Current Event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Current Event - Essay Example s to achieve a two-fold objective, to wit: (1) to provide explanations on the issues discussed within the article; and (2) to demonstrate the ways that the article is related to the course material. Terkel noted Pelosi to emphasize that Republicans were advancing three legislations that limit or restrict access to abortion by (1) preventing the use of taxpayers’ money to fund abortion-related services; (2) denying tax credits to employers or business establishments that allow health coverage of employees with abortion access; (3) denying â€Å"federal family-planning funds under Title X to groups that offer abortion access† (Terkel, 2011, par. 4); and (4) allowing hospitals to turn away women who opt to terminate pregnancy even for the purpose of saving lives (Terkel, 2011, par. 5). The concerns raised by Pelosi are related to the issues on women’s health, particularly on reproductive health and reproductive rights (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey, 2004, p. 173). The topic of abortion is still a controversial issue when taken within a global perspective. Not only to take into account the issue seen as barred and illegal in predominantly Catholic nations, the issue has been monitored to provide risks to women (Malter and Wind, 2012). Accordingly, â€Å"research from WHO shows that complications due to unsafe abortion continued to account for an estimated 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2008; almost all of these deaths occurred in developing countries† (Malter & Wind, 2012). The concern on Pelosi, as disclosed in the article focused primarily on the legislation that sought to deny federal family planning funds to groups that offer access to abortion services. As averred, â€Å"I cant believe that everybody who is anti a womans right to choose is anti-birth control and contraception and family planning† (Terkel, 2011, par. 7). Aside from denying rights to avail or restrict access of services to abortion, these legislations actually aim to limit the funds to be

Mexico Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mexico - Term Paper Example Small pox, unknowingly brought in by the Spaniards, ravaged the Aztec Empire killing millions including the ruling Emperor. It confirmed the victory of Cortes and under him the Spanish invaded the territory and ruled it as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This is what would become Mexico later on. The Spanish rule continued in Mexico for the next 300 years till 1810 when the Mexicans led their first revolution to freedom which they gained in 1821. The colonial Spanish rule witnessed territorial expansion across a huge part of Central America and a lot of it to the south and west of what is now the United States. Trade and commerce swelled and the time saw a flourishing mining, textile, and agrarian economy. There was large scale religious conversion to Roman Catholicism. However, by early nineteenth century resentment simmered among the locals and set the tempo for a revolution. Independence. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and Jose Maria Morelos were the main protagonists of the revolution. Both of them led successful run-ins one after the other but were executed: Costilla was executed by the firing squad in 1811 and Morelos was captured and shot in 1815. However, the struggle for independence did not slack momentum and continued under the Creole colonel Agustin de Iturbide. In 1821 the independence of Mexico was officially recognized after Iturbide along with representatives of the Spanish crown signed the Treaty of Cordoba and the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire. Iturbide declared himself emperor of the First Mexican Empire. He was overthrown in 1823 and the United Mexican States was formed. Forms of Government. The military rule ended thus with the United Mexican States being declared a federal republic and Guadalupe Victoria becoming the first President of the newly formed country in 1824. However, this was not the beginning of an organized era. The country was steeped in turmoil of many a kind. In 1836 General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a rebel general and dictator, suspended the 1824 Constitution and a civil war ensued. His radical reforms dissolved republicanism and institutionalized the centralized form of government. The landmark event that followed was the Mexican-U.S. war in which Mexico lost Texas, California, and New Mexico to the U. S. Close at heels were Native American revolts and a series of reforms which brought back the federal form of government. In 1861 the Liberals won and the country was led by President Benito Juarez. He is worth a mention because the country underwent drastic democratic and economic reforms and cessation of Church powers. However, chaos set in soon imposed by the monarchy of Austrian Archduke Maximilian who declared himself Emperor in 1864. He was executed by the Liberal forces under Juarez who continued his term of presidency till 1872. Juarez period is also termed Restoration of the Republic. Weak governments followed. The next noteworthy period was the presidency of the authoritaria n general Porfirio Diaz who ruled most of the years between 1877 and 1911. The military dictatorship of Porfirio went well with Mexico that saw phenomenal economic reforms and progress in science and art. But his political repression snowballed into yet another revolution in 1910 which continued till 1920. The significant leaders who paced through the turbulence include Francisco

Natural world threatening Essay Example for Free

Natural world threatening Essay On the whole, Plath finds the natural world threatening. ’ In the light of this statement, compare the ways in which Plath and Hughes write about the natural world. You must include in your response detailed reference to ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’ and to at least one other poem. ’ The natural world often seems to reflect the writer’s mood vividly and traditionally, nature is used to convey emotions. Plath uses nature to express her interior misery by comparing aspects of nature with her own emotions to show how she is alone, isolated and emotionally cold; this is particularly visible in both ‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’ and ‘Elm’. In contrast to Hughes, who finds the natural world fascinating as seen in ‘Hawk Roosting. ’ In The Moon and the Yew Tree, Plath focuses on two features of landscape, which are used to establish the mood. The poem quickly becomes a bleak statement of nothingness and despair, whereby she projects her feelings onto the moon and onto the yew tree. Throughout the poem, her gaze remains fixed on the moon, an image which Plath finds threatening since the light it gives off is ‘cold and planetary’ an unsettling image with Plath does not find particularly comforting, since she is describing the moon as emotionally cold. The moon seems to have its own troubles with it being ‘terribly upset’ here Plath uses the moon to express her own feelings of sadness, although the moon conveys her own despair, she describes the moon as having despair a reason why she ‘live[s] here’ –inside the moon, in her world of despair. The personification of the moon has made it a female character traditionally for Plath a symbol of barren coldness; hence Plath finds the natural world threatening by the negative power of the moon. The Yew Tree also lies at the heart of the poem, it is immediately associated with overwhelmingly negativity ‘the trees of the mind are black’. Plath uses pathetic fallacy giving emotions to inanimate objects throughout the poem, creating a tense, threatening atmosphere. In contrast to Plath who finds the natural world threatening, Hughes writes about the power of nature and how immense it is. Yet Hughes uses the power of creation to highlight the evil in nature, which is highlighted by the God like powers of the hawk, where the bird’s arrogance and self-importance is emphasised sitting ‘in the top of everything’. Metaphoric images underline the hawk’s opinion of its own superiority ‘Now I hold creation in my foot’ exemplifying the God-like power of the hawk. The hawk is like a prehistoric monster ‘nothing has changed since I began’ it is something that other creatures need to fear and that underlines the sense of its own power. Hughes finds nature threatening within the poem by the evil within the hawk – it is a killing machine, everything about it is geared to ‘the allotment of death’. Ultimately, what Hughes presents is an accumulation of onomatopoeic and metaphoric images that may cause the reader to fear the bird, which finally may persuade the reader to see nothing other than an immense specimen of nature. Similar to Plath who in ‘Elm’ writes the poem from the Elms perspective, Hughes adopts the persona of a hawk, effectively showing us the world from the birds prospective. However in contrast to Plath who uses Elm to show an image of femininity, Hughes uses the masculine hawk as a very powerful image, who is threatening because of the evil things it does.

Motivation n Second Language Learning

Motivation n Second Language Learning It is natural that students achieve differently in the same class, learning from the same teacher. How students learn and why they achieve differently has been a field of interest among many scholars, especially in the field of second language (L2) learning. Many studies have been conducted about the different factors that affect learner variables, both cognitively and affectively. On a general basis, there are mainly three factors that contribute to the individual differences in L2 learning experience: learning styles, learning strategies and affective variables; Motivation being one of the most important issues in affective variables. (Ehrman et all, 2003) According to Wigfield (1994), motivation is based on how much the individual expect to succeed and their value of their success. Gardner defined motivation as the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal (learning the language) and favorable attitudes towards it. (Gardner, 1985) Although the theories and researches c oncerned on motivation have never been free from criticism, it is generally agreed that motivation have great impacts and influences on individual learners. Based on the classification of different types of motivation, this essay aims to explore how it affects a students learning experience, particularly in L2 learning. This essay also provides some suggestions on teaching which might provide help to the formation of a positive motivation. The different types of motivation Theories and models of motivation began to appear in the 1950s, when Gardner and Lambert proposed the Socio-Educational model of language learning, which contained two types of motivation: integrative and instrumental. (Gardner Lambert, 1959). Such model laid the ground work for further research, being developed by following scholars. Deci and Ryan (1985) distinguished between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations; the motivation inside and outside the individual. And based on Skehans (1989) four hypothesis, Ellis (1994) categorized four types of motivation: integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, resultative motivation and motivation as intrinsic interest. (Ellis, 1994) While Lambert described integrative orientation as a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other language group, (Lambert, 1974) Ellis (1994) emphasized that orientation and motivation are two concepts which need to be considered separately. While Orientation refers to the underlying reasons for studying an L2, i.e. the effort plus desire; motivation is the directed effort that learners make. (Ellis, 1994) In other words, integrative motivation is the desire for students to want to become part of a speech community, an important aspect of which is using the target language for social interaction. Immigrants are usually examples of people with high integrative motivations. Integrative motivation is normally considered oppose to instrumental motivation, and often believed to be more powerful in its effects than the latter. Gardner and Lambert studied English speakers learning French in Quebec and argued that integrative motivation led to greater suc cess in L2 learning. (Gardner and Lambert, 1959) Instrumental motivation developed from Skehans (1989) The Carrot and Stick Hypothesis, which originally implies external influences and incentives. (Ellis, 1994) Different from integrative motivation, which appears to be less achievable and requires longer time as well as effort; instrumental motivation is more centered on concrete goals such as a job, diploma, or the ability to read academic articles. This form of motivation is thought to be less likely to lead to overall success than integrative motivation, as the ultimate goal is more feasible. Rewards could also be seen as an instrumental motivation, which could aid the learning process to some extent. Gardner and MacIntyre (1991) reported a study for a vocabulary task in which the group of students who were offered awards did significantly better than the comparable group, although the positive effects decreased as soon as the reward stops. Generally, the effects of instrumental motivation tend to maintain for a shorter time per iod. Unless the individual pushes himself further by setting up new goals, the effect ends as soon as the goal is achieved. Despite the differences in integrative and instrumental motivation, some (Muchnick Wolfe, 1982) argued that it is impossible to separate the two in certain occasions, when students have strong motivations for both. (cited from Ellis, 1994) Resultative motivation is concerned with the relationship between motivation and achievement, which Ellis (1994) identified as interactive. Learners motivation is strongly affected by their achievement. Students who perform well in classrooms are more likely to gain confidence and to be more willing to participate. However, Gardner, Smythe and Clement (1979); suggested that while greater motivation and attitudes lead to better learning, the converse is not true (Cited from Ellis, 1994). But the vicious circle of low motivation = low achievement = lower motivation could always develop. (Ellis, 1994) Interest is a powerful psychology tool in receiving attention from students and urging them to make efforts. There are various ways that teachers could help students to develop their intrinsic interest motivation, such as welcoming students with a big smile, or introducing new activities into the classroom. The effects of motivation From the psychological perspective, motivation could also be categorized as positive and negative motivation. Positive motivation means an optimism and upbeat response towards the tasks being assigned to. Negative motivation implies unwillingness and is often companied with anxiety. Nearly all students will experience both positive and negative motivation in some level of their studies; therefore, it is important for them to understand that both positive and negative motivations could be helpful or harmful. Positive motivation It is generally believed that positive motivation leads to better results in the learning process. Students who enjoy learning a L2 or have a clear aim tend to work harder that those who have no interest. However, one of the limitations of the studies in motivation is that the main tool is normally questionnaires, which has questionably validity. There is always the possibility that students would write down what the teacher hopes them to, or what makes them look good, even if the questionnaire is confidential. Also, motivation is different from the actual effort that people make. A student could be highly-motivated judging from his questionnaire but might not have made any efforts in his studies. (Ellis, 1994) In terms of the learning process, motivation itself is not enough. It is just an urge which pushes the student work harder, which means nothing if not taken action. Adoring the teacher and enjoying the class does not necessarily imply that the student understood what he should have learned. Also, motivation is quite changeable; making it difficult to measure which against time and persistence. Besides, a positive attitude might lead students to be overly relaxed or improperly prepared and perform worse than they could have. There is a thin line between confident and arrogance. Negative motivation Negative motivation is normally associated with anxiety, unsatisfactory performance and low achievement. But it might not necessarily be like that for every one. Oller and Perkins suggested that negative motivation might be more powerful to some learners in motivating them to excel, which they referred to as Machiavellian Motivation. (Oller Perkins, 1978) I recall a similar situation from my own learning experience. When I was studying English in primary school, one of the strongest motivations that drove me to work harder was a Korean girl who used to make fun of me. I had the urge to show her that I was capable of learning the language. Although Machiavellian Motivation did not always work that way. I did not like my French teacher when I was studying French as a L2 in my university. But I was never intrigued by the idea of working hard and proving to her that I could manage to learn the language properly. Instead, I got trapped between Elliss vicious circle of low motivation = lo w achievement = lower motivation. (Ellis, 1994) Supposable Machiavellian Motivation is more likely to domain when the imaginary opponent is of the similar level. When the opponent is far more advanced than the learner himself, the idea to conquer would not easily arise, although there could always be exceptions. The formation of a positive motivation Although negative motivation may lead to positive results in the learning process, Machiavellian Motivation is quite risky which might not be suitable for all learners as well. It is generally more simple and beneficial to form a positive attitude when learning an L2. As Pintrich and Schunk (1996) indicated, motivation depends greatly on context, the people involved and specific circumstances. (cited from Ehrman et all, 2003) Motivation is never a fixed dimension; teachers could always help students to form positive motivations. Not all L2 learners have the opportunity to be integrated in a country where the target language is used as L1. However, there are other methods which teachers could use to help students form integrative motivation, such as introducing the culture, using authentic reading material, or asking students to watch foreign movies in the target language. One of the methods that my English teacher used when I was in primary school was asking us to write letters to our American pen pals. We were all deeply engaged in the activity and highly motivated by the desire to communicate with our friends on the other side of the world. Teachers could help their students to form instrumental motivation by setting up clear goals and aims. There could be little steps for beginners, and gradually help students to form the habit of setting up goals for themselves. Realistic and feasible short term goals are very helpful to students in finding their weakness and knowing where they want to be. Teachers could also encourage students to set up long term goals and set up study journals to record their progress. Motivation is always closely linked with performance. To avoid the vicious circle of low motivation = low achievement = lower motivation, (Ellis, 1994) it is necessary to form a positive motivation towards all learning process. In helping students to form a positive resultative motivation, teachers should always consider the difficult of tasks. Students could easily be depressed by their work and put in less effort or all effort when they have decided that it is too difficult for them. The instructions should also be clear so that they would understand what they are expected to do. The tasks should be deigned to suit the demand of the majority of the class, within their cognitive ability and slightly out of their reach so that they would make an effort to accomplish it. Also, how to give feedback and what type of feedback should be given to students is another important issue. An assignment all in red marks would easily discourage anyone. What the teachers could do, particularly for writing class is to have one focus each week such as future tense or pronouns and only look for mistakes in the specified area. The errors could be marked by letters or underlined and ask the students to correct them by himself. Teachers need to understand that errors are inevitable in the learning process and actually a sign that learning is taking place. (Broughton et all, 1980) In SLA theories, error analysis (EA) is a technique which aims to describe and explain the systematic nature of errors generated in the learners language which was established in the 1970s by Stephen Pit Corder. (Corder, 1967) The errors that people make reveal patterns of L2 language development and the differences between L1 and L2 acquisition. Errors provide valuable feedback to both teachers and learners regarding learner strategies and the learning progress; help the teachers to understand the students level and reflect on their own teaching methodology. They also indicate whether the students are rea dy to further their studies. Moreover, errors provide insights into the nature of SLA process. As mentioned before, interest is a powerful tool in L2 learning. To start with, teachers should always try to create a comfortable atmosphere within the classroom. A teacher with a good personality, someone who is adored by the students could make the class much more enjoyable. To boost students interest, teachers could always being new activities into the classroom. Task based learning combined with stories and games would easily attract young learners. For more advanced learners, teachers could occasionally bring culture and drama into the classroom for a change. Also, according to a study by Bachman (1964), students are more motivated when are involved in decision-making, which lead to overall productivity. (Cited from Ellis, 1994) As indicated, students will show more interest in their studies when they feel that they have made decisions. Consequently, teachers could ask for the students opinions to decide on a particular subject for their assignments. Group work also has signifi cant values in increasing students interests, providing with the students an opportunity to interact with each other and share their opinions. Small group tasks are particularly motivating as the students know that their peers are working towards the same project. (DÃ ¶rnyei, 2001) By working cooperatively, students will be urged to perform better, being a representative of their own group. Conclusions As how motivation works and the effects of motivation differ among each individual, also being influenced by many variables, the studies regarding motivation have never been free from criticism, including its classification. However, the impact and value of motivation is generally impossible to ignore. Although both positive and negative motivation could lead to higher achievement in L2 learning, students should be encouraged to form positive motivations as it is more likely to encourage success than Machiavellian Motivation. (Oller Perkins, 1978) Motivation is not an unchangeable domain; teachers could help students form motivation in all of the four categorizes identified by Ellis: integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, resultative motivation and motivation as intrinsic interest. (Ellis, 1994) Also, it is important for students to learn to control their motivation and use it in an active way; to maintain longer motivation for greater success. (Word Count: 2310)

Claude McKay & Jean Toomer Essay -- essays research papers

Claude McKay was born on September 15th 1890, in the West Indian island of Jamaica. He was the youngest of eleven children. At the age of ten, he wrote a rhyme of acrostic for an elementary-school gala. He then changed his style and mixed West Indian folk songs with church hymns. At the age of seventeen he met a gentlemen named Walter Jekyll, who encouraged him to write in his native dialect. Jekyll introduced him to a new world of literature. McKay soon left Jamaica and would never return to his homeland. In 1912, only 23 years old, Jekyll paid his way to the United Sates to study agriculture at Tuskegee Institute. Before leaving Jamaica, McKay had gotten a reputation as a poet. He had produced two volumes of dialect poetry, Song of Jamaica and Constab Ballads. His work is said to always echo both the British colony’s musical dialect and the sharp anger of its subject race. McKay moved to Harlem, New York in 1914, during a very discriminating time. His first American poem appeared in 1917. Of all the Renaissance writers, he was one of the first to express the spirit of the New Negro. By 1921, McKay had become the associate editor of a magazine called, The Liberator, a socialist magazine of art and literature. In 1922, Harcourt, Brace and Company published a collection of seven poems called, Harlem Shadows. This made him receive the status of being the first significant black poet. Even though he was considered an African-American icon, McKay said he still considered himse...

pay equity :: essays research papers

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has long fought to end wage discrimination. Despite the Equal Pay Act and many improvements in women’s economic status over the past 40 years, wage discrimination still persists. AAUW continues to believe that pay equity—economic equity—is a simple matter of justice and strongly supports initiatives that seek to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women. The effects of pay inequity reach far. According to a 1999 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the AFL-CIO, based on U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor statistics, women who work full time earn just 74 cents for every dollar men earn. That equals $148 less each week, or $7,696 a year. Women of color who work full time are paid even less, only 64 cents for every dollar men earn—$210 less per week and $11,440 less per year. With a record 64 million women in the workforce, pay discrimination hurts the majority of American families. Families lose $200 billion in income annually to the wage gap—an average loss of more than $4,000 for each working family. In addition, wage discrimination lowers total lifetime earnings, thereby reducing women’s benefits from Social Security and pension plans. Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experience. Women gain only approximately 30 cents per hour for five additional years of work experience, compared to $1. pay equity :: essays research papers The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has long fought to end wage discrimination. Despite the Equal Pay Act and many improvements in women’s economic status over the past 40 years, wage discrimination still persists. AAUW continues to believe that pay equity—economic equity—is a simple matter of justice and strongly supports initiatives that seek to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women. The effects of pay inequity reach far. According to a 1999 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the AFL-CIO, based on U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor statistics, women who work full time earn just 74 cents for every dollar men earn. That equals $148 less each week, or $7,696 a year. Women of color who work full time are paid even less, only 64 cents for every dollar men earn—$210 less per week and $11,440 less per year. With a record 64 million women in the workforce, pay discrimination hurts the majority of American families. Families lose $200 billion in income annually to the wage gap—an average loss of more than $4,000 for each working family. In addition, wage discrimination lowers total lifetime earnings, thereby reducing women’s benefits from Social Security and pension plans. Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experience. Women gain only approximately 30 cents per hour for five additional years of work experience, compared to $1.

Birmingham International Airport Essay

In the space of just 30 minutes every weekday, around 5.00 in the evening, around 20 flights arrive and depart from the Eurohub Terminal. At the same time, aircraft are arriving and leaving from the Main Terminal next to the Eurohub. Across the runway and acres of tarmac, at the site of the original airport, the overnight freight operation is just beginning to wake up with the arrival of staff and the preparations for the first aircraft from Europe or the United States. Some of the 7,000 staff from the 150 organisations based at Birmingham International Airport (BIA) see to the needs of their customers. The baggage handling operation is sorting, checking and dispatching bags to the many departing aircraft. The ground crews are loading and unloading aircraft, putting meals on board, filling the fuel tanks and cleaning aircraft during their brief spell at the airbridge. The airlines’ ticketing staffs are dealing with lines of passengers, each of whom may have a different final destination. The information desk is fully staffed, dealing with the many queries, such as people wanting to know if their plane is on time, the location of a bank or hotel, or trying to work out how to get by road or rail to their final destination. Passengers flow through the lounges, passport control and security checks, and use toilets, duty free shops and restaurants, all of which have to be kept clean and stocked for their convenience. All of these activities, and more, are coordinated by BIA’s Operations Director, Richard Heard. Richard explains his role: ‘Out of all the people that work at the airport, BIA employs about 700 and I oversee about 600 of them. These operations people are basically concerned with the day-to-day running of the airport and the short and medium-term operational planning. This includes a whole raft of things on the airfield and in and around the terminals. The air-field side of things essentially involves maintaining the runways, agreeing slot allocations with the airlines, developing and implementing the safety management systems and  keeping the fire crews fully trained. For example, this is a heavily regulated area so we work very closely with the Civil Aviation Authority. The other side of the operation is about managing the terminal buildings and other facilities. This is almost like running a shopping centre with its focus on customer service but with special security arrangements. Airport security is a key task which we run in-house, employing about 300 people. I also have a facilities manageme nt team and an engineering services team that look after the maintenance of the whole site. ‘In terms of long-term design and development, we set up teams to oversee the planning of new building projects, such as new catering outlets, car parks and people mover systems. This plan uses the forecasts of passenger numbers and guides our decisions about what to build and when, and how to pay for it. We have been growing at a rate of about 10 per cent a year over the last 10 years. In 2000 the airport handled 7.6 million passengers and our growth is set to continue, with an anticipated 10 million passengers expected to travel through Birmingham by 2005. This plan involves serious money; we are talking about a capital plan of about  £50 million a year over the next 15 years. This is all very much driven by operational needs. Managing and developing the airport’s operations are huge challenges. ‘One of the major tasks for operations is not just to provide the infrastructure for all the other organisations on site – such as airlines, handling agents, retailers, cargo handlers – but also to provide the leadership and coordination for them. There are also groups off site, such as community groups, which we liaise with as we work to monitor and improve the environment. My personal job is about coordination and setting the safety and customer service standards for everyone to adhere to. ‘All of us from the different organisations try to work together as a team and there is a great community spirit here that has built up over the years. Everyone wants their own bit to work well and the whole thing to work well together. We all have a great understanding of everyone’s problems and there is an excellent spirit of cooperation. ‘The real secret of managing operations, if you are ever going to sleep at night, is to make sure you have really good processes and procedures in place. We can’t have people making it up on the spot. Everything has to be thought through and tried and tested. We spend a great deal of time reviewing and developing processes. We have to have procedures for fires, evacuations, bomb threats, ill passengers and even deaths in the terminal. Unfortunately, we do have medical emergencies, not surprising since we have about 30,000 people passing through the airport every day in the summer. ‘Another key task is operational planning. We do this on an annual basis. Operational planning is about making the operation as efficient as possible by working out how we can best allocate our infrastructure to the airlines. For example, we need to decide who is going to get the airbridges, who is going to get certain stands, who is going to have their passengers bussed to the terminal at peak times and so on. However, you have to remember that the operational plans are just that and as ever, things go wrong – schedules fall apart because of plane delays or mechanical problems, for example. So we also have terminal duty managers whose job it is to sort out the day-to-day operational problems. Our team of terminal managers covers the airport 24 hours a day, every day of the week, with one senior manager overseeing each shift. ‘Many of the things that happen are recurring problems, such as delays or diversions and you know you will end up with a lot of passengers waiting around a lot longer than they want to. The job of the duty manager is to coordinate all our efforts, ensuring that the catering people know what’s happening and making sure our information services people know so they can tell the passengers, for example. The terminal managers need to keep their own ears and eyes open. Passengers may report that they have seen someone acting suspiciously and the managers need to know what to do. When passengers get off the plane and their bags are not there, although it’s the responsibility of the airlines or their handling agents, our people may have to pick up the pieces. When people try taking prohibited items through security, such as a family heirloom with a large curved blade, we have to explain patiently to them that they have to leave it with us. ‘ The terminal managers also have to deal with major incidents – things like bomb threats or, like last year, when Spanish coach drivers went on strike leaving many passengers stranded at the airport. The job of the terminal manager is to sort it all out and make sure everyone knows what is happening. It involves a great deal of common sense but it is not easy. If you do an evacuation, for example, everyone will be at different stages in the passenger processing and security clearance procedures, so when the incident is over, we have to try and put them all back where they came from without mixing them up or making them start the process again! ‘We have the equivalent of the terminal duty managers looking after the airfield side: operations duty managers. Their job is about dealing with the day-to-day problems, such as changing stand allocations when delays occur or arranging snow clearance if we have a sudden fall. Again plans are in place and everything has to be thought through. We also have weekly communication meetings when we get the operations and duty managers to work with the operational planning department. ‘Our mission is to be the best regional airport in Europe. To do this we need continually to try and improve everything we do. It sounds simple, but it is not easy. For example, we have almost no capacity at peak times, that is between 7.00 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. and between 5.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. when we are busy with short-haul European traffic, so we are trying to encourage other airlines to fill in the off-peak times. This is ideal for long-haul operators and we now have flights to South East Asia and America, and just last year we added an Emirates flight to Dubai. This allows us to use the middle of the day when we have runway and terminal capacity and it suits everybody as we can all make better use of our facilities. ‘Running an airport is a fascinating and exciting challenge. No two days are the same. We know that we can make a real difference to our customers, both passengers and airlines, by what we do. We also make a major contribution to the impact on the local economy by encouraging inward investment and exports. As an operations manager, my job is to make it all happen. It’s a  fantastic opportunity and it really does make a difference – its great!’ Long-term issues are mostly derived from day-to-day tasks which are not addressed properly and get accumulated into a bigger problem. For example, the recurring delays and arranging for snow clearance are common problems, operations duty managers must have a good plan in place so everything is thought through and covered – avoiding any unanticipated events. Richard is able to handle this through weekly communication meetings where the operations and duty managers work work with the operational planning department. It is through interaction and communication that allows Richard to have a better overview of what is currently happening so long-term plan can be thought off. Another example, the airport is trying to encourage other airlines to fill in their off-peak times to fully utilize their resources. This is also a day-to-day observation where a long-term plan is being drawn out. It is apparent that Richard is able to oversee the day-to-day tasks and manage long-term issues through communication and proper operational planning. It is with planning, he is able to anticipate what could go wrong before it could happen or becomes a big issue. Through operational planning the airport is able to make a major contribution to the impact on the local economy by encouraging inward investment and exports.