Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in Military Personnel Essay Example for Free

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in Military Personnel Essay Post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) is defined as a psychological disorder which arises from life-threatening experiences; affecting the physical or emotional state of the individual. Examples of these experiences are motor accidents; natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and the like; man-made tragedies such as plane crash and hijacking; abusive experiences in childhood; traumatic personal experience such as rape or torture; and violent military associated events. The symptoms associated with this disorder include those homologous to anxiety attacks or depression. The patient will also experience sleeping problems, emotional numbness, psychological catatonia, lack of affection for other people and even aggressiveness. One outstanding symptom of PTSS patients is avoidance of specific places and situations that is associated to the primary cause of the disorder. Since these will trigger memories related to their traumatic experience, it is of utmost importance for them to avoid any contact and encounter with these scenarios. Also, the patient usually has recurrent flashbacks or hallucinations of this particular, damaging event (University of Virginia Health System, 2007). Post traumatic stress syndrome can be observed in a varied class of individuals: regardless of sex, age, culture or economic status. In short, PTSS can be observed in any kind of character, given enough dose of traumatic experience. In the United States, the percentage of the population affected by PTSS is estimated to be between 1% to 12%. It was estimated that around 7. 7 million Americans are suffering from PTSS and that 30% of individuals who were in war-stricken areas will suffer from PTSS (University of Virginia Health System, 2007). In specific classes in society, PTSS is observed to occur at 0. 2% in post partum women, 18% in fire fighters, 34% in adults involved in vehicular accidents, 48% in female rape victims and 67% in prisoners of war. (Lange, 2000) In this paper, the impact of this phenomenon will be studied on military personnel: the factors contributing to the advent of the disorder, the statistics of military personnel with PTSS, the medical intervention and treatment used for PTSS and the effectiveness of the treatment used by the military to cure PTSS. History of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in the US Military: Various Wars through the Years Post Traumatic Syndrome in military personnel was correlated with a number of pre-military, military and post-military factors. These three pertain to the background of the soldier before joining the military, the activities one engaged in as a military personnel and one’s life after military service. For pre-military risk factors, some of these were emotional instability, age of entry into the military, past child abuse, minority status, socioeconomic status, substance abuse and years of education. For military risk factors, these were degree of atrocities witnessed or participated in of a soldier, combat exposure, captivity, injury in combat and danger threatening the soldier’s life. Post-military risk factors, on the other hand, include time of discharge from the military, substance abuse, available social support and socioeconomic status (Bremmer, 2005). Post traumatic stress syndrome was first observed in war veterans who were assigned in the war against Vietnam during the 1980’s. This was the first time the scientific and psychological community acknowledge this disorder. Since PTSS was not yet known to the world, it was initially called battle fatigue and shell shock (University of Virginia Health System, 2007). In this war, it was estimated by the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey (NVVRS) that 15. 2% of male veterans and 8. 1% of female veterans; 479,000 out of 3,140,000 and 610 out of 7,200, respectively; were diagnosed with PTSS during a two year study in 1986. In terms of delinquency observed in these Vietnam War veterans, almost half of male soldiers who were diagnosed with PTSS were arrested or jailed at least once after their diagnosis. The percentage of those who were convicted was estimated to be at 11. 5%. In 2004, there were around 161,000 veterans who are still receiving PTSS disability compensation from the government. But even before this decade, military men and women had already suffered from war-related disorders. In World War II, it was estimated by the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that in every 20 deployed military, there was one individual who suffered PTSS-related symptoms such as irritability, nightmares and flashbacks. The actual number of PTSS affected soldiers was estimated to be at 25,000 based on the number indicated by the Department of Veterans Affairs back in 2004. These soldiers were still receiving PTSS disability compensation from the department during this time. A prisoner of World War II’s (POW) tendency to developed PTSS was also investigated by various studies long after the war was over. According to Speed, 50% of those who were involved in WW II developed PTSS a year after the war and 29% still developed PTSS even after 40 years (Speed, 1989). Meanwhile, in terms of recovery, Klusnik determined that among the 188 POW who suffered PTSS, only 36 of them had recovered from the disorder (Klusnik, 1986). If the war between Korea and the United States will be considered, the approximate percentage of soldiers who suffered PTSS is around 30%, according to an independent study by a Korean researcher. The Persian Gulf War back in 1991 is also noteworthy to mention. This war was also an avenue for soldiers to suffer post traumatic stress syndrome. In 1999, a study conducted by Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found out that among the 697,000 soldiers deployed to this war, there was an increasing number of soldiers who were suffering from the disorder. Initially, the rate of PTSS development for men and women were 3% and 8%, respectively. But after 18 to 24 months of returning to the United States of America, the rate increased from 7% to 16%. In the recent years, wars launched against Iraq and Afghanistan were enough reasons for the government to revive studies focusing on PTSS and its impact on the soldiers deployed to this heavily-bombarded countries. In Afghanistan, it was showed that 18% of the 45,880 soldiers deployed to this country suffered some kind of psychological disorder (PD), while the number of PTSS cases reached 188. In Iraq, from the 155,000 US soldiers in this country, 20% were diagnosed with PD and 1,641 were with PTSS. Women personnel who were affected with this disorder was from 8%-10% (Epstein Miller, 2005). When these data are combined, 46. 4% of soldiers sent to Iraq and Afghanistan suffered PTSS in 2007, totalling to 40,000 cases in a five-year period. The distribution of the cases is as follows: for the Air Force-2,476; Army-28,365; Navy-2,884; and Marines-5,641 (Morgan, 2008). Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the Military A special division of the US government is devoted to treating PTSS patients, and this is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Through the years, since the late 1970’s, VA had developed programs that continuously monitor and improve the state of soldiers once they return to their home country after being deployed in a war-stricken zone. There are three approaches that the department uses in order to achieve this goal: one, through outpatient approach; two, through varying length inpatient stay; and three, through residential care. These ways vary in the length of stay of the PTSS cases in the medical facility. Some of the treatments given to the cases were group counselling, educational support and psychological assessment of the soldiers. It was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the length of stay of a PTSS patient in the facility. Since the duration of the soldiers in the treatment facility is equated to monetary costs, it was recommended that treatment not be prolonged, since the same results will be achieved with shorter treatment duration (Broschat, 1998). Another form of treatment for this disorder came from the military itself. In the core’s training program, each soldier is taught how to recognize post traumatic stress syndromes among themselves and among their comrades. This program is called the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/MTBI) Chain Teaching Program, with the main objective of putting the knowledge and power in the soldiers themselves in order to take care of one another (U. S. Army Medical Department, 2007). Summary and Conclusion Since time immemoria, post traumatic stress syndrome was observed to plague war combatants since World War II. In every conflict that the United States government engaged in, there was the inevitable rise of PTSS cases documented. From The Persian Gulf War, to the Korean War, to the latest invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers continuously suffered from this disorder in an increasing fashion. Post traumatic syndrome is a serious problem faced, not only by military personnel, but also by the government. With an increasing number of PTSS cases through the years in every war launched by the government, there is also an increase in the corresponding amount of budget to be used for the treatment and rehabilitation of the soldiers. With this, it is imperative that this disorder be given enough attention and support from those in authority. Soldiers are the backbone of the country’s security. Without them, invasion by foreign and local enemies is likely to happen. But defence without psychologically sound soldiers will not be possible. Therefore, for a land to be secured and safe from any threat, the well-being of soldiers must be valued, thus, post traumatic syndrome must be answered with utmost urgency.

Ethical Issues of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)

Ethical Issues of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Identify a specific situation, from your own experience in practice, where an ethical issue arose. With regard to confidentiality, outline the situation and explore the issues involved. Using appropriate ethical theory/principles, analyse the situation and the action taken to resolve the problem. In this essay we shall consider the case of Mrs.P., a 39 yr. old married mother of three who attended at a gynaecology clinic with menorrhagia. She was investigated and was found to have, amongst other things, a chlamydial infection. She was horrified. On questioning, she was initially incensed and stated that the path lab must have made a mistake and that such a thing â€Å"simply was not possible†, she denied any knowledge of how such an infection could have been contracted and asked the staff if it meant that her husband had been unfaithful. It was about half an hour after the news had been broken and the rest of her problems had been dealt with, that the staff moved onto the delicate matter of contact tracing. It was only then that Mrs.P. eventually confided that she had had a number of clandestine relationships without her husband knowing. One of these relationships was with her husband’s best friend from his work (Mr. H). She was adamant that neither he nor her husband should be told, as she could not face the consequences from the inevitable fall out. The clinic staff were also told that Mr and Mrs H were desperate to have a baby and that Mrs H was about to consider going for referral for infertility investigations. There are many ethical issues in this small clinical encounter and they represent, as a generalisation, issues that are typical of many ethical difficulties that present to healthcare professionals in the UK on a daily basis. The subject of medical ethics has evolved over a huge length of time and is, in part, dependent on the circumstances and environment in which it is applied. (Veitch RM 2002). In this essay we shall consider these ethical difficulties as they pertain to Mrs.P., but before we consider them in detail, let us consider the overriding ethical principles that should guide the actions of those concerned. We can start with a historical note. If we consider Hippocrates’ often quoted dictum â€Å"first do no harm†, (Carrick P 2000), we will see that it underpins the first guiding principle of ethics, that of Non-Maleficence. This means â€Å"no malice†. It places an implied burden on any healthcare professional to not only avoid doing harm to a patient, but also to take active steps to make sure that harm does not occur through accident or negligence. The Principle of Beneficence takes the argument further with an expectation of doing good or â€Å"goodness† as a quality. As we have suggested earlier, this quality is variable and is judged in the circumstances in which it occurs. This is particularly relevant in questions relating to consent which again, is central to the case of Mrs.P. (McMillian J 2005) The third principle of ethics that is relevant to our considerations here is the Principle of Dentology which places an expectation on the healthcare professional to act in a way that means that decisions are made in the patient’s best interests and are not in any way influenced by other considerations such as cost or expediency. (Tà ¤nnsjà ¶ T 2005) There is then the consideration of autonomy. In the case of Mrs.P. this effectively means that she is allowed to make her own decisions based on her own free will and is not forced (either figuratively or expressly) into a situation where she feels pressurised into decisions against her will. She should be allowed to consider what is right for her, in her current circumstances, without feeling that she is being coerced by any form of outside influence.(Mill JS 1982) It clearly follows from this statement that Mrs.P. can only make such a decision if she is in full possession of all of the relevant facts relating to her circumstance and this then opens up another field of debate, one relating to the role of the healthcare professional as an information resource. It is incumbent on the healthcare professionals advising Mrs.P. that they would ensure that she has available to her (in a form that she can understand) all of the information necessary to allow her to make up her own mind on the issues presenting themselves. (Sugarman J Sulmasy 2001) Chlamydia In order to appreciate the full implication of the decisions and dilemmas facing Mrs.P., we should firstly consider the issues of the pathophysiology of chlamydia. It is commonly accepted that a large proportion of what was previously called NSU or even undiagnosed genital discharge, was probably infection due to chlamydia. It currently ranks as being responsible for numerically the greatest number of sexually transmitted diseases in the UK in the present day. (Duncan 1998) The actual incidence of detected chlamydia varies between different sociological groups and is dependent on the study. Adams (et al 2004) produced a huge meta analysis of UK data and suggested that the incidence varies from 8.1% of the under 20 age group to 1.4% of the over 30 group Equally it can be seen that other studies, (Piementa et al 2003), put the incidence in the under 20 group as high as 17% and in antenatal clinics (whole population) at 12%. There is no merit in debating the statistical validity of these figures, they are presented to underline the point that Mrs.P.’s dilemma is not a rare one. If we take an overview of the whole chlamydia issue we can cite the opinion of National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) who quote that, in their rationale for a national screening programme, chlamydia: Is the commonest Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) in England Is an important reproductive health problem ~ 10-30% of infected women develop pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). In a significant proportion of cases, particularly amongst women, are asymptomatic and so, are liable to remain undetected, putting women at risk of developing PID. Screening may reduce incidence of PID and ectopic pregnancy. These points are presented as underlining the argument that we will make later in this essay, that a diagnosis of chlamydial infection – although commonly asymptomatic (especially in men), is actually far from trivial and therefore should not be taken lightly or dismissively. Discussion With specific reference to Mrs.P. we should note that there are two important factors that should influence our discussions here. One is the relevance to Mr H. and his wife and the possible implications to their apparent infertility, and the second is effectively the contact tracing arguments and the degree that the healthcare professional should be involved in making Mr H. aware of the possibility that he may have the chlamydial infection. Let us begin by considering an excellent and informative paper by Cassell (et al 2003) on the issue of partner notification. The authors are of the opinion that, due to factors such as the explosion in the numbers and the evolution of the Health Service, that the thorny issue of partner notification, which had previously largely fallen into the domain of the GUM clinic nurse, had now evolved to involve General Practice staff, obstetric and gynaecology clinic staff as well as many others. The corollary of this is that this role has lost some of its efficiency in skill resources and time. (D of H 2002). The paper itself is very informative, but if we restrict ourselves to a consideration of those aspects which are directly referable to our considerations here. With regard to the issue of patient confidentiality and contact informing, only 40% of the healthcare professionals questioned thought that partner notification was actually their role. The remaining 60% took the view that it was their role to inform the patient of what they saw was their responsibility to inform their own partners. The reason that we make this point is that over at least the last two decades, there has been a noticeable and welcome shift to the general acceptance of evidence based medicine (Berwick D 2005). The point is therefore made that if this evidence is accepted, then we could assume that the majority of healthcare professionals believe that their responsibility to inform the patient’s partner ends with their discussion of the matter with the patient. This is relevant if one considers the Bolam principal which has been the foundation of the legal view of matters of medical negligence. The Bolam test, when applied to this type of situation states that: A healthcare professional is not negligent if he or she acts in accordance with practice accepted at the time by a responsible body of medical opinion. In other words, if one acts in accordance with the rules that govern normal medical and nursing practice. In these circumstances it would appear that the majority medical opinion is that one’s burden of responsibility is limited to telling the patient that they should tell their own sexual partners of their infection. To a degree, this view is at odds with other ethical considerations, as one might consider that one has an obligation both to Mrs.P.’s husband who may clearly be at risk from chlamydial infection and complications, and also Mr. H and his partner, who may even already be suffering from complications, as they are considering being investigated for infertility. In these eventualities one has to consider if one is breaching any or all of the three principles that we have already outlined above. On the face of it, it would appear that all three principles are being compromised by this course of action. Non-maleficence because of the implied failure to take active steps to protect Mrs.P.’s partners from potential harm. Beneficence because of Mrs.P.’s failure to agree to consent to anyone telling her partners on her behalf Dentology becaues it could be argued that a suggestion that the healthcare professional should tell Mrs.P.‘s partners means that decisions are being made on the grounds of expediency rather than necessarily in Mrs.P.’s best interest (as Mrs.P. sees it). The only principle that appears to be upheld with this particular view is that of Mrs.P.’s autonomy. We can explore this issue further. Mrs.P.’s refusal to inform her partners may be, at first sight, understandable. But there are other issues that we must consider before passing moral judgement on her. If we consider a paper by Duncan (Duncan B et al 1998). This provides a very informative insight into the issues that confront women in this situation and she cites a common finding of equating a perception of â€Å"being dirty† or promiscuity with a positive test. There is also the issue of both men and women feeling embarrassed to get tested, although, with the advent of General Practice based testing and testing away from the stigma of the GUM clinics, this may well be less of a problem. It also follows from this study finding that there is a major Public Health Education paradox here. If it is true that the majority of healthcare professionals actually believe that it is the responsibility of the patient to tell their partner and this fact is augmented by the discovery that another study found that nearly 20% of respondents actually chose to treat chlamydia with a dose of antibiotic which is less than the currently recommended therapeutic level recommended by the Central Audit Group for Genitourinary Medicine, (Stokes et al 1997), it is perhaps not a surprising observation that the level of chlamydial infection is apparently as high in the community as it is. It follows from this that the authors of another study in a similar area can make the comment: If testing in primary care continues to increase without adequate support for partner notification, much of the resource used in testing women will be wasted. (Griffiths et al 2002) To provide a balanced view on the subject we should observe that the converse of our argument so far is put by other workers in the field (EHC 1999), who argue for the enhancement of the contact tracing facilitators and facilities in order to â€Å"properly maximise a reduction in the risk of both personal re-infection and the level of infection in the community† The central importance of this argument is exemplified in an excellent paper by Patel (HC et al 2004). This looked at the reliability of contact tracing mechanisms. The paper itself is both long and involved. It followed up over 250 patients over a five year period. in short, the authors reported that if the infected patient had a regular partner, they were likely to turn up for treatment in about 53% of cases, whereas if there was an extramarital partner only about 13% would receive treatment. The implication is clearly (although it is obviously admitted that there are significant confounding factors), that an infected patient is far more likely to tell their marriage partner than an extramarital sexual partner. Conclusions and suggestions for practice. In order to help with such considerations we note that the main professional bodies issue their own comprehensive guidelines. They are issued jointly by both the BMA and RCN for all healthcare professionals(Dimond. B. 1999). The documents themselves are unsurprisingly enormous, and offer outline guidance on virtually every major issue and they follow the principles that we have already set out. They equally make the point that not every eventuality can either be predicted or catered for, and in these circumstances the healthcare professional is left to make their own judgement based on their interpretation of the underlying principles and circumstances. In our interpretation of these principles, it would appear that the overriding consideration in the case of Mrs.P. is that of autonomy. There may well be a substantial evidence base that we could point to which would suggest that Mrs.P.’s refusal to tell either her husband or sexual partner could have serious and possibly long lasting adverse effects on their health. But in the last analysis, Mrs.P. has the right of consent to her personal details being divulged – either explicitly or by inference and implication – to any other person. If that consent or permission is withheld then the healthcare professional would be expected to respect that right, even if they had personal difficulty with it themselves. There is an implicit obligation on healthcare professional not only to enhance the patient’s autonomy but also to take as many steps as possible to ensure that any decision reached by the patient is truly autonomous. The professional guidelines suggest that one of the best ways of doing this is primarily by the giving of as much information as possible, particularly that information which is judged to be of importance in assisting them in making their decisions (Williamson C 2005) This view seems to be echoed by the legal profession who have pointed to the fact ( in case law) that each adult has a right to their own autonomy. (Donaldson L 1993). The guiding pronouncement in this type of issue is that a legally competent adult has the right to agree or to disagree with any form of treatment or opinion offered by a healthcare professional and does not have to justify the reason for their action to anyone else. It is clearly incumbent on the healthcare professional to try to provide the Public Health information to help the patient make an informed and considered decision. It may even be considered acceptable to suggest or persuade the patient to â€Å"do the honourable thing†, but this clearly must not be interpreted as placing undue pressure on the patient otherwise all of the underlying ethical principles discussed so far will be completely undermined (Hendrick, J. 2000). We should also note that the same professional guidelines cited above also make the suggestion that the nature of the conversation and the topics discussed should be clearly recorded in the patient’s notes and if a decision is made to allow healthcare professionals to contact the other potential partners, then a consent form recording the decision should ideally be signed by the patient. In many instances we acknowledge that it is common practice to advise and take whatever action is perceived to be in the best interests of the patient, but in terms of our ever more litigious society, it appears to be good advice to get written consent for virtually every action however seemingly minor. (Yura H et al 1998), If we had to sum up the thrust of this essay in a sentence it would be that there is no excuse – either ethically, or for that matter in law – for making unfounded assumptions about what the patient wants or will permit. (Gillon. R. 1997). References Adams EJ , A Charlett, W J Edmunds, and G Hughes 2004 Chlamydia trachomatis in the United Kingdom: a systematic review and analysis of prevalence studies Sex. Transm. Inf., October 1, 2004; 80(5): 354 362. Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 316. Carrick P 2000  Medical Ethics in the Ancient World  Georgetown University press 2000 ISBN: 0878408495 Cassell JA , M G Brook, R Slack, N James, A Hayward, and A M Johnson 2003 Partner notification in primary care Sex. Transm. Inf., June 1, 2003; 79(3): 264 265. Dimond. B. 2001  Legal Aspects of Consent  Salisbury.: Quay Books 2001 D of H 2002  Department of Health. The national strategy for sexual health and HIV: implementation action plan. London: DoH, 2002. Donaldson L 1993  in Re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) [1993) Fam 95 5 Duncan B, Hart G. 1998  Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis: a qualitative study of womens views. Prevenir 1998; (suppl 24): 229. EHC 1999  Effective Health Care. Getting evidence into practice.  York: University of York, 1999. Gillon. R. 1997.  Autonomy  London: Blackwell 1997 Griffiths C, Cuddigan A. 2002  Clinical management of chlamydia in general practice: A survey of reported practice. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2002;28:149–52. Hendrick, J. (2000)  Law and Ethics in Nursing and Health Care,  London. Stanley Thornes 2000 McMillan J 2005 Doing whats best and best interests BMJ, May 2005; 330: 1069 ; Mill JS 1982  On Liberty, 1982,  Harmondsworth: Penguin, p 68. Patel HC, Viswalingham ND, Goh BT 2004 Chlamydial ocular infection: efficacy of partner notification by patient referral. Int. J. STD AIDS 2004 Jul-Aug;5(4):244-7. Stokes T, Bhaduri S, Schober P, et al. 1997  GPs’ management of genital chlamydia: a survey of reported practice.  Fam Pract 1997;14:455–60 Sugarman J Sulmasy 2001  Methods in Medical Ethics  Georgetown Univeristy Press 2001 ISBN: 0878408738 Tà ¤nnsjà ¶ T 2005 Moral dimensions BMJ, Sep 2005; 331: 689 691 ; Veitch RM 2002  Cross-cultural perspectives in medical ethics Jones Bartlett 2002 ISBN: 0763713325   Williamson C 2005 Withholding policies from patients restricts their autonomy BMJ, Nov 2005; 331: 1078 1080 ; Yura H, Walsh M. 1998  The nursing process. Assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating. 5th edition. Norwalk, CT: Appleton Lange, 1998. ############################################################# 20.2.06 PDG Word count 3,184

Tajikistan labour migration and its implications

Tajikistan labour migration and its implications Introduction Background Labour migration and remittances are one of the most evident globalisation phenomena in Tajikistan. According to UNDP Human Development Report (2005) and World Bank (2008) from 600,000 to 1,500,000 Tajik citizens migrated overseas for work in 2005 and remittances being sent by them constitute staggering 36% of national GDP of Tajikistan. Remittances are proven to be large source of external finance stimulating consumption which in turn has a very positive effect on economy, especially on services sector. According to World Bank (2005) remittances are considered as the second biggest source of development finance after foreign direct investment. While remittances serve as an important social stabilising factor, they can also act as means of internal investment and boosting in this manner local development. My analysis will focus on the role of remittance savings either in leveraging to borrow from banking systems to invest in activities such as small businesses, or in directly financing them, which as the result improve the economic welfare of migrant households in both rural and urban areas. This dissertation will be based on analysis of data sources coming from various researches conducted by international organisations and research centres about Tajikistan labour migration and its implications. I will also examine the dynamic strategic aspects of interaction between the migrant and the remittance-receiving relatives and asses the benefits of particular types of motives under remitting. Furthermore, I would like to model hypothetical usage of savings out of remittances to business opportunities and asses the implications. The Republic of Tajikistan Tajikistan is the smallest country in the Central Asia and situated in south-east part of that region. 93% of Tajikistan consists of mountains, and more than half of the country lies on an altitude higher than 3000 meters above sea level. This leaves the countrys population of approximately 7 million people to reside and produce mainly in the remaining 6.52% of arable land, struggling with landslides, earth quakes, mudslides and unreliable access to clean water.. What is more, the countrys mountainous areas not only challenging for agriculture, but also contributing to a regionalisation and division of the country as the mountain ranges separate east from west, and north from south. These regional complications became particularly pertinent during the 1992-97 Civil War where, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG), between 60,000 and 100,000 people died, approximately 600,000 were internally displaced and 80,000 left the country, including a significant amount of the Slav population. The ICG estimates the cost of the war to U.S. $7 billion, and in this way significantly slowing the countrys modest attempts for post-Soviet recovery. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the devastating Civil War, the country has experienced a significant decline in living standards through a rise in unemployment and poverty, and a deterioration of infrastructure, health care and education. Furthermore, the country lost its previously established export markets, sources of supplies and subsidies from Moscow (accounted to almost 40 percent of government revenue) (European Observatory on Health Care Systems, 2000). According to Trade and Investment Division (2001), â€Å"Between 1991 and 1997, the level of GDP diminished by more than 60 percent which significantly reduced the living standards of the less protected part of the population.† (p. 252). All these above mentioned factors urged Tajikistan to accumulate foreign debt, which reached $880 million US dollar by 1998. It is worth state that Tajikistan has comparative advantage in growing of cotton, which is considered as cash crop and main source of foreign exchange (World Bank Poverty Assessment Tajikistan Update). Namely the export of cotton coupled with aluminum helped the country to restore external balance. Although cotton is strategically important, the growing of that crop entails difficulties with extensive irrigation and profitability nowadays. FAO (2008) claimed cotton growers in Tajikistan were indebted about 100 million US dollars due to dramatic drop in prices for raw cotton in 2000. All these difficult situations have encouraged considerable labour emigration and a return to a more patriarchal society based on religious beliefs and old traditions as survival strategy when the traditional mans role as the main bread winner of the family is being challenged. Poverty and Migration Tajikistan was the poorest among the Soviet Union republics and nowadays, it remains the poorest country in Europe and Central Asia region. According to World Bank Poverty Assessment Tajikistan Update, Tajikistans mean per capita income by 1989 was less than half of that in Russia. Its national income per capita was less than 200 US dollars. After gaining of independence, figures were even deplorable; 81 percent of population lived under poverty line in 1999 (less than 2.15 US dollars per day at purchasing power parity). (Source TLSS 2003 and TLSS 2009). The unofficial unemployment rate was around 30%. After the end of civil war and some years of stability and peace Tajikistan experienced substantial improvements in poverty rates, which dropped to 64 percent in 2003. However, still, this is the highest rate of poverty when compared to that of poor countries in Commonwealth of Independent States, like Kyrgyzstan (54 percent in 2001) and Moldova (45 percent in 2002). (Source: Poverty A ssessments for respective countries.) Poverty rates in rural areas are higher than in urban areas. In 2003, the proportion of poor people was 65 percent in rural areas against 59 percent in urban. (World Bank Poverty Assessment Update). Provided that 73 percent of the population of Tajikistan lives in rural areas the poverty can be considered overwhelmingly rural. (World Bank Poverty Assessment Update). Given that Tajikistan has the youngest population structure of the former Soviet countries with 70 percent aged under 30, poverty is overwhelmingly among young and economically active part of the population. Lack of income means lack of opportunities: not only loss of access to food, health care and education, but also the loss of the ability to choose and control ones own life. Poverty destroys human capital and has an adverse impact on social relations, leading to violence and instability. (Saodat Olimova) Furthermore, in 2007, Tajikistan experienced the hard consequences of strong rise in international food and fuel prices; especially it is felt by people of Tajikistan. While the impact of the higher fuel and food prices and misguided market interventions of the government have been felt by everyone, many households in rural and mountainous areas seemingly are on the verge of destitution. While many vegetable prices have increased between 20-30% in the last 11 months, wheat flour has increased 81-131%, and cooking oils from 118-139%. All the while, real wages for unskilled laborers (which are too low to cover household costs to begin with) have increased by a mere of 20% (by 6% in KT). In short, wages are not keeping pace with the dramatic increases in food and fuel prices. Traditional lepeshka now cost 1 somoni of the 44.61 somoni an average teacher or nurse earns a month. Clearly, people have to find ways to survive and migration seems the only plausible way to do so. Thus, it is hard to improve ones living conditions in Tajikistan, and many find themselves forced to seek employment abroad. Furthermore comparatively improved economies of Russian Federation and other CIS countries create an appropriate environment for migration from Tajikistan. According to a year 2006 International Organization for Migration (IOM) survey on trafficking from Tajikistan, 96.9% of the approximately 1 million migrants from Tajikistan go to Russia in search of work. 1.4% of the migrants work in Kyrgyzstan, 0.7% in Kazakhstan, and another 0.7% in Ukraine. Also, according to an IOM report conducted amongst 2000 migrants in 2002, with follow-up amongst 4000 migrants in 2003, these migrants were 85% men and 15% women in 2002. Amongst men, the age groups 18-29, 30-39 and 40-49 all make up approximately one third of the migrant mass each. Olimova and Bosc divide these age groups into two, corresponding to the traditional life cycle in Tajikistan: â€Å"sons† of 18-29 years, and â€Å"fathers† of 40-49 years. The first group migrates mainly to make money to establish his own family, whereas the second group goes abroad to be able to feed his family and organize the traditional ceremonies for his children. In average, 68.5% of the migrant s are married, and 22.6% live together as in marriage in Tajikistan, but without official registration. The last group consists mainly of youth between 15 and 19 years of age. Theoretical Background GREGORIAN, D. MELKONYAN, T. (January 2008) Microeconomic Implications of Remittances in an Overlapping Generations Model with Altruism and Self-Interest, IMF Working Paper, WP/08/19. This publication illustrates the dynamic strategic aspects of interaction between the migrant and remittance receiving relatives and shows the various microeconomic implications under each particular circumstance of interaction. Gregorian and Melkonyan analyse the plethora of motives for remit in terms of altruistic and self interest behavior of the remitter. In addition, they consider the scenario where two parties could work out self-enforcing contracts to implement choices that maximise their total surplus. They also discuss both the migration and the remittance patterns in Armenia with a particular focus on push and pull factors. The main part of the paper contended an empirical estimation of the microeconomic impact of migration and remittance in Armenia on hours supplied to the market, education spending, savings and borrowing behaviour from commercial banks. In the words of Gregorian and Melkonyan, â€Å"this evidence [of the paper] suggests that the benefits of remittances might be overstated and emphasises the importance of measuring their impact in a general rather than a partial equilibrium context†. In conclusion, the authors suggest that there is a need for either direct or indirect policy measures in shaping the remittance flows and their impact on the behaviour of remittance receiving households. This article inspired me to deepen my research of the dissertation topic in terms of analysis of not only the quantitative pattern of remittances but also the behavioral aspects of this phenomenon. That is, whether the remitter has altruistic or self-interest motives while sending money back home and what the possible outcomes are under each circumstance. I will also consider models and regression methods used in the paper to estimate possible impacts of remittance on labour supply, education spending and saving/borrowing behaviour in Tajikistan. Furthermore, the above paper put forward a vague, but at the same time, ambitious notion of potential policy measures that should be taken in order to promote remittance saving for the creation of small business and entrepreneurial activities in households, which I believe will be a crucial part of my dissertation. GIULIANO, P. RUIZ-ARRANZ, M. (March 2006) Remittances, Financial Development, and Growth, Journal of Development Economics, doi: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2008.10.005 This paper examines the relationship between remittances and growth, and in particular the influence of local financial sector development on a countrys capacity to take advantage of remittances. Giuliano and Ruiz-Arranz underline the importance of remittances in promoting economic growth whilst looking specifically at the interaction between remittances and the financial sector. This publication is considered to be the first paper to provide evidence for both complementarity and substitutability between remittances and financial development in promoting economic growth. The authors make use of newly constructed data for remittances covering 100 developing countries and illustrate that remittances boost growth in countries with less developed financial systems by providing an alternative way to finance investment and helping to overcome liquidity constraint. They also suggest that there could be an investment channel through which remittances could promote growth especially when the financial sector does not meet the credit needs of the population, where remittances act as a substitute for financial services. I plan to make substantial use of the concept of interaction between remittances and the financial sector in growth in my dissertation, as the issue of leveraging and borrowing from banking systems by remittance-receiving households is central to my dissertation topic. In particular, I want to look at the possibility of commercial banks opening lines of credit for remittance-receiving households, based on the earning of the migrant. Additionally, I will consider this papers analysis of cyclical properties of remittances to assess whether they are procyclical and predominantly profit-driven or countercyclical. Accordingly, I aim to analyse the relationship of Tajikistan GDP and capital flows and see if they are correlated. PALEI, L.V. KOROBKOV, A.V. (2007) Migrant Remittances in the CIS: The Financial and the Socio-Economic Impact, Paper presented at the International Studies Association 48th annual meeting, Chicago, IL. This paper studies the current labour migration trends in the countries of the CIS and analyses the role of remittances as a means of socio-economic stabilisation in labour migrant source countries. It also provides the core causes of migration and its aspects in the context of a globalising world. Moreover, the authors examine how remittances could play an important role in the development of the country and what policies governments should adopt in order to better utilise the development potential of remittances. The paper is valuable as a source of background information on the causes and nature of migration processes in countries of the CIS. It also provides figures on the total number of migrants and remittances sent by them. Moreover, the authors identify remittances as one of the major stabilising factors of an economy and justify this by presenting statistics on remittances as a percentage of national GDPs. The important thing about this paper was that it focused very much on Tajikistan as one the major labour migration source countries. UNDP (2005) Central Asia Human Development Report, UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. This report studies the level of human development in Central Asian Republics. Throughout the report, the importance of increased regional cooperation in economic and other spheres of activities is repeatedly underlined. While mentioning some of the significant vulnerabilities of the region as being, for example, largely landlocked- the report also highlights the newly emerging opportunities availability of natural resource and being surrounded by fast developing countries. In conclusion, the report stresses the necessity to continue the process of reform in different sectors of economy. This report is a good source of so called country â€Å"baseline data†. It provided statistics on economic, demographic, social, and environmental aspects of a countrys development. Additionally, it looks specifically at the issue of labour migration and its economic, social, and cultural aspect. Being prepared by UNDP an organization, particularly active in Tajikistan- the report gains additional reliability and accuracy. AMUEDO-DORANTES, C. (2006) Remittances and Their Microeconomic Impacts: Evidence from Latin America, Journal of Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 187-197. Amuedo-Dorantes provides an overview of the remitting patterns of migrants, from Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru, working and residing in the United States. She summarizes the microeconomic impacts of remittances, particularly on spheres of employment, business ownership, education and health care investments. Furthermore she emphasises the importance of remittances as a resource for the accumulation of human capital investments in education and health and as a determinant of employment patterns in remittance-receiving households in developing economies. This publication gave me the idea concerning the appropriate categorisation of purposes of remitting into two broad groups; consumption, which consists of food/maintenance, purchase of a vehicle, recreation/entertainment expenses and debt payment; and asset accumulation/investment, which consists of construction, repair or purchase of a house, purchase of tools, livestock, agriculture inputs, start/expand of business, education and health expenses and savings. BORJAS, G.L. (1999) The Economic Analysis of Immigration, in the Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol 3a, 1698-1757. This particular paper investigates labour market affects of immigration in both the host and home country. Borjas emphasises the measuring of relative skills of immigrants and evaluation of implications of relative skill differentials on economic outcomes. The author focuses on different environments and premises where the human capital of the source country influences the labour market of the host country. That is, an analysis of the factors that determine the skills of immigrants; a discussion of the implications of the income-maximization hypothesis for the skill composition of the self-selected immigrant flow, an estimation of how the skills of immigrants compare to those of natives -both at the time of entry and over time as immigrants adapt to the host countrys labor market, an examination of the concept of economic adaptation with analysis of the relationship nature of an immigrants â€Å"pre-existing† skills and the skills that the immigrant acquires in the host countr y, and finally, an evalution of the impact of immigration on the wage structure in the host country. This paper provides an important and basic understanding of the affect that immigration has on the economy of a host country. I will use the models and generalisations found in Borjas paper to analyse the migration pattern between Tajikistan and the Russian Federation. Furthermore I will use them for policy recommendation and measures in my dissertation. LEE-NAH, H. (2007) Outcome evaluation of HIV program in Tajikistan, Final report, Retrieved July 12, 2008 from http://www.undp.tj/files/ev/ev_report.pdf. The evaluation study outlined in the report was commissioned by UNDP, Tajikistan and is aimed at assessing the impact of two HIV related programs which were implemented in the country. These programs dealt with working on HIV prevention and mitigation in the following target groups: labour migrants and their families, prisoners, habitual drug users, sex workers, school youth, etc. The evaluation methods used included the thorough review of relevant documents and statistics, interviews, and site visits. The report provided an in depth analysis of the current situation with AIDS/HIV in Tajikistan and an indication of the success rate of the implemented programs, concluding with a set of recommendations on different levels of intervention and target groups. The report presented a very good source as a synthesized analysis of different documents and statistics available on HIV in Tajikistan. Specifically, it provided statistical data on the overall official number of people infected in the population (while also citing unofficial estimates), prevalence figures, and broke down the infected persons into different groups (including labour migrants). It also outlined the efforts which are being made to prevent the proliferation of HIV among labour migrants and recommendations to improve this process. The report, however, did not specifically feature any future projections of HIV infection spreading due to increasing number of labour migrants and their exposure to countries with much higher prevalence figures than those in Tajikistan. Remittances and Financial Sector in Tajikistan â€Å"Migration from Tajikistan and the consequent remittances have been unprecedented in their magnitude and economic impact.† IMF, Alexei Kiriyev, page 4-5 The measuring of remittances magnitude is still not definite:

Karl Marx Essay -- essays research papers

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in Trier, Prussia. He attended the university of Bonn and later the university at Berlin, where he studied in law, while majoring in history and philosophy. After his education, Marx associated himself with the "Left Hegelians," along with Bruno Bauer, which were a group who formed atheistic and revolutionary ideas from Hegel's philosophy. The Young Hegelians practiced philosophical idealism. Here he first meet Arnold Ruge and Ludwig Feuerbach. In 1842 Marx and Bruno Bauer were asked to contribute to the Rheinische Zeitung, a German paper, in Cologne. At the time Marx started, the paper had only 400 subscribers. Marx in October of 1842, became editor-in-chief, and decided to move from Bonn to Cologne. As the paper became more and more revolutionary and widely read, the government decided to censor, and eventually suppress it. The paper was banned in March of 1843. At this time, it had more than 3,400 subscribers from all over Germany. Karl Marx was married to his childhood friend Jenny von Westphalen, in 1843. Later in the fall of that year Marx along with another Left Hegelian, Arnold Ruge, moved to Paris and began publication of a radical journal entitled Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. Due to the problems in publishing such a radical paper, only one issue appeared. Karl met his closest friend in September of 1844, when Frederick Engels arrived in Paris. Together they participated in the activities of many revolutionary communities. They formed the theory and ideas of revolutionary proletarian socialism, also known as communism. Also in 1844, Marx wrote a revolutionary book called the Holy Family. It is a materialist view of the history of man. Basically, it was a critique on his former philosophy group, "The Young Hegelians." It expressed the view of history being mans activities. "‘History' is not, as it were, a person apart, using man as a means to achieve its own aims; history is nothing but the activity of man pursuing his own aims." Finally in 1845 Marx was banished from Paris as a dangerous revolutionary. He wrote satirical poems for revolutionary-democrats. The paper, "Vorwà ¤rts", was attack by reactionary papers asking for government banning or censorship, but instead they banned Marx from Paris. He decided to head for Brussels, where he and Engels joined, in 1847,... ...pital is placed on exploitation of wage labor. Marx discovered the fact that it is not labor itself, but labor power that is the commodity which the worker sells and the capitalist purchases. This is the key discovery for the connection for the determination of the commodity value by labor. Capital also establishes two main points. The first is that the capitalist can increase the rate of surplus value by prolonging the working day. This is absolute surplus value. The second is by increasing the intensity of the working day. This is relative surplus value. Marx covers every aspect of capitalist economy, and depicts every flaw. Though never completed, it is the work of his life time. On December 2, 1881, His lifelong wife passed away. Marx's health declined due to his strenuous work with the International and the Capital. And just more than a year later Karl Marx died peacefully at his home. Both were buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, where they still lie today. Marx has affected nearly all aspects, whether it be economy, politics, natural science, Darwinism, or even philosophy. His impacts have positively changed the world even still today, Marx's ingenious all around us.

The Miracle of A Dolls House :: A Dolls House Essays

The Miracle of A Doll's House      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the play A Doll's House, Nora fits in a role of the little helpless wife whose husband takes care of everything.   During the play, she keeps a secret from her husband that eventually leads to the destruction of her marriage.   When the secret surfaces, Nora finds out just what kind of man she was married to.   Maybe she always knew but now wants something different in her life.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A few years earlier her husband was terribly sick and needed to get away for a while, possibly go south.   With no money, he was unable to go. Nora wanted to do everything she could for her husband to help him get well. In order to do this she needed to borrow money.   Unfortunately she made the mistake of borrowing it and forging her father's signature.   This is the secret that she hides all through the play from her husband.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nora believes Helmer will try to take the blame for what she has done.   She thinks he will keep being the man that takes charge and fixes all problems that may come about.   What she doesn't realize at this point is that Helmer does not truly care for her the way she has brought herself to believe throughout the years of their marriage.   Nora tells Dr. Rank, a family friend: â€Å"...You know how deeply, how passionately Torvald is in love with me.   He would never hesitate for a moment to sacrifice his life for my sake.†      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Later in the play Nora made the same mistake with Kristine Linde as she did with Dr. Rank.   In the following line Nora expresses   her belief of what Helmer may do:   â€Å"Then you must testify... And I tell you this: nobody else knew anything, I alone was responsible for the whole thing. Remember that!†      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These are two of the most important lines in the play because they signify the whole relationship's meaning and underlying imagery.   What Nora thinks will happen when her husbands finds out is completely opposite of what really happens.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Helmer reads the letter and calls out to Nora, she answers back almost like she was expecting him to come running to save her.   When she says: â€Å"... Let me go! Let me out!...You mustn't try to save me, Torvald!† , she clearly wants him to try and save her, playing the role of the damsel in distress.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nora begins to doubt her husbands faithfulness when she tells him how much she loved him and he responds with:   â€Å"Don't come to me with a lot

Anney as a Mother: A Role Dismally Played

Bastard out of Carolina is a novel written by Dorothy Allison; it is a poignant story which speaks about love, family, pain, suffering—and the ultimate price of happiness. In this story, it is seen that the pursuit of happiness sometimes may result in the pain of other individuals: particularly the protagonist's pain—which is indirectly inflicted by her own mother.The story is told by a girl named Bone (whose real name is Ruth Anne), and she tells the reader about her life, and the suffering which she had to endure at as very young and tender age.The story opens with a description of Bone's birth, her mother's coma, and the fact that Bone is an illegitimate child (Millard 155). Bone's life, of course, was interrelated with the lives of her mother, Anney, and her mother's lover, Glen. Bone would have never been who she was if it were not for her mother and mother's lover. However, given the viewpoints of her own mother, Bone's experiences were inevitable. One of the rele vant passages in the story which tells the reader an important fact that pertains to the recurring theme of the story is the following: â€Å"There was only one way to fight off the pity and hatefulness.Mama learned to laugh with them, before they could laugh at her, and to do it so well no one could be sure what she really thought or felt. She got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant† (Allison 10). Analysis of the Passage Relevance of Passage to the Story Although the story indeed, seems to be about the life of the narrator, if one does a careful analysis, it could be seen that the story primarily focuses on the narrator's relationship with her mother.Bone's life, in a sense, is largely affected by her relationship to her mother. As seen in the previous passage, Anney was not exactly a woman who has found happiness. She longs for happiness, yes, and this passage shows that Anney's search for ha ppiness amidst the â€Å"pity and hatefulness† (Allison 10) has cost her more than she would ever bargain for. This passage is particularly relevant in understanding the story, since this passage shows how Anney's search for happiness as an individual has ultimately led to the misery of her own daughter, Bone.The story is a heart-wrenching one, and if one would try to analyze the details of the story, the story is heart-wrenching, not merely because Bone was physically and sexually abused by her stepfather, but also because her mother was a woman who was not able to protect her from such events because of she was a woman who preferred to turn away from problems rather than face them head-on. It is also seen in the story that since Anney was not of much help to her daughter, Bone chose not to disclose to her the horrors which she experienced in the hands of her stepfather.In this particular line, Bone says that â€Å"I lived in a world of shame. I hid my bruises as if they we re evidence of crimes I had committed. I didn't tell Mama. I couldn't tell Mama† (Allison 113). How horrible must it be, if one cannot be able to seek help from one's own mother. Bone was not able to do so, since her mother tends to pretend that everything will turn out fine, and that they must merely laugh about their troubles before someone else laughs at them. It is, of course, necessary to state that one must not take the word laugh literally.It could mean that one must not be fazed by one's troubles, and continue to search for happiness. However, in this case, turning a blind eye in Bone's troubles did not help her at all; Anney merely made things worse for her own daughter by not asserting that Glen should treat her humanely. In the end of the story, much to the annoyance of the reader, Anney chose to be with Bone's abusive stepfather, rather than be with Bone, who is her child (Linkon 275). This ending only proves that Anney was a woman who preferred to find her own hap piness, rather than the happiness of her own child.It cannot be argued that the reader would feel a certain animosity towards her character, for how can she love the man who has continuously hurt her child? Style and Presentation of Text If one is to read the aforementioned passage carefully, it will be seen that the author is using symbolism to send her message to the reader. As discussed in the penultimate paragraph of the previous section, Anney's way of dealing with troubles has an effect on Bone's life.It is not enough to say that Anney laughed at her troubles before anyone could laugh before her—what she did was that she turned her back against these problems and refused to address them appropriately. In fact, when Bone was brought to the hospital for having broken her coccyx when Glen beat her, Anney was desperately trying to shield the fact that Bone was beaten up by anyone (Allison 113). Therefore, given this information, it could be said that when Bone stated that A nney was a woman who preferred to â€Å" learned to laugh with them, before they could laugh at her† (Allison 10), Bone actually meant something deeper.This description of Anney in the aforementioned passage is a symbolism, and must not be taken literally; it was a mere symbolism of the fact that Anney was actually a woman who preferred to convince herself that nothing was wrong, and that, perhaps by believing that nothing is wrong, then nothing would eventually be wrong. Since Anney is trying find her own happiness, she tries to escape reality, and eventually is forced to continuously hurt her child in the process. SummaryThe aforementioned passage is significant to the novel, for it tells the reader that the life of the narrator may have been different if only her mother chose to fight for her—instead of trying to shield the truth from prying eyes and claiming that nothing is wrong with their family. While it is relevant to state that Anney had loved Bone in the best way that she could, Anney, nevertheless, was not as willing to give up the man she supposedly loves. Anney knows how to fight back and protect her children, but she was not able to do so fully, for she refused to fully accept that some things cannot be laughed at.There are a lot of ways a mother could have shown her love for her child, but in many ways, the way she showed her loved in the novel was one of the most eccentric ways that could hurt one's child. In the end, she eventually realized that she had to let go of one of them, and she did let go—of her own child. However, her decision was too late, for the damage was done, and Bone would forever have memories where her own mother refused to see the light for her. Overall, the chosen passage was a good symbolism and it provides the reader with thoughtful insight regarding Bone's mother and how she has affected her life.It may not be obvious at first, but the passage is able to convey something metaphorical which is vital in understanding the life of Bone, a girl who longed for her mother to finally wake up from her trance and realize that it was time to move on instead of insisting that the family they had was real. Works Cited Allison, Dorothy. Bastard out of Carolina. New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. , 1992. Print. Linkon, Sherry Lee. Teaching Working Class. Boston: The University of Massachussetts Press, 1999. Print. Millard, Kenneth. Coming of Age in Contemporary American Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. , 2007. Print.

Listening Skill

Listening skills are very important in everyday life. One must understand what people are saying and what is happening around them. In order for this to be done effectively, one must be an active listener. This is achieved when the listener is listening for meaning; when the listener checks if the statement has been heard and understood correctly. The goal of this is to improve mutual understanding. Many people believe that listening skills are taught when in elementary school or during childhood.Truthfully, one can never really learn all the skills and apply them all the time. Many times people will be â€Å"listening† to someone talk but in their head will be thinking about something else, or even be distracted by something that is going on around them. Therefore, to become a better listener, one must make eye contact with the speaker, observe the speakers behaviour and body language and also paraphrase the speaker’s words and write them down as notes. Having good lis tening skills may come in helpful in a variety of situations.For example, during class, while taking notes, during a job interview, while interviewing a person, during counselling, while having a serious conversation with a friend or loved one, or while on the job, especially in a journalistic setting. In groups, listening skills may help attain better information and research or even assist in reaching a compromise or conclusion. Being a good listener has its benefits. By having good listening skills one can avoid having misunderstanding, resolve conflicts, get people to open up, and build trust.In order to develop pupils’ listening skill, teachers should make pupils listen to songs, rhymes and stories. To show their understanding of what they have heard, pupils can be asked to answer questions that require them to recall ideas, give details and even talk about the ideas heard. 1 Here, I will state the objectives, rationale and steps of the listening skill activity. a)Object ives of the activity By the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to a)Listen to simple short stories and recall the names of people, animals and thing. b)Listen to simple short stories and recall the story-line by answering simpleWh-questions. c)Listen to simple short stories and shared feelings about the story. b)Rationale of the activity This activity all students to become active participants in the listening process rather than passive listeners. It encourages interaction by â€Å"live† listening and expose students to a variety of voices beside the teacher’s voice. It also develops their ability to listen well and become more independent learners. Pupils are able to reproduce their accuracy and refine their understanding of grammar and also develop their own vocabulary. c)Steps of the activity )Teacher asks pupils to listen to the short story in the CD player. b)Pupils listen to the story and teacher asks pupils on the character mentioned in the story. c)Pupil s listen to the short story for the second time. d) Teacher distributes the worksheets for the pupils to answer. 2 e)Pupils listen to the story again for the third time and answer the questions given in the worksheet. f)Teacher discusses answers with pupils and talks about the story. d)Sample of worksheet for listening activity Instruction : Listen to the short story and answer the questions. 1.How many large pots does the water bearer have? AHe has one large pot. BHe has two large pots. CHe has three large pots. 2. Where is the water bearer going? AHe is going to his friend’s house. BHe is going to the master’s house. CHe is going to the mistress’s house. 3. How many pots of water does he deliver? AHe delivers one and a half pails of water. BHe delivers two and a half pails of water. CHe delivers three and a half pails of water. 4. Who talked to the water bearer? AThe sun talked to the water bearer. BThe flowers talked to the water bearer.CThe cracked pot talke d to the water bearer. 5. Why did the cracked pot feel ashamed? AHis pot was empty. BHis pot was full of water. CHis pot was only half full of water. 6. What did the cracked pot do along the way? AHe looked at the green grass. BHe looked some small stones. CHe looked at the wild flowers. 7. Who planted the seed? AThe water bearer. BThe cracked pot. C The water bearer’s master 8. Who watered the wild flowers? AThe master watered the wild flowers. BThe water bearer watered the wild flowers. CThe cracked pot watered the wild flowers. 9. What did the cracked pot see along the path? AHe saw the sun and grass.BHe saw the sun and wild flowers. CHe saw the wild flowers and the master. 4 10. What did the water bearer do with the wild flowers? AHe decorated the master’s room. BHe decorated the master’s table. CHe decorated the master’s kitchen. e)Examples of responses, the evaluation criteria and marks allocation for assessing students’ responses During the activity, the student listens to a passage instead of reading it. Since listening performance is strongly influenced by motivation and memory, the passages are carefully chosen so that it is short and interesting.While listening the student have to answer 10 multiple-choice questions that address various levels of literal and inferential comprehension. The multiple-choice questions are focus on the passage listened by the students from the CD player. After the activity, the answers for the multiple-choice questions are given to the students. For each correct answer, the students will be given 2 marks so if the students get all questions correct, he or she will get 20 marks. 5 f)Assessment criteria and distribution of marks related to the specific objective of activity Rubrics of listening activityBANDS| EXCELLENT| SATISFACTORY| WEAK| VERY WEAK| SCORES| 16 – 20| 11 – 15| 6 – 10| 0 – 5| This worksheet contains 10 multiple-choice questions. Each correct item is awarded 2 marks. The maximum raw score a student can achieve on the worksheet is 20 marks. There are four criteria of band for the listening activity. The band starts from very weak, weak, satisfactory and excellent. Each band represents a score of 5 marks. 6 SPEAKING SKILL According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009), speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing ones thoughts and feelings in spoken languages.Chaney (1998), however, considered speaking a process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal or non-verbal symbols in variety of contexts. Sharing the same viewpoint, Flores (1999) added that speaking is an interactive process, which consists of three main stages which are producing, receiving and processing information. In language teaching and learning, speaking is considered a skill to practise and master. In the light, Nunan (2003) put it that speaking is the productive oral skill.It consists of producing systematic ve rbal utterance to convey meaning. Bygate (1987) investigated the distinction between knowledge and skill in speaking lesson, which he considered as crucial in the teaching of speaking. Indeed, to be a good learner of speaking, studying knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, etc, is not enough but the skill to use this knowledge to communicate successfully is indispensable. In the classroom, pupils should be given lots of opportunities to talk in class so that they gain confidence to speak in the language.Opportunities should be given to pupils to role-play, participate in drama activities that make them use the language suitable for the role or situation. In this respect, pair or group work activities allow for all pupils to engage in speaking activities at the same time. Pupils should also be encouraged to talk in English to other pupils and teachers in school. Here, I will state the objectives, rationale and steps of the speaking skill activity. a)Objectives of the activity By the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to a)Retell stories heard before with expression. )Talk about the actions of people, animals or things in the story heard or read. c)Give reasons why one likes or dislike the story.7 b)Rationale of the activity This activity helps student to increase their academic knowledge and encourages their intellectual curiosity. Speaking activity also strengthens the ability to analyse and evaluate topics of interest and fosters independent learning. It also promotes awareness of the need for opinions coupled with knowledge and it involves the process of careful thought prior to reaching a conclusion or making a decision to dopt a belief or course of action. Not forgetting where it also promotes critical thinking of the students. c)Steps of the activity a)Teacher asks pupils to read the short story, The Cracked Pot. b)Pupils read and understand the story. c)Teacher asks pupil to summarize the story in their own word. d) Teacher a sks a few wh-questions to the pupils based on the story. e)Pupils give reason why the like or dislike the characters or story.d)Sample of worksheet for speaking activity Instruction :Retold the story read. :Answer a few questions based on the story. Tell ones’ like or dislikes. Example of questions : 1. How many large pots does the water bearer have? 2. Where is the water bearer going? 3. How many pots of water does he deliver? 8 4. Who talked to the water bearer? 5. Why did the cracked pot feel ashamed? 6. What did the cracked pot do along the way? 7. Who planted the seed? e)Examples of responses, the evaluation criteria and marks allocation for assessing students’ responses During the activity, the pupils read the short story, The Cracked Pot given by teacher.Then, the teacher asks pupils to retell the story using their own word. Teacher allocates marks when pupils retold the story. After that, teacher asks a few questions based on the story. Finally, teacher asks th e pupils whether they like or dislike the story. For each activity, marks are awarded based on their fluency, grammar and pronunciation. The marks given are according to the marks given. f)Assessment criteria and distribution of marks related to the specific objective of activity Rubrics of listening activity ACHIEVEMET| SCORE| CONSTRUCT| BAND DESCRIPTORS|EXCELLENT| 12 – 15| Grammar & Vocabulary| – Excellent use of sentence structures to convey intended meaning effectively- Correct and accurate use of grammatical structures- Interesting expression used Appropriately| | | Pronunciation& Intonation| – Excellent pronunciation and intonation to convey intended meaning correctly- Very clear articulation, enunciation and word stress| | | Fluency & Rhythm| – Very fluent speech- Very smooth flow of coherent ideas presented through the effective use of discourse markers| | | Ethics & Mannerism| – Respond with excellent mannerism using polite expressions and utterances- Show interest and enthusiasm| GOOD| 8 – 11 | Grammar & Vocabulary| – Correct use of sentence structures to convey intended meaning effectively – Correct use of grammatical structures- Good control of language in terms of the range of vocabulary and expressions used with minor slips that do not disrupt meaning| | |Pronunciation& Intonation| – Correct pronunciation and intonation most of the time with occasional slips- Very clear articulation, enunciation and word stress| | | Fluency & Rhythm| – Fluent speech with occasional pauses- Smooth flow of coherent ideas presented through the effective use of discourse markers| | | Ethics & Mannerism| – Respond with good and appropriate mannerism using polite expressions and utterances- Show some interest and nthusiasm| SATISFACTORY| 4 – 7| Grammar & Vocabulary| – Satisfactory use of sentence structures with some errors but meaning is generally clear- Adequate use of language with some grammatical errors but meaning is mostly clear- Fair control of language in terms of vocabulary and expressions, meaning is generally understood although there are some mistakes| | | Pronunciation& Intonation| – Satisfactory pronunciation and intonation with some words wrongly pronounced but meaning is not distorted- Satisfactory articulation, enunciation and word stress| | | Fluency & Rhythm| – Very fluent speech- Very smooth flow of coherent ideas presented through the effective use of discourse markers| | |Ethics & Mannerism| – Respond with satisfactory Mannerism using a few polite expressions and utterances- Show a little interest and enthusiasm| WEAK| 1 – 3| Grammar & Vocabulary| – Minimal use of sentence structures with consistent errors which distort meaning- Excessive grammatical errors which distort meaning| | | Pronunciation& Intonation| – Poor pronunciation and intonation but meaning may or may not be distorted- Attempt to articulate but flawed by poor pronunciation and word stress| | |Fluency & Rhythm| – Lack fluency with minimal or no utterance- Minimal or no flow of ideas| | | Ethics & Mannerism| – Respond impolitely and in an inappropriate manner- Show no interest and enthusiasm| In this activity, students are awarded marks based in the speaking skills. The maximum raw score a student can achieve is 15 marks. There are four main criteria in speaking rubrics. They are weak, satisfactory, good and excellent. APPENDIX The Cracked Pot – A Short Story A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck.One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years, this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to see as a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. â€Å"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. â€Å"â€Å"Why? † asked the bearer. What are you ashamed of? † â€Å"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts,† the pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, â€Å"As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beauti ful flowers along the path. † Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, â€Å"Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house. 14