Topic35:
Write an expository article for your school magazine in which you suggest how parents can help their children overcome the problem of examination stress.
Typical Essay:
One particularly effective anti-stress weapon for parents is to encourage children to keep up normal leisure activities, such as swimming or cinema, to show that examinations are not the be-all and end-all of life.
There are important errors that parents should avoid. On no account should they offer in advance presents of money, expensive clothes, holidays, computer games or any other expensive consumer items as a reward for success. This only emphasises the importance of examinations that are being undertaken and increases the pressure on the candidate.
Similarly, parents should never hold up siblings, relatives or friends as shining examples of academic success to be emulated. This not only creates unfair worries about living up to family traditions but will also cause bitter feelings in any student who does not match the achievements of family ‘stars’.
Another thing for parents to avoid is to impose on their children the expectation that they will perform better than the students believe they are capable of. Unrealistic expectations can be very damaging to a young ego. Teenagers who are intelligent enough to take HKCE and A- levels and pursue university places are also intelligent enough to recognise when their abilities are being overstated. Parents of very able children should also be wary. Clever students do not like their cleverness to be exaggerated.
Parents should not do or say anything that has the effect of making the examination seem unduly important, special or difficult, because such attitudes greatly increase the amount of stress felt by the candidate.
Examination success is, to a certain degree, a case of mind over matter. Naturally, a student has to work hard and needs the academic ability in the first place, but having the right attitude is also important.
Topic36:
Write a composition in which you discuss the importance of reading.
Typical Essay:
It is a well-known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity. People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away-in their minds. The only tragedy is that, with time, people have lost their skill and passion to read. There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, aside from books. And that is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary.
It is observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs. They are more creative and do better in school and college. It is recommended that parents to inculcate the importance of reading to their children in the early years. Reading is said to significantly help in developing vocabulary, and reading aloud helps to build a strong emotional bond between parents and children. The children who start reading from an early age are observed to have good ******** skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.
Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics. It helps us to stay in-touch with contemporary writers as well as those from the days of yore and makes us sensitive to global issues.
Topic37:
Write a composition in which you discuss the phenomenon of school bullying.
Typical Essay:
As many adult survivors will testify, childhood is not always an easy thing to endure. One of the most difficult challenges a child can face is school bullying, the deliberate intimidation of weaker children by older or stronger children. A school bully is often a problem child with self-esteem and anger management issues who acts out through physical and mental assaults on those he or she perceives as victims or less likely to defend themselves.
School bullying is by no means a recent development. Many generations of children have experienced the wrath of a childhood bully, and for some of those victims the emotional scarring continues into adulthood. Some bullies work independently, while others seek strength in numbers as a gang. Certain neighborhood streets or sections of a school playground may "belong" to a gang of bullies, forcing other students to run an intimidating gauntlet or avoid the area entirely.
There are some child behavior experts who suggest that some school bullying is really a cry for help from the bully. The bully/victim relationship can be viewed as two sides of the same emotional coin, so to speak. While a victim of bullying or abuse may withdraw emotionally and physically, a bully essentially vents his or her frustrations on others. Both the victim and the bully may be experiencing abuse from siblings or parents at home, but one learns to cope by remaining passive, while the other learns to cope through aggression and anti-social behavior.
School bullying is a major problem which must be addressed by school administrators, teachers, parents and the students themselves. Some school bullies may need professional counseling in order to deal with the circumstances that trigger their outbursts and aggressive behavior towards other children and adults. Others may need to be monitored closely for signs of escalation, such as artwork or writings depicting violence and other disturbing subject matter.
If school bullying is not kept in check, the results can be disastrous. Many of the school shootings in recent years can be traced back to previous incidents of school bullyism. Either the victim of school bullies decides to seek revenge on those who have wronged him or her, or a student with an anti-social or bully mentality decides to escalate from fantasy forms of violence and bloodshed to the real event. In either scenario, early intervention could still help prevent incidents of school bullying from escalating into school tragedies.
On an individual level, parents who receive reports of school bullying from their children should take those concerns seriously and not dismiss them as part of a rite of passage or "boys will be boys." Some school bullies are fully capable of committing sexual assaults or smuggling real weapons onto school property, so any palpable threats against a child should be investigated by parents or school authorities before threats become actions. Reporting credible threats to law enforcement officers is also a way to counter serious incidents of school bullying.
Topic38:
Write a composition in which you discuss the advantages of private schools.
Typical Essay:
One of the advantages of private schools is that they have a small community atmosphere that allows for a lower student-to-teacher ratio. With smaller class sizes, teachers are able to focus more attention on individual students, and have more time to get to know students better. Classmates also get a chance to form more intimate bonds, when there are fewer students.
Other advantages of private schools include fewer disciplinary problems. When teachers and staff know students better, they are able to take appropriate measures applicable to particular students. This works far better than, for example, punishing the entire class, which holds no one accountable. The children that behave properly are not motivated to continue good behavior, if they are going to be punished for someone else's actions.
Private schools also have the option of expulsion, which is rare in public schools since public education is considered a "right" rather than a privilege. While this may not seem like one of the advantages of private schools, the possibility of expulsion might make some students less likely to fight, to take drugs, or to cut classes.
When parents pay for their children's education, they enjoy more of the advantages of private schools, because they have a say in how things are done. When children attend public school, parents who voice concerns frequently complain of being treated as "nuisances." In the private school setting, they are paying customers. The tuition factor enables other advantages of private schools, such as well-maintained campuses, and excellent books and learning materials.
Many parents who return their children to public school soon miss the advantages of private schools. They immediately learn that their children are well ahead of their classmates. They are frequently offered the opportunity to allow their child to skip a grade, because their children have already surpassed what the public school has to offer at their grade level--even in most honors classes--and the students quickly become bored.
Aside from the many other advantages of private schools, students who receive private schooling also have a lower drop out rate, experience fewer drug problems, and report less violence. They also tend to have higher scores on standardized tests and college entrance exams. One of the most important advantages of private schools is that by percentage,
Topic39:
Write a composition in which you discuss distance education.
Typical Essay:
The traditional model for higher education usually involves the student travelling to the same physical campus as his or her educators. With the advent of videotapes, CD-ROMs, closed-circuit television and the Internet, however, a student can now receive pertinent classroom information without even leaving home. This is the basis for what colleges and university call distance education. Distance education utilizes a combination of audiovisual lectures, objective examinations and planned meetings with human instructors.
A form of distance learning called correspondence schooling has been available for decades, but the programs have usually been limited and accreditation is often questioned. Students taking these distance education courses would receive a packet of study materials, worksheets and objective tests. A representative of the correspondence school would periodically grade these mailed-in tests and eventually bestow a certificate of completion. There is very little interactivity between student and instructor for most of these classes, and practical lab work is nearly impossible.
Traditional colleges and universities have now improved distance education through some trial and error. Earlier attempts at distance education involved little more than a series of videotaped lectures and a one-off final examination. Low test scores revealed a need for more interactivity between off-campus students and their campus-based instructors. Modern distance education courses now feature real-time lectures with remote communications and regularly scheduled online exercises. Professors are encouraged to treat emailed questions with the same respect as those posed in a traditional classroom.
Distance education programs are generally aimed at older or returning students who cannot afford to commute and support themselves financially at the same time. Many of the class lectures are on videotape or CD-ROM, allowing students to select the best time in their daily routines to study. Because distance education classes fall under the same auspices as on-campus classes, they are considered accredited. A student enrolled in a videotaped freshman English 101 class receives the same number of writing assignments as a traditional student on campus. The difference is that the distance education program might allow for emailed submissions or a slightly modified grade turnaround time.
Those looking for a bargain-basement education may not necessarily find it through a distance education program, especially one provided by a major college or university. Registration fees for many distance education classes are compatible with those paid by traditional students on campus. The major financial advantage is significantly lower travel expenses. Meeting with a virtual instructor a few times during the semester is much cheaper than commuting to the campus every day or paying for on-campus housing and food.
Enrolling in a distance education course is a great way to earn a degree from a respected educational institution without the need to uproot yourself and your loved ones to another state for the privilege. Information on distance education courses can often be found on the Internet webpages of individual colleges or through the school's admissions department.
Advertising is present in almost every aspect of daily life. Discuss.
Typical Essay:
Advertising is used to publicize a product, service, or idea. Many types of advertising are available for the purpose of building brand awareness and increasing product sales. Advertising is present in almost every aspect of daily life.
Before deciding what types of advertising are best, it is important for a company to define the audience they want to target. The specific group which a product is marketed towards is their target audience. Demographic information such as age, gender, education, and income level helps define a target audience. Placing your message in advertising venues focusing on this group, or demographic, is called target marketing and is essential to effective advertising.
Print mediums like magazines, brochures, and newspapers allow the marketer’s message to reach their target audience on the page. Magazines include articles and images intended to attract a specific type of consumer. Magazine publishers have extensive demographic information on their readers, allowing marketers to tailor advertising to speak specifically to their potential customers.
Broadcast advertising includes TV, radio, and Internet messages. Traditional forms of these types of advertisements are commercials shown during a television program or before a movie. Product placement advertising is a less obvious way to promote a product. With product placement types of advertising, companies pay to have their product used by a character in the program. When you see someone in a TV show or movie using a specific brand, this is product placement, or covert advertising.
One of the first instances bringing product placement to the public’s attention was in 1982 when the movie E.T. was released. In this movie, characters are seen eating Reese’s Pieces® candy. Sales of Reese’s Pieces® increased substantially as a result of their visibility in this incredibly popular movie, generating publicity about the effectiveness of this type of advertising.
Internet promotion is one of the newer types of advertising and can be accomplished in a number of ways. Flash advertising refers to messages that jump onto your computer screen and often move around. They can be hard to close and are annoying, but effective at gaining your attention.
Pop up and scrolling ads are other examples of these types of advertising. Pay per click advertising refers to marketers paying to have their web pages placed high on search engine results pages. These are also called sponsored links.
Outdoor advertising utilizes billboards and signage. These types of advertising include using cars with promotional messages on them, or large signs placed on the sides of buses. They can also be signs on scoreboards or in stadiums drawing the attention of large crowds and television coverage at sporting event
Topic41:
Modern advertising uses ********, pictures, sound and colours to sell the products as well as possible. Discuss.
Typical Essay:
At the beginning of production, advertising will inform you what a product is like, where you can get it and how much it costs. Later, it is necessary to persuade the people to keep on buying or attract new customers to buy. Modern advertising uses ********, pictures, sound and colours to sell the products as well as possible.
The best times for commercials are the times at which people wait for something special like the news or sports. At these times advertising can be very successful, but it is also very expensive.
TV is one of the most powerful advertising medium, because you can get very detailed information about a product. Depending on your target group you have to decide the time, when your spot shall be shown. It is not useful broadcasting an ad about cars in the children’s programmes because this is not your target group, they cannot buy a car. In the afternoon there are many films on TV, which are interrupted regularly. At that time advertising
can be very expensive. In fact, TV-adverts have a strange impact. You might have noticed how well you can remember slogans long after the spot is over.
The prices for full-page-adverts in national newspapers are roughly the same as for TV spots, but you can also place smaller adverts in the print media. In local newspapers you only pay a few pounds. The problem of adverts in newspapers and magazines is, that they can attract the reader’s eyes only. This problem can be solved by considering several factors:
• Only use right-hand pages for newspaper adverts, because you first look at the right side.
• The colour is an important fact. Red signals mean danger and colours of the dusk make us feel comfortable and save.
• The layout and the text are also very important parts of newspaper adverts. The layout may take the readers look at the main information, and the text is just to inform interested people.
Direct mailing is another form of advertising. The companies get a list of names and addresses and send leaflets to those people who might be interested in their products. Some people find this direct mailing irritating, wasteful and unsightly, so the leaflets land in the rubbish bin.
Some people say, that advertising persuade people to buy things they don’t need and to be wasteful, but advertising also means creating more jobs. Regardless whether we like advertisements or not, advertising has become indispensable in our economies. It has become a market of its own and it offers a high number of jobs. Moreover, advertisements are an important source of information for the public. And there is something that we should not forget: Advertising enables us to afford such “luxuries” like TV and newspapers, because without it, they would be considerably more expensive.
Topic42:
Newspaper advertising is one of the most common ways to advertise in many countries. Discuss.
Typical Essay:
Newspaper advertising is one of the most common ways to advertise in many countries. Often cheaper than broadcast advertising, newspaper advertising usually provides advantages of greater market share in many ********s. Also, newspaper advertising does not depend on the target audience having a television or radio on at a certain time in order to receive the message of the advertisement.
Newspaper advertising comes in two major division: display or classified. Newspaper ads considered display ads are those that span multiple columns horizontally and often include graphics and borders. Classified newspaper advertising is in-column advertising that follows the natural flow of the column down the page vertically.
Classified advertising is usually the cheapest option for most people and appeals to those who are after a certain market. For example, those seeking to rent an apartment, find a job, or buy a pet typically may use classified ads to aid in their searching. Although not traditional to classified ads, many publications offer small graphics and borders with classified ads. Classified ads are usually found in a specific section.
Display ads are generally higher profile ads that take up, in many cases, significant portions of the page. Typically, display ads may take up an eighth, quarter, half or full page. In some cases, the ad may take up two facing pages, those these ads are rare in newspaper advertising simply because of the cost. Display ads may either be in color or black and white, with the color option costing more. Display ads can be found throughout the paper.
In many cases, newspapers offer services to advertisers to help them design effective display pieces. In all cases, the advertiser has the right to refuse or accept this service. In some cases, the newspaper may choose not to publish an ad that it deems offensive or libelous. However, newspapers must be careful when rejecting ads and often work with the advertiser to revise the ad so it is suitable for publication.
In a relatively new development, some newspapers offer a package of advertising that not only includes newspaper advertising but online advertising on the newspaper's Web site as well. This helps alleviate fears among some advertisers that their target audience may not be reading the newspaper, but simply going online. Most newspapers that have Web sites offer some sort of online advertising in addition to their newspaper advertising, though not all publications package the two together.
Topic43:
Nearly all magazines depend on the revenue generated by their advertisers to stay in business.
Typical Essay:
Magazine advertising is the ads you see placed throughout publications. Starting up or maintaining a magazine is dependant on a few factors, but one of the most important is advertising. Magazine advertising can make or break a publication. Nearly all magazines depend on the revenue generated by their advertisers to stay in business.
It is very important to have magazine advertising in place before a new publication is placed on the market. At the beginning, the revenue from ads can pay for staff wages and help with the start up costs. Not only that, but the right type of advertisement placed through a magazine can also boost the magazine's sales.
The diversity of magazines available today is staggering. From dog lovers to funeral directors, there seems to be a magazine for everyone. Advertisers are aware that a strategically placed ad in the right magazine can improve their business many times over.
If you look at the glossy magazines, they seem to be almost 80% advertisements. The reason for this is that magazines such as GQ or Vogue are seen as aspirational magazines. The magazine advertising within their pages reflects the message of the magazine and the audience they are trying to reach.
People who read GQ or Vogue are supposedly the elite in terms of lifestyle. They are up to the minute in areas such as fashion and they have a large disposable income. The magazine advertising in GQ and Vogue caters specifically to that audience – designer clothes, high performance cars, luxury living. Whole features can be written around a product.
Sometimes a product is interwoven through a feature without the reader being aware of it. It may be a feature on a day at a certain spa in which a number of products are mentioned. The magazine advertising in this feature is not only the spa, but also the products used at the spa. These types of articles are seen as advice givers, and their potential for pushing a product is huge. They can market the product to millions of people through their recommendation in the magazine.
Billions of dollars are spent annually on magazine advertising. Because of the amount of money involved, the brands that are being advertised, more often than not, have a say in what will be in the magazine. They can stipulate where they would like the ad, what type of ******* should be placed next to it and even what should not be in the magazine in which they are placing the ad.
Magazine advertising is one of the most powerful marketing tools available. An ad placed in a magazine can improve sales enormously. Editors are, however, aware of the editorial changes that can be made by corporations through magazine advertising. Magazine advertising by major corporations nearly always has a ******* impact on the magazine. This editorial power has to be weighed up when deciding on the advertising and the money involved.