Star Wars and Its Buzz Marketing Campaign Essay Example For Students

Star Wars and Its Buzz Marketing Campaign Essay As indicated by Whats. Com: Naira promoting is any showcasing strategy that initiates Web destinations or clients to give an advertising sages to different locales or clients, making a conceivably exponential development in the messages perceivability and impact. Buzz promoting and verbal exchange are frequently seen as a superior source than broad communications and most different types of publicizing in light of the fact that the individual degree Of customer to purchaser promoting lets fulfilled shoppers tell others the amount they like a business, item, or administration. For instance, verbally expressed correspondence, and web discourse, for example, masses, message sheets, and messages can be viewed as types of informal promoting. New motion pictures that are going to be presented to the market frequently utilize his kind of advancement and promoting. This system may comprise of particular film screenings to explicit groups so as to get the word. Of. Mouth proposals began. The suggestions are then spread to companions, family, and collaborators. Buzz crusades are normally begun for the arrival of enormous, blockbuster theater films. We will compose a custom exposition on Star Wars and Its Buzz Marketing Campaign explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now Innovation has supported buzz advertisers since they can convey their messages simpler and quicker. The development of the web permits them to get the message out through methods for sites, message sheets, informing programs, talk rooms, and masses. All media crusades utilize he simplicity of the web why ensuring their progression of informal exchange is circling on the web previously, during, and after the arrival of new blockbuster motion pictures. Be that as it may, the intensity of informal exchange can mess with less known and financed films into the classifications of large name movies. Buzz advertisers are capable make an advanced informal battle where customers really feel respected to be remembered for the little yet tip top gathering of the individuals who are knowledgeable and readily spread the news to their companions and partners. II. Film Campaign An especially renowned film that was considerably less known during its discharge during he backtalk is known as Star Wars. In particular, Star Wars IV: A New Hope as it is currently called had the option to change its name as a result of the achievement the film had. Essayist and chief George Lucas initially named the famous actor Wars since he had no designs to discharge different prequels and spin-offs. After the accomplishment of the film, he needed to separate it from his different discharges and gave it the complete name of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, As befuddling as it might be, Star Wars IV: A New Hope is the first of six motion pictures to be discharged yet is fourth in the Star Wars adventure. The film was authoritatively discharged in the United States on May 25th, 1977. The film business of the late backtalk comprised of skepticism and genuine motion pictures. Be that as it may, the challenging arrival Of Star Wars had the fearlessness to take on the present film industry and average Hollywood models. Star Wars acquainted everybody with a universe Of legend, smarts, and amusingness. This new age Of floggers was intrigued with the activity, embellishments and plot of the film. The plot which can be best summed up in a short outline found on Amid. Corn goes as follows: Part IV in a George Lucas epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a renegade boat being boarded by the overbearing Dearth Evader. The plot at that point follows the life of basic homestead kid, Luke Jaywalker, as he and his recently met partners (Han Solo, Chewable, Ben Kenton, C-POP, RE. DO) endeavor to protect an agitator chief, Princess Leila, from the grasp of the Empire. The end is finished as the Rebels, including Jaywalker and flying expert Wedge Antilles make an assault on the Empires generally ground-breaking and inauspicious weapon, the Death Star, Star Wars is prestigious for changing embanking everlastingly in light of the fact that it was the principal film to characterize the term blockbuster. As indicated by Wisped. Com a blockbuster film is: Blockbuster, as applied to film or theater, is a well known or potentially immediately fruitful decrease. The term was initially gotten from theater slang alluding to an especially effective play; in film industry speech it has come to allude to a film that procures a measure of income surpassing some limit, The achievement of Star Wars didn't occur without any forethought. Actually, the film occasion through cruel occasions during creation and was nearly scratched This film was completely spared by the verbal promoting that started after it was discharged. George Lucas initially realized he needed a space setting for his film and this delegated sci-fi which was to a great extent disliked at the case Office during the late I chokes. The sci-fi type was seen as a type that didn't bring in cash at the motion pictures and this is the explanation that United Artists and Universal Studios dismissed the Star Wars venture. The main organization that endorsed the Lucas was twentieth Century Fox, and considerably after endorsement they evaded the film yet permitted a unique spending plan of To remain inside his financial plan, Lucas established his own visual and enhancements organization called Industrial Light and Magic. After creation had started, they were confronted with considerably more issues. .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .postImageUrl , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .focused content territory { min-stature: 80px; position: relative; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:hover , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:visited , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:active { border:0!important; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .clearfix:after { content: ; show: table; clear: both; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 { show: square; progress: foundation shading 250ms; webkit-change: foundation shading 250ms; width: 100%; mistiness: 1; progress: darkness 250ms; webkit-progress: haziness 250ms; foundation shading: #95A5A6; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:active , .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:hover { obscurity: 1; progress: murkiness 250ms; webkit-change: murkiness 250ms; foundation shading: #2C3E50; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .focused content region { width: 100%; position: re lative; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .ctaText { fringe base: 0 strong #fff; shading: #2980B9; text dimension: 16px; textual style weight: intense; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; content adornment: underline; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .postTitle { shading: #FFFFFF; text dimension: 16px; text style weight: 600; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; width: 100%; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .ctaButton { foundation shading: #7F8C8D!important; shading: #2980B9; outskirt: none; fringe sweep: 3px; box-shadow: none; text dimension: 14px; text style weight: striking; line-tallness: 26px; moz-outskirt range: 3px; content adjust: focus; content enrichment: none; content shadow: none; width: 80px; min-tallness: 80px; foundation: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/modules/intelly-related-posts/resources/pictures/basic arrow.png)no-rehash; position: total; right: 0; top: 0; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:hover .ctaButton { foundation shading: #34495E!important; } .u510c3cef451ffc 288e6063acb6dcb7b4 .focused content { show: table; tallness: 80px; cushioning left: 18px; top: 0; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4-content { show: table-cell; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; cushioning right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-adjust: center; width: 100%; } .u510c3cef451ffc288e6063acb6dcb7b4:after { content: ; show: square; clear: both; } READ: Marketing Research EssayBesides the reality of normal climate calamities at the shooting activity, the electronic gear continued separating and props were breaking down, Regardless Of the littler issues, enormous issues lay inside the creation team themselves as they had little premium tort the film and couldn't have cared less about the work getting finished. A large portion of them didnt pay attention to the film and viewed it as a childs film. Lucas unique influence organization utilized portion of the given financial plan on just four shots that were not satisfactory to the chief. In spite of the issues the film confronted, George Lucas pushed on to get it finished. The film went over the due date given from twentieth Century Box and need up with a financial plan evaluated around $11,000,000. During the discharge counterbalance Wars, there was almost no spending plan for an advertising procedure or advancement plan. The possibility of a buzz battle was not so much as a choice on the grounds that there was no cash left in the venture for these sorts of ads. Lucas recruited a man named Charles Elliptical as the promoting executive for Star Wars in light of the fact that twentieth Century Box would not loan any longer assets for the film. Notwithstanding, the enterprise offered authorizing of shirts and banners if the film was by one way or another effective. The film was discharged on May 25th, 1977 reason it was pushed back to stay away from rivalry from other summer films which Will be talked about later. After the film was authoritatively discharged, practically no venues would arrange the film and show it. This caused the huge film creation organization to step in and request theaters to arrange Star Wars or, in all likelihood they would not have the option to arrange other foreseen motion pictures during that year. The film quickly took off and turned into an enormous hit at the theaters. This achievement was emphatically affected by the buzz that the film made and the verbal exchange that followed. The 121 moment long film had the option to charm crowds the second the film finished. The initial end of the week had the option to acquire $35. 9 million dollars and twentieth Century Foxs stock cost multiplied also record high. As indicated by Amid. Com: Before 1977, twentieth Century Foxs most noteworthy yearly benefits were in 1377, the organization earned This gigantic bounce was because of the accomplishment of Star Wars. It was a wonder that took off like nothing else, conveyed exclusively by listening in on others' conversations. For some odd reason, the film was focused at the whole family and not simply guys, This is fascinating on the grounds that as per a demogr

German Influence in Mexican Music

German Influence in Mexican Music Could an instrumental German polka band piece, or what is by all accounts one, may in reality not be a German melody at everything except a Mexican one? Hang tight for the words...Yes it could! The music you hear is a Mexican polka style of music known as norteã ±o. Mexican Music Style Influenced by Germans Music from the northern piece of Mexico, norteã ±o, meaningâ northern, orâ mã ºsica norteã ±a, northern music, was affected by German pioneers in Texas around 1830. It is no fortuitous event that a few kinds of Mexican music have the German polka oom-pah-pah impact. Relocation Phenomenon There was an enormous movement of Germans to southern Texas from the 1830s to the 1840s. As per the Texas State Historical Association, the biggest ethnic gathering in Texas conceived in Europe or whose guardians originated from Europe hailed from Germany. By 1850, Germans made up in excess of 5 percent of the whole populace of Texas. This piece of Texasâ became known as the German Belt. Around then, as it is currently, the Rã ­o Grande denoted a political and topographical separation in excess of a social one. The melodic style and even the instruments of the German foreigners were embraced and got well known among those of Mexican legacy. One of the most powerful instruments of the Germans melodic style, the accordion, turned out to be particularly famous and was much of the time utilized in move music, for example, dances and polkas. Modernization of Norteã ±o The fame of norteã ±oâ among Mexican-Americans spread during the 1950s and covered with well known American styles of awesome and swing. This covering of melodic styles got known as tejano, actually the Spanish word for Texan, or all the more fittingly, Tex-Mex, a mixing of the two societies. A conjunto norteã ±o, or norteã ±oâ ensemble, highlights the accordion alongside the bajo sexto, which is a Mexican instrument like a 12-string guitar. After some time, norteã ±oâ mixed with other music styles to shape novel Mexican music styles, includingâ quebradita, which is a style that is substantial on the horns, banda, aâ styleâ similar to the polka, andâ ranchera, a customary Mexican music classification. Impact on Mariachiâ and Mainstream Music The norteã ±oâ musical style affected music from different areas of Mexico, for example, what is presumably the most generally unmistakable type of Mexican music, the mariachi music from the Guadalajara locale. Norteã ±o orâ tejano-style music is almost consistently acted in Spanish, even by Mexican-Americans who talk essentially English. For instance, local Texan and Spanish-English hybrid craftsman Selena sang in Spanish before she could appropriately communicate in Spanish. For Selena, later known as the Queen of Tejano Music, the opposition was less furious in the Mexican music advertise contrasted with the American music showcase. She rodeâ the Mexican music market to popularity and positions as one of the most powerful Latin artists ever. The norteã ±o orâ tejano-style classification in the United States is frequently incorrectly seen as interchangeable with Hispanic music, yet it is only a kind of Spanish-language music and speaks to just a single type of Mexican music. Mexican music is unbelievably various and Spanish-language music is significantly progressively assorted, traversing numerous landmasses and speaking to various nationalities around the globe.

GuideSpark

GuideSpark INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in Menlo Park in the GuideSpark office. Keith, who are you and what do you do?Keith: So I’m Keith Kitani and I’m the CEO and one of the co-founders of GuideSpark, a company that is really designed to help organizations communicate and connect with their employees better through video and mobile communications.Martin: And what did you do before? Because you‘ve had something like a really rollercoaster life over the last fifteen years or so.Keith: Exactly. It’s my second startup. I was originally, a long time ago an electrical engineer but went back to business school and changed my direction. But I started a company in the late nineties, it was a company called Presedia that we sold Macromedia that was then bought by Adobe and that was Adobe Connect so it was really in the eLearning and communication space and decided that while I loved Adobe and that company that I wanted to start over and so we started this company 2008.Martin: How did yo u come up with the idea for GuideSpark?Keith: Well, I’d like to tell you that I just came up with it one day and all of a sudden it was rocket ship but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. So we started this company in 2008 and originally around the idea of helping people with financial education and financial health but that was right before the recession and that was not a great time to sell wellness products. So that was a tough time for a couple of years.But what ended up happening is we started talking to customers and customers really pointed us in a direction about helping them communicate better with their employees, around things like benefits and compensation programs. And so the way we came up with the idea overnight is that we kept listening to customers over the years of time and finally realized we had a big huge market opportunity and really around 2012 the company really started to grow very fast.Martin: Especially yourstory’s very interesting because you did a big pivot of your business model. Can you elaborate on how the business model was looking before and after?Keith: So, we were in an area of financial health, of financial education and financial wellness and that’s a business actually we are back in but at the time it was not a great time for HR. So we were actually running out of cash so we had to really find a business that we could really have that would sell to customers. So we talked to a lot of prospects and customers and found that they had this need to communicate more effectively around benefits and compensation. So they spent a ton of money here in the US on benefits and it’s hard for employees to really understand the value of those programs and so we were able to create video and mobile education around it and it worked well.BUSINESS MODEL OF GUIDESPARKMartin: Let’s talk about your business model for GuideSpark. Basically and currently who are your customers and what type of value proposition are you doing to them? Keith: We have an interesting customer base that has been around different startups and companies. But our customer base â€" we have over 600 customers, they range in size from 100 employees all the way up to the large Fortune 10 companies. And in fact we’re now in 20 percent of the Fortune 500 so it doesn’t matter what size company you are.The other thing interesting about our business is that we have almost every industry; so we have city governments, we have high tech companies, we have trucking companies, we have mining companies, we have pretty much every industry. And so if you think about it, every company has employees, every company has to communicate to those employees and we’re really starting to hit all of those different people.Martin: Mainly in the US because of the different kinds of regulations for benefits?Keith: Yes, so we’re US-based but we’re supporting some of our multinationals internationally. But the real value proposition is if you think about how companies communicate today, it’s really the same way they’ve been doing it for the last ten, twenty, fifty years. It is employee manuals, it’s PowerPoint presentations, it is long text emails and if you think about how you connect and get information in your daily lives it’s probably video, mobile, interactive. And so what we’re doing is really helping companies transform their traditional communications into these new forms of communication that really are more effective in engaging employees.Martin: And do you see some kind of increase in conversion rates from showing employees that information and then to really sign up to a specific benefit program?Keith: Absolutely, that’s one of our key value propositions but there are a lot more value propositions around that. So increased participation in programs is one of them but also reduced call center time, reduced travel, there are a lot of different opportunities that have been incredibly valuable for corporate companies to utilize.Martin: After you pivoted the business, how was it like to acquire the first customers? How did you tackle them?Keith: The way we pivoted the business and it’s interesting when people say ‘pivoted’, it feels like it should be a sharp turn. And for me it took a while because for many years we were telling every investor, every employee, every customer how financial wellness is the greatest thing in the world, so it takes a little while. Because we were listening to customers it actually wasn’t that hard to actually get them to sell because they would tell us what they wanted and then like any small company would say, “Hey that’s great that’s what we do”, as we started to sell it and started really to refine that offering and that value proposition.Martin: Did you first focus only on the Bay area in terms of customers or did you say, “Okay, let’s sell it nationwide?”Keith: So what I would say is for the first year or so we focused on the Bay Area but very, very quickly we realized it didn’t matter where you are. You are a company, you need to communicate and so we quickly grew all across the country because we’re able to really access them through telephone.Martin: How are you currently managing the customer relationships and trying to re-nurture them? So are you doing something like conferences with them or monthly walk-ins or steady calls?Keith: We do a variety of things: we certainly have an annual customer conference. But we also have a customer success team and our customer success and account management team check in at least quarterly with our customers to really you start doing business reviews because our goal is to make sure that our solutions adding value to their business. We are subscription-based model and so if we’renot continuing adding value they’re going to cancel. So it’s very important for us to constantly be in contact with them to make sure that our system and our solution is adding value to that them and their business.Martin: So you said that you’re based on a subscription model, how did you decide how to price your model?Keith: That’s always the hardest question when in a new market. Generally, if you’re in a market that already exists you can start to price off other people. But what I would say is it was kind of iterative. We had an idea of what this might cost and then you start to test in the marketplace and try to get an understanding of our value. And so we’ve been able to arrive at a good place in terms of different prices for different company sizes and different sizes of library.Martin: So over the last 18 to 24 months you’ve been growing extremely fast, did you perceive any types of growing pains or some obstacles that you say, “Wow, that was really hard for us. And this is how we solved it.”Keith: Solving it, seems like we’re constantly growing so I’m not sure if we fully solved it. To give you an idea in the last three years we’ve grown fro m about 10 employees to three hundred and so you can imagine that there are growing pains every step of the way there and it’s systems and processes that break. The other thing that’s hard is also people. If you think about their skill sets, initial managers two years ago would have teams of two or three people, and now they could have 15 and it’s a totally different job, totally different skill set. And so for us it’s really making sure that we’re examining each stage of our business what’s right at that stage. And it can be tough because you have processes that you just implemented and you sit back and go, “Well maybe that’s not the right one” or you have a system that breaks.I mean this funny story that I always talk about is we found out that our payroll vendor had a maximum capacity of a hundred and fifty paychecks and how did we find that out? We ran a hundred and fifty-two. But when I first started with that payroll company last thing I was thinking about is what’s your maximum and you just run some paper checks and then you can find a new system. So I think it’s been a lot of kind of learning along the way. But the key thing for us is to make sure you realize that that’s part of what your business is that you can’t be too locked in because of that growth rate you have to constantly realize that business is going to change, systems are going to change, processes going to change and people have to grow and evolve.Martin: You’re mainly based in the Bay Area but you have other offices, so how are you trying to solve the recruiting issues that you’re currently facing because in the Bay Area because the unemployment seems to be very low. What kind of measures are you taking to raise offers for extending your growth?Keith: We’ve been very successful in getting people to join here in the Bay Area but it’s incredibly competitive. And so what we’ve done is we’ve selectivelyadded some offices, so we have a Boston office and a New York office primarily for sales. That’s not only for us to attract great people but also a lot of customers on the East Coast and so it’s a great opportunity for us to grow there. And we just added Portland so we wanted to addâ€" one of the other types of roles we have today are for designers and writers and a lot of creative people and so we’re adding office up to Portland and planning a big presence there. So all of those will supplement the Bay Area, we think talent here is just great place for us but we also needed to realize that we have a huge growth targets and we’ve got to complement elsewhere.Martin: And are you also planning to enter international clients because from my understanding the benefit system or the offerings are very country or regional specific and so once you’d like to enter India or China or some other country, I would guess you would need to produce a new content?Keith: So we do support multinationals. So we have companies like Adobe, where w e support them internationally. So we have different content for each of their regions so somebody in Japan see something different than US, somebody in the UK see something different than in India. So we already have that model and we could translate content to about 15 different languages but realize that benefit programs are different, compensation programs are different but communication is still necessary no matter what language or what country you’re in.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM KEITH KITANI In Menlo Park (CA), we meet CEO and Co-Founder of GuideSpark, Keith Kitani. Keith talks about his story how he came up with the idea and founded GuideSpark, how the current business model works, as well as he provides some advice for young entrepreneurs.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in Menlo Park in the GuideSpark office. Keith, who are you and what do you do?Keith: So I’m Keith Kitani and I’m the CEO and one of the co-founders of GuideSpark, a company that is really designed to help organizations communicate and connect with their employees better through video and mobile communications.Martin: And what did you do before? Because you‘ve had something like a really rollercoaster life over the last fifteen years or so.Keith: Exactly. It’s my second startup. I was originally, a long time ago an electrical engineer but went back to business school and changed my direction. But I started a company in the late nineties, it was a company called Presedia that we sold Macromed ia that was then bought by Adobe and that was Adobe Connect so it was really in the eLearning and communication space and decided that while I loved Adobe and that company that I wanted to start over and so we started this company 2008.Martin: How did you come up with the idea for GuideSpark?Keith: Well, I’d like to tell you that I just came up with it one day and all of a sudden it was rocket ship but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. So we started this company in 2008 and originally around the idea of helping people with financial education and financial health but that was right before the recession and that was not a great time to sell wellness products. So that was a tough time for a couple of years.But what ended up happening is we started talking to customers and customers really pointed us in a direction about helping them communicate better with their employees, around things like benefits and compensation programs. And so the way we came up with the idea overnight is that we kept listening to customers over the years of time and finally realized we had a big huge market opportunity and really around 2012 the company really started to grow very fast.Martin: Especially yourstory’s very interesting because you did a big pivot of your business model. Can you elaborate on how the business model was looking before and after?Keith: So, we were in an area of financial health, of financial education and financial wellness and that’s a business actually we are back in but at the time it was not a great time for HR. So we were actually running out of cash so we had to really find a business that we could really have that would sell to customers. So we talked to a lot of prospects and customers and found that they had this need to communicate more effectively around benefits and compensation. So they spent a ton of money here in the US on benefits and it’s hard for employees to really understand the value of those programs and so we were able to crea te video and mobile education around it and it worked well.BUSINESS MODEL OF GUIDESPARKMartin: Let’s talk about your business model for GuideSpark. Basically and currently who are your customers and what type of value proposition are you doing to them?Keith: We have an interesting customer base that has been around different startups and companies. But our customer base â€" we have over 600 customers, they range in size from 100 employees all the way up to the large Fortune 10 companies. And in fact we’re now in 20 percent of the Fortune 500 so it doesn’t matter what size company you are.The other thing interesting about our business is that we have almost every industry; so we have city governments, we have high tech companies, we have trucking companies, we have mining companies, we have pretty much every industry. And so if you think about it, every company has employees, every company has to communicate to those employees and we’re really starting to hit all of those dif ferent people.Martin: Mainly in the US because of the different kinds of regulations for benefits?Keith: Yes, so we’re US-based but we’re supporting some of our multinationals internationally. But the real value proposition is if you think about how companies communicate today, it’s really the same way they’ve been doing it for the last ten, twenty, fifty years. It is employee manuals, it’s PowerPoint presentations, it is long text emails and if you think about how you connect and get information in your daily lives it’s probably video, mobile, interactive. And so what we’re doing is really helping companies transform their traditional communications into these new forms of communication that really are more effective in engaging employees.Martin: And do you see some kind of increase in conversion rates from showing employees that information and then to really sign up to a specific benefit program?Keith: Absolutely, that’s one of our key value propositions but there are a lot more value propositions around that. So increased participation in programs is one of them but also reduced call center time, reduced travel, there are a lot of different opportunities that have been incredibly valuable for corporate companies to utilize.Martin: After you pivoted the business, how was it like to acquire the first customers? How did you tackle them?Keith: The way we pivoted the business and it’s interesting when people say ‘pivoted’, it feels like it should be a sharp turn. And for me it took a while because for many years we were telling every investor, every employee, every customer how financial wellness is the greatest thing in the world, so it takes a little while. Because we were listening to customers it actually wasn’t that hard to actually get them to sell because they would tell us what they wanted and then like any small company would say, “Hey that’s great that’s what we do”, as we started to sell it and started really to refine that offering and that value proposition.Martin: Did you first focus only on the Bay area in terms of customers or did you say, “Okay, let’s sell it nationwide?”Keith: So what I would say is for the first year or so we focused on the Bay Area but very, very quickly we realized it didn’t matter where you are. You are a company, you need to communicate and so we quickly grew all across the country because we’re able to really access them through telephone.Martin: How are you currently managing the customer relationships and trying to re-nurture them? So are you doing something like conferences with them or monthly walk-ins or steady calls?Keith: We do a variety of things: we certainly have an annual customer conference. But we also have a customer success team and our customer success and account management team check in at least quarterly with our customers to really you start doing business reviews because our goal is to make sure that our solutions adding value to their business. We are subscription-based model and so if we’renot continuing adding value they’re going to cancel. So it’s very important for us to constantly be in contact with them to make sure that our system and our solution is adding value to that them and their business.Martin: So you said that you’re based on a subscription model, how did you decide how to price your model?Keith: That’s always the hardest question when in a new market. Generally, if you’re in a market that already exists you can start to price off other people. But what I would say is it was kind of iterative. We had an idea of what this might cost and then you start to test in the marketplace and try to get an understanding of our value. And so we’ve been able to arrive at a good place in terms of different prices for different company sizes and different sizes of library.Martin: So over the last 18 to 24 months you’ve been growing extremely fast, did you perceive any types of growing pains or som e obstacles that you say, “Wow, that was really hard for us. And this is how we solved it.”Keith: Solving it, seems like we’re constantly growing so I’m not sure if we fully solved it. To give you an idea in the last three years we’ve grown from about 10 employees to three hundred and so you can imagine that there are growing pains every step of the way there and it’s systems and processes that break. The other thing that’s hard is also people. If you think about their skill sets, initial managers two years ago would have teams of two or three people, and now they could have 15 and it’s a totally different job, totally different skill set. And so for us it’s really making sure that we’re examining each stage of our business what’s right at that stage. And it can be tough because you have processes that you just implemented and you sit back and go, “Well maybe that’s not the right one” or you have a system that breaks.I mean this funny story that I always talk about is we found out that our payroll vendor had a maximum capacity of a hundred and fifty paychecks and how did we find that out? We ran a hundred and fifty-two. But when I first started with that payroll company last thing I was thinking about is what’s your maximum and you just run some paper checks and then you can find a new system. So I think it’s been a lot of kind of learning along the way. But the key thing for us is to make sure you realize that that’s part of what your business is that you can’t be too locked in because of that growth rate you have to constantly realize that business is going to change, systems are going to change, processes going to change and people have to grow and evolve.Martin: You’re mainly based in the Bay Area but you have other offices, so how are you trying to solve the recruiting issues that you’re currently facing because in the Bay Area because the unemployment seems to be very low. What kind of measures are you taking to ra ise offers for extending your growth?Keith: We’ve been very successful in getting people to join here in the Bay Area but it’s incredibly competitive. And so what we’ve done is we’ve selectivelyadded some offices, so we have a Boston office and a New York office primarily for sales. That’s not only for us to attract great people but also a lot of customers on the East Coast and so it’s a great opportunity for us to grow there. And we just added Portland so we wanted to addâ€" one of the other types of roles we have today are for designers and writers and a lot of creative people and so we’re adding office up to Portland and planning a big presence there. So all of those will supplement the Bay Area, we think talent here is just great place for us but we also needed to realize that we have a huge growth targets and we’ve got to complement elsewhere.Martin: And are you also planning to enter international clients because from my understanding the benefit system or the offerings are very country or regional specific and so once you’d like to enter India or China or some other country, I would guess you would need to produce a new content?Keith: So we do support multinationals. So we have companies like Adobe, where we support them internationally. So we have different content for each of their regions so somebody in Japan see something different than US, somebody in the UK see something different than in India. So we already have that model and we could translate content to about 15 different languages but realize that benefit programs are different, compensation programs are different but communication is still necessary no matter what language or what country you’re in.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM KEITH KITANIMartin: Keith, let’s talk about the learnings that you generated from your first two companies, maybe there were some other companies. What have been your major learnings?Keith: There’s a long list of learnings and mostly learned th e hard way. I touched on one of them already. I think the key is  to always be open to change. I think when you’re in business and business is growing and especially at the early stages you have to be very flexible. We had to pivot our business now at this chief growth stage we have to really make sure that our systems and processes are right and constantly re-look. I think one of the key things is to always be flexible.The other one for me is, you know,  you’ve got to be passionate about what you do  and you got to really realize it’s a long road. In GuideSpark here, the first four years we had almost no growth. I was telling you earlier we went from zero to four employees in the first three years. And it was like three to four employees and that’s all we had. And then all of a sudden, we took off. I think it’s about being passionate about what you want to go accomplish and sticking with it. Entrepreneurship can be hard at times.Martin: What do you like most about entrepr eneurship?Keith: I really like building, building products, building teams, building organizations. I think I’ve loved being at a larger companies like Adobe but I just get excited about building something new and that’s what I’m get to do here at GuideSpark. It’s fantastic, I love what I’m doing.Martin: Great. Keith, thank you so much for your time and sharing. It was a pleasure.Keith: Thank you.Martin: And next time if you’re thinking about what should you do next and you really enjoy entrepreneurship, just go out there and build a great company. Thank you.

Why College Education Is Important - 990 Words

Why College Education is Important to me College education means a chance at a better life. Nothing but positive elements can follow one when pursuing the dream of a college degree. Life can put obstacles in your way but if you stay determined then that determination can allow your dreams to become a reality. That determination is what drives me and what makes a college education so important to me. Vince Lombardi Jr. once stated, â€Å"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will (2010).† Life has thrown myself and my family some curves but I strive every day to get my family ahead, to be their rock. I have the will and determination to continue to fight, to fight for a better future! This is not my first journey in the college experience, not my first attempt at a college degree. I enrolled thirteen years ago, fresh out of high school, into a local business school. My experience wa s a nightmare. Three months prior to graduating with my Associates degree in Medical Office Administration, I showed up one morning for my classes but instead being greeted at the front door, all I seen was a padlock on the doors. All students were later told that the school was closed due to unpaid back taxes. Each student was given the option to drop out or transfer to an alternate school to continue his or her degree. Credits were permitted to transfer but there was a twist. Any student that wasShow MoreRelatedWhy is College Education Important?1243 Words   |  5 Pagesdebate on whether a college education is worth it may have begun when the colonists arrived from Europe and founded â€Å"New College† (later renamed Harvard University) in 1636 (College Education).† Whatever the case attaining a college education can be very beneficial to one throughout life. It can help one earn more money over a lifetime, and even can help someone live longer. 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I asked myself over and over again after reading a quote â€Å"Only the educated are free.† As concluded by Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD), Discourse. I then realized I was not free. I want to be free, but how? I asked myself. Do I need to be rich or do I need to be the happiest man on earth? It finally occurred to me after pondering overRead MoreWhy College Education Is Important to Me592 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Why college education is important to me† Continuing my education has been a goal of mine for some time, but I haven’t made the commitment until now. There are several reason why I chose to return to school after so long, the primary reason being advancement opportunities in my career. My other motivating factor is my daughter. I am looking forward to the knowledge I will gain and the ability to implement that knowledge into myRead MoreWhy College Education Is Important to Me839 Words   |  4 PagesWhy College Education is Important to Me Patty Murray said â€Å"A good education means learning to read, write and most importantly learn how to learn so that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up.† Getting a college education will help open so many doors and give me opportunities to better myself, and provide me with a more successful life that I can be proud of. In today’s society it is hard to get a good job or have a stable career without first getting a college degree. A collegeRead MoreWhy College Education Is Important to Me698 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Why college education is important to me†. By Janelle D. 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Higher education pays you back: graduates of higher education programs earn moreRead MoreWhy Is A College Education Important to Me? Essays751 Words   |  4 PagesBuckhalter EN110.6.1 Achieving Academic Excellence Lesson 5 Writing Assessment September 26, 2014 Why Is A College Education Important to Me? Henry Ford, said, â€Å"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.† For years, I thought I was just too old to return to school. However, for 20 years, I’ve worked in a career that provided great financial stability, but it never brought happiness. When I was laid-off, I made the decision to notRead More   Why is college education important to me Essay627 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿ Why is college education important to me â€Å"Knowledge Is Power† one of Sir Francis Bacon famous quotes, those three words says it all. I’ve been hungry and excited for an higher education, Education is very important to me and in order to move ahead in life, not just get by but to really succeed and prosper, I must get a college degree as it can openà ¶ up many close doors that a high school diploma couldn’t open for me. College is very important to me because it can equip me with the toolsRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education884 Words   |  4 PagesCollege Education is an institution of higher learning. Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States; it started in 1636. Colleges began to be established for two reasons. First, most were founded by religious denominations. Second, colleges were the pride of the community evoked by the revolution, the strange American pursuit of progress, and migration to the west. However, some people are against college education because many college graduates are employed

Essay about Conducting Surveys - 866 Words

Conducting Surveys A survey can either be administered as a census survey where every member of the appropriate population is surveyed, or a sample can be selected. A census survey gives you the most information and the most accurate picture of the population as a whole. When a population to be surveyed is small, census surveys are often recommended. When larger populations are considered, however, a census survey is sometimes not feasible because of cost and time constraints. When this is the case, there are several types of sampling that can be used to make inferences about the population you sample from. Simple Random Sample When the population is homogeneous, (e.g., all business†¦show more content†¦The collective group is the strata. Stratifying continues by dividing each stratum into more sub-groups until the strata accurately reflect the population. Random samples are then drawn from each stratum. Each sample size should reflect the stratums size in the overall population Qualitative Research ==================== Sampling Qualitative research does not generate statistical information and most of the concepts of statistically valid data do not apply; therefore, quantitative sampling issues do not apply to qualitative research. However, as the results of qualitative research are typically generalized to a population of customers or employees, a customer/employee profile is typically developed to help ensure the validity of these generalizations. The first step is to categorize the population of people about which you want to be able to generalize the research results. For example, customers who purchase specific types of products, live in specific locations, and purchase a minimum dollar amount of products on an annual basis. This profile will be used to ensure that the data collected is as representative as possible. As with any sampling discussion, sample size increases with the complexity of the population being studied. The next step in sampling is to develop a screening routine that will identifyShow MoreRelatedLiterature641 Words   |  3 Pagesstudy: It is important to be specific and clear when stating your purpose at the study. 4. Develop a research plan: Steps for developing and conducting your research that includes also how and when to collect data. 5. Contact stakeholders: Includes internal and external members of an institution who must review your research before conducting it, explaining and describing the potential benefits and plans of your research. 6. Conduct the study: Data collection begins and then isRead MoreListening During A Rehearsal And Performance1484 Words   |  6 Pagesof previous music experiences. Waggoner (2011) found that there was not a significant difference when testing error detection in undergraduate students at two different universities. Conducting has been found to inhibit listening skills (Forsythe Woods, 1983). Error detection skills were affected during conducting, suggesting that directors may not always hear problems in the ensemble. Directors should first develop a strong sense of inner hearing (the sound image developed during score study)Read MoreWhen Conducting The Research For My Survey, I Will Be Studying1680 Words   |  7 PagesWhen conducting the research for my survey, I will be studying the political preference of people in correlation to the political preference of the town they grew up in. For example, a person is more likely to be a Republican if they originate from a Republican-dominated town. The independent variable, the variable whose variation does not depend on the other, that will be studied is political preference of the participant: Republican, Democratic or Independent. 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The other uses data from research they have conducted through interviews of dog owners. Social Darwinism- The theory that people and groups can be thought to be under the same laws of natural selection as all plants and animals. Example: Believing that one race is superior to another. As if it were thought that one race or ethnic groupRead MoreA Study On The Ismaili Council Essay1704 Words   |  7 Pagesgenerated on the basis of current literature concerning the research topic (Bryman, 2008). Through the findings of my literature review, I developed a testable hypothesis. My methodology consists of an ordered set of steps that I will follow in conducting my research. 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Upon REB’s approval, the online survey invitation and questionnaire link were stated in detail on comefromchina.com and researcher’s private network with the criteria of qualified participants for this study (see Appendix C for the survey invitation). After reading the invitation, interested people were directed to the consent form page (see Appendix D for the informed consent form) by clicking the survey link. Once the terms were accepted, the questionnaire starting-page

Adolescence and music Free Essays

Consider the song lyrics provided below, both lyrics and performance, looking for themes or messages for adolescents or relating to adolescent development. You should describe the music and use the lyrics to explain what the lyrics communicate to adolescents and about adolescents, including an argument for whether or not there are cultural, moral, and political messages conveyed in the song. Finally, using what you have learned about adolescence, make an argument for why would this music appeal to adolescents Name: Course: Psychology 310, Fall 2006 Tutor: Date: University: Adolescence is a growth and development stage in ones life where a myriad of changes both in terms of psychological and physical terms take effect. We will write a custom essay sample on Adolescence and music or any similar topic only for you Order Now However whether a teenager will successfully transit into adult hood or get trapped by the challenges of adolescence is shaped by amongst others, family, the trait of the adolescent, and the external environment with which the adolescent interact such as religious settings, as well as school (Steinberg, 1999)). This lyric song is made to investigate the changes both behavioral and emotional that are undergone by adolescents. Personality development in adolescents changes the way an adolescent views his/her self and the way the same views the outside world. The myriad of challenges an adolescent undergoes shapes his/her relations with peers. The song provided develops certain themes, which are all central to the life of any adolescent; most of the themes revolve around culture, and morality. Sex. Adolescence is a period characterized by the acceptance of ones sex and sexuality. In the song this comes out when the lyrics mention sex in connection with adolescence. It reveals the fact that adolescents are of sex and sex matters and this is well manifested in the phrase that, â€Å"The timing/and structure/ did you hear/ he fucked her? † Relations with peers. Adolescence is a time when teens depend on their peers for almost every decision they make. They constantly look for comments and recommendations from fellow adolescents whom they regard as their equal and have no fear for, unlike their parents whom they consider too â€Å" old fashioned to understand them†. In this lyric song, there is a line that, â€Å"I’ll turn to a friend, someone that understands†, that evidences this. Status transitions. Adolescence is a transitory period and a lot happens at the same time in the lives of adolescents (Arnett, 2004). In the song, this comes up clearly when the teen in the song juxtaposes and delves into the next stage of life, adulthood and even envisions a marriage life. Identity formation The many questions asked in the song point to the fact that the adolescent is in the process of discovering their identity in the society. This is a common trait in adolescents who tend to attach a moral connotation to every single happening to their life (Arnett, J. A. 2002). The lyrics keep on addressing the issue of morality by asking questions on whether this or that is right and wrong. An example is found on the line, did you hear/ he fucked her? Changing personal relationships. Unlike in childhood when one can virtually associate with any one, teens are very selective of whom they enter into personal relationships with. In the lyrics this is evidenced by the fact that the singer keeps talking of the relationship and in a way, protecting and shielding it from perceiving threats. This is evidenced by the statement that she will turn to a friend who is understanding. Individuation process. This is evidenced by the fact that the singer does not want to imagine any one taking his/her friend. It seems he/she is prepared to posses the friend alone and not any where near sharing the friendship. Forming and dissolving intimate relationships. It is evident that, from the sentiments in the song, the singer is ready to make or break the relationship. This is characteristic of teenagers and it is evidenced by the the phrase that, The charade/ it won’t last/ I won’t come back. Psycho social problems. As the song progresses, it becomes clearer that the adolescent has some psycho social issues which needs to be addressed. Adolescence period is full of problems especially emotional and unless well handled, one can suffer from depression. This can be evidenced by the phrases, â€Å"on losing/ and failing†, and ‘we’ll pretend it’s okay’. Cognitive development. There is clear evidence of developed abstract thinking since through out the song the adolescent is drawing his/her feeling from abstract analysis of situations and not from just observation. Evidence can be drawn from the line that, â€Å"and your pictures/ are falling down. † Effects. There is increased self-consciousness, which is the cause of the imagined audience evident through out the lyrics. This can be shown from the lyrics by the fact that the writer decides to turn only to an understanding friend. Conclusion. Adolescence is a challenging stage in life when a lot of psychosocial, cognitive and physical changes appear in the lives of adolescents. The song analyzed above will appeal to most adolescents because it addresses issues central to their growth and developmental needs. There is a need for more studies to be aimed at discovering remedies to the many challenges a teen is faced with. More over, it is crucial that the government comes up with programs geared at supporting the teens as well as the community in dealing with the challenges associated with adolelescence. How to cite Adolescence and music, Papers

Teaching Vocabulary free essay sample

There are many studies that reinforce the key role of vocabulary size on reading and writing skills, especially on native speakers. Loafer in an analysis of the vocabulary of Israeli students, established that a good vocabulary size was important for reading comprehension and for fluency in speech. Golden claimed that measures of vocabulary size -particularly the size of academic vocabulary- are important indicators of the ability of second language learners to achieve academic success. Anderson and Forebode found out that there was a high correlation between a good performance in a vocabulary test and reading comprehension. Different research studies have also concentrated on tracking the development of vocabulary knowledge f language learners from different perspectives. Within this trend, we can identify several main groups: those studies that have addressed vocabulary acquisition of young learners in their native language, and those that deal with foreign language development. Among vocabulary acquisition studies, some focus attention on the development of depth of vocabulary knowledge (Harmer, Carlisle, Maya Guajarati, Triggers, Baritones,). We will write a custom essay sample on Teaching Vocabulary or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some other studies deal with how receptive vocabulary evolves with time and proficiency (Armor, Averred, Garcia Hoc, Smith,), and finally, some there studies address the issue of receptive vocabulary size at specific moments of development (Dolce, Danna, Chemistry, Hall, Golden, Nation, Read, Warning, Kibbles,). The object of our research is teaching vocabulary on the topic environment. The aim of the paper is to analyses various techniques on teaching vocabulary on the topic environment taking into consideration three main levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) of teaching English as a foreign language.Most of the examples were taken from different books taking into consideration elementary, intermediate and advanced levels of teaching. Of course, the topic is quite extensive and one cannot say that all possible vocabulary teaching techniques are represented here equally, but the most prominent ones are given due attention in the present paper. Due to the restrictions of space some of the practical examples were not given for each of the levels but only for those they are mostly typical for. The essay consists of introduction, four parts, conclusion and bibliography.Part 1 deals with general considerations concerning what needs to be taught, receptive and productive vocabulary and the criteria for selecting vocabulary and vocabulary exercises. The questions of vocabulary items grouping and how many items to teach are viewed. Part 2 is devoted to the problems connected with presenting vocabulary. The learning. In Part 3 practicing vocabulary techniques, namely visual aids, lexical and speaking exercises and games are analyses. Part 4 focuses on different approaches to testing vocabulary and vocabulary assessment.The main task of the essay is to show on various examples how all the listed vocabulary teaching techniques work, which ones are more preferable and in what cases most suitable. Part 1 . General Considerations for Teaching Vocabulary Psychologists, linguists, and language teachers have been interested in vocabulary learning strategies for a long time. Numerous studies have been conducted comparing the retention effects of different vocabulary presentation strategies. In fact, the vocabulary field has been especially productive in the last two decades. Generally speaking, the chapter focuses on the area, of vocabulary learning strategies, the analysis of the vocabulary learning task, the in order to acquire the vocabulary off second language 1. 1. What needs to be taught When a person approaches a relatively challenging task, s/he adopts certain trainees to solve the problem. This problem-solving process is constrained by the learning context where the problem is being tackled. Language learning in general and vocabulary acquisition in particular are such problem-solving tasks at different levels of complexity.The strategies a learner uses and the effectiveness of these strategies very much depend on the learner him/herself (e. G. , attitudes, motivation, prior knowledge), the learning task at hand (e. G. , type, complexity, difficulty, and generality), and the learning environment (e. G. , the learning culture, the richness of input and output opportunities). Vocabulary is not a syllabus, I. E. , a list of words that teachers prepare for their learners to memorize and learn by heart. Memorizing may be good and useful as a temporary technique for tests, but not for learning a foreign language.Language student need to learn vocabulary of the target language in another way. If we are really to teach students what word mean and how they are used, we need to show them being used together in context. Words do not Just exist on their own; they live together and they depend upon each other. Therefore, caching vocabulary correctly is a very important element in language learning. Correct vocabulary instruction involves vocabulary selection, word knowledge and techniques. One way to see the overall task of vocabulary learning is through the distinction between knowing a word and using a word.In other words, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the need arises (McCarthy). In fact, evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect (both breadth and PPTP) requires more conscious and explicit learning mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory (Ellis). Vocabulary learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for using as well as knowing a word. Another way to view vocabulary learning is to see it as a process of related sub- tasks.When learners first encounter a new word, they might guess its meaning and usage from available clues. Some learners might proceed to look it up in the dictionary. Others might take down notes along the margins, between the lines, or on prepare vocabulary notebooks. Some learners will repeat the new word a number of to commit the word to memory. Some would even try to use the word actively. Each of these task stages demands anticompetitive Judgment, choice, and deployment of cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning. And each strategy a learner uses will determine too large extent how and how well a new word is learned..Paul Nation has shed light on the multi-faceted nature of the kinds of knowledge required in learning a word. Form written What does the word look like? Word parts What word parts are recognizable in this word? Meaningful and meaning What meaning does this word form signal? Concepts and referents What is included in this concept? Associations What other words does this make us think of? Use grammatical function In what patterns does the word occur? Collocations words or types of words occur with this one? Constraints of use (register, frequency) Where, when and how often would we expect to meet this word? . 2. Criteria for selecting vocabulary Size of vocabulary knowledge, either receptive or productive, is generally acknowledged to be incremental. Schmitt highlights that vocabulary is incremental in number of ways. First, as regards the incorporation of new words into the mental lexical store; second, concerning the different aspects of word knowledge gradually being acquired. The aspects are not acquired on a yes/no basis, but as Schmitt says, it may be better to consider the degree of re ceptive/productive control of the various word-knowledge aspects.A general principle of vocabulary selection is frequency. It is worth examining items of the vocabulary on frequency word-counts. One of the most widely known word-counts is the General Service List of English Words (compiled and edited by Dry Michael West). Its aim was to scientifically select and compile the 2,000 most commonly used words in English from a study of 5 million running words of written English. The list also took account of the frequency of different semantic values within those words possessing more than one meaning. The Threshold Level was prepared for the Council of Europe by J. An Eek and includes a lexicon of approximately 1,500 items. The Threshold Level attempted to define a minimum level of general ability and the authors suggest that two-thirds of the lexicon would be required for productive use. A third, and easily available word- mount is the Cambridge English Lexicon (compiled by R. Handmaids). Handmaids set out to define a comprehension lexicon that would be sufficient for students to pass the Cambridge First Certificate Examination. The result is a list of 4,500 words with over 8,000 semantic values. The contents of frequency counts should not be accepted uncritically.Their value must be Judged against the source of the data and criteria governing inclusion of the data. And even if we accept the legitimacy of the items included, there will still be occasions when usefulness is not determined by frequency. Word-counts, being based on the utterances of native speakers, will obviously reflect the cultural interests of these speakers. Such interests may not be shared by Al learners, who may wish to express ideas and experiences quite outside those of native speaker. Landscape and environment are examples of this. Coverage very specific meaning.The criteria of need and level presuppose that students who are required to read technical reports in English in their native country will have different lexical needs to those learners who need English for travel purposes. Equally obvious is that elementary students will recognize limitations in their election of lexis that will not be true of advanced learners. As Paul Nation notes A good vocabulary exercise focuses on useful words, preferably high frequency words that have already been met before; focuses on a useful aspect of learning burden. It has a useful learning goal; gets learners to meet or use the word in ways that establish new mental connections for the word, it sets up useful learning conditions involving generative use; involves the learners in actively searching for and evaluating the target words in the exercise; does not bring related unknown or partly known words together, it avoids interference. 1. 3. Receptive and productive vocabulary It is not the main goal of this research project to offer a complete definition of what vocabulary is. Nevertheless the theoretical foundations behind this research study must be mentioned to foster understanding.Thus, in this particular section we shall explain how the concept of vocabulary has been understood for the elaboration of this research and the concrete aspects of this construct that have been taken into account and measured. The vocabulary construct is most often understood as being made up of several sublanguages or abilities. This perspective on vocabulary learning helps the researcher to focus on particular aspects in order to measure and test each one of them. The most widely spread distinction is that of receptive and productive vocabulary; both concepts are very often used with those of passive and active vocabulary.Receptive vocabulary is defined by Nation as carrying the idea that we receive language input from others through listening or reading and try to comprehend it. In other words, receptive vocabulary would involve reading or listening to a word and retrieving its meaning. On the contrary, productive scapulars conveys the idea of a learner wanting to express something through speaking or writing, retrieving the word and producing its appropriate spoken or written form. The fact that this distinction is a widely accepted one does not mean that it is free from controversy.In fact there are many researchers that argue that this distinction should not be understood as one with clear boundaries, as their definition may suggest, but as a continuum within the students interlingua. Near prefers to refer to these two concepts as passive and active vocabulary and as being the result of different types of associations between words. Following this view, active vocabulary may be activated by other words as it has many different connections with other words while passive vocabulary can only be activated by external stimuli, namely by hearing or seeing their forms.This associations view of vocabulary has been criticized because vocabulary knowledge is not always associational driven but meaning driven. In other words, a foreign language learner may be able to name an object in the second language when he/she sees it and this does not have to favor associations with other second or first words. Others, such as Fearer, Hussars, Phillips or Palmer, prefer to interpret this distinction between knowledge. Nation offers a wider vision of the concept and explains that the terms receptive and productive apply to a variety of kinds of language knowledge and use.A passive voc abulary includes the words stored in verbal memory that people partially understand, but not well enough for active use. These are words that people meet less often and they may be low frequency words in the language as a whole. In other words, activating them takes longer and it demands greater stimulus than most textual contexts provide. Words stop being passive if people are regularly contracting relations that activate them, since this lowers the amount of stimulus needed to put them to use. A facility in using the words develops.Again constraints of another kind in the existentialistic context may also restrict the active use of some words. This can happen even when words are available for active use in principle, such as cultural taboo words that most people know but rarely use outside certain settings. This can be compared with active vocabulary, which are words that learners understand and use in speaking or writing. The active and passive vocabulary of a learner changes constantly. They start using words, try new meanings, forget words, abandon words that have no use, revise words, etc.This distinction becomes a bit blurred, however, when we consider what knowing a word means and when we consider the way students seem to acquire their store of words. It is true that students know some words better than others, but it has not been demonstrated that these are necessarily the words which teachers have taught them, especially at higher levels. They might be words that are often used in the classroom or words hat have appeared in the reading texts which students have been exposed to.If we have any belief in language acquisition theories it is clear that many words which students know do come through that route rather than through learning. Other words may be those that students have looked up because they wanted to use them. At beginner and elementary levels it certainly seems a good idea to provide sets or vocabulary which students can learn. Most of these early words will be constantly practiced and so can be considered as active. But at intermediate levels and above the situation is rather more complicated.We can assume that students have a store of words but it would be difficult to say which are active and which are passive. A word that has been active through constant use may slip back into the passive store if it is not used. A word that students have in their passive store may suddenly become active if the situation or the context provokes its use. In other words, the status of a vocabulary item does not seem to be a permanent state of affairs. . For example, advanced learners often have an extremely large passive vocabulary but a considerably smaller active one. 1. 4. Grouping of items of vocabularySince vocabulary consists of a series of interrelating systems and is not Just a random collection of items, it is necessary to present items to a student in a systematized manner. Semantic fields are made up of sets of semantically similar items. These fields may range from very broad categories to smaller areas, and the same item may occur in different fields. Semantic fields form useful building blocks and can be revised and expanded as students progress; they often provide a clear context for practice as well. The groupings below consists so different types of semantic fields as well as phonological and grammatical sets.Clearly, some groupings are more most common and useful groupings found in course books e. G. Types of environmental pollution, disasters. Items similar in meaning are those which are easily confused. This type of group needs to be handled extremely carefully; the items need to be conceptualized properly, and it is vital to highlight to students the differences between items as clearly as possible. Items which form pairs are synonyms, contrasts and opposites. Conceptualization is essential here. Items along a scale or cline illustrate differences of degree. Items within word families (derivatives).It is often possible to group items of vocabulary to illustrate the principles of word building, the meanings of prefixes and suffixes and the related phonological difficulties. Items forming a set of idioms can form coherent groups e. G. Under the weather, on top of the world. However, this grouping is fairly restricted in practice and it is often easier to teach it as and when they arise. 1. 5. How many items to teach? We need to consider two questions in this section. First, the optimum vocabulary load for a single lesson, and second, the number of items that should be covered over the duration of the course.Researchers suggest an average of eight to twelve productive items as representing a reasonable input; the lower figure being more suitable for elementary students and the upper figure for more advanced students. The extent to which learners may fall short of the desired lexicon over the duration of the course, will depend on a number of factors. For learners in their own country much will depend on individual motivation , the priority given to the language course amongst other commitments, and any contact with the language they might have outside the classroom: through books, films, work or native speakers of English.In this context homework can play a very important role in vocabulary development. External factors are also be considered. The most important among them are the following ones: a) How similar in form is the target item to an equivalent in the learners own language? Cognates such as taxi, hotel, bar should only cause phonological problems and are thus useful to deal with early on when teaching beginners: they can give a learner a sense of satisfaction as well as allowing him to focus on a new phonological system.False cognates will demand considerable attention and effort on th e part of he student. Anything else which is completely removed from the learners own language will obviously more difficult to memories. B) How easy is it to illustrate the meaning? Concrete items which can be represented visually can be dealt with more economically than abstract items. Translation is often a useful shortcut, but sometimes there is no direct, clear translation, and as level of sophistication increase, dealing with meaning and form becomes a time-consuming activity. ) What is the students learning environment? Factors such as the intensiveness of the course, whether the students are studying Outside their language classrooms will have some bearing on the vocabulary load which they can handle. D) Learners who fail to adopt effective language learning strategies, or who have a poor memory for language items, or great difficulty with phonology, will probably be unable to absorb as many items as good learners. They learnt. Part 2. Presenting Vocabulary There are many approaches and techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items. We will now examine the most common ways in which meaning of new items is conveyed in a normal teaching situation. They are usually divided into woo major groups traditional techniques and student-centered learning. 2. 1 . Traditional techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items Although traditional approaches and techniques may sound pejorative, it is not intended to be; indeed, a teacher who was not able to make use of the following techniques might feel severely handicapped.Most of these are means which tend to be associated with a more teacher-centered approach and consequently the items taught through these means are usually selected by the teacher rather than the learner. 2. 1 . 1. Visual techniques Visuals are particularly useful for teaching concrete items of vocabulary. These include flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wheelchairs and realize(objects themselves). Visuals are mostly used at elementary and intermediate levels. For example: elementary level intermediate level advanced level Miming and gestures are other ways of conveying meaning.When teaching an item such as flood or pollution, a teacher may build a situation to illustrate them, making use of the blackboard and gesture to reinforce the meaning. 2. 1. 2. Verbal techniques Use of illustrative situations This is more helpful when items become more abstract. It is especially helpful with idioms and collocations To ensure that learners understand, teachers often make use of more than one situation or context to check that learners have grasped the concept.Since idioms and collocations prevail at intermediate and advanced levels, this technique is not frequently used at the elementary level. For example Intermediate level At the elementary level it is usually used in the form of text with inserted pictures. For example Elementary level Use of synonymy and definition compromise and restrict the length and complexity of their explanations. It would, for example, be Justifiable at low levels to tell students that freezing means very cold. Secondly, it is commonly used with higher level students and subsequently qualified. Boiling, sweltering, roasting, for instance, means the same as hot, but are more informal. Translation is insufficient for presenting such items as, for example, greenhouse effect. It is advisable to provide a definition. The greenhouse effect is the problem off rise in temperature in the earths atmosphere. Definition alone is often inadequate as a means of conveying meaning, and conceptualized examples are nearly required to clarify the limits of the item. This technique is best applied at the intermediate and advanced level.For example, here is a small text about the weather. You can find definitions for each word in bold type below it. 3. Contrasts and opposites This is a technique which students themselves use, often asking Whats the opposite 4. Scales Once students have learnt two contrasting or related gradable items, this can be a useful way of revising and feeding in new items. If students know hot and cold, for example, a blackboard thermometer can be a framework for feeding in warm, cool, freezing, boiling.There are many different words referring to features of the environment. Here are some arranged on small to large scales. Brook stream river hillock hill mountain cove bay gulf copse wood forest puddle pond lake footpath lane road 5. Examples of the type To illustrate the meaning of subordinates such as birds, fish, rodents, reptiles , it is a common procedure to exemplify them. For example, rat, mouse, squirrel, hamster are rodents. For example Translation is a quick and easy way to present the meaning of words but it is not without problems. In the first place, translation may not always convey the exact sense of an item, in the second place it may make it a bit too easy for students by discouraging them from interacting with the words. Person-dependent Vocabulary Learning Strategies From guessing at the first encounter, to possible dictionary use and note taking, to rehearsal, encoding, and contextual activation, vocabulary learning in real life situations is a dynamic process involving anticompetitive choices and cognitive implementation of a whole spectrum of strategies.Whether and how a learner evaluates the task requirement and whether and how a cognitive strategy is oriented process view of vocabulary acquisition that looks at naturally occurring vocabulary learning strategies as they relate to individual differences as well as the vocabulary learning task is beginning to form a new trend. Good learners, poor learners, and their vocabulary strategies The Named (1989) study referred to earlier was amongst the first to elicit vocabulary strategies learners spontaneously employ.The good learners were found to be more aware of what they could learn about new words, paid more attention to collocation and spelling, and were more conscious of contextual learning. By contrast, the underachieving learners refused to use the dictionary and almost always ignored unknown words. They were generally characterized by their apparent passiveness in learning. They also took each word as a discrete item unrelated to previously learned words.Another study that explored students ability level and their guessing strategies is Stouten-van Preparer (1989). It was found that, compared to their strong counterparts, weak pupils tended to focus on the problem word and ignore the context; their knowledge of the world was more restricted; they had difficulty integrating knowledge from different sources; they caked mother tongue vocabulary knowledge, and they had difficulty generalizing from words they had already learned to slightly different new words.