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Harare Magazine 30th June 2017
Jonathan's mother died when he was very young and his father brought him up. Both of them shared a very special relationship.
Jonathan loved to play football and his father made sure that he was always there to cheer his son at every match, even if Jonathan wasn't a part of the playing team.
Jonathan being small sized, wasn't allowed to play in the main team. Nevertheless, he continued with his practice with full determination. Everyone thought that Jonathan would never be able to make it into the team, though somehow, his determination carried him through. The coach seeing his diligence and dedication decided to keep him on the roster.
One day during practice, the coach met him with a telegram. Jonathan was shocked to read the message contained in it. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Will it be all right if I miss practice today?" The coach gently put his arm around his shoulder and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son, and don't even plan to come to the game on Saturday." On the day of the game, Jonathan's college team was losing badly to the rival team. The coach and the players had all lost hope when they saw Jonathan coming towards them. Jonathan ran up to the coach and pleaded him to allow him to play this match. At first, the coach wouldn't allow him to play. However after a lot of persuasion, the coach gave in.No sooner Jonathan joined the team in the field, their scores started to improve before both the teams were on a tie.
However, the real cheer came during the crucial closing seconds when he intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. His team members were ecstatic. The crowd came running towards him to celebrate the win. After the match, the coach went up to Jonathan, who was seated alone in the corner of the locker room and asked, "Kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?" He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?" The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!"
Author: Harare Magazine
By Tanya Muzinda I am honoured and humbled by the continuous support that I receive from my country and other countries all over the world. The sport of Motocross is not only my passion, […]
Tinashe Chiyambukira 16th November 2018
Harare Magazine 3rd May 2017
Harare Magazine 26th April 2019
Lin Barrie 13th September 2019
Harare Magazine 17th August 2017
Charmaine Chitate 28th April 2018


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October 13, 2014 February 26, 2016 toniCivics, Read
Thomas Jefferson: An American Patriot
There was a time on this land when the United States of America did not exist. Prior to the 1770s, the region was largely Indian country with the exception of 13 British colonies in the northeast part of the country. These colonies were known as the American Colonies, and were under British rule. The 13 colonies were a loosely connected group of individual states that were governed by the Continental Congress. The congress had been at odds against the British for several years, primarily because of the taxes that were being levied by their Parliament.
In 1775, after a year of war between the American colonies and England, the colonists decided it was time to become independent. The English Parliament had issued two unpopular taxes, which were imposed to help support the British after the end of the Seven Years War. The colonists asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence arguing that since the colonies had no voice in Parliament's matters, they should not be taxed.
The declaration was drafted by Jefferson on July 2, 1776, and was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4th. Today, July 4th is celebrated in the United States as the day of independence from British rule. The declaration features what has been called the most famous sentence in the English language. It reads: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These words were written to represent the moral and ethical standards the new country was meant to follow. It is a beautifully written document, and it stands for all that this country tries to be.
via 32. Thomas Jefferson: An American Patriot.
American Revolutionary War, Civics, Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, US history
Is Writing Notes by Hand Better Than Typing?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Ascott Limited (Thailand) Properties Won 2022 Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice Award for Top 10% of Hotels Worldwide
The Ascott Limited (Thailand) is delighted to announce that its properties, Somerset Rama 9 Bangkok, Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor Bangkok , and Somerset Maison Asoke Bangkok, have been honored with the 2022 Tripadvisor's Traveler's Choice Award for the Top 10% of Hotels Worldwide. The awards are based on millions of reviews and opinions collected on Tripadvisor over a 12-month period. It is a reflection of the brand's promise of delivering truly outstanding services.
Out of 1,501 hotels in Bangkok, Somerset Rama 9 Bangkok ranked number 9. The hotel offers upscale accommodations in 445 rooms and suites. It is ideal for both business and leisure guests and is conveniently located for commuting, as it is only 450m from Phra Ram 9 MRT station. Shopping malls, entertainment centres, restaurants, offices, and embassies are all within walking distance.
Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor Bangkok is situated in an upscale area of Thonglor and offers 262 well-appointed studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Other amenities offer a residential and welcoming atmosphere that is desirable for all stays, such as a gym, restaurant, and infinity pool. The hotel ranked number 16 out of 1,501 hotels in Bangkok.
Somerset Maison Asoke Bangkok features 125 studio and one-bedroom serviced apartments that cater to both leisure and business travelers. It is conveniently situated in the heart of Sukhumvit, close to a variety of cafes, bars, shops, supermarkets, and shopping malls such as Terminal 21. The hotel currently stands at number 31 out of all the hotels in Bangkok.
"We are honoured to be acknowledged by our guests as being in the top 10% of hotels worldwide and among the Top 10 in Bangkok. This recognition motivates us to continue delivering exceptional service through teamwork and the bond of mutual trust and appreciation between our guests and staff. " Mr. Brian Tan, Country General Manager, Thailand & Laos.
The Ascott Limited is one of the largest international serviced residence owner-operators in Thailand, with more than 4,800 units across 22 properties presently.
For reservations or more information, please contact +66 2 204 4400, 1800 888 272 (Thailand toll-free), e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.discoverasr.com
About The Ascott Limited
The Ascott Limited is a member of CapitaLand Investment. It is one of the leading international lodging owner-operators with properties across Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the USA. Its portfolio of serviced apartment, coliving and hotel brands includes Ascott The Residence, The Crest Collection, Somerset, Quest, Citadines, lyf, Préférence, Vertu, Harris, Citadines Connect, Fox, Yello, Fox Lite and POP!.
About CapitaLand Investment Limited
Headquartered and listed in Singapore, CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) is a leading global real estate investment manager (REIM) with a strong Asia foothold. As at 30 September 2021, CLI had about S$120.8 billion of real estate assets under management, and about S$84.3 billion of real estate funds under management (FUM) held via six listed real estate investment trusts and business trusts, and 30 private funds across the Asia-Pacific, Europe and USA. Its diversified real estate asset classes cover integrated developments, retail, office, lodging and new economy sectors such as business parks, industrial, logistics and data centres.
CLI aims to scale its FUM and fee-related earnings through its full stack of investment management and operating capabilities. As the listed investment management business arm of the CapitaLand Group, CLI has access to the development capabilities of and pipeline investment opportunities from CapitaLand's development arm. Being a part of the well-established CapitaLand ecosystem differentiates CLI from other REIMs.
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1. Sign must comply with all applicable codes and local ordinances. Landlord's consent to sign is required prior to application for permit. Sign plan shall be submitted to Landlord for approval and signs shall be installed thirty (30) days following written notice of approval from Landlord. The submittal must include a certificate of insurance from Tenant's sign contractor.
2. All signs to be individual letters of non-serif, serif or script type. Raceways and wire channels are not permitted. Box type signs are not permitted. All letters are to be constructed of aluminum "cans" with plexiglass face, color subject to Landlord's prior approval. Each sign is restricted to one color and should complement the light gray color of the canopy signband.
3. All signs to be centered horizontally on the store signband.
5. Local ordinance limits tenant sign area to a total of 100 square feet. Maximum letter height is 36".
8. No lettering and/or painting shall be placed upon the interior or exterior of the windows of the Demised Premises without Landlord's specific approval.
9. All electrical work must be performed by a licensed electrician in accordance with applicable electrical codes. Electrical work must be performed by a licensed electrician in accordance with all electrical codes.
10. All signs shall be mounted on the existing sign attachment rails, and tenant's wiring penetrations through the facade shall be made above and behind the rails so as not to be visible from the parking area (see Typical Sign Rail Drawing). Storefront signs shall be installed on the designated signband only, and not on mansards nor on the decorative gables.
11. No rooftop sign shall be erected on any shopping center building.


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Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Education
Why 'Captain Underpants' Is The Most Banned Book In America
Pamela Engel
The children's series "Captain Underpants" has surprisingly topped the list of the most banned books in America in 2012, beating out the much more controversial title "Fifty Shades of Grey."
The 10-part series, by author Dav Pilkey, follows two prank-loving young boys who create a superhero called Captain Underpants.
Parents say in complaints filed to the Office for Intellectual Freedom that the illustrated books contain "offensive language" that is unsuited to the series' target age group of elementary-school children.
The first book in the series even comes with a "Sturgeon General's Warning" that says: "Some material in this book may be considered offensive by people who don't wear underwear."
So where's the evidence that the books are actually a bad influence on children?
We've broken down the most "offensive" parts of the first "Captain Underpants" book in an attempt to understand why the series is the most banned in the country.
"Offensive Language"
In Chapter 4, the two protagonists of the series — George Beard and Harold Hutchins — refer to their school principal as "that old guy" and call him "Mean Old Mr. Krupp."
Throughout the book, there is reference to undergarments.
Partial Nudity
The hero of the series, Captain Underpants, flies around in underwear and a cape throughout the illustrated book.
In Chapter 17, Captain Underpants slings his underwear at the evil Dr. Diaper in an attempt to defeat him and then covers himself with a barrel. (Note: there is no actual nudity in the book, unless you count Captain Underpants' chest.)
In Chapter 16 — titled "The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter" — George and Harold save each other from evil robots by whacking (and presumably killing) them with what appear to be wooden planks.
The chapter comes with the following disclaimer: "WARNING: The following chapter contains graphic scenes showing two boys beating the tar out of a couple of robots. If you have high blood pressure , or if you faint at the sight of motor oil, we strongly urge you to take better care of yourself and stop being such a baby."
Misbehavior
The book is riddled with examples of George and Harold misbehaving. They play several pranks at school, including sprinkling pepper in the cheerleaders' pom-poms and putting bubble bath in the marching band's instruments.
Blackmail/Threats
The principal, who is later hypnotized by George and Harold into becoming Captain Underpants, blackmails the two mischievous students into behaving well at school and doing chores for him by threatening to release a tape of them pranking the football team.
This could be construed as bullying.
But what's even more shocking to us than the contents of the Captain Underpants series is why parents are so opposed to a book that gets young boys excited about reading.
More: Banned Books Library


Firstly, a quick disclaimer - do not use bleach, toothpaste or any other solution your well intentioned mother recommends. Using gentle, non abrasive cleansers is the only way to go.
Step 1: Make a simple soap, ammonia and hot water mixture. Put the ammonia and dish soap into a bowl, fill it with hot water and swish it around to produce a few suds. We recommend a dish soap made from natural ingredients, or one with a minimal amount of chemicals.
Step 2: Place your ring in the bowl and leave it for 15-20 minutes. Give the mixture some time to soak into the ring, as it needs time to penetrate and loosen the dirt and dust.
Step 3: Remove your ring from the solution and examine it. If you can still see dirt buildup, you'll need to clean it further. Otherwise, you can rinse your ring in clean water.
Step 4: Use a soft toothbrush to brush the dirt from your ring. Scrub lightly, poking the bristles into the hard-to-reach crevices.
Step 5: Rinse the ring in cool water and lay it out to dry on a clean cloth or paper towel.
A clean diamond presents with more sparkle, and is fiery. A dirty diamond, no matter how well it is cut will appear dull. Even a thin film of grease on the bottom of the diamond can interfere with the diamond's light return and sparkle.
We recommend taking your diamond rings and diamond bands to a professional cleaner on a weekly basis for a thorough clean and general inspection, as this will help restore your stone's original brilliance and ensure the claws are kept tight enough to secure the diamond. But for those looking for a home remedy, following these five easy steps, and keeping your diamonds away from abrasive substances, will keep your precious gems sparkling well into old age.


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Coenonympha multiocellaris är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Zusanek 1925. Coenonympha multiocellaris ingår i släktet Coenonympha och familjen praktfjärilar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Praktfjärilar
multiocellaris

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Unfortunately, we don't offer any consulting services. If you're looking for a marketing consultant to help, we suggest looking on Upwork.com for qualified freelancers.
You can read reviews to make sure they are fit to help you with your business.


Tunisia's Ennahda Party has its origins in the same Muslim Brotherhood whose government was ousted Wednesday in Egypt.
Ennahda dominated elections held here after Tunisians ousted their dictator in January 2011 and kicked off pro-democracy uprisings elsewhere, including Egypt.
Thursday's statement by Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi condemned the arrests of the leaders of Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party — an arm of the Brotherhood — and the closing of its media outlets.
The statement expressed astonishment at the political forces supporting the Egyptian army's action, which it said undermined democracy in the country and would feed radicalism.
Unlike its Egyptian counterparts, Ennahda has been ruling in a coalition with secular parties.


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ConservationEndangered Species Day
May 20 is Endangered Species Day! AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums fund over 2650 conservation projects in over 130 countries and spend upwards of $160 million dollars annually on conservation initiatives and education to give animals the helping hand they desperately need.
Endangered Species Day exists to help educate the community about the various species that are facing extinction, as well as the factors that cause species to die out.
Several species of animals at the Virginia Zoo are on the verge of extinction and are considered endangered or critically endangered:
Malayan Tapir
Malayan Tiger
Radiated tortoise
White-cheeked gibbons
A majority of the other species of animals at the Zoo are listed as vulnerable to or near threatened with extinction, but their lower conservation status is not to be overlooked as these animals are still at risk for extinction.
The most common factors that lead species to go extinct include:
habitat loss including degradation and fragmentation
poaching and hunting, including human-animal conflicts
illegal pet trade
introduction of invasive species
Several programs exist to help combat extinction:
AZA SAFE program (Association of Zoos and Aquariums: Save Animals From Extinction)
Farmer education programs, which prevent human-animal conflict
Livestock Guarding dogs – also prevent human-animal conflict
thousands of conservation programs for various species
The Zoo will host an event May 13 from 11am to 2pm and will take place at the Animal Wellness Campus. There will be discovery carts, crafts, keeper chats, buttons and more.


Skift Research products provide deep analysis, data and expert opinion on the companies and trends that are shaping the future of travel. Become a subscriber to get instant access to the full library of 130+ industry reports.
IHG is establishing itself as a leader in hotel tech innovation and becoming a nimbler, more diversified company.
Where major travel sectors stand in marketing operations and how outperformers do it differently.


A photo going viral on social media has people cheering on diversity in the U.S.
On Sunday, native New Yorker Jackie Summers posted a photo on Facebook and Twitter that appears to show a Jewish man and woman sitting on a New York City subway car next to a Muslim woman in a hijab holding a baby.
The Facebook post had garnered more than 75,000 reactions and 58,000 shares by Wednesday afternoon. People commented on the photo to celebrate the diversity that it reflects, and what that means for the country.
Since the election of President Donald Trump, several interactions on the New York City subway have garnered nationwide attention for highlighting diversity and division in the U.S.: In February, for example, subway riders were photographed cleaning swastikas off of a train's walls, and in March, a young Latina woman was filmed shutting down a fellow rider's xenophobic rant.
For HuffPost's #LoveTakesAction series, we're telling stories of how people are standing up to hate and supporting those most threatened. Know a story from your community? Send news tips to lovetips@huffingtonpost.com.


At the altar, you need a few good men.
Your wedding day is undoubtedly one of the most important days of your life. There are so many things to be done to prepare for it, but the more significant decisions you'll make involve the people who will be a part of your wedding.
Choosing your groomsmen can be an overwhelming task, but with the right advice and mindset, you will have the most special people standing beside you as you say "I do."
What Are the Groom's Responsibilities?


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Documentation / Plugins / WooCommerce / Extensions / Order Delivery
Order Delivery in Subscriptions
Since version 1.3, Order Delivery is compatible with the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension and it works out of the box without any additional configuration.
This means that the customers can select a delivery date and define the delivery preferences for the recurring orders created from a subscription.
Requirements ↑ Back to top
WooCommerce 2.6+
WooCommerce Subscriptions 2.2+
When a customer makes a purchase, he can select a delivery date for his order using the calendar field in the checkout form. This calendar allows selecting a date from the current day to the number of days specified in the setting "Maximum delivery range". For example, 60 days. Days after that limit are disabled in the calendar and it cannot be selected.
When the order contains a subscription and the setting "Limit subscription orders to the billing interval" is enabled, the number of days the customer can select in the calendar are restricted to the periodicity of the subscription. So, for a monthly subscription, instead of a limit of 60 days from the current date, this limit is restricted to 30 days, 7 days if it's a weekly subscription. This will avoid the customer to postpone an order delivery to the next billing cycle of the subscription (don't receive anything the first month and receive two orders the second month).
Note: If the cart contains two or more subscriptions, for example, a weekly and a monthly subscription, we will use the minimum subscription period. A week on this case.
Note: If the "Maximum delivery range" setting value is lower than the subscription periodicity. The extension will use the setting value. E.g. A yearly interval against a maximum of 30 days for delivery.
You can disable this behaviour turning off the "Limit subscription orders to the billing interval" setting. This is especially useful for allowing your customers to postpone their orders when they are on vacations. In any case, this setting never modifies the renewal date of the subscription. Just the range of available days to delivery a recurrent order.
Note: We don't take in consideration subscriptions with one-time shipping for this restriction.
Renewals ↑ Back to top
The delivery details also apply to the orders created from a subscription. Every time a subscription is renewed, the extension automatically calculates the delivery for the next order taking into consideration the customer preferences.
Manual Renewal ↑ Back to top
For manual renewals, the customer needs to login into your store and manually pay the order created during renewal.
This pending-payment order contains the delivery details assigned previously by the extension and will be used as the default values of the delivery fields in the checkout form. The customer is free to update them according to the available options. The process works in the same way described in the "Checkout" section.
Early Renewal ↑ Back to top
This feature was introduced in WooCommerce Subscriptions 2.3 and allows to pay a renewal before this its order is created (without waiting for the next payment date). Order delivery is also compatible with this feature and it works like any other renewal. The delivery details calculated previously for the renewal are used as the default values and the customer can edit them in the checkout form.
Pay attention that an early renewal makes reference to a future order. So, the first available date for delivery in the calendar starts in the next payment date of the subscription and not on the current date. The "Maximum delivery days" setting also starts counting in this date.
E.g: Let's suppose we are renewing a weekly subscription which next payment date is April 1, 2019. Obviously, today is a previous day of that date (March 28, 2019). I go to the checkout form and the available delivery dates of the calendar go from April 1, 2019, to April 7, 2019. Remember its a weekly subscription and the next payment date is April 1, 2019. There are no available dates between March 28, 2019, and March 31, 2019, because these dates are out of the renewal interval.
Synchronized Renewal ↑ Back to top
WooCommerce Subscriptions allows you to synchronize the renewal date of your subscription products. You can get more info about it in this article.
Our extension calculates the delivery details for the next order of a subscription just after the renewal process has been completed. No matter which is the renewal date, it makes the calculations based on the settings and the customer preferences at that moment.
The delivery date will be the first available date after the renewal date. But this doesn't mean that the date will be always on the same day of the week or the month.
Subscription Delivery ↑ Back to top
If the customer visits the subscription details page under "My Account > Subscriptions" section, he will see the delivery details for the next order of this subscription at the end of the page. These values are generated automatically by the extension each time the subscription is renewed.
Delivery details for the next order of the subscription
In addition, a new action called "Change Delivery" will be available. This action will redirect the customer to a new page in order to edit the subscription delivery details.
Change the delivery preferences for the subscription
Edit Delivery ↑ Back to top
On this page, the customer can edit the delivery details for the upcoming order and define his delivery preferences.
Note: Our extension doesn't include any functionality to make changes related to the shipping address or the shipping method of the subscriptions. This is handled by the "WooCommerce Subscriptions" extension. If you have any doubt about it. We recommend you to read its documentation or contact the support team.
Note: There are some cases in which this page will not be available for a subscription:
The subscription has a daily billing interval.
The system couldn't find a valid delivery date for the next order.
The merchant removes the delivery date manually.
The subscription status is On-hold.
The Checkout Options setting is set to display a text block instead of a calendar.
Next order ↑ Back to top
This section contains the delivery details for the upcoming order of the subscription. The customer can modify its values all the times he wants before the subscription is renewed.
Edit the delivery details for the upcoming order of the subscription
Delivery Preferences ↑ Back to top
In order to avoid the customer the need to modify the delivery details for each order created for the subscription, he can set his preferred delivery days and time frames/time slots. So, if he doesn't want to receive the orders on Mondays, he can disable them. The extension will try to adapt the delivery details of the future orders to the customer preferences always as possible.
Subscription delivery preferences
Note: The customer can only set the weekdays that are enabled in the "Delivery Days" global setting and the shipping method of the subscription is available.
Note: If the delivery date cannot be adapted to the customer preferences, the first available date will be assigned.
Admin Screen ↑ Back to top
As the merchant, you can edit the delivery details for the next order of a subscription at any time. You only have to edit the subscription in your store dashboard and change its values manually.
The "Next order delivery" meta box also contains a table with the customer preferences to help you to assign the best delivery details possible.
Edit subscription delivery details in the admin screen
Delivery Notes ↑ Back to top
There are a few notes that the extension may add to a subscription:
Customer change the delivery date ↑ Back to top
Every time the customer change the delivery date for the next order, an internal note is added to the subscription. So, we have a log of all the changes.
Note added to the subscription after a date change by the customer
A change in the next payment date ↑ Back to top
If for some reason, the next payment date of a subscription has to be modified, the delivery details will be updated automatically if the current values are not valid. In this case, a customer note is added to the subscription.
Customer note after a change in the next payment date
Note: If you don't want that the extension sends this notification to the customer, you can update the delivery details manually at the same time that you change the next payment date (Before saving the changes).
Delivery date not found ↑ Back to top
When assigning a delivery date for the next order, if a valid date cannot be found, an internal note is added to the subscription. In this case, the delivery date is removed and the customer cannot update the delivery preferences until a new date is assigned by the merchant.
Others ↑ Back to top
Any other change in the delivery date is up to the merchant notify the customer. We have decided to leave this case empty to let the merchants explain the reason for the change in a more personal note.
Emails ↑ Back to top
The order emails that contain subscriptions will include additional information to the default delivery details. This info is a link to the page that allows the customer to change his subscription preferences.
Email with subscription delivery preferences
Additionally, when one of the previous notes is added to a subscription, an email notification will be sent to the merchant to keep him up to date.
Email with the new subscription delivery preferences
Manual Renewal
Early Renewal
Synchronized Renewal
Edit Delivery
Next order
Admin Screen
Customer change the delivery date
A change in the next payment date
Delivery date not found


Can We Help the World by Teaching 'Entitled' Kids?
It's no secret a large number of our International school students come from families belonging to the uppermost financial echelon of their societies. As such, many of these kids are accustomed to enjoying the extreme privileges that come with such status, but without ever having taken part in the efforts required to earn those entitlements. For us as teachers, it should come as no surprise when these students expect 'As' in exchange for efforts that deserve 'Cs' at best.
While teaching in South America, I encountered entitled students for the first time. Our school was conducting a Science competition & at first sight the projects impressed me as nothing short of brilliant–skills in mathematics, industrial drawing, metal fabrication, welding, painting & carpentry were all evident in the creation of these projects. Later that year, however, small groups of these same students created and built teacher-assigned projects during school hours. I discovered they could not draw a workable diagram or nail two boards together. It was obvious they had not built the Science projects so celebrated just a few months earlier!
As we all know, domestic help is commonplace overseas: Workers clean house, wash the car, do the landscaping & prepare meals. But it's an entirely different situation when household help create entire projects for students & even do their home work, particularly since these same children, propelled by their family name, will go into prominent business & government positions.
As International educators, we have the rare opportunity to influence these students & in essence, the future of their countries. Wow! What an opportunity! The question is, How do we reach these kids of the 'silver spoon mentality'?
ISR invites you to share your successes with privileged students & relate how you went about motivating such students to work to their greatest potential.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 21st, 2013 at 9:51 am and is filed under In the Classroom.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
48 Responses to Can We Help the World by Teaching 'Entitled' Kids?
Teaching them to have empathy for their fellow students, their teachers, and other human beings in general, and to be less selfish & self centered, is working. Many of my students are passionate about ethics & religion, but were not the least bit interested in any of the former.
Compare Ataturk, Mother Teresa, all of the saints and prophets with Hitler, Mussulini, Stalin & Assad. Discuss both good and bad behavior.
It is working for many (but not all) of the students, who were previously disinterested.
Click on 'view full article' below the pages. Well worth reading.
I'd agree with previous comments that teaching unselfishness, justice and equality are part of the solution to teaching spoilt children.
Teaching in Gulf countries in the Middle East is not just about "entitlement" – a misleading word if ever there was one. It is also about blatant racism. When you see Gulf Arab children shouting rudely at their Nepali drivers or expecting the Filippino maid to carry their schoolbag for them or getting their Pakistani tutor to do their homework for them, then it will make you feel sick. Gulf Arabs assume that inferior races are there to do the work for them. Is there any reason for thinking that this situation is going to change? I do not think so. Schools like Doha College and the American School in Qatar have very few Qatari students.
Touche! You are right that racism transcends beyond entitlement. A deplorable mindset. Then these very same students study abroad and try to treat their teachers in the same way as in their countries of origin, and then the students can't understand why the instructors in other countries will not tolerate it.
You are asking the wrong question. Today's students should not be chasing "return on investment." They should be considering a different "R.O.I.," over the longer term: return on the individual. That means a lifetime of skills, like learning how to learn, adapting to a changing economy and society, expressing oneself clearly, solving problems creatively, and acquiring the civic skills to contribute to our democracy.
Colleges and universities want graduates to thrive in their lives, to see the value of the degree. But we must enlarge and enrich our definition of "value" beyond the purely monetary. Students must be prepared for a lifetime of engagement, not for specific jobs that may change or even disappear. The need to innovate goes deeper than the job market; it reaches into how we organize our social and political interactions.
Consider a civic scorecard: Do a college's graduates vote regularly? Advocate causes? Participate in their children's schools?
Just after President Obama's State of the Union address, the White House released a "college scorecard" on performance and value. It measures institutions according to their net cost, average amount of student debt and loan default rates weighed against the salaries of graduates with federal loans. The view is all about money.
It's time to refine what we mean by "value." It's time to ask students how well prepared they are to be the inquiring, analytical, vocal and engaged citizens our democratic system so desperately needs. Colleges and universities should be measured by how well we carry out the civic mission of higher education.
If you want to grade higher education, here are some suggestions for a more meaningful scorecard: Do the students we educate vote regularly? Do they volunteer with a civic organization? Do they give to and advocate for their favorite causes? Do they participate in their children's schools?
If we measure ourselves on a "civic scale," not only a monetary return on investment, we might find that these two correlate, along with the more illusive "pursuit of happiness." Return on investment means not only finding a good job but finding meaning in life in service to others and the country.
International schools , certainly in the so-called "developing South", provde a key mechanism of "social reproduction" for local elites to insure that their progeny gain access to reputable Western universities in order to help insure the intergenerational hand-off of power, privilege, and authority. In Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and to a lesser degree in Asia, international schools are the debutante societies of the children from entrenched elite families going back multiple generarions. Such schools provide the social and political context for initiating, maintaining, and deepening ties and networks between affluent and powerful families, while providing a high degree of insurance that elite children will head down the road of "accomplishment". The parents, grandparents, great grand parents, etc in these families often represent the top of the social and economic hierarchy of local and national, even, regional power structures, sometimes going back to the founding of nations and colonial times. In so far as many poorer countries with international schools are also scarred with corruption, desperate income inequality, civil and political unrest and oppression, systematic human rights abuses, pervasive labor exploitation, huge concentrations of wealth, mass poverty, disease and unemployment, (all of which are a product of the larger social system and those with the wealth and power to control it) we as international educators can't escape the reality that we are, whatever our noblest intentions, often inadvertently supporting injust regimes and societies. We do this by helping to provide the Western educational admission tickets deemed desirable by each new generation of elites. The issue for me is not whether this is the case, but rather what we as socially aware professionals can and should do about it.
This doesn't make privileged students at international schools "bad kids". I think most of us know that they are in many respects very engaging, capable, and likeable young people, with great possibilities as individuals. What it does do, though, is make us responsible for working where we can to insure that these kids don't simply return from their expensive Western education as young adults to continue with business as usual.
but rather what we as socially aware professionals can and should do about it.
Such as? It gets into a hugely grey area, where doing "too much" can cost you your job (which might be fine unless you're married or responsible for taking care of a child or children)…doing nothing leaves you morally bankrupt, where you're basically collecting a check and condoning the status quo.
Everyone can rationalize their positions to give themselves the comfort to go to sleep. You either have to accept certain situations, try to change them or decide fighting X number of battles still won't win you the war, so maybe it's better to find a different place of employment.
although some of what you express is true, it constitutes a rather patronizing . condescending point of view which over-generalizes and takes a sweeping negative point of view. Try looking back home at your "elite" royalty, multi-millionaires and your corrupt politicians and where they send their kids. You will find that the teachers will have similar if not worse attitudes expressed in different ways. So stop the "Anna and the King".
Why stop the Anna and the King stuff instead of making sure it's expanded to include EVERYONE in this category? I make no geographic or ethnic distinctions in my battles against elitism.
1) as professionals, we are to do our best for all of our students. That sometimes brings us in conflict with their traditions… e.g., do identical essay answers mean "good memorization skills" from material reviewed before exams or merely copying during them?
4) a number of students did volunteer work in nearby public schools, and found it both rewarding and sobering. Seeing kids their own age in rooms with no heat and classes with no books gave them a sense of their privilege. The degree to which that sense remained is debatable, but I – for one – am glad that they experienced it, and think it will influence their future behavior.
Interesting ideas around entitlement, equality, etc. I think a sense of equality is one of those dominant American values, at least in theory , that many other countries do not hold. Not to say that there aren't other holes in the values system, but this is generally a strong point in my experience abroad.
I think we are heading into a new developmental model when it comes to entitlement in secondary age kids. Though I hesitate to say it's "everywhere," an overinflated sense of self-worth and a reliance on numerous unearned privileges–most of which are not even understood as privileges–seems to be making it's way DOWN the income scale. I've taught the super rich abroad and now I'm seeing it in the well-off and the middle class at the school where I teach in the US.
I think the immediacy and instant gratification of technology has somehow warped their brains into thinking they should be able to have whatever they want whenever they want it. Overly permissive parents only make matters worse. Soccer moms only make matters worse. Big shot corporate parents only make matters worse. There is such a dearth of decent parenting these days it makes me want to puke.
We as teachers need to take entitlement into account when we grade. If the entitlement factor is of the charts, there is no earthly way a student will get an A from me even if their academic grade is flawless. This is called grading on character, and unless we want colleges and universities populated by whiny, unimaginative jerks, it's what we all need to do.
It is our duty as educators and human beings to teach our learners about equality and justice. I believe it is my job as an educator to work towards the eradication of racism, sexism, homophobia, economic inequality and environmental degradation. If you arent doing this then you are part of the problem no matter where in the world you are teaching.
I agree Roberto. Many teaching contracts in certain countries, specifically forbid the teaching from undertaking this at the risk of your contract.
We live on a planet at the edge of ruin, and we don't have to look far to see the human evidence of that ruin, just right outside the gates of most international schools in poorer countries. We simply do not have the luxury NOT to consider that it is part of our job to help resist injustice and create progressive change. Education has ALWAYS been about social progress. ALWAYS!!
Education has NEVER been about social progress: it's been about social control and normalization. Just about every element of social progress that has been made in education comes from people who OBJECT to the system, not who support it.
That being said…I am one who objects.
Hello, sounds like you have never worked internationally before, we do not come over here and spread american democratic gospel (like that is really working out for us any ways). You are a guest and you will behave according to their customs. We educate and plant seeds/ideas of true and noble things, but that is it.
It's amazing how poorly you understood my response. I'll spell it out for you: I have and do work internationally, and my comments were a response to a teacher who claimed that education was about social progress. Look at my response, and you will see that I am objecting to the characterization of education in that way.
That being said, you sound like a very, VERY jaded teacher. Or a scared one. I've seen you before: keep your head down, get through the job, and hope the kids learn something. That's exactly what international education DOESN'T need.
There is a huge difference between "behaving according to their (whose?) customs" and caving into them, which too many teachers do out of fear. The job's not just about living in an exotic locale and making some money. It's about imparting GLOBAL social justice values that are hardly the dominion of a particular country. It's also about learning what they are, then giving yourself and your students choices about how to approach the world. While you can't change very many people in this way, having some bravery about teaching lessons about the world is better than reinforcing the ideas that are not about global values. I'm not a huge fan of the "American way," or teaching "American values" — global values and objectives are actually quite different.
But I guess you haven't lived abroad enough yet to get that. You have no right to comment until you demonstrate something other than timidity.
I didnt come to Malaysia to undertake class war. But good luck with that. It doesn't mean I agree with what I see around me. I have been employed as an early childhood teacher not as a social engineer.
All teachers are "social engineers." Keeping your head down does change that — it just means you've engineered something else. Teachers have to decide what's most important for them to do.
EEk! Goebbels used that same sentence, "I'll remember you." Teaching TOK and being involved with CAS for the last 20 years and working in 8 different countries maybe I am embittered because we dialogue everyday about differences in our cultures and my student carry their learning to real world projects in the community. I taught little ones for 2 years and when I did so I focused on getting them to read, shapes, and count and had very little time to be on a soap box about real world issues.
every post is so negative, be a lover not a fighter!
if you teach my children the curriculum your school advertises I will be satisfied, I chose your school based on the skills and content that are listed in its curriculum. I will teach my children manners, and will share with them the ideals that I think are important ( and let them decide if they want to adopt them for their own) you are a busy person and are tasked with helping my kids learn a lot of things. If I wanted them not to be independent thinkers, I would have sent them to a military school, or a church school. thank you.
It is not my duty to eradicate behaviors I disagree with in anyone. How do you plan to get rid of economic inequality? You are working in a prime example of economic inequality if you are in a private international school. At best our students will learn to think for themselves, and base their decisions on what they have learned from us. Utopia of equality and justice doesn't exist, the real world is not a feel good, warm fuzzy place. Can it be better? yes, and our students will figure that out provided we teach them to use their brains.
There are at least two groups of 'entitled students' The first are those who treat the educator like a rather superior maid and expect them to simply comply with their wishes irrespective of ability. The others are those who genuinely work hard and use tutors to enhance their understanding regardless of cost.It goes against the western educational grain, but tutored kids just do better.
In mhy experience tutored kids are the ones who are to lazy to do their own homework, and do not pay attention in class so they have no idea what is going on.
I have been having many doubts about teaching privileged children. I also thought by introducing the idea of being a "global citizen" via the Student Council would be indirectly opening up their world to democracy and student voice. However, many are not even aware of such concepts, as they have never seen their parents vote, that is if the parents are around. There are so many things these 10 year old are not clued into, but how can they be when the emphasis is on having holidays anywhere and everywhere in the world and getting good grades to take over daddy's company. Even those parents who work for the UN, will go over dead bodies to attain what they want for their children. Of course, that is what all parents want, but there are fair ways of doing things.
I have come to the conclusion I would rather close the equity gap from the bottom. As Jim Collins implies, we all need to find our own bus, going in the right direction.
Where the heck did that statistic about 86% of international or IB students doing volunteer work come from?
Well, for one thing, in International Baccalaureate, CAS is a graduation REQUIREMENT, so it's not really volunteering in the true sense of the word, as they have to turn in assignments and reflections related to their CAS projects.
Many, many high school in the US and around the world REQUIRE their students to do community service/volunteer projects. That, of course, doesn't mean that there aren't thousands of unselfish/altruistic/philanthropic kids out there, there are…but a LARGE number of those students are also using their volunteer activities to create backstories to pad their university applications or to demonstrate leadership abilities in their entrance/admissions essays. Not to mention the fact that many students are receiving scholarships or financial rewards for doing it, as well as having articles written about them in the newspaper.
It's very hard to gauge if someone is doing it for the right reason. After all, when you volunteer or help another person, you actually feel a "natural high" or endorphin rush. We feel better about ourselves, body chemistry-wise.
James…..regardless of the motivation to help others (and the ideal is that is is internally motivated out of a sense of generosity and caring) and irrespective of who organizes it, it is a vital aspect of modern education. Many kids don't want to help others at first but they ¨grow¨into the experience for the most part and often come away with a deeper sense of how the other half live. That isn't such a bad thing…especially when we are talking about so-called ¨entitled¨kids. The numbers come from the US Dept. of Ed. website, but are simply estimates about worldwide student participation. CAS is a great idea and a statement of principles. Why should a kid get an IB diploma but never contribute to the betterment of society as a whole? IB HL and SL graduates are supposed to be our future leaders…..what better way to prepare them, to be caring people than to help them learn to care through CAS. Similarly, the idea of making such service a universal requirement for graduation is a formal way to entrench service to others as a fundamental part of one's overall education.
Looking at many of today's politicians and leaders, one gets the feeling that they didn't care much for others. We need many more Mandela's and no more Milosevics!
Many of these students don't even begin to think of equality and the oneness of humanity until they leave their countries to go to university. Their parents and all around them whom they meet just contribute to this feeling of "entitlement". This is why I like to maintain contact through social media with them when they get out into the somewhat "realer" world of Europe, North America and Australia. That's when they start to question life and appreciate that I'm still interested in them even though I'm no longer paid to be so. I think some of the students I taught 12 years ago have gained more respect for my "wisdom" than they could conceive of when they were in middle and high school. You can only teach by your example: the way you speak to and deal with the maids, cleaners and drivers and other foreign workers distained by many in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. There is no education where there is no love.
If you work in countries where children think it is Ok to treat a domestic worker with disrespect, then that is a different type of entitlement to children from first world families and societies. I see it here in Malaysia. Many of my students have respect for teachers, their family members, elders etc. But when it comes to their maids, they see them as very very human beings. Sometimes I see them yelling at their maid and even slapping them and these are 7 year old children. That is a sense of entitlement that we, from egalitarian (or societies that strive for) communities find odd. Trying to encourage empathy and compassion for others within lessons can be difficult.
Actually they are sweet kids who have been brought up by parents and grandparents as little princes and princesses. When I ask them to thank their maid for carrying them to the classroom door they look confused but say thank you, for my benefit. Are we doing this for our benefit knowing we are not changing culture norms?
Are you just trying to justify keeping silent by calling them "sweet kids" and moving on? Someone who has learned to treat another person with disrespect is not "sweet" whatever their background. There is a problem in even thinking to say such a thing.
I agree with you. My role as an early childhood teacher in Malaysia is that of any early childhood teacher across the globe. When you take a job in another country, are you going there like the Mormons to try and change their culture? Are you there to collect a pay packet? Changing their cultural norms is just another form of imperialism. Would you go to Saudi to teach and speak out against homophobia or sexism? I can lead by example but I also need to remember that I am a guest in another country.
Well put Gordie. We can expect the students to conform to our way of looking at things while they are in our classroom, but must remember that they are not likely to do that when they are back in their homes. In the mid east the parents see teachers as just workers maybe a little bit above domestic help, but certainly below them as rich and powerful as they think they are. We are not there to turn them into socialists, capitalists, etc. We are there to teach them how to think, not what to think. Yes some empathy is appropriate, but to many of them it is only on their level or those above them that they will empathize with.
1)This entitlement in now universal….a vastly exaggerated statement. Most kids today, with few exceptions, simply want to get an education and a decent job so they can support themselves and their families one day….nothing entitled about that!
2) ¨greed and selfishness….unfortunately… is universal¨ You mean it can be found everywhere and so is ubiquitous but not dominant. How about the 86% of HS students who do CAS or volunteer work and show generosity, compassion and caring for others?
We need to resist pressure to fix or award easy grades (put on us by some students,administrators and parents), and we need to reinforce principles of fairness, honest effort and a win-win, collaborative and cooperative approach to life…that is what education is really all about.
I agree with Grace. This entitlement in now universal, in most schools in most countries the teacher is a second class person, the teachers fear the students, and the students laugh at the teachers very often.
I disagree. The students' entitlement vis-a-vis teacher treatment is similar, but the general understanding of the world elite students have is totally different. That requires a different set of lesson to teach.
You do not need to work overseas to find large groups of students who have the "entitlement" mentality. This pervasive attitude today is largely attributable to the students' parents from the ME baby boomer generation. It is everywhere, and in every culture, although perhaps it is more pronounced in a culture that is not your own. Entitlement is fuelled by greed and selfishness, and unfortunately that is universal.
These elite students could be the future leaders of their countries.
What i find most distressing is that in some cases the teachers of the privileged are living hand to mouth themselves. I wear second hand clothes and they wear designer. I think they sense this, too.
it's not for us to judge who is 'entitled' and who is not. Our duty as teachers is to provide high quality education for all the kids we teach, wherever we teach them, including good principles to live by. What happens in their future is in the crystal ball ……. nothing we can control and we don't know who will be rich, poor or in-between. All we can do is offer a quality foundation for their future ….
I think that we do not need to "judge" privileged students, but we do need to measure them and determine what they need to learn that is unique. I teach at a school that is mostly composed of such kids, and I've found I've had to impart a greater understanding of the world than I did with my middle-class students in the United States. I've also had to conduct more classes that introduce empathy, something that privileged kids in the Middle East seem to have a paucity of. For example, I taught a lesson plan comparing slavery with domestic service in their countries…and many kids were pretty shocked to discover how similar they were, even though they had decried slavery when we learned about it as a historical phenomenon.
I also think privileged kids do not have the same ambitions that middle-class kids have: where are they going to "rise?" Establishing good work habits, a better understanding of how to collaborate and respect one's peers, and reinforcing independence has been an ongoing struggle, but rewarding when it works for my students. They don't need that in their sheltered worlds, but they do if they want to go to college abroad. THAT is what makes them think about their situation, as well as how to change it for the better of themselves and the people around them.
It's not enough to offer a "high-quality education" to this population of students, because the education they need to be better human beings is different, and I would argue, far more important.


Just because an English language learner seems to be comfortable speaking in a conversational context does not mean that he is able to successfully function in an academic language environment. In fact, conversational competence is something ESL learners master much more quickly than academic competence. This is due to the higher-level vocabulary and concepts that are linked to academic learning vs. the more repetitive and familiar topics used in conversation. No matter if you're a student or a teacher of ESL, you can find some worthwhile links within this collection of over 40 helpful resources that include general resources, self-study links, ESL lesson plans, learning strategies, games, blogs and more that will help ESL students develop their English language academic skills.
Are you curious to know what it's like to be an ESL student? Would you like to connect with other ESL teachers around the world? Find information about these ESL topics and more in the section below.
12 Ways to Support ESL Students in the Mainstream Classroom – Learn what ESL teachers know about simple strategies to support English language learners in the classroom.
Teachers Experience the Needs of English Language Learners through a Math Simulation – To really understand the needs of ELLs, you have to experience what they experience. This article details how teachers had an ELL experience via a math simulation.
Dave's ESL Café Help Center – Have you ever had a pressing ESL question but you don't have a colleague you can ask at that moment? Follow this link to connect with ESL teachers from around the world, 24/7.
Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary – This online American English dictionary is helpful for English language learners. Users can find definitions and hear the correct audio pronunciation of a word.
Utilize the following resources to teach your content-area curriculum while supporting each English language learner's development and meeting their educational needs.
English Vocabulary Word Lists – Discover a large collection of English vocabulary word lists with various online games that use the words from the word lists. This resource is great for increasing the English vocabulary of ESL learners.
American Rhythms – Use music to help students learn English. Download songs and lyrics for free to use within your classroom.
ESL Kid Stuff – Find ESL lesson plans for preschoolers to teens. Lesson plans are organized by theme and are in alphabetical order.
Everything ESL – This site houses a large collection of K-12 lesson plans that are specifically geared to ESL students.
Using English – Choose from over 900 downloadable PDF lesson plans and handouts to support ESL learners.
When an English language learner tries to read and understand material, barriers exist such as lack of vocabulary knowledge and a poor ability to read at a pace that promotes comprehension. Check out the resources below to support the reading skills of your ESL students.
English Club – This link provides resources for an introduction to reading and for reading practice for ESL learners.
7 Essential Reading Strategies Your ESL Students Must Know – These seven reading strategies can help your ESL students learn to comprehend and respond to what they read.
Reading 101 for English Language Learners – Learn about the ELL instructional strategies that are based on the five components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.
Reading Lesson Plans – These lesson plans – reading and comprehension, vocabulary and idioms, discussion topics – can be used in English conversation classes or one-to-one lessons for upper intermediate and above learners.
For English language learners, writing is no easy task due to their limited vocabulary, inaccurate verb tense usage and unorganized structure when writing. Utilize the resources below to help your ESL students become more confident about their writing skills.
Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joys of Writing – Find out how to differentiate writing activities in the ESL classroom so that students will not dread the process. Specific lesson ideas are included.
How to Scaffold Writing Instruction for English Language Learners – Check out insightful tips from writing teachers of ELLs at the secondary level that will help you bridge writing gaps.
Write On! Writing Strategies for the ESL Classroom – Learn how to teach writing strategies that can help English language learners experience success.
The Writing Recipe: Essay Structure for ELLs – Discover an effective way to teach ELLs how to structure a five-paragraph essay via this video lesson.
ESL Flow – This site offers resources for teaching all stages of the academic writing process in way that works for ESL students.
Browse the following resources to find links to lesson plans for all things grammar, strategies for engaging reluctant speakers and videos for helping learners develop their speaking vocabulary.
Eva Easton: Authentic American Pronunciation – This site provide lessons on sounds, stress patterns, contractions, irregular verbs and much, much more.
ESL Elementary English Lesson Plans – This bank of lesson plans is fun and motivating for elementary learners and includes audio and video resources.
Five Tips for Getting the ESL Student Talking – Lack of confidence, shyness and other reasons can keep ESL students from talking. Find out how to engage them.
English Beginner Video Slide Lessons – This free ESL online video lab is perfect for learners who are just beginning to study English. The videos help learners develop vocabulary and practice listening and speaking.
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab – Find a wide variety of pre-listening, listening and post-listening activities designed to aid ELLs with the development of their communication skills.
Learning a second language is never easy, but high-quality study resources that English language learners can access easily can help tremendously. The self-study resources below can help anyone start improving their English language skills.
New ESL Blues – Find games, tutorials, quizzes and explanations that can all be used as helpful study resources.
ESL Notes – This site provides movie guides, each with a synopsis and outline of major characters, vocabulary references and questions for discussion. The idea is to help advanced ELLs learn new vocabulary, idioms and expressions in an American context before viewing the movies.
ESL Gold – Discover study material galore such as grammar, vocabulary, writing and reading resources.
ESLAmerica.us – Consider this as your go-to for tons of ESL study guides that are organized by categories such as vocabulary, conversation, pronunciation and holidays.
Learn English Online – This site helps students learn English with exercises for beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners on grammar, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and listening.
5 Minute English – Look under the "Question and Answer" section of this website to find quick and easy explanations for confusing things about the English language.
Enhance ESL student learning in an entertaining and fun way that helps them learn without thinking about learning. Browse the following links to find games that are appropriate for a range of ages.
ESL Games for Kids – When searching for ESL games that are fitting for children, look no further than this site. Here you'll find high-quality games that will engage children in learning English.
Trace Effects – The object of this seven-chapter video game is to learn about American English and culture. ESL learners who are ages 12-16 will enjoy this interactive 3-D multimedia learning adventure.
Hangman Games for ESL Students – Over 15 different hangman games to help ESL students become more familiar with vocabulary words and spelling related to various topics.
ESL Games – These ESL games are designed for adult English language learners. Find grammar games, vocabulary games and more.
Ernie's Activity Page – Browse these fun game ideas to find one that will work well for a group of English language learners.
Ventures Arcade – Find plenty of helpful games for ELLs, including crosswords, fill-in-the-blank and guess-the-word games.
Whether you're teaching ESL to children or adults or your interest is in becoming a private ESL tutor, you're sure to find a blog below that "speaks" to you.
Inspiration Lane – Within this blog, which functions as an online magazine for ESL classes, you'll find daily readings and interactive language activities.
The English Blog – Use this blog as a go-to for video clips, cartoons and the latest news that can be used as instructional tools for English language learners.
Teaching ESL to Adults – If you're teaching an adult class of ELLs or you plan to offer private tutoring services in this area, check out this blog from an ESL tutor.
Teach ESL to Kids – Shannon Sensei, the author of this blog, previously taught ESL in Japan. Her blog includes helpful resources – games, crafts, lesson plans – for teachers of young ESL children.
Azar Grammar – Teachers contribute to this site by writing posts on ESL topics of interest to educators. In addition, find links to grammar resources, teacher's guides and more.


Lulu wrote: Who pays the salary of the President of the company?
You do - with the renewal fee for your .tel domain!
Lulu wrote: How is this company still in existence?
Lulu wrote: It sounds like a company deliberately trying to fail.
I'm so shocked, I have no words.
Telnames is doing a great job with trying to destroy .tel.
Expert wrote: Interesting to see that Telnames is actively selling domains through Sedo.
You can buy all .tel domains from c.tel to z.tel and 1.tel to 9.tel for $5,500 each at Sedo. Only b.tel has a price of $6,500.
No further sales of those domains until now. It looks like they are not that cheap.
No website for a.tel exists and the buyer isn't known; the Whois is private.
The website is still not in use. That is waste of money.
Anybody know how booking.com came to own this one?
I must be an genius, waste of time that was.
Obviously getting old, hate computer time wasting.
How does one update their telnames.tel or telhosting .tel??
Is that still working for anyone?
FrankW. wrote: You can buy all .tel domains from c.tel to z.tel and 1.tel to 9.tel for $5,500 each at Sedo. Only b.tel has a price of $6,500.
Telnic / Telnames has increased the price for all L.tel domains to $6,500.


text:
Капалбио () је насеље у Италији у округу Гросето, региону Тоскана.

Према процени из 2011. у насељу је живело 630 становника. Насеље се налази на надморској висини од 168 м.

Становништво

Види још
 Покрајине Италије
 Италијани

Референце

Литература

Спољашње везе

Насеља у округу Гросето
Википројект географија/Насеља у Италији


It is possible to incorporate your Spanish assets into your Will drawn up in the United Kingdom; however, the delays in having the will proved can take a considerable length of time and result in numerous problems and frustrations for your heirs.
Establishing a Spanish Will can be quickly completed, is straightforward and not expensive.
Many people start with the intention of writing a Spanish Will following their property purchase, however, following completion this is quickly forgotten.
Making a Spanish Will is simple and your solicitor can arrange this for you concurrently with your property purchase.
Generally the most suitable Spanish Will for the majority of people is known in Spanish as 'Testamento Abierto (English translation - Open Will). Your Spanish solicitor will advise you how the Will should be 'drawn up' and expressed, in order to achieve your true intentions with regard to all your assets in Spain.
The Notary (see page 13) will prepare the Will, following instructions from your solicitor. You will be required to sign the Will in the presence of the Notary. The Notary will then register your Will in the central Registry of Wills. You will be provided with a copy. This will show the official number under which the original Will is filed in the registry. You now have the 'peace of mind' in knowing that your Will cannot be mislaid or overlooked.
Important Note: Please ensure that only a Spanish Solicitor advises you on making a Will. Good advice is to discuss making a Will with your solicitor when you give him a formal instruction to act for your property purchase.


text:
The Man Who Wouldn't Cry: Dry Eyeballs And Razor-Edged Satire
Mannen som inte ville gråta (The Man Who Wouldn't Cry) is a comedy that serves as a guise beneath which it distils the very real tendencies of the world. Satirizing the way companies function, the 16-minute film is based on a Stig Dagerman short story, written by Björn Boström and directed by Emil T. Jonsson.
Beginning with the death of a beloved actress, the film opens on the waves of reaction at an ad agency. With animation, the film pares down the sequence down to the bare melodrama it is. No one is exempt from grieving, which spells trouble for Martin (Jonas Nilsson), who does not share in, nor understand, the severity of everyone's reactions.
When this results in a talking-to from his boss (Sissela Kyle), the scene drips with that sickening mawkishness that hides some form of rot behind it. Everything is brightly lit here, everyone appears to be transparently expressive. The situation is what is commonly termed 'a big family'; there is no longer an employee of the month, replaced by a buddy of the month. You are not a salaried employee, you are a child, part of a family. The employees' time and psyche belong to the company, thus the flagging when it came to Martin.
Martin is sent down to the archives, to be monitored by a camera as well as the latest buddy of the month, Jockum (Christoffer Nordenrot) until he cries for the death of the beloved actress, Henrietta. The colour palette continues to be bright and cheerful, continually highlighting its unnaturalness–its function to remind everyone that this is supposed to be a happy place, filled with happy family members uniform in every feeling, every thought, every action.
In the archives room, just as the plot doubles down on Martin, the film doubles down on its critique of capitalism, especially in the era of social media. The satire threatens to break down into pure pathos as Jockum despairs over what it will cost him to replace his broken glasses. The exultation and devotion required of employees towards the company are pinned down in a single line, "The promised pay raise never happens, even though I'm Buddy of the Month and everything." The element of the religious makes a jarring and significant statement about the farcical and exploitative systems of companies.
The ending rounds it all off with the role of social media in all its neverending stream of input, however unnecessary, meaningless or inaccurate that output may be. Martin's tears had a good reason to arrive. The wonder is if it will stop having those reasons anytime soon. Will we?
Watch The Man Who Wouldn't Cry Short Film
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Two Knights: Faith, Bitterness And Love Over Millennia
Incompleteness: A Series That Questions Everything
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How to Spot the Next Enron Before It Happens
By Mike DiBiase
The Weekend Edition is pulled from the daily Stansberry Digest.
Accounting isn't a sexy subject...
It's dry. Some would say it's flat-out boring. More than a few high school or college students have dozed off during their introductory accounting classes. I get it.
But here's the thing...
Accounting is incredibly important for investors. You'll never be a great investor without at least a basic understanding of it.
You can tell yourself that you can rely on your broker and the so-called "financial professionals" on Wall Street to make sense of all the numbers for you. But that's a big mistake. They have enormous financial interests to work against you and lead you astray.
It's like when you take your car to the mechanic... You're a lot less likely to get ripped off if you know something about how your engine works.
I have bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting. I'm a former certified public accountant who worked for one of the "Big Four" auditing firms. I was also the vice president of finance at a large, publicly traded software company for many years.
You don't need an advanced degree in accounting like me. But you do need to understand the basics – like you do with your car's engine. I'll share those with you today...
I'll explain the source of the confusion with accounting and why even experienced Wall Street investors get fooled. Then, I'll detail how I would fix these problems... and offer a way for average investors to overcome them.
If business was a game, accountants would be the scorekeepers...
Accountants measure businesses' performance. They keep the score and help separate the winners from the losers. Think how tough it would be to win in business if you never knew the score.
They don't try to predict the future. They just tell management (and you) where the business is today and where it has been.
They do this by regularly publishing a complete set of financial statements. These statements include...
A balance sheet (sometimes called a statement of financial position).
An income statement (also called a profit and loss statement).
A statement of cash flows.
Most investors go wrong by focusing too much on just one of these statements – the income statement. In fact, Wall Street spends most of its time focusing on just two lines on the income statement – revenue and earnings per share ("EPS").
To be a good investor, you can't focus on just one statement. You need to look at all three of the statements above.
So let's take a quick look at the purpose of each financial statement...
A balance sheet shows you the assets a company owns. And it shows you how much of those assets are owned by creditors versus stockholders. The value of the assets always equals the total amount owed to creditors plus the total of stockholders' equity. They are always in balance, hence the name.
Think of the balance sheet as a photograph... It captures a picture of a business at a certain point in time. Just like looking at a photograph of a person, you can quickly tell whether a business is healthy or sick by looking at its balance sheet. You can see if it's overleveraged (if its liabilities are far greater than its equity). You can see if it has liquidity problems (if it has enough cash and short-term assets to cover its short-term debt).
The balance sheet is great. But remember, it's just a snapshot. It doesn't tell you where the company came from... or give any clues as to where it is headed.
That's where the income statement and cash flow statements come in... Think of them as movies rather than photographs. They show you how a business performed over a period of time (typically the last quarter or year).
Astute readers might be asking, "Why do I need two movies?"
Because each movie shows you what happened to the business from different perspectives. It's like giving two people a video camera to film a business. Each will capture different things about the business from different perspectives. In the end, you'll get two completely different movies.
The cash flow statement views the business from the perspective of cash. It answers the question, "What happened to my cash over the last year?" The income statement views the business from the perspective of owners. It answers the question for shareholders, "What happened to my equity over the last year?"
Both views are valuable. Here's what's important...
If you only focus on one of these statements, you won't get the full picture of what happened...
The difference between the income and the cash flow statements can be summed up by the difference between the two accepted methods of accounting – the cash method and the accrual method.
The cash method is much easier to understand. Sales are recorded when cash is received, and expenses are recorded when cash is paid. If every transaction in a business were recorded on the cash basis, you wouldn't need an income statement. The income statement would equal the cash flow statement. The world would need far fewer accountants.
But the cash method has big problems. It can give you funny results.
For example, let's assume you own a consulting business. You worked on a big project that took a little more than 12 months to complete. At the outset, you and the customer agreed that if you did a great job, they would pay you $1 million. If you did an OK job, they would only owe you $700,000. And if you did a lousy job, you'd only get paid for your costs.
Let's say you didn't finish all of your work by the end of the year. But you paid $300,000 out of your pocket for expenses throughout the year on things like employee salaries, travel, and rent. A few days into the following year, you finished the project. The customer informs you that you did a great job and happily pays you $1 million in cash.
Here's where the accountants come in...
Under the cash method of accounting, the only thing you would have recorded in Year 1 was the $300,000 in cash payments you made. In Year 2, you would have only recorded the receipt of $1 million in cash. You end up with a "loss" in Year 1 of $300,000 and a "profit" in Year 2 of $1 million.
Does that seem right?
The accrual method of accounting was created to fix the distortions that can be caused by pure cash accounting. It was designed to match sales with their related expenses. So instead of recording sales when cash is received or expenses when paid, they are recorded when they are earned or incurred.
The true profit of the big consulting project was obviously $700,000 ($1 million of sales minus the $300,000 of expenses). So the profit should be allocated between the two years based on how it was earned. Since almost all of the work was done in Year 1, that's when you should have recorded the profits. Under the accrual method, all of the revenue and expenses are recorded in Year 1.
That's a huge difference. The rules that govern when revenue and expenses get recorded under the accrual method are known as generally accepted accounting principles, or simply "GAAP." The creation of the accrual method to fix the deficiencies of the cash method spawned the enormous global accounting industry.
Despite the benefits of the accrual system, many Stansberry analysts – including myself – focus mainly on the cash flow statement. We look at a few years' worth of cash flows because of the distortions that cash accounting sometimes causes.
You see, the accrual method has its flaws, too... many flaws. And these flaws are often worse than the flaws that can be seen in the cash method.
There are big problems with accrual accounting...
As my colleague Bryan Beach explained last Saturday, the income statement is full of accounting estimates. The statement of cash flows is not. As we like to say, cash can't be faked. But companies can easily manipulate their earnings.
The biggest accounting blow-ups have come from illegal earnings manipulation – like Enron and WorldCom. Most of the largest cases of fraud come from management overstating earnings by using estimates that were later found to be flat-out wrong.
The problem is that it's very difficult to spot these types of frauds under today's accounting rules. You have to be in the business of looking for fraud to find it. (That's what forensic accountants do.)
And it isn't just bad management estimates that can throw off investors. As Bryan noted, many companies make adjustments to their bottom-line GAAP earnings when reporting their numbers. Wall Street often only looks at these "non-GAAP" – or so-called "adjusted earnings" – numbers. These non-GAAP adjustments aren't audited. And no consistent rules govern what kind of adjustments should be allowed.
All of this leaves investors with so many numbers, estimates, and inconsistencies that they don't know what's important and what's not. It's not surprising that so many people don't bother to dig in. They don't even know where to start.
Here's how I would "fix" the accounting rules...
First, I'd require companies to report how much of their sales and expenses are estimates. That would tell you much more about the quality of the company's sales and earnings.
Let's go back to our example above...
Imagine management didn't know the customer was going to pay them $1 million when they were preparing their financial statements at the end of the first year. There was an equally likely chance they would get paid the smaller amounts for doing an OK or lousy job. So they had to guess.
My rules would require the company to report how much of their sales were estimates (the entire $1 million in this case). That would tell you if management could be fudging the numbers by a large amount. Knowing that information could potentially change your investment decision.
Second, I'd require companies to report their statement of cash flows in the same format as the income statement. This might seem like a technical detail... but it would make a huge difference. You would be able to see how much cash they received from customers... and how much they paid for sales and marketing expenses, research and development, and all other expenses. Today, companies have the option of presenting a more detailed cash flow statement like this, but no one does it... The way companies report their cash earnings now is convoluted and doesn't help investors much.
Third, I'd require companies to break out their capital expenditures by maintenance capital versus growth capital. Capital expenditures ("capex") are things like purchase of land, buildings, equipment, furniture, and software. Maintenance capex would cover investments to replace existing assets. Growth capex would reflect purchases of new assets to expand the business. To properly evaluate a business, investors need to know this...
Today, they're all lumped together. Investors can't easily tell if a company is using loads of cash just to maintain its asset base or if it's investing in the future.
Fourth, I'd standardize the types of non-GAAP adjustments companies can make to their earnings. These types of adjustments need to be consistently applied. They aren't today... Management has a lot of leeway in deciding what adjustments can be made. And I would require them to be audited.
But changing the accounting rules isn't realistic in the short term...
It takes years to make accounting rule changes. New rules are set by an independent accounting authority. But they have to go through a long political process where the companies that implement them get to voice their opinions and often oppose them. So better rules that would help investors often get shot down.
In the meantime, analyzing financial statements will continue to be a difficult job... even for experienced accountants and investors. And as I said before, you shouldn't rely on others to analyze or interpret them for you unless they are truly independent financial analysts like Stansberry Research.
Until changes are made to the accounting rules, investors have another option...
Joel Litman – a former Ivy League professor and now president and CEO of investment-services company Valens Research – has long known of the problems in today's accrual accounting.
Joel and his team of more than 100 accountants and researchers have identified more than 130 inconsistencies within GAAP and its international counterpart, the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). These inconsistencies cause earnings, balance sheets, and other key financial metrics to be distorted across companies in the same industries and from year to year within single companies.
His team "fixes" the inconsistencies and problems of today's accrual accounting and corrects financial statements – line by line – under his proprietary "Uniform Accounting" standard.
It's a powerful system for determining the true earnings and profitability of some of the best- and least-known stocks in America. It's a tedious process. But it's worth it. His work is read every month by more than 180 of the top 300 investors in the world.
And now, for the first time, Joel is making his system available to individual investors. He calls it his "Investment Truth Detector"... It's a powerful tool for discerning the real value of nearly any stock on the market. Joel's system will tell you immediately if a stock has been unfairly sold off... or if investors have bid up its price beyond reason.
Earlier this week, Stansberry Research founder Porter Stansberry joined Joel as he walked through a live demonstration of his system. But if you missed it, you're in luck... For a limited time, you can watch a replay of this special online event. Get started right here.
Good investing,
Mike DiBiase
Editor's note: For a decade, many of the world's biggest money managers have used Professor Joel Litman's remarkable system to figure out a company's "true" earnings numbers before they buy or sell. Now, Joel is bringing his approach to the masses... And he just prepared a special presentation to reveal all the details. Watch it right here.
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I designed a responsive web app, allowing users find out who's their Celebrity look-alike, using Clarifai celebrity detection API. The app, as well as its server and database are all deployed separately on Heroku cloud.
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Train derails at Chicago Intl Airport, rams into platform (PHOTOS)
Chicago's O'Hare airport (AFP Photo/Mira Oberman) © AFP
Thirty-two people have been injured in an eight-car commuter train derailment at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The train was pulling into the station, and the cause of the accident is not yet known.
Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago says the train "climbed over the last stop, jumped up on the sidewalk and then went up the stairs and escalator," as quoted by AP.
The investigation into the cause of the crash is underway, with the apparent cause being that the train was traveling too fast.
"Apparently (it) was traveling at a rate of speed that clearly was higher than a normal train would be," Chicago Transit Authority spokesman Brian Steele said at a morning briefing, but added, "it's far too soon to speculate."
#CTABlue derails at #ORD. 32 people injured, official says. Developing details: http://t.co/MvBxdhtcKZpic.twitter.com/nAd0UY2NLF
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) March 24, 2014
None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, with people having been taken to four hospitals.
The area was closed off, but buses are being used to take passengers to and from the airport, Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman, Lambrini Lukidis, told AP.
More on @News4Today "@MoletteGreen: Train derailment in #Chicago.30 people reported injured. #News4@nbcwashington" pic.twitter.com/qgDbfvWTx9
— Angie Goff (@OhMyGOFF) March 24, 2014
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Shuttle Endeavour leaves International Space Station for last time
Mark Kelly: No regrets
NASA's final shuttle voyage is scheduled for July 8
Endeavour spends more than 11 days docked at the International Space Station
The shuttle is scheduled to land early Wednesday
(CNN) -- The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station for the last time late Sunday, as the craft nears the end of its final mission.
The scheduled 16-day mission began two weeks ago after multiple delays.
When Endeavour pushed away from the space station just before midnight, it had been docked for 11 days, 17 hour, 41 min, according to NASA's website.
The shuttle is scheduled to land at 2:35 a.m. ET Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space shuttle Atlantis will make NASA's final shuttle voyage July 8 on a mission to deliver supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station, the agency said.