Archive for July, 2010
The International English Language Testing System or more commonly known as IELTS is the brainchild of the British and Australian. It is an international standardised test of English language proficiency. IELTS has effectively been granted the monopoly power when both the British and Australian home office made it compulsory for student visa applicants to take the test. IELTS is also used as a benchmark for skilled migration applicants. Students sometime even complain that waiting time is too long because too many people are in the queue to take IELTS.
The test fee is not cheap either. It is not an amount that any student can easily afford. The test fee in the UK is priced at 110 sterling pounds per attempt. Test results that have lapsed for two years is generally considered as outdated by the immigration department and a new test has to be taken. However, no official figures have been released to show how big the UK English proficiency test market really is. According to anecdotal evidence, the similar market in Australia is estimated about 27 million sterling pounds. Archived records from the UK Department of Education and Employment also showed that British English language products were worth about 800 million sterling pounds in 1988. This huge figure is not surprising because most students will pay additional money to go for IELTS focused tuition.
On the other side of the globe, the Australian Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Evans have indicated that alternative English proficiency tests will soon be recognised for immigration purposes. Many other test providers welcome this decision. One of them is the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which is designed by the Americans in 1964. Another new test provider, world-wide publisher Pearson, is also said to have applied to the Australian government for an official status. These competitors are very keen to bite off some market share of IELTS.
Australian Minister’s decision is likely to be influenced by the fact that the Australian economy relies a lot on overseas students. The influx of Chinese, Indian and Iranian students are now at the highest in history. These emerging countries have fast growing economies and parents are now financially capable to send their children to Australia, UK and the USA for education. However, not all of the students would have chosen to take IELTS. Many of them would have taken TOEFL because they are also applying to academic institutions in the USA. It is wise of the Australian Minister to realise that by making IELTS the only option, it is likely to alienate potential overseas students together with the school fees they bring to Australia.
IELTS also came under some bad press in November 2009 in India. The British Council is responsible for administering the IELTS in India; however, their employees have been alleged to be taking money to sit the exam for others. Critics commented the issue here is because the British Council does not submit itself to any external audit. They also argued that unless IELTS is taken off the monopoly seat, these fraudulent incidents will continue.
When your homeschool children head to college, it is hard to let go. Nothing is perfect. Problems will occur.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”(Proverbs 22:6)
I realize I am helpless – what can I do? I am fasting and praying. Every time I feel hungry, I pray like crazy. It is all I can do.
Here is what I have decided. Train up a child – my job. Did that. Check it off the list. When they are old – God’s job. It will happen, he promised, and my son loves the Lord. But between training them up and when they are old – that is the CHILD’S job. They have the opportunity to mess it up.
One word of encouragement. My pastor is preaching on Martin Luther. Did you know that Martin Luther was a lawyer and gave it up to become a monk? How do you think his mom felt when he did that? Or nailed those papers (she probably did not really understand) onto some door, ticking off the entire Catholic church?
I am guessing she thought he had completely thrown his life away. She may have never realized that he would become a very famous person in history because of those various unusual choices. We do not know the future or the big plan – again, that is God’s job. We can only see what looks like a bunch of teenage angst.
I cannot blame the school system. I was making big plans to blame myself there for a while. Then I decided that even though I am not sure of the answers, but I do know I “trained him up” and did my part.
Most of the students dream about a wonderful academic career. There is a proverb- learners are the best earners and learning period is the best period of life. That’s why the students all over the world try to get admitted in higher and reputed educational institutions for higher studies. If you are a student, you also have dreams about a dream academic career, right? But the pathetic truth is most of the students don’t even get chance to continue his studies; due to only one cause – financial insufficiency. So many student welfare organizations and even international organizations come up with their offers for the students. International student scholarship programs are certainly the best option for the meritorious students. But not each and every student is meritorious and in spite of that, the students have the same rights regarding continuation of the higher studies. For them, the financial companies are offering newer options.
They can apply for fast student loan that can meet his immediate academic demands and other associated demands as well. Just get a simple loan payment calculator and you can learn about the payment and the monthly installments. As a student, you can avail each and every offer provided by the governments and now, the governments of developed counties are trying to provide education for the students or all levels. International student scholarship is limited in number and you should also be very lucky to manage a scholarship program for your academic career. But, the fast loan can be the choice of any student taking part in graduation or, post graduation program in an institution. The positive thing about this loan is, the bank authority uses simple loan payment calculator to help the student customers. So, a student has almost all the facilities that he might need during his study period in an educational institution.
International scholarship programs are awarded to the meritorious students in the countries abroad. Unfortunately, there are students in that very country who are willing to take part in the higher courses but don’t have the financial capabilities to support his needs or, his family expenses. As they are home students, they are not considered as the possible holders of the international awards. This is simply a matter of sorrow for them. For them there were only a few options left. But now, everything is getting changed and with time the loan system and allowance and approval systems are also getting changed. These students can apply for the fast student loan which is immediately approved and you don’t need to show your personal financial credit history that means a person without any credit history can apply for the loan. Another positive side of the loan is the simplicity. You can calculate the amount to be paid, the monthly installments with a simple loan payment calculator; it’s that simple and easy.
The known history of chocolate goes back as far as 1500BC, when the Olmec Indians were the first civilization to grow cocoa beans as a domestic crop. The Olmec were a Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, near the modern-day city of Veracruz. Mayan and Aztec civilizations were the next to discover the value of the cacao bean, the natural source of what we know as chocolate. The Aztecs made a potent medicinal drink called xocoatl, or “bitter water”, out of ground cacao beans and other spices. So impressed were the Mayans with cacao’s taste (and its ability to promote energy), that cacao was frequently used in sacred rituals. They even celebrated an annual harvest festival that was devoted entirely to honoring the “cacao god.” The original bitter chocolate drink favored by these people was very different from the smooth, sweet chocolate bars we enjoy today, yet the source of both remains the same: the humble cacao bean. Around 600AD, the Mayans migrated into northern regions of Mexico and established the earliest known cocoa plantations in the Yucatan. In the 16th century, Mayan nobles visited Prince Philip of Spain, and brought gift jars of cocoa, introducing it to western civilization for the first time. It took nearly a century after that for the drink to spread across the rest of Europe. History of Chocolate — The Use of Chocolate Spreads to All Classes The first chocolate house was opened in London in 1657. At that time, chocolate was considered a beverage strictly for the upper class. Solid chocolate was introduced in the form of chocolate rolls and cakes, served in chocolate emporiums. By the early 18th century, the price of cocoa beans had dropped enough to be enjoyed by people of all classes. In the latter part of the century, Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol, England, invented a steam engine for grinding cocoa beans that led to the manufacturing of chocolate on a large scale. Chocolate was introduced to the United States in 1765, when Irish chocolate-maker John Hanan imported cocoa beans from the West Indies to Massachusetts, to refine them with the help of American Dr. James Baker. The pair soon built America’s first chocolate mill and by 1780, were making the now-famous Baker’s chocolate. Innovations in the History of Chocolate Other innovations that occurred in the 19th century include the invention of the cocoa press by Conrad Van Houten. This helped cut prices and improve the quality of chocolate by squeezing out some of the cocoa butter and giving it a smoother consistency. Van Houten was the first to add alkaline salts to powdered cocoa to make it mix better with water. His alkalizing process became known as “Dutching.” In 1847, Joseph Fry & Son discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the “dutched” chocolate, and added sugar, creating a paste that could be molded. The result was the first modern chocolate bar. Fry & Son, along with the Cadbury Brothers, displayed chocolates for eating at an exhibition in Bingley Hall, Birmingham, England in 1849. Prince Albert’s Exposition in London in 1851 was the first time that the public was introduced to bonbons, chocolate creams, and caramels. John Cadbury was the first to mass-market boxes of chocolate candies. In 1861, his son, Richard Cadbury, created the first known heart-shaped candy box for Valentine’s Day. In 1879, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé joined together to form the Nestle Company. Also in that year, Rodolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland, produced a more smooth and creamy chocolate that melted on the tongue by invented the “conching” machine. In 1926, Belgian chocolatier, Joseph Draps started the Godiva Company to compete with Hershey’s and Nestle’s American market. Today, the chocolate industry is an ever-growing, $50 billion dollar-a-year worldwide business. This industry is spread across five continents, and is dominated by a small number of sellers. U.S. companies such as Mars and Hershey’s alone generate $13 billion a year in chocolate sales and account for two thirds of all U.S. manufacturers. Europe accounts for 45% of the world’s chocolate revenue.