Review - A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners (Keith Folse)

Keith Folse's A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners is an aptly-named resource for teachers who seek to become more comfortable assessing the English-language skills of students for whom English is a second or other language. Every activity and test is presented in such a way that it can easily be implemented in the classroom; the theory presented is a supplement to, rather than a replacement of, practical instruction. Coombe, Folse, and Hubley emphasize the following criteria for developing effective assessments when working with ESOL students: usefulness, validity, reliability, practicality, washback, authenticity, transparency, and security.

A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners is divided into ten chapters, which are logically arranged and organized in a way that teachers will appreciate both for the quality of the content and the ease with which information can be accessed. Separate chapters are devoted to assessing students' skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English. Depending on what a teacher needs at any given time, he or she may find that only one or two of these chapters will serve the purpose at hand. Indeed, each chapter could stand alone as a useful resource for teachers who seek information on assessment of specific language skills, or the techniques described therein can be combined if that is what is called for. This contributes to the flexibility of A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners, which teachers can adapt for their own purposes to best suit the courses they are teaching and the students they seek to help.

Placement testing, including the commonly-used tests TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment), is covered in A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners, as are test-taking strategies for students preparing for such examinations. At the end of each chapter is a list of "Ten Things to Remember," which is very helpful for reiterating and summarizing key points. For teachers who are looking for information quickly, this is a handy tool to find answers to pressing questions, more detailed explanations of which can of course be located within the preceding chapter.

Using A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners, teachers can develop strategies for both creating and using effective evaluative tools. As promised by the title, it is written with a straightforward, no-nonsense style that includes insightful observations and useful tests and activities that can easily be used in the classroom.

Evidence For a Worldwide Flood

The Bible describes the creation of the sky this way, "And God said, "Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day."

According to the Bible, there was once a water vapor canopy above the 'vault' or sky that enveloped the globe creating a worldwide greenhouse effect. This would have produced a sub tropical climate from pole to pole. Rich vegetation would have covered the earth everywhere. This water vapor canopy would have filtered out harmful ultraviolet radiation, allowing men and animals to live much longer. This primitive environment was destroyed by the flood described in Genesis,

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.... And the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth... so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.... And the water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.... and the water receded steadily from the earth.... And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry."

What Caused the Flood?

What might have caused the flood? For Christians the obvious answer is the judgment of God against wicked mankind. But how did it take place? Given what we know from geology, geography, and climatology, we might construct the following scenario:

We must start by acknowledging that no present day phenomenon can account for the massive forces of nature that accompanied the flood. The world that exists today is drastically different from the one God created. For one thing, we have four seasons. The first time seasons are mentioned in the Bible is after the flood. After Noah and his family disembarked from the Ark, God said,

"As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease."

The four seasons were a new feature of the post-flood world. What could have caused the seasons? The seasons exist because the earth is tipped at an angle of 22.5 degrees on its axis. It is possible that the earth spun on an upright axis before the flood. Some cataclysmic event may have changed the axis in order to cause the breakup of the waters above the 'vault' or sky and the resulting deluge of rain. One such possible event was the monster asteroid that made the crater off the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Such a collision may have been powerful enough to tip the earth on its axis causing the breakup of the celestial waters and starting the cycle of seasons mentioned for the first time in Genesis 8:22.

The force of an asteroid would have triggered tremendous earthquakes for the first time in earth's history, causing the waters of the deep to burst forth as described in Genesis 7:11, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month-on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."

Onset of the Ice Age

Volcanoes would have begun spewing ash into the atmosphere, obscuring the sun, cooling the earth, and bringing torrential rains. Michael Oard, author of "Frozen in Time" says, "Interbedded within the sedimentary rocks is evidence of incredible volcanic activity that has no parallel today...It appears that at the end of the Flood the world was covered by huge volumes of volcanic ash and gas that had spewed into the atmosphere. The abundant ash and gas trapped in the stratosphere would act as an "anti-greenhouse. Instead of warming the earth, it would have reflected sunlight back into space and cooled it."

At the same time the land masses cooled with falling ambient temperatures, the warm waters that had been released from underground would have caused an increase in the temperature of the seas. The result would have been decades of extraordinary snowfalls as the warm air masses from the sea met the cold air over land in the higher latitudes. This began the formation of massive sheets of ice that covered North America, Europe and Northern Asia. Mr. Oard says that the amount of volcanic ash released was so great that it caused even summer temperatures to cool enough to sustain glaciation over a period of many years.

Where Did All The Water Go?

The reason water covered all the dry land during the forty days of rainfall and subsequent runoff was that drainage could not keep pace with the huge volumes of water produced by the collapse of the water vapor canopy and the release of the subterranean waters. As the book of Genesis says regarding what happened after the flood, "the water receded steadily from the earth." So even though water reached as high as the tops of the highest mountains, it is not as though the entire earth was a lake. There were still ocean basins adequate to accommodate the runoff from the flood.

So where did all the water go that covered the earth? Given the median depth of the Ocean at 15,000 feet and the median height of dry land at 2250 feet, just a moderate rise in the levels of the oceans would have created enough overflow to cover the entire landmass of earth. These waters would have been readily absorbed by the oceans once the deluge stopped, raising sea levels and covering large portions of what had been dry land before the flood.

Much of the water was locked in massive glaciers that covered the northern hemisphere as a result of the sudden onslaught of prolonged cold weather following the flood. Geologists tell us that the oceans were 120 meters (over 500 feet) lower during the ice age, exposing large portions of the continental shelves. Anthropologists agree, surmising that the North American continent was connected by a 1000 mile wide land bridge to Siberia over which primitive populations migrated. Today this land mass is buried beneath 100 to 165 feet of the Bering Strait. Given this land bridge was higher than sea level to begin with, the rise in sea level after the Ice Age would have been sufficient to accommodate all of the glacial runoff produced by warming temperatures. Many generations must have elapsed between the flood and the creation of the Bering Strait to give ancient peoples enough time to migrate all the way from Mt. Ararat in Turkey to Siberia and on to the North American Continent.

Fossil fuels are found in many parts of the world offshore along continental shelves. Since fossils are the ancient remains of plant and animal life, it is clear that the continental shelves were once exposed.

Non-Repeating Natural Phenomenon

Scientists seek to explain all natural phenomena in terms of familiar forces. They say the present is the key to the past. But the natural forces that caused the ice age are nowhere in evidence today. Such cooling could only be caused by natural forces on a scale we have never seen in historical times. And that makes sense because the flood was a unique outpouring of God's wrath that He promised never to repeat.

Understanding the Concept of Architecture Criticism Through Ebooks

The act of speaking or writing about any building after due analysis is popularly known as architecture criticism. Most commonly, buildings that are historically important, have revolutionary designs or are constructed at a famous public site are subject of architecture critique. Nowadays, lots of architecture criticism reference ebooks are available on the World Wide Web, which provide all the requisite information on the topic. These books scrutinize the role of ideologies in architectural criticism and help readers learn about the subject.

Architecture Walks: The Best Outings Near New York City; Stockholm: The Making Of A Metropolis; and Indigenous Modernities: Negotiating Architecture And Urbanism are popular ebooks that give reference on architecture criticism. Buyers can download these digitized books in PDF format from any reliable ebook store at the most affordable rates.

Among all these, Architecture Walks: The Best Outings Near New York City by Lucy D. Rosenfeld and Marina Harrison has gained traction among readers. The book takes readers on a journey to most aesthetic, appealing and captivating architectural treasures located in the vicinity of New York. Early colonial saltboxes, yet-to-be-finished modern structures on college campuses, 19th century follies, Gilded Age palaces, lighthouses, windmills and romantic ruins that are located within driving distance of NYC are discussed in this book.

Color, Space, and Style ebook written by Mimi Love is a complete handbook with all the important information for interior designer. It includes information that need to know on a daily basis. The world of interior designing is quite broad and Color, Space, and Style ebook gives the details requisite for planning and executing interior projects of all kinds. Divided into 6 sections, the book speaks about fundamentals, space, surface, environments, elements and resources involve in interior designing. Color, Space, and Style ebook also contains interviews of some of the prominent interior designers.

People interested in interior designing can also take reference from design, drafting, drawing & presentation available on Ebook Store. What Designers Know; Interior Designer's Portable Handbook 2/E: First-Step Rules of Thumb for Interior Architecture; and V-Ray: Photorealistic Visualization are some of the popular design, drafting, drawing & presentation ebooks on the subject.

What Designers Know by Bryan Lawson is quite popular among established as well as amateur interior designers. The book has answer to all the questions related with designing, such as the activities that designers must perform, what makes them take particular decisions and the knowledge they need for carrying out the job. The book is written in simple and lucid language so that students and beginners can understand it well. Moreover, it has all the success mantras needed important for students and aspiring interior designers.

Avail Important Information on Architecture and Construction Via Ebooks

Architecture is the art and science of designing a structure, a process that combines planning, designing and constructing a building. A well designed building is often seen as a symbol of culture and a work of art. People who want to know more about architecture can refer to numerous architecture ebooks available on the Internet. In order to gather more information people can also refer to buildings ebooks.

World Wide Web is flooded with several architecture ebooks, such as On Architecture; Ultimate Horse Barns; The Architect's Brain; and Greene & Greene Furniture. These ebooks have all the important information about architecture, including the concepts involved in architecture and when it started, among other such questions. On Architecture is an interesting book written on the topic by Ada Louise Huxtable. The author has captivated the readers from all over the world in through her well-reasoned beliefs about architecture. With her unmatched intelligence, the author has tried to discuss whether modern architecture is still alive. The book is considered one of the most informative architecture ebooks available on the Internet.

Another famous eBook on architecture is Ultimate Horse Barns by Randy Leffingwell. The book has presented eighteen masterpiece horse barns in very innovative and beautiful manner. All the structures featured in the book reflect the owners' love for horses. Author has selected barns that have exceptional qualities such as health and safety. Ultimate Horse Barns describes the architectural beauty of horse barns and talks about barns used for private purposes, successful breeding or for training purposes.

People can also find reference about buildings ebooks while searching for the information about ebooks on architecture. Walk London: Walks In And Around London; The Essential Titus Burckhardt; Architecture and Authority in Japan; and Innovations In Hospital Architecture are some of the popular buildings ebooks. Innovations In Hospital Architecture is an engrossing book written by Stephen Verderber on this subject. This reference book includes all important developments in the evolving field of sustainable hospital architecture. It describes how architects, nowadays, must provide hospitals with high quality care for patients. The book contains beautiful and extensively illustrated pictures, diagrams and floor plans.

Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast eBook by Paul Eric Johnson is a captivating book full of colourful and beautiful pictures of lighthouses from the past. People having interest in the history and protection of lighthouses can refer to this book. Lighthouses of the Mid-Atlantic Coast eBook tells the history of lighthouses across the world and gives information about their importance. The readers will get to know how lighthouse keepers perform all daily jobs to keep the ships passing through the area safe. The book also informs the important role played by lighthouses at the time of war.

Tips on Using Educational Aquariums In The Classroom

How an Aquarium Will Make Kids Smarter

First a teaching aquarium in the classroom energizes learning, it prods learners to get involved because the tank is not an inanimate object it is a living, breathing organism, full of fellow creatures who just by their very existence teach learners about life in an ecosystem covered by water. It is easy to engage a human being in caring about the welfare of their fellow creatures, their life cycles, what they eat, how they protect themselves and even how they pass away. All of this will engage learners in a real way that a computer or online game can only dream of. Once you have observed the "life under the sea", you are invested in its well-being and it's ultimate successful survival.

Math and The Aquarium

The educational aquarium is also good for teaching math skills. From the little

learners who are just learning how to count. to the older learners who are learning about algebra, geometry or physics, all can be accommodated and engaged by using an educational aquarium. Lessons to learn simple math can be devised to count the "creatures" in the tank, or to group them together into similar groups, or to add and subtract them from the tank, or to learn the percentages of the population of your tank, from what percentage of the total population consists of sea stars. The applications are as limitless as the imaginations of our brightest educators. As for older learners, you can determine how much water is best for the tank, the percentage of salt in the water, the life span of certain sea creatures, how they function outside and inside. How to measure angles and recognize geometric shapes in nature. All of this can be developed by using an educational aquarium in the classroom to enhance and teach math skills.

Social Studies and The Educational Aquarium

There are an unlimited number of ways that the aquarium used in an educational setting can help inspire learning social studies. You can have learners research public policies and laws which have impacted not only the health of the oceans but the health and well-being of the many fish and creatures that are harvested from our oceans every year. Students can easily understand the positive and negative aspects of a public policy as it applies to the under water world that is a part of their educational experience every day of their learning. They can look back at historical figures and connect many of them to the oceans and the activities on or around them. From fishing to trade. You can also relate the treatment of the oceans animals by the governments around the world today. Policies are made that will have a direct impact on the ocean world that learners will become an interactive part of. There are so many different types of lessons that having a tank available for the education of kids, it would be a resource without end.

Having an educational aquarium in the classroom would be a benefit to all curriculum's and all ages of learners. There is no way that we can limit the use of such a valuable educational tool to just one of the classes that learners encounter in school when it teaches so much about everything. Once you start to investigate the true value of having an aquarium in the classroom, and see all of the applications that it has, you will be looking to add one to your school system as quickly as you can, because the increased enthusiasm for learning and desire to find out more about math, science, history or foreign languages will be mind-blowing.