Training paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Training paper - Essay Example There are several techniques that can be used to collect information for a needs assessment and these include observation, questionnaire and interview (Needs Assessment 11). The first technique is through observation. The advantage of this technique is that it generates data relevant to work environment; however, this technique requires a skilled observer to be effective. The second technique to collect information is through the use of questionnaires. An advantage of this technique is that one can collect data from a large sample, yet it is not costly. The disadvantage of using questionnaires is the possibility of getting low return rates and inappropriate responses. Conducting interviews is another technique used to collect information for needs assessment. The benefit of this technique is that questions can be modified depending on the response of the interviewee; however, a skilled interviewer is needed to do this. It is also time consuming and difficult to analyze. An organization has to conduct an organizational analysis before designing a training course because it must make sure that the training program is congruent with the strategies of the corporation. It must also take into account that the training program can be supported by the available resources of the company. Support of management and the employees who will take part in the training program is essential for the success of the program. The information acquired from an organizational analysis are the training resources available for the company and the qualities of the people who will be part of the training program. Aside from these information, the analysis will also acquire information on the objectives and goals of the company and the areas in the organization where training is needed (Landy and Conte 295). Organizations should conduct a person

Health Care Reform Reaction Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Care Reform Reaction - Term Paper Example Language barrier also influences delivery of health care as the inability to comprehend instructions from health care providers diminishes people’s abilities to receive preventative and curative care. Ethnic and personal beliefs also influence the delivery of health care as some people prefer home rem dies to hospital medication. Geographical factors also influence access to health care as people in rural areas encounter barriers such as poor transportation, which impede access to hospitals. Conversely, nursing practice is influenced by factors such as nurses’ work environment and advancement opportunities and legislation (Ellerbe & Regen, 2012). This paper will examine such legislation, discussing its impact on nursing practice. Health Care Reform In 2010, President Obama ratified the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The purpose of the federal statute is to provide a regulatory overhaul of America’s health care system by enhancing access to he alth care by increasing the quality and affordability of health coverage, thereby reducing the price of health care for Americans (Ellerbe & Regen, 2012). ... These gaps are the primary deterrents to the effective delivery of health care for all in the US. With regard to access to care provision, the Act eliminates discrimination practices that hamper access to health coverage (Ridge, 2011). The Act also enhances funding for care delivery programs and locations, including nurse-managed health clinics. On the quality of care, the Act requires all care givers to ensure that their care is effective, patient-centered, safe, equitable, efficient and timely. Consequently, the Act promotes support systems aimed at the improvement of care and the work environment, for instance, by creating opportunities for enhanced nursing leadership and research (Ellerbe & Regen, 2012). The Act builds on the provisions of the Public Health Service Act, which offers federal backing for nursing development and education. On the other hand, with regard to cost of care, the Act provides for consumer protections to ensure basic health coverage to all Americans and le gal residents. Educational and Practice Consideration for Nursing The discipline of nursing must address various practice and educational consideration to keep up with the demands of the Affordable Care Act. Firstly, nursing practice should be to the full extent of training and education. This is because the core of PPACA is the provision of quality care by care givers who have sufficient training and education to meet health care service demands. In addition, it is essential for all nurses to attain higher educational levels and intense training through an enhanced educational system, which advocates flawless academic development. This means nursing professionals should enter programs such as bridge

Understand Inclusive Learning and Teaching in Lifelong Learning Essay Example for Free

Understand Inclusive Learning and Teaching in Lifelong Learning Essay 1.1 Summarise Learning and teaching strategies used in own specialism Within my own specialty field having a variety of teaching methods and strategies to potentiate learning is an absolute requirement. The field caters to people from all kinds of backgrounds and levels of education so it must be flexible and adaptable enough to appeal to its varied audience. It is usually taught following a mix of teaching methods that focus on different learning strategies, and can be identified as being an â€Å"Interactive Lecture† with some slight variations. It usually starts with a short lecture that lasts for approximately 15 minutes and usually contains a metaphor, as a way of introducing the subject and determining the boundaries by which the session is going to be ruled and also a list of natural examples, that is, situations or contexts where the particular topic being taught could be applied. Demonstrations follow so as to allow the students to familiarize themselves with the concepts to be studied in any given class, and also to give them the opportunity to see first hand what the topic being demonstrated means and gives them a rough idea of what steps are to follow. These demonstrations usually take only form 5 o 10 minutes and can be demonstrated by the teacher on a voluntary student or it can occur in the form of Video, where another teacher or practitioner of the craft demonstrates the topic of the class. Discussion between the students about what they have seen, is a very useful part of assimilating what has been observed in the demonstration and it is also a way to check and evaluate if the students have understood what was going on during the demonstration and check if they have been able to recognize the steps followed during the demonstration to achieve the end result. Getting the students to put into Practice their learning is another way to immediately test their understanding and capability at carrying out what was demonstrated during the demonstration. This can be replaced by a Small Group Task, or a group or individual project where the students can test their skills in carrying out parts of what the demonstration entailed in addition of providing further information and develop their interaction skills within a team. More small group discussions occurs after the students get to practice what they saw in the demonstration, where they get to comment and talk about difficulties, challenges and opinions in regards to how they found putting to practice and finally share their conclusions with the class. The teacher ends the class by a small lecture style talk where s/he summarizes the key points reached during the class, and gives closure to the subjects of the session. 1.2 Explain how approaches to learning and teaching in own specialism that are inclusive and meet the needs of learners A number of students that attend courses within my own field of specialism are blind, colour blind, dyslexic, or present some kind of â€Å"learning disabilities†. Something that is always taken into account, are the learning strategies of the students that participate in any given class, their particular learning needs and other requirements that might be needed to support them in their learning process, this information is discovered through an initial questionnaire at the start of the course. With activities that require interaction with colour or visual elements, the games/activities are adapted or modified in order to compensate for the barrier or disability/ies some particular students might present, by utilizing other senses as a way to replace the visual/colour component. Adapting other materials, activities and games, bringing in flexibility to the exercises is part of the process to teach in my own specialism that are inclusive and meet the needs of the learners. 2.1 Explain how to select resources that meet the need of learners Selecting the resources that meet the needs of the learners is a constant process of consistent evaluation and change. Some of the factors that can influence the teaching methods utilized in any given context are the level of knowledge and the level of commitment of the participants, which links with the level of responsibility they are able to cope with on their own, in addition to their preferred learning system/style, or any other physical, cultural, hearing, language or learning needs. Things such as the class environment and resource/teaching budget are also important; resources can be costly so establishing a sharing scheme or setting up small groups per resource can also be a good idea if it is not possible to find a suitable cheaper alternative. The characteristics of the room Hand-outs are one of the resources that can be provided in the form of notes, extra information, the student ´s can always look back and refer to, when their preferred learning strategies are visual. Worksheets, books, flipcharts, printed quizzes in addition to textbooks and journals are also wonderful ways to potentiate learning through the visual sense, Whiteboards, blackboards, PowerPoint presentations, digital cameras, software, YouTube, other hardware or equipment and Moodle are more interactive ways of learning and their effectiveness depends on the suitability of methods for promoting learning. Knowing enough about the possibilities available and having the skill to confidently utilize it for it to be effective is also important, in addition to the fact that a constant evaluation system should always be in place with the purpose of being able to make rapid changes whenever a teaching method does not have the results expected, and to find out what is effective and useful for any particular set of students. 2.2 Explain how to provide opportunities for learners to practise their literacy, language, numeracy and ICT It is possible in my field, (NLP, Presentation Skills and performance enhancement) to present students with opportunities that require them to practice their literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills in a variety of ways. Students are usually required to prepare some class with some recommended reading books, journals or articles, (depending on the particular aims of the course), occasions where they are able to practice their literacy and language skills. As communication is a key element in my field, the necessity for them to develop excellent Language skills is key, as it also requires preparation, as elements of clear enunciation, focusing and the design of presentations are usually present in most of the courses within this field. Numeracy skills are in most cases inherent as activities have to be very well timed and managed, and participants usually apply them within their own contexts and backgrounds at the same time they apply the skills learned during my courses, therein, time management, organizational skills and also an adequate level of numeracy are required. Through the skills learned during the course, a higher level of focus can be dedicated to reaching high performance states which in case where a student might have difficulties with numeracy, if s/he so desires, s/he could have the choice to choose it s a context and create a correlation between a particular high performance state (different from their usual nervous/uncertain state) and numeracy. Students can develop or practice their ICT skills through the recommended online research and utilization of many online resources (forums, articles, blogs) that are available online for students, free of charge, in addition to having to prepare (in some courses), rough drafts for presentations to be handed in. 3.1 Explain ways to engage and motivate learners in an inclusive learning environment There are many ways to engage and motivate learners in an inclusive learning environment. First of all, as per the teaching and learning cycle, it is important to identify needs that could be fulfilled or covered in any particular way, for that it would be a requirement to have a target audience so as to be able to study, search and find what the potential target audience could want. Finding out what is of interest to them, so as to be able to develop an appropriate teaching strategy is crucial in order to engage and motivate learners, examples should be relevant to them. Ideally the competencies or skills to be taught could be taught through a utilization of content that is of interests them. We call â€Å"flora† many different types of flowers, they all have the same structure (form), a stem, a pistil, petals, pollen, etc.; but the shapes (content) they take are very different, a Lily looks very different from a Rose and from a Bird of Paradise, a Daffodil or a Cherry Blossom. In the same way, by keeping the intention (purpose/form) of an exercise the same and giving it a shape (content) that is of interest to the students, there is a higher possibility of getting the interest of the students, thus engaging them and motivating them to participate in the activity/ies planned for the session. Realizing, recognizing and acknowledging the differences between students, and respecting those differences, adjusting explanations, language and resources to include all participants is bound to also increase their engagement in the topic being covered. Acknowledging and recognizing the achievements of the students in the process of achieving the â€Å"big goals† and reminding them of the goals that are to be reached at the end of the course while involving them in the process of taking responsibility for their own goals and reasons for being in the course. Providing the students and participants with clear, specific and useful feedback that addresses specific areas or details that are lacking or would need further revision or study, with instructions of how to improve them or overcome them, is another responsibility of the teacher which potentially has great results in involving and engaging the participants of a course. 3.2 Explain ways to establish ground rules with learners to promote respect for others It is important for the facilitators of learning to establish an appropriate micro culture within the members of a class. The way students interact with their environment, with each other (psychological climate) and the interactions between students and teachers sometimes must be defined and agreed to since the start in order to avoid misunderstandings or problems due to â€Å"assuming† that a set of ground rules were â€Å"obvious† and â€Å"logical†. These sets of behavioural rules, determined in consensus by the class during a session dedicated specially to designing these rules could include punctuality, part of this can be represented by arriving to class on time, respecting time allocated for breaks, (coming back on time) and ending class at the finishing time, unless a special project or other activity is taking place which would take a few more minutes. Coming prepared to class is a very important ground rule, that would include bringing to class the materials (books, notes, pens, paper, etc) recommended by the teacher and having brought in homework, having studied or revised the learning materials in order to be a participative element in the class, by talking in turns, providing responses and sharing point of view in class. In the same topic, another ground rule to take into account in the subject of participating in class is to listen and respect the opinions and arguments of other classmates or teachers, even if those opinions differ from ones own, note that respecting does not mean â€Å"having to agree†, it simply means that the topic of disagreement or discordance is open for discussion, sometimes to be expanded on at a later time. Participation in class, or the voicing of opinions, questions or doubts is essential for ensuring the concepts covered in class are well understood, it is capital to note that there must be an element of trust and confidentiality within the group so as to be able to talk freely without fear or recrimination or judgement. If feedback is to be provided in any kind of occasions it must be done in a respectful manner, with appropriate language. Following upon the concept of respect, the respect for the study/learning time is essential and can be demonstrated by switching off (or putting on silent, all electronic equipment that is not needed during the class; that includes telephones, music players, iPads, tablets, computers, and all other electronic devises that could be a disturbance to the progression of the session. These rules are to be followed and reinforced within the group though the discussion and sharing these responsibilities, emphasizing how these ground rules are to help and support not only the teacher, but the students, in the learning process.

Competition Analysis of Yahoo!

Competition Analysis of Yahoo! Yahoo Competition Today’s society relies heavily on the internet. People can spend hours a day on the internet, either for work or pleasure. With all the countless hours on the computer, what are people supposedly doing? Yahoo! desires to be the location that people spend all their time. How will Yahoo! create and sustain competitive advantage? What strategy will best serve Yahoo! on the race to the top between the other firms looking to have a digital theme park? To understand how Yahoo! plans to keep up with the changing economy, the resource-based view strategic model allows the analysis of both the internal and external perspectives of the firm. To create and sustain a competitive advantage Yahoo! should allow for differentiation and focus to its services. The resource-based view analyzes how the tangible resources, intangible resources, and the organizational capabilities work together to form a competitive advantage. For Yahoo! to have a competitive advantage against other companies with the same goal of the digital theme park, Yahoo! must take advantage of their tangible and intangible resources. Yahoo!’s tangible resources include financial, physical, technological, and organizational sources. Yahoo! started to turn around financially after Terry S. Semel took over as CEO. Semel brought structure and order to the â€Å"spontaneity that drove the firm’s decision during its go-go days† (Shamsie, 2007, p. 792). Yahoo! relied heavily on advertising for revenues of the firm under the old management. After Semel took over, he did not feel comfortable on relying only on advertising. Semel and his Product Council allowed premium services to be offered at a low rate. These low rates and advertising raised the company’s net assets. Yahoo!’s physical tangible resources include the company headquarters. After Semel took over, he â€Å"moved swiftly to chop down the 44 business units†¦to 5† (Shamsie, 2007, p. 792). The chopping down of cubicles also relates to the organizational tangible resources. Semel whole new order changed Yahoo! as a whole. The care-free culture turned into a culture with more order and structure. Yahoo!’s newly founded Product Council is made up of a group of managers. These â€Å"managers have to make formal presentations to bring up their new ideas in weekly meetings† (Shamsie, 2007, p.792). On the technological sector of the tangible resources, Yahoo! has search engine and other premium service technology. The search engine technology is from the company Inktomi. â€Å"Analysts claim that in terms of technology, Inktomi offers a search engine that is better than most others† (Shamsie, 2007, p. 796). The other premium services include job-hunting, personals, music, games, e-mail, and yellow pages. Yahoo! acquired the job-hunting service from the â€Å"buyout of HotJobs.com in 2002†¦the addition of this premium service has provided a significant boost to the firm’s revenue† (Shamsie, 2007, p.795). Yahoo!’s technology is directly related to the financial market of Yahoo!. As Yahoo!’s technology increased, the revenue of the firm also increased. An advantage in the technological sector that Yahoo! possess is â€Å"Yahoo!’s Yellow Pages, which provide them [customers] with the return addresses and driving maps† when searc hing and typing in area code (Shamsie, 2007, p 797). Semel also made deals with SBC Communications and Verizon Communications to help move Yahoo! into the broadband age. Yahoo!’s intangible resources include human skills, innovation and creativity, and the firm’s reputation. Semel is the reason Yahoo! turned around. Semel possess human skills that are not imitable. â€Å"Semel has also used the deal-making skills that made him a legend in the movie business to land crucial acquisitions and partnerships that would allow Yahoo! to tap into new sources of advertising revenue† (Shamsie, 2007, p. 793). Semel pushed through deals that the old CEO’s could not get. Innovation and creativity sectors include Semel’s organizational views and the creativity that came to the Product Council meetings. The last of the intangible resources is Yahoo!’s reputation. Yahoo! has been around for years, it is known for its free e-mail service, search engine, and its instant messenger. People can pay a little extra for a premium e-mail service that has a larger storage space than the free e-mail. Yahoo! is also known for its free fi nancial pages called Yahoo! Finance, which gives up-to-date information on stocks and bonds. Lastly, the resource-based view looks at the organizational capabilities which are â€Å"the competencies or skills that a firm employs to transform inputs into outputs† (Dess, Lumkin, Eisner 2003, p.93). Yahoo!’s organizational capabilities are the innovativeness of new and multiple services at one location. Yahoo! is no longer just a search engine, it is a powerhouse of different features that all intertwine together to create this multi-cultural funhouse. For Yahoo! to gain the competitive edge against the other firms like Google, MSN, and AOL, Yahoo! can focus on differentiation between its products. Porter’s three generic strategies involves overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. Overall cost leadership will not help Yahoo! sustain competitive advantage, but the combination of differentiation and focus will allow Yahoo! to outrun the other companies. Although most of the time, differentiation leads to failure but in Yahoo!’s case with its different interest areas that are already occurring differentiation will lead to success. â€Å"A differentiation strategy involves providing unique, high-quality products and services that promote a favorable reputation and strong brand identity and usually command a premium price† (Dess, Lumkin, Eisner 2003, p.209). Yahoo! already exhibits a strong brand identity since almost everyone in the world would know what Yahoo! is. Google has become one of the leading search engines in only four years because it can search millions of web-pages in milliseconds. Yahoo! can now compete with Google when Yahoo! made a deal with Inktomi for a new search engine. â€Å"Inktomi offers a search engine that is better than most others† (Shamsie, 2007, p.796). Yahoo! has many areas of interest that pertain to all different types of people. Yahoo! offers personal pages, email, financial pages, job-hunting service, etc. For the younger generation, Yahoo! offers on-line games, chatting, and a messenger service. Yahoo! already has differentiated its products, but so have the competitors. Yahoo! needs to obtain unique services that their competitors do not have. One thing that is unique for Yahoo! is the offering of music to its customers. Viewers can go on-line and watch music videos for free or for a fee, without commercial breaks. Yahoo! also differentiates its look to go with the seasons, not all web-pages do this. Using the combination of differentiation and focus strategies, Yahoo! will be able to focus individually on the different sectors of services. â€Å"For companies that pursue focus strategies, the Internet offers new avenues in which to compete because they can access markets less expensively and provide more services and features† (Dess, Lumkin, Eisner 2003, p.301). As Yahoo! accesses their intangible and tangible resources, managers can figure out which services to differentiate and which services need have a narrower focus. The tangible technological resources are the services that managers need to distinguish as profitable and valuable, and which services are not helping the company succeed in the jump to digital theme park. Semel should allow more focus to the product council meetings, so that managers would be able to get different services recognized. For the digital economy, the combination strategy of differentiation and focus is the best to have. The company’s resources all working together creates a successful business. Yahoo! demonstrates how a company can use the strategies of the resource based view, differentiation, and focus to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. As long as Yahoo! uses their tangible and intangible resources efficiently and effectively they will be able to advance and compete with the other companies such as Google, MSN, and AOL. Tangible Resources: Financial- cut costs, advertising, premium services Physical- Cubicles Technological- Inktomi search engine, HotJobs, yellow pages, other features Organizational- Product Council, structure Intangible Resources: Human- Semel’s deal making skills Innovation and Creativity- meetings Reputation- free services, search engine Organizational Capabilities: Making a digital theme park Differentiation and Focus Services offered Design/Appearance Brand Identity Reputation References Dess, G. Gregory, Lumpkin, G.T., Eisner, B. Alan. (2007). Strategic Management 3e. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Shamsie, Jamal. Yahoo!. Michigan State University. Strategic Management 3e. (792-797). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

An Argument for the Existence of God Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive

An Argument for the Existence of God God can be defined as a being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions (1). There are many people that do not believe in any religion. People who do not believe in a religion have no reason for believing in a God. People who do not believe in a God and argue against the existence of God are proving something that is completely false. There is a God for numerous reasons. This paper's purpose is to prove the existence of God. There are ten main reasons that are presented in this paper that show the actuality of God. It also shows counter-arguments to the competing positions (the presence of evil). It also gives anticipatory responses to possible objections to the thesis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first reason focuses on the belief of faith. The following passage is taken from the Bible. It has excellent meaning because it shows that everyone has faith. Having faith is the first sign that shows everyone believes in a religion. There are two good definitions of religion. The first is belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. The second is a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. The passage shows that everyone has an institutionalized system that has belief. The passage is as follows, ?Everyone believes in something. No one can endure the stress and cares of life without faith in God. Atheists cannot prove there is no God. Pantheists cannot prove that everything is God. Pragmatists cannot prove that what will count for them in the future is what works for them now. Nor can agnostics prove that it is impossible to know one way or the other. Faith is unavo idable, even if we chose to believe only in ourselves. What is to be decided is what evidence we think is pertinent, how we are going to interpret that evidence, and who or what we are willing to believe in.? (Luke 16:16)(4) The passage is great proof that there is a God. It shows that everyone has faith. Faith is a big aspect in religion. With every religion, there is likely to be a single holy being, a god.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many atheists have used science as a way to disapprove the existence of God. Science is not an accurate way of disapproving the existence of God(2). Scient... ...This is completely false because God made the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed himself so he could redeem humanity and that all their sins would be forgiven. Making such a self sacrifice is good proof that God cares for humanity. The last reason that proves the existence of God is how we look at God. Most of humanity believes that God must look up to humanity, where as the truth is we must look up to God. The best argument that atheists have to disapprove the existence of God is the presence of evil. But their argument is shut down by the Augustinian theodicy. These reasons are great proof that shows the existence of God. Any atheist who reads all ten reasons and the Augustinian theodicy can never disapprove the existence of God. Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) Oxford Readings in Philosophy. The Concept of God. New York: Oxford University press 1987   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2) Gollwitzer, Helmut. The Existence of God: As Confessed By Faith. Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1965   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3) The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. Whether God Exists? 1920. New Advent. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/100203.htm. K. Knight. 2003. 4) Holy Bible. New International Version. (New York). 1978.

Kashmir :: essays research papers

KASHMIR? Geography, Kashmir is located in Himalayan range. Most of the area is mountainous with very fertile land, beautiful lakes, covered with thick green forests and produce verity of fruits. Area, 84471 sq.: miles; with boundaries with Pakistan, India, china and Afghanistan. Population, About 5 million consisting of 77% Muslim. Borders with Pakistan 902 miles and borders with India 307 miles. Brief History, The state of Kashmir came into existence in 1848 when Lord Lawrence the Governor General of British India sold the area to Gulab Singh a leader of Hindu dogra tribe for RS 7.5 million. Dogra rulers treated the Muslim Population who was meek, poor and peace loving harshly and taxed them Heavily. At that time of partition of India every state was given the option of acceding either to India or Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten the last Viceroy of India in his addressed the prince of the state on July 25,1947 said, "accede to India or Pakistan, bearing in mind the geographical situation by the respective state, the composition of their population and wishes of their people". According to the portion of India plan announced by the viceroy of India on June 3 1947, the Muslim majority provinces were to become Pakistan and those with Hindu majority were to form India. The province of Punjab was accordingly to be divided. A boundary commission headed by sir Redchiff was appointed. This commission wrongfully awarded a Teshil (county) namely Gurdaspur to India to provide land connection between Kashmir and India. On July 19 1947 the Muslim conference, the only political party of Kashmir announced that it demands accession to Pakistan. The Hindu maharaja Harry Singh honoree acceded to India whole population rose in revolt. The maharaja fold to India and the Indians troops invoked the valley on October 27 1947. The Kashmir freedom fighter supported by Afghanistan tribes men put up a resistance. The Security Council of UNO passed a resolution asking India and Pakistan to cease-fire for January 1,1949. In another resolution the Security Council asked both the countries to with draw their forces from the state for an impartial plebiscite under the control of UNO to decide the future of Kashmir. UN military observes has since been appointed on cease-fire line. A commission to arrange plebiscite was also appointed headed by Mr. Gunner Jarring. India however has been adopting delaying tactics ever since to allow the Kashmiris to exercise their right of self determination.

Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing

Conflicts can arise in many ways. In the story â€Å"Through the Tunnel† by Doris Lessing, an eleven year old boy named Jerry is vacationing at the shore in France. Feeling lonely and bored he wanders off to a rocky beach to join a group of French boys, older than he, who are diving and swimming there. As a foreigner he finds himself ignored by them, but discovers they are swimming through a long underwater tunnel and he is determined that he will do the same someday. In the beginning of the story an external conflict appears when Jerry wants to be independent of his mother she is understandably protective of her only child. His mother wants to take care of him because she is concerned that something might happen. Jerry loves his mother and likes to be with her, but sometimes he wants to be on his own. To assert his independence from his mother Jerry must swim through the underwater tunnel to test him. Another conflict arises when Jerry wants to fit in with the French boys. The author explains how much Jerry wants to be part of their group when the author writes â€Å"To be with them, of them, was a craving that filled his whole body. † Jerry wants to be accepted into their group. This group of boy is the experts of swimming. They easily swim through the underwater tunnel. Even after he knows he doesn’t belong to the older boys group, Jerry still wants to prove himself worthy of being one of the expert swimming through the mysterious tunnel. Finally, the most obvious external conflict is the one between Jerry and nature. Jerry trains his lungs and pushes his limits and because of that â€Å"his nose bleeds badly†. For hours he has been practicing holding his breath he begins to feel weak and dizzy. Jerry has to battle the forces of nature pushing his lung capacity to its limits. He is engaged in a conflict of nature and physical barriers to attain his goal. If Jerry doesn’t hold his breath long enough he will drown. After what seems like ages, Jerry passes through the tunnel, going in as a little boy and coming out feeling like a man. Now, Jerry has won his battle against almighty nature his hunger for acceptance and fight for independence. He has broken the chains of his conflicts. As soon as he swims out, Jerry broke free.