Problem & solution essay.
Traffic congestion and parking problems are faced by most large cities around the world, and Abu Dhabi is no exception. Here in Abu Dhabi, however, lack of parking space, especially in the central business district, is arguably a bigger problem than traffic congestion, which is generally limited to the daily rush hours.
The main overall reason for these problems in Abu Dhabi is the rapidly expanding population. This, in turn, is linked to Islamic and cultural factors: Abu Dhabi has a very high birthrate, in common with most Arab countries and the emirate's population is a very young one. More people means more drivers and thus more cars on the roads. Many of these drivers are young and inexperienced which means more accidents and more hold-ups. Another factor is Abu Dhabi's rapid economic development over the past few decades, based on oil, of course. The emirate is oil-rich and this has led to massive infrastructure projects, most recently the island developments of Reem, Sadiyaat and Yas, where the new Yas Marina F1 circuit has been built. More building and industrialisation means more business and so more commercial vehicles, many of them large and slow-moving, and so contributing to traffic congestion. Although there are now many more new, high-rise buildings they haven't all been constructed with adequate parking space and this has led to massive parking problems in the business district. The fact that Abu Dhabi is an island with limited space for transport development has further added to the problem.
One obvious solution is to improve the existing road network by constructing more bridges, overpasses and underpasses to ease traffic flow. Another possible solution is to improve public transport, with better bus services and a new rail network, as in Dubai with its new metro. Yet another possibility is for the authorities, as in Singapore, to make motoring more expensive, through higher registration fees, restrictions on where and when motorists may use their cars, etc. Another solution, perhaps surprisingly mentioned by several of my students, is to raise the age at which young people can apply for a driving licence, from eighteen to twenty-one, or even twenty-five. This would help reduce the number of accidents and injuries, as well as easing congestion and parking problems.
The first solution is already underway, an example being the recently opened underpass on Salam Street, near Khalifa Park. Similarly, public bus services have been much improved recently. The buses are newer, safer, cleaner and more user-friendly. The problem with regard to greater restrictions on motorists is that many people will see them as an attack on individual liberty and no doubt they would prove unpopular, at least to begin with. What works in Singapore would not necessarily work in Abu Dhabi. Similarly, raising the age at which you can get a licence might not prove either practicable or popular. Finally with regard to solving parking problems, the most important solution is that the existing rules regarding new buildings having adequate parking space, preferably underground, must be strictly enforced.
503 words.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The innovation which has transformed my professional life in recent years is the e-mail. At ADMC we faculty live and die by electronic mail. We send, every day, e-mails to people who are only a few desks away. In the past we would have gone to see these people in person or written hard copy notes to leave on their desks.
Electronic mail predates the inception of the Internet, and was in fact a crucial tool in creating the Internet. MIT first demonstrated the Compatible Time-Sharing System(CTSS) in 1961. It allowed multiple users to log into the IBM 7094 from remote dial-up terminals, and to store files online on disk. This new ability encouraged users to share information in new ways. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computerto communicate. Although the exact history is murky, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail).
So e-mail has been around a long time but it is only in the last 10-15 years that it has played a part in my professional development.In fact, all aspects of life have been changed by e-mail. When I first went to Brunei (we landed in Bandar Seri Begawan, or BSB, the capital, on 1st January, 1980) there was no widely available worldwide web. No-one had a computer. E-mails were unheard of. There were no projectors in classrooms. There weren't even whiteboards or airconditioning units in classrooms. I used chalk on a blackboard. And this was in the Pusat Tingkatan Enam (Sixth Form Centre), at that time the leading academic institution in the whole country. We didn't even have air-conditioning in our staff room, and papers had to be weighted down on desks to prevent them being blown away by the fans.
The contrast with the situation here today in ADMC is striking. Every classroom has a/c, projectors, smartboards, whiteboards. http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet/. I can communicate with all my students by e-mail; getting them to check and read their e-mails is a different matter.E-mails have transformed not just my professional life but all aspects of life in general. Workers at the Royal Mail in the U.K. are currently (November 2009) involved in a series of strikes that seems doomed to failure. Increasingly people in their everyday lives, as well as their professional ones, are switching from old-fashioned letter writing to e-mail. It would appear to be an inexorable progression from hard to soft copy. When, in 1986, I was studying for my Licentiate Diploma in TESOL with Trinity College, London, ( http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/), I received work modules by airmail, and returned the completed work likewise. It would take weeks for work to arrive, be completed, returned to London, get marked and sent back. The same tasks could be completed today by e-mail in a fraction of the time. The world has been transformed by electronic mail.
503 words
Bibliography:
"E-mail." En.wikipedia.org. Www.google.com. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.
"E-learning." Www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/
Electronic mail predates the inception of the Internet, and was in fact a crucial tool in creating the Internet. MIT first demonstrated the Compatible Time-Sharing System(CTSS) in 1961. It allowed multiple users to log into the IBM 7094 from remote dial-up terminals, and to store files online on disk. This new ability encouraged users to share information in new ways. E-mail started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computerto communicate. Although the exact history is murky, among the first systems to have such a facility were SDC's Q32 and MIT's CTSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail).
So e-mail has been around a long time but it is only in the last 10-15 years that it has played a part in my professional development.In fact, all aspects of life have been changed by e-mail. When I first went to Brunei (we landed in Bandar Seri Begawan, or BSB, the capital, on 1st January, 1980) there was no widely available worldwide web. No-one had a computer. E-mails were unheard of. There were no projectors in classrooms. There weren't even whiteboards or airconditioning units in classrooms. I used chalk on a blackboard. And this was in the Pusat Tingkatan Enam (Sixth Form Centre), at that time the leading academic institution in the whole country. We didn't even have air-conditioning in our staff room, and papers had to be weighted down on desks to prevent them being blown away by the fans.
The contrast with the situation here today in ADMC is striking. Every classroom has a/c, projectors, smartboards, whiteboards. http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet/. I can communicate with all my students by e-mail; getting them to check and read their e-mails is a different matter.E-mails have transformed not just my professional life but all aspects of life in general. Workers at the Royal Mail in the U.K. are currently (November 2009) involved in a series of strikes that seems doomed to failure. Increasingly people in their everyday lives, as well as their professional ones, are switching from old-fashioned letter writing to e-mail. It would appear to be an inexorable progression from hard to soft copy. When, in 1986, I was studying for my Licentiate Diploma in TESOL with Trinity College, London, ( http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/), I received work modules by airmail, and returned the completed work likewise. It would take weeks for work to arrive, be completed, returned to London, get marked and sent back. The same tasks could be completed today by e-mail in a fraction of the time. The world has been transformed by electronic mail.
503 words
Bibliography:
"E-mail." En.wikipedia.org. Www.google.com. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.
"E-learning." Www.admc.hct.ac.ae/internet. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Vocabulary log
Vocabulary log
10 words:
1. accommodation, noun, a residence, a place where you live.
My accommodation in Doha was a villa, but here in Abu Dhabi it is a flat.
2. achievement, noun, something difficult you succeed in doing.
Putting a man on the moon in 1969 was a great achievement for NASA.
3. ambulance, noun, a vehicle used to take a sick or injured person to hospital.
There was a major crash involving several vehicles on the Sheikh Zayed Road and several ambulances were called to the scene.
4. attract, verb, to draw by appealing to the emotions or senses, by stimulating interest, or by exciting admiration; allure; invite: to attract attention; to attract admirers by one's charm.
The first F1 race in Abu Dhabi attracted a huge crowd of spectators to Yas Island.
5. Australia, proper noun, a large country in the southern hemisphere.
I have visited Australia twice and seen some very large crocodiles in Northern Territory.
6. available, adjective, accessible, usable, handy, buyable.
Many 4-WD vehicles are available in the U.A.E.
7. beautiful, adjective, lovely, pretty, gorgeous, attractive, fine.
She's wearing a beautiful gown.
8. because, conjunction, for the reason that; due to the fact that.
He was absent from class because he was sick.
9. before, preposition, previous to; earlier or sooner than, ahead of; in the future of; awaiting.
Phone me before noon.
10. believe, verb, to think that something is true;to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.
I didn't believe her story.
10 words:
1. accommodation, noun, a residence, a place where you live.
My accommodation in Doha was a villa, but here in Abu Dhabi it is a flat.
2. achievement, noun, something difficult you succeed in doing.
Putting a man on the moon in 1969 was a great achievement for NASA.
3. ambulance, noun, a vehicle used to take a sick or injured person to hospital.
There was a major crash involving several vehicles on the Sheikh Zayed Road and several ambulances were called to the scene.
4. attract, verb, to draw by appealing to the emotions or senses, by stimulating interest, or by exciting admiration; allure; invite: to attract attention; to attract admirers by one's charm.
The first F1 race in Abu Dhabi attracted a huge crowd of spectators to Yas Island.
5. Australia, proper noun, a large country in the southern hemisphere.
I have visited Australia twice and seen some very large crocodiles in Northern Territory.
6. available, adjective, accessible, usable, handy, buyable.
Many 4-WD vehicles are available in the U.A.E.
7. beautiful, adjective, lovely, pretty, gorgeous, attractive, fine.
She's wearing a beautiful gown.
8. because, conjunction, for the reason that; due to the fact that.
He was absent from class because he was sick.
9. before, preposition, previous to; earlier or sooner than, ahead of; in the future of; awaiting.
Phone me before noon.
10. believe, verb, to think that something is true;to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so.
I didn't believe her story.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Squash racquets
Sullivan, Bob. "Khan the Conqueror." Sports Illustrated V.6 06 May 1985: 69.
"Squash Rackets." Time 29 Feb. 1932: 39. Print.
"What a racket (differences among tennis, squash, badminton & racquetball rackets)" Sports Illustrated for Kids V.7 N.4 Apr. 1995: 13. Print.
"Squash Rackets." Time 29 Feb. 1932: 39. Print.
"What a racket (differences among tennis, squash, badminton & racquetball rackets)" Sports Illustrated for Kids V.7 N.4 Apr. 1995: 13. Print.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Referencing questions
Part 1 – Referencing Questions
Watch the podcast that is linked under Referencing Links on the LCES N100 webpage. Answer the following questions from the presentation.
1. What is plagiarism?
Copying or cheating by pretending someone else's work is your own.
2. What must you do avoid plagiarizing?
Credit the resources you've consulted.
3. What style of referencing is accepted at HCT?
MLA.
4. What are the five types of information that are often included when referencing from various sources?
Author's name; title; place published; publisher; date.
5. When creating a reference for a book what comes first?
Author's name.
6. What is the second item of information in a magazine reference?
Title of article.
7. What is the last item of information in a magazine reference?
Page nos.
8. What is the third item of information when referencing a website?
Name of website.
9. What is last item of information when referencing a website?
URL.
10. In the case of a database source, what is the third item of information?
Magazine name.
11. What comes before the URL in a database reference?
The date you accessed it.
12. Where is the bibliography?
At the end.
13. What is in the bibliography?
All the resources you've accessed.
14. When giving the author’s name which part of the name do you put first?
Family name.
15. How do you order items in the bibliography?
Alphabetically.
16. Besides quotations, where do you use an inline citation?
Reported speech.
17. What information goes in an inline citation?
Author's name, date/page nos.
18. Name one citation machine that can help you?
Easybib.com
19. Besides your teacher, who can help you with referencing?
College librarians.
20. In Google type, ‘HCT plagiarism.’ Find the page which describes the consequences of plagiarism at HCT. State what this consequence is.
Immediate dismissal from HCT.
Possible topics:
car accidents
smoking
obesity
aircraft safety
divorce
adult literacy
species extinctionPart 2 – Sample Bibliography
Choose topic that interests you.
Topic:
Using the ADM library catalogue
Go to http://library.hct.ac.ae/
Click Databases and ebooks
Perform the same search with the data bases Student Resource Center – Gold
List three sources that might be useful.
(1)
(2)
(3)
Use Easybib to create a bibliography from the sources above.
Watch the podcast that is linked under Referencing Links on the LCES N100 webpage. Answer the following questions from the presentation.
1. What is plagiarism?
Copying or cheating by pretending someone else's work is your own.
2. What must you do avoid plagiarizing?
Credit the resources you've consulted.
3. What style of referencing is accepted at HCT?
MLA.
4. What are the five types of information that are often included when referencing from various sources?
Author's name; title; place published; publisher; date.
5. When creating a reference for a book what comes first?
Author's name.
6. What is the second item of information in a magazine reference?
Title of article.
7. What is the last item of information in a magazine reference?
Page nos.
8. What is the third item of information when referencing a website?
Name of website.
9. What is last item of information when referencing a website?
URL.
10. In the case of a database source, what is the third item of information?
Magazine name.
11. What comes before the URL in a database reference?
The date you accessed it.
12. Where is the bibliography?
At the end.
13. What is in the bibliography?
All the resources you've accessed.
14. When giving the author’s name which part of the name do you put first?
Family name.
15. How do you order items in the bibliography?
Alphabetically.
16. Besides quotations, where do you use an inline citation?
Reported speech.
17. What information goes in an inline citation?
Author's name, date/page nos.
18. Name one citation machine that can help you?
Easybib.com
19. Besides your teacher, who can help you with referencing?
College librarians.
20. In Google type, ‘HCT plagiarism.’ Find the page which describes the consequences of plagiarism at HCT. State what this consequence is.
Immediate dismissal from HCT.
Possible topics:
car accidents
smoking
obesity
aircraft safety
divorce
adult literacy
species extinctionPart 2 – Sample Bibliography
Choose topic that interests you.
Topic:
Using the ADM library catalogue
Go to http://library.hct.ac.ae/
Click Databases and ebooks
Perform the same search with the data bases Student Resource Center – Gold
List three sources that might be useful.
(1)
(2)
(3)
Use Easybib to create a bibliography from the sources above.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Easybib
Bibliography:
Kharma, Nayef, and Ali Hajjaj. Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis and Remedy. Essex: Longman, 1989. 137-142.
(1) Who did the original research? Kharma, Nayef & Ali Hajjaj
(2) What was the name of the book? Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis & Remedy
(3) Who was the publisher? Longman
(4) What pages were used? 137-142
(5) Where was the book published? Essex
(6) When was the book published? 1989
Created by easybib.com:
Kharma, Nayef, and Ali Hajjaj. Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis & Remedy. Essex: Longman, 1989.
The 3 conditionals:
1. If he works hard he will pass.
2. If he worked hard he would pass.
3. If he had worked hard he would have passed.
1 = ist conditional, simple present + will. Meaning: probable.
2= 2nd conditional, simple past + would. Meaning: possible.
3= 3rd conditional, past perfect. Meaning: impossible, i.e. he's already failed.
1 & 2 refer to the future.
3 refers to the past.
Kharma, Nayef, and Ali Hajjaj. Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis and Remedy. Essex: Longman, 1989. 137-142.
(1) Who did the original research? Kharma, Nayef & Ali Hajjaj
(2) What was the name of the book? Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis & Remedy
(3) Who was the publisher? Longman
(4) What pages were used? 137-142
(5) Where was the book published? Essex
(6) When was the book published? 1989
Created by easybib.com:
Kharma, Nayef, and Ali Hajjaj. Errors in English Among Arabic Speakers: Analysis & Remedy. Essex: Longman, 1989.
The 3 conditionals:
1. If he works hard he will pass.
2. If he worked hard he would pass.
3. If he had worked hard he would have passed.
1 = ist conditional, simple present + will. Meaning: probable.
2= 2nd conditional, simple past + would. Meaning: possible.
3= 3rd conditional, past perfect. Meaning: impossible, i.e. he's already failed.
1 & 2 refer to the future.
3 refers to the past.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Libya's Great Man-Made River Project
The Eighth Wonder of the World
Summary:
This article by John Watson (18.03.2006) describes the Great Man-Made River Project in Libya. Libya is a mainly desert country and finding a supply of fresh, clean water has become a government priority, made more pressing by increased industrialization.
Oil exploration in the 1950s revealed vast aquifers beneath Libya’s southern desert. How to get this fossil water to the two main cities, Benghazi and Tripoli, where most Libyans live? Libya had oil money to pay for pipelines to transport the water but needed the engineering expertise of foreign companies to implement the scheme. Phase 1, started in 1993, brought water from eastern well-fields to Benghazi. In 1996 phase 2, bringing water from western wells to Tripoli was completed. Phase 3 was still under construction in 2006.
The Brega cylinder pipe factory manufactures the 4m-diameter pipes which transport the water from the desert to the coast. The pipes are designed to last 50 years and now most of the manufacturing is done by Libyans. With water now available in coastal cities, the Libyan government is beginning to use water for agriculture. It is uncertain whether this will succeed, partly because no-one knows how long the water will last.
197 words
The main idea:
Summary:
This article by John Watson (18.03.2006) describes the Great Man-Made River Project in Libya. Libya is a mainly desert country and finding a supply of fresh, clean water has become a government priority, made more pressing by increased industrialization.
Oil exploration in the 1950s revealed vast aquifers beneath Libya’s southern desert. How to get this fossil water to the two main cities, Benghazi and Tripoli, where most Libyans live? Libya had oil money to pay for pipelines to transport the water but needed the engineering expertise of foreign companies to implement the scheme. Phase 1, started in 1993, brought water from eastern well-fields to Benghazi. In 1996 phase 2, bringing water from western wells to Tripoli was completed. Phase 3 was still under construction in 2006.
The Brega cylinder pipe factory manufactures the 4m-diameter pipes which transport the water from the desert to the coast. The pipes are designed to last 50 years and now most of the manufacturing is done by Libyans. With water now available in coastal cities, the Libyan government is beginning to use water for agriculture. It is uncertain whether this will succeed, partly because no-one knows how long the water will last.
197 words
The main idea:
The main idea of the article is to explain how Libya implemented a plan to transport water from underground aquifers in the desert to the large coastal cities where most Libyans live. The project has been successful and, now that the large cities like Tripoli and Benghazi are supplied with fresh tap water, the Libyans are hoping to introduce irrigation schemes to develop agriculture,
Opinion:
I think it’s a particularly relevant article for people living in desert countries such as the UAE. It would be interesting to find out if this country has underground aquifers which could be utilized in a similar way. Like Libya, the UAE has the wealth from its massive oil reserves to fund a similar project, should it be feasible.
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