The Hero s Journey By Joseph Campbell - 1538 Words

Two books can seem completely different from each other when judged by characteristics such as genre, plot, and theme. However, if people were to look at the books together and as a whole, they might notice one striking similarity between the two. That striking similarity is known as the hero’s journey. First observed and documented by Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey is a concept in which heroes, or people who commit actions for the greater good, follow a three-step cycle known as departure, fulfillment, and return. At the first stage of the hero’s journey, the hero receives a call to an adventure that takes him from the comforts of his home. Next, at the most important stage of the hero’s journey, the hero begins to experience life†¦show more content†¦Unlike several of the other characters in The Joy Luck Club, Lindo Jong embodies the hero’s journey as first shown by the completion of the first stage: departure. Lindo begins her journ ey at the age of two when the village matchmaker arranges for her to be married to Huang Tyan-yu. Despite her lack of consent, Lindo recognizes and states that â€Å"even if I had known I was getting a bad husband, I had no choice, now or later† (Tan 51). Lindo grows up in the countryside of China, where all power over decisions is given to the parents. Should she face difficult hardships later on in her life, she does not have the authority to better her situation. Lindo’s weakness--which is her natural obedience to her mother in order to prevent her from â€Å"losing face†--in combination with her lack of choice in any matter will inevitably leads to trouble as she receives her call to adventure. Speaking of call to adventure, although Lindo began her journey ten years ago, she has yet to cross the threshold into her heroic venture. A natural disaster, however, changes that. At the age of twelve, her life completely changes when a flood â€Å"destroyed all th e wheat [Lindo’s] family had planted that year and made the land useless for years to come† (Tan 53). Due to the flood,

Crisis Intervention Psychological Care

Question: Discuss about the Crisis Intervention for Psychological Care. Answer: Introduction Crisis intervention is a short-term and immediate psychological care, which is implemented for helping people, who are in a crisis situation and seeking help to restore their normal biopsychological functioning and for reducing the occurrence of long-term psychological trauma (Kanel, 2014). In this assignment, the key focus is on the analysis of a crisis situation and how it is affecting a persons functioning. Moreover, this assignment would also include the analysis of the crisis and possible intervention through the implementation of 7-task hybrid model of crisis intervention. In the next phase, the challenges faced by the psychotherapists to implement this framework in the crisis intervention plan will be discussed. Finally, the ways through which the crisis intervention related challenged might be overwhelmed, would be discussed here. Explanation of crisis Crisis is referred to an event, which is defined as individuals experience of a situation or event in which the victim perceives to have exhausted his or her coping skill, social support, self-esteem and power. These kinds of situation can be referred to the status, when a person is making suicidal threats, experiencing personal loss, experiencing threat or witnessing suicide. When the person is going through a crisis on the individual level, the counsellor or psychotherapist should assess his safety aspects initially. For example, professional burnout is a significant crisis for an employee or health care staff, as the status includes the signs of crisis (Camille-McKiness Wickman, 2013). It is a type of psychological stress. It is characterized as exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm, lack of motivation, ineffectiveness in workplace, frustration and reduced efficacy in work. Burnout can be categorized in three levels, i.e. activity, state and trait. At the activity level, burnout can be reduced, only when the routine is change. At the state level, burnout might be situational or periodic. On the other hand, at trait level, it is all-pervasive, surrounding every facet of the workers life. This level of burnout is serious and immediate intervention is required (Hendricks Hendricks, 2014). Crisis impact on a persons functioning Burnout has a significant negative impact upon a persons daily functioning. Symptoms of burnout involve dysfunctional attitude towards work, loss of motivation, exhaustion, poor coping mechanism, distress and feeling of ineffectiveness. The effect of burnout upon a persons functioning can be discussed with the help of ABC model. The ABC model has been established by Dr. Albert Ellis for understanding the meaning to the reactions to adversity. A stands for adversity, indicating the situation or event. B is for the victims belief, i.e. the explanation about why the situation happened and C is about consequences, the feelings and behaviour caused by the belief (Heyns McCormack, 2014). The burnout signs are the reaction, which are based on the thoughts about the situation. The impact of an adverse situation may among person to person. For instance, professional burnout is the result of negative consequences and work pressure upon the employees. However, similar incident can be perceived by two employees different, as a result, two staffs would handle the same situation differently, thus the intensity of stress would be different for two staffs. The negative consequences of perception or belief might lead to burn out development in one person, but other one might not lead to the same issue. Thus, assessing the status of burnout is very important before making the crisis intervention plan. On the other hand, ABC can stand for the followings: A- Affective state Impaired affect is one of the initial states of crisis. The person might unable to control emotion or severely withdrawn. The counsellor might assist the client to regain control, by helping him to express feelings and thoughts in a proper way (Humphries et al., 2014). B- Behavioural functioning Assessing the clients behaviour is crucial for understanding the status of crisis. This process may involve asking client to be breath slowly with the counsellor, leading through a grounding exercise. C- Cognitive state Assessing the cognitive thinking pattern is essential to understand whether it is coherent or logical. The impact of persons crisis can modify individuals behaviour, thought, feelings and cognitive functioning. For instance, behavioural change is often seen in a person, undergoing burnout; especially in health care staffs. Burnout makes the person anxious, depressed, frustrated, dysfunctional attitude towards work, agitated and negative in kind of work. On the other hand, the person will feel restless, less confident, accident prone and frustrated. Moreover, the persons thought process as well as cognitive functioning is significantly affected (Kraus Stein, 2013). For instance, the person become unable to control the expression of his stress related behaviour and feelings, negativity and withdrawal is significant signs of stress-related burnout. Poor cognitive functioning, impaired judgement, muddled thinking and worry are also significant effects of professional burnout. In addition, burn out also affects persons functioning by affecting his health; for instance, headache, skin irri tation, breathlessness, fatigue, muscle cramp and frequent infection are the symptoms, indicating stress related burnout (Vered et al., 2014). 7-task hybrid model of crisis intervention The Hybrid model of crisis intervention is used for addressing all the necessary aspects, while developing a crisis intervention plan for a person undergoing a crisis. This model helps the counsellor to design a linear approach to crisis intervention. As a crisis is studies consistently, the incidents do not occur systematically. The hybrid model attempts to consider the crisis in a realistic fashion and allows the crisis intervention team to move forward in more systematic and effective manner, resulting in therapeutic innovation and enhanced effectiveness (Shin et al., 2014). The model consists of 7 tasks in an ordered format. The first task is predisposing, engaging and initiating contact. For instance, the counsellor would initially establish a connection with the person experiencing burnout and then build a relationship of communication. However, as the person is in crisis, it is difficult to build a positive relationship. A positive relationship will help to clarify the underst anding of the persons needs and counsellors intention to support and help him. The second task is problem exploration. Here, the counsellor explores the problem by defining the crisis, its cause and the factors contributing to the crisis occurrence. For instance, the crisis of a person experiencing professional burnout might be due to organization of the context through the professional stress, work pressure, lack of support in organization, discrimination, organizational bullying, financial loss or other causes related to profession (Baril et al., 2016). The third phase is providing support. It can be psychological, social, logistical and informational. It is difficult to support a person undergoing a crisis, due to his negative feelings. However, through the establishment of a positive therapeutic alliance, the feeling should be understood. This phase will help to discover the persons needs. The fourth task is examining alternative. Instead of supporting the patient, what other alternatives can be implemented for the client, would be assessed in this task. For instance, during this task, the client would be asked about how he is feeling and asked for additional support, including medication, therapy, reference of other support group and treatment resources may be provided (Baril et al., 2016).. The fifth task is planning in order to re-establish control over the chaotic situation. In this state, the client will be assisted to adopt the coping mechanisms to overcome obstacles. This phase will help the client to be empowered with resiliency for the next time. The sixth task is obtaining a commitment from the client for continuing forward ad accepting support, if needed. At this phase, the client becomes familiar and feels free to share his thoughts and perceptions to the counsellor. It will also ensure that the person would become able to cope with the future crisis (Shin et al., 2014). The final task is follow up with the person. It ensures clients adherence to the communication and support from the counsellor, thereby ensuring that upcoming difficulties in clients life will be addressed and noted if cannot be managed by the client himself, prior the consequences becomes severe challenge for living. Analysis of challenges of applying 7-task hybrid model As the crisis intervention is for people undergoing a significant crisis, dealing with such people is difficult and challenging, while applying 7-task hybrid model for mitigating the crisis issues. One of such challenge is related to problem callers. These kinds of people are usually severely disturbed and use the crisis line for some reasons other than it should e used for. However, it should be remembered that the people regularly using crisis line is using the same as a part of their coping mechanism. Sometimes, abusive callers seek help for irrelevant reasons and the situation becomes difficult to be handled by the counsellor (Baril et al., 2016). Another problem of crisis intervention with the help of the 7-task hybrid model of crisis intervention is following each step of the crisis intervention model in a systematic framework. It is mostly overviewed while handling a patient with severe disturbance due to crisis and the crisis intervention is done on an emergency basis. For a client at a severe stage of crisis, an immediate action is needed for his well being. Thus, it becomes difficult to follow all the steps in the same manner. In these kinds of situation, the counsellors tend to jump to the relevant stage suitable for the crisis of that person, thereby reducing the time of crisis intervention (Humphries et al., 2014). Another challenge of implementing this crisis intervention model is dealing with clients over phone. Sometimes, after resolving a problem in a systematic manner, client attempt to address another different issue to the counsellor. However, for the counsellor it becomes difficult to avoid the clients need, thus the care provider has to start the intervention steps from the beginning. It is difficult to handle such situations due to professional and ethical concerns. However, it has been argued by (Heyns McCormack, 2014). that crisis intervention over phone with severely disturbed people is not meant to be curative, rather it is a process designed for helping people to revert back to their normal lives. Ways of overcoming challenges Through a number of ways the above mentioned problems can be handled. These ways are described below: Setting time limit over phone: Setting time limit and incorporating a system that will monitor the time of calling and automatically end the call after the required tine will be helpful for the counsellor to handle the problem caller (Heyns McCormack, 2014). Imposing open-ended questions: Imposing open-ended question will attempt to focus on the problem back to the caller, which will reduce the inappropriate conversation from the caller and help the workers to resolve problem callers related issues. Terminating abuse: Instead of the ethical issues, while handling clients with crisis, the crisis line system should involve time limits and termination of abuse (Kraus Stein, 2013). The caller should be informed that he or she is being terminated the call and can provide them with an option that he or she can call again, when he can communicate appropriately. Switching care providers: When there will be an option to switch worker, the frequency of abuse will also be reduced. The facility of switching call to another worker, while having a difficult call from a caller, would help to reduce work pressure of the care providers and make them able to handle the other calls effectively. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be revealed that crisis interventions are helpful for the people undergoing crisis like professional burnout. The professional burnout is a problem through which a person undergoes behavioural and cognitive impairment, which may also affect the mental and physical status. In this assignment, the implementation of a crisis intervention model, known as 7 task hybrid model for crisis intervention has been discussed along with the description and analysis of its each steps. Then the challenges faced by the counsellor, while implementing this intervention has also been described. Finally, the ways through which these issues could be overwhelmed has also been discussed in this assignment. This assignment revealed the effectiveness of 7 task hybrid model in crisis intervention. Reference List Baril, C., Gascon, V., Miller, J., Bounhol, C. (2016). The importance of considering resources tasks when modeling healthcare services with discrete-event simulation: an approach using work sampling method. Journal of Simulation. Camille-McKiness, K., Wickman, S. A. (2013). Crisis Intervention Teams and Mental Health Advocacy. JCI, 13. Hendricks, J. E., Hendricks, C. S. (2014). Crisis intervention in criminal justice/social service. Charles C Thomas Publisher. Heyns, T., McCormack, B. (2014). Moving from crisis intervention towards person?centredness. Nursing in critical care, 19(4), 162-163. Humphries, N., Morgan, K., Catherine Conry, M., McGowan, Y., Montgomery, A., McGee, H. (2014). Quality of care and health professional burnout: narrative literature review. International journal of health care quality assurance, 27(4), 293-307. Kanel, K. (2014). A guide to crisis intervention. Cengage Learning. Kraus, S. W., Stein, C. H. (2013). Recovery-oriented services for individuals with mental illness and case managers experience of professional burnout. Community mental health journal, 49(1), 7-13. Shin, H., Park, Y. M., Ying, J. Y., Kim, B., Noh, H., Lee, S. M. (2014). Relationships between coping strategies and burnout symptoms: A meta-analytic approach. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 45(1), 44. Vered, Y., Zaken, Y., Ovadia-Gonen, H., Mann, J., Zini, A. (2014). Professional burnout: Its relevance and implications for the general dental community. Quintessence International, 45(1).

These strange Japanese Review Essay Example

These strange Japanese Review Paper Essay on These strange Japanese In this series, I like the fact that her people write in the subject line, for example. Living in the territory, have the nationality. For example, in this case, the authors well known both East and West. So, probably, the book is close to the truth. I like a man who knows the Land of the Rising exclusively for anime and Cultural DVD, we can only trust the authors, the more they are so clearly set out:) In the text affected by little all aspects of Japanese life self-image, character, values, etiquette, customs and traditions, family relations, etc. In general, as in the other books of the series reveals the features of the mentality of the distinguishing features of nationality. A lot of different interesting and informative information. the style of a thorough and all the same irony, but the text flows smoothly and meditative. As if youre reading this little book on the river bank of a crumbling, shed their sakura flowers After reading my perception of this nation has become more logical Quote:.. We will write a custom essay sample on These strange Japanese Review specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on These strange Japanese Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on These strange Japanese Review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer As there are many ways to express the same idea or concept, just one statement can serve for all occasions. The word domo means thank you, hello, cool, Long time no see, terribly sorry, good-good and so on. There is no way to tell a clear yes or no at least as the word is understood in the West. High is most often translated as yes, but in fact it means I hear you and understand you, and now I think that answer. Foreigners often take the high of the agreement, whereas in fact it is hidden behind the opposite To fluently speak and read Japanese, you need to know Chinese characters Kanji, nbsp; used in the Japanese language (a minimum of 2000; educated Japanese know 5000 or even 80,000 characters, some of which have more than 30 lines). Plus two syllabaries hiragana and katakana the first to write native Japanese things and concepts, and the second for the borrowed items and foreign names. But this is too simple an explanation hybrid Pictography phonetics and written Japanese language The missionaries who came to Japan from Europe in the 19th century, were convinced that the Japanese language -. This invention of the devil, which prevents them in their work. Modern students of Japanese, nbsp; whether foreign or Japanese themselves, nbsp; may or may not believe in the devil, but, no doubt, feel the same .

What Really Happened to Kurt Cobain essays

What Really Happened to Kurt Cobain essays What Really Happened to Kurt Cobain? On April 8, 1994, at 8:40am in a quaint and quiet home in Madrona, Washington, Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, was found dead with a shotgun wound to his head in the greenhouse above his garage. Also present was a cigar box containing drug paraphernalia, needles, lighters, etc. A suicide note was also discovered. From this scene, it is almost too obvious what happened; at least, that was the conclusion immediately drawn, and eventually made final, by the police. Yet, not everyone was so quick to close the case. Many remained skeptical on the issue. Some pondered the idea that maybe he was murdered, while others wish to leave it as is. I join the millions of people in the world that just dont buy into the suicide theory and that are curious about the details of the case, circumstances surrounding the murder scene, and the people closest to Kurt Cobain that could have been involved in his death. The voice of a generation was dead. Thus was the world ushered into a world without Kurt Cobain. For millions, April 8, 1994 became a day as indelibly branded into their memories as November 22, 1963, August 16, 1977, and December 8, 1980-the deathdates of JFK, Elvis, and John Lennon (Halperin 3,4). Ian Halperin and Max Wallace tragically outline the day America was told another cherished icon had died. For many who did not know of Kurt Cobain, just another musician had emotionally crashed and killed himself. Some people, however, continued to explore other possibilities. Curiosity caught my attention after realizing how many others held the same speculations as I did. To learn more, I gathered several resources to assist me in my study. Although I read each, most of my information comes from four resources. The book Kurt Cobain, Beyond Nirvana: The Legacy of Kurt Cobain, by Hank Harrison (father of Courtney Love, Kurts wife), not only gives an exc...

The Long Walk of the Navajo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Long Walk of the Navajo - Essay Example This was done by the government in reaction to the retaliation of the Navajos to the western people. They did not want to leave their ancestral places and thus did not allow any foreigner to have a share in the territory. This made the government to remove the Indians from their ancestral land to ensure that other people could live in that territory. However before reaching such a decision different treaties were also made by the government with Navajos to ensure peace in the area but such treaties did not last long when both the military and Navajos started having conflicts. The government ordered the Navajos to leave their homeland and agricultural properties and move over to the fort Sumner. In August 1863 the first group of Navajos left for Fort Sumner which was 400 miles away from their homeland. While they had to walk barefoot to the fort they had to face many difficulties in their way such as the harsh weather. It took them a total of 21 days to reach the Fort Sumner and while reaching the fort many of the Navajos died because of starvation. However after reaching the Fort also the Indians were not provided with any proper water or food treatment. The farmers were also not given favorable conditions in which they could grow crops for their livelihood.

Heavy Metal and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Heavy Metal and Society - Essay Example However, to "metalheads" themselves this perception seems absolutely inadequate, because heavy metal is both a message to society and a suggestion of a different type of order. If we try to look at heavy metal as an artistic movement we will see that it is communicating something with its loud, socially-unacceptable, hedonistic and barbarian sound. It does not aim for consonance, it has always had the most distorted and aggressive vocalists and its instrumentation has always been basic. Heavy metal has embraced everything that we normally don't think about socially: death, ugliness, terror, disease, warfare, sodomy. The type of heavy music, which is generalized as "heavy metal", is much larger than this only genre - it has a long history of four decades of progress and contains many different genres (Walser 15). Heavy Metal. Progressive rock from the late 1960s started the genre of heavy metal. It emerged from the proto-metal of bands like "King Crimson", "Black Sabbath", "Led Zeppelin", "Deep Purple" (often called hard rock bands). The musicians of "Black Sabbath' used power chord riffing and dark modalities to express the paranoid nihilism. The band became a proto-metal band with morbid, yet, as fans say, poetic songs. Soon this kind of music solidified into a 1970s style of heavy metal most notably represented by "Iron Maiden", 'Judas Priest" and "Motorhead". Unlike the harmony-based, short-cycle riffs of rock, metal almost exclusively used moveable power chords, which can be played in any position along the neck of the guitar in quick sequence. So, riffs are written as phrases (like classical, or jazz) more than rhythmic variations built around open chords. This both simplified the music to the point where it was highly accessible, and gave it a dark sound which lent itself, as in class ical composition, toward a narrative song structure in which riffs form motifs that resolve themselves over the course of a song. It had a gnarled, feral sound against a background of then everyday music. Speed Metal. In the early days of the cold war, speed metal arose to reflect the apocalyptic consciousness gripping heavy metal after fusion with antisocial and anarchistic hardcore punk. Bands influenced by the progressive styles of the 1970s and the abrupt, droning, explosive style of hardcore began making a fast type of metal which used palm muting as a strumming technique to produce bursts of alternating rhythmic emphasis. Classic speed metal bands are "Metallica", "Megadeth", "Slayer", "Anthrax" (these four are also sometimes called "Big Four of Thrash"), "Testament", and "Prong". Topics like war, pollution, nuclear weapons and corporate domination were sung of in either a male bass vocal or shouted in a riot style chorusing. While this music was highly complex and often inventive in structure, it remained roughly under the influence of rock-based mainstream music and passed its technique on to the underground death metal, thrash and grindcore to follow. Thrash. When hardcore and metal collided thrash emerged as a fusion of punk song stylings with metal riff styles and topics. These were one- and two-riff creations on the subject of apocalyptic and political nature. Vocals were shouted in a high-speed manner, the speed and abrupt percussive guitar techniques of the genre laid the foundation of death metal playing. Thrash remained

The Role of Culture in English Language Teaching Essay Example for Free

The Role of Culture in English Language Teaching Essay English Language is traditionally viewed as a code made up of words and a series of rules that connect them together. Language learning here, involves only vocabulary learning, and the rules for constructing ‘proper’ sentences. In most schools in Meghalaya, grammar is being taught at a very early age and students are expected to understand complex idiomatic phrases at the secondary level. Linguistic terminologies, rules of grammar, complex vocabulary, proverbs and their meanings have to be learnt by heart for them to overcome their board examinations. Such a situation only confuses the learners at a very early age and demotivates them from learning any further than what they have to write in their examinations. This narrow understanding of language sees it as a body of knowledge which is fixed and finite and does not explore the complexities involved in using language for communication. When language is seen as ‘open, dynamic, energetic, constantly evolving and personal’ (Shohamy, 2007:5) it acknowledges the rich complexities of communication. Language is no longer a thing to be studied but rather, a way of seeing, understanding and communicating about the world and each language user will use his language differently to do this. Such an expanded view will make the educational process more engaging. The communicative approach to teaching emphasizes elements of communication, including negotiation of meaning, expression, and interpretation (Brown 2000). Speaking is not the only skill that communicative language teaching focuses on but also involves reading, writing, grammar, and culture (Lee VanPatten, 2003). Brown (2007) also adds that students in such classrooms need to use the target language in a meaningful context. The purpose of Communicative language teaching is to improve the learners’ knowledge of the second language, as well as how to use it appropriately in a given context (Li Song, 2007). Learners acquire the second language through interaction with others rather than rote memorization and grammar rule learning. Language is first and foremost a tool for purposeful communication and this involves learning the vocabulary and the rules of how to use them in various cultural contexts. Hence, language does not imply a body of knowledge to be learnt but a social practice in which to participate (Kramsch, 1994). It is something that people do in their daily lives, something that they use to express, create and interpret meanings and to establish and maintain social and inter-personal relationships. Learners can no longer be seen as passive recipients of knowledge, but rather, active participants in a dynamic, complex, personal communication system. Language learning should involve them talking analytically about language, exploring and discovering the ways in which it works in order to create and convey meanings. On the surface, culture can be seen as a body of knowledge that we have about a particular society. These may include cultural artefacts, tools, institutions, rituals, dress, food etc. On a deeper level, culture is a framework in which people live their lives and communicate shared meanings with each other. Creating and interpreting meaning always happens within this cultural framework wherein both cultures simultaneously influence the learners’ understanding. Learning to communicate in English involves an awareness of the ways in which culture inter-relates with language whenever it is used. Many scholars today believe that culture and language are inseparable and culture learning must be an integral part of language learning. According to Kramsch (1993) there are three ways how language and culture are bound together. Firstly, language expresses cultural reality (people express ideas, facts and reflect their attitudes through words). Secondly, language embodies cultural reality (it helps people give meaning and understand their own experiences). And thirdly, language symbolizes cultural reality (it serves as a social identity for people). Learning a second language necessarily involves comparison with the learners’ first language, but the latter is generally perceived as causing ‘interference’ in the learning of the target language. So, students are taught to imitate, practice drills, and create speaking habits without addressing the larger complexities of language learning. In the language classroom, learners do not only learn about a culture but they try to understand themselves in relation to that culture. This process entails the transformational engagement of the learner in the act of learning. Students bring with them their own conceptions, misconceptions, experiences, feelings and understanding to the classroom, and as they interact with another culture, their views will continue to change and shape their learning as well as their identity. The diverse cultural understandings and experiences of the students are highly influential and therefore need to be taken into account. There are many approaches to teaching culture in language learning. Saluveer (2004) has divided them into two broad categories: Those that focus only on the culture of the target language (mono-cultural approach) and those that are based on comparing the learners’ own and the other culture (comparative approach). Risager (1998) describes four approaches to teaching of culture, namely, the intercultural approach, the multicultural approach, the trans-cultural approach, and the foreign-cultural approach. Of these, the intercultural approach seem most appropriate for a study on Khasi-dominated classrooms as it draws upon the idea that culture is best learned through comparison of the target and the learners’ own culture. Though the main focus is on the target culture, the intercultural approach emphasizes the connections between the two cultures, thereby developing the learners’ intercultural and communicative competences, and enabling them to act as mediators betwe en the two cultures. Saluveer (2004) points out two categories of foreign language textbooks used in English language classrooms: Global textbooks which cover issues which appeal to people from different cultural backgrounds and include topics that can be set anywhere; and Locally produced textbooks which include materials which are consistent with the requirements of the national curriculum and such books usually foster learners’ awareness of both their own cultural identity and the target culture. Analysis of the current English textbooks being used by schools would prove to be very useful for the study. According to the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 the goals for a second language curriculum are attainment of basic proficiency and the development of language into an instrument for abstract thought and knowledge acquisition through literacy. It believes that children learn much better in holistic situations that make sense rather than a linear and additive way that often has no meaning. Rich and comprehensible input is necessary for acquisition of the different skills of language. The NCF (2005) encourages a multi-lingual approach to schooling right from the beginning of a child’s education. It states that the success of â€Å"English medium† schools shows that language is learnt when it is not being taught as a language but rather, through exposure in a meaningful context. It is also of the opinion that input-rich communicational environments are essential for effective language learning. This includes learner chosen texts, parallel books and materials in more than one language, multi-media, â€Å"authentic materials† and so on. It states that a variety of materials should be available to provide an input-rich curriculum which focuses on meaning. The textbooks of Meghalaya have been recently revised as per the directives of the NCF 2005 wherein the focus is on developing an activity-based communicative approach towards teaching and learning. They have tried to incorporate culturally authentic materials which are relevant to the immediate environment of the child. The NCF 2005 has suggested the use of locally available resources such as folklore, storytelling, community singing and theatre. Listening should also be enriched with music such as folk, classical and popular compositions. Today, there is a unanimous agreement amongst scholars that teachers should integrate language and culture into their classrooms and they should not perceive them as two separate entities. Language is seen as part of culture and culture a part of language, which is why they cannot be separated and should be taught together. (Brown , 2007) Hence, we need to better our understanding of learners, recognize differences in their social and cultural worlds – their experiences, motivations and aspirations, and incorporate this diversity into our teaching and learning. When students communicate in such a classroom, they become both participants and observers of ideas, expressions, feelings and experiences, thereby engendering a greater awareness of themselves in relation to others. Research Problem Students of Shillong vary widely in terms of language use in their homes and communities depending on their socio-economic backgrounds. A major challenge faced by teachers today is enabling economically-disadvantaged tribal students to communicate effectively in English at the school level. The ones who are privileged enough to attend expensive multicultural English medium schools communicate exceptionally well compared to the under-privileged majority of students. The word-knowledge before they come to school also varies accordingly and greatly influences how they perform in the later levels of school. If there is a significant gap in the vocabulary at the primary level, it will widen as the student progresses. Such students become poor readers and consequently, they read less, thereby learning fewer new words. They usually do not develop fluency even in the later stages of education, either in speaking or writing. On the other hand, students with good vocabulary generally read more, thereby learning more words and improving their reading skills (Stanovich, 1986). This downward spiral is especially true with students from rural areas. They are hardly exposed to any English text except those which are essential in school and there is no opportunity for them to converse in English. Similarly, urban English-medium schools which are predominantly mono-lingual harbour secondary level students who generally avoid using English, except in situations when they have to. An inferiority complex coupled with intense peer pressure usually seals their mouths shut whenever an English-speaking situation emerges. To further complicate the situation, students from rural areas usually migrate to such schools at the elementary and secondary level. A study into the real or actual classroom situations and the effectiveness of ELT methods and approaches used in such schools would give a clearer understanding of the problems that are hindering the acquisition and learning of English. English language teachers have to cater to the context of the target students and since the problems of underprivileged Khasi children are similar to some extent, a clear understanding of the teaching-learning relationship between them can be achieved. Hence, language learning should build on the students’ prior knowledge, conceptions and misconceptions through an interactive and communicative process. Utilizing culturally â€Å"authentic† materials that students are already familiar with will encourage discussion and meaning making in the classroom. Audio-visual aids and other multimedia materials which are relevant to the immediate environment of the students have great potential for motivating the students to participate more actively in the language learning process. The current methods, strategies, and evaluation of teaching English do not give importance to integrating the students’ culture into language learning. The researcher believes that investigating the selection of textbooks, assessing the textbooks themselves, the teachers’ use of culturally relevant materials, and their creation of a learner-centered classroom environment for social interactive learning is a worthwhile enterprise not only for pedagogical purposes but also for insights into second language learning for monolingual classrooms in general. Area of Study The study focuses mainly at the elementary level. It will select 8 schools; four government schools and four private schools within the semi-urban areas of Shillong. The schools selected will be the schools following the MBOSE syllabus. Aims and Objective The main goal of the present study is to find out if integration of culturally relevant material into the teaching and learning of English as a second language would help promote communication skills in semi-urban English medium schools. The main objectives of the research are: †¢ The textbooks: A description of the textbooks in terms of its aim, content, approach and design will be presented in the study. †¢ If there is integration of culturally relevant materials in the textbooks, the study will examine how integration is being carried out: I. in actual classroom situation. II. in the audio-visual aids or tools available in actual classroom situation. †¢ The study will also examine the evaluation and assessment tools commonly practiced in the schools. †¢ The study will also provide a brief description of the teacher training programmes. †¢ Since the study focuses mainly on integration of local cultural materials to promote communicative skills, it will also document available materials to be incorporated appropriately at the elementary level. †¢ Tools and techniques incorporating culturally relevant materials to test development of communication skills for children at the elementary level. Methodology Both primary and secondary resources will be adopted in the study. For collection of Primary data, the study will incorporate the following methods: 1. The participant–observation method. This method will be used to examine the teaching practices, audio-visual aids, common language assessment strategies adopted in actual classroom situation. 2. The questionnaire method: This method will be used for analyzing the textbooks, and teacher training programmes. 3. The interview method: Interview schedule will be adopted for a study of teacher’s and student’s background. 4. Tools and techniques incorporating local and culturally relevant materials for testing communication skills. For secondary data, the study will try to collect materials from educational institutions, such as teacher training institutes, University libraries, and the State and National institute of school education. Fieldwork for the study will be carried out in the 8 selected schools located within the semi-urban areas of the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. Tentative Chapterisation 1. Introduction 2. Contemporary methods of English language teaching 3. Methodology 4. Data Analysis and Presentation of Materials 5. Summary and Future Projections of the Study