be prayed for is a healthy mind and body ( mens sana in corpore sano)Satire 11Epistolary invitation to a simple dinner.Satire 12Description of sacrifice to be made for the safe escape of a man named Catullus from a storm at sea because he jettisoned his treasures. Book 5 Satire 13Consoles Calvinus on his loss of money.Satire 14Parents teach their children the vice of greed by their example.Satire 15Mankind has a tendency towards cannibalism and should follow Pythagoras dietary recommendations.Satire 16Civilians have no redress against military assaults. Sources Michael Coffey: Roman SatireWilliam J. Dominik and William T. Wehrle: Roman Verse Satire   Silver Age Roman Satire Review: Roman Verse Satire Satires Origins E-text of J.W. Mackails Latin Literature Part III. Chapter IV. Juvenal Juvenal Net Links

Review of an Academic Research Paper Literature Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Of an Academic Research Paper - Literature review Example Educational validity is influenced by the representational validity problems, and methods of implementing the simulation (Stainton, Johnson and Borodzicz, 2010, p.707). The representational problems of validity emanate from algorithmic validity, and the percentage of reality that aims to achieve the necessary learning. Other factors that influence representational validity are prejudices that emanate from designers, and the effectiveness of simulators in helping partakers to understand the simulation representation (Stainton, Johnson and Borodzicz, 2010, P. 709) ). To achieve educational validity, it is important to apply the principles of experiential learning. Experiential learning involves the use of senses to construct learning by undergoing through different problems, and later on reflecting on them, for purposes of understanding the problem and its solution. Robinson (2005) also agrees with the articles proposition that, there is no process for the design, implementation, and validation of total enterprise simulations. For purposes of providing a structure for a validation investigation, the following are formulated theoretical prepositions. Klein (1985) agrees with the articles argument which states that simulation is successful is successful if participants manage to prove that their experiences during the process changed their attitudes regarding the management of businesses. This method gives investigators a chance to acquire meaningful and an all-inclusive characteristics of events that shape the real life. Case studies explain real life phenomena’s that are impossible for experiments and surveys to describe and offer a solution (Stainton, Johnson and Borodzicz, 2010, p. 712). The main aim of construct validity is to create accurate operational measures for purposes of using it during the process of data collection. Therefore, it is important to operationalize total enterprise simulation in order to measure it. External validity

Kudler Fine Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kudler Fine Foods - Essay Example mmunicating and delivering value to customers, and also by managing customer relationships in such a way that it benefits the organization and its stakeholders (Kerin et al, 2006:8). The focus of the current strategic objectives of the Company is to improve customer loyalty and enhance customer profitability by offering expanded services such as cooking classes and parties in the store to increase customer frequency of visits and promote word of mouth marketing. Another initiative that is proposed is to track customer purchase behavior and offer loyalty points which may be redeemed for other specialty foods, airline tickets, etc. Thirdly, the Company is also integrating new software systems and starting employee training programs to improve efficiency of operations. With the help of technology, the Company is tracking financial data, so that customer behavior over time can be analyzed. Therefore Kudler is focusing upon delivering value to customers and managing customer relations to benefit the organization. However, before actually entering into this plan, the Company needs to carry out extensive marketing research. Marketing research encompasses the process of first arriving at a definition of the marketing problem and opportunity and then systematically collecting and analyzing information, which will form the basis upon which proposed action can be recommended (Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius 2006: 206). In the case of Kudler, it must be noted that most of the initiatives that are proposed are new ones – such as starting cooking classes and rewarding customer loyalty through a points system. While everyday discounts for regular customers have proven efficacy, the efficacy of the points system in ensuring customer loyalty has not been conclusively proved. Customer loyalty has been defined by Dick and Basu as â€Å"the relationship between the rela tive attitude toward an entity (brand/service/store/vendor) and patronage behavior.† (Dick and Basu, 1994:

The Great Depression Essay Example for Free

The Great Depression Essay A time of great hardship came to the people of Australia from 1929 to 1932. This time was known as the Great Depression were the economy of the state drops. Australia is not the only nation affected and many other nations as well. However, Australia is said to have been one of the most affect and hardest-hit country due to its high dependence on exports. â€Å"Australia’s dependence o n the world market left her extraordinarily vulnerable to world market fluctuations† (Spenceley, p. 14). Since the Great Depression was a time of crisis not only for Australia but for the whole world, Australia was affected greater than other nations. As a result, more and more people loss their jobs. By that time, even the women and youth tried to find ways to earn money. It was a time of hardship, hunger and conflict. Even before the time of the Great depression unemployment rate in Australia is high reaching around 10%. At the time the stock market crash at Wall Street in October 1929, the unemployment rate rocketed reaching 20%. The unemployment rate reaches its peak in the year 1932 were 32% Australians were jobless (culture.gov.au, n.d.). It is said that the fall on export prices, sales, overseas loans and residential construction lead to the Great Depression. Still, economist is debating on the ultimate cause that triggered the event. The Great Depression created a devastating effect on the Australian economy. This also led to many illegal or rather unusual ways of making money including gambling and prostitution. Even the minors, man or woman take part in making money. Mostly young men were involved in small gambling and young women in amateur prostitution. Education was also greatly affected since most children were forced to leave school at the age of thirteen or fourteen. The time of the Great Depression was hard particularly for working women since they are required to do the house chores with their exhausted body. Job was easier that time for young workers but it was short lived, until they reach the age of sixteen to twenty one. During those times, the abilities of the government were questioned by many Australian citizens and many organizations gained popularity through their acts showing their dissatisfaction to the government. In order to bring new investment, the country relied heavily on borrowing money from different countries and the monetary policy of the country was controlled by privately owned banks. The government also had to sell off gold reserves whenever the banks refuse to extend the overdrafts of the country. Still, unemployment continued to increase as the government instituted employment projects. Until now, many factors that triggered the Great Depression that is present. Thus, those hard times are not just in vain since we, the new generation, were able to learn from the past and incorporate the steps that our forefathers used during those hard times. Today, in cases of crisis and unemployment due to the fall of company’s we go back to the basic goal for working, just as in the time of the Great Depression, to provide food and necessities for our family. Reference   Spenceley, G.   (1981). The Depression Decade. Thomas Nelson, Australia. The Great Depression (n.d). Available online from culture.gov.au

Child Characters in Great Expectations Essay -- Great Expectations Es

Child Characters in Great Expectations      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first part of Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, is an account of the childhood of, Pip, the main character of the novel.   In these beginning chapters Dickens paints an extremely vivid picture of childhood.   The reader is able to enter Pip's mind and see the world through the eyes of a child.   This is possible because Dickens understood the thoughts and feelings of children and applied this to Pip's every thought and action when he wrote the novel.   Dickens had an obvious gift for creating child characters in his works.   The word "pip" itself refers to a seed from a plant.   Seeds need to be nurtured if they are to grow and flourish.   In order to understand both Dickens' talent and his compulsion to write about children it important to realize that through the characters in his novels he took up the plight of all children.   In Dickens' view of childhood, he felt that children have certain needs: guidance in a nurturing hom e, to be free from emotional and physical abuse, to have a good education, and to be allowed to use their imaginations.   In order for children to succeed in life he felt these needs must be met.   Through his portrayal of child characters in the novel, Great Expectations, Dickens' demonstrates how adults rarely, nor adequately provided for the particular needs that children have.    Dickens often wrote about children in his stories who were crippled, such as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.   However, Dickens chose to create most of his main child characters with no physical maladies.   As Collins points out, these characters were impeded emotionally in some way: "Most of his child heroes and heroines are born sound in wind and limb... ... be unhappy.   One may wonder why Dickens always seemed to make the world weigh so heavy on the little shoulders of so many of his characters.   One reason is that Dickens appears to have created these suffering characters was that he wanted to protest the injustices toward children that he saw in Victorian society.   He illustrated what these children needed and what they were missing.   Just as a "seed" that is not nurtured cannot grow, children who are not loved and cared for can not grow up to live happy lives. Works Cited Bell, Vereen. "Parents and Children in Great Expectations." Victorian Newsletter 27 (1965): 21-24. Collins, Philip. Dickens and Education. New York: St. Martin's P, 1964. Rawlins, Jack P. "Great Expectations: Dickens and the Betrayal of the Child." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. 23 (1983): 667-683.   

Playing Hard to Get Essay

Walster, Walster, Piliavin, & Schmidt have designed a study to test the why women play hard to get when to comes to dating. This article is talks about how there are two different types of women when it comes to relationships. One type is the easy to get and hard to get. Easy to get women are girls who are either desperate for affection, who might have to many demands for their significant other, may want to get serious right away and possibly may have a disease. Whereas, the hard to get women have something about them that every guy would want to be with, she knows she is pretty and that every guy would do anything for her. A women knows in her mind, playing hard to get will make any man go through all kinds of trouble or challenges just trying to please her and hopefully making the girl like him or even falling in love with him. If a guy, can get to be with her it’s like winning a gold prize and gaining respect from all kinds of men because they can recognize that the girl is a hard to get girl. The experimenters tested 5 different experiments to test and see if any theories can prove about these hard to get girls. Experiment I was the dissonance theory was the first experiment was to predict to see if one had to spend a lot of energy to attain one goal because he would be unappreciative of the outcome. Experiment II was the learning theory was next to see if two advantages were attainable: exclusiveness with value and frustration that will increase drive. Experiment III was the Schachtarian theory requires two components just like the learning theory to test the person for calling it love. Both Walsters & Lyons designed a field study and a laboratory experiment in to demonstrate that men prefer a date that plays hard to get. Computer matching service was conducted for women to be hired as experimenters. Precise instructions was given on how to respond when their computer match called them for a date by pausing to think for at least 3 seconds accepting the date, which would be labeled hard to get. Other times women were told to accept the date immediately, to be labeled as easy to get. The results indicated that elusiveness had no impact on the man’s liking for his computer. Experiment IV was a laboratory experiment that tested the knowledge that a woman is elusive gives one indirect evidence that she is socially desirable. This indirect evidence should have the biggest impact when a man has no way of acquiring direct evidence about a coed’s value or when he has little confidence in his own ability to assess value. When direct evidence is available, and the man possesses supreme confidence in his ability to make correct judgments, information about a woman’s elusiveness should have little impact on a man’s reaction to her. Blind dates were being tested to see if this came true. Experiment V, we had decided that perhaps the hard-to-get hypothesis must be tested in a sexual setting with prostitutes that gave the men mixed drinks that will see if the hard to get hypothesis is true. Later this experiment resulted that there is two components: How hard or easy she is for him to get & how hard or easy she is for other men to get. To test this, 71 male summer students at the University of Wisconsin were recruited for a dating research project. This was designed to determine whether computer matching techniques are in fact more effective than is random matching. All participants were invited to come into the dating center in order to choose a date from a set of five potential dates. When the subject arrived at the computer match office, they were handed folders containing background information on five women. Some of these women had supposedly been â€Å"randomly† matched with him and others had been â€Å"computer matched† with him but in reality, all five folders contained information about fictitious women. Experiments asked if they liked her, would you get along, first impressions and questions of that nature. All these results of their hypothesis turned out to be false but learned new information of women being hard to get. In my own opinion, the experiments did their best to test this phenomenon regardless of how old this article is because till this day, a hard to get women is described as someone who requires a lot of work in order to talk or to be seen with. Being with a women gives the man a lot of respect because start to question to figure out what does a man have to do to be such a girl with high standards. These experiments are valid even though they have failed but have demonstrated how these women work when playing hard to get. When it comes to girls, men are usually clueless because there are no set rules on how they react or how to keep them happy. Any interaction with women are general is an experiment because it involves a lot of variables, different possibilities of what the men can say leading to various reactions from the women. A follow up study can be done because this article is over 20 years old but it may just strengthen the results of this article. A study of how or why women act hard to get in the first place, their intentions or see if there are any tricks to get by these kinds of women. Experiment V was the best experiment to test by randomly selecting girls for the men and seeing what their likes and dislikes were when women were being hard to get. Men today have changed a lot when these experiments have taken place according to society at that time. I feel that these experimenters did all they could with their limited technology and how boys and girls acted in that time frame. Nowadays, women explore all options of being hard to get and easy to get by mixing it to fully get what they want and that drives men insane because we tend to get clueless of how things work. This article is valid of what has been tested and outcomes that of that women playing hard to get is still unknown till this day.

Internet gambling Essay

Internet gambling represents one of the fastest growing segments of online activities with hundreds of websites providing users the opportunity to place bets on anything, ranging from casino games to sporting events. Billions of dollars in bets are placed each day in these online gambling rings. Thousands of these sites exist and many countries’ economies benefit from them. Sadly, America’s leaders fail to see the benefits in allowing online gambling to take place on American soil. Whether it be for recreation or as their only source of income, hundreds of thousands of Americans participate in the phenomenon known as online gambling. For the countries (Great Britain, France, and a number of islands in the Caribbean) that host these sites, it means millions of dollars being taxed each year for allowing the gambling sites to exist. President Bush signed into effect in mid-October a bill that outlaws sending credit card payments or other funds to websites involved with online gambling. Consequently, many of the stocks of these corporations are bound to decrease severely, potentially hurting the nations’ economy. A countless number of college students across America participate in online gambling, a small percentage of those depending solely on the money they make from gambling to pay for their tuition. This new law will leave these people scrambling to find jobs to stay in school. If the job search fails, these students will be forced to go deep into debt by taking out loans or drop out of college altogether, thereby making the United States lose valuable money that these students are paying for their education. Putting internet poker aside for now, online sports wagering has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Before the new bill passed, a person could sign onto a gambling site, enter their handle and password, and have unlimited access to hundreds of betting lines, point spreads, and over/under numbers. One more click and they can place their bets on the game or race of their choice. With the new law, the aforementioned is a part of the distant past. Place a bet over the phone and rest easy. Place the same bet online and face stiff penalties including steep fines and possibly jail time. This simply doesn’t make sense. America has tried prohibition before, in the 1920’s. Despite the government’s best efforts, Americans continued to consume alcohol. Seeing that they were missing out on a huge source of revenue, legislators reversed the law and began taxing the alcohol. This new internet gambling law works in much the same way, forbidding the participation in online gambling to everyone on American soil. However, the internet’s boundaries stretch further than any government on earth can ever begin to regulate fully. With many people being computer literate these days, it is undoubtedly impossible to stop these people from finding ways around the law. Much like the prohibition law of the 1920s, America’s government is missing out on a huge amount of taxable income. This definitely could help the government pull out of the extreme debt they are in. Prohibiting internet gambling also goes against one of the unalienable rights that America was founded upon: the pursuit of happiness. Gambling has the potential to make people happy, and prohibiting them from participating in it goes against the Declaration of Independence that our founding fathers laid down as rules for Americans to abide by. Although legislators have succeeded in passing a law against internet gambling, it will be found virtually impossible to enforce it. States will begin to grow tired of watching potential tax revenue float over to other countries. The move that makes the most sense for the American government is to legalize internet gambling, tax the income it generates, and increase the economy. After all, abiding by the immortal words spoken by Kenny Rogers in â€Å"The Gambler,† Americans should â€Å"know when to hold ? em, know when to fold ? em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. â€Å"

Animal essays

Animal essays George Orwell's Animal Farm is a political satire of a totalitarian society ruled by a mighty dictatorship, in all probability an allegory for the events surrounding the Russian Revolution of 1917. The animals of "Manor Farm" overthrow their human master after a long history of mistreatment. Led by the pigs, the farm animals continue to do their work, only with more pride, knowing that they are working for themselves, as opposed to working for humans. Little by little, the pigs become dominant, gaining more power and advantage over the other animals, so much so that they become as corrupt and power-hungry as their predecessors, the humans. The theme in Animal Farm maintains that in every society there are leaders who, if given the opportunity, will The book begins in the barnyard of Mr. Jones' "Manor Farm". The animals congregate at a meeting led by the prize white boar, Major. Major points out to the assembled animals that no animal in England is free. He further explains that the products of their labor is stolen by man, who alone benefits. Man, in turn, gives back to the animals the bare minimum which will keep them from starvation while he profits from the rest. The old boar tells them that the source of all their problems is man, and that they must remove man from their midst to abolish tyranny and hunger. Days later Major dies, but the hope and pride which he gave the other animals does not die. Under the leadership of the pigs, the most intelligent of the animals, they rebel against their human master managing to overthrow him. After the rebellion, under the direction of Napoleon, the most outspoken pig, and Snowball, the most eloquent pig, the animals continue to work the farm As with all societies, the animals have laws which must be obeyed. Their laws stated that animals shall never become like ...

Biography of Pablo Escobar, Colombian Drug Kingpin

Biography of Pablo Escobar, Colombian Drug Kingpin Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949–December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and the leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations ever assembled. He was also known as The King of Cocaine. Over the course of his career, Escobar made billions of dollars, ordered the murders of hundreds of people, and ruled over a personal empire of mansions, airplanes, a private zoo, and his own army of soldiers and hardened criminals. Fast Facts: Pablo Escobar Known For: Escobar ran the Medellà ­n drug cartel, one of the largest criminal organizations in the world.Also Known As: Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, The King of CocaineBorn: December 1, 1949 in Rionegro, ColombiaParents: Abel de Jesà ºs Dari Escobar Echeverri and Hemilda de los Dolores Gaviria Berrà ­oDied: December 2, 1993 in Medellà ­n, ColombiaSpouse: Maria Victoria Henao (m.  1976)Children: Sebastin Marroquà ­n  (born  Juan Pablo Escobar Henao), Manuela Escobar 1:29 Watch Now: 8 Fascinating Facts About Pablo Escobar Early Life Escobar was born on December 1, 1949, into a lower-middle-class family and grew up in Medellà ­n, Colombia. As a young man, he was driven and ambitious, telling friends and family that he wanted to be the president of Colombia someday. He got his start as a street criminal. According to legend, Escobar would steal tombstones, sandblast the names off of them, and resell them to crooked Panamanians. Later, he moved up to stealing cars. It was in the 1970s that he found his path to wealth and power: drugs. He would buy coca paste in Bolivia and Peru, refine it, and transport it for sale in the United States. Rise to Power In 1975, a local Medellà ­n drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was murdered, reportedly on the orders of Escobar himself. Stepping into the power vacuum, Escobar took over Restrepo’s organization and expanded his operations. Before long, Escobar  controlled all organized crime in Medellà ­n and was responsible for as much as 80 percent of the cocaine  transported into the United States. In 1982, he was elected to Colombia’s Congress. With economic, criminal, and political power, Escobar’s rise was complete. In 1976, Escobar married 15-year-old Maria Victoria Henao Vellejo, and they would later have two children, Juan Pablo and Manuela. Escobar was famous for his extramarital affairs and tended to prefer underage girls. One of his girlfriends, Virginia Vallejo, went on to become a famous Colombian television personality. In spite of his affairs, he remained married to Marà ­a Victoria until his death. Narcoterrorism As the leader of the Medellà ­n Cartel, Escobar quickly became legendary for his ruthlessness, and an increasing number of  politicians, judges, and policemen publicly opposed him. Escobar had a way of dealing with his enemies: he called it plata o plomo (silver or lead). If a politician, judge, or policeman got in his way, he would almost always first attempt to bribe him or her. If that didn’t work, he would order the person killed, occasionally including the victims family in the hit. The exact number of men and women killed by Escobar is unknown, but it certainly goes well into the hundreds and possibly into the thousands. Social status did not matter to Escobar; if he wanted you out of the way, hed get you out of the way. He ordered the assassination of presidential candidates and was even rumored to be behind the 1985 attack on the Supreme Court, carried out by the 19th of April insurrectionist movement, in which several Supreme Court justices were killed. On November 27, 1989, Escobar’s cartel planted a bomb on Avianca flight 203, killing 110 people. The target, a presidential candidate, was not actually on board. In addition to these high-profile assassinations, Escobar  and his organization were responsible for the deaths of countless magistrates, journalists, policemen, and even criminals inside his own organization. Height of His Power By the mid-1980s, Escobar was one of  the most powerful men in the world, and Forbes magazine listed him as the seventh richest. His empire included an army of soldiers and criminals, a private zoo, mansions  and apartments all over Colombia, private airstrips and planes for drug transport, and personal wealth reported to be in the neighborhood of $24 billion. Escobar could order the murder of anyone, anywhere, anytime. He was a brilliant criminal, and he knew that he would be safer if the common people of Medellà ­n loved him. Therefore, he spent millions on parks, schools, stadiums, churches, and even housing for the poorest of Medellà ­n’s inhabitants. His strategy worked- Escobar was beloved by the common people, who saw him as a local boy who had done well and was giving back to his community. Legal Troubles Escobar’s first serious run-in with the law came in 1976  when he and some of his associates were caught returning from a drug run to Ecuador. Escobar ordered the killing of the arresting officers, and the case was soon dropped. Later, at the height of his power, Escobar’s wealth and ruthlessness made it almost impossible for Colombian authorities to bring him to justice. Any time an attempt was made to limit his power, those responsible were bribed, killed, or otherwise neutralized. The pressure was mounting, however, from the United States government, which wanted Escobar extradited to face drug charges. He had to use all of his power to prevent extradition. In 1991, due to increasing pressure from the U.S., the Colombian government  and Escobar’s lawyers came up with an interesting arrangement. Escobar would turn himself in and serve a five-year jail term. In return, he would build his own prison and would not be extradited to the United States or anywhere else. The prison, La Catedral, was an elegant fortress which featured a Jacuzzi, a waterfall, a full bar, and a soccer field. In addition, Escobar had negotiated the right to select his own â€Å"guards.† He ran his empire from inside La Catedral, giving orders by telephone. There were no other prisoners in La Catedral. Today, La Catedral is in ruins, having been hacked to pieces by treasure hunters looking for hidden Escobar loot. On the Run Everyone knew that Escobar was still running his operation from La Catedral, but in July 1992 it became known that the drug kingpin had ordered some disloyal underlings brought to his â€Å"prison,† where they were tortured and killed. This was too much for even the Colombian government, and plans were made to transfer Escobar to a standard prison. Fearing he might be extradited, Escobar escaped and went into hiding. The U.S. government and local police ordered a massive manhunt. By late 1992, there were two organizations searching for him: the Search Bloc, a special, U.S.-trained Colombian task force, and â€Å"Los Pepes,† a shadowy organization of Escobar’s enemies made up of family members of his victims and financed by Escobar’s main business rival, the Cali Cartel. Death On December 2, 1993, Colombian security forces- using U.S. technology- located Escobar hiding in a home in a middle-class section of Medellà ­n. The Search Bloc moved in, triangulated his position, and attempted to bring him into custody. Escobar fought back, however, and there was a shootout. Escobar was eventually gunned down as he attempted to escape on the rooftop. Although he was also shot in the torso and leg, the fatal wound passed through his ear, leading many to believe that Escobar committed suicide. Others believe one of the Colombian policemen fired the bullet. Legacy With Escobar gone, the Medellà ­n Cartel quickly lost power to its rival, the Cali Cartel, which remained dominant until the Colombian government shut it down in the mid-1990s. Escobar is still remembered by the poor of Medellà ­n as a benefactor. He has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and television series, including Narcos and Escobar: Paradise Lost. Many people remain fascinated by the master criminal, who once ruled one of the largest drug empires in history. Sources Gaviria, Roberto Escobar, and David Fisher. The Accountants Story: inside the Violent World of the Medellin Cartel. Grand Central Pub., 2010.Vallejo, Virginia, and Megan McDowell. Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar. Vintage Books, 2018.

Current Issues in Corporate Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Current Issues in Corporate Reporting - Essay Example The core mandate of integrated reporting therefore is to gather information about an organizations strategy, its governance, future prospects and performance in a manner that reflects the structure it operates in terms of the commercial, environmental and social context. It is meant to be an organizations most important reporting tool (ACCA (GREAT BRITAIN), 2010). Its aim is to create a formula for accounting for sustainability, bringing together governance, social, environmental and finance in a cohesive way. In order to achieve its mandate and to be welcomed internationally as the standard reporting method, the international integrated reporting committee had a representation from different parts of the corporate world (Eccles & Krzus, 2010).These includes the civil society, the investment sectors, accounting, the academic front, standard setting sectors, the regulatory sector as well as the security sector. It also has task forces that deal with content development, governance, engagement and communication as well as a working group and a steering committee. This report therefore broadly discusses the need for integrated reporting and the challenges that were met when constituting such reporting methods during the 2011 international integrated reporting committee meeting. Corporates need to achieve financial development, sustainability and improved performance while reporting on their corporate performance. Against the background of this, previous reporting did not manage to yield such objectives (Bennett, Burritt& Schaltegger, 2006). In fact, it exposed some businesses to their bare minimum since companies were revealing most of their financial details while yet they did not achieve improved performance that they expected. This therefore necessitated the need for a new framework for corporate reporting that

Global Recession And Its Impact On Organizations Essay

Global Recession And Its Impact On Organizations - Essay Example Motor vehicle industry was one of the worst hit by the crisis. Some firms such as the General Motors in the US had to shut down some of its branches. According to Dullien, Herr, and Kellermann (2009), Organizations have been affected heavily by the world economic crisis. This has seen the organizations lose key players in the industry. Some firms have been forced to close down due to reduced sales. Epstein, Grabel, and Jomo (2004) give an example is the motor industry sector that recorded a decrease in sales compelling some firms to minimize branches. This other than low-profit margins result from the economic crisis which boils down to individuals rather than organizations alone. The effects of economic recession extended all over the world with the most vulnerable being the gas exporters to the United States. According to Flassbeck and Spiecker (2007), this owes to reduced trade levels such as real estate and gas and banking sector. The banks in the US decided to reduce loans available for individuals due to lack of confidence in the assets that they own. According to Ratha, and Xu (2007), what followed was panic and mistrust development in organizations. G-20 (2009) argues that the governments of affected states have made effort in making sure that corrective mechanisms are implemented with mitigation measures put in place KEA (2006) has details of organizations worst hit by the recession includes the large incorporate houses in the United Arabs Emirates where real estate sector became a victim of the circumstances. Construction and value chain were sectors that were no exemption from the crisis. ECA and APF (2008) demonstrate that tourism and hospitality recorded a significant level of reduced customers as compared to the previous years.