How Students Choose ESL Writing Assessment Prompts :: Teaching Education Writing Essays

How Students Choose ESL Writing Assessment Prompts This article, reporting on the research done by Margo Glew and Charlene Polio of Michigan State University, examines writing assessment in a different way than most research on the topic. The goal of this research was to look into how an ESL student chooses prompts for a writing exam when offered a choice. Polio and Glew not only investigate how they choose, but how long it takes each student to choose and if they should even be given a choice at all. There are numerous suggestions through research that provide possible answers to the questions at hand. Some say students tend to choose shorter questions, or questions placed first or second on the list. This research was inconclusive however. Polio and Glew argue that â€Å"the primary reason for offering students a choice of prompts is the belief that students should be allowed to choose a prompt that will enable them to display their best writing† (37). This applies especially to ESL students who come from a much larger variety of backgrounds than to regular English students. However, â€Å"there is no evidence that when students choose a prompt, they choose one that allows them to display their best writing skills† (38). It is also pointed out though, that giving choices decreases reliability, adding to the already difficult process of fairly scoring written tests. Some even think that choosing wastes time. The researchers thought that looking at how the students chose a prompt might shed light on whether or not they should have a choice. They used 26 students and through testing, video taping and interviewing, they found that most students looked at all prompts before choosing and that 21 out of 26 students choose their topic in under two minutes. â€Å"The median time before students began writing was less than 60 seconds, with a range of 18 to 182 seconds.† (42). Out of all 26 students, only one student started writing with one prompt and started over with a second. Through the interviews they discovered that 22 students chose a prompt based on â€Å"perceived familiarity or background knowledge.† Proving true that having a choice should increase their ability to display their best writing proving false the idea that having a choice is a waste of time.

Drama and Theatre studies – practical- coursework

In my AS theatre studies course we have studied, Antigone a Greek tragedy by Sophocles and, Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca which is a Spanish play based in the countryside of Andalusia. Both plays have their main characters female and both surround around the â€Å"injustice† they have been through the main reason being men and the patriarchy society they're in. So from both the plays we've studied we get a feeling of a â€Å"battle between the sexes† they both create the idea of women â€Å"fighting back†. This was our group's first inspiration for our devised piece we decided to base our play around the treatment of women and the unity of women coming together to fight against men, because of the unfairness towards women. This idea of all women against their men gave me the idea of a scene from the production of Chicago the musical, where all these women are together in jail for having killed their husbands/boyfriends in a variety of ways and they all sing of how â€Å"He had it coming†, making it the men's fault. I thought this idea of fighting back but then justifying it because these men are â€Å"cruel† and so deserve punishment, this could also be used in our play. This scene is a musical scene they are all singing and dancing, it's also quite creative in that it starts off with simple sounds that each woman makes to represent her â€Å"story† for example one woman keeps repeating the word â€Å"pop† you later find out when she explains her story (in song) that her man kept making that pop sound with his gum and that's what irritated her into shooting him dead! When each woman says their word (or sound) it goes around again from the beginning and they kept repeating it over and over and faster each time that it started to make a beat and that's when the song started. This influenced us into doing many things for our play such as having an unrealistic scene where we could have music and dancing and also if we had the female characters that have had the injustice done to them if they each had one word to describe them and then like in Chicago have them repeat it in a climax of a scene. In Chicago they all come together and dance in unison etc†¦ o we began to think of having those individual stories of each woman but then in the big climax having them come together to get revenge in â€Å"unison†. Therefore the basic plot that we gathered for our devised piece is that there are a number a woman who have been treated unfairly or unequally by men they are in a relationship and so they all get their ‘vengeance' by coming togethe r and punishing them all in an extremely unrealistic way. The group came up with ideas of using something like â€Å"voodoo† or magic to be their fight back. Because when we thought of â€Å"powerful† â€Å"evil† women it made us think of â€Å"witches† and that casting a spell could be their way of getting men back! Research Chicago- Item 1 (enclosed) In this scene of Chicago these women are in jail they all sing about how they killed their husbands and blame them for their death. The imagery of all these women uniting as one and dancing in unison, that'd be useful for our play, instead of keeping the women as individuals even though they all have different stories and are different people, make them come together, become one and fight back. Also it shows the feisty sexy side to women shows them to be strong not just sweet and caring as they are stereotyped to be, so we need to portray this. It's almost like saying every woman has a tigress in them and you push her then it will be unleashed and she will fight back! Arab men and domestic violence- Item 2 (enclosed) From this article you can see the main reason these Arab men were abusive to their wives was because of their patriarchal society. This I feel is down to insecurities of when they are not feeling like they are in â€Å"power†. But these statistics show that they are â€Å"against† it, it's almost like they don't realise what they're doing, and some blame their wives for them doing it. This helps me to understand my character because I know that he uses certain mechanisms to save himself from blame and feeling guilty. I'll use this in my acting, id be trying to make excuses and to justify my reasons for beating my wife. True story domestic violence Tanya Grey- Item 3 (enclosed) This could be put into both my character and Priya's, because we can use examples of things that had happened in this story of abuse and put it into our story. For example one scene in our play when the husband comes home and the wife is terrified just hearing his footsteps; this was real and had happened to this woman in the article. From this we made our stylised version of it, the footsteps and other actions are exemplified by a thudding sound that will be made by one of the actors off stage, and as he gets closer a heart beat rhythm starts showing how scared she is. And also in one scene the husband suspects his wife is waiting for another man (cheating) because she's got candles and is relaxing, this again comes from the real life story of this couple where she was relaxing and having a bath and he accuses her of waiting for a man. The reasons for them doing things can also be put into how we see our characters and then this will help us to understand them and so be able to â€Å"be† them (Stanislavsky's magic IF), for example his reasoning is jealousy wanting to have power and she stays with him at first because she finds this strength and power attractive, before she realises that he's actually dangerous! Stanislavsky's Emotion Memory- Item 4 (enclosed) When trying to be and feel like our characters we have to literally feel what they are feeling to be able to act to the best potential, this theory of Stanislavsky's allows an actor to do this by bringing similar personal feelings of the actors into their acting. So for example when Priya is acting extremely scared she had to remember a memory of when she felt really scared and then put all those gestures facial expressions etc into the acting. This of course is quite difficult because you're not in that situation; you need a lot of focus and determination to carry it off well. This could help me also in scenes where I have to be aggressive and angry if I jus think of the last time I was very angry and imagine being my character and what I'd do in that situation. Feminism/Ann Oakley- Item 5 (enclosed) Our play in a way represents feminism, women fighting against men! Ann Oakley is one of the main feminist writers, these quotes show her views on why men are the way they are (patriarchal society). Again I can use this to understand the thought paths of my male character; she believes they are violent because they see at as â€Å"masculine† because that's how men are presented in their society. So my character may feel like it's his â€Å"duty† because he is male to put everything in â€Å"order† (by forceful means). Again these are his reasoning for doing the abuse. I could mention these kinds of reasons in my monologue. Theory of why men abuse- Item 6 (enclosed) Again this gives the familiar reason that men abuse because they want power, but it also explains why women tend to stay with their abusive partners, which is because some women may be very dependant on their husbands, financially and if they have children she feels she can't be able to give them what they need. Also another reason not mentioned is that women that are in love with their partners just don't want to leave them because they love them and expect them to change one day. Priya's character will also need excuses for why she is with him and they'd be dependency and love. She can portray it in her acting by trying please him, not getting him angry, always doing as he says etc†¦ Health and safety 1. Stacked chairs There are many chairs that are stacked in corners it could be dangerous if they were to fall on to someone it could injure them so we made sure to keep them away from us whilst acting. There are also some chairs with attached desks which are quite heavy and some aren't extremely stable. So again we need to make sure they aren't in our way when acting. 2. Board on wheels This board can be pushed on to someone's foot or may fall on someone so is also dangerous to us so we keep it away from us. 3. Floor slippery If we have slippery shoes the floor is also quite smooth so it may be easy for us to slip and hurt ourselves. 4. Lights If the lights are a bit wobbly they might possibly fall on someone, so we made sure they were fixed on securely. They made sure they had safety chains so that even if they fall they don't fall to the ground and so don't hurt someone or get damaged 5. Trailing wires: there are wires on the floor that can easily be tripped over, we made sure they were pinned to the sides of the wall and don't come anyway near our acting space (stage). Shoes: They can be a problem if they are high heels or platforms if some were to accidentally trod on some one it could hurt them quite badly. Rope scene: This is when the women are strangling the men with ropes, we had to use a technique that our drama teacher taught us of the person who was being strangled would actually be the one in control of what happens not the other person, so the other person is holding onto the victim whilst they are moving around and acting as if they're being strangled. Abuse scene: There is a part where I am supposed to have slapped Priya but instead we make a noise and my hand doesn't touch her face she just moves like I had hit her. Helia's necklace: There is a scene where Helia's character pulls off her necklace and drops it on the floor, this could be risky if the beads were to fall off and they scattered because someone could slip on them. So she will pull them and drop them gently but looking like she's doing it with more force. Development of the play and my role When we had decided on the ideas of what we want in our play, using different ideas from some of the plays we've studied, as a group we all sat and discussed the next step which was the actual story-line of our play. This came quite easy for us as our main inspiration was about the oppression of women and how they are â€Å"mistreated† by men in a patriarchal society (mainly based on Yerma and Antigone). And we knew our climax has got to be about the anger and revenge of women, when we were talking about this I mentioned the jail scene in Chicago the musical where all the women were bitter and vengeful of their men, they had all murdered their husbands and were proud of it, they justify why they did it, from this we thought of the play being about proving the point or justifying how women are treated badly by men. So this brought us to the idea of having one man that had used a number of women and so is cheating and lying and not valuing their relationships but then these women figure it out and join together to get their own back. Finally after deciding on this idea we started trying out a scene we realised many lessons were being wasted by us just talking and thinking about what to do rather than trying out things to see if it works or not. The group were too focused on figuring out what or how these women will get their â€Å"own back†, we came to the conclusion that the only way to do this was to have it as an unrealistic scene. I started to think of how we could do this and I remembered a scene from my favourite TV show Friends where the three main female characters wanted to get rid of everything of their ex's and phoebe the gypsy type character told them to throw everything that's theirs or they gave them into a fire and that's a remedy of letting go of their man. I liked the symbolism in the idea of the fire and their personal items representing them, when I told this to the group we then came out with the idea of making the â€Å"come back† a fire â€Å"voodoo† scene! This way we could represent the women's anger and frustration in a strange way as if it's driven them insane and they just need to let it all out and this is their way. And the good thing about theatre is we can show this in a stylised performance and make it completely out of the ordinary. The â€Å"revenge voodoo† scene was the first scene we tried out, Dee volunteered to be the guy, the rest of us were then to be the angry women, Dee was defiantly on the ball that lesson I think she worked better when actually physically doing work she came up with the idea of having the guy wrapped in rope and each women had a piece of it in their hand and they were all tugging at him so that he was moving in different directions, and she also thought of a rock song that was appropriate for this scene. But then when trying to move on from there we realised it was far too complicated to do the individual stories of each women with that one guy because there were simply too many women, that's when we thought of having three couples and this left out an actor (Beatrix) we thought of just having her as a mystical character, a devil like creature that likes to stir things and will be in the background of most scenes but invisible to everyone and the final voodoo scene will have been planned by her, she had brought the women together and put it into their heads to do the voodoo ritual. We started talking a lot about the voodoo scene we wanted dancing and light effects etc†¦ But we were wasting a lot of time just discussing minor details that can be dealt with later on so we all decided to just spilt into our couples and work separately on our individual stories and scenes, which would come before the voodoo scene, then near the end of the lesson we'd come together and tell each other what we'd done. In my couple I am the man and Priya my wife, we discussed reasons for how and why this relationship broke down it had to be of course the husband's fault and so a reason to why she's against men and wants revenge, when thinking of a patriarchy society and the problems with this I immediately thought of how man like to claim â€Å"ownership† over women and I remembered this film I had watched called â€Å"Enough† and it was about this man who was so obsessed with being in control he beat his wife just to make him feel like he had power over her. I told Priya about my idea of using domestic violence as the story of what happened between our couple, at first she wasn't so sure, she said it'd be difficult to portray someone beating someone and it may turn out to be too much like a â€Å"soap opera†. But I tried to convince her we could make it work so she agreed to give it a go. When discussing with the other groups we then had our three reasons why these women are angry with their men, ours was he abused his wife, Dee and Ema had decided Ema was to be a young 14 year old girl that was raped by Dee a 22 year old man, Helia and Elizabeth got their idea from Yerma, Elizabeth was the husband in this relationship and Helia the wife, she was desperate, almost obsessed with wanting a child but Elizabeth's character isn't interested. In the prison scene of Chicago (mentioned in â€Å"inspirations† and â€Å"research†) they all chant one word which describes their story of what happened between them and their men (why they killed them). This made us think of giving a word to each woman and then in some of their scenes everyone else could whisper that word at certain times. Priya is â€Å"Abuse†, Helia is â€Å"Obsession† and Ema is â€Å"Innocence† these words all have an â€Å"S† sound quality which I think gives it more of an impact and gives it a mysterious atmosphere. Being a Muslim I wear a headscarf and I thought I could use this with the character, because I am a man I could put the scarf in a way that it represents a turban and so obviously this helped me to shape the character, because wearing a turban he could be an Asian, Persian or Arab, but being part Arab myself I thought I'd probably find it easier to be something that I knew about. Being an Arab man then made me consider putting on an accent, to make it a little more interesting and then I thought of a background story between me and Priya just by knowing my character a little more. I thought that since I was being an Arab and Priya being English this would of course be a big culture clash, and being part English and part Egyptian myself I also knew about having a culture clash, and then this could be the reasons for him being insecure about their relationship and then leading to trying to control her by physical means. In the English culture it's much more normal for women to socialise freely with men but Arabs do believe in socialising with both sexes but aren't as lenient, They feel women should be protected and are seen as precious and need not always be on show for men to look at, so in the culture it's normal to have segregated gatherings. But if Priya's character isn't of course accustomed to this she will find it normal to talk to guys in the same way she talks to girls but to him in his culture when a girl is very chatty to a boy their immediate thought is she fancies him and if he is an insecure controlling type of character this will irritate him and make him feel even more insecure and then he will feel he has to stop her. This is what I will use as my purpose for beating her. Acting as my character is quite difficult for me because I'm extremely feminine in the way I walk, talk, my gestures etc†¦ nd being a man everything needs to be changed, I tried watching men in the street just to see how they hold themselves and move when they walk. But because I'm quite slim and small it's hard to move like someone that has broader shoulders and a larger physique. I also find it difficult to put myself in a man's shoes but using the techniques of Stanislavsky I try to understand my character in order for me to be him, everything he does should be for a reason (action for a purpose). For example my gestures aren't to be as extended and flowing as I would usually do them being female they should be more strong and firm but then by him being Arab also gives him certain hand gestures more than a usual European man would do. Even though I imagine him to be insecure inside, he is the type of character that would never tell anyone that he is insecure or upset, instead he would put on a stern face and hold it all in and also instead of ever blaming himself or seeing his mistakes he only acknowledges other people's, so everything is someone else's fault not his! Only by understanding how my character is and how his mind works did I find it easier to act as him. When acting out all our scenes that the couples had done separately, we realised that our scenes were far too realistic and life like which isn't what we all initially intended so we came together and discussed what sort of scenes we want and that they should be done in a similar format etc†¦ We then came up with the idea of having three scenes in every couples section, scenes that are all of different type one realistic, one non- naturalistic and one documentary. It would just give the play more of a spice because there is quite a constant tone through out, which can be quite dull, so by seeing things from different perspectives we thought would make it more interesting. The realistic would obviously be what happened in their every life then the non naturalistic is their thoughts, their dreams, what happened but done in exaggerated dream-like way etc†¦ The documentary scene we originally thought of getting a voice of a man played by tape or CD reading out a news report but then we realised Beatrix needed more lines and so gave her the role of reading the reports, she would read statistics on domestic violence, rape and infertile men. And we thought of using Visual aids to make it a little more interesting so having that information on a screen behind Whilst we were talking about visual aid we thought of the voodoo scene having a fire and to imitate the fire we could have an image of fire on the back screen during that scene. The first scene that me and Priya did which was me coming home and accusing her of waiting for another man and that's the build up of me abusing her, this idea I got from a true story of domestic violence (research). This was what we thought was too realistic and boring but we kept it because when we decided to have the three different types of scenes it balanced it out so seemed ok. We were going to start with the realistic scene but from that research I had done, the true story, I got another idea that we could do. The woman hears her husband coming home and just by hearing his footsteps gets extremely scared and by making this an unrealistic scene it can be very effective. Making the sounds of his footsteps and everything he does as loud exaggerated thuds, and as I get closer to Priya the thudding then starts to sound like heartbeats getting faster and faster and I put my hand on her shoulder and there's one last loud thud, I've arrived! We wanted to put this before the realistic scene of our argument but the group had a problem with this because Priya and I had actually already got an unrealistic scene and this would mean we have one more than the other couples. But I really didn't want to let this idea go I felt it would be very good to show the wife's fear of her husband. And so after some convincing I won my case, under the condition we try and merge this scene with the realistic one. Final Evaluation When we watched ourselves on tape acting our piece, there were many good points I found but also things I felt needed to be improved. Most of our gestures the women's and the men's I thought were very good and to the point (action for a purpose). Although I found I needed to change my posture at points, my body language needs to be a lot more masculine! Beatrix also needs to get more involved in her character so that she can do more gestures and facial expressions correct to the type of character she is. She is being a little cheeky and doing some gestures to portray that but we felt there needed to be more so that the audience has some understanding of what Beatrix is. Our tones of voice (men and women) were good and were believable but we need to slow down our pace and take our time when saying our lines. Our stylised techniques such as the toy box scene of when Helia's character dreams of having a baby and we are all the toy dolls that dance around her, this looked really creative. We need to make sure all of us keep those scary toy smiles on so it's even more affective. In most of our scenes we just need to make them run a little more smoothly and there were some incidences where people didn't know what scene was coming up and the other actors would hint at something for them to remember. This is important that we all help each other out if someone gets confused or forget their lines if we feel out the gap and improvise with it which I ended up doing on the tap because Priya had forgotten one of her lines so I said her line but in a different way so that I was asking it to her in a question and she could just agree to it. The most important section we need to work on is our ending which isn't complete because we need music and need to figure out the choreography etc†¦ I think it'd be useful to also make a clear definition when it has changed from stylised to realistic to documentary because we are just going from one to the next which makes it seem a bit scruffy perhaps if for example we had a news report tune before the documentary starts to give it a bit of an introduction. And in the stylised we could all say the words in cannon of the woman that is in the scene (e. g. innocence) repeatedly to give it that creepy atmosphere and making sure the audience know it isn't realistic. Overall the play came along very well, we all listened to each other and took on ideas and decided everything as a group so that we were all in agreement, we really worked together like a team, which I think pays off in our work. Everyone participated in what they thought of the scenes, lighting, music etc and all the actors had a great deal of respect for each other which made it easier to act side by side and help each other out. There may have been some weaker actors that came late and didn't give as much input into the piece and there were the stronger actors that held the play together, but everyone deserves credit for the amount of work put into the acting of our play.

1984 Dictatorship

The novel 1984 is based on totalitarianism and dictatorship. Big Brother rules Oceania, where the people are forced to listen to him and follow his rules. There are surveillance cameras and microphones set-up everywhere so that Big Brother can keep an eye on everyone and know about everything that's happening. There is no secret in this society, and one wrong move can get you killed with no one knowing, one day everything about you will be erased and you'll eventually be forgotten. Children are taught that if they see anyone suspicious they are to immediately turn them in, even if it is their parents. There are things like thought polices, who patrol around the area to look for anyone suspicious, or anyone who has â€Å"thoughts†. The reason I am telling you about this is because I believe there is some of that happening in our society today to a certain extent. We have laws and rules given to us by the government that we have to keep, of course it is for us, but that is what the people Oceania are told, that the rules and regulations they are given is to benefit them. We have policemen and people from the government around us; patrolling the streets to make sure we don't break the rules we are given. If we view this in a different perspective we are being watched and ruled by the government, just like the people of Oceania. Not only do governments influence us, but so do businesses. Governments and businesses tells us what to buy, what to do, where to go, what to eat, what to believe†¦ 1984 is relevant to the government and war because it is the first book which drew an image about a government that would use the societies freedom as a price for their security. The people of Oceania live their lives without much difficulty, they are use to their life styles and have accepted the fact that that is how they are to live their lives. George Orwell has written this book as a view of the future, how he saw the future, This was seen as a threat to the society at the time. It is surprising to see that the language can be changed so easily. The Newspeak dictionary aims to cut down on the language, from good, brilliant, excellent to good, good good, good good good. To us this obviously makes no sense but to the new generations of Oceania this was their language, When the older generations of Oceania die, the old language would be forgotten, and the new language would be the language of the people. Same goes for the history. The present generation would change the history, modify them so that Oceania would seem like the hero and this history is thought to the children as well so that as they grow us they learn the modified history and from then on the modified past would be the present past. The modified past would obviously changed again so that the truth would be forgotten. The story is told from Winston's point of view, where he views the society as a prison, because the story is told from Winston's point of view the story may seen bias, and can be different to what other people thought at the time. In a way, as a reader we are manipulated to view things the way Winston does. After reading 1984, you realise how different life would be without freedom, you learn to respect your freedom and dignity. You also learn the threat the government can have on you, and the impact they can have. The only problem about wars isn't the death of the innocent soldiers but the impact it would have within one country, the chances it may turn into a totalitarian country.

Statistics for Public Administration: Practical Uses for Better

Maureen BernerAs a public administrator, you need to be able to analyze and evaluate policies, and understand analysis and evaluations done by others. This means having a solid working knowledge of how to apply statistics to the types of data used in local government so that you make good decisions. Statistics for Public Administration: Practical Uses for Better Decision Making, a completely updated edition of Statistics Unraveled, focuses on demonstrating how statistics can help you do your job better, rather than on a mastery of statistics.The goal of this book is to make you, as a public administrator, an educated consumer of statistical information—and an effective translator of statistical information. You get the tools you need to design an analysis, gather, analyze and interpret data, present results, and make recommendations. This book is a hands-on, practical, and easy-to-understand introduction to the basic concepts and methods used to analyze data in local governmen t. Vignettes at the beginning and end of each chapter illustrate the concepts through the dialogue of fictional local government employees as they attempt to identify and solve problems. Packed with tables, charts, figures, and review questions to reinforce the concepts, the author’s conversational tone and casual style will set you at ease and make you forget any math phobia you might have! With this book, you’ll be able to understand the general approaches and problems with public sector research and data measurement, conduct basic statistical analysis of raw data using a variety of methods, and evaluate the validity of statistical research performed by others. No other publication is aimed at explaining statistics specifically to the local government audience. There are other books with the purpose of simplifying statistics for a broad audience, but Statistics for Public Administration: Practical Uses for Better Decision Making, uses specific government examples and problems to make the concepts in the book both concrete and applied for local government readers. You get a solid understanding of how data and data analysis can make you more effective in your role in local government. And you’ll see how the sometimes theoretical sounding concepts in analysis can be used to create concrete solutions to everyday problems. About the Author Maureen Berner first joined the School of Government in 1998, teaching program evaluation, statistics, and budgeting. Between 2003 and 2005 she directed efforts to provide new outreach activities for local governments based on the UNC model at the University of Northern Iowa. In 2005 she returned to teaching and writing for MPA students and public officials at the School of Government. Berner has been active in research and teaching in both academia and in government, and her publications include a variety of books, textbooks, and journal articles. She worked for four years with the Budget Issues Group at the U. S. General Accounting Office, including a rotation to the U. S. House of Representatives Budget Committee while serving as a Presidential Management Intern. Berner received an MPP from Georgetown University and PhD in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

An Analysis of the opening sequences of Luhrmann’s Essay

I think Luhrmann repeated the prologue three times to make people understand what was to come, because he did not add the last two lines which were ‘In which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.’ In other words, meaning that if you have not understood this prologue they hoped their hard work helps you understand it.  The first time the prologue is shown is when the news reporter is on the news reading out the prologue. She has a modern American accent towards this but it seems as if Luhrmann has kept to the old Shakespearean language; also, there is the picture of a ring in the corner. The sequence starts of with interference and then it tunes in onto the news, then the news reporter starts reading out the prologue. To put it in media terms I would say the first few shots of the zoom in creating a lead up to the extreme close up of the news reporter. I would say then that a medium close up was used until the second time the prologue was shown. I think this interpretation of the prologue represents how important and how serious the conflict between the families is and shows the end of both lovers also showing the end of the feud. The second time the prologue is shown, it shows a serious of pictures of Verona Beach according to the lines of the prologue, which is now read by a man. Either, he wanted to make the prologue stronger by doing that or make a change to get it stuck in people’s head. There are loads of newspaper cuttings but one of the newspapers shows both the families, which ends up in flames. It also shows images of two skyscrapers one with Montague on top and the other with Capulet also God (Jesus) is standing in the middle showing, I think this shows that the feud might have gone to far and God has now stepped in to stop it. Also at the end of this both the families are shown with the other characters apart from Romeo and Juliet. In the Mise-en-scene of the completely said prologue, there were close-ups of the families, medium shots, long shots, bird’s eye view shots, etc. The third time the prologue is shown the writing comes up. In addition, there are a few scenes from the film later on, which gives us an insight of whats to come.  This start gives us quite a lot of insight to the film this gives us a head start to whats to come from the whole film. In this interpretation, I think there were only quick shots used to give an effect of how quick the story went.  I think the audience might get a different feeling from each time the prologue because it shows different types of ways to express the prologue it shows the end, beginning and middle. In Act 1, Scene 1 the two families’ boys have a comical fight at a petrol station but it shows the first actual conflict between the families. The Montague boys go down to petrol station and to represent them they have loud rap music in the background, whereas when the Capulet boys arrive they have spaghetti western music to represent them so the director might be trying to say that the Capulet boys are more old fashioned and that the Montague boys are more modern. Luhrmann creates an atmosphere of many things in this scene but the main three things are tension, fear and excitement. I first of all think Luhrmann created this by showing the anger between both families this both created tension and fear of one another, he done this by introducing the boys and slowly setting the scene up till both families started being rude to each other. Both families show this by ‘Body Language’ and ‘Face Expressions.’ I think the Montagues though felt more threatened by the Capulets because when the Capulets appeared they suddenly had a sense of fear in them, which created quite a bit of tension. The next thing was excitement this was that of the fight they were going to have and because of the tension Luhrmann had created he had to even it out by using humour, I think he done this by using the tension he had already created. When he had one of the Montague boys licking his nipples to scare the nuns and when he had one of the women in the car hitting him on the head with her handbag. I think he used a cowboy film clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, to make the scene more interesting and to make the fight presentable he used hidden typical cowboy props such as the flipping sign and music. But by doing this he has really stereotyped the western cowboy material but I am not trying to say that he is not doing what any other modern director does because they all stereotype in their films one way or another. I feel the opening scenes to a film are most crucial and I found that the opening scenes to Romeo and Juliet were quite substantial, the scenes of the prologue were quite short but short of this fact, it was very informative. However, I think it was difficult for Luhrmann to create the rest of the movie after such a good start but I think he done this during Act 1, Scene 1 by showing just how terrible the feud was in this case I mean hurting people who are not even involved in the fight. I personally think that the targeted audience for this film is from people aged  15 -30 years old as some of the violence would be too much for little kids, to take in and mostly the language and sense of this story would confuse them whereas if you showed it to an older person over 30 they would probably be more interested in a calm love story with not so much violence.  In my opinion, the opening scenes to this film were portrayed as an insight to the rest of the film. I see the representation of the prologues as a beginning, middle and end, but as the first act and first scene come up, I feel as if the whole film has started again but from a different angle. I also think that Luhrmann took on a great task and that was to re- enact Shakespeare’s greatest love story and I also think he done that well.

An essay on the play Romeo and Juliet Essay

In the play we do not meet Romeo until after the fight in the street between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s, Shakespeare shows the audience the feud between the two families before he introduces the main character, Romeo. The first impressions we get of Romeo are that he is a loner and prefers to be on his own, rather then spending time with other people. Shakespeare shows this by making him seem solitary and distant, he also uses darkness to portray Romeos feelings, he does this when Montague describes Romeos actions â€Å"Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out and makes himself an artificial night†. Montague talks to Benvolio about Romeos troubles and describes his condition as an illness, Shakespeare shows this when Montague says â€Å"as willingly give the cure as known† this shows that Montague describes Romeo as being ill as he refers to a â€Å"cure† being able to help him. When Benvolio promises Montague to â€Å"know his grievance† the audience meets Romeo for the first time already with an idea about his character, that he is a loner and is depressed. When Romeo first appears he has a conversation with Benvolio, this tells the audience what is wrong with Romeo. Romeo tells Benvolio that his current state is because of unrequited love. Shakespeare shows Romeos emotions using a paradox â€Å"O brawling love, O loving hate† (the theme of love and hate is reoccurring through out the play) and â€Å"Feather of lead† these are examples of oxymoron’s (a paradox reduced to two words), they show that Romeo is in a confused and perplexed state, this could mean that Romeo does not fully understand his love for Rosaline and is bewildered by it. Romeo tells Benvolio that the love he feels for Rosaline makes him feel like some one else and he admits to loosing his grip on reality â€Å"I have lost myself; I am not here, this is not Romeo, he’s some other where. † This shows that Romeo is self absorbed and infatuated by Rosaline, this gives the idea that Romeo loves the idea of being in love. Although because his love is unrequited it makes him feel ill and depressed â€Å"sick man in sadness† this shows that Romeo is a romantic character who wants to be in love. Romeo seems to be suffering with his love for Rosaline â€Å"out of her favor I am in love† this shows that Romeo understands that Rosaline will never love him, the thought of this makes Romeo suffer which shows that his attitude to love is idealistic. Romeo seems to be enjoying the fact that he is in love and he would rather be unhappy in love then not be in love at all. Benvolio then tries to help Romeo with his feelings for Rosaline by counseling Romeo. Benvolio tells Romeo he will teach him â€Å"be ruled by me; forget to think of her† this shows that Benvolio cares about Romeo and wishes to help him, he also tries to instruct him to â€Å"examine other beauties† he says this to try an make Romeo fall in love with another person who may return his love. Romeo rejects these ideas this shows that he likes the idea of being in love and does not want to give it up. Benvolio tries to teach Romeo to forget about Rosaline by using a several proverbs â€Å"one fire burns out another’s burning† this means that he will forget all about Rosaline if he finds some one else to love. For this Romeo ridicules Benvolio by telling him simple cures for a simple wound. Romeo then goes on to describe the torment of unrequited love â€Å"shut up in prison, kept without food and whipped† this shows how Romeos unrequited love is making him feel, the pain that Romeo describes seems to have been exaggerated which shows that Romeo is obsessed by his own suffering. During their conversation one of the Capulet’s servants asks them to read out a party invitation as he cannot read. Romeo only goes to the party from heavy persuasion by Benvolio and the thought of seeing Rosaline. The thought of seeing her also cheers Romeo up. On his way to the party Romeo continues to show that his love for Rosaline is never ending, as he protests about having fun at the party because the pain from love is to much â€Å"Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling being but heavy I will bear the light† This shows that he does not want to partake in the dancing or have fun and he also refuses to be cheered up further (in the time this was written bearing the torch meant that the person would not have to dance). Romeo uses puns to describe how he feels about dancing at the party â€Å"With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead† this shows that Romeo is still showing the pain he feels. He claims that he will not be hit by cupid’s arrow which shows that he does not think he will love anyone else. When Romeo reaches the party he meets Juliet for the first time. He falls in love with her when he first lays his eyes upon her, this makes the audience feel that Romeos love for Rosaline was not true but what he feels for Juliet might be, at this point Romeo forgets all about Rosaline this shows Romeo is fickle in love. Romeo then uses images of light and dark to describe how she stands out from the rest of the people at the party â€Å"She hangs upon the cheek of night, as a rich jewel† Romeos language no longer seems forced but genuine this shows that he is a romantic person who has truly fallen in love. Romeo and Juliet share a sonnet the first time they meet, Romeo describes him self as a pilgrim worshipping a shrine which symbolizes Juliet, â€Å"this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims† this shows the true love that the two feel for each other. At the end of the sonnet Romeo kisses Juliet, but before they kiss again Juliet’s maid takes her away to Lady Capulet (Juliet’s mother), when this happens both Romeo and Juliet realize that their families are enemies. Romeo then states that â€Å"my life is my foes debt† this shows that his life is now in Juliet’s hands and is out of his control, this again shows that Romeo is truly in love with Juliet as he is going to wait and let Juliet control him. In conclusion Shakespeare reveals Romeos attitude to love in many different ways he shows that he is ruled by his emotions and is not rational when it comes to love. He also shows that Romeo is fickle in love; he also seems to like the idea of being in love and enjoys the suffering he feels from unrequited love. He shows that Romeos love is unpredictable as he forgets about Rosaline all too quickly; this shows that Romeo may be genuinely falling in love for the first time. I think Shakespeare has portrayed Romeos character well as he shows a number of different emotions and uses different techniques portray his ideas of the character Romeo.

Campus and the Life Changing Eye Opener Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Campus and the Life Changing Eye Opener - Essay Example This was through a campus  club  known as AIESEC. This experience changed my life profoundly and sparked a level of  awareness  that I  previously  did not have. A good number of the movies I had watched while growing up presented campus as  a place  to have mad fun. Caution  was thrown  to the wind as the students explored and experimented with their lives.  Whereas I am not claiming  conclusively  otherwise, I  feel  that there is a  side  of campus movies the movies totally ignore; the constructive side.  Oblivious of this view of campus, I had joined the  place  when  ready to  experience  the thrills I had seen in the movies.  Out of chance, I had joined this student’s  business  club, AIESEC. The  club  concerns itself with offering a  platform  to develop agents of positive change and leaders, with strong interests in business, entrepreneurship and project management. The  club  also offers its members oppo rtunities to  visit  business establishments to  witness  the best practices at work. It was during one of such activities in AIESEC that my life changing  experience  occurred. ... The level of  efficiency  arising from such  proper  organization  was clearly  discernible. Besides, the factory seemed to have an  unspoken  culture  as there was no one barking orders and reprimanding junior staff. The  second  thing I came across was the  commitment  to sustainability and environmental awareness. I do not claim to be the most environmentally  unaware  individual  at that time, but I had not seen such levels of active pursuit of sustainable practices and eco-friendliness, epitomized by  production  of the Prius and massive cuts on energy expenses. Massive research  had been done  into the most  efficient  technologies and building designs, while  ordinary  practices  were adopted  during  everyday  roles. While the capital costs would appear restrictive, the benefits in cost saving, motivation and customer  admiration  are  invaluable. The third and  last  impact  of the trip to TEMA was sparking my  global  awareness. The company is clearly a  global  leader; identifying  global  trends and how they affect Toyota; training staff to be  global  business leaders among other  global  perspectives. An experience is not life changing if one fails to act on it. I built upon the impact of the trip to TEMA first through undertaking research on the concepts learnt from the visit. Thus, I gained  an understanding  of the Toyota Way Culture and Lean management systems that brought about the efficiency, hard work and  motivation  I had observed (Toyota-Global). In fact, most other firms use a Toyota Way  variant  referred to as Six Sigma to optimize performance (Liker and Hoseus 37). I also gained much  interest  and understanding on sustainability and eco-friendliness, and how to build a