PEE Paragraph.

Text G's inclusion of illustration could be seen as an example of a context cue that will help the reader to gain an understanding of the whole piece. An example of this comes where their is a illustration of a notebook and a pencil accompanied by arrows saying 'a pencil' and 'a notebook.' The child may be prone to a miscue of the words (especially notebook as it is polysllyabic) may be a word that they may struggle to pronounce without the illustration. Children of the same age as Tom have only been in school for a year or two maximum, so therefore are unlikely to do much work in books. Therefore they may not be familiar with a word such as notebook as this may be something that they have not come across

From the start of the twentieth century, the world has changed dramatically in the way we communicate with each other. One of the main uses in today's society is social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The introduction of new technology such as iPhone' s, laptops and tablets also make these social networks more accessible for any time of the day anywhere. From this rapid development, a considerable amount of neologisms and coinages have been introduced into our everyday language.

An example of a neologism is the use of the word Google. This was obviously first introduced as a noun as it was the name of a particular search engine, however over the past few years the term has been broadened. Nowadays the term "google" can be seen as a verb, this is due to the popularity of that particular search engine that people may say they are 'googling' something when they are using a different search engine.

Pejoration has also taken place since the recent use of social networking and technology, an example of this is with the span. Before the twentieth century, spam was known as a brand of a precooked and canned meat product and had few negative connotations, however in today's world the word spam refers to receiving irrelevant or unsolicted messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users, normally for the purposes of advertising or spreading malware, it has therefore created negative connotations as spam is now considered as annoying, unnecessary and harmful to the persons device.

A question all my participants were asked during my questionnaire was what features of an accent appealed to them and why, many of these answers included specifications that could be seen to fit the criteria of the Geordie accent. This is supported by another piece of research by ComRes (2013), however in this one it was concluded that Geordie is the second most friendly accent in the United Kingdom (the Devonshire accent was first but however is not included in my data.) These answers my participants gave on what makes an accent desirable included that if it ‘sounds different’, ‘sounded fun’, ‘welcoming’ and ‘gentle’ they were more attracted to someone’s accent. It could also be speculated that part of the reason for the Geordie accent being so favourable is due to the external exposure my participants have to the accent through the incredibly popular television series Geordie Shore. If I was to eliminate the Geordie accent from the data, it would leave Heightened Received Pronunciation and BBC English as the top two accents in this category which would therefore match my hypothesis.

How Children learn to read

Finding the best way to inspire children to become fluent readers has long been debated. The "look and say" approach, where children learnt to memorise words, dominated in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. But now the pendulum has swung towards phonics-based teaching, where children decode words by sounds. The Department for Education says international evidence demonstrates that phonics is the most effective way of teaching early reading, and this year introduced a phonics reading test for six-year-olds.

The revised national curriculum, coming into force from September 2014, requires reception and year 1 students to be taught Synthetic phonics (where children learn to recognise letters with their associated sounds – and how to blend those sounds to "read" the "words.") Students aren't meant to get help from clues such as context, meaning or illustration. It's difficult to gauge how rigidly this will be enforced, but the situation certainly suggests there'll be a significant increase in pressure on schools and teachers to conform.

A child's ability to learn to read, known as reading readiness, begins in infancy, as the child begins attending to the speech signals in their environment and begins producing spoken language.[3] Children make some use of all the material that they are presented with, including every perception, concept and word that they come in contact with; thus the environment in which a child develops affects the child's ability to learn to read.[3] The amount of time that a child spends together with parents or other important caregivers while listening to them read is a good predictor of the level of reading that the child will attain later in life.[3][4] As a child sits with a caregiver, looking at pictures and listening to stories, he or she will slowly learn that all the different lines on each page make different symbols and then that together these symbols refer to words.[3] Taking time to read to children is the most important precursor to a child's development of reading.[3] Preschool-aged children with limited exposure to books and reading in their home, including limited experience of being read to, are at risk of reading difficulties.[3] For example, these children tend to have less exposure to literary phrases, such as "Once upon a time",[3] and have smaller vocabularies,[5][6] both factors that affect the ability to read by limiting comprehension of text. The environment in which a child lives may also impact their ability to acquire reading skills. Children who are regularly exposed to chronic environmental noise pollution, such as highway traffic noise, have been known to show decreased ability to discriminate between phonemes as well as lower reading scores on standardized tests.

Many of today’s primary school teachers are dissatisfied with the way children are taught to read, with the teachers leaders saying it causes children ‘long term damage.’ In a recent poll of about 1500 year one teachers 90% said they discovered nothing new about their pupils reading abilities after phonetics tests, the government still believe the test is vital.

The benefits of children reading at a young age include:

·         Mental Stimulation

·         Stress Reduction

·         Knowledge

·         Vocabulary Expansion

·         Memory Improvement

·         Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills

·         Improved Focus and Concentration

·         Better Writing Skills

·         Tranquillity     

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_to_read

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19812961

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19438535

·

Phonological development in Children

Children at a young age tend to make simple and abstract errors when stepping up and speaking to an adult as they are learning to speak just like them, these are known as phonological processes, here is an example of some:

Phonological Process Example   Description   Pre-vocalic voicing car = gar A voiceless sound preceding a vowel is replaced by a voiced sound. Word final devoicing red = ret A final voiced consonant is replaced by a voiceless consonant Final consonant deletion boat = bo A final consonant is omitted (deleted) from a word. Velar fronting car = tar A back sound is replaced by a front sound. Palatal fronting ship = sip sh or zh are replaced b y s or z respectively Consonant harmony cup = pup The pronunciation of a word is influenced by one of the sounds it 'should' contain. Weak syllable deletion telephone = teffone Weak (unstressed) syllables are deleted from words of more than one syllable. Cluster reduction try = ty A cluster element is deleted or replaced. Gliding of liquids ladder = wadder Liquids are replaced by glides. Stopping ship = tip A stop consonant replaces a fricative or affricate.

If a child finds difficulties pronouncing a word liker an adult, then Phonetic Simplification may take place, one form of this is known as deletion, this is where the child will discard either the first or the last consonant, for example "spor" or "port" instead of sport.  Another form of Phonetic Simplification is substitution, this is where if a child cannot pronounce a particular consonant, then they will simply replace it with a consonant they can pronounce for example "dun" instead of "sun".

There are several sounds children can say relatively quickly and are able to use almost immediately, these include: vowels, p, m, h, t, w, n, b and t. The more difficult ones include k, g, f, v, y, r, i, s ,ch ,ng and sh

http://www.talkingkids.org/2011/04/speech-sounds-and-kids-part-2.html

https://cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/~CL/download/BachTh_TobiasRauch.pdf

http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30:table2&catid=11:admin&Itemid=117

CDS techniques used for Zach 2;4

As discussed in class, Zach uses a number of non standard language in this transcipt, this is all due to his age and him still being in the telegraphic stage, as he will gets older he will move out of this. Halla uses a number of Child Directed Speech techniques to help her communicate with her son. I did two quantified two interesting aspects of the transcript, these were how many times repition was used by Halla and the second being the number of tag questions that were used.

I counted that Halla repeated Zach 9 times:

• Z: I cutting round the edge (.) so it doesn't/get sharp  H: so it doesn't get sharp?
• Z: I dont know (0.5) where's my little pad gone?  H: where is your little pad?
• Z: uh (1) here it is  H: here it is (12) what are you drawing (.) Zach?
• Z: a banana (0.5)and 3 things in the banana (0.5) H: a banana and what? (.) 3 things?
• Z: yes (.) for the banana  H: for the banana (.)
• Z: erm (.) I got food on the floor  H: yeah you threw food on the floor (1)
• Z: I think I don't  H: nah I think you don't (4) you wanted/ to do some drawing
• Z: it doesn't go frough  H: it doesn't go through? (.) why not?
• Z: and bolognay H: and bolognaise (.) yes (3)

I can only speculate on why these forms of CDS was used, but its could be argued that repetition was used as a technique to encourage Zach to speak. By repeating what he says enables him to either say "yes" or "no as confirmation, or to expand on what he was saying, this therefore allows him to develop his speech. Another reason for repetition may be because Zach may not be completely understood yet, and my repeating what he said gives him an opportunity to correct himself if that's not what he meant to say.

Employers Guide - Everyone's input is important!
                                                                                 
         
No matter what your personal thoughts are on someone, value what they're say, it may be that million pound idea.
Dwayne Jones 06/10/14

Gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, social background, I'm sure there are variations of these all around your place of employment. Now take a moment to imagine if all these differences were erased and everyone was exactly the same.. boring isn't it?

Due to all these differences, it is inevitable that there are also going to be in your colleagues speech, this guide should explain how people think differently and also how we should value the diversity in our language.

One of the most notable differences in the workplace is obviously gender, A huge amount of research has taken place on this topic, one of the most notable being Deborah Tannen's difference theory. In this she summarised a category called Status v Support, this is where men look to build their status and help others whereas women use language to seek and offer. Although these may appear contrasting, it could be argued that these go hand in hand and could encourage unity within the workplace.

Commentary 

I initially decided to go into more detail into diverse speech in age within speech, however I decided against this as I had a considerable amount of gender theory that I could incorporate into this article, for example Deborah Tannen's difference theory, this may also be recognisable to several of my target audience due to her book 'You Just Don't Understand', I saw this as another advantage of using gender theory.

I also originally had a considerable amount of rhetorical questions in this article, however I omitted all but one. My reason for doing this was because I considered my target audience (adult in a professional job) and decided that the inclusion of so many rhetorical questions may be considered as patronising to them.

Methodology ideas

My main topic for my coursework would be Language and Power. This is as my investigation would be on how prestige is presented or how describing different accents determine perception on prestige or a bit of the both.

To do this I would use a range of people and have them read an extract or monologue. One group may be told to do it in a profile of a character (with knowledge of their mood, relationship..) another in a certain accent and the final to read it naturally.

From this I should be able to see the difference in language and accent depending on how I brief the participant before the experiment.

A possible problem may be that I may not be able to find a completely neutral piece of text for the participants to read, however I could deal with this by making my own. This would therefore make it certain that they had not seen the text before.

Initial Courseworks ideas

I am interested in Language and Power, a initial idea I had was experiment that found how prestige is presented and also how describing different accents determine perception on prestige.

An alternative idea that I could use if my initial one does not work is either a longditutional study or cross section on the different uses of power techniques used by different political leaders internationally, I could look at this over the course of several years or through the different nationalities of the leaders.

Transcripts

The Apprentice Transcript

Sir Alan: You won by default (.) you lost money and you won by default

Phillip: Yeah I can’t do anything right

Sir Alan: Listen (.) don’t get impatient with me Ph- Phillip

Phillip: I’m not (.) I’m not Sir Alan it’s just that it seems I can’t do anything right (.) you criticize me I get in the nick (.) I win as project manager I get in the nick (.) I cannot do anything right

Sir Alan: That’s all you’ve seemed to do today Phillip is criticize Lorraine (.) if you could come out with something else constructive um (1) I might listen to you (.) that’s all you’ve done from the minute you’ve walked in this door today

Phillip: Because she’s troublesome Alan (1) she’s trouble (.) week after week after week you’ll get this again and again and again

Lorraine: Trouble

Phillip: My perfom- I think I’ve been one of the outstanding candidates over these past few weeks (.) I’ve had

Sir Alan: Well listen (.) look look look (2) you know the body rocker thing (.) I don’t know if the bleedin thing has gone into your head or what okay you done well there yeah

Phillip: Yep

Sir Alan: Yeah and the design of it okay (.) but that’s it you know (.) one swallow don’t make a summer (.) you understand cause since then you haven’t done that great from my understand-

Phillip: Well I sold three items last week Sir Alan

Man: Tell us about pants man (4)

Sir Alan: Kate

Kate: Yep

Sir Alan: What I cannot understand and cannot get my head around is how you’ve gone to hero to zero (.) you didn’t sell one thing this week

Jose Mourinho Press Conference Transcript

R – Reporter

JM – Jose Mourinho

R: Arsene’s also said that the comments said that comments coming from managers saying that they are not in the title race (.) do you have a fear of/

JM: /You know he is a specialist in failure (.) uh (1) I’m not (2) I’m not (.) so if I am is supposedly he is right and I am afraid of fail it is because I don’t fail many times (.) so (5) maybe he’s right maybe I’m not used to fail (2) but uh the reality is that he is a specialist because eight years without the (2) a piece of silverware that’s failure (.) and if I do that in Chelsea eight years Iive long and I don’t come back

R: For the record do you fear anything in football

JM: No

R: (3) Do you think you’ve rattled Arsene Wenger’s a little bit with the things that you’ve said like the response we got from him this morning

JM: No (2) I just say if uh (.) Mr Abrahmovic gives me eight years to prepare a team (.) which I don’t want him to give me (.) I don’t want (.) I just want my (2) my contract of four years to do my work and after that to deserve (.) or not deserve my next contract (1) but uh (1) you need years you have to build so much so much so much and so much (2) but I don’t want (.) I don’t want eight years I just want uh (.) four (.) and I just want the next one to say say that um (2) I feel we are committed

Analysis

The primary audience of the Apprentice conversation are those being addressed to in the boardroom, as well as the secondary audience which is the television viewers who tune in to watch the programme. However in my second transcript, which takes place in a press conference is the large amount of reporters and journalists who have arrived in order to watch and listen Jose Mourinho are the primary audience with the secondary audience being football fans reading, watching or listening in through the media.

Despite being two transcripts of a completely different genre, there are a considerable amount of links and similarities that can be seen in the pieces. One of these being the purpose of both texts, which is in some cases to demoralise an opponent. The reason for them doing so may be completely different (Phillip uses this on Lorraine so she is eliminated from the competition, not him and Jose Mourinho does this to aggravate Arsene Wenger, ultimately in attempt to win the Premier League) but they both use the direct form of name calling to put down their opponent, Phillip calls Lorraine “troublesome” and Mourinho calls Wenger a “specialist in failure. These are both attempts to give them the upper hand on their opposition. 

Aspects of power are also shown in both pieces, in the Apprentice conversation there are signs of competitive overlap between Sir Alan and Phillip. This is interesting as Sir Alan is obviously thought of as the more powerful participant (he is the businessman who will be giving Phillip the job if he decides that he is appropriate for the job), however Phillip is challenging this, it could be argued that he does this to show that he can match Sir Alan’s leadership qualities in the hope for Sir Alan to recognise this and therefore appoint him. On the other hand, perhaps Sir Alan found this too full on, and confirmation that he should be fired. Although this takes place, this piece still shows Sir Alan as the more powerful participant, this is because he uses imperatives, for example “don’t get inpatient with me Ph-Phillip”. Most of the time Phillip addresses Sir Alan before he speaks, this also shows Sir Alan’s authority in the conversation, he all but once makes sure he says “Sir” also.  Power asymmetry is shown in the Mourinho press conference, this is shown as Mourinho uses far more utterances than the reporters, this is as he and the press know that this press conference is all about him. He is also notorious for his clever and witty comments, so the reporters say as little as they can in order to increase the likelihood of Mourinho making a memorable comment.

Chosen Hero Text

My group ultimately decided to use a combination of two texts, one being an advertisment for train tickets and the other being an advertisment for men to donate blood platelets; so there was a reasonable amount of contrast between the two.

As a group we discussed how the train ticket advertisment was aiming to attract both genders, this was because it was in the form of a movie (with it's font, the title "Saving Precious Penny" and the age rating) and specifically a chick flick, which would therefore appeal to more women. However, they also give the male the look of strong and powerful as well as making the woman appear as an object with the line "but can he get her back?" This will therefore make men want to look at this in hope for them to fulfill the main aim of the text, to make people buy their reduced priced tickets.

The poster advertising bloof platelets also encouraged alot of discussion in the group, we mentioned the list of criteria that the person would have to fit if they were to donate blood platelets. We concluded that this was used to give the donator the belief that they are special as they are one of the few that are eligible and also the feeling that they are really needed as many people will not be eligible. Although the criteria is not too strict (the first being that they have to be male) this may be enough to motivate the reader to actually do something about what they are reading and consequently donate their blood platelets.

The final discussion between our group was why two such contrasting pieces were put together, we decided that it was as both are imposing on the male to do something for someone other than themselves, which would therefore make them be seen as a hero.

Grouping task

Both texts E and F use spontaneous language, they are both dialogues between two people. There is evidence of Text E being spontaneous with the high use of non- fluency features such as 'er'. These are useful for the text as it clearly shows that it is a conversation that is taking place between the customer and the vendor, the use of non-fluency features also shows that what is being said is fresh from their head and not had any time to think over in their head.


Another example of spontaneous language in Text E is the regular use of pauses, there is a range of the length of these, from brief such as "hello there(.)..." to a couple of seconds long like "OK (2)..." This also consolidates the fact that this is a spontaneous text as the use of these pauses perhaps show that the person who is speaking has to take a break to think about what they are going to say next, possibly to consider if what they are going to say is correct, appropraite and makes sense.

This text can also be considered as spontaneous with the use of the actions and movements that take place during when one of the people are talking. For example, the use of action and movement that takes place in "let me just check that for you [looks for records].." shows that they what they are saying has been just thought of as the actions either match his words or are an result of what he says next.

Text F is also spontaneous, this can firstly be seen in the times that the messages have been sent, for example, person B sends four messages in the space of only eleven seconds. These messages are too close to eachother; they must be coming straight from their thoughts and then typing.

The dialogues are both between two people who know eachother, however, Text E shows evidence that they are not particularly close, this is as the vendor knows the address of  the customer, but remains speaking in a colloquial register to the customer, this can be considered as professional, but it would be gathered from the text that they are only famililar with eachother and have no solid relationship. In contrast, Text F shows signs of a stronger relationship, with the use of an intimate register, non standard english and an uneven dialogue, as person B sends more messages than person A

After taking a considerable amount of time going through my Language and Power piece and then looking through an example of the same piece from an A grade candidate, I compared our work to see how I could improve in attempt to achieve the same high grade.

I compared it by using a certain criteria, these were the use of Power terms, Context (with the use of Audience, Purpose, Form) and Terminology/Quotes. I recognise that a regular and in depth use of these concepts will make my piece more sophisticated and therefore will push me onto achieving a higher grade. I highlighted these three concepts in different colours on both pieces.

After doing this, I could see just by looking at both pieces that the A grade answer had far more highlighted overall than what mine did. My answer especially lacked Power terms and Context. I have therefore given myself the target of learning more of these, my task will be practice of the power terms and then including these in PEE sentences with insightful context.

Language and Power

Piece 1
Extract of Barack Obama's State of Union Address: 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it, and did her part to lift America's graduation rate to its highest level in more than three decades. An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup, and did her part to add to the more than 8 million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years. An autoworker fine-tuned some of the best, most fuel-efficient cars in the world, and did his part to help America wean itself off foreign oil.

A farmer prepared for the spring after the strongest five-year stretch of farm exports in our history. A rural doctor gave a young child the first prescription to treat asthma that his mother could afford. A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired, but dreaming big dreams for his son. And in tight-knit communities all across America, fathers and mothers will tuck in their kids, put an arm around their spouse, remember fallen comrades, and give thanks for being home from a war that, after 12 long years, is finally coming to an end.

Tonight, this chamber speaks with one voice to the people we represent:  It is you, our citizens, who make the state of our union strong.

And here are the results of your efforts:  The lowest unemployment rate in over five years. A rebounding housing market. A manufacturing sector that's adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. More oil produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world -- the first time that's happened in nearly 20 years. Our deficits -- cut by more than half. And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world's number one place to invest; America is.

That's why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America. After five years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth.

The question for everyone in this chamber, running through every decision we make this year, is whether we are going to help or hinder this progress. For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It's an important debate -- one that dates back to our very founding. But when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy -- when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States -- then we are not doing right by the American people.

Piece 2
Educating Essex 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu2MCbeKHG0

Piece 3
Sky news - Interview with David Beckham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53cGvGDwsOY

Piece 4
Outnumbered Scene 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDf_kU2V5as

Piece 5
Guardian Article
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/31/cultural-power-of-languages-live-chat

Synthetic Personalisation

The advertisement uses synthetic personalisation to make them believe what is being said is intended directly for them. This is done by the use of the words “your” and “you” that is used in the piece. The use of the words “your life” is a clever use of personification which makes the person believe that their phone is their life, and therefore they deserve the best phone. The use of the words “At last” is also useful as it gives the reader the perception that they have always needed what this new phone has to offer, even though they may not have known it. The words at last create the connotations of need and desire which will therefore make the reader want whatever they have been missing with their current phone. 

Mini investigation - Language and Technology

I set out with the hypothesis that linguistic features remain at a constant level in terms of linguistic features and/or distinctive features in a particular person whatever form of social network is used.

I attempted to test this by going onto some famous peoples Facebook and Twitter pages. I am aware that some famous people have hired people to manage their social media accounts and to in response to this possible issued I made sure I looked at well known people who are known to be very opinionated and an icon who people would be listened to and followed so therefore would be highly unlikely to have someone write their status'/tweets.

I realised that on most of the celebrities social networks, their posts were completely identical on all social networks, I then remembered that it is possible to synchronise Twitter to your Facebook accounts so that status' and tweets are the same.

I must therefore adjust my hypothesis so this has been put into consideration

Transcript Writing

Our task was for Liam to draw several abstract images and shapes. Me and him were back to back, Liam then had to describe to the best of his ability what he had drawn. He was directing me on what to draw, as I could not see what he had drawn, the objective of the task was to try and get identical pictures but more importantly to record what was said in order to practice transcript writing.

Here is an extract from mine and Liam's dialogue.

Liam: To the top left draw a diamond.

Me: (7) Yeah.

Liam: About the space of your little finger (.) on the (.) right edge of the diamond (.) stick your finger out and draw a snowman with a small head(.) but it's got to be joined.

Me: Small head.

Liam: Then a big body going down but don't separate the head (.) don't put a line (2) if you get where I'm coming from.

Dwayne: Yeah.

Liam. Um (3) below the diamond (.) probably a finger space below it do an equal sign.

From this extract you notice a lot (.)'s, these are pauses in Liam's speech. This was because Liam is thinking of the directions in his head before he tells me them. This prevents him from telling me the wrong thing. In this extract you also see a very long pause before I say yeah "Yeah". This is because I was processing in my head what Liam had told me then actually performing the act by drawing the object. After Liam gives me a set of directions, I repeat back to him a part of what he said by saying "Small head". This is a use of back channel agreement, doing this shows that I have heard and understood what he has said, he then also has the opportunity to correct as he has heard what is on my mind.

Coursework Part 2 - Travel Writing

New York, the city that never sleeps.

Finally, after several hours of exhausting trekking, I arrive in the center. Shivers run through my spine. I recognise my surroundings now, it’s exactly how I pictured it - only more perfect. With my coffee in one hand, and map in the other, I have all I need to continue my adventure.

As the snow continues to fall, the freezing icicles absorb into my furry hat. My gloves struggling to cope with protecting me from the raw cold that besieges me. With the flaming flask in my hand being my only form of warmth, I walk through and all I can see is gleaming lights of warmth, shelter and homeliness surrounding me. Businessmen zooming through the streets, taxis beeping their horns, groups of teenagers hurrying around, young men prancing around trying to earn money, old men on the sidewalk begging for that spare dollar. I am wary that I may accidentally walk into the rush.

As I advance further though my trip, I see fast white clouds emerge from the ground. Panic rushes through my head as I furiously ponder on what this may be. My head spins rapidly to see everyone else’s reaction to this, however everyone seems oblivious to it. Can they not see what I am seeing? Is this of the norm? I reach the conclusion of the latter.

It abruptly dawns on me that I have lost track of where I’m going - I am lost. But I don’t mind, is there really a better place in the world to be adrift?

As I continue walking through the city, I pass what two minutes ago looked like a insignificant, microscopic dot. To my surprise it has transformed to this sizable, substantial skyscraper that now alludes me instantly. My perception of where I am eventually returns.

Whether I am lost or found, there’s some things I can’t escape - McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme.. The list goes on.

As the daylight begins to fade, snow continues falling from the sky but is now easing up. The day is getting later and the darkness is starting to spread, however the city is only getting brighter. As if a magician has cast a spell, the city transforms from a formidable fortress surrounded in slush to a gleaming mirage of shimmering wonder. I wouldn’t change this for the world.

The cold still smacks my face, with the wind whooshing through as if it is trying to knock me off my feet, the only thing that has any chance of doing that are these sparkling stars that follow me on my every move. I walk on and make it to my hotel, as I breeze through the security greets me with a ‘Good evening sir’, as I walk further in, a sudden rush of warmth flows through my body, the scent of homemade cooking runs through my nostrils, I feel at home. I’m at the right place.

Coursework Part 1 - Newspaper Article

Dear Britain, can we stop being so cheap for tourists?

Sickening figures show that tourists are costing the NHS £2bn. Someone call the doctor. 

Dwayne Jones
Thursday 24th  October 2013 16.34 BST


A breakdown of the freebees available to tourists.

We have an emergency.

Or perhaps, according to some of our leading politicians, there is no virus spreading at all.

On one side we have Sir David Nicholson, shrugging off all criticism towards him concerning funding, workers and numerous scandals. He insists that he has done a good job and will continue to do so.

“I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” he told BBC Radio 4’s today programme, however he did concede that there is room for improvement, saying “We could always do better”.

However on the other hand we have his to-be successor, Simon Stevens, who is adamant Nicholson is doing it all wrong. Mr Stevens has seems to have drastic plans to remedy the horrifying statistics that exist today. There has been suggestions of a paid for ‘American-activated’ healthcare.

To me, this radical scheme is just a desperate attempt to salvage pride after the department of health released some quite disturbing facts on how much tourism costs the NHS.

Reports show that Britain is now considered the country with ‘some of the most generous rules in the world’. Further statistics estimate that £388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment, and a further £300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare. All this contributes to the most frightening statistic of them all… The estimated £20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.

Soft. That’s what Britain has become, soft. Now, I am all for world equality and I appreciate that health is one of the most important things in life and some are not fortunate enough to not be able to afford the healthcare they need. But given our country’s financial state still being on the edge, we cant afford to give millions of people healthcare freebees.

Jeremy Hunt has said “It’s time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service - not an international one”. I can only agree with him, if this situation continues, I can see it getting very, very difficult for the economy.

Britain have become the Shepard…With the tourists being the sheep… However our barn is not big enough to accommodate everyone (especially those who don’t need looking after.) So therefore we need a solution or this country may start facing some problems.

Big problems. New ideas need to be put in place to show the world that this is not a place where we hand out free operations to people who ‘just need to check they’re alright’ or free eye tests because they ‘saw two fingers instead of one’.

One idea that has been put into consideration is to charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million and consequently be a form of recovering the money previously lost.

It looks like there is going to be a change, I like the sound of this change, we must have a change - so maybe let’s hold of dialling 999, for now anyway.











Bibliography

Sir David Nicholson quote “I am absolutely proud of my NHS record” - Interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme - The Telegraph, 11th July 2013

Facts

“£388 million goes on tourists who are wrongly given free treatment”
“£300 million is used on tourists who simply take advantage of Britain’s leniency on healthcare”
“£20 - £200 million spent on tourists has been increased up to 100 times more than that. An appalling £2 BILLION.”
“Charge foreign students £150 a year for healthcare and £200 a year to temporary migrants - this is anticipated to generate approximately £200 million”  - All from Daily Mail - The TRUE cost of health tourism, 22nd October 2013

theguardian

TECHNOLOGY BLOG 

Started from the bottom, now its here 

Twitter: What have they done to get to the top?

With now it being reported that there is over 100 million people using this, we look at some statistics on how this powerhouse of a Social network got to where it is now.

The sign we have all become so familiar to.

Waking up, eating your toast, brushing your teeth, having a shower, having 140 words to say what lies ahead of your day. The latter has become so much the norm to so many of us. The opportunity for anybody to share their life and whatever is going on in it which gives them the impression the whole world actually cares, is simply irresistible as it is believed that 50 percent of the 100 million users that exist log in and use the service everyday.

Twitter has triumphed over other social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo and after defeating the powerhouse of social networks.. Facebook, Twitter can now call itself the leader of these other huge names. However the question I now believe we must ask ourselves is how much longer will the recognisable tweeting bird can stay 'top of the tree'?