Finding the Right Apartment

A There are few decisions more important than deciding where to live. An apartment is more than just a place to sleep: it's a space to eat, relax, study and entertain. Getting the choice of apartment wrong can lead to an unhappy experience or stress, which could have serious knock-on effects on your quality of life.

B Even though finding the right apartment is extremely important, it doesn't mean that it's a difficult task. All you really need is time, effort and money. Time is probably the most important of these. Finding the right apartment is not like buying a bottle of water or a pair of jeans. You can't just walk into the real estate agent, pick one from a picture that looks okay and then buy it. It could take anywhere from 1 to 6 months or even more to find the best place to live.

C You need to consider exactly what you want from an apartment. Apartments come in all different shapes and sizes, catering for many different needs and budgets. In small apartments you should consider what you need from the living spaces: for example, do you need a separate dining area, lounge area and study, or can some of these be combined? You should ask yourself how much storage space you need. Some apartments come with dedicated car spaces, and some are in complexes with gyms or swimming pools (and extra quarterly fees for the maintenance of these facilities!). Then there are things like location, access to public transport, the safety of the neighborhood and whether you are allowed to keep pets.

D Once you think you know what you want from an apartment, start looking for the right place. There are a variety of starting places from which to find an apartment, and you shouldn't limit yourself to just one. These days, the internet is probably the most obvious resource, and there's no doubt that it's a good way to view a large number of properties in the shortest time. However, you should also make use of the listings in newspapers, particularly on the weekends. Visiting real estate agents is also a good way to see what's out there, and to build a relationship with an agent who may have just the place for you.

E But remember that agents are often looking for a quick sale with the highest commission, so don't be confused by their sales techniques. Inspect as many places as you can and study the market. This will help you compare the affordability of different places, and decide whether what you are looking at is good value for money.

Gym Safety at Silver’s

At Silver’s Gym we want above all to ensure your safety, so that you get the most out of your workouts while avoiding injuries and/or other complications.  To enable us to do this it is essential that you understand and adhere to the following safety precautions.

A. Have a complete physical check-up before you begin a training program. You may have to  modify or avoid some exercises, for example, weightlifting, if you have muscle or joint problems, seizure disorders, heart disease, high blood pressure, previous injuries or any other physical condition with potential for danger.

B. Integrate warm-ups, stretching, and cooling-down into your program. This will reduce your risk of injury by increasing your blood flow and prepping your muscles for the work they are about to do.

C. When beginning to lift weights, it is far better to start out too light than too heavy. Choose a weight that you are sure is light and do a warm-up set of 15 repetitions, while perfecting the correct lifting technique. Then slowly add a little more weight and gradually increase that weight within the next few weeks.

D. Do not hold your breath during weightlifting. Proper breathing is essential. If you hold your breath while lifting a weight, you run the risk of raising your blood pressure and starving your brain of oxygen. You should try to exhale during the "positive," or main exertion phase, and inhale during the "negative," the phase in which you resist and come back slowly.

E. Do not leave equipment lying around the weight room where someone could trip over it. Always use the collars that prevent weights from falling off the barbells.

F. Keep your hands away from the chains, pulleys, and weight plates of exercise machines when they are in use. Also, when selecting the weight for a machine exercise, be sure to push the pin in all the way. And wear a weightlifting belt on exercises that place stress on your lower back, such as bent-over lifts like Squats.

G. Consider having a partner, or “spotter”. Having a spotter is important not only for safety reasons but also for performance enhancement.  A knowledgeable spotter or workout partner demands proper technique and gives encouragement.

Green Jobs? What do you think?

With politicians and the media giving conflicting messages about 'Green jobs', it's hard to know what to think, so we sent our reporters out to get some opinions from people.

BeverlyFrom all appearances, Green Jobs are great. There's no doubt we have to take care of the environment and become more sustainable in the way that we live. I've heard people say that Green Jobs are all about recycling, but there'll be a wide range of positions for a variety of skills. It's quite exciting, really.

TongThis topic is all over the place. In every election for the past five years, all the politicians talk about how many Green Jobs they are going to create. But they never explain what it means ? are they talking about jobs like in recycling or guides for the forests?

RashidI don't like the idea at all. I heard on the radio that for every "Green" job that is created, three current jobs will be lost in mining companies. Changing our source but power is one thing, but that's going to mean a lot of families out of work.

NatashaI think it's silly to say we can't have Green Jobs because we can't lose jobs in the mining industry. What are those people going to do when there's no oil left? Or when pollution is so bad we can't breathe? We have to act now and change the way we live. Otherwise in the future there will be no jobs at all.

IsaacIt's hard to know who to trust. People like environmentalists say Green Jobs are good and necessary for the future. Then mining companies say Greens Jobs are bad and will destroy jobs in their industry and the economy.

RachelleI have no idea what a Green Job is, but I like the sound of it. Blue collar jobs make me think of getting dirty and hard physical labour. White collar jobs are boring! sitting around in an office all day looking at a computer screen? No thank you!

Libraries

A Libraries are quite difficult to define. If you ask most people to define a library, they will probably say that it is a building with a lot of books. Strictly speaking, a library does not have to be a building; it can be a room, or indeed any area where material is kept. Linda

Evans, a librarian at Central University who has written articles on the development and the future of libraries, maintains that the concept of a library is becoming more abstract since so much information is available on the Internet. Considering this point, therefore, a library is not merely a collection of books, journals, newspapers, CD-ROMs, audio-visual materials and so on. To be more accurate, we can say that a library is a collection of information or material.

B It is difficult to predict the future of libraries. Our basic concept of libraries will almost certainly, it would appear, change dramatically in that we will not think of them or access them as physical places, which is the prevailing concept at the moment. But beyond that, it is difficult to predict both usage patterns and preferred systems of data recording and retrieval. Evans, on the other hand, believes the future for libraries is fairly clear: libraries will exist in computers and not in buildings.

The American Education System

A Most children in America start their school days in pre-school when they are about three and a half or four years old. Once they reach five, they enter kindergarten, which is considered the first year of primary school. Primary school continues on from first grade up to sixth grade, when the children are 12. After sixth grade, the students advance to junior high school which consists of either two to three years. The remaining three to four years is devoted to high school. Students graduate from high school at around 18 years old, having completed 12th grade. Before they can continue on to university, they have to take a standardised test called the SAT (Standard Aptitude Test). Being accepted to the university of their choice depends not only on their grades and involvement in extracurricular activities at high school but also on the results of the SAT. Of course some students decide not to continue on to higher education after high school and opt for work instead. They also have the option of leaving school at the age of 16 after their second year of high school.

How overseas drivers get an Australian driver licence

The administration of Australian driver licences is handled at a state and territory level and thus regulations may vary from state to state. Though initially people can use an international licence, the majority of people have to obtain a licence in their particular state within 3 months of taking up residence there.

The normal process for obtaining an Australian driver licence involves doing both a practical and a theory test.

To get an Australian driver licence, you do not have to do a practical test if:

you have a licence from New Zealand; or you have had an Australian licence in the past and hold a current overseas licence you have a licence from a country whose licensing system is recognised as similar to

Australia's. This includes most of the European Union nations, Canada, the USA and Japan.

After you have passed the practical test, you are able to drive without probationary restrictions, as long as you have held an overseas licence for over four years.

In NSW, the theory test is done on a computer at any RTA (Roads and Transit Authority) office. It can be practised online at home. You can try to pass the theory test as many times as you want, but you have to pay $30 each time.

There are no consequences for failing the theory test. However, if you fail the practical test, you immediately lose your Australian driving privileges. You then have to get a learner permit and are subject to restrictions on how fast you are allowed to drive.

In Australia, you generally have to carry your driver licence (whether Australian or overseas) with you at all times. This is different from the practice in the UK.

Food Pyramid

B The food pyramid conceived of in the 1980s by the US Department of Agriculture conveyed the message that people should avoid fatty foods and should eat more carbohydrates such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta. Therefore, carbohydrates formed the base of the food pyramid with six to 11 servings a day being ideal. The next most important food group was fruit and vegetables, with the former requiring three to five servings a day and the latter two to four servings. After fruits and vegetables, they recommended that people each just two to three servings of both dairy and meats and fish a day. The smallest portion of the pyramid, the top, goes to fats, oils and sweets, which should be eaten sparingly.

New Ideas from homerefresh.comA Let’s get started!

If you're looking to get started on your home project you've landed on the right site. Here you'll find details of the best local companies to advise you. Just type your post code into the search box and click Go to see a full list of services within a 50 km radius, arranged in helpful categories such as Planning and Design, Building and Carpentry, Plumbing, Tiling, Interiors, Landscaping, right through to Home Construction. To give you a taste of what's on offer we've set out some quick links below. Click on the headings to enter a new world of home ideas that'll amaze and

excite you...

B Home AnimationsNew 3D technology offers you the chance to step inside your home before a brick has been laid. On your computer, select room sizes from pre-designed plans, rearrange spaces and add furniture in a virtual environment, then click on virtual tour. You’ll be able to “walk” through your new home and get a sense of the spaces, then it’s back to the drawing board for alterations, before another visit....

C Justin TilesSpecialising in the latest European flooring products for interior and exterior purposes. Many of our designs are commissioned and not available elsewhere. View previous clients’ completed projects in our online showroom, and even substitute your selection into some room designs to get an impression of the final appearance...

D Living GreenWhen building or renovating you more than ever need to aim for a sustainable lifestyle. Not only will you save money but you might avoid costly changes later if your design does not meet minimum building code environmental standards in heating, power and water use. Find solutions here to go green and reduce bills...

E Outdoor StyleQuality craftsmanship and innovation knowhow are what distinguish our products and services from the pack. We like to harmonise the interior and exterior look of your living spaces with a range of decking, seating and shade options giving functional weather protection and beauty. We use durable 100% recycled cellulose and plastic materials which look natural and lower maintenance outlay near to zero...

F Future HomeTechnology is revolutionising the way we live and entertain, with many more appliances, entertainment integration and smarter use of power, heating and lighting. The problem is the complexity of it all. Programmable control units can operate many units remotely and simplify your options....

Pacific University Campuses – Casual Parking InformationGeneral Information Visitors may park at any of the University’s three campuses: Grayton, Hale, or St. Helen’s. Maps indicating casual parking are available on the University’s website. All-day parking areas at all three campuses are indicated on the parking guide maps by the colour pink. Staff-only parking spots and commercial delivery bays are clearly signed, and penalties apply for casual parking in these.

The All-day parking fee is paid at Pay & Display machines. A Short-stay ticket (minimum 30 mins, maximum 3 hours) is also available, payable in 30 minute intervals. Pay & display tickets must be placed on the dashboard, with the details visible from outside the vehicle. Information on hourly rates is available here.

The All-day pay & display permit is only valid in All-day zones, and may not be used in other parking areas, even during non-peak periods.

Parking is limited during teaching periods and is extremely limited from 9:30am to 12:30pm weekdays.

The University accepts no liability for damage to vehicles driven or parked on its property, unless the damage is caused by a University Service Vehicle.

Change MachinesPay & Display machines give limited change up to $5.00, but it is best to tender the correct fee when purchasing a pay & display ticket. However, at the Grayton campus two note-changing machines are located on level two of the Bart’s Hill car park.

EnforcementBoth Traffic and Security Officers regularly patrol University campuses and sites and issue Infringement Notices to vehicles found to be breaking parking regulations. The notices are placed under the windscreen wiper of the vehicle. The Infringement Notice is produced using a hand-held, ticket-issuing device.

How do I lodge an appeal?If you believe that an Infringement Notice has been issued unfairly, or that there may have been extenuating circumstances, then the University provides an Appeal process. However, before submitting an appeal, please read the Unsuccessful Requests to Waive Infringement Notices section.

Appeals must be in writing, but must be emailed. To lodge an appeal Complete the PF03 Infringement Form and send it as an attachment to: parking@grayton.edu.au. Alternatively, you may post it to Parking Appeals Officer, Level 2 Building G12, Pacific University, Victoria 4055.

Digital Photography and the Loss of History

A: Since the invention of the first convenient methods of photography in the early 19th century by the Frenchman Louis Daguerre, the photograph has become a vitally important way of recording human history. As well as major events of world-wide significance, images of social and family history could be preserved as never before, offering a direct visual link to scenes of ordinary life and capturing human activity in more natural and intimate settings than previously possible. Historian Professor James Birell of Kirkham University of Technology argues that human perceptions of time, history, and even concepts such as privacy have been changed as cameras have recorded most areas of human activity. Says Birell, “Photographs have been and still are regarded as incontestable proof that an

experience, an event or situation took place just as viewed – perhaps mistakenly, as image manipulation has been around since the camera itself”.

B: Today the latest developments in digital photography and the interconnectivity of the internet have brought the mass production of images to more people than ever. In theory, this should mean even greater ability to accurately record human activity, but as journalist Belinda Randt points out, it has also raised alarm among some historians, who fear the loss of physical recording media when fewer images are committed to paper. She readily admits the move towards electronic cataloguing of images is hard to resist when thousands of them can be captured on a device no bigger than a postage stamp, but this development offers brand new opportunities for catastrophic data loss.

C: IT specialists are well-aware of the possibilities here: Nasim Fawaz of Weston Data Protection laments the level of data security knowledge among professional photographers, and believes that they should now see themselves as de facto IT professionals as well. “Any photography course, even one for the hobbyist at the local further education college, must contain sound advice on storage media and techniques. Most important is awareness of some of the principles the pros adhere to”. He says hobbyists may be slow to adopt it, but advocates the use of the 3-2-1 rule: to be fully protected, you should have copies of any file on three different devices, two different media types (such as a DVD and hard drive), and one should be warehoused in a separate location. Pro photographer Garry Rodchenko, writing in his ImageTastic blog, goes further, arguing that photographers should become familiar with programs which download multiple copies of the file, so that any backups are made when the camera’s data card is first slotted into the computer. He advises the use of disk utilities to check on the general health of storage devices.  “You should do periodic checks of both the volume structure (like the table of contents of the disk) as well as media checks (the ability of the disk itself to be read correctly ).”

D: The loss of data through hardware failure is one thing, but few people think of the possible attraction of their new electronic devices to the unscrupulous. Belinda Randt’s dictum is that “portability is next to thievability – it’s obvious that heavy photo albums and bulky frames are unlikely candidates for theft”, but the convergence of home electronics and media provide the perfect target for a smash and grab. The tragedy is that a small desktop or laptop or portable hard drive could contain an entire photo collection. Randt’s conclusion is that despite their greater facility with IT, twenty-somethings may be more vulnerable to this form of loss because of their tendency to carry their collections with them on laptops, iPods or portable hard drives. Still, electronics chain store owner Barry Greig opines that storage media are now so small and affordable that with a little effort an entire collection can be copied and transferred to a safe location in minutes.

E: Historians, even though perhaps less tech-savvy than most, have become aware of the potential for skewing our perceptions and altering reality. Some, such as Dr. Sabine De Courcy of Blunt University argue that the general public is only partly aware of the subtle blurring of reality that is going on in the media. “Whereas in the past an image thought to be unacceptable would not be printed, now they can be altered in a few mouse clicks before printing”, she says. She concedes that to avoid offence in a few cases this is justified, but also argues for discussion of the contexts in which the public should be notified of the extent of manipulation of an image.

F: The bright new world of digital imaging has led to the almost complete abandonment of film in the space of a decade, but as we have seen it raises some important new questions that go to the heart of human perceptions.

Noise Pollution

APollution of the air, sea and land in its various forms is never far from the headlines these days, but there is another type of pollution which just as inescapable a part of modern life, especially for those of us who live in cities. This pollutant is churned out in ever-increasing amounts by traffic, passing aircraft, household machines, garden power tools, entertainment devices and even animals. You've probably guessed that it's noise.

BAs many cities are subject to ever-increasing development and higher-density housing, the number of complaints made to local governments shows that citizens are irritated more than ever by urban noise. Cities like London report over 150,000 complaints per year, and in inner-city Melbourne in the early 2000s complaints nearly doubled after zoning regulations were amended to permit high-density developments. Even in rural low-population density areas in Australia approximately half of environmental complaints are based on noise disturbance.

CSome cities, such as London, have specially trained members of their Pollution Team to investigate noise. Most noise pollution in the City arises from commercial activities (construction, plant noise, road works, etc). The Pollution Team assesses whether the noise is 'unreasonable', but this is difficult to define without using a variety of technical measurements. Even then, human judgement is always called for, as a number of factors such as volume, time of day, frequency of occurrence and duration must be accounted for. Pollution Team officers are usually required to witness the noise before taking formal action. Unreasonable Noise is then deemed to be a 'statutory nuisance' under the powers in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

DThe City of London must then serve an 'abatement notice' on the person or organisation responsible. The scope of the notice will vary with different circumstances and may require an immediate stop to the noise or prohibit its recurrence. In some cases, particularly where works are necessary, a specified time may be given for compliance. Failure to comply with an abatement notice is an offence and the City of London can prosecute.

EOne complicating factor in noise abatement is that there is often no single government authority with overall responsibility for controlling or reducing noise pollution. The central government usually takes responsibility in areas such as vehicle or aircraft emission standards, but in federal systems a State-based environment protection agency usually controls environmental noise. Advice on the management of noise in the workplace is often guided by Occupational Health and Safety organisations and national codes of practice. However, recreational or neighbourhood disturbances are usually the domain of the police and local councils.

Global Hunger

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines chronic hunger as undernourishment. This generally covers protein-energy malnutrition, which is the lack of protein and energy provided by the basic food groups. This undernourishment affects people's ability to do basic physical activities such as work and study. Undernourished children grow more slowly physically and mentally than other children, and they have weaker immune systems. Undernourished mothers give birth to undersized and weak babies.

The FAO has been collating data and providing statistics regarding global hunger for around four decades. From 1969 to 2004 the proportion of the population of developing countries who suffered from chronic hunger had been falling steadily, from almost 35% of the population in 1969 to just over 15% in 2004. This coincided with a general decrease in the number of hungry people over the same period, from about 875 million to 850 million. Most likely during this period improved nutrition meant that fewer people died from malnutrition, leading to an increase in population.

Since 2004, however, both trends have begun reversing. From a low point of around 16% in 2004, the percentage of people in developing countries who are undernourished in 2009 is nearing 20%. In percentage terms the increase may seem to be not that serious (or not as bad as it could be) but in real terms, in numbers of people, the increase has been astronomical, especially in the last twelve months. From 2004 to 2009, the number of chronically hungry people rose from 854 million to a staggering 1.02 billion people, which is approximately 15% of the global population. Only 15 million, or less than 2%, of these 1.02 billion people were from developed countries. Over 300 million people in Africa were estimated to be chronically hungry in 2009, while the figure for Asia and the Pacific, at 642 million, was more than double this.

There are three main groups in society who are most at risk of hunger. These are the rural poor, the urban poor and victims of catastrophes such as war or natural disasters. Of these, the majority of the world's hungry are people in developing countries who live in rural communities. Conditions in these communities are extremely poor. Public services that the developed world takes for granted, such as public health, education and sanitation, are of particularly low quality. Many of these communities do not have access to either electricity or safe drinking water.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER

Over the past twenty years the job market has changed drastically. In the past, people would start their career in one field at a young age, often with little choice in the matter. They would then continue in this same field for the duration of their working lives, advancing as far as their ability and ambition allowed. Now, however, the majority of people can choose what field they would like to work in, and thus choosing a career has never been as important as it is now. In order to choose the right career, there are a variety of factors that people have to consider.

MONEYIt's true that money can't buy happiness, but it's also true that money is an integral part of the modern world. A lack of this basic resource can lead to severely limited choices. Money may not be your main priority in life, but there's no doubt you need to get it from somewhere.

INTERESTThere's nothing worse than doing a job which makes you unhappy, and conversely having stimulating or enjoyable daily tasks can make attending work a pleasure rather than a chore. It's always worth considering what interests and skills we have, and how they might be developed into a career.

FAMILYWill our job support our needs? Will it enable us to live somewhere that provides a suitable environment for our partners and children? Is our career something that our parents can be proud of and will do justice to the opportunities they gave us?

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICEWith such important factors to be taken into consideration, career choice is no simple matter. This is where we come in. Our experience of over thirty years in helping people make the right decisions puts us ahead of the pack in this field. From study paths and visas all the way through changing careers, we have the right team in place to suit all your career-related needs.

Learning to Deal with Conflict at Work

AAdvanced Enterprises are again offering an opportunity for staff to develop skills in dealing

with conflict in the workplace. Courses will be offered to all employees over the next 6 months. The first course is tailored to suit sales staff who are in direct contact with external customers.

BMisunderstandings, disputes and conflict are commonplace in most workplaces. Conflict is inevitable. What is important is that we seek to resolve it, and that we use appropriate and effective methods. Having the skills to solve problem situations at work will improve your confidence and effectiveness in your role. It will also improve our corporate image and help grow our business, producing a winning result for all of us

CIn this Dealing with Conflict course you will learn how to manage difficult behaviour and to negotiate effective solutions. You will also learn techniques for managing anger and for dealing with problems with customers face-to-face or on the telephone.

DWhen these courses were first held last year the comments from participants were extremely favourable. They considered the course contained many positive, relevant and practical ideas, and a follow-up study indicated that all participants had subsequently practised some ideas successfully.

EThe first course will be held over two days, on 7-8 August in Conference Room B. The course is limited to 20 participants so we suggest you register early. If you work in a sales environment you are eligible to register for this first course.

FWe ask participants to bring to the course an example of a conflict situation that involved you. Just be able to provide brief details of the situation: what happened, what steps were taken, and what were the results.

GThe training sessions will include a mixture of formal presentations, demonstrations, role-plays and case studies. Participants attending both days of the course will be issued a certificate of attendance.

HTo register for the first course phone Sue in the Human Resources section (extension 345). Employees wishing to attend subsequent courses should check our regular staff bulletins for details.

Be a Part of City Zoo

Are you interested in animals? Would you like to have the chance to be close to them on a regular basis, to learn more about them, and to make a solid contribution to their preservation? If you answered yes to any (or all) of these questions, you should consider the volunteer program at City Zoo.

What would I get to do?The main responsibility of City Zoo Volunteers is to assist the zoo's visitors and make sure they have the best zoo experience. This could involve informal talks about wildlife, or short tours on foot or in our widely-popular "Banana-mobiles". Some of our volunteers also assist

staff with animal feeding or performances. The basic aim is to ensure zoo guests have the most educational and entertaining day possible!

What do I get out of it?As a volunteer, you will not be paid in money for the time you spend at the zoo. However, that isn't to say that there aren't a number of benefits to be gained from volunteering. You will get the chance to be an integral part of the warm, welcoming and collaborative zoo team and to learn the basics of how to handle animals, plus in-depth information about wildlife habitats and behaviour. Our volunteers also develop their interpersonal and public speaking skills, broaden their horizons and gain valuable volunteer and conservation experience for their future careers.

Can anyone do this?Anyone who loves both animals and people is suitable to be a City Zoo Volunteer. But unfortunately, due to legislation and regulations, only people who are over 18 years of age are eligible to be part of the program. When we receive your application, you will then be invited to attend our in-depth 12 week training program. It is essential that our volunteers attend each of these sessions, after which we ask you to commit to coming to the zoo at least one day in every fortnight.

Visit www.cityzoo.org/volunteer for more information

Welcome to Wallakala

Wallakala combines stunning natural beauty with a rich cultural heritage and friendly country hospitality. Surrounded by some of the best surfing beaches in the nation, Wallakala is also just a one hour’s drive from the ancient forest and cascading waterfalls of Mount Kala National Park.

Getting hereWallakala’s airport is situated just a 30 minute drive from the township and is serviced by all major domestic airlines. If you’re driving, it’s just an 8 kilometre diversion from the Coast Highway. There are regular bus services from the capital city and major country centres.

AccommodationAccommodation types range from luxury hotels, to backpacker residences, from beach and lakefront villas to camping and caravan park sites.

Surfing Our surfing beaches (four in all) cater for almost any wind condition. For beginners and children we recommend Lighthouse Bay . This is the most protected area and is also closest to the town centre. For the adventurous, we suggest you sample the waves at Pirate’s beach.

WalkingThis is a popular, and healthy, activity in Wallakala and you can choose walks of various

degrees of difficulty. You can also choose between short or longer walks in coastal, lake or bushland settings.

Events‘Carnival on the Coast’ is held every January and is a premier event on the East coast. You will need to book accommodation early for ‘Jazz in June’ at Kala Vineyard, which features some of the country’s leading performers and is always extremely well attended.

ShoppingShopping is an adventure at Wallakala. You can visit our award-winning wineries or buy hand-made jewellery and jams from the Sunday markets at Lakeside Park. The indigenous art centre is a big attraction for visitors. Our heritage shop features souvenirs, gift items and historical books of the region.

For more information… Contact the Wallakala Tourist Centre at 16 Lakeside DrivePhone 8888-8888 Open 9am to 5pm every day. Closed Christmas day

Writing for EmploymentWednesday, April 1

THE COURSEWouldn’t it be nice if potential employers could take one look at us and just know what our work experience and qualifications were? And wouldn’t it be great if all of our communications at work involved telephone conversations or face-to-face meetings? Unfortunately, we all know the reality of the situation. Success in getting a job requires the ability to write job applications and once we have our dream job we have to maintain those high writing standards.

From getting a job to maintaining a successful career, Writing for Employment is the course for you. Run by industry professional Mary-Jane Matheson, the course covers all the different types of employment-related text you will be expected to produce, including: stand-out cover letters; how best to fulfil selection criteria; and the appropriate formats and language for writing reports, assessments and business emails.

The course is based on a format of input given in lectures, followed by both group and individual work, ensuring a communicative and collaborative approach. Please prepare a one to three page resume for teaching purposes. The day costs $150, which includes all course materials as well as morning and afternoon tea. You are encouraged to bring lunch as there are not many places nearby to purchase food.  The course begins at 9.00am sharp and finishes at approximately 5.00pm.

ABOUT THE CONVENORMary-Jane has over twenty years experience in careers advice, development and training.

She has written three books about writing in the workplace and often speaks publicly on the subject.

NOTE: The course runs with a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12. Please book early to avoid missing out. In the event that there are too few bookings to run the course, either a full refund or enrolment into the next course will be provided.

Which way is up?

Imagine yourself seated in a small room which is about to be suddenly tipped either to the right or the left by an experimenter. Your chair will be also be tipped right or left.  After that, your task is to restore yourself to the true upright position by instructing the experimenter to move your chair via a remote-control device, and saying ‘stop’ when you feel it is upright again. The room remains tilted.  Sounds simple?  Well apparently many of us don’t find this simple at all. And in itself this is not necessarily good or bad.

Herman Witkin conducted the original experiments on this question in the 1950’s and he described a particular cognitive style termed field dependence-independence.  In Witkin’s experiments the messages from the body and the environment are in disagreement. The visual field is telling us one thing.  Our bodily sensations are telling us something else. Witkin measured the disparity between the reported upright and the true upright. While some subjects had no real problem in restoring themselves to the true upright, others were as much as 35 degrees in error. These individuals were seen as dependent on the field around them, or field-dependent. People who performed well on this task, the field-independents, were basically not influenced by the visual field around them and responded according to what their bodies told them.

This research has now been considered to show much more than differences in our spatial orientation. It shows what many now consider to be characteristic ways of functioning on which individuals may differ markedly.

People classified as field-independent use an ‘internal’ frame of reference and are less affected by unstructured environments, perhaps providing their own sense of order. They are more task-oriented and less people-oriented. They are less dependent on others.

Field dependent people, being more responsive to their environment, are better at reading social cues and more revealing of their own feelings. They are less analytical and less attentive to detail, preferring a more global approach to their environment.

In other experiments, field-dependent people experience difficulty in locating a geometric shape that is ‘hidden’ or embedded within a more complex pattern. The conflicting patterns hinder recognition of the simpler pattern. So if you often can’t find familiar objects e.g. keys or earrings, that are left lying around the house, often right in front of your nose, it may be that you are field-dependent.  In the saying ‘we can’t see the wood for the trees’ it means we can’t see the important things, or the ‘big picture’ because we’re paying too much attention to detail.  Being field dependent is more like ‘not seeing the trees for the wood’. You don’t see the detail because you see the ‘big picture’ only.  Research has also shown that findings are not limited to the visual field. This cognitive style has also been shown to apply to auditory, tactile and other sensory perception tasks.

In relation to learning, field dependents prefer an organised, structured environment and respond best to information relating to their own experience. They tend toward concrete experience, and can be sensitive to criticism. Field-independent learners tend more to the abstract, perceive analytically, and are less affected by criticism. Field-dependents will respond better to positive reinforcement than field-independents, who are more likely to be self-rewarding.

All of this has implications for career choices.  If you are field-dependent you will probably do best in an area where being responsive to the environment is a plus. You will prefer to work with other people, and careers in human resource management, teaching, nursing, community services come to mind as appropriate to your cognitive style.  Field independents may move more towards engineering, science, information technology - professions normally characterised by an emphasis more on the analytical than the interpersonal.  But we must be wary of stereotyping these professions. There is surely room in all of these career areas for both approaches, and there are dangers associated with an over-representation of either style in one professional area. 

Field dependence has received a lot of emphasis since it was first identified.  But it is also just one of many cognitive styles that psychologists have identified. Cognitive styles describe characteristic  ways in which  individuals think, perceive, remember, or approach problem-solving.

You can do online tests that will classify you as intuitive, rational, sensing or emotional. The popular Myers-Briggs inventory will classify you into one of 16 ‘personality types’. In learning style, are you an accommodator, a diverger, a converger or an assimilator? Do you learn best through seeing, hearing or doing? Do you tend more towards impulsive, or reflectivebehavior? Impulsive people worry less about making mistakes.  Or perhaps you like to put things into ‘boxes’, with labels, in which case you may be classified as a compartmentalizer. The categorizing can help you organise your world but the downside is that you may be a bit rigid in dealing with it.

One thing is certain. By the time you’ve worked out that you’re an intuitive but impulsive field dependent converger and compartmentaliser, you definitely won’t know which way is up.

Cats: Scoundrels or Scapegoats

A The campaign against cats has become so exaggerated it has lost its focus. Much energy that could be put to good use is being wasted on futile campaigns that do little more than aggravate cat owners.

B It is widely believed that because cats prey on native birds they could bring about their extermination. But predation seldom leads to extinction in such a simplistic way. If it did there would be no animals left in Africa, as those big cats called lions would have eaten them all up.

C Enormous numbers of birds are killed by pets in gardens, it is true. But while this may sound alarming, ecologically there is nothing wrong with it- predation is a fact of life. Birds are killed in forests too, by a whole gamut of predators including snakes, goannas, falcons, butcherbirds, quolls, dingoes and even spiders. Pet cats are the urban counterparts to a large range of native predators.

D Hunting by pet cats would only be a problem if the rate of predation, combined with other deaths, exceed the breeding rate of the birds. This does not seem to be the case. Several studies show the urban environments actually support a higher density of birds than native forests, despite all the cats. This is partly because of all the garden plants with berries and nectar rich flowers.

E The native garden birds killed by cats are nearly all widespread adaptable species that are thriving in response to urbanisation. Some of them are probably more abundant now than they were before European settlement. This definitely seems to be the case for the common garden skinks that cats often kill.

F Feral cats are a much greater threat to wildlife than pet cats, and in some situations they are a major hazard. But not usually to birds, which they seldom eat. Studies of their diet confirm what cartoonists have always known: that cats prefer rats, mice and other small mammals. In a major article on cats (Nature Australia, Winter 1993) Chris Dickman stated: “In most Australian studies, rabbits constitute the single most important prey.”

G To be useful, the anti-cat campaign should focus on specific situations where cats are a proven problem, and where something can actually be done about it. But to make the sweeping claim that “Cats threaten the future survival of most wildlife”, as the Victorian Department of Education does in a leaflet, is to exaggerate the case.

Endangered Languages

A Ten years ago Michael Krauss sent a shudder through the discipline of linguistics with his prediction that half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world would cease to be uttered within a century. This prediction was based upon the fact that many of the world’s languages are rapidly falling from use. In essence, younger generations are not being taught how to speak their local language or dialect and many indigenous communities have resorted to speaking the dominant language. Krauss maintained that unless scientists and community leaders directed a worldwide effort to stabalize the decline and conserve these endangered local languages, nine-tenths of the linguistic diversity of humankind would probably be doomed to extinction.

B Krauss’s prediction was little more than an educated guess, but other respected linguists have been expressing similar alarm. Kennith L. Hale of the Massachusettes Institute of Technology has stated that eight languages on which he has done fieldwork have since passed into extinction. A 1990 survey in Australia found that 70 of the 90 surviving Aboriginal languages were no longer used regularly by all age groups. The same was true for all but 20 of the 175 Native American languages spoken in the U.S.

C On the face of it, the consolidation of language might seem like a good trend, one that could ease ethnic tensions and aid global commerce. Linguists don’t deny those benefits, and they acknowledge that in most cases small communities choose (often unconsciously) to switch to the majority language because they believe it will boost their social or economic status.

D Many experts in the field nonetheless mourn the loss of rare languages, for several reasons. To start with, there is scientific self-interest: some of the most basic questions in linguistics have to do with the limits of human speech, which are far from fully explored. Many researchers would like to know which structural elements of grammar and vocabulary – if any – are truly universal and probably therefore hardwired into the human brain. Other scientists try to reconstruct ancient migration patterns by comparing borrowed words that appear in otherwise unrelated languages. In each of these cases, the wider portfolio of languages you study, the more likely you are to get the right answers. “I think the value is mostly in human terms,” says James A. Matisoff, a specialist in rare Asian languages at the University of California at Berkeley. “Language is the most important element in the culture of a community. When it dies, you lose the special knowledge of that culture and a unique window on the world.”

E However, it is not all bad news. Just because a speech community is small does not mean it is doomed. At last report, notes Akira Yamamoto of the University of Kansas in the United States, there were just 185 people who spoke Karitiana. But they all lived in the same village in Brazil, which had just 191 inhabitants. So more than 96 percent of the population was still speaking the language and teaching it to their children. Because surveys of endangered languages tend to look only at the number of speakers, “there has been a history of linguists predicting the death of languages only to return 20 years later to find them still there,” says Patrick McConvell of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra.

F One factor that always seems to occur in the demise of a language, according to theorist Hans-Jürgen Sasse of the University of Cologne in Germany, is that the speakers begin to have “collective doubts about the usefulness of language loyalty.” Once they start regarding their own language as inferior to the majority language, people stop using it for all situations. Kids pick up on the attitude and prefer the dominant language. “In many cases, people don’t notice until they suddenly realize that their kids never speak the language, even at home,” says Douglas H. Whalen of Yale University in the United States. This is how Cornish and some dialects of Scottish Gaelic slipped into extinction. And it is why Irish Gaelic is still only rarely used for daily home life in Ireland, 80 years after the republic was founded with Irish as its first official language.

G “Ultimately, the answer to the problem of language extinction is multilingualism,” Matisoff argues, and many linguists agree. Indeed, most people in the world speak more than one tongue,

and in places such as Cameroon (279 languages), Papua New Guinea (823) and India (387) it is common to speak three or four distinct languages and a dialect or two as well.

H “Most Americans and Canadians, to the west of Quebec, have a gut reaction that anyone speaking another language in front of them is committing an immoral act,” Grimes observes. “You get the same reaction in Australia and Russia. It is no coincidence that these are the areas where languages are disappearing the fastest.” The first step in saving dying languages is to persuade the world’s majorities to allow the minorities among them to speak with their won voices.

adapted with permission from Gibbs, W.W., 'Endangered Languages', Scientific American, July 2002.

The Use of Comics in Education

A Comics, or something very like them, have been used for instruction for thousands of years. Sequential or serial art - a series of pictures which tell a story - has a history almost as long as that of mankind itself. Prehistoric cave paintings from areas such as Lascaux in France show simple stories in which a hunter successfully brings down his prey. Before the invention of writing, drawing was the only way in which the story of a hunting success, or any other story, could be recorded. Later generations could learn of the achievements of their ancestors from the paintings, which may have been used as an aid to oral storytelling.

B Much later, after the invention of writing, sequential art continued to be used for the instruction of those among the population who were illiterate. Carved or painted friezes (bands of graphic decoration) accompanied written inscriptions in ancient Egyptian temples, so that those who could not read could understand and participate in religious rituals; the interior walls of many medieval cathedrals and churches in Europe were covered with painted squares depicting religious stories - again, so that the illiterate could ‘read’ them. This type of art can be regarded as one of the forerunners of the modern comic book.

C Comic strips and books first appeared in the 19th century.  For a long time, they were regarded as a hindrance to education.  It was believed that comics would in some way destroy a child’s ability to concentrate on writing without illustrations. It was also widely believed that comics promoted the use of substandard language and bad spelling. Catherine L. Kouns, the Marketing Director of Warp Graphics, a company which produces comics, states that ‘Comics were regarded as one of the lowest forms of life on the scale of literary evolution’. Dr Elaine Millard of the University of Sheffield believes that ‘this view arises from the fact that all comics are created from the interaction of images, which are dominant, with a small amount of text. Critics regard reading comics as “looking at pictures” which they equate with a lack of literacy in children.’

Commonly Used Prefix

Prefix Example

anti - against, opposite

antitoxin – substance used to neutralise toxins

auto - self autobiography – a self-written account of one's life

bi - two, twice bilingual – in two languagescounter - in opposition to

counterclaim – a claim in opposition to another

de - down, reverse, remove

desensitise – to make less sensitive

dis - negative dishonest – not honesthyper - extremely, over

hypercritical – too critical

hypo - under, below hypothermia – dangerously low body temperature

inter – between, among

international – involving two or more nations

mal – bad, wrong malnutrition – lack of proper nutrition in one's diet

micro – extremely small

micro-organism – extremely small organism

mis – wrong misunderstanding – failure to understandmono – one, alone monoculture – the use of land to grow

only one cropmulti – many multimedia – involving several types of

mediapost – after postpone – delay to a later timepre – before precondition – an existing conditionre – again, back rediscover – discover againsemi – half semi-conscious – half (not fully)

conscious

sub – under, not quite

subordinate – belonging to a lower rank, less important