How to Prepare a Winning Business Pitch

How to Prepare a Winning Business Pitch How to Prepare a Winning Business Pitch To get a business idea off the ground, you may need some investment. And this means you’ll need to convince investors that you have a great business plan. But what goes into a good business pitch? A few things to consider when pitching a business include: The type of business pitch you’re preparing (e.g., verbal or written) Details to include, such as your target customers, market research, etc. Who you’re pitching your idea to and what they’re seeking. Who you are and who you’re working with in the business venture. How much to include in your pitch (as compared to a full business plan). So let’s take a closer look at how to prepare a winning business pitch. 1. Written vs. Verbal Pitches If you’ve been asked to pitch your business, make sure you know what type of pitch to give. The main distinction here is between written and verbal pitches: A written pitch is a short document, typically between one and three pages, where you outline the nature of your business for investors. A verbal pitch is a presentation you give to potential investors in person. This could be a short elevator pitch, which would last up to two minutes. Or it could be a full presentation with backup visuals and documentation. Chances are you’ll need to use both at different points of pitching a business (e.g., selling the idea with a short elevator pitch before writing a written pitch to flesh out the details). Thus, you should try to find out what kind of pitches investors are seeking and tailor yours accordingly. If you are preparing any written documents as part of your pitch, , moreover, make sure to have them proofread. This will ensure they are error free and easy to read, demonstrating your attention to detail. 2. The Essentials of a Business Pitch The exact content of your business pitch will depend on the kind of business you’re pitching and the type of pitch you’re delivering. However, there are at least a few details that any business pitch should include, such as: A brief overview of your business idea and your overall goals (this could be the introduction for a longer presentation or written document, but it might be the entirely of an elevator pitch). Your target customers and how your business idea will serve them. The market you’re entering and the opportunities it presents. How your business will distinguish itself from existing competitors. Your financial projections, including revenue and profit forecasts. Key team members and any partners you will work with in your business. How much investment you’re seeking and how you will spend it. Remember, though, that a business pitch is not a business plan. It’s about selling an idea. As such, telling a compelling story can be more important than the pure details. For instance, when outlining your business, you could tell an anecdote that demonstrates the need for your product. This can help your pitch resonate on a personal level – it’s about how your business will help real people, not just how much money you hope to make. 3. Do Your Research on Investors It always pays to do some basic research on investors before preparing a pitch. This will give you a better idea of what different people and groups are looking for in a business, as well as giving you a sense of the kind of pitch investors are expecting. Try to find out: Whether they typically invest in certain business types or areas, especially if this matches the profile of your proposed investment. If they usually invest in specific geographic regions. How much they usually invest and what they seek in return. Whether they take a hands-on or hands-off approach to companies they invest in and how this might affect your proposed business. This will help you pick the right investors for your business idea. 4. Sell Yourself Don’t forget you’re part of your business pitch! In fact, some investors focus more on the people pitching a business idea than what they are pitching. A great idea can be worthless in the wrong hands, after all, so you need to show investors they can trust you with their money. As such, you should include something about you and your team’s past achievements in your pitch. If possible, focus on success stories that show you know how to start and run a business. 5. Don’t Overload on Information Finally, when you’ve prepared a first draft of your pitch, cut it down to the essentials. The most common error when pitching a business is trying to cram too much in, especially in a verbal pitch, where you may end up rushing. Remember: this is a pitch, not a plan. So rather than launching straight into a full five-year financial breakdown, focus on key details that make your idea appealing. Another tip is to use visual aids, such as charts and tables, which can stop your presentation becoming too wordy. Ideally, your visual aids will be more detailed than this. In other words, your priority in a pitch is to make investors interested in your idea. And you won’t be able to do this if they’re struggling to keep up with reams of information. Of course, if all goes well, the people you’ve pitched to may ask follow-up questions. Or they may ask for a full written plan. This is when you’ll need the in-depth research you’ve prepared. But try to keep things engaging until you know the investors are already hooked!

Literature and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literature and Politics - Essay Example All his poems deal with disillusionment and resentment that result from participating in a war that kills many in the name of serving one's country. Owen is also highly disillusioned by war politics and the way its affects a large percentage of younger generation that joins the war. Owen understands that politicians usually cash in on the emotions of people and urge them to join the war. But that these soldiers later find out is truly disturbing. They realize that the war they had been fighting was unjust in many ways. It results in the death of millions, most of who are of innocent people and apart from that, it also robs young people of their hopes and dreams by turning them into senseless killers. In the poem one soldier finds himself in hell with another solider that he had killed. Though both soldiers come from different countries, their hopes and dreams were the same. They realize that despite the differences due to which one killed the other, they were still very similar in many respects. This poem is still a great deal subtler than most other war poems by Owen. The poet has tried to propagate against war and speak about war politics but no particular nation has been targeted. The meeting of soldiers that occurs in hell can be seen as a regular meeting between any two soldiers from any two countries in the world. By maintaining this ambiguity, the poet has tried to attract attention to the real issues addressed. Futility of war is the main issues and so is pity. While in some other poems, Owen has talked about 'charring of the emotions' that war leaves behind or 'the old lies' of sp-called honor and service to country, but in Strange Meeting, the poet is discussing the sheer senselessness of war- 'the undone years / The hopelessness'. What is truly disturbing about war, according to Owen, is not just the killing involved but also the lifetime of guilt that accompanies such actions. Owen makes it clear speaking from experience that one is condemned to a lifetime of regret when they participate in a war and are forced to end many innocent lives. It is then the 'the truth untold /The pity of war, the pity war distilled' that keeps them awake at nights. In the preface to his collection of poems, Owen explained that: "This book is not about heroes. English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, dominion or power, except War. Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry. The subject of it is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity" The poem is thus concerned with pity and sheer pointlessness of war. This is closer to propaganda poem because it contains a clear message against war politics and those who initiate the same. One of the most commonly used propaganda technique is directing people's attention to 'post-traumatic stress disorder' that results from participating in war. This is an important and effective technique since people can relate to it and it helps the audience views soldiers as victims of war. The very term propaganda means communicating information in support of a certain viewpoint. In this poem, the poet is not being objective. He is using his poetic skills to speak against war and politicians. His stand on war is clear

Organization from a communication management perspective Assignment

Organization from a communication management perspective - Assignment Example These social media categories serves the organizational communication to its intended audience. Its intended audience could be the organization’s members and officers and in the case of a business organization, to its target market, shareholders, potential customers and regulatory agencies. The use of social networking does not only provide an interactive web presence but also reinforces the positive image of the company by informing the public about the organization’s products, services and activities including its business practices that would reflect good corporate citizenship consistent with the practice of ideal organizational communication. Theories of organizational communication posits that organizations need to relay itself not only with its internal customers (employees) but also with the external customers not only the positive activities that made them as organization but also the values that help shape the organization thereby fostering not only understandi ng about the company but also reinforces its positive image as well (Dainton and Zelley, 2005). Social networking as a function of social media is also an excellent platform to communicate corporate culture that animates the organization enabling its intended audience to understand and relate with the company better. Another social media category that can benefit an organization from a communication management perspective is the search category such as Google and Bing. This is essential because search engine ranking establishes the web presence of the organization. If the organization cannot be found on the search engine either through plain search or links, it would also be tantamount to being absent in the web. Even if the organization has an excellent website or social media page, it would be tantamount to nothing if it cannot be reached by its intended audience. In organizational communication, it is essential that the message of the

Benefits of TV media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Benefits of TV media - Essay Example Learning about different cultures is very important in the present age because today we live in a multicultural society. We have to frequently interact with people from different parts of the world both in the workplace and otherwise. TV helps a lot in promoting our relations with people from other cultures by making us aware of their norms, values and traditions. In the present age, when all of us are extremely busy and do not often get much time to spend with our family members, shared viewing of TV programs provides us with one big opportunity to be together. This strengthens the bond between family members and inculcates a sense of unity in the family members. TV programs promote learning by enabling children to see what they read about in their books. Without a visual image of the subject in mind, children are not able to develop the concepts as objectively as they do when they know what the subjects of discussion in the book look like. For example, Harry Potter series has been included in the English literature curriculum in a lot of elementary schools worldwide. Children are better able to learn the story when they can relate the incidents to individual characters they see in the Harry Potter movies. What authors take pages to explain is conveyed to the audience in one image. There is a lot of difference between imagining what quidditch looks like and actually view it being played in the movie. A vast majority of TV shows and dramas revolve around a central message that is of huge moral significance. Many people do not follow the advice of their elders because they do not realize how important it is, but when they see how their actions and words can impact others’ as well as their own lives, they tend to learn the lesson for good. TV shows and dramas not only create awareness, but also provide people with useful advice that benefits them in practical life when they act upon it. There has recently been a lot of debate about whether or not to offer sex education in public schools. This and several other topics like sex education are very controversial and are often not discussed with children. The resulting lack of awareness has its own consequences. TV programs are playing a fundamental role in doing their bit to make people aware of the sensitivity of these issues. Many people would not have been of the view to have their children provided with sex education in school had they not seen TV programs to convince them for the same. In addition to this, TV programs themselves are a very strong means of education for people regarding all sorts of controversial topics. In the contemporary age, people have a greater understanding of local and international political issues. The fundamental reason behind this is the TV news and talk shows. These days, one can see talk shows on a daily basis on the TV. Everyday, these talk shows are prepared for totally new and innovative topics. Most of the times, they discuss most recent issues of n ational or international political significance. Thus, people are able to not only know what is happening in their country and across the globe, but also they can critically analyze these events and happenings by listening to the commentary and criticism of the anchors and experts. Concluding, TV is an extremely important source of education, entertainment and rapport building in the present age. Modern age is characterized by increased awareness and TV happens to be the fundamental promoter of the same. Parents can draw optimum

Importance of foreign language

Importance of foreign language 1. Introduction It is known to all that language and culture are inseparable. Language itself makes no sense and has no meaning outside the cultural setting in which it is spoken. They are intricately interwoven with each other. Some people believe that the knowledge of other cultures is as important as proficiency in using their language. In the EFL (English as a foreign language) teaching, great attention should be paid to teaching culture of the target language as well as to teaching linguistic knowledge. Culture introduction should be integrated with language teaching in many aspects and at multiple levels so that learners intercultural communicative skills can be enhanced. Byram (1989) states: as learners learn about language, they learn about culture and as they learn to use a new language, they learn to communicate with other individuals from a new culture. The problem is that the mastery of vocabulary and structures does not necessarily ensure a persons communicative competence. What the students really need is to be taught directly what people say in particular situations in the English culture. The knowledge of culture has a great impact on learners language use and sometimes directly influences the outcome of communication with native speakers. Most language teachers would agree that in order to apply language skills fruitfully and effectively, the knowledge of cultural environment is essential. So it is not difficult to understand why the culture component is so crucial in foreign language teaching. First, successful intercultural communication entails a great deal that is more than language skills, understanding a second language does not ensure understanding the speakers intentions. That is to say, the ability to communicate successfully with native speakers depends not only on language skills but also on comprehension of cultural habits and expectations. Second, another principal reason for the inclusion of culture in the second language curriculum is cross-cultural understanding. International understanding is seen as one of the basic goals of language education. It is equally important to understand the differences among the various subcultures within which people of different races, religions, and political beliefs live together peacefully. Peace and progress in a world of diverse elements no doubt depend upon understanding, tolerance, exchange and cooperation. Foreign language study is one of the core educational components for achieving this widely recognized aim. Whether or not the foreign language learning and teaching are successful counts on how much cultural and linguistic information the students can get. The third reason deals with the students themselves. On one hand, curious students may be extremely interested in the people who speak English, they want to know about these people-what they are like, how they live and ho w they are different from themselves. On the other hand, students knowledge of the basic aspects of target culture tends to be inexplicit and incomprehensive if they have not been provided with systematic knowledge in schools. And language teachers have to admit that many students are not gaining a basic familiarity with the English culture, because even though language and culture go hand in hand in a classroom, some teachers choose to neglect culture and students scarcely pay due attention to it since they do not have to take a test of culture. Overall, foreign language teaching should help students lay a solid foundation of language, grasp good learning techniques, cultivate their cultural awareness so as to meet the needs of social development and economic construction. English as the foremost medium of international communication at present, is called upon to mediate a whole range of cultural, cross-cultural concepts thus make English language teaching a potentially more and more significant role than ever before and English culture teaching is coming or will come to the foreground. 2. Definition of Culture Then what is culture? Duranti defined as something learned, transmitted, passed down from one generation to the next, through human actions, often in the form of face-to-face interaction and, of course, through linguistic communication. According to Sapirs view, culture may be defined as what a society does and thinks. On a general level, anthropologists define culture as the whole way of life of a people or group. In this context, culture includes all the social practices that bond a group of people together and distinguish them from others. It is that fact of human life learned by, people as a result of belonging to some particular group; it is that part of learned behavior shared with others. Not only does this concept include a groups way of thinking, feeling, and acting, but internalized patterns for doing certain things in certain ways. not just the doing of them. Goodenough (1981) summarizes the contents of culture briefly quoted below: The ways in which people have organized their experience of the real world so as to give it structure as a phenomenal world of forms, their percepts and concepts. The ways in which people have organized their experience of their phenomenal world so as to give it structure as a system of cause and effect relationships, that is, the propositions and beliefs by which they explain events and accomplish their purposes. The ways in which people have organized their experience of their past efforts to accomplish recurring purposes into operational procedures for accomplishing these purposes in the future, that is, a set of grammatical principles of action and a series of recipes for accomplishing particular ends. 3. Language and Culture A language is a system of verbal and in many cases, written symbols, with standardized meanings. Language is the outward manifestation of the spirit of people: their language is their spirit, and their spirit is their language; it is difficult to imagine any two things more identical. It enables people to store meanings and experiences and to pass this heritage on to new generations. Through words, we are able to learn about and from the experiences of others. In addition, language enables us to transcend the here and now, preserving the past and imaging the future; to communicate with others and formulate complex plans; to integrate different kinds of experiences; and to develop abstract ideas. However, it is impossible to overestimate the importance of language in the development, elaboration, and transmission of culture. 4. The Relationship between Culture and Language It is generally accepted that language and culture are related to each other. Language is not only for communication between people who have their own cultural norms, but as a mirror to reflect the world and peoples view of the world. Because of the need of international communication for economic technological development among various countries, English is more and more used in different countries and cultures for exchanging information. Culture and language are related to each other, which is strongly advocated by Byram, who has contended that cultural learning and language learning cannot take place independent of each other (Byram, 1994). Culture is a complex concept that includes language. Many theorists have expressed this point of view from various perspectives. For example, Kramsch has made the point that the purpose for learning a foreign language is a way of making cultural statement as well as learning a new way of making communication (Kramsch, 1993) while other theorists have attached great importance to culture for language understanding. For instance, Byram has argued that only when the cultural context is understood can the language rooted in the context be thoroughly comprehensible (Byram 1994).This point has found an echo with Brown: Misunderstandings are likely to occur between members of different cultures; differences are real and we must learn to deal with them in any situation in which two cultures come into contact. Language is an important part of culture as well. Byram has elaborated this idea in one of his books: Cultural studies in foreign language education as language preeminently embodies the values and meanings of a culture, refers to cultural artifacts and signal peoples cultural identity. (Byram, 1989) Other theorists have defined culture in such a way that language is put at the center of an account of a particular culture. Brown has provided another such definition in which he describes language as the most visible and available expression of a particular culture. (Brown, 1987) In sum, culture is related to language and vice versa. Culture would be difficult to be transmitted from place to place and from generation to generation if there were no languages, the principal carrier of values and meanings of a culture. Language would be impossible to be understood without constant reference to the cultural context, which has produced it. It may, therefore, be argued that culture and language cannot be treated exclusive of each other in language teaching program. In other words, it is necessary and more proper to teach both language and culture in an integrated way. It is worthy of noting here that one of the practices of integrating the two is to use the target language as the medium of instruction in culture teaching. Goodenough states the relationship between language and culture in his book Culture and Linguistic. He argued language in a society is one aspect of the societys culture. The relationship between them is the part and the whole. As a component part of culture, the particularities of language show that it is a main tool of learning culture during the process of learning and using (Goodenough, 1981). 5. The Relationship between Language Learning and Culture Just as there is not a single thing in the world without a dual nature, so is language teaching. Language teaching and culture teaching have a dual nature. In order to conduct language teaching well, one must take up the teaching of culture and the teaching of language at the same time. When we learn a foreign language, we do more than learn a linguistic system. We acquire some degree of familiarity with the foreign cultural system. It is now broadly accepted in most parts of the world that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering the grammar, the vocabulary, etc, but more appropriately focuses on learning a means of communication. Communication in real situations is never out of context, and because culture is part of most contexts, communication is rarely culture-free. The same word, if used in different culture, would get different psychological response. When reading the sentence Its morally hard to turn her away as it is a lost dog, most students put a lost dog into literal meaning which totally shows our feeling of disgust and dislike for the dog. But it is not the case in western countries. In the western culture, dogs are regarded as faithful friends and companions. So the actual meaning of the lost dog here means something precious, valuable and favorite is lost. If you know the actual implication of it, your sympathy can be aroused. Its obvious that neglecting the cultural difference results in the misunderstanding. Therefore, it is necessary to learn how to understand and create language that is in accordance with the sociocultural parameters of the specific situation, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated in either the written or the oral language and have their messages misunderstood. 6. Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication Samovar, Porter Jain(1981) observe: Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted Culture is the foundation of communication. The term intercultural is generally used to describe comparative data and studies of a large number of cultures, or studies that try to identify dimensions that are not culture specific. Intercultural is also used to describe interactional data from members of different cultural backgrounds (normally more than two). Then whats the meaning of intercultural communication? Maureen Guirdham points out that intercultural communication is communication across cultures, it describes cultural dimensions applicable for all cultures. She believes that Intercultural Communication skills may well hold the key to solving many of the current global conflicts. In a speech at the Luton Intercultural Forum, she outlined her views as to how people trained in Intercultural Communication could help to resolve current conflicts such as the Balkan conflict, the Middle East crisis and many more. In her speech, she outlined that most modem conflictssuch as IsraelPalestine conflict, the conflict between Pakistan and India and othersare essentially intercultural conflicts and that conflict resolution mainly is a communication activity. Lets come to some key points of intercultural communication: When communications cause conflict, be aware that problems might have more to do with style or process than with content or motives. Learn to understand different communication stylesyou could even benefit through expanding your repertoire. Communicating across cultures requires extra effort. Good communication requires commitment and concentration. Although culture affects differences in communication patterns, there are many exceptions within each group depending on class, age, education, experience, and personality. Remember that communication is a process and the process varies among cultures. Look at what might be getting in the way of understanding. Constantly ask, Whats going on here? and check your assumptions. Avoid jokes, words or expressions that are hot button, such as those that are based on ethnicity, race or gender. Use language that fosters trust and alliance. Respect differences; dont judge people because of the way they speak. 7. Intercultural Communication A simple way to define the term intercultural communication is to use the definition of communication that was provided in the previous section and insert the phrase from different cultures. This addition would yield the following definition: Intercultural communication is a symbolic process in which people from different cultures create shared meanings. This definition, although accurate, is difficult to apply. To foreground the importance of interpersonal communication in intercultural exchanges, we prefer the following definition: Intercultural communication is concerned with unmediated communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. Differences in interpersonal perception and attitudes to social involvement are also important factors in intercultural communication. Intercultural communication: Face-to-face communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. As inhabitants of the 21st century, we no longer have a choice about whether to live and communicate in a world of many cultures. The forces that bring other cultures into our life are dynamic, potent, and ever present. What does this great cultural mixing mean to EFL teaching? What competence should foreign language learners have to meet the need of communicating appropriately and effectively in such a world? The answer is that EFL teaching should cultivate learners intercultural communicative competence. 8. Intercultural Communicative Competence Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is defined in a great number of studies as the competence to obtain effective outcomes in intercultural communication situations. In the past few decades, ICC has become an important research area in intercultural communication studies, and produced a considerable amount of literature. ICC is related to such competence as distinguishing the cultural factors, because these things will surely have their reflections in a practical communicative situation and thereby exert much influence upon the understandings. With the gradual awareness of the importance of the communicative competence, we are sure that in EFL, more and more teachers will place their emphasis upon the improvement of ICC, and develop their students intercultural communicative competence as well as the linguistic competence at the same time, In the paragraphs above, we have introduced the definition of Intercultural Communicative Competence. Quite often, we know that studies on ICC are driven by practical needs such as sending personnel abroad to perform political and commercial tasks. Thus ICC is defined by the outcomes, or the effectiveness of achieving these goals, the main purpose of ICC studies, therefore, is to identify components of effectiveness on the one hand, and its predictors on the other, Two major effectiveness components are task performance and appropriateness of behavior in the target culture. The predictors of effectiveness identified include ambiguity tolerance, cognitive complexity, good conversation skills, intercultural training, etc. In sum, the current ICC studies are characterized by the centrality of effectiveness goal-attainment, and individual control. Underlying this package of practice is the assumption that communication is under the control of the individual; if he or she has the necessary personal dispositions and skills, then the pre-determined goals of communication will be achieved. The above view holds the idea that ICC is within the individual. Competence will develop or occur in relational contexts, yet without the internal potential of the individual, there is no relationship. But this view has perhaps to some extent overlooked the internal qualities of the communicators. Maybe task-performance takes the essential position in most models. Other factors such as appropriateness or individual cultural adjustment all pave the way for task performance. As a matter of fact, the primacy of task performance is evident in the very definition of ICC. Intercultural communicative competence deals with questions related to an issue often characterized by the terms culture-specific, context-specific, and culture-general, which are the various approaches to the study of intercultural communicative competence. The culture-specific, method assumes that the most effective way to improve intercultural communication is to study that culture. For example, if you were going to Japan, you might benefit from advice about gift giving, the use of first names, greeting behavior, indirect speech, politeness, the use of business cards, the importance of group harmony, social stability, and the like. In a practical intercultural communication, the only way of culture-specific is not enough, people should know what to do and how to do in a real situation, then context-specific is also needed. In recent years scholars have begun to talk about not only the specific cultures, but also the context or setting of the intercultural encounters. Studies have been made to explore the business, educational, and health care settings as a way of assessing the impact of the environment on communication in a broad way. The third approach is culture-general. What has been suggested here is that regardless of the culture you are encountering, it is important to have knowledge of the persons culture and try to adapt whenever possible. What we have discussed can be found in most intercultural experiences. This is what we mean by culture-general. That is to say, look at universal skills that can be used in all cultures. How to improve intercultural communicative competence? According to Samovar Porter (1988), that is to know yourself. Although the idea of knowing yourself is common. while knowing yourself is crucial to improve intercultural communication. We know we can write the words know yourself with ease, but it will take a great deal of effort to translate this assignment into practice. The application of knowing yourself covers three directions: first, know your culture_ because everyone is the product of their culture, people are cultural beings and must be ever vigilant to the impact of ones own cultural. Second, know your perceptions. Knowing your likes and dislikes, the degrees of personal ethnocentrism enables you to detect the ways in which these attitudes influence communication. And third, know how you act on those perceptions. The third step in knowing yourself is to know your communication style, which is somewhat more difficult, because it involves discovering the kind of image yo u portray to the rest of the world. If you are to improve your communication, you must, therefore, have some idea of how you present yourself, since it will take a hard time understanding why people respond as they do, and peoples most take-for-granted behaviors are often hidden behind their consciousness. (Samovar Porter, 1988) 8. Cultural Knowledge and Cultural Competence Knowing the contents of cultivating ICC, we need to discuss the concept of cultural knowledge. It includes two parts: cultural competence (belonging to the category of proficiency objectives) and conceptual knowledge (belonging to the category of cognitive objectives) about the target culture. The conceptual knowledge about the target culture refers to the systematic conceptual knowledge about the target culture and society and it should include the target societys geography, history, institutions, religions, economy, education and arts and so on. This conceptual knowledge about the target culture is often referred to as the general knowledge of the target culture. Cultural competence refers to implicit mastery of the norms of a society, the unspoken rules of conduct, values, and orientation that make up the cultural fabric of a society. It also includes the ability to recognize culturally significant facts, and knowledge of the parameters within which behavior is acceptable or unacceptable. Cultural competence does not necessarily mean conformity to these norms and rules. Cultural competence is the same as communicative competence in many aspects. Communicative competence (the term discussed before) also implies knowledge of many aspects of society and culture: forms of address, choices of register and style, differences between social and regional dialects, and the social values attached to these differences. These items refer to characteristic features of the culture. In language teaching, for instance, communicative competence includes certain aspects of sociocultural information. To a certain extent, however, cultural competence is different from communicative competence in that it refers mainly to social and cultural behavior and facts, and less to their linguistic manifestations. To be successful in the intercultural communication, both linguistic competence and cultural competence are needed. The appearance of disharmony, misunderstandings and even conflicts in communication is largely due to a lack of cultural competence. In the century of the global intercultural communication, the goal of foreign language teaching has to be changed. A shift should be made to the cultivation of intercultural communication competence. 9. Arousing Students Cultural Awareness Cultural awareness is the term used to describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally induced behavior on language use and communication. It refers to an understanding of ones own and others cultures that affect how people think and behave. It deals with geographical knowledge, the knowledge about the contributions of the target culture to world civilization, the knowledge about differences in the ways of life as well as an understanding of values and attitudes in the second language community. Cultural awareness includes understanding commonalities of human behavior and differences in cultural patterns. It must be viewed both as enabling language proficiency and as being the outcome of reflection on language proficiency. Intercultural communicative awareness means the sensibility to the impact of culturally induced behavior in communications across cultures. It involves the ability to identify cultural diversity and develop empathy (to see things from the point of view of others). On a less transparent level, intercultural awareness might be as simple as becoming aware of cultural differences as they apply to the use of yes or no. For instance,, knowing that in the American culture, people tend to be more direct and avoid roundabout answers, we would not make a reply like Please dont bother, to the hosts question Do you like some more potato soup? instead, we would respond by saying Yes, please. if we really want some, or No, thank. you. if we think we have had enough of it. A persons socio-cultural knowledge restricts how he exploits his linguistic potential. It is generally believed that if a person lacks socio-cultural knowledge relevant to the target language, a person can hardly use a language accurately and appropriately and be an effective intercultural communicator. Cultural awareness teaching should be involved with viewpoints, and with allowing students to gain a perspective through comparison which is neither entirely one nor the other. In the process of comparison from two viewpoints there lies the possibility of attaining leverage on both cultures, and thereby acquiring an intercultural communicative competence. With the coming of more chance for Chinese to interact with English native-speakers, a fund of knowledge about target culture can to a large extent, guarantee an effective intercultural communication. Therefore, arousing cultural awareness becomes an indispensable part in foreign language teaching and learning. In teaching cultural awareness, Ned Seelye provides a framework for facilitating the development of cross-cultural communication skills. The following goals are a modification of his seven goals of cultural instruction. 1) To help students to develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors. 2) To help students to develop an understanding of social variables such as age, sex, social class, and place of residence, the ways in which people speak and behavior. 3) To help students to become more aware of conventional behavior in common situations in the target language. 4) To help students to increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language. 5) To help students to develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of supporting evidence. 6) To help students to develop the necessary skills to locate and organize information about the target culture. 7) To stimulate students intellectual curiosity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people. In integrating English culture awareness into teaching, there are two problems we need to consider, the first problem to be tackled is how to provide the cultural information needed. The point regarding this problem is that second-language teachers may attempt to teach culture when they are not equipped to do so through no fault of their own. The other point is that even if they know how to teach (through various techniques of presenting culture), without a definite knowledge of what to teach (the culture content), they can hardly incorporate various activities geared toward the culture objectives into their classes. For one thing, teachers need assistance in overcoming their lack of knowledge about the second culture; for another, in the preparation and selection of teaching materials, the culture content selected may sometimes be concentrated on the unusual, the bizarre and the exotic characteristics of the culture. In order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding, the teacher is a dvised to describe all aspects of the situation instead of treating the cultural phenomenon in isolation, and present culture content at a level or in a manner to which the students can attach some relationship between the information and their own background experiences. Even if teachers know what to teach and how to teach, there is still a problem concerning finding time in the class period to include culture. The class time is limited, so how much time should be spent teaching culture? Dwelling too much on culture is not only a waste of time but also of no help to the students. The second problem is that though most foreign language teachers do not deny the importance of teaching culture, few teachers actively test whether students are attaining their cultural goals. Teachers may incidentally attend to culture by inserting ideas during the class period and subsequently fail to check students comprehension of the context. Often students do not realize that the teacher is attempting to teach aspects of the second language culture. One of the reasons for this lack of awareness is that culture usually is not considered a fundamental component of the class content. If culture is to be an important goal in the second language class, it must be taught and tested systematically. Currently, the most practical approach to testing culture is to test the facts. Objective tests and essay tests may be used to test knowledge of facts and insight into cultural behavior. The problems mentioned above mean a lot to second language teachers and learners. Undertaking the teaching of culture is far from being simple. In accomplishing this task, the teacher has to be a generous knowledge imparter, an efficient time finder, an amiable activity designer, a protean actor and an assiduous learner as well. As for students, in the long run, they will benefit a lot from the culture learning experience that helps them become successful cross-cultural communicators. Undoubtedly, being a successful cross-cultural communicator is an exciting, enjoyable and enriching experience that will open the doors to both personal development and satisfaction. Therefore, the integration of English culture awareness into teaching in China means a demanding and challenging task both for English teachers and learners. 10. Developing Intercultural Understanding Cultural understanding is the main part of cultural studies. It demands a detailed analysis of cultures. The teaching of culture should lead students to experience directly through contact with native speakers and through developing some sorts of personal relationship with the target language community. In other words, culture understanding involves, besides the cognitive, a social and affective component. The main content of cultural understanding covers: 1) Understanding of daily life, including unfamiliar conventions, such as writing a check or reading a timetable. 2) Knowledge of cultural connotations of words and phrases. The students should indicate awareness that culturally conditioned images are associated with even the most common target words and phrase

The European Court of Justice and its Interlocutors Essay -- policies,

Member state governments of the European Community began with a fundamental role in making EC policies and standards; but throughout the 1960s and 1970s the European Court of Justice gradually began to expand its role and developed an unprecedented regime comparable to the constitutional order of a federal state. The ECJ permitted itself to decide on matters traditionally considered to be the exclusive competence of member states; including social policy, gender equality and competition policy. Remarkably, the majority of national courts and governments of the member states have conformed to ECJ rulings and have harmoniously surrendered their jurisdiction over key policy areas – deferring to the ECJ’s authority. Consequently, the member states have struggled to enjoy international legal latitude of compliance in their relationship with the ECJ and commentators such as Weiler J.A have labelled the process a â€Å"quiet revolution. † It is necessary to address the means and opportunities the Court of Justice employed in order to inaugurate itself as a superior court to that of the members’. In pursuance of this objective, it should be borne in mind whether member states desired ECJ supremacy and thus voluntarily handed the ECJ their competences; or whether a â€Å"competence creep† materialised, gradually increasing the superiority of the ECJ. The answer is not easily deciphered; ample EU scholars have proposed explanations for the apparent gift of superiority. ‘Neo-functionalists’ notably argue that the early choice of national governments to place determined areas within the power of European institutions produced pressure to extend the powers of these institutions to further policy areas. The phrase ‘functional spill-over’ was coined by ... ...man, and Heiner Schulz. 1998. The European Court of Justice, National Governments, and Legal Integration in the European Union. International Organization 52 (1):292 Neill Nugent. 2006. The Government and Politics of the European Union, Sixth Edition. Durham: Duke University Press: 292. Nugent [2006] 291 Weiler, J.A. (1994) ‘A Quiet Revolution: The European Court of Justice and its Interlocutors’ Mark A. Pollack. 2005. Theorizing EU Policy-Making. In Policy-Making in the European Union, 5th edition, edited by Helen Wallace, William Wallace, and Mark A. Pollack. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 15. Andrew Moravscik. April 2005. The European Constitutional Compromise and the Neofunctionalist Legacy. Journal of European Public Policy 12 (2): 350. Martha Finnemore. 1996. National Interests in International Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press: 5.

Internship Sample Essay

I decided to do the internship for the BAS Supervision and Management program in my own employment site. Florida International University (FIU) is an American public research university in Greater Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park in Miami-Dade County. It is classified as a research university with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation and a first-tier research university by the Florida Legislature. Founded in 1965, FIU is the youngest university to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the country’s oldest academic honor society. FIU belongs to the 12-campus State University System of Florida and is one of Florida’s primary graduate research universities, awarding over 3,400 graduate and professional degrees annually. The university offers 191 programs of study with more than 280 majors in 23 colleges and schools. FIU offers many graduate programs, including architecture, business admi nistration, engineering, law, and medicine, offering 81 master’s degrees, 34 doctoral degrees, and 3 professional degrees. FIU is the largest university in South Florida, the 2nd-largest in Florida, and the 7th-largest in the United States. Total enrollment in 2012 was 50,394 students, including 14,177 graduate students, and 2,974 full-time faculty with over 180,000 alumni around the world. In 2012, FIU’s research expenditure was $104.6 million, with an endowment of $140 million. The university has an annual budget of $1.07 billion. 1.Managing Schedules a.Establishing consistency can be a challenge b.Challenges with staff that have same schedule c.Rotating schedules d.Accrued Time i.Making sure there is coverage ii.Vacation and Sick Time 2.HR Issues a.When to escalate a situation b.HR Department c.Department Head 3.Morale a.How to improve/maintain 4.Managing Projects a.Different than regular duties. They are usually a one-time or more strategic in nature. 5.Regular Duties a.Job description in daily tasks 6.Staff Meetings a.Consistent b.Solutions oriented 7.Staff Activities a.Lunches/Birthdays 8.Interviews a.Knowing how to ask the right question b.Reading resume c.Testing 9.Culture and how it affects management styles and employees 10.Follow Up a.Importance of following up with the staff 11.Top down management a.Impact from the top 12.Professional development for staff a.Giving them the opportunity 13.Policies a.Reading, learning, knowing where to find them 14.Managing your Supervisor a.Characters b.Patience c.Support 15.You are a reflection of your staff As per a discussion with my supervisor, I will be following instructions and helping her in the performance of all those tasks.