Learning English as an Additional Language Essay

Learning English as an Additional Language - Essay Example Effective ways of supporting learning in Science for children are a decisive means to an important end, which is children learning science. The following are the principles that aid strategies that support learning in science for children. The first principle is to accept measures of responsibility for the children if they struggle and/or fail to learn science. The level of responsibility accepted depends on the children’s degree of effort to learn. If children and teachers equally participate and contribute in the learning, it is the teacher who is responsible when children come across difficulties. Also, the teacher should be capable in modifying instructions so as to assist struggling and failing children improve. The practical strategy listed below explains precise articulations of the beliefs and dispositions of effective application of strategies that support learning in science for children. For some principles, their feasible applications enumerate actions for effectiv e theory and practice of strategies that support learning in science for children. Teachers who view this as the main goal and support the practice of various strategies as a purposeful means help all children learn (Ammon, 2006). ...  Believe that all children can and will learn. Create a challenging, but not- intimidating science learning atmosphere. Commit to the learning and academic growth of all children. Picture yourself as able, dependable and positive. Believe that one can practice strategies that support learning in science for children efficiently, and that effective teaching will guide positive learning outcomes. Core scientific ideas Teachers have long taught children science as a sequence of lessons, and reading assignments on its body of knowledge. If practical experiment activities are included, they focus only on the development of practical skills and techniques, not on understanding scientific ideas through questions. Such practice of a strategy in learning scie nce falls short of preparing children for higher learning. Nowadays, children live in a world full of things of scientific inquiry. When children complete their formal learning, they will go into an environment crammed with products that will be as a result of scientific inquiry. Today’s children must learn how to do scientific inquiry and use this information to take actions that will impact in their growth and their future. To prepare children to live and be prepared for advanced learning in science, teachers are required to make room for scientific inquiry by reducing the emphasis on teaching science as a sequence of teaching and reading assignments on scientific knowledge. In addition, teachers must to a great extent reduce their coverage of non-essential scientific knowledge.

History ( global civilization ) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

History ( global civilization ) - Term Paper Example This was the reason for the east and native rebellions for their trade increases. The main reason for the partition of Africa was that in 1882, Britain took it over and in 1890’s it took the biggest share of the east - central Africa, Sudan and Rhodesias. In 1898, there were conflicts with France and Germany. 1n 1900, Europeans led only Ethiopia and Liberia leaving the rest of Africa. The European partitioners thought of Africa as a mirage and cared more about vision rather than reality. In the view of Africans it was unification what Europeans thought as partition. Soon after the partition of Africa, the Europeans started initiating colonization and political units within their societies with diversified history and cultural background. By the end of 19th Century, the Europeans divided the major part of Africa amongst themselves. Finally, the African nationalists took over the artificial units made by Europeans who dominated and exploited Africa (Koponen, pp.

The Main Target Market of the Innovative Foamed Doom Case Study

The Main Target Market of the Innovative Foamed Doom - Case Study Example In the year 2008, there were around 7,73,600 construction companies in the United States (AGC of America, 2011). All of these stats indicate that there potential and growth opportunity in the industry. The new concept of the foamed dome and other structures can be marketed to a considerably large target market. The target market for the new product of foamed dome is large, however, the company will have to clearly identify the need and requirements of the market. The constructors and architects are in search of more environmentally friendly and inexpensive construction material. Different companies and firms are coming up with several innovative products and construction material in order to make the construction industry more sustainable (Miller, 2011). Apart from this, due to the recent economic crunch architects and constructors are looking for cost-saving solutions. The new and innovative product being introduced by the company will be able to cater to all these changing needs of the target market. It is important to establish Point of Parity (POP) for any brand in order to make sure that the product or brand can be related to other products and competitors in the industry. This, in turn, allows the customers to establish the basic understanding and a point of reference. The Point of Parity (POP) in this case is that the foam dome is also used in the construction of different buildings and structures like other constructing material. Once the Point of Parity (POP) has been created, the next step for the brand is the creation of the Point of Difference (POD). It is important to create a Point of Difference (POD) for a brand so that the customers are able to differentiate it from other products in the market.  

Foreshadowing is the essential part of Steinbecks style in Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Foreshadowing is the essential part of Steinbecks style in Of Mice and Men Essay Steinbeck, in my opinion, has one of the most unique styles of writing which is not only effective but also inspirational. The fact that he puts the whole plot and the ending right in front of us (at the beginning, in every section and even in the name) and we dont recognise it easily is truly fascinating. Hints of the grand finale could be found nearly everywhere in the novella. In the beginning of the play we learn that Lennie likes to pet soft things. He starts off by petting a mouse and then petting a puppy, of which he kills both as a result of his unrecognised brutal strength. The puppy was all innocent and fragile and Curleys wife was seen in the same way which foreshadows the killing of Curleys wife. The idea of Curleys wife knowing the history of Lennie with pets and his blindness about the strength he possesses and still allowing him to stroke her hair was particularly considered peculiar by me. The only way I managed to justify this was that perhaps she was unaware of the dangers at that particular time as she was too caught up in the moment of perhaps she wanted to be rid of her depressive and oppressive life. Perhaps she was just fed up of her failure of her dreams and living a life of such misery that she thought of death to be the only way out and maybe death by the hands of Lennie seemed like a good idea because he was still considered to be childish meaning the element of innocence could be attached to him. Foreshadowing plays a huge role in indicating towards the fact that Lennie wont make it alive to the end of the novella. The opening sets a pleasant mood to the story, it makes the world seem peaceful and lively then these feelings transforms into a darker and a much more sorrowful aura. The extract Ill put the old devil out of his misery right now was said by Carlson to Candy. This action foreshadows the death of Lennie; He can be personified as Candys dog as his main purpose is also to accompany George hence when Lennie/ the dog is of no use or has exceeded his limit then he will be put down. This also highlights one of the theories attached to this story in perspective; the idea of Darwins Survival of the fittest theory. The natural environment and settings could also emphasise Darwins theory as it was linked to nature but the quote also shows that a weak element in the food chain (Carlson) preys a weaker member of the food chain (the dog) and later on we learn that George (a weak member of the food chain) kills Lennie (a weaker member of the food chain in terms of mental abilities) regardless what the intents where. Furthermore, the death of Candys Dog and Lennie is pretty identical which can contribute to the method in which Lennie was murdered. The dog was shot in the head which was the same way Lennie was killed. The quotes I ought to of shot that dog myself and He wont even feel it. shows that the idea of George killing Lennie himself rather than getting some else to do it is being suggested to George. Additionally, the second quotes highlights that its all for the best and this action is being taken for the greater good. In Addition, I should have done it myself said by Candy also suggests and foreshadows that George will be the murderer of Lennie. Candy realised afterwards and in a way regretted that he didnt kill his dog, his best companion, himself, in the same George wouldnt want Curley to kill Lennie so he would commit the murder himself. This could be considered a gesture of loyalty and love that now Lennie wouldnt have to suffer anymore or it could also be a sign that George was just fed up of carrying Lennies burden around on his back. In my judgement, I would question Georges actions because I believe there are always other ways of getting around the situation and who gave George the right to take someones life. In conclusion, the element of foreshadowing is the main and one of the most important techniques which the novella is based on. Foreshadowing and hints of the future aspects of the story could be found at nearly every stage of the novella and I think that this doesnt only make the story interesting but it also clamps the reader in deeper and deeper, it makes a readers hunger to find out the ending even more and more. In my opinion, Of Mice and Men is one of the most inspiring storys Ive read not only plot and content wise but also writers techniques wise.

The Revolutionary War :: essays research papers

The Revolutionary War was an enormous part of American history. The revolution in Russia, that sparked the overthrow of communism, was a huge part of Russian history. The revolution of Christianity from the concepts of Greek gods was also a large part of religious history. Christianity and Greek gods have many comparisons, contrasts, and these contrasts resulted in Christianity being revolutionary. The concepts of Christianity and the religious concepts of the Greek gods are comparatively alike. To begin, in both religions, humans believe that there are speakers for their God/gods. Gods do not speak to mere mortals. These people are the priests who teach of the gods ¹ ways and wants. Some are fortune tellers or prophets, as they were called in Greek times, that foretell the future. For example, Tiriesias, in the plays Oedipus the King and Antigone, was a blind prophet who could see the future and foretell it to people. In Greek times the prophets were of high social status. Also, the people believe that their God or gods are above all human ranks. They believe a god is above all and listens to people when they need help. This is why humans pray to the God/gods for forgiveness. The two religious views also believe that the God/gods are watching over their followers. The God/gods decide either before or after a person ¹s life on earth where the person will live in the afterlife, depending on the person ¹s values. Both believe one would either go to a bad place, called Hell or Hades, or a good place, called heaven or the Elysian Fields. Likewise both believe in an afterlife that is eternally chosen. The ideas of the followers of Christianity and Greek religions are also very different. To begin, Christians believe in one almighty God. This is also known as monotheism. Christians believe this God gave the world his only son. When that son was put to death by a human, He told the people He would die to forgive their sins. This shows that God and His son were both caring and forgiving beings. They are respected by the followers of Christianity. God helps humans. Humans pray to this God for help and forgiveness. People also go to church to learn about their religion and to pay their respects to God. The church is thought to be God ¹s house. This is why people get dressed up and try to look nice when they are guests in God ¹s house. God and Jesus are thought to live in heaven. Greeks, however, are very different from Christians. They believe in many gods. This is also known as polytheism. These gods are mean and torture the

Dramatic Dialogue Analysis Essay

Language is a natural process of living. It plays a great part in our lives. Its effects are remarkable, and include much of what distinguishes man from animals. We use it to interact with one another, to construct and maintain our interpersonal relations and order. In doing so, we interpret and represent the world for one another and for ourselves. Language is used to store the experiences built up, both personal and collective. It is a tool for constructing knowledge and for constructing meaning. The study of language is an inquiry into the nature of mind and thought on the assumption that languages are the best mirror of the human mind (Stainton, 1999). Analysis of everyday language use affirms that it is in the realm of art that their challenges are most evident and tangible (Gerbig and Muller-Wood, 2006). Linguistics shares a common tradition with literary study. Not so long ago, language and literature were studied together by philologists, who saw the study of both areas as mutually beneficial. Later development and the advent of specialization in both fields have oven produced scholars whose work does not cross over form one field to another (Oaks, 1998). Even so, scholars in either discipline regularly voice the truism that there is natural conjunction between literature and linguistics. After all, both fields deal with the raw material of human communication and expression – language. There is a need for interdisciplinary cooperation between the disciplinary identity of linguistics as empirical and descriptive while literary study being interpretative and analytical (Gerbig and Muller-Wood, 2006). Linguistics helps us to â€Å"trust the text† (Gerbig and Muller-Wood, 2006), to interpret the text, rather than impose interpretations upon on it. Application of linguistic empirical tools to literature may not lead to ultimate truths. It can nevertheless bring precision to otherwise often impressionistic treatment of text. There is a need to treat text as interchangeable products of a discursive system. Mogliola (1981) posed the question: â€Å"what are the structural conditions for the valid reading of a text, in so far as these conditions are revealed by a phenomenology of interpretative experience? † Heideggerian hermeneutics takes as its origin the pre-objective oneness of interpreter and phenomenon (be the literary text) – sees in interpretation a reading that is faithful to this oneness. Interpreter is never neutral, but always approaches a text with an explicit or implicit question. Interpretative activity manifests three functions: the interpretative question, the textual aspect, and the interpretation which is the meaning. Any given interpretative question should select and illuminate its affiliated â€Å"textual aspect†, an aspect which is there is the text. Linguistics can place literature more firmly and credibly in its context for other aspects of meaning depend more on the context and the communicative intention of the speakers. Communication clearly depends not only on recognizing the meaning of words in an utterance, but recognizing what speakers mean by their utterances. The principles and rules of grammar are the means by which the forms of language are made to correspond with the universal form of thought. The study of generative grammar represented a significant shift of focus in the approach to problems of language. The shift focus was from behavior or the products of behavior to states of mind/brain that enter into behavior, the central concern becomes knowledge of language: its nature, origins, and use. The three basic questions arise: ‘What constitute knowledge of language? ’, ‘How is knowledge of language acquired? ’, and ‘How is knowledge of language put to use? ’. The answer to the third question would be a theory how the knowledge of language attained enters into the expression of thought and the understanding of presented specimen of language, and derivatively, into communication, an other special uses of language (Stainton, 1999). The third question takes an important part in this study, particularly in the performance of the language which main purpose is communication. Communication is conceived as a relation that binds together the three elements: sender, receptionist, and topic. Corresponding to the three elements are three distinct functions: expression, appeal, and representation. These functions consist communicative function depending on what takes the center-stage. The function does exclusively what is represented or depicted in the communicative act. The three functions become the explicit focus of conversation (Medina, 2005). Alongside communication is conversation. Smith (2001) describes conversation as a process of two people understanding each other. Thus it is a characteristic of every true conversation that each opens himself to the other person, truly accepts his point of view as worthy of consideration and gets inside the other to such an extent that he understands not a particular individual, but what he says. The thing that has to be grasped is the objective rightness or otherwise of his opinion, so that they can agree with each other as a subject. Furthermore, in conversation, knowledge is not fixed thing or commodity to be grasped. It is an aspect of process. It arises out of interaction. In conversation, there is a to-and-fro play of dialogue. Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world. It is culturally and historically specific way of conceiving certain verbal transactions and as such has considerable rhetorical force (Maranhao, 1990). The root sense of dialogue is that of talk (logos) that goes across or back and forth (dia). In contemporary English, dialogue is a conversation of two persons. At formal level, it is an economics of verbal exchange. In the functional usage of dialogue, a text or social interaction is treated as a social field across which multiple voices and multiple cultural logics contend with each other (Tedlock and Mannheim, 1995). What makes something as dialogue? The spirit of its participants of the form its utterances take? In Plato’s inception, dialogue has always been and continues to be programmatically liminal: interstructural, between two states or conditions, essentially unstructured rather than structured by contradictions; because of its deliberate avoidance of closure and finality. It serves perpetually as a vehicle for reformulating old elements into new patterns. Dialogue provides a meeting ground, community, and manifests itself in a variety of spontaneous and ritual modes of discourse in which nature and structure meet. Understood as a conceptualization of a kind of discourse and also a way of viewing and interpreting discourse, dialogue shares with narrative the characteristic of being atemporal, existing in many times and places. As discourse phenomena, it is internally atemporal. It does not talk about events in time; instead it spans in ‘dialectic event (i. e, discourse event) and meaning’; it presents utterances, ideas, and undertakings in nonlinear, recursive, diaeretical, and synthesizing sequences (Maranhao, 1990). Treating dialogue as an ideal evidently has an ethical implication. Furthermore, when a particular mode of communication is chosen as a model of dialogue, it becomes identified with the sense of goodness or rightness adhering in the ideal to the exclusion of other modes of communication. (Maranhao,1990). Spoken and written languages are what Maranhao (1990) termed as modes of communication. Although written and spoken languages are very different, they are not easy to separate. In fact, they are closely intertwined, and in daily life people participate in literacy events where reading and writing are mixed with spoken language and with other means of communication. Writing is based on speech in some very real ways; spoken language is the basis for the most people’s learning of written language, for instance, and the very form of written language gets inspiration form spoken language. However, other aspects of communication come into play with written language. Most significantly, it is visual: laid out in some way and displayed. The importance of the role design, layout and other aspect of the physical context should be evident and they form part of what is meant by writing. Writing enables us to go much further than spoken language: its ability to fix things in space and time. Writing results in text. It extends the functions of language, and enables to do different things (Barton, 2006). It is in the realm of art where study of language is evident and tangible. Dramatic dialogue, the interplay between written and spoken language, fits for the study. It is therefore desirous to investigate the workings of dramatic dialogue. Dramatic dialogues usually serve a number of purposes such as developing the plot, and presenting the characters and providing information about them. Playwrights attempt to achieve balance between some features of actual speech and the employment of dialogue by putting not too much closeness to actual speech so as not to make dialogues dull and uninteresting (Al-Rubai’i and Al-ani, 2004). Dramatic dialogues (plays) exist in two ways – on the page and on the stage. It is therefore necessary to adhere to the argument that sensitive understanding of plays (explicitly contains dramatic dialogue) can be arrived at through â€Å"mere reading† through linguistic analyses that dramatic text contains very rich indications as to how they should be performed. Dramatic dialogue takes into account that one crucial aspect in which drama differs from poetry and fiction is in its emphasis on verbal interaction, and the very relationship between people are constructed and negotiated through what they say. It is where linguistics takes into its own. Linguistics, and the techniques of discourse analyses in particular, can help analyze the exchanges between characters, in order to: help us understand the text, help us understand how conversation works, and allow us to appreciate better the skill demonstrated by the playwright (Thornborrow and Wareing, 1998). Chapter 2 Dialogue as discourse is characterized by a fundamental structural principle: it is interactive and interactional. It is a mode of speech exchange among participants, speech in relation to another speech not merely the verbal expression of one character or actors’ part. In the study of dialogue as interaction, the dramatic text as written text, addresses a context of performance which requires a change in mode of discourse – the transformation and transmutation of the written lines into dynamics of speech, which involve more than recitation of the lines by the actors (Herman, 1995). In the study of dramatic dialogue, understanding the workings of the dialogue as interaction and conversational speech versus dramatic speech are taken into account. It is also important to note that dramatic dialogue, taking part in the speech exchange system, must be safeguarded from conversation in order to preserve the formers’ ‘literary’ quality (Herman, 1995). In the construction of conversational practices and actions, participants use co-occurring structures and devices from different levels of linguistic organization as well as the employment of linguistic features in conversation. In the linguistic analyses of dramatic dialogue, Gricean semantics and analyses on the linguistic features: turns, pauses or silences, adjacency pairs, chaining, and back channel support, will be employed. According to Gricean Semantics, in ordinary conversation exchanges, there is much more to the meaning of an utterance than what appears on the grammatical and logical surface: utterances often convey things other than what they literally mean and they often imply things other than what they strictly entail. The adequate understanding of meaning requires the processing of what has been termed as ‘an invited inference’. Grice formulated the maxims as follows: ‘Make your contribution to the conversation as informative as possible, but not more informative or less informative that is required (Maxims of Quantity); ‘Do not say what you believe to be false’ and ‘Do not say that which for you lack adequate evidence (Maxims of Quality); ‘Avoid obscurity’, ‘Avoid ambiguity’, ‘Be brief’, Be orderly’ (Maxims of Manner), and ‘Be relevant’ (Maxims of Relevance). According to Grice, all these different maxims are corollaries of the most fundamental principle of communication that governs all conversation. This is what he called as Cooperative Principle which read as follows: ‘Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk-exchange in which you all engaged. ’ (Medina, 2005). The central premise of the Gricean approach is that the communicative intention of a normal speaker under normal circumstances conforms to the cooperative principle and the conversational maxims that derive from it. For Gricean semantics, the speakers’ conversational contributions are governed first and foremost by these general rules of cooperative communication, rather than by the semantic conventions that fix word-meanings and sentence-meanings. It is also important to note that intended meanings of speakers can depart sometimes even wildly like that of ironic utterances. Grice’s analyses of intended meanings put a lot of weight in the speaker’s communicative intentions undermining the traditional emphasis on linguistic conventions, which on his view become mere tools to be used and bent in all kinds of ways (Medina, 2005). One of the linguistic features in conversation which tends to be modified in dramatic dialogue is the way turns are taken, the way people having a conversation organize who is going to speak next. Schegloff (1995) had the idea that syntax of spoken language in interaction should be looked upon as resource that is deployed and exploited for the organization of turns and sequence in conversation. Turn-taking is one important communication skill emerging during preverbal routines. It is a mechanism use to reorganize conversation so that interactants smoothly exchange speaking consequences. Through turn-taking, participants coordinate their conversational contributions to each other. Turn-taking works as the onset of dialogue and is a prerequisite for latter emergence of communicative rule (Haslett and Samter, 1997). In general, for the construction of conversational practices and actions, participants use co-occurring structures and devices from different levels of linguistic organization, not only from prosodic, phonetic-phenological, but also form morpho-syntactic and lexico-semantic structures in turns-at-talk in their sequential context. The possible types for turn constructional units (TCU), for English, are sentential, clausal, phrasal, and lexical. Syntactic units are important resources for the construction of TCU and turns. TCU is a linguistic unit in talk constructed in the interplay of syntax and prosody in its sequential context. For spoken language in interaction, syntactic entities like sentences are not to be conceived as static or fixed, but flexible. That is why when talking about transmission relevance placed as the relevant loci for the negotiation of turn-taking; ends of sentences, clauses or phrases etc. are not talked about but the ‘possible completion points’ of sentences, clauses, phrases, and one-word construction. It is the flexibility of the possible syntactic unit that enables them to be used for the organization of turn-taking in conversation (Hakulinen and Selting, 2005). In the construction of conversation, participants are not concerned with the construction of units as such, but the construction of units is contingent upon practices or activities such as holding, organizing, and yielding the turn. TCUs are not themselves relevant for participants, but for the practices and activities of turn-taking and activity constitution (Haslett and Samter, 1997).

Reaching Adulthood: Completing Human Developmental Stages

The human development is a very complex yet fascinating part of our lives. We look back at the point we first remembered how young we were, the things we did that were so different from the things we do today. More often than not, we take for granted the stages where significant amount of changes that shaped us took place.Our infancy and pre-school years show much of our earlier attitudes and behaviors which became cemented as we grow older. Our environment played such a significant role in making us the way we are today. As I have mentioned in the first project, we understand our being a male or a female when we realize the roles and activities attached to one’s gender.Even our parents dictate how we should act or what toy to play and we get punished by disobeying them. And at this stage we develop a concept of what makes us happy or sad, we can adapt to our environment and we avoid doing things that would result to an unfavorable consequence.These things we undergo during ou r earlier years further have an effect on the next stage of our lives. What we liked to do, how well we can adapt to other people, how we behave or act upon exposure to a stimulus etc. continue in our middle childhood and adolescence years.The middle childhood prepares us for what we will face in our adolescence years, the same way our infancy and pre-school years prepared us for the later years.During our middle childhood and adolescence, we are thrust into a great deal of changes, whether mentally, physically, socially and emotionally. We like to be independent and to go out of the familial circle that surrounded us when we were young.In my experience, it was this time when I started making friends in school and in my neighborhood. I could also face other people who were not my age. This stage marks the awakening of cognitive and emotional aspects of one person. We learn to judge the people around us, to be curious of the things which we cannot easily understand, to feel different emotions that seemed so new.The countless and various experiences we undergo during this stage further hone, change, influence or impact the way we are. They make our personality unique, mold our behavior and attitudes and develop our skills. Everything we have learned we apply to our present lives.Our infancy and pre-school years show much of our earlier attitudes and behaviors which became cemented as we grow older. Our environment played such a significant role in making us the way we are today. As I have mentioned in the first project, we understand our being a male or a female when we realize the roles and activities attached to one’s gender.Even our parents dictate how we should act or what toy to play and we get punished by disobeying them. And at this stage we develop a concept of what makes us happy or sad, we can adapt to our environment and we avoid doing things that would result to an unfavorable consequence.These things we undergo during our earlier years furthe r have an effect on the next stage of our lives. What we liked to do, how well we can adapt to other people, how we behave or act upon exposure to a stimulus etc. continue in our middle childhood and adolescence years. The middle childhood prepares us for what we will face in our adolescence years, the same way our infancy and pre-school years prepared us for the later years.During our middle childhood and adolescence, we are thrust into a great deal of changes, whether mentally, physically, socially and emotionally. We like to be independent and to go out of the familial circle that surrounded us when we were young. In my experience, it was this time when I started making friends in school and in my neighborhood. I could also face other people who were not my age.This stage marks the awakening of cognitive and emotional aspects of one person. We learn to judge the people around us, to be curious of the things which we cannot easily understand, to feel different emotions that seemed so new and to try things which pique our curiosity.My interview’s particular experience shows this. He started using prohibited drugs during his adolescence. This kind of deed roots from many factors such as family problems, inferiority complex or social dilemma.Dale says that all of his family’s attention was on his younger sister, Mikaela. No matter how much good he does, his family doesn’t seem to notice. So what he did was involve himself in things that would get him into trouble, if only to get his parents’ attention.The countless and various experiences we undergo during this stage further hone, change, influence or impact the way we are. They make our personality unique, mold our behavior and attitudes and develop our skills. Everything we have learned we apply to our present lives.Changes and phenomenon in middle childhood, as noted in my first project, are stepping stones for the adolescence; changes and phenomenon in adolescence, as noted in my second project, are preparation for adulthood.AdulthoodAdulthood is a hazardous and difficult journey for many people to take, and not just a destination of security and safety that we reach once and for all. It is a reference point from which other life stages are judged.The experiences which became imprinted in our memories and the self beliefs and social standards that we have molded within ourselves affect us in our present actions and how we see ourselves. But, these beliefs and standards change when we are exposed to different stimuli or situation.At this stage, I can already foresee my own future, in what is called self-schema. These are the templates of our future, and they tell us what we can be after several years, what our career would be etc. Still, I ask myself, what will I be really in the next years?Since I would not be able to answer this question, I have interviewed Emelita Sacra, a 49-year-old single mother and currently taking over as line leader and quality cont rol officer in a garment corporation. She was separated from her husband, but she manages to raise her daughter well.Emelita used to dream of finishing just high school, since her family’s source of livelihood is barely enough for the 11 members of the family. She studied hard and eventually earned a scholarship, her ticket to college.But her dream faded when she chose to help her parents in meeting the family’s needs.   She was able to send two of her siblings to college, and that was enough for her even if she had sacrificed her own dream.This shows that what she desperately wanted before was put aside by the emergence of a more important situation. She said that though there were many events in her life which affected her, only few values and interests changed. Some of which were the earthly things she wanted before, such as clothes, cosmetics and leisure moments.But now, these things became unimportant because her daughter became her priority. Her situation now i s a far cry from her situation before. Now that her daughter is in college, she has to work hard and limit the luxuries of life. Every spare time was spent doing extra works to be able to provide for her only child.When she was a teenager, all that mattered was helping her family to earn money and send the children to school. Now, what matters is raising her daughter well and providing her education. This attitude is better explained by Jean Piaget’s generativity, wherein Emelita thinks of the future of her daughter instead of her own life.Emelita says that the values she learned from her younger years didn’t change much. As to the moral aspect, nothing changed, but some things were added. She instilled to her daughter the moral values her parents taught her.Basically, when we reach the adulthood stage, as I viewed my interviewee, there are changes in our self concept. For example, we might have low self efficacy before, which is our competence in accomplishing things. But because we have gone through many things, and we were able to endure the pains and dilemmas of life, we have increased our self efficacy considering the fact that we are older than before, we could handle and do things better now.Another example of self concept that had changed during our adulthood years is the self awareness. Adults tend to be more focused and are aware of their responsibilities at their age. For example, my interviewee became aware of her role as a mother and father solely to her daughter. Aside from that, she also became aware of her priorities in the present time compared before. At this point in life, most people have grown matured, as to how they should act, how they should be, and what they should do.Generally, lots of things have made their contribution to each of stages in life. Some factors that might affect each life stage are inherent and gene factor. Biologically speaking, this could really happen, such that our behavior and character could be attr ibuted to the innate potentials of ourselves.However, we could not deny the fact that the environment that we are living in has contributed big changes not only in our lives, but more specifically, in ourselves.Those external factors are the ones we experience during our infancy stage to childhood, then adolescence stage, and lastly adulthood stage. The events in our everyday lives have impacts such that, we are not aware that those events molded us into what are now, and what we are going to be in the near future.Thus, the human development is a very vicious path, if we are going to consider all the details. Yet, we could say that human development is like a metamorphose process of butterfly. The only difference is that, the butterfly would surely fly if it comes out from the pupae, but each of us has no assurance if we can soar high in our lives.REFERENCESBoeree, G. Personality Theories. (NO DATE). Erik Erikson, 1902 – 1994. Retrieved August   29, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.htmlJames, W. The Principles of Psychology. Retrieved August 29, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/prin10.htmLerner, R. Concepts and Theories of Human Development. Retrieved August 29, 2007 from the site of UAH Library on World Wide Web: http://libdblist.uah.edu/browse.php?list=P&source_id=17Myers, D. Exploring Social Psychology. 3rd ed. November 2003. McGraw-Hill Companies.