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We will launch a Variety Show as part of our requirements in school. we are having trouble about our concept or theme so please help. your answer will be highly appreciated. thank you

You always want to do something that your audience will relate to or know about. Doing a spoof is always a good easy way out or even have a group of unique characters "watching tv" ( a.k.a the performers). good luck!

Importance of the Study

over the past years, L2 teachers have gone beyond their ways to change the current dilemma, but most of their efforts have been abortive. This trauma can be scrutinized from different angles. On the one hand, most students are in dire straights and on the other hand, the teachers themselves are at fault. Although students consider their teacher a perfect model; nonetheless, every now and then the teacher can be the source of problem. However, this tries to give them all the benefit of the doubt. If the use of pictures and posters as peripheral teaching aids is fruitful, this technique can be utilized in English classes as a worthwhile activity and will have an efficacious effect on students’ scope of vocabulary.

Although students’ text book is based on the Audio_Lingual Method, there is a yawning gap between the text book and books written on the basis of A. L. M, that is why it has been faced with a barrage of questions so far. Since the selection of words in this book is not very logical, we are dealing with a difficult situation and we have to select the vocabulary in accordance with that of the book.

If the hypothesis of the thesis is proved, it might lead to different pedagogical ramifications some of which can be very salient in junior high school levels.

In school leaving examinations, about 10 marks out of 20 are devoted to vocabulary and this implies the fact that vocabulary is a very important facet that is why this study highlights the concept of vocabulary.

The last point which should be brought into focus is that there are some charts prepared by the Ministry of Education but they are not completely useful because none of them is enticing enough to draw students’ attention. Another demerit of these charts is that they put emphasis on different sub skills like vocabulary, grammar and so forth. Because of the afore – mentioned factors these charts have been set aside by L2 teachers.

Research question

The research question asked in this study is the following:

Is there any relationship between the use of pictures and posters as peripheral teaching aids and improvement of vocabulary at junior high school levels in rural settings?

The null hypothesis:

There is no relationship between the use of pictures and improvement of vocabulary in junior high school levels.

Review of literature

Why vocabulary

Developing a rich listening, speaking, reading, and writing vocabulary is important in all curriculum areas. In the reading curriculum, in particular, a quality vocabulary needs to be achieved by each pupil. One reason that pupils face problems in learning English is that they do not possess a plausible scope of vocabulary. Enriching and developing pupil vocabularies should be a major goal in each academic discipline.

The following are reasons proposed by Marlow Ediger (1999) for teachers guiding learners to possess a rich vocabulary: (1) subject matter and ideas are expressed with more clarity and accuracy (2) proficiency in the work place might well depend upon individuals having a quality vocabulary (3) individuals seemingly have more prestige if their listening, speaking, reading, and writing vocabularies are adequately developed (4) greater enjoyment of reading is in the offing if a person has a rich functional vocabulary (5) vocabulary development is salient in problem solving (6) conversations carried on with other persons require a rich vocabulary. There needs intended meanings (7) variety in selecting words to convey accurate meanings is necessary in speaking and writing the outgoes of the language arts, and (8) use of diverse terms and concepts in speaking and writing adds variety to quality communication vocabulary development becomes a tool to take in, such as listening and reading, as well as provide communication to others within the framework of speaking and writing.

vocabulary and better understanding

Word meaning is one of the most important components of comprehension. In fact, learning, as a language-based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge’’ (Barker, Simmons, and Kameenui, 1995). This connection between knowing words and understanding content becomes especially important in the junior high school as the texts students read become more abstract and conceptually dense. Graves (2000) describes four components of an effective vocabulary program’’ wide reading, teaching individual words, teaching strategies for learning words independently, and fostering word consciousness’’.

The need for peripheral learning

According to Graves (2000), teachers can not possibly directly teach all the words that students need to learn, so students need a repertoire of strategies they can use to learn words on their own. In terms of direct independent word learning, three resources can be particularly helpful using context, word parts, and a dictionary. In addition to the aforementioned factors, the concept of peripheral learning should be brought into the picture by the teachers, and it implies a kind of incidental learning or indirect learning Nage (1998) mentions that most of the word learning that children do in their lives is incidental.

Criteria for vocabulary selection

Vocabulary is an essential element in learning a foreign or second language, but vocabulary can not be taught or learnt in complete isolation from the rest of linguistic components, namely grammar, phonetics and phonology

Techniques in presenting vocabulary:

Although in this research the main focus is on indirect vocabulary learning; nevertheless, during classroom sessions different techniques are used to teach vocabulary.

Using a wide range of techniques brings variety to the classroom and helps the students remain alert. Used correctly, the following techniques favor the long-term retention of newly-learned vocabulary. Following Gairns and Redman’s (1986:73-76) classification, presentation techniques are divided into two groups: visual and verbal.

Visual techniques

Realia: Using a variety of real objects is one of the most efficient ways of teaching and learning vocabulary.

Pictures: The main advantage of pictures is that they are able to illustrate very large objects which are not easily brought into the classroom.

Mime and gesture: This is an extremely effective way of introducing a new word since it resembles the total physical response, which clearly promotes the understanding and meaningful retention of new vocabulary items.

Verbal techniques

Definitions and illustrative sentences: The introduction of a word in English through the use of other words in the same language offers the advantage of contextualization. In addition, example sentences complement the definition because they show how the new word is used.

Synonyms and antonyms: Synonyms and antonyms are especially important in building new vocabulary because learners are able to use known vocabulary.

Scales: This technique is the presentation of related words in scales that include the combination of both verbal and visual techniques.

Explanations: This technique explains the meaning and the use of a given foreign word in the foreign language itself.

Translations: Although many linguists state that translation is not a good presentation technique, it is only considered dangerous for students if it becomes the only presentation technique. However, the major drawback may be when L2 words are introduced in lists.

Methodology

The most significant aspect of this study is germane to the concept of vocabulary. Specifically, the study considered the effect of pictures as peripheral teaching aids on vocabulary learning. In order to achieve this goal 150 students were chosen randomly from Gavart junior high school. This school was chosen because many students from miscellaneous bucolic districts study there. I was faced with a medley of different students. Some of them were in the lap of luxury whereas the rest were in dire straights, a few of students were reticent and taciturn but some were boisterous and jaunty, but all of them were in grade three and they had passed grade two successfully.

In order to choose a homogeneous sample a proficiency test was administered (Nelson Test), and after administration of proficiency test , standard deviation was used in order to choose 30 homogeneous students as experimental group and 30 students as control group Table 3.1 shows the afore – mentioned processes in brief:

Table 1Different stages for collecting and analyzing data

Time span Four months

Making homogeneity Administering a proficiency test

Instruction Ameliorating vocabulary by dint of pictures

Test Proficiency test – Diagnostic test

Data analysis T. test

The sample for this study was chosen from Gavart junior high school. 150 students were selected randomly. In order to avoid any extraneous factor, students were not informed about the purpose of the study completely. After administering the proficiency test 60 students were chosen and I assigned number to each student. Those who were given the odd numbers were the members of experimental group and even numbers were the control group.

Demographic data of students

Gavart junior high school is in the East of Isfahan province (See Appendix 3). Students come from ten different villages. Some of the outstanding facets which were taken into account were, age, linguistic background and the level of proficiency, and all of them had passed grade two successfully.

Classroom environment

Time

students attended the classes three sessions per week. All the sessions were held in the morning. The experimental group attended the class from 8 to 10 o’clock on odd days and the control group attended on even days.

Setting

in terms of physical conditions each class contained two window, a

door and a large chalk board – students were seated in two rows, and I did my best in order to control any distracting factor like noise or other extraneous factors. Some pictures accompanied by the spelling of words were used for experimental group and some pictures used as a placebo for control group –

Decreasing the effect of extraneous factors

It is axiomatic that in every research there are a copious number of factors (such as noise, light, time, facilities and so forth) which can affect the process eye – catchingly. There were some factors which enabled the researcher to diminish the effect of the afore – mentioned extraneous factors. Gavart junior high school has been constructed in a cozy place and there are no other buildings in the vicinity, and all the classes are held in the morning and the teacher is faced with a group of live wire and energetic students. In terms of equipment and facilities, the school is well – stocked and well – equipped and these merits will lead to a kind of atmosphere which is not humdrum and drab.

In brief there is no denying that every research may encounter some unexpected factors but I put my best foot forward in order to control them as much as possible.

Classroom Instructions

Although text books have been designed on the basis of Audio – lingualism; nonetheless, it is a waste of time to follow the principles of that method blindly and the disappointing results produced by miscellaneous researches, show that Audio lingual is not a panacea anymore.

Each Lesson contains a set of words most of which are concrete. Many years of experience show that some of these words are problematic for students, either their spelling or application.

Different techniques are used for teaching vocabulary such as pictures, realia, gestures and in very are cases translation. Since the focus of this research is on peripheral vocabulary learning some of these problematic words together with their pictures are stuck on the walls in front of students without being paid attention to directly

In control group, some of pictures without any accompanying word were used as placebo and after four months a test was given to both groups in order to see whether there is a meaningful difference between the experimental group and the control group. Chapter four shows that the difference between the experimental group and the control group is meaningful and during these four months, the concept of peripheral learning caused a better performance in experimental group.

Dialogs were acted out twice by the teacher and grammar was taught deductively and Translation was utilized as the last resort. Every week a new picture was stuck on the wall but the teacher did not pay heed to them directly.

Data Analysis

As it was mentioned earlier, a set of pictures were shown to the students of experimental group for four months. At the end of the course a post test was given to both groups and the mean of the groups was computed by the following formula:

there was a difference between the mean of experimental group and control group, I had recourse of the t-test formula in order to prove that this difference was meaningful.

There are two hypotheses in the form of H0 and H1:

H0: there is no significant difference between the mean of control group and experimental group.

H1: There is a significant difference between the mean of control group and experimental grou

After computing the value of t-test

We can compute the value of observed t, then it must be compared with the value of t-critical if t-observed > t-critical, H0 is rejected, otherwise H0 is tenable.

For computing the value of t-test, First we should compute the value of standard deviation which shows the amount of dispersion from the central point and can be computed

For computing the value of t-test, the following procedures should be followed.

As it was mentioned earlier, so the value of t observed

Is 3.4

and critical t is 1.697 Therefore, t observed>t critical and p < .05

Now we can come to the conclusion that H0 is rejected and H1 is tenable, in other words, the difference between the mean of experimental group and control group is meaningful and this difference can be attributed to the treatment given to the experimental group.

Pedagogical Implications

Although the Ministry of Education has submitted an apparently satisfactory report on the student’s success in language learning, it fails to come up to expectations. Almost all our teachers at junior high school come to the tacit agreement that the process of teaching English Language is abysmal and egregious and the bane refers to the following factors.

1.Most of our teachers are not familiar with modern techniques of teaching language.

2.Most of our schools, especially schools in rural areas are not well – equipped.

3.Most of our students lack motivation.

4.Most of rural schools are old, and inappropriate for studying.

We should keep our fingers crossed and try to tackle the afore – mentioned problems – one of the most important factors which must be brought into focus is the use of fascinating techniques for teaching language, some of unsuccessful techniques which are used nowadays are very dull.

Every now and then, teachers are forced with difficulties so much so that there is no way out, for instance some of classes are so crowded in which no innovation is possible, as a result gaining favorable and satisfactory results is dependent upon the fulfillment of basic conditions, otherwise we will come up against dreadful repercussions.

References

1-Barker, Simmons, and Kameenui, 1995.Journal of psychology and behavior

2. Ediger, M (1999) Reading and vocabulary Development, Journal of Instructional psychology Cambridge University press.

3-Gairns, R and Redman’s (1986) working with words. Cambridge university press

4-Graves, (2000) Components of an effective Vocabulary Teaching-

5- Nage, WE, Herman, P, and Anderson, R.C (1998) Learning words from context. Reading research quarterly, 20.233-253. Oxford university press

6- Park, Sunghi M.and Gabrieli, John D.E. (1995). Perceptual and non perceptual components of implicit memory for pictures. Journal

of experimental psychology 1583-1594

mohsen sadeghi
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/the-use-of-posters-and-vocabulary-improvement-in-rural-areas-90714.html

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The choice of beats plays an important part in the overall music. A good beat might make a great difference in an amateur beat maker’s career. If you know how to choose good beats, you will have a good chance of ending up as a popular artist. In order to choose good beats, you should know your style of music and you should be able to realize whether certain beats support your music style.

The instruments can sound good when they are played alone, and even the artist can also sound better, but you to know how to make both of these go together and produce better quality music. You should be able to understand the beats and listen to them carefully and pick up any difference in them. The beats that suit your music style and your instruments, will allow you to produce great quality music. Once you have chosen your music style and the beats that support your style and fit it properly, then you will realize then your timing and vocals will improve itself.

The professional artists choose their instruments very carefully and plan their music accordingly. They take all steps to show their own style and creativity in their beats. However, you should be able to realize your own style of music and do not try to spoil it by adopting other people’s style. Every artist has his natural style of music and you should keep your own style unique and interesting. In order to improve your style of music and know better about it, you should stop listening to other’s music and instead listen to your own.

This will allow you to know about your mistake and the ways in which you can improve your style.

After understanding your own style of music and improving it, you can then listen to the instruments and the Rap beats and decide about the beats that fit your style. Then you can also decide upon the rhythms and the beats that can best fit your style of music to improve your overall performance.

It is quite difficult for the amateur beat makers to become independent artists as you will not have much funds to finance your instruments etc. The hot producers do help the amateur artists in becoming platinum rappers, but it costs a lot of money and for the amateur artists it can be difficult to hire them.

There is variety of website available on the internet, which sell cheaper instruments and good quality beats. You can look for better quality beats on the internet that you can use for your music. However, practice is the key to success; you should keep on practicing in order to make yourself a best beat maker and a good artist.

Once you have improved your style, you can then start preparing your demo CD. You should look for putting your best songs on the CD. Your demo CD should contain good quality music if not very professional. You should learn from the professional beats and incorporate what you have learnt from them into your own music. This will allow you to create a great quality of beats and sounds.

Seth Willis Jr.
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/make-your-own-beats-731356.html

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Today I was thinking of my maternal grandmother. A sad story, to be sure. She had three marriages, two of which were alcoholic and abusive. Her third was finally a winner. Unfortunately it took her sixty plus years to get to a good man and relationship. They say that addiction often runs in families and there is a strong tendency for people who come from addicted families to become addicted or marry into the same situation. I don’t really know my grandmother’s family history, but with two alcoholic marriages, it’s clear she didn’t stand a chance.

In some ways, my mother was fortunate. She was not raised by her mother, and hence had no alcoholic father around. She was also raised inside of a church-going sobriety. Consequently, she never drank and escaped the sickness herself. In her line of children we all did… or at least so it seems. But one has to wonder, how does it come that I, one generation removed, also managed to find an alcoholic man for my life? Is it just some odd, twisted fluke of inexplicable fate? Or is there perhaps something more at play in this odd coincidence?

My mother was brought up living around the corner from her real mother. She was raised by an elderly woman who had a lot of love to give, and gave it freely to children who had no-one else to rear them. Being born under questionable circumstances from my grandmother’s one night of extra-marital love with her childhood sweetheart, my mother became one of those children. She lived down the street from her mother, but never knew who her mother was. So here comes the first clue to the mystery of how addiction grows and flourishes as a way of being in families. Namely, it is the web of secrets and shame. In this we find some understanding. For if you look closely, secrets and shame hover around addicted families like flies on the compost heap. Inside this strange atmosphere of no-speak, open communication is hardly heard of, and the weather is the primary source of pretend discourse-discourse that is often fraught with the discomfort of the unsaid, wanting to be heard, and often a lot of pain, being stifled and covered up.

I too grew up in such a climate- hiding my pain, grinning and bearing it. It was no-one’s fault. It just was ‘how it was.’ This was how everyone had always learned it through the families and through the ages. And here I will talk about clue number two in the mystery of how addiction passes to new generations. Both women who raised my mother at various ages were related to my grandmother! One can only surmise that they were similar families, with similar silences, and similar rules of no-speak. So even though the actual alcohol was not present in either of the women who raised my mother, the alcoholic ‘way of being’ was alive and well in their families. It lived in a variety of commonalities, ways of seeing the world and reacting to it- ways of being that quite simply put, did not work so well.

In addicted families down through the ages there are many commonalities; things like parents who have one controller and one controllee, one giver and one taker, one carer and one could-care-a-less, someone who jumps and someone who says jump, a pleaser and someone who must be pleased, a henpecked and a henpecker. And then in addicted families there are the host of children scurrying around to make it all right, with or without the presence of alcohol or drugs- although it is common that these problems will show up eventually somewhere. And those children are learning what they will then pass down to the next generations. And this passing-down of the sickness does not even include the very real factor of genetic inclination.

And it can be said that this code of silence, this no-speak, this holding-in of pain and hiding it was just one such effect of this family dysfunction that was alive and well in my home life as well as my grandmother’s, as well as in the lives of the people who raised my mother. Good people, all, but just living out the rules that they had grown up in.

And now I take a minute to look to my ex-husband’s family. As I look I don’t find it odd that I see the same strange occurrence. My ex-husband’s family were speaking, and speaking a lot- fabulous discoursers one and all- but they said nothing outside of the rules. And if you managed to blunder on the wrong thing to say, as I certainly did as a young newcomer to the family, You received ‘the look.’ And it did not matter if you were three or forty-three, when you got the look, you stopped talking.

At least I stopped talking when it happened at Christmas dinner or over a cup of coffee and dessert. I had not learned the rules at that point, but clearly I had broken them. Now there is something odd that happens in this type of situation. And it may just be at the very heart of how we choose our mates, as a good fit not only for what we may want in life, but also for what we don’t want. You see for me, when I encountered this silence, I was, at home with it. This was familiar. In this family, I was comfortable and I knew what to do. I just had to keep quiet. And I could do that. I was good at that. I knew my place and I could fit into the pie. So it only made sense that I would stick around this family. And of course I also loved the wonderful man who was the love of my life. But that gets back to the distinction between the man and the disease, which I discuss in another entry.

But I remember particularly my first time meeting of Dave’s parents. At a surface level they were quite different from mine. They were cosmopolitan and polished, refined and elegant- fabulous, funny and entertaining. I sat in their space for dinner that evening in my finest clothes, and it seemed my jaw would hit the table from amazement. How different they were. My parents, wonderful, loving, generous- were not the glamour and glitz type. There was nothing wrong with their sort of homespun New England-ness. But I had never been around this level of charm. So on this particular night, I felt like I was in the presence of greatness. I laughed and smiled the night away.

Soon it became time to go, and we said our goodbyes, amid lots of niceties and a general soothing joviality. I stepped from the door of this ‘castle’ into the bright moonlight feeling like Cinderella. I smiled at my love. It was my brightest, happiest, most mesmerized smile. Whereupon he said “I can’t believe what a bad mood my father was in tonight.” Had I glanced down in that moment, I’m sure I would have seen my famed glass slipper dropping from my foot.

What I had not know, what I could not have known being so very new to the family, was that during the evening a veritable smorgasbord of dialogue had passed in the land of the unspoken. It lived in just a word here, a slight tone there, a pause too delicate for me to notice. And that dialogue, my friends, is the dialogue that is listened to and remembered in such families, regardless of whatever else my be said. For it is much more poignant to not-say, then to say. And as time went by I learned the unspoken language and the rules of this particular family. The rules to not-speak were different in their family than in mine. But still they were rules not-to-say, rules I also gained a level of proficiency at, rules that would later have me unable to relate the awfulness of what was going on, either in my life or their son’s, and have me living alone and defeated for years without end.

And not speaking what there is to say is a primary tool of the disease of alcoholism. It may just be the main reason that this sickness goes on and on ad nauseum. It is the tool of never bringing the darkness to the light, of never letting the problem be spoken of. And this tool has people living with addiction forever and ever, through generations and millennia, since the time of Christ and his turning of the water to wine. So this silence, my friends, is one very powerful tool . But on the good side, when you break it, the sickness begins to crumble into dust. For alcoholism and addiction need silence to survive, and you have all the power when you open your mouth and speak.

But have a care. For this sickness, and those who have it, will fight- and fight hard- to have you stay in your silence.  And if you do not interfere, this no-speak rule will be passed down from generation to generation, you will find it in your lovers and friends, in your children and children’s children. For this is the vicious circle.

http://secondhandaddiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/vicious-circle.html

Lorelei F
http://www.articlesbase.com/mental-health-articles/the-vicious-circle-of-addiction-749175.html

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