inggris bisnis part 1. part 2

The Carpet Fitter Eddie was a carpet fitter, and he hated it. For ten years he had spent his days sitting, squatting, kneeling or crawling on floors, in houses, offices, shops, factories and restaurants. Ten years of his life, cutting and fitting carpets for other people to walk on, without even seeing them. When his work was done, no-one ever appreciated it. No- one ever said "Oh, that's a beautiful job, the carpet fits so neatly." They just walked all over it. Eddie was sick of it. He was especially sick of it on this hot, humid day in August, as he worked to put the finishing touches to today's job. He was just cutting and fixing the last edge on a huge red carpet which he had fitted in the living room of Mrs. Vanbrugh's house. Rich Mrs. Vanbrugh, who changed her carpets every year, and always bought the best. Rich Mrs. Vanbrugh, who had never even given him a cup of tea all day, and who made him go outside when he wanted to smoke. Ah well, it was four o'clock and he had nearly finished. At least he would be able to get home early today. He began to day-dream about the weekend, about the Saturday football game he always played for the local team, where he was known as "Ed the Head" for his skill in heading goals from corner kicks. Eddie sat back and sighed. The job was done, and it was time for a last cigarette. He began tapping the pockets of his overalls, looking for the new packet of Marlboro he had bought that morning. They were not there. It was as he swung around to look in his toolbox for the cigarettes that Eddie saw the lump. Right in the middle of the brand new bright red carpet, there was a lump. A very visible lump. A lump the size of -- the size of a packet of cigarettes. "Blast!" said Eddie angrily. "I've done it again! I've left the cigarettes under the blasted carpet!" He had done this once before, and taking up and refitting the carpet had taken him two hours. Eddie was determined that he was not going to spend another two hours in this house. He decided to get rid of the lump another way. It would mean wasting a good packet of cigarettes, nearly full, but anything was better than taking up the whole carpet and fitting it again. He turned to his toolbox for a large hammer. Holding the hammer, Eddie approached the lump in the carpet. He didn't want to damage the carpet itself, so he took a block of wood and placed it on top of the lump. Then he began to beat the block of wood as hard as he could. He kept beating, hoping Mrs. Vanbrugh wouldn't hear the noise and come to see what he was doing. It would be difficult to explain why he was hammering the middle of her beautiful new carpet. After three or four minutes, the lump was beginning to flatten out. Eddie imagined the cigarette box breaking up, and the crushed cigarettes spreading out under the carpet. Soon, he judged that the lump was almost invisible. Clearing up his tools, he began to move the furniture back into the living room, and he was careful to place one of the coffee tables over the place where the lump had been, just to make sure that no-one would see the spot where his cigarettes had been lost. Finally, the job was finished, and he called Mrs. Vanbrugh from the dining room to inspect his work. "Yes, dear, very nice," said the lady, peering around the room briefly. "You'll be sending me a bill, then?" "Yes madam, as soon as I report to the office tomorrow that the job is done." Eddie picked up his tools, and began to walk out to the van. Mrs. Vanbrugh accompanied him. She seemed a little worried about something. "Young man," she began, as he climbed into the cab of his van, laying his toolbox on the passenger seat beside him, "while you were working today, you didn't by any chance see any sign of Armand, did you? Armand is my parakeet. A beautiful bird, just beautiful, such colors in his feathers... I let him out of his cage, you see, this morning, and he's disappeared. He likes to walk around the house, and he's so good, he usually just comes back to his cage after an hour or so and gets right in. Only today he didn't come back. He's never done such a thing before, it's most peculiar..." "No, madam, I haven't seen him anywhere," said Eddie, as he reached to start the van. And saw his packet of Marlboro cigarettes on the dashboard, where he had left it at lunchtime.... And remembered the lump in the carpet.... And realised what the lump was.... And remembered the hammering.... And began to feel rather sick....Multiple-Choice QuestionsClick on the answer you think is correct.
1. Why did Eddie hate being a carpet-fitter?
a)The pay was too low.
b)He didn't like working alone.
c)No-one appreciated his work.
d)He couldn't smoke on the job.
2. What did Eddie think of Mrs. Vanbrugh?
a)She was a kind, thoughtful lady.
b)She was rich and selfish.
c)She was always losing things.
d)She had good taste in furniture.
3. Why was Eddie called "Ed the Head" by his friends?
a)Because he was such an intelligent carpet-fitter.
b)Because he had a large head.
c)Because he was very proud and self-important.
d)Because of his footballing skills.
4. What did Eddie want to do when he had finished fitting the carpet?
a)have a cigarette
b)hammer the carpet flat
c)look for Mrs. Vanbrugh's lost bird
d)start work in the dining room
5. Why didn't Eddie remove the carpet to take out the thing that was causing the lump?
a)He couldn't take the carpet up once he had fitted it.
b)He didn't need the cigarettes because he had some more in the van.
c)It would take too long to remove the carpet and re-fit it.
d)He intended to come back and remove the lump the next day.
6. What did Eddie do with the hammer?
a)hammered nails into the lump
b)fixed the coffee table
c)left it under the carpet
d)flattened the carpet
7. What was Mrs. Vanbrugh worried about?
a)Her bird was missing.
b)She thought the carpet was going to be too expensive.
c)She thought Eddie had been smoking in the house.
d)She couldn't find her husband Armand.
8. What was really under the carpet?
a)the cigarettes
b)Eddie's toolbox
c)nothing
d)the missing bird
9. "Eddie was determined...." means that he:
a)had no idea
b)decided for sure
c)felt very angry
d)couldn't decide
10. "Peculiar" in the sentence "He's never done such a thing before, it's most peculiar..." means:
a)normal
b)like a bird
c)difficult
d)strange

Answer
1. C
2. B
3. D
4. B
5. C
6. D
7. A
8. D
9. A
10. D

Hypothesis

hypothesis 1
The high priority given to e-learning in the public k-12 education sector in Indonesia is currently counter-productive, and the focus of our teaching institutions upon computerised learning as a solution for improving education quality in schools is inapproriate and unsupported.

Major Issues:

- It will be at least another 10 years before there are sufficient computers in our public schools to even consider commencing a minimal national e-learning program.

- With current computer/ student ratiois 1:2,000 any real developments that may be achieved will only further widen the gap for the majority of students who don't have access or facilities.

- A clasroom Contextual learning environment is still recognized as the best form of education
http://teknologipendidikan.com/kbm.html


- Because of the high profile given to issues like e-learning by government bodies and media, the majority of teachers in the field, who don't have access to these facilities may believe that they are dis-advantaged and limited educationally.

- Frequently students who achieve national acclaim in contests, for example Olympiads, are for small towns and villages, and not from large high-tech cities or schools.
http://beritapendidikan.com/mod.php?mod=publisher&op=viewarticle&cid=14&artid=1074

- We must question whether technology and all the trappings and distractions (entertainment, chatting, etc.) and time-wasting options are actually reducing the quality of learning in our communities. This is a global issue, not just an issue for Indonesia.
http://E-Pendidikan.Com

- High-tech developed countries are frequently questioning the quality of their education systems and how effectively they are preparing their students academically and for their real-world needs.

- The development of quality e-learning materials is extremly difficult and well beyond the abilities of most teachers in the field.

- Insufficient research has been conducted in Indonesia to support the notion that e-learning will improve education quality.
http://teknologipendidikan.com/teknologi.html

Hypothesis 2

Institutions teaching education technology courses are not adequately preparing their students for the real-world (Appropriate Technology) needs of our learning communities.

Accepted Conditions - Not under debate.

1) There is a role for E-Learning in External Studies for university students residing at great distances from their campus, and for people in the workforce who need to study at times that they have available.

2) There is a very large role and market for E-Learning in the corporate sector for staff training. Many staff can not make themslves available (and it is also costly) to attend classes. For instance, Field Technical Staff, Pilots, Nurses, etc....

- But not in schools?


Major issues: (Note: Many of the issues above also relate to this topic)

Basic Reading: Do we need high-technology to achieve quality learning - certainly not!
http://teknologipendidikan.com/teknologi.html

- Appropriate education technologies are not currently being maximized in our schools.

- Insufficient emphasis upon training for education technology students in the application of appropriate technologies.

Writing A Thesis Or Paper - Food For ThoughtBy admin

I am frequently asked for assistance with references and information from university students and this I accept as one of the ways that students are utilizing the new technologies and I am pleased that they are searching for information using all available resources.

However, a major concern of mine for several years (till today) is that many university students are asking me about how to write a thesis, and of even greater concern, is that many also ask for suggestions for a thesis topic Ehh.....
See PojokGuru.Com http://pojokguru.com/skripsi.html

I think it may be helpful at this time to raise some issues and possible thesis topics that I would chose if I was going to write a thesis about Education Technology in Indonesia.
(If anyone would like to use them they are certainly welcome - need refining)

CURICULUM VITAE

Personal Date
Name : Eva Kurniawati
Place & Date of Birth : Lampung, februari 4st 1988
Address : Jln delima perum lembah hijau, Rt13/13 D7 No. 6 Mekarsari - Cimanggis Depok 19651.
E-mail : ev4_0402@yahoo.com
Sex : Female
Religion : Moslem
Marital Status : Single
Nationality : Indonesia

The attractions of the city of angels

This city packages everything it has so attractively that anyone who visits will always want to return.
Bangkok, known as the “City of Angels”, is truly an ideal city for tourists. It’s a dynamic city, able to motivate visitors with a wide range of options: it offers the down-to-earth traditions of the city’s residents, while at the same time inviting the elite to enjoy the many aspects of progress that have made it a famous metropolis. One of Bangkok’s greatest strengths is its strategic location in the heart of Southeast Asia, a region with rapid economic growth. Making use of this advantage, Thailand does a very good job of selling its capital city to tourists. You can’t go anywhere in Bangkok without encountering tourists enjoying the city’s rhythms, or so it seems. Even outside the peak tourism seasons, the major attractions, such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and the Chao Phraya, are swarming with tourists.
Many visitors treat Bangkok as more than just the gateway to other well-known tourism venues in Thailand; it’s also a comfortable “living room” that greets guests with a warm welcome. To provide greater convenience, over the past decade Bangkok has supersized many of its facilities. For example, in 2008 Suvarnabhumi Airport handled more than than 76 flights per hour, with 45 million passengers and three million tons of cargo passing through the main terminal that year.
Bangkok’s decision to make itself into a modern, pleasing and sophisticated city deserves to be acknowledged, because in doing so, it did not simply throw out its past. The city still has 400 Buddhist temples (most Thais are Buddhists), providing a calming, even magical atmosphere in the bustle of the metropolis. This is immediately evident when you start your visit at the 88-floor Baiyoke Sky Hotel, which at 309 meters is the tallest tower in Thailand. After buying your ticket, you’ll be whisked to the 77th floor observation desk to enjoy the panorama of Bangkok. If that doesn’t satisfy you, you can then proceed to the 84th floor and experience the city from the Revolving View Point, which also contains much useful information; such as, the distance between Bangkok and Jakarta is 2312.75 kilometers, or 1437.13 miles.
From up here, glassed in amidst the chill winds, you can comfortably see all that Bangkok has to offer. Several other tall new buildings can easily be spotted, such as the Lebua Hotel in the State Tower, with its famous rooftop restaurant, Sirocco. This restaurant offers fine dining in elegant surroundings with stunning views of Bangkok at night – a special treat for those with fat wallets and suitably stylish attire.Nevertheless, Bangkok has a million other facilities waiting to be explored. Looking out from Baiyoke, you can easily pick out another new high-rise hotel, Centara, equally prestigious and with a similar rooftop restaurant. Just as Bangkok has enhanced itself with diverse new eating venues, it has also added another popular tourist attraction – shopping centers. One that catches your eye from the Revolving View Point is the Crown Atrium, which is connected with the King Power Complex, a mega-complex located on Sri Ayuthaya Rangnam Road, a prestigious shopping area in downtown Bangkok. It offers an exclusive combination of art and culture, a modern theater, hotels, entertainment centers, and enough shops to satisfy the most hardcore shopper.
King Power has duty-free shops featuring branded goods with a very convenient shopping arrangement. Simply show your passport and your ticket home, pay for the goods, and you can pick up your purchases at the airport as you board your flight – no need to carry them around with you while you’re on holiday. This concept of duty and tax free shopping was first introduced to Thailand by a businessman from India, Kun Vichai Raksriaksorn, in 1989, but the cornerstone of the King Power complex was laid by his brother, Khun Vivat Raksriaksorn, in 2004.
It’s easy to spot plenty of other shopping centers from Baiyoke Tower. In another elite business district is the Siam Paragon, opposite the high-speed train station. This shopping center, a favorite with well-to-do young people, is right next to another equally trendy new mall, Central World, the largest in Southeast Asia. Another favorite for those with a few baht in their pockets is The Emporium, near the upper middle class district of Sukhumvit Road. But most tourists prefer the legendary Mah Boon Krong (MBK) Center, a lively eight-floor mall with over 2000 shops selling virtually everything. When you manage to peek between the tall buildings, you can see the city’s main river, the Chao Phraya, and on one of its banks a large, lovely temple, Wat Arun. Another excellent way to see Bangkok is from the Chao Phraya itself, by renting a boat for a short cruise – 20 minutes or longer, up to you. For many tourists, a trip along the Chao Phraya in a traditional prau is a must – an essential experience in the Venice of the East.
The Baiyoke Tower stands in a very busy district, but another equally lively part of town is the dynamic China Town, home to many of Thailand’s ethnic Chinese community and the center of the annual Lunar New Year celebrations. In China Town you can see Wat Traimit, a temple completed in 2008 that contains a large Buddha statue made of solid gold. A tour guide told us that the people of China Town recently raised funds to rebuild this temple as a present for King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his eightieth birthday. To adorn its interior, they moved in the historic 5.5-ton gold Buddha statue, which dates from the Sukothai period over 700 years ago. Previously, this statue, named Prakut Maha Suwan Patimagon, was housed at Wat Rakhang. It was believed to be made of plaster, covered with gold paint. It turned out that the statue had been coated in cement so that it would not be stolen by the Burmese, with whom the Sukothai kingdom was often at war. When the statue was moved some years ago, it fell and suffered some damage to the nose, which revealed that below the plaster, the statue was actually solid gold.
This four-story temple has a small museum that relates the history of China Town and the life of its people. One local Chinese resident has sponsored a set of wax statues in part of the museum. Like the many other temples in Bangkok, this one is always full of tourists and monks visiting from many countries and performing their devotions in a spirit of unity. Just two hours outside Bangkok, visitors can head to Damnoen Siduak to see the Ratchaburi floating morning market. It’s best to go early, so you can see the activity before too many other tourists get there. Bangkok also has its own floating market, Taling Chan, but Ratchaburi is larger and even more colorful and exciting. The vendors selling from their boats at Ratchaburi seem to be more interested in getting tourists to interact with the traditional atmosphere than in aggressively hawking their wares. Naturally, this is a very successful tactic to entice and appeal to visitors, and just one more reason why visitors always want to come back to Thailand.
From : garudamagazine

Quite, peaceful amed

Few places in Bali allow you to enjoy a simple coconut oil massage while lying on a bamboo bed in the shade of a fishermen’s hut as Amed.The Bali that was, long-time Bali-based expat residents insist, can still be found lying a two-hour leisurely drive from Kuta. A calm and peaceful place, Amed has in recent times rose to discrete prominence, a much-deserved status arrested in the past by bad roads and lack of power and communications, which actually complements its irresistible quietness. Every bay, some sandy, others rocky, appears to be lined with double-outrigger traditional fishing boats (jukung).
The horizon almost invariably is rife with literally hundreds of the boats’ colorful triangular sails heading off to the fishing grounds morning and afternoon. Amed is a near-perfect destination for the more mature (read: above 50 years of age) travelers though younger people like it too as it offers them a daily fix of peace and tranquility.
The locals lead a quite lifestyle, making Amed an ideal place for you to spend time either writing your bio, taking stock of your life or doing just nothing and relax.
This relatively undeveloped north-eastern coastal strip in the Karangasem Regency of East Bali, where Amed is located, features some of the island’s best snorkeling amidst spectacular sunrises over the neighboring island of Lombok. On any given time you are apt to come across tourists strolling slowly along the road or the beach. Or elderly couples walking holding hands, rekindling their love for each other in their own special way, Amed-style. And almost everywhere there you can hop on a traditional fishing boat for a sunset tour, again to reignite the proverbial fire that simmers inside you. Amed is actually not just one village but a string of smaller villages, starting with the village Amed in the north followed by Congkang, Jemeluk, Bunutan, Lipah, Selang, Banyuning and ending with Aas. At present Amed is mostly a quiet place with stunning ocean vistas as well as one of the best places in Bali for scuba diving.
The landscape comprises a series of headlands overlooking bays, lined with fishing boats.
From the top of the hill, one cannot but marvel at the serene scenery and feel grateful that the long tracts of land have no given way to tacky opulence in the way of star-rated hotels. Located on the dry side of the mountains Agung and Saraya, Amed is short in rain throughout the year. The landscape is very arid and the slopes of the mountain look bare.
The sleepy village still remains untouched by the effects of tourism, but as developments, albeit at a snail’s pace, take place along this strip, Amed is likely to become one of the island’s major tourist areas, a gain for local people in search of a decent livelihood but a pain to advocates of the environment.
In the meantime, many locals subsist by producing salt thanks to their proximity to the sea.To reach Amed is an exhausting trip but is an experience in itself: it is rich in curves and very steep ups-and-downs. From Amed the road south via Jemeluk, Lipah, Bunutan and Selang is narrow but moderately paved, offering stunning views of mountains on one side and the Lombok Strait on the other.
“Jemuluk, which is a protected bay, is an ideal place to begin snorkeling. Four kilometres further south along the coast is Banyuning, where there’s a small Japanese wreck and beautiful coral gardens,” said our driver. “The corals are alive and beautiful, but you have to travel a couple of meters to find the most vivid colors.”
Diving schools are available in the area, and readily point you out the best dive spots.
Snorkeling and diving off the black-sand beaches here is exceptional for the variety and numbers of fish. But just to be anywhere along the coast or sit in one of the seaside restaurants and observe dolphins playing in the waves is just as enthralling. To fly from Jakarta to Bali in a 90-minute journey only to settle down in undeveloped Amed might be an uncool thing to do—it is even more uncool if you’re there and cannot manage to visit the site even for a few hours.
Getting to Amed:
Garuda Indonesia flies the Jakarta-Denpasar vv route 50 times per week, Denpasar-Mataram vv route 7 times per week, Jakarta-Denpasar-Kupang vv route 7 times per week, Yogyakarta-Denpasar vv route 14 times per week, Surabaya-Denpasar vv route 21 times per week.
To get to Amed from Kuta, head for the Bypass towards Sanur and exit to take the road on your right that leads into the coastal highway heading east.
The coastal road was completed a couple of years ago; it now allows you to drive all the way from Tirtagangga in a clockwise manner.

Behind the music : the creation of Indonesian first concert hall

The establishment of Indonesia’s first concert hall, Aula Simfonia Jakarta, marked the fulfillment of a life-long dream for prominent artistic director and principal conductor of the Jakarta Oratorio Society Dr Stephen Tong and Aula Simfonia Jakarta project director Alwi Sjaal. “When Dr. Tong came to me and said, ‘Alwi, we’re going to build a concert hall’, to me it was like lightning struck in front of my face,” Alwi said.
“I’ve studied in Germany, I’ve been to Europe and I always go back there to see concerts. So while my dream has not been as long as Stephen Tong’s, I always thought that one day we should have a concert hall in Indonesia,” he said. The movement for a concert hall in Jakarta, in Kemayoran, Central Java, was first realized by Dr Tong approximately 50 years ago. “Because Dr Tong was a classical music lover and he used to conduct several oratorio and simfonia, he always wished that one day Indonesia could have a concert hall. But up until this moment nothing has been built and no other businessmen or the Government have paid attention to a cultural problem like a concert hall,” Alwi said. “So he thought we should do it because a nation or a city like Jakarta needs a concert hall, not only as a place we can be proud of, but as a place we can educate people and present good music to the people.”
The Rp 100 billion concert hall is built on a 1200sqm property in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. The property is part of the Reformed Millennium Centre of Indonesia, which includes the Messiah Cathedral that was also designed by Dr Tong. The concert hall was financially supported by public donations and by music lovers who believed the project was a worthy cause. Construction on the six-storey building began in 2006 and the interior was completed in October last year. Alwi said the most creative part of the hall was the way it was designed to emphasize the acoustics and prevent other noises overpowering the orchestra. The ceiling consists of three layers with the air-conditioning placed in the top part to reduce the sound of it echoing in the hall. The notches in the walls, where the statues are placed, also act as an acoustic feature with the sound flowing into them and bouncing back to the audience resulting in a ‘beautifully acoustic sound’. “These were all part of the plans of Dr Tong. We didn’t use any acoustic consultant like other symphony concert halls around the world because we simply did not have the budget,” Alwi said.
Alwi was also heavily involved in the interior design of the building.
“When we started to discuss the style of the design, as a young architect, I immediately said we should use a contemporary style for this concert hall since it was built in this century. But Dr Tong is a more traditional person and he always thought that the classical music would relate better with a classical design,” he added. They worked with an artist in Yogyakarta to create the Greek-style golden statues which surround the auditorium. “I went there [to Yogyakarta] almost every week to advice on corrections regarding the posture, the movement, the musical instruments they were holding, the expressions on their faces, how the garments had to be folded, everything. We discussed all kinds of things throughout the production. It was very interesting,” Alwi said.
The layout of the hall reinforces the desire to provide an intimate setting between musicians and concert-goers. The 1200 seats are dispersed right around the stage so that an estimated 97 percent of concert-goers can see all the performers. “We are not 100 percent perfect but we have tried to learn from the other concert halls and tried to build one with a low budget using our own effort but with better quality,” Alwi said. The core musical feature of the concert hall is a 1962 Cassavant organ purchased from a church in America. The 3,217 piped organ weighs more than 10 metric tons and cost US$400,000 to have it shipped to Jakarta and reconditioned. Lina Runtuwene was the first person to play it during the inauguration concert in October 2009. The classical music performances are already proving popular among Jakartans, with 85 percent of the seats being occupied at the inauguration concert, and 95 percent at the Christmas concert.
In preparing the year’s concert schedule, Alwi consulted with concert-goers as to how often people would pay to go to a classical concert. It was decided to hold a concert once a month but as the knowledge of a concert hall in Jakarta has spread, more and more musicians are requesting the opportunity to perform there. “We may have to have two or three concerts a month because the demand is there,” he said.It is hoped that cheap children’s concerts will be performed to give children the opportunity to experience and appreciate classical music at a young age. However, it’s not only the children they hope to educate in the ways of classical music. The staff of Aula Simfonia Jakarta have also found themselves teaching older concert-goers the codes of etiquette in a ‘professional concert’ situation. You should not come late and if you come late you are not allowed in. I say to my staff, if people get mad, let them get mad because internationally, when a concert begins nobody is allowed to go in. Using a mobile phone, drinking aqua, eating sweets, the way they dress, everything. We really have to make a big effort to educate about this etiquette,” Alwi said.
“It’s not easy, but it’s something we have got to do.”