Negative Effects of TV

Besides positive effects, television has negative effects. According to a 2005 study by an association of pediatricians, the overall negative effects of television on children overweigh the positive effects. This comes as no surprise to those of us in the field of juvenile psychology who have seen the effects on children of more and more television watching.

The researchers analyzed standardized test results and television viewing habits of 1.700 children. Chindren aged 6 to 7 who watch more than three hours of TV a day score significantly lower on reading and short-term memory (STM)* tests than children who watch little or no television.

Another study showed us that, on the average, children spend more time watching television than doing any other activity except sleeping. They spend more time watching television than at school! All television shows, even educational shows, replace activities in children's lives that parents value more, such as studying, reading, and playing sports.

Another problem is that kids who watch television are physically inactive. Not only are they inactive, but they tend to snack a lot. Advertisements for inappropriate foods encourage them. This leads to children being overwight and out of shape.

Studies such as  this one simply conform what most psychologists already know. As far as children are concerned, television viewing is harmful and should be severely limited or altogether eliminated from their lives. Altogether eliminated from children's lives, do you agree? How about your children?






















* The content of the STM is short-lived, and is easily displaced by new information. Our STM stores what we are thinking at the time, along with information that has come from eyes, ears, etc. After storing and processing this information for a few seconds, the STM promptly forgets nearly all of it.


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Subject-Predicate Structure

The subject-predicate structures that will presented are listed below. We are beginning with those that are least changed from full subject-predicate form and are ending with those that are most changed.

Dependent clauses (full subject and predicate)
    Adverbial clauses
         Because he was sick, the boy didn't go to school.
    Adjective clauses
         The boy, who was sick, didn't go to school.
    Noun clauses
         We were told that the boy was sick.

Verbal constructions (verb of predicate is reduced)
    Subject ommited
         Participial phrases
             Being sick, the boy didn't go to school.
    Subject reduced or ommited
         Gerund phrases
             His being sick was unfortunate.
         Invinitive phrases
             For him to be sick is unusual.
    Subject retained
         Absolute constructions
             The boy being sick, his mother called a doctor.
Abstract noun phrases (verb reduced or ommited, subject reduced or ommited)
    The boy's sickness disturbed his mother.
Appositive phrases (subject and a form of be ommited)
    Appositive noun phrases
          A very sick boy that day, he didn't go to school.
    Appositive adjective phrases
          Very sick that day, the boy didn't go to school.


Adjective-Clause Constructions

From adjective clause we can change it into another construction.

Example:

1. The mosque which is located in the square nearby is very beautiful.

Participial phrase	The mosque located in the square nearby is very beautiful.
Prepositional phrase	The mosque in the square nearby is very beautiful.
Adverbial expression	The mosque nearby is very beautiful.

2. Mrs. Hamilton, who was already a kind and generous woman, felt she had to take care of her sick old uncle.

Appositive noun phrase	Mrs. Hamilton, always a kind and generous woman,
	felt she had to take care of her sick old uncle.
Appositive adjective phrase	Mrs. Hamilton, always kind and generous, felt she had to
	take care of her sick old uncle.

3. The only thing which you can do now is hope for the best.

Infinitive phrase                    The only thing to do now is hope for the best.


























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Linking Verbs

The linking verbs are often subdivided by modern grammarians into be and all others (appear, become, look, remain, seem, feel, taste, smell, and sound). One of the most important differences is that, whereas the other linking verbs are followed  mostly by predicate adjectives, be may be followed by many types of complements:

Adjective	He is handsome.
Noun	He is a handsome boy
Adverb	The man is here. (usually place)
Prepositional phrase	Mary is in the house.
Noun clause	We are what we eat.
Infinitive phrase	The problem is to find the right house.
Gerund phrase	The problem is finding the right house.

Note:
Don't confuse between gerund phrase and progressive form:

• 'finding the right house' is gerund phrase.
• 'is finding the right house' is progressive form.

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Guides for ...

Guides for Developing Reading Skills

Rhetorical strength-the suasive quality of writing-is developed by reading a lot. To be a good writer you have to be a good reader, too.

1. Increase your eye spans and the speed with which you make them. Eye span is the number of words that your eyes focus on at one time. Learn to read groups of related words in one eye span in this manner: The back door closed--with a bang--that shook the house.
2. In silent reading, do not use the lips, mouth, or throat to form words. Do not use a finger to mark words or lines. train your eyes to keep the place.
3. Avoid holding reading material too close to your eyes. This position narrows your eye span and slows your eye movements. Find the farthest distance at which you can see the print well and practice reading in this position.
4. If you have any defects in vision or hearing, get medical treatment.
5. Make your vocabulary grow.
6. Before you begin to read a selection, make clear to yourself the purpose of the writing so that you can relate to the purpose the ideas that you read. Use titles and headings to help you follow the thought and organization.
7. Concentrate as you read, to help you get the meaning of a sentence the first time that you read it. Reread only if necessary.
8. Learn to organize the central idea of a paragraph and to observe how the other ideas support it.
9. As you finish reading a paragraph, think of the topic that should logically follow in the next paragraph.
10. Develop interest in any reading that you must do. Interest increases reading ability; lack of interest causes poor reading.
11. To become a good reader, you must practice reading. Make up your mind to read more than you do now. Read new kinds of material.
12. Learn to adjuct your reading rate to the kind of material that you are reading and to your purpose in reading it.

• Skimming means looking quickly through printed material until you recognize words for which you are looking or words in which you are interested.

• Rapid reading is the method that you use for light and interesting material, such as recreasional reading.

• Close or thorough reading is the kind that you do when you need to understand and remember what you read. Here you should apply what you have already learned about taking notes and about outlining and summarizing.

The Most Effective Way ...

The most effective way to improve your writing according to Peter Elbow.

The most effective way I know to improve your writing is to do freewriting exercises regularly. At least three times a week. They are sometimes called "automatic writing," "babbling," or jabbering" exercises. The idea is simply to write for ten minutes (later on, perhaps fifteen or twenty). Don't stop for anything. Go quickly without rushing. Never stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing. If you can't think of a word or a spelling, just use a squiggle or else write, "I can't think of it." Just put down something. The easiest think is just to put down whatever is in your mind. If you get stuck it's fine to write "I can't think what to say, I can't think what to say" as many times as you want; or repeat the last word you wrote over and over again; or anything alse. The only requirement is that you never stop.


Note:
babble (verb)     = to talk quickly or in a way that is difficult to understand
jabber (verb)      = to talk very quickly and with a lot of enthusiasm, mengoceh
squiggle (noun)  = a line with a lot of curves in it, garis berlekuk-lekuk

About Writing

In this paragraph I want to quote something about writing from the book of Writing Without Teachers by Peter Elbow.

People without education say, "If only I had education I could write." People with education say, "If only I had talent I could write." People with education and talent say, "If only I had self-discipline I could write." People with education, talent, and self-discipline - and there are plenty of them who can't write - say, "If only ..." and don't know what to say next.

Schedule

Schedule of Studying 

You'll remember more if you schedule a few hours every day or several times weekly than if you schedule all your study time for long blocks on weekends

One good method of studying for the TOEFL test (or almost anything!) is the "30-5-5" Method:

• Study for thirty minutes
• Take a five minute break
• When you return, spend five minutes reviewing what you studied before and previewing what you will study next.

Advice

Advice for teachers

• Don't cover new material too quickly. If you tend to speak quickly, try to slow down. Also, leave a silence after an important sentence, so as to leave time for it to 'sink in'.
• Students need activities which encourage them to process new material. Activities that make students use-and hence develop a personal restructuring of-the ideas you are trying to teach them will make them learn more effectively than passive activities such as listening.
• For information to be stored in the long-term memory (LTM) it must be used and recall often. A teacher cannot expect to teach an idea in September and, without referring to it again, have the students remember it in June.