10 Tips for Saying Goodbye to Your College-Bound Child

For many parents, saying goodbye to a daughter or son headed off to college is one of lifes most wrenching moments. As a parent, you want to leave your child on an upbeat note, and you may try to squelch any worry or sadness. Dont fight it—its a natural response. After all, a child whos been a primary focus of your life is about to strike out on their own, and your role will be reduced. There are lots of ways to minimize the tears and roll with the changes, making the parting process easier for college students and their parents. The Year Before Departure Your childs senior year is pressure-filled with worries about college applications and acceptances, concerns with maintaining grades and doing many things for the last time. Although your teen may mourn final events shared by the school community (last homecoming dance, football game, school play, musical concert, prom), its harder to come to terms with personal losses that cant be publicly shared. Instead of being present with the sadness, many teens find it easier to express anger, and those outbursts may be directed at family members. They may subconsciously think its easier to part from a stupid, whining younger sister or a controlling, uncaring parent than close family members whom they love and are afraid to leave; thus, they may act in ways that create a distance. Ignore the nasty outbursts and the labels. This is not your teen hating on you—its your teen subconsciously trying to make it easier to disengage from the family. Many families report that more arguments break out in the final months before college than ever before. Your teen may label you or other family members, but thats not a judgment on you as a parent. Its stereotyping just like the labels ugly stepsister or evil stepmother are caricatures and stereotypes. Its easier to imagine a bright future at college when youre leaving behind a stereotypical clinging mother, overbearing father, or younger sibling whos always butting in.Dont take it personally. You arent doing anything wrong—this is just a normal part of growing up. Teens who are trying to find independence need to differentiate themselves from parents and family and express their own strong opinions and ideas of how things should be done. Dont conclude that your child has always hated you and that their real n ature is coming out now that theyre leaving for college. Its just part of the separation process and is a temporary stage of development. Dont take it to heart; its not your child talking—its the fear of leaving home and entering the adult world thats lashing out at you.Keep calm and carry on. You may be shopping for bedsheets or towels and a fight erupts over the smallest of things. Take a deep breath, keep calm, and carry on with what youre doing. Resist the urge to give up and do it another day. The more you can stick with your routines and all your planned college preparation, the more youll minimize conflict and stress. It wont be easier to shop or get through your childs college to-do list if you postpone it for a better day because that day may not come unless you keep it together and deal with these moments calmly. The  School Drop-Off Move-in day is always chaotic and disorganized. You may have been assigned a specific move-in time or arrive as one of the hundreds of cars queued up to drop off boxes and suitcases. Whatever the situation, let your child take the lead. One of the worst things parents can do that can earn them the helicopter label is to micromanage every aspect of move-in day and make their daughter or son seem childish and helpless, especially in front of the RA or dorm mates they will be living with. Let your student sign in, pick up the dorm key or key card, and find out about the availability of equipment such as hand trucks or moving carts. Although you might want to do things differently, its your incoming freshmans new life and new dorm room, not yours. There are no prizes for the person who moves in first, so dont feel as if you have to rush. Likewise, there is no right or wrong. Remember whose college life this is. One emotion that parents feel (but are reluctant to acknowledge) is regret or jealousy. All of us have some happy memories of college, and if we could turn the clock back, most of us would be eager to relive a day or two of our college experiences. Dont beat yourself up over this; envy is something many parents feel. Youre not the only one, and this doesnt make you a bad parent. But dont let that jealousy influence your students first day at college. Let them find their own experiences in their own time.Dont pass judgment. Maybe their  new roommate looks like a disaster and the teen down the hall seems like a better fit. No matter what your opinions are, keep them to yourself, and dont share your comments with your child. Your childs living independently means making their own judgments and assessing people and situations by themselves. If you walk into your childrens college life and already start making these assessments, youve disenfranchised them without even realizing it and are not giving them the chance or the credit to make up their own mind about things. Be pleasant, positive, and neutral about all that happens.Let your student do the talking. There will be a lot of new people to meet and names to remember. And it is your childs job to keep it all straight, not yours. If youre the parent of a socially awkward or shy student, you may find it hard not to jump in and take over the situation, make introductions all around, and negotiate the top or bottom bunk or the better dresser and desk for your offspring. Keep reminding yourself that its not your college experience or your decision to make—its your childs. Any choice that they make is the right one because they made it, and not anyone else.Prepare for not being completely prepared. No matter how far in advance you plan or how thorough you are in your list-making, shopping, and packing, youll either forget something or find that certain things dont work in y our childs new living arrangements or new life. Dont overbook your drop-off day with no extra time to run to the nearest drugstore, supermarket, or discount store, because you will want to pick up those essentials you somehow overlooked. Its a lot easier for you to make that quick trip by car instead of leaving your child with extra cash and expecting them to walk or take a bus to unfamiliar locations. Plan an extra two hours of unscheduled time so you can take care of these things.Be like Goldilocks porridge: just right. Take a cue from the story The Three Little Bears. When the time comes to say goodbye and leave your child at school, dont be too warm (weepy and wailing and clutching on for dear life) and dont be too cold (distant and perfunctory in your hug goodbye and too matter-of-fact in your emotions). Strive to be just right. Its OK to shed some tears and give your child a good, solid, Ill really miss you bear hug and say how much you love and will miss them. Kids expect tha t and feel hurt if you dont show sufficient emotion. This is not the time to put on the brave, stoic face. Show the honest emotions of a parent who loves a child and finds it hard to pull away. After all, thats exactly what youre feeling, and honesty is the best policy. Post Drop-Off Days and Weeks Youve said goodbye. Now mean it. It may be hard to believe, but some parents text their children the minute they get in the car and drive away. Put the phone down and give them their space. Dont call every day to make sure everythings OK. If possible, let your child be the one to touch base. Many parents agree on a predetermined day and time to talk to their child by phone or Skype, typically once a week. By respecting boundaries and their need to separate, you will help your child establish an independent life and develop a new support network of others they can trust.Dont hover, but be there. Many parents use social media to keep track of their kids at college and ask their children to friend them so they can maintain contact. Watch and look, but dont post or comment. Let them have their own space. And if your child tells you about incidents at college that are upsetting, resist the urge to get involved unless they ask you to intervene. Part of growing up involves facing difficult or challenging moments and finding a way through those hard times. Signs of maturity include flexibility, adaptability,  and resilience, and college is the ideal time to work on these skills. But if situations escalate to the point at which they threaten your childs physical or mental health—or put them in jeopardy—step in and offer aid. But ask for permission first. You want to support your child as much as possible but not to the extent that you dismantle the initial foundation of self-sufficiency. Finding the right balance will take time, but eventually, youll both get there.

Culture and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Essay

In this subsection, different approaches to teaching culture within the foreign language teaching practice and different views of the term â€Å"culture† are going to be presented as a mean to explore the close relationship between culture and language and determine what is understood as culture in this study. As it was mentioned above, there are different definitions of culture. These views have relied on the different language acquisition theories and teaching approaches that have emerged in the history of foreign language teaching. (Hinkel, 1999) Until the mid-twentieth century, culture was seen as the transmission of factual information about the target language, which consisted of statistical information about history, literature,†¦show more content†¦Therefore this attempt to integrate culture into language teaching failed due to their lack of relevance for the language teaching approaches of that time. (Stern, 1983; Corbett, 2003) During the 70s and 80s, research on anthropology and sociolinguistics caused a greater emphasis more on the relationship between culture and language. Hinkel (1999) considers the works done by Hymes (1964), Gumperz (1972) and Kaplan (1966) a great contribution to this relationship as they privileged the communication within the cultural context. He cites Hymes (1972) mainly to state that the nature of the situations when communicative acts occur differs from one culture to another. This indicates that culture is interconnected with the ability to communicate appropriately in different social situations. This approach to culture teaching, therefore, implied to train students on how to employ appropriately the social rules of the target language such as the use of behavioral conventions, the use of silence, turn taking and politeness among others. (Byram Morgan, 1994). This approach was criticized because it seems to be based on native proficiency as a standard model for foreign lang uage students. In other words, foreign students need to leave aside their own culture and language in order to be considered proficient speakers of the target language. This means that this approach does not consider the culturalShow MoreRelatedEssay on Theoretical and Researched Based Frameworks of Culture1288 Words   |  6 Pagesbackgrounds by using telle-collaborative learning, it is necessary to address some core constructs about intercultural communication as follows culture, Intercultural communicative competence , community of practices, and tele-collaboration. They are going to be examined through two key sources; theoretical works and research –based works. 2.1. Culture and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. In this section, different views of the term â€Å"culture† are going to be presented in order to determineRead MoreThe Role Of Culture Of Teaching Foreign Languages1518 Words   |  7 Pages The role of culture in teaching foreign languages There are a lot of cultures in the World. All of them have their own values. It is very interesting to note that the culture we belong to affects how we think, interact, communicate and transmit knowledge from generation to generation. The aptitude to ask and answer questions based on our own culture enables the process of making connections across cultures. It is worth pointing out that English teachersRead MoreBilingual Language Education Policy And The English As A Foreign Language1174 Words   |  5 Pagesbetween current foreign language education policy and the English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching practices in addressing intercultural communication objectives in Vietnam. Although the current Vietnamese foreign language education policy advocates the intercultural communication aims, intercultural language teaching and learning has not yet been applied in foreign language classrooms. The findings from interviews, class observations and document an alysis show that foreign language teachers mainlyRead MoreLearning A Second Language Education Essay1737 Words   |  7 PagesWe live in a world surrounded by people of various cultures, countries, and ethnicities, who all speak different languages. As a young child, I attended a Spanish immersion program through my pre-school and elementary school. I was absorbed into a new culture much different from my own. I grew up learning words in Spanish before I knew them in English. I also developed unexpected friendships, spending much of my childhood in Spanish speaking households. As a college student, I look back on thisRead MoreEffective Instruction For English Learners1414 Words   |  6 Pagesfor teaching students English Language. They also review the most successful models for teaching non native speakers. The authors indicate that the most important approach to enhance and improve the outcomes for English learners is to reform the â€Å"entire† school, and use an ef fective approach such as the approach of Success for All(SFA). SFA approach has been used widely in many schools in the USA. Then, the authors indicate eight elements â€Å"of effective practices for English learners: language andRead MoreStudents Attitudes Towards The Teaching English Language Essay1647 Words   |  7 Pagesattitudes towards the teaching of English as FL alongside the home-culture, taking Islamic English vernacular as a case of study. To achieve the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was distributed to 1500 BA students in different universities all over different territories within Algeria. Basing on the results, students reveal positive attitudes towards the insertion of the Islamic English vernacular as a home-culture in EFL teaching. This may oppose the fore-known idea of teaching English through targetRead MoreContrastive Analysis1671 Words   |  7 Pageshistory of foreign language teaching is so complicated. The complexities are the outcome of the rise of the assumptions of so many theories, approaches, methods and hypotheses that dominated this field , especially beginning from1940s and up till now. Today there are innumerable assumptions for approaches and methods that relate to language learning and teaching. All of them claim to be the right approach for learning and teaching a language. In the midst of these situations, foreign language teachersRead Moreforeign language instruction should beg1476 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Topic: Foreign Language Instruction Should Begin in Kindergarten, Discuss. Submitted to: - Rob Horlin Submitted by: - Ranjit Singh Student ID - 13903 Class- EAP 2A Date -29-08-2014 Foreign language instruction should begin in kindergarten, discuss. Foreign language is a language native to other nation. Learning a foreign language is becoming essential nowadays and it can change the way of life. To communicate and trade with people from different nations there is a greatRead MoreThe Factors That Necessitate And Influence The Teaching Of Culture851 Words   |  4 Pagesinfluence the teaching of culture in EFL classrooms. Though the focus is on English language classes in China, I believe the core message can be applied to second language classes anywhere. The EFL community now acknowledges the importance of culture, however, it’s presence in the curriculum remains sparse for a number of reasons including â€Å"lack of time, uncertainty about which aspects of culture to teach, and the lack of practical techniques† (Mao, p. 144). Additionally, the majority of language proficiencyRead MoreLink Between Language And Culture1743 Words   |  7 Pagesis widely used in Mainland China as a standard teaching material of nat ional compulsory education. This book is prepared for Chinese teenage aged 13-15 who are the beginners of English study. In this report, I intend to evaluate Unit 1‘How do you study for a test?’ and Unit 12 ‘ You’re supposed to shake hands.’, using what I have learned as well as my own study experience. The aim of this report is to investigate the link between language and culture in the textbook from the point of view of cultural

Position Analysis in an Organisation

Question: Discuss about the Report for Position Analysis in an Organisation. Answer: Introduction For an employee to occupy an official position it is indispensable to have effective and suitable skills which would help him/her to address the needs and requirements of the position as well as fulfill the obligations set by the company. Different companies have different criteria which candidates have to fulfill in order to get a job and also fulfill them successfully. Occupying a position within the company means an employee is responsible to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the given position properly and has to make the company feel that he or she is worth the position in the company (DuBrin, 2014). Different roles have different requirements and hence it is important to understand the requirements of the job so that the employees could fulfill them successfully. The present study is an extremely important one since it will help to delve deep into the roles and responsibilities and their understandings effectively. The present study is being done in order to understand the roles and responsibilities of a particular official position and will also try to recommend key ideas which will help to develop the way the job role could be performed in a better way (DuBrin, 2011). Overall it could be said that the present study will be a reflection of the job role performed by me as a finance officer working for the Victoria University. The role of a finance officer is an extremely important one from the point of view of an organisation and hence it will be easier to address the objectives laid down by the present assignment. The Victoria University is a renowned university in Australia and it would be easier for me to effectively develop a strong platform to complete the present assignment. Overall it could be said that the present study would be completed effectively with the help of the above aspects. About the Role About the organisation Victoria University is one of the renowned dual sector tertiary institutions based out of Melbourne Australia. The university has been working for a long time now and celebrates a hundred years since its inception. The organisation Victoria University is one of the educational institutions in Australia which provides higher secondary education, technical education and further studies. It is important to mention that the organisation has been renowned for its effective faculty members and wonderful education system. The University also specialises in providing knowledge in streams like Business, Arts, Computer and IT, Engineering, health and biomedicine et cetera. The Victoria University is also known for its high emphasis on Sports and even the students of this university has represented the national team of Australia in different field of athletics. The University tries to provide the best possible educational service to the students so that when the students go out in the practical field they are able to implement their talent and potential effectively in whatever they do (Awad Alhashemi, 2012). The organisation focuses on a very simple but essential mission that is to educate each and every student right from the core and the organisation envisions providing educational services to all around the world. The company has focused on doing that as the company right now has a total strength of around 48000 students all across the world and also carries a substantial number of employees. The total number of employees that the university has right now is over 2000 who are working in different fields for the organisation. It is extremely important to mention that the organisation has a string structure since the organisation provides polytechnic and also offers vocational courses for the students (Velasco, 2012). The Victoria University student support department provides different course related support which helps the students effectively clear out confusions and complete the programs effectively. Since the company works all across the world in major countries like India, China, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, New Zealand with the help of partner institution and Australia itself. Its key stakeholders are the students, the different governments, the different suppliers, the staffs and the upper management. Since the organisation provides a wide range of studies and works mainly in Asia it faces a different competitors in the form of colleges and universities. Its competitors are much more oriented and focused but this organisation captures the market with its effective mission and vision statement to provide the best possible education to the students (DuBrin, 2014). About the Role In Victoria University I was appointed as the Finance Officer and undertook my duty in the recent past. My job role is extremely essential from the point of view of the organisation. As a finance officer my role in the company is too see some of the key financially related works which will have large impact on the overall profit of the company. From the broader point of view of the company I am working as an individual who will have to be careful with the key financial information as well as financial dealings which are extremely important for every organisation (Acemoglu Autor, 2011). My job role involves handling all the accounts which are payable which means dispatching payments for key stakeholders and making sure that the payments reach them at the right time so that their relationship with the organisation remain intact and grow with time passing by. On the other hand I am also responsible to make sure that the debtors and other receivables are received in the right time and a ccordingly balancing the books so that at the end of the month the financial reporting made by me is effective for the company to make further financial decisions. Hence overall it could be said that the main responsibility as a finance officer for me is to focus on developing an effective financial statements and reports by keeping proper records as well as keep a track of financial utilisation in order to contribute for the growth and development of the University (DuBrin, 2014). Conclusion and Recommendation The role of a finance officer is imperative for every organisation and hence it is extremely important to develop skills and potential in order to perform the duties of a finance officer effectively. There are number of key tasks which could be done in order to develop the potential and perform the duties effectively which are: Gaining the technological skills as technology is a key part of finance nowadays. Effective time management skills and multi tasking skills will have to be developed. Effective correspondence is important and hence development of communication is required. Developing leadership skills to oversee and handle financial teams (DuBrin, 2011). Overall it could be said that the present study has been effective enough in discussing the key aspects to work within an organisation and has also responded with recommendations to work on the shortcomings of an employee which has helped to cover the objectives effectively. References Acemoglu, D. and Autor, D., 2011. Skills, tasks and technologies: Implications for employment and earnings.Handbook of labor economics,4, pp.1043-1171. Awad, T.A. and Alhashemi, S.E., 2012. Assessing the effect of interpersonal communications on employees' commitment and satisfaction.International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management,5(2), pp.134-156. DuBrin, A.J., 2011.Human Relations for Career and Personal Success: Concepts, Applications, and Skills. Prentice Hall/Pearson. DuBrin, A.J., 2014.Human relations: Interpersonal job-oriented skills. Pearson Higher Ed. Velasco, M.S., 2012. More than just good grades: candidates perceptions about the skills and attributes employers seek in new graduates.Journal of Business Economics and Management,13(3), pp.499-517.