What can language teachers in the UK learn from TEFL techniques? Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian
Louis Cruises: Refining the Greek Experience [ BeritaTerkini ]
Louis Cruises considers itself the expert in sailing around Greece and its islands. After all, the Eastern Mediterranean is home for the cruise line, which is based in Piraeus, the port for Athens, and the parent company was founded in Cyprus 78 years ago.
So for 2014, Louis is refining its itineraries and onboard experience to offer what it considers the quintessential Greek experience. “When Americans come over, what are their expectations?” asks Kyriakos Anastassiadis, Louis Cruises’ CEO. “They want to come to Greece to experience the culture, the Greek cuisine and wines, the entertainment, and the natural beauty and variety of the islands. We are going to provide a real Greek experience and an immersion into Greek life.”
For 2014, Louis is marketing two ships to North Americans — the 1,664-passenger Louis Olympia and the 1,200-passenger Louis Cristal. Both vessels were built in the early 1980s, the Olympia as the Song of America and the Cristal as a ferry named Viking Saga (it later operated as Leeward for Norwegian Cruise Line).
Those two ships might not be the main attraction for some — although they are an attractive size and might be considered classics now — but the itineraries and ambience offered onboard are worth a much closer look.
In 2014, the company is nearly doubling the number of ports it calls on to provide a mix of little-visited isles with such marquee destinations as Mykonos, Crete and Santorini. New destinations for 2014 are Samos, Milos, Syros, Kos, los, Symi and Chios in Greece, and Cesme and Bodrum in Turkey.
“For the last 30 years, the ports in most destinations have remained the same,” Anastassiadis says. “As an industry we struggle very hard to get people to come back on our vessels – repeaters. So why would they come back to Greece on a cruise if there are no new places to visit? By providing new destinations, we give passengers the opportunity to come back with us and see something different. Greece has 3,000 islands. About 140 are inhabited, yet only six or eight have been visited. That leaves another 132 waiting to be discovered.”
For those who want to explore Greek cuisine, Louis has revamped its menus to focus on the company’s Hellenic roots and the local Mediterranean diet, which is considered by many to be the healthiest in the world. Onboard menus now feature more fish, legumes, citrus, salads, vegetables, Greek olive oil and feta cheese. The food is seasoned with local herbs and spices, such as oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, as well as locally grown saffron from the small town of Krokos and mastic, which is often used in desserts.
“The menus are predominantly Greek cuisine and they will also change with the seasons,” Anastassiadis says.
Louis also is eager to work with more North American travel agents and has enhanced its online booking system. Agents earn 10 percent commission or more on the cruises, but also get 10 to 15 percent on shore excursions and pre-booked beverage packages.
“We are giving travel agents the opportunity to sell everything we have,” Anastassiadis says. “It just makes the whole experience that much better if the clients leave home and already have their beverage package and shore excursions sorted out. We have a whole raft of packages available so travel agents can provide a complete service to these passengers.”
In addition, gratuities will be included in the fares for 2014, equal to about $ 10 per day, per person. “It makes life easier for everyone and simplifies everything,” Anastassiadis says. “It’s included in the fare, but in the unlikely event someone doesn’t feel the service merits that gratuity, they have the choice to remove or reduce it. But in our experience most people are very happy.”
Herbal-Supplement Scam: Tests Reveal Fake and Dangerous Ingredients – Yahoo Canada Shine On [ BeritaTerkini ]
Supplements may contain weeds, toxins, and cheap fillers
If you are one of the nearly 40 percent of Americans who have tried an herbal supplement, you might want to think twice before spending $ 10, $ 20, or more on another bottle. Findings of a recent study, using DNA analysis, suggest that many plant-based remedies on the market today may be made of cheap fillers, such as soy, rice, and wheat, or contain weeds or potentially harmful contaminants.
Scientists from the University of Guelph in Ontario tested 44 popular herbal supplements (such as St. John’s wort and echinacea) that are sold by 12 different companies in Canada and the United States. They found that one-third of the supplements contained none of the plant extracts indicated on the product label. Fifty-nine percent were contaminated with plant species not listed on the ingredients list, including some that were considered toxic or allergy producing, as well as other potentially hazardous substances. Only two out of 12 companies sold supplements that were all completely genuine and free of plant substitution, fillers, or contaminants.
More on Yahoo: 10 Surprising Dangers of Vitamins and Supplements
Over the last 20 years, herbal supplements have become a $ 5 billion-a-year business in the United States alone. For scientists and consumer advocates who have been watching the booming industry—about 29,000 different products are available—the results aren’t a complete surprise. David Schardt, senior nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, tells Yahoo Shine that previous studies have also shown that in an unregulated industry, supplements don’t always contain what they are supposed to have. He says, what is alarming about the new research is that, “only 2 out of 12 companies [tested] were manufacturing a quality product, while 10 out of 12 were shoddy.” He adds, “Its not impossible, but it may be hard for consumers to find quality products” at all.
More on Yahoo: Counterfeit Medicines: The New Face of Organized Crime
Most people assume that if their local pharmacy, health food store, or grocery store stocks a particular herbal supplement, it must be safe. But, unlike both prescription and over-the-counter drugs, which are strictly regulated, dietary supplements don’t have to be proven safe and effective to the Food and Drug Administration before hitting the market. While some harmful products, such as ephedra, have been banned, it can be years before the FDA receives enough complaints to take action. And adverse reactions are shockingly underreported—the FDA estimates that there are as many as 50,000 “adverse events” involving dietary supplements a year, while fewer than 1,000 are officially recorded.
Schardt says that when it comes to botanicals, quality control is difficult. The science of isolating active compounds is tricky, and growing and harvesting plants can introduce all sorts of contaminants. Indeed, a 2010 study of 40 herbal supplements by the Government Accountability Office found that 37 of them tested positive for hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and pesticides. He points out that the DNA testing methods used in this study could help the industry police itself better and produce a more reliable product.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it’s wise to speak to your doctor before taking any herbal supplement. Even some popular ingredients, such as kava and comfrey, have been linked to liver damage. This is especially important for pregnant or nursing women or people suffering from chronic disease. Herbal supplements can interfere with prescribed medications or interact badly when taken in combination with other supplements. Because the study looked only at a sampling of products, they did not name specific brands.
Resources are available for you to research herbal supplements on your own, until the industry begins to do a better job of manufacturing a safe and consistent product or the government imposes stricter standards. ConsumerLab.com is an independent laboratory that provides test results for vitamins and supplements by subscription. You can also look for a “USP Verified” label, which means the manufacturer has voluntarily asked the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, a nonprofit organization that sets industry standards for medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements, to test the quality of its product.
Also on Yahoo Shine:
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//Telecom Italia to sell Argentina unit, towers in new strategy [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud | Reuters –
By Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud
MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) – Telecom Italia will sell its Argentina unit and other assets while issuing a convertible bond, aiming to raise around 4 billion euros ($ 5.3 billion) to stave off a credit rating downgrade and strengthen operations in Italy and Brazil.
Italy’s biggest telecoms operator, which is in the middle of a strategy shift under new Chief Executive Marco Patuano, said it had received an unsolicited offer for its 22.7 percent stake in Telecom Argentina and planned to sell.
Argentine newspapers Clarin and La Nacion said late on Thursday that the buyer would be investment fund Fintech, which already holds shares in Telecom Italia’s Argentine unit. Fintech could not be reached for comment after office hours.
Telecom Italia also plans to sell and lease back more than 17,000 mobile towers it owns in Italy and Brazil, and unload an Italian digital broadcasting unit, aiming to reap more than 2 billion euros from these deals.
The moves represent a major change for the debt-laden former Italian telecom monopoly and show the influence that its largest shareholder, Spain’s Telefonica, is having after it agreed to raise its ownership of the holding company that owns 22.4 percent of Telecom Italia.
Patuano’s new strategy, which has been backed by Telefonica, aims to chart a course out of Telecom Italia’s high debts and deteriorating business in its home market by ploughing money into upgrading its creaky Italian network.
The asset sales could help stave off further credit downgrades. Moody’s already cut Telecom Italia’s rating to junk last month, while Fitch and Standard and Poors have it one notch above. Further downgrades will be costly because the company has to roll over large amounts of debt next year.
Moody’s credit analyst Carlos Winzer said the agency would not count the convertible bond as equity until it converts to shares in 2016, so it would not help its rating for now.
“From our perspective as a rating agency, this is an immediately neutral move, and will be credit positive and strengthen the balance sheet only in year three when the bonds convert to equity.”
EMPHASIS ON BRAZIL
The plan also puts a renewed emphasis on the group’s Brazilian business, which sources have told Reuters that Telefonica is aiming to sell from the second half of 2014 onwards. TIM Brazil is the second-biggest mobile operator behind Telefonica’s own Brazilian unit in the growing emerging market.
Patuano did not rule out a sale but said that Brazil was important to the group as shown by a new pledge to spend 11 billion reais ($ 4.78 billion) on network upgrades there between 2013 and 2016.
“Brazil is a core asset. You can never say never. There is a price for everything, but the price for a core asset must be a price that can convince me and the board to change the strategy we set today in which Brazil is an important component.”
In Italy, the group also pledged to boost investment in high-speed fibre broadband and fourth-generation mobile technology. It will target around 9 billion euros in domestic capital expenditures from 2014 to 2016.
With the convertible bond of 1.3 billion euros, Telecom Italia avoided a straight capital increase, which sources earlier had told Reuters was an option. That may soothe shareholders because straight capital increases tend to be issued at a discount to the current share price, unlike the convertible bond.
Robin Bienenstock, analyst at Bernstein Research, said equity investors had been expecting a cash call of up to 2 billion euros, so the fact that Telecom Italia was undertaking asset sales and a convertible bond would likely be viewed positively.
“Since the mandatory convertible is at a premium to today’s share price, it is arguably a better way to raise capital than a capital increase done at a discount,” she said.
Telecom Italia declined to say anything about its dividend policy in the coming years.
Books for the November 2016 bond, convertible into ordinary and saving shares, will close by Friday, it said in a statement, adding that the coupon was expected to be of 5.75-6.5 percent.
A source briefed on Thursday’s meeting of the Telecom Italia board said Telefonica planned to take up its share.
In a separate statement, the company reiterated its financial targets for 2013, but added that “actual results may differ, even significantly, from those forecast for the whole 2013″.
Telecom Italia said nine month revenues fell 7.6 percent to 20.38 billion euros, dragged lower by weakness in its recession-hit domestic business, while core profits fell 10.5 percent to 7.93 billion euros. Both were broadly in line with market expectations. Adjusted net debt stood at 28.23 billion euros at the end of September, also in line with analysts’ expectations.
Telecom Italia shares closed down 4.3 percent at 0.72 euros before the announcements. They have risen 5.4 percent since January, underperforming the European telecom index, which is up nearly 30 percent.
($ 1 = 0.7472 euros)
(Reporting by Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud; Editing by Lisa Jucca, Peter Graff and Stephen Coates)
Hate crime charge for California boy accused of setting transgender teen on fire [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Ronnie Cohen
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – A 16-year-old California boy accused of setting fire to a transgender teen’s skirt as the victim slept on a public bus in the city of Oakland earlier this week was charged as an adult on Thursday with committing a hate crime.
Richard Thomas was charged with aggravated mayhem, felony assault and a hate-crime “enhancement” after telling a police officer he committed Monday’s attack “because he was homophobic,” according to the criminal complaint.
The 18-year-old victim, Luke Fleischman, who was born male but identifies himself as gender neutral and goes by the name of Sasha, remained hospitalized in San Francisco with severe burns on Thursday and was listed in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The teen will require several surgeries to recover, according to a website posted by family members to raise money for the victim’s medical treatment.
“The intentional and callous nature of the crime is shocking and will not be tolerated in our community,” Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said in a statement.
Thomas stood in a glass cage in Superior Court out of view of observers and told Judge Gregory Syren that his relatives were trying to hire a lawyer to defend him against the charges.
A woman who identified herself as the suspect’s grandmother begged the judge for more time to find an attorney. Syren postponed proceedings for entering of a plea until Tuesday and ordered Thomas to remain in custody without bail.
Outside the courtroom, Thomas’s mother, who gave her name only as Ms. Jackson, denied that her son was homophobic or that he meant to hurt anyone.
“My son is not a hateful person,” she said. “He’s not homophobic. He was joking, and he didn’t know it would go that far.”
“I am very sorry, very sorry for my son’s actions,” Jackson told reporters, adding that her son, too, was remorseful and was drafting a letter of apology to the burn victim. “I did not raise him that way.”
Police arrested Thomas at Oakland High School, where he is a student, on Tuesday after examining surveillance video from the city bus that allegedly showed him setting the victim’s skirt on fire.
Tiffany Woods, a liaison between the transgender community and Oakland police, said Fleischman identified as gender neutral or “agender” and was a “well-liked kid.”
Trevor Cralle, director of the Maybeck High School in Berkeley, where Fleischman is a senior, described the teen as a “wonderful, exceptional student.”
(Reporting by Ronnie Cohen; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)
- Society & Culture
- Crime & Justice
- California
David Beckham Rides Motorcycle, Shows Rugged, Sexy Side in [ BeritaTerkini ]
| Übersetzt von Jennifer Chan
7. November 2013 – 17:30
Ladies, start your engines…this is one sexy commercial starring David Beckham you won’t want to miss!
Since retiring from the game that made him famous, the British soccer star has been keeping busy with a number of swanky sponsorships and endorsements, and we have to admit, we’re not complaining one bit.
His latest project? A stylish menswear fashion campaign for Belstaff, and we’ve got first dibs of the cool clip in all of its glory.
In the black and white commercial, Beckham rocks edgy pieces from the luxury brand and looks dangerously rugged yet totally refined, too.
NEWS: David Beckham named most stylish man of the year
How does he do it?
The underwear model straddles an old motorcycle and rides it effortlessly into a field, all while wearing a slick moto jacket and tailored pants with an exposed ankle zipper.
Not surprisingly, he looks like a natural in this ensemble.
“About five or six years ago I was looking for a cool biker jacket. I went into this vintage store and came across this vintage Belstaff jacket. I have worn it ever since,” the star said in a release.
In one scene, he slyly flashes his wedding band, a subtle reminder that he’s not only incredibly studly and handsome, but he’s also a loyal husband and doting father.
Um, swoon.
There’s no dialogue in this campaign, but with a spokes model this hot, we’re left totally speechless, too.
To see more of David Beckham’s Belstaff campaign, tune into E! News at 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
PHOTOS: David Beckham Shirtless
Perth festival: go west art lovers, for sensual reimagining [ BeritaTerkini ]
Martin Amis, Robert Wilson, the National, Batsheva, Punchdrunk, William Kentridge and Public Enemy will be among the international artists joining Australian talent in WA in February for the 2014 Perth festival.
Wilson will star in Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, while Amis will join Lionel Shriver, Richard Flanagan, Margaret Drabble, David Vann, Carrie Tiffany and Hannah Kent, among others, as part of the writers festival.
Public Enemy will play as part of a music lineup that includes Alice Russell and Booker T Jones in a double bill, the Basics, Pond, Michael Barenboim and the National.
Batsheva Dance Company will bring two Australian premieres to Perth: Deca Dance, in which choreographer Ohad Naharin's exhilarating repertoire is remixed into a new piece, and Sadeh21, which will then play at the Adelaide festival.
The Perth program also features a strand of digital projects: from Rimini Protokoll's Situation Rooms, in which the audience are kitted out with iPads and headphones to explore a maze of chambers, to a symphony composed for the city by Tod Machover, inspired by sounds recorded by its residents.
Do Ho Suh's Net-Work, a vast net of tiny human figures, will be on show on the foreshore. Photograph: supplied by Perth festival
In another new work for Australian audiences, Beijing Dance Theatre will bring Haze to the festival. The work explores the tension between traditions and the future, and is performed on a soft floor, the dancers thrown off-balance as the ground gives beneath them.
Perth will also host director Dmitry Krymov's inventive production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (As You Like It) which uses 15ft-high puppets, acrobats, a performing dog and an opera singer in its reimagining of the love story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Other theatre performances will include Fiona Shaw in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Denis O'Hare in An Iliad and You Once Said Yes – a theatrical journey in which audience members have a series of dramatic one-on-one encounters.
Punchdrunk will present the Australian premiere of their magical The House Where Winter Lives; among other family-friendly treats are The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean by Shona Reppe and Sacrilege, Jeremy Deller's massive inflatable Stonehenge.
Visual art includes Do Ho Suh's Net-Work, a vast net made of tiny human figures which will be displayed on the south Perth foreshore, Richard Bell's first solo exhibition in WA, and a new diorama created for the festival by Paramodel.
Outdoor screens at Somerville and Joondalup Pines will show festival films from late November through to mid-April, beyond the festival's dates of 7 February to 1 March.
jQuery(".gmframe").load(function (){jQuery(this).remove();});Turkey Trot: Thanksgiving Holiday Airline Travel Projected at 25 Million [ BeritaTerkini ]
More and more Americans will reportedly be using airlines to get home for the Thanksgiving holidays, despite some predictions that fares are up 7 percent compared to last year. Airlines for America (A4A), the trade group representing major U.S. airlines, is predicting that 25 million passengers will fly during the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period.
A4A also is reporting another thing to be thankful for: improving year-over-year financial performance for the 10 largest U.S. airlines, with modest profitability allowing them to reinvest in their product and the overall customer experience.
A4A expects the number of passengers traveling from Friday, Nov. 22 through Tuesday, Dec. 3 to increase by 1.5 percent, or 31,000 travelers per day, from 2012. Planes are expected to be more than 85 percent full on the busiest travel days, which are Wednesday, Nov. 27 (2.42 million passengers), Sunday, Dec. 1 (2.56 million passengers) and Monday, Dec. 2 (2.36 million passengers).
“The good news for customers is that air travel costs less in real dollars today than in 2000, airlines are delivering strong on-time and baggage performance,” said John Heimlich, A4A vice president and chief economist. “More seats are returning to the marketplace to accommodate growing demand as carriers are increasing the number of available seats for Thanksgiving travel by roughly 2 percent.”
But Heimlich did not comment on a new survey by Travelocity that shows fares during the holiday period are actually up 7 percent. So more Americans are heading home for the holidays – but they are paying more to get there.
Those higher fares may be one reason the airline industry is apparently getting as healthy as a plump turkey. During the first nine months of 2013, the 10 largest U.S. carriers reported net earnings of $ 4.5 billion, resulting in a net profit margin of 4 percent — up from $ 312 million, or 0.3 percent, in 2012. Fuel remained the largest and most volatile cost for airlines, accounting for 35 percent of overall operating expenses.
U.S. airlines continue to enhance the travel experience from start to finish, despite generating modest net profit margins. Since 2010, airline capital expenditures have more than doubled from $ 430 million per month to $ 965 million per month in 2013 – an increase of 125 percent. Those improvements include new planes, lie-flat seats, Wi-Fi, improved websites and mobile applications with better booking software.
Editor Obsessions: Tracy Anderson Fitness Gear, Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Lipstick and More [ BeritaTerkini ]
| Übersetzt von Jennifer Chan
7. November 2013 – 14:34
This week, we’re totally motivated to look our best for any occasion.
With endless social functions and festive parties filling up our calendars quickly, it’s the perfect time of year to try out new beauty products or enliven our wardrobes with a few stylish staples.
First, we can’t help but get in the holiday mood when trying out new red lipsticks, and Elizabeth Arden’s new line of Beautiful Color shades are among the prettiest we’ve seen yet! The color is phenomenal, and best of all, it lasts all night long.
What more could a girl ask for?
PHOTOS: Celeb airport style
We’ve also taken a liking to Kelley Baker’s highlighter pencil, a brilliant tool for adding radiance and definition to the eye area; as well as VoCé’s Refresh Me dry shampoo for quick touch-ups in the morning when time is scarce.
This awesome spray banishes oily roots in a flash!
When it comes to fashion essentials this season, we can’t get enough of Denimocracy’s knit skinny jeans.
Comfy, flattering and completely sexy, these trendy pants are suddenly the most popular items in our closet thanks to their seamless design and impressive collection of enticing colors, patterns and coatings.
PHOTOS: Celebs’ fall scarves
And finally, when it’s all said and done, we’re itching to start a new fitness regimen this season to beat the impending holiday weight gain.
After one sweaty session with Tracy Anderson at her new Brentwood studio in Los Angeles, it’s safe to say we’re totally hooked on her method and can officially vouch that she lives up to the hype.
From her DVDs and nutrition plan to her hot pink dumbbells and awesome ankle weights, all of Tracy’s products are at the top of our wish list this year!
PHOTOS: See our current obsessions this week
FDA moves to ban trans fats, citing health risks [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Toni Clarke and Ros Krasny
BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed banning artificial trans fats in processed food ranging from cookies to frozen pizza, citing the risk of heart disease.
Partially hydrogenated oils, the primary dietary source of the fats, have been shown to raise “bad” cholesterol. Reducing the use of trans fats could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease a year, the FDA said.
“While consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concern,” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said.
Public health advocates welcomed the move.
“Artificial trans fat is a uniquely powerful promoter of heart disease, and today’s announcement will hasten its eventual disappearance from the food supply,” Michael Jacobson, executive director of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest said.
The FDA’s proposal is not the first public effort to ban trans fats. New York City banned the use of trans fats in restaurants, including their use for deep-frying foods, and many restaurants and fast food chains, including McDonald’s Corp., have eliminated their use.
Some European countries have also taken steps. Denmark, Switzerland and Iceland regulate the sale of many foods containing trans fats.
Products that still contain trans fats include, among others, crackers, refrigerated dough, coffee creamers and ready-to-use frosting. Some products will be harder to reformulate than others, FDA officials said.
“We know that technically this is not an insoluble problem,” Hamburg told reporters on a conference call, adding that the use of trans fats has declined dramatically since 2006, when the agency required that trans fat levels be disclosed on package labels.
According to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, food manufacturers have voluntarily lowered the amounts of trans fats in their food products by more than 73 percent. The FDA said the average daily intake of trans fats by Americans fell from 4.6 grams a day in 2003 to 1 gram in 2012.
Hydrogenation is a chemical process that converts liquid vegetable oils into solid or semi-solid fats. Partially hydrogenated oils extend the shelf life of foods, and certain types of popcorn, fish sticks, pies, donuts and pizza depend on trans fats for their taste and texture.
Coming up with alternative recipes for products that contain trans fats will largely be a matter of trial and error, industry experts say. Sunflower, canola or palm kernel oil might work in some cases but some products might have to be dropped.
“If this rule becomes final the impact to companies will include the cost of finding an alternative to trans fats,” said Justin Prochnow, a lawyer with Greenberg Traurig LLP who advises food companies on FDA-related matters.
The FDA’s proposal is subject to a 60-day public comment period in which food companies are expected to outline how long they expect it to take them to reformulate products.
If the proposal becomes final, partially hydrogenated oils would be considered food additives and would not be allowed in food unless authorized by health regulators. The ruling would not affect trans fat that occur naturally in small amounts in certain meat and dairy products.
Companies wishing to include trans fats in their products would have to meet the safety standards applied to food additives and prove with reasonable certainty that they do not cause harm.
“GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS SAFE”
It has been more than half a century since U.S. regulations governing food additives were last revised. In that time, the number of chemicals in the food supply has risen from fewer than 2,000 to an estimated 10,000, many of which are never reviewed by the FDA because companies and their advisers have declared them to be safe.
Under loose regulations created more than 50 years ago to help companies avoid lengthy delays in getting food additives approved, the FDA created a list of products considered “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS).
Companies can either petition to get their ingredients affirmed safe by the FDA, or they can declare them safe based on their own research or that of hired consultants. The FDA has the option to challenge such declarations but has rarely done so.
The FDA’s Hamburg said in an interview on Thursday that while the GRAS system provides the current legal framework for regulating food additives, the system bears re-examining to see if it is adequate to ensure the safety of the food supply.
“We do need to be thinking about what is needed to update laws and processes,” she said.
The agency is already under pressure to ban the use of caffeine in energy drinks. Caffeine was long ago declared to be a GRAS product in cola-type drinks. Yet the agency has not challenged companies to prove the safety of caffeine in other products or other beverages.
“Caffeine is one we are looking at very seriously,” Hamburg said, adding that the agency hosted a major meeting of experts over the summer under the auspices of the independent Institute of Medicine. “It’s an ongoing process but one in which we are deeply engaged.”
In the meantime, healthcare professionals welcomed the FDA’s step towards banning trans-fats in foods.
“Banning the use of artificial trans fats is a life-saving move that can help keep the public healthy,” said Patrice Harris, a member of the board of the American Medical Association. “Healthier options, such as extra virgin olive oil, could prevent 30,000 to 100,000 premature deaths each year.
(Reporting by Toni Clarke and Ros Krasny; Editing by Andrea Ricci, Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)
- Health
- Food & Cooking
- Food and Drug Administration
- trans fats
- food additives
No more trans fat: FDA banning the artery-clogger [ BeritaTerkini ]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Heart-clogging trans fats were once a staple of the American diet, plentiful in baked goods, microwave popcorn and fried foods. Now, mindful of the health risks, the Food and Drug Administration is getting rid of what’s left of them for good.
Condemning artificial trans fats as a threat to public health, the FDA announced Thursday it will require the food industry to phase them out.
Manufacturers already have eliminated many trans fats, responding to criticism from the medical community and to local laws, Even so, the FDA said getting rid of the rest — the average American still eats around a gram of trans fat a day — could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths each year.
It won’t happen right away. The agency will collect comments for two months before determining a phase-out timetable. Different foods may have different schedules, depending how easy it is to find substitutes.
“We want to do it in a way that doesn’t unduly disrupt markets,” said Michael Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, the food “industry has demonstrated that it is, by and large, feasible to do.”
Indeed, so much already has changed that most people won’t notice much difference, if any, in food they get at groceries or restaurants.
Scientists say there are no health benefits to trans fats. And they can raise levels of “bad” cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. Trans fats are widely considered the worst kind for your heart, even worse than saturated fats, which also can contribute to heart disease.
Trans fats are used both in processed food and in restaurants, often to improve the texture, shelf life or flavor of foods. Though they have been removed from many items, the fats are still found in some baked goods such as pie crusts and biscuits and in ready-to-eat frostings that use the more-solid fats to keep consistency.
They also are sometimes used by restaurants for frying. Many larger chains have phased them out, but smaller restaurants may still get food containing trans fats from suppliers.
How can the government get rid of them? The FDA said it has made a preliminary determination that trans fats no longer fall in the agency’s “generally recognized as safe” category, which covers thousands of additives that manufacturers can add to foods without FDA review. Once trans fats are off the list, anyone who wants to use them would have to petition the agency for a regulation allowing it, and that would likely not be approved.
The fats are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more solid, which is why they are often called partially hydrogenated oils. The FDA is not targeting small amounts of trans fats that occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, because they would be too difficult to remove and aren’t considered a major public health threat on their own.
Many companies have already phased out trans fats, prompted by new nutrition labels introduced by FDA in 2006 that list trans fats and by an increasing number of local laws, like one in New York City, that have banned them. In 2011, Wal-Mart pledged to remove all artificial trans fats from the foods the company sells by 2016. Recent school lunch guidelines prevent them from being served in cafeterias.
In a statement, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was his city’s 2008 ban that led to much of the progress. “Our prohibition on trans fats was one of many bold public health measures that faced fierce initial criticism, only to gain widespread acceptance and support,” he said.
Indeed, consumers are eating less of the fat. According to the FDA, trans fat intake among Americans declined from 4.6 grams per day in 2003 to around one gram in 2012.
A handful of other countries have banned them, including Switzerland and Denmark. Other countries have enacted strict labeling laws.
Dr. Leon Bruner, chief scientist at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said in a statement that his group estimates that food manufacturers have voluntarily lowered the amount of trans fats in food products by 73 percent.
The group, which represents the country’s largest food companies, did not speculate on a reasonable timeline or speak to how difficult a ban might be for some manufacturers. Bruner said in a statement that “consumers can be confident that their food is safe, and we look forward to working with the FDA to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers.”
Said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg: “While consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concern.”
Agency officials say they have been working on trans fat issues for around 15 years and have been collecting data to justify a possible phase-out since just after President Barack Obama came into office in 2009.
The advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest first petitioned FDA to ban trans fats nine years ago. The group’s director, Michael Jacobson, says the prohibition is “one of the most important lifesaving actions the FDA could take.”
“Six months or a year should be more than enough time, especially considering that companies have had a decade to figure out what to do,” Jacobson said.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
- Health
- Food & Cooking
- Food and Drug Administration
- trans fats
Lady Gaga Will Answer Fans’ Questions for SiriusXM [ BeritaTerkini ]
Intimate ‘Town Hall’ Q&A will air on November 8th
Lady Gaga will hold an intimate in-studio Q&A with a small group of fans on November 8th that will air as part of SiriusXM’s “Town Hall” series. The show will take place at 9 p.m. EST on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 station and will be moderated by The Morning Mash Up hosts, Nicole Ryan, Stanley T, Rich Davis and Ryan Sampson. A schedule of rebroadcast times will be available on SiriusXM’s website.
Discover the 10 Weirdest Influences in Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause’ Video
During the “Town Hall” fans will be able to ask Gaga about her already impressive career and her third LP, ARTPOP, which is out November 11th (and already streaming it in its entirety on iTunes Radio). Previous “Town Hall” participants include Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Taylor Swift, the surviving members of Nirvana, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys and Ringo Starr. Also, Eminem participated in one earlier this week.
Gaga’s “Town Hall,” though looks to be one of the tamer endeavors she’s undertaken in the lead-up to ARTPOP. In fact, just yesterday the pop star announced she would be shot into space for a special performance in 2015 as part of the Zero-G Music Tech Festival at New Mexico’s Spaceport America. Gaga – who just split with her longtime manager, Troy Carter – is also set to do double duty as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 16th, and she’s got a holiday special with the Muppets set to air on Thanksgiving night.
Introducing $1, 800 Limitless Resort Credit at Hard Rock Hotels in Mexico and Dominican Republic! [ BeritaTerkini ]
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Kevin Ware Plays First Game Since Injury [ BeritaTerkini ]
Kevin Ware, the college basketball star whose leg snapped during March Madness seven months ago, last night played his first game since the injury.
The junior athlete’s gruesome injury was expected to be a career-ender. When he walked onto the court in Louisville, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He then went on to score a 3-point field goal.
“Basketball-wise I feel like myself,” Ware told The Associated Press. “My speed and everything, jumping-wise, feels back to normal. I feel fine.”
Read about the 15-second video of Ware dunking six months after his injury.
On March 31, Ware jumped to toss the ball into the net in a game against Duke University, but as he landed on the wood floor, his right leg gave out beneath him, bending unnaturally and sending him crashing to the ground.
The 6-foot-2 guard had a compound fracture, and his bone had broken through the skin of his lower leg. Because it was an open injury, doctors said at the time that it would be more vulnerable to infection and slower to heal than a closed injury.
Read about what may have led to Ware’s injury before the game.
Doctors reset the bone and inserted a rod into Ware’s leg to stabilize the injury as it healed in a two-hour surgery. They also closed the puncture wound caused by the bone ripping through the skin in his lower leg.
A teammate’s 15-second Instagram video posted a month ago showed Ware dunking the ball with no trace of a limp.
//Q&A on polonium: Swiss say Arafat was poisoned [ BeritaTerkini ]
LONDON (AP) — The deadly radioactive element polonium first hit the headlines when it was used to kill KGB agent-turned-Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
Scientists at Switzerland’s Institute of Radiation Physics said Thursday they’ve found evidence that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was deliberately poisoned with polonium though they don’t know if it ultimately killed him.
Arafat died under mysterious circumstances at a French military hospital in 2004 but the Swiss say the amounts of polonium and its byproducts, including lead, that they found in his bones and grave soil could not have been accidental.
Other scientists said the Swiss results were suggestive of poisoning but not definite proof. The Swiss have countered that it might be impossible to get definitive proof since the tests were conducted years after Arafat’s death.
Here are some facts about polonium.
WHAT IS POLONIUM?
Polonium-210 is one of the world’s rarest elements, discovered in 1898 by scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and named in honor of her country of origin, Poland. It occurs naturally in very low concentrations in the Earth’s crust and also is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. In small amounts, it has legitimate industrial uses, mainly in devices to eliminate static electricity. Polonium is not naturally found in the human body.
HOW DANGEROUS IS IT?
Very. If ingested, it is lethal in extremely small doses. A minuscule amount of the silver powder is sufficient to kill. British radiation experts say once polonium-210 enters the bloodstream, its deadly effects are nearly impossible to stop.
WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
Polonium can be a byproduct of the chemical processing of uranium, but usually it’s made artificially in a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator. Dozens of countries including Russia, Israel and the U.S. have the nuclear capability to produce polonium. Derek Hill, a radiation expert at University College London, said if there was enough polonium left in the Arafat samples, it might be possible to trace where the element came from — providing more clues about whether Arafat was poisoned.
IS IT UNUSUAL TO FIND POLONIUM IN PEOPLE?
Yes. Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said there is no natural amount of polonium you would expect to find in someone — unless they worked in atomic energy plants or dealt with radioactive isotopes. He said it was difficult to explain why Arafat’s body had any traces of it.
HOW CAN IT POISON PEOPLE?
People can be poisoned if they eat or drink food contaminated with polonium, breathe air contaminated with it or get it in an open wound. Litvinenko apparently drank tea laced with polonium during a meeting at a London hotel.
CAN SCIENTISTS PROVE THAT ARAFAT WAS POISONED?
Absolute proof is elusive. There have been so few cases of known polonium poisoning that scientists don’t know very much about its exact symptoms. Swiss scientists say Arafat had symptoms commonly linked to radiation poisoning, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and liver and kidney failure — but not two other classic symptoms, hair loss and a weaker immune system. The Swiss scientists also noted their tests faced several limitations. They had to perform their analyses on very small specimens — such as a single hair shaft or traces of blood and urine. Those tests were also conducted eight years after Arafat’s death, so there could have been problems with chemical degradation.
WHO HAS DIED FROM IT?
In addition to Litvinenko’s presumed death from polonium poisoning, some speculate that the Curies’ daughter Irene, who died of leukemia, may have developed the disease after accidentally being exposed to polonium in the laboratory. Israeli author Michal Karpin has claimed the cancer deaths of several Israeli scientists were the result of a polonium leak at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1957. Israeli officials have never acknowledged a connection.
- Science
- Yasser Arafat
- Alexander Litvinenko
New Roche leukemia drug shows clear advantage over Rituxan: study [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Bill Berkrot
(Reuters) – Roche’s newly approved leukemia drug Gazyva helped patients live nearly a year longer without the disease worsening than the drugmaker’s top-selling Rituxan in a head-to-head trial that should help fend off competition from cheaper versions of the older medicine.
Gazyva, previously known as GA101, was approved in the United States last week as an initial treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, one of the most common forms of blood cancer. It is awaiting approval decisions in Europe and other markets.
Roche, in the trial, aimed to demonstrate the clear superiority of the new drug over Rituxan in order to protect and build on its $ 7 billion a year blood cancer franchise before Rituxan begins to face competition from cheaper versions known as biosimilars.
Rituxan’s European patent protection expires late this year. It is not clear when the first biosimilar will arrive on the market.
Rituxan’s U.S. patent does not expire until 2018, giving Roche additional time to switch patients over to Gazyva in the most lucrative market. As with Rituxan, Roche will share a portion of Gazyva profits with Biogen Idec after Biogen exercised its option on the new drug.
In the 663-patient study, patients who received Gazyva plus the chemotherapy drug chlorambucil on average went 26.7 months without their disease worsening, a measure known as progression free survival, or PFS. That compared with 15.2 months for previously untreated patients who took Rituxan and chlorambucil, according to data announced by the Swiss company on Thursday.
The difference translates into a 61 percent reduction in the risk of the disease worsening.
Three times as many patients who received Gazyva – 21 percent versus 7 percent for Rituxan – had a complete response, meaning no sign of a cancerous tumor after completing treatment.
By another less frequently used measure that tracks cancer cells in the blood following treatment, Gazyva was far superior. By that metric, 29.4 percent of Gazyva patients had no detectable disease in the blood, compared with just 2.5 percent of Rituxan patients.
Gazyva, known chemically as obinutuzumab, is an engineered antibody designed to better enable the immune system to attack and kill B cells, from which many blood cancers, such as CLL and lymphomas, originate. The drug, which recognizes B cells on the surface of tumors, was designed to be more potent in attacking them than Rituxan.
Gazyva plus chemotherapy had previously been tested against chemotherapy alone, demonstrating statistically significant PFS and response superiority. Roche said patients who took Gazyva in that arm of the study lived longer, but it did yet have median overall survival data.
No new safety problems turned up for either Gazyva or Rituxan, Roche said. There was a far higher number of Gazyva patients who suffered adverse infusion-related reactions, such as hives, itching or shortness of breath: 20 percent versus 4 percent for the Rituxan group.
But researchers found no increase in serious infections associated with Gazyva, with infections seen in 7 percent of patients in each group.
It is estimated that more than 15,000 Americans will be diagnosed and nearly 5,000 will die from chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2013, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Detailed data from the study, dubbed CLL11, will be presented next month at an American Society of Hematology meeting in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by John Wallace)
- Health
- Pharmaceuticals & Drug Trials
- Rituxan
New Roche leukemia drug shows clear advantage over Rituxan: study [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Bill Berkrot
(Reuters) – Roche’s newly approved leukemia drug Gazyva helped patients live nearly a year longer without the disease worsening than the drugmaker’s top-selling Rituxan in a head-to-head trial that should help fend off competition from cheaper versions of the older medicine.
Gazyva, previously known as GA101, was approved in the United States last week as an initial treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, one of the most common forms of blood cancer. It is awaiting approval decisions in Europe and other markets.
Roche, in the trial, aimed to demonstrate the clear superiority of the new drug over Rituxan in order to protect and build on its $ 7 billion a year blood cancer franchise before Rituxan begins to face competition from cheaper versions known as biosimilars.
Rituxan’s European patent protection expires late this year. It is not clear when the first biosimilar will arrive on the market.
Rituxan’s U.S. patent does not expire until 2018, giving Roche additional time to switch patients over to Gazyva in the most lucrative market. As with Rituxan, Roche will share a portion of Gazyva profits with Biogen Idec after Biogen exercised its option on the new drug.
In the 663-patient study, patients who received Gazyva plus the chemotherapy drug chlorambucil on average went 26.7 months without their disease worsening, a measure known as progression free survival, or PFS. That compared with 15.2 months for previously untreated patients who took Rituxan and chlorambucil, according to data announced by the Swiss company on Thursday.
The difference translates into a 61 percent reduction in the risk of the disease worsening.
Three times as many patients who received Gazyva – 21 percent versus 7 percent for Rituxan – had a complete response, meaning no sign of a cancerous tumor after completing treatment.
By another less frequently used measure that tracks cancer cells in the blood following treatment, Gazyva was far superior. By that metric, 29.4 percent of Gazyva patients had no detectable disease in the blood, compared with just 2.5 percent of Rituxan patients.
Gazyva, known chemically as obinutuzumab, is an engineered antibody designed to better enable the immune system to attack and kill B cells, from which many blood cancers, such as CLL and lymphomas, originate. The drug, which recognizes B cells on the surface of tumors, was designed to be more potent in attacking them than Rituxan.
Gazyva plus chemotherapy had previously been tested against chemotherapy alone, demonstrating statistically significant PFS and response superiority. Roche said patients who took Gazyva in that arm of the study lived longer, but it did yet have median overall survival data.
No new safety problems turned up for either Gazyva or Rituxan, Roche said. There was a far higher number of Gazyva patients who suffered adverse infusion-related reactions, such as hives, itching or shortness of breath: 20 percent versus 4 percent for the Rituxan group.
But researchers found no increase in serious infections associated with Gazyva, with infections seen in 7 percent of patients in each group.
It is estimated that more than 15,000 Americans will be diagnosed and nearly 5,000 will die from chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2013, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Detailed data from the study, dubbed CLL11, will be presented next month at an American Society of Hematology meeting in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by John Wallace)
- Health
- Pharmaceuticals & Drug Trials
- Rituxan
Six phones under £70 [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Britta O’Boyle | Pocket-lint –
Flagship phones these days cost the best part of £500, but they aren’t the only phones available.
Asda has just announced the Alcatel 1010 for £5, so skip lunch for the day and you can afford yourself an emergency phone.
Whether you have a reduced budget, just want a spare phone to keep in the drawer, or want to introduce technology to your grandparents, here are six SIM-free phones under £70.
Alcatel 1010 – £5
The Alcatel 1010 comes with a 400mAh battery, which promises 2 hours of talk time and up to 333 hours of standby time.
It’s lightweight so won’t drag down your jeans hitting the scales at 59g and comes with a 1.45-inch LCD display sporting a 128 x 128 resolution with 121ppi.
Running on a single core processor with 4MB RAM under the hood, the Alcatel 1010 has a music player and built-in radio so you won’t miss out on the latest news and tunes.
Samsung E1200 – £19.95
Samsung’s E1200 comes with a 800MHz battery giving you up to 720 hours on standby and up to 7 hours talk time.
It runs on a single core processor and has a 1.52-inch display with a 128 x 128 resolution giving you a pixel density of 119ppi, making the Alcatel’s image slightly sharper.
You’ll get Samsung feature software and it has a SOS message feature lets you send a message to pre-programmed contacts at the touch of a button if you are in trouble.
Samsung E2121B – £29.95
The Samsung E2121B takes it up a notch with a 1000MHz battery promising up to 10 hours talk time so you can chat for longer.
It weighs 83g and comes with a 1.52-inch display with the same resolution as the E1200, but you’ll also get a music player and built-in radio with this handset.
In addition, the E2121B comes with a built-in camera and video recorder for taking snaps or making mini movies, which you can then share via Bluetooth or MMS.
Nokia 206 – £49.95
Nokia’s 206 can manage 680 hours on standby and up to 20 hours talk time with its 1100mAh battery so if you are a chatterbox this isn’t a bad option.
It comes with a larger display than the others, sporting 2.4-inches and a 240 x 320 resolution with 167ppi, plus it has a 1.3-megapixel camera and 64MB of storage for all your snaps.
The 206 has a microSD slot for expanding the memory up to 32GB if you get snapper happy and it has a Slam feature for simple sharing of photos and other content.
The Brick – £49.95
The Brick from Carphone Warehouse has a 1000mAh battery and will give you slightly less talk time than the Nokia 206 at 14 hours.
It comes with a 1.8-inch LCD screen featuring a 128 x 160 resolution, no camera, but you do get a microSD slot for up to 32GB memory expansion.
The Brick is great if you have a grandparent who wants a mobile but one that resembles their time and you’ll even get Bluetooth, a radio and a music player.
JCB Toughphone Sitemaster – £69.95
If you have a tendancy to drop your phone, this one is a great option as a spare. The JCB Toughphone Sitemaster will give you up to 4 hours 30 minutes talk time or up to 450 hours standby with its battery.
It has a 2-inch display that comes with a 128 x 160 resolution providing a pixel density of 116ppi, and it weighs 130.3g.
You won’t be able to take snaps with this phone but it does have a radio and music player, plus it is drop tested up to 2 metres and can withstand 1 tonne of pressure so it’s pretty sturdy.
All these phones have a reasonable price and whether it is for a spare phone or an every day phone, they each offer some reasonable features considering.
© copyright Pocket-lint 2013
Agenus genital herpes vaccine succeeds in mid-stage trial [ BeritaTerkini ]
(Reuters) – Agenus Inc said a mid-stage trial of its experimental genital herpes vaccine reduced the rate at which patients’ were shedding the virus.
The 15 percent reduction in viral shedding in patients receiving the vaccine compared to those on a placebo, who showed no reduction.
The mid-stage trial had 80 patients with a history of 1-9 herpes recurrences within the prior 12 months. Of them, 70 received the vaccine, HerpV, and 10 received placebo.
(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
- Pharmaceuticals & Drug Trials
- Health
The postcode is dead: What3words mapping service locates anywhere on Earth using just three-words [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Luke Edwards | Pocket-lint –
A new mapping service, called w3w, could spell the end of the postcode while being the perfect partner for voice-activated search.
The unique three-word codes are accurate to two metres and are a result of What3Words dividing the world into 57 trillion three-metre squared boxes and giving each one a code using three words from the English dictionary.
For example, the code “limit.broom.flip” takes you to a precise spot in the centre of London’s Regents Park. The Statue of Liberty is located at “planet.inches.most”.
The great thing about w3w is that it will work with Google Maps. You can even move the w3w pin around in the map to see what a certain area is called. Or just search the w3w site for landmarks or addresses to get the area’s code. Ideal for texting a mate on where to meet.
What3words is available as an app for iOS and Android now. This is great for off-road locations or new developments that don’t yet have a postcode.
“With GPS and smartphones, we have at our fingertips the ability to pinpoint precise locations,” said what3words CEO Chris Sheldrick. “However, until what3words we haven’t had simple, memorable universal system to easily describe locations with any degree of precision. We’ve devised a way to describe exact locations – anywhere in the world – in a simple and memorable way.”
So how does it make money? If users want a more accurate location, to one metre, the company is selling OneWord codes. For example, buyers could rename the 3m x 3m square on which their front door is located as *thejonesresidence. Or businesses could name their head quarters easily. Is this the death of the postcode? It certainly looks that way.
© copyright Pocket-lint 2013
What we can learn from teaching English abroad [ BeritaTerkini ]
Ellie Colegate spent five years studying French at school in Kent, but opted not to continue beyond Year 9. “Learning a new language was never something my teachers made appealing or entertaining. My experience was purely an academic one. My French teacher just made us copy and complete exercises from books. And this is a top set French class.”
Colegate, 15, has taken some of her GCSEs early and is already looking ahead to a bright future at university, but it’s clear that the British approach to language education has failed to engage her. “During lessons, my teacher spent little time speaking the language herself and she would only ever get a handful of the best students to speak in class.”
After three years or more studying a foreign language at secondary school, the majority of British school leavers are unable to read, write, speak or understand more than a few phrases, pre-learnt and repeated until they can be said on command, parrot-fashion.
At the same time, the industry around Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is exploding with activity and seeing increasing success across the globe. TEFL teachers teach English abroad to people whose first language is not English. There are TEFL courses – sometimes also referred to as TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language) – across the globe, offered by a number of accredited course providers. The British Council estimates there are 1.55 billion English learners around the world, and at least 10.2 million English teachers. There are more than 100,000 native English speakers teaching in China alone.
How is it that the TEFL industry is booming while the British language learning system is in a state of crisis?
Deena Boraie is president of the TESOL International Association and dean of continuing education at the American University in Cairo, and she believes that methodology is what makes the sector different – and successful. “The field of teaching English to speakers of other languages really is a unique discipline with its own pedagogy [and] it combines a number of academic areas,” Boraie explains.
Italian student Caterina di Mascio, 19, has learned most of her English through TEFL-based techniques. “Learning English with a native teacher isn’t like formal education,” she says. “It’s fun and interesting, and your teacher becomes your friend.” The characteristic TEFL emphasis on spoken language quickly breaks down inhibitions and forces each student to pay close attention throughout the lesson. This style of learning and teaching could have made all the difference to Colegate’s perception of languages.
Benny Lewis, a travel blogger who teaches English, has created an entire brand from examining different ways to master languages with his website Fluent in 3 Months. He believes the TEFL approach is successful because it emphasises alternative elements of language learning.
“TEFL teachers are forced to step outside of a failed academic system that never helped them speak a language at school, and do things completely differently,” he explains. “Learning a language can indeed be fun and not all about grammar, vocabulary, mistakes and feeling stupid.”
The secret to TEFL methodology is simple: teachers create natural situations for students to interact in. Every student speaks throughout the lesson, and physical movement is exploited to avoid boredom and fatigue. The experience of a TEFL student is completely different to that of a British language student. Traditional grammar tables and confusing linguistic terminology are often abandoned, but that doesn’t mean it gets ignored. “Grammar is explained by use of examples in such a way that it doesn’t feel like grammar,” says Lewis. “It can and likely must be taught, but in a communicative context.”
Speaking becomes easier if the physical setup of a classroom allows direct communication between teacher and student, and interaction between students. TEFL teachers aim for a democratic atmosphere by organising desks in a horseshoe shape or “cafe-style”, rather than arranging a classroom in monotonous rows. Sometimes teaching doesn’t happen in a classroom at all. Wherever it’s happening, TEFL targets an inclusive, friendly and open working space.
But the is – to some extent – dependent on delivery by a native speaker. “It’s easier and less exposing for non-native speakers teaching a language to hide behind a text book or grammar book than it is to engage in activities a TEFL teacher would engage in,” says Johnny Harben, who has taught English as a foreign language in the UK and abroad for the past five years. “Unless somebody is absolutely fluent, there’s always the temptation to speak in a common language with students,” Harben adds. “The TEFL methodologies are absolutely for the native English speaker.”
Carol Syder, director at The English Experience School of English in Norwich, and agrees that immersion with a native speaker is an integral part of the process. “We only employ English mother tongue speakers at both our school in Norwich and on the camps we run abroad every year. Why? Because this is the best way to ensure that the students gain confidence and it gives them the best opportunity to improve their language skills in a short space of time.”
They key component to TEFL’s triumph seems to be in the immersion concept. This is echoed by students and teachers, and was the conclusion of a 2008 report on the SCILT. Early Primary Partial Immersion (EPPI) programme that took place in Aberdeen. The EPPI scheme was characterised by teaching children in two languages from their first year of primary, and it marked the first time the model had been applied in a UK school.
Pupils who took part consistently exceeded national reading targets for their age and achieved better academic results than their peers who did not participate in the scheme. Most importantly, students who took part were openly enthusiastic about languages and wanted to continue studying French. Despite its success, the scheme lost funding after its three-year inaugural run. Yet these are the programmes with the potential to signal real change in British language education.
Hannah Garrard taught in South Korea for two years. She believes communication and temperament are pivotal. “Trying to communicate can be an embarrassing experience for both student and teacher [in TEFL], so you really have to bring your personality to each lesson,” she says. “I got to know my students and established what they wanted from their learning. I asked what they wanted to know about in terms of subject, and built the technical language skills from there.”
Immersion and communication are the buzzwords and concepts that could drive British language education forward. “Immersion pushes students to find lateral solutions to problems,” Garrard says. “They have to think ‘how am I going to make myself understood?’ so communication and problem-solving are taken – quite naturally – to the next level.”
Global food prices rise 1.3 percent in October: FAO [ BeritaTerkini ]
ROME (Reuters) – Global food prices rose in October after five months of falls, lifted by a surge in sugar prices and rising cereals and edible oils prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 205.8 points in October, up 1.3 percent from September.
FAO also said it had raised its forecast for world cereal output in 2013/14 to 2.498 billion tonnes (1.1023 ton), about 10 million tonnes higher than its estimate in October.
(Reporting By Catherine Hornby)
- Consumer Discretionary
- Commodity Markets
- FAO
Swiss forensic experts to discuss findings on Arafat case on Thursday [ BeritaTerkini ]
GENEVA (Reuters) – Swiss scientists who conducted tests on the remains of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose widow Suha says he was poisoned by radioactive plutonium, will give a news conference on Thursday on their findings.
Professors Patrice Mangin, director of Lausanne University Hospital’s forensics center, and Francois Bochud, director of its Institute of Radiation Physics, will “answer questions related to their report handed over on Tuesday to representatives of Madame Suha Arafat and the Palestinian Authority”, a statement said.
A team of experts, including from Lausanne University Hospital’s Institute of Radiation Physics, opened Arafat’s grave in the West Bank city of Ramallah last November, and took samples from his body to seek evidence of alleged poisoning.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Toby Chopra)
- Yasser Arafat
- Suha Arafat
Lenovo profit leaps as it extends shift to smartphones, servers [ BeritaTerkini ]
By Paul Carsten | Reuters –
By Paul Carsten
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Lenovo Group Ltd, the world’s biggest personal computer maker, said net profit jumped over a third to a quarterly record as it extended its cruise into smartphones and data servers to offset a global decline in PC sales.
Reporting net profit rose a better-than-expected 36 percent in July-September, Lenovo said on Thursday it will continue to chase acquisitions while mining growth in the market for cloud computing and back-end information storage that’s lured companies from rival IBM to Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc.
The ambitious company was among a range of suitors to approach BlackBerry Ltd before the troubled device maker took itself off the market, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Lenovo, with a 17.3 percent share of worldwide PC shipments according to research firm IDC, reported net profit of $ 219.7 million for its fiscal second quarter, its highest for any quarter, extending its streak of more than three years of double-digit quarterly profit growth.
The profit compared with $ 162 million a year earlier, and with a $ 199.12 million consensus forecast on Thomson Reuters Starmine SmartEstimate.
Lenovo has been aggressively pushing into smartphones and servers as it seeks alternative channels of income to the shrinking PC market, which contracted 7.6 percent in the quarter ended September, according to data from research firm IDC.
“Given its strong financial position, will continue to actively look for inorganic growth opportunities that would supplement its organic growth strategy and accelerate future expansion,” Lenovo said in its earnings statement.
The company also said it remains confident the Chinese economy is recovering.
Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s chief executive, hasn’t shied away from expressing his eagerness to use a corporate server business as a way to bundle more PCs into packages it sells to customers.
That would make low profit margin business like selling computers more lucrative, while competitors like Acer Incorporated and Asustek Computer Inc bear the brunt of blows from the downturn in the PC market.
The company has been successfully navigating a course away from PC manufacturing for years. Revenue from mobile phone sales more than doubled in the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2014 compared with the same period in the previous year.
Mobile phone sales accounted for 14 percent of total revenue of $ 18.6 billion in the first half of the fiscal year ended September. For the year ending March 2010, that share of revenue was just 0.5 percent.
Lenovo was the fourth-largest smartphone vendor worldwide with a 4.7 percent share of a market that shipped over a quarter of a billion smartphones in the quarter ended September, according to IDC data.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
