The Text has Agency

This is a short video that gives us an insight into how to achieve a level 7 answer.

H.I.V.E

This week I have read the 1st and 2nd book of the 7 book series of H.I.V.E. This book is a book in which pupils get stolen away to a secret ‘school’ hat try to establish the inner evil inside of them. However, some unprecedented events take place and it turns out things aren’t as they seem at first sight. I have really enjoyed these books so far and look forward to carry on reading the whole series. I recommend these books to anyone interested in a thriller/action book. I believe that the author has taken inspiration from the current climate in the world today. In these books he talks about an organisation, called G.L.O.V.E that is the creator of all criminal acts. I think that the author has created that organisation from the Taliban in the real world today.

Capsule of Time: Wellington College

http://vimeo.com/61342440

Capsule of Time

This book has 11 instalments that is set at Wellington, written by Martin Bedford.

This book reminds me of ‘the Hunger Games’ or the series ‘Gone’, because it is as if the adults have abandoned kids and they have to sort everything out by themselves. Everything that happens in the book is unexpected and I believe that is the effect that the author is trying to portray. I also think that the instalments is a good idea because at the end of every section Martin Bedford leves us on a cliff hanger and leaves us wanting more. This is a very powerful effect that he uses and it urges us to read more.

This is the link to watch the trailer: http://vimeo.com/61342440

Speech – Development of Dubai

Speech-The Development of Dubai

 

In this speech I plan to give you an insight into the history of Dubai, how it has developed over the last 30 years and how it has affected the Middle East.

Dubai is located in the Middle East and is one of the seven Emirates of the UAE, United Arab Emirates, and has an approximate area less then the size of Wales. It currently stands as the Commercial Capital of the UAE.

During the 1990’s Dubai was little more then a village in the desert, only housing 380,00 people, but with surrounding oil reserves decreasing, Sheik Maktoum decided to set a new direction for the emirate. Moving it from an oil based economy to a commercial hub and a holiday destination that should in thirty years become self sufficient, economically.  One of Sheik Maktoums’ key strategies to attract major investment into the country was to make it a tax free Emirate.

One of Sheik Maktoums’ first personal major investments was the commissioning and building of the Burj Al Arab. This showed to the outside world that he was personally committed to the development of Dubai, by creating the first seven star hotel, at a cost of over 1 billion dollars. This acted as the first big tourist attraction, in Dubai.

This lead to many other investors seeing the benefits of a tax free investment in a holiday resort and this lead to buildings, such as:

The snow dome, in the Mall of the Emirates

The Palm, which is the largest man made island in the world, with 126 kilometres of beachfront.

The largest indoor shopping mall in the world, at over one million square feet.

Lastly, currently the tallest tower in the world, the Burj Khalifa

On the other hand, behind the breath-taking architecture, there is a side of Dubai that is rarely talked about.

Even though Dubai and Abu Dhabi share 83% of the UAE wealth, which is estimated in the trillions, 40 % of Dubai workers live on less then minimum wage, in compounds not seen by the common tourists.

Dubai is recognised as one of the major centres of the world for the sale of counterfeit goods, ranging car parts to designer labels handbags and clothes.

In 2008 Dubai was still growing, however there were massive borrowing from all the major banks. With the start of the recession, Dubai had to put over 260 major construction projects on hold before they went bust and embarrassingly the Maktoum tower had to be sold to Abu Dhabi and renamed Burj Khalifa after the Sheik Khalifa of Abu Dhabi. There was even talk of selling Emirates Airlines to fund there debt.

What does the future hold for Dubai?

 Trade and tourism is still growing at an alarming rate and Dubai is starting to become the city that Sheik Maktoum pictured a mere 30 years ago. Also,

It is now recognised as the trade gateway between Europe and Asia, however it is set to do more trade with its local Arab countries and less dependency on trading with the west.

Finally, the instability in the surrounding countries has meant that more money is getting invested into Dubai.

In conclusion

Dubai is a city that boasts world-class hotels, remarkable architecture and excellent infrastructure.

It has some of the best sporting and entertainment events in the world, the race to Dubai, the richest horse racing and tennis events.

It also pushes boundaries, by making some of the most iconic buildings in the world, such as:

The Burj Al Arab, which is the worlds only 7 star hotel.

The Palm, which is the largest man made island and

The Burj Khalifa, that stands at 800 metres high

These three buildings show off the unbelievable development that has taken place in Dubai over the last 30 years.

However, whilst Dubai will never reach the heights of the early 2000’s, Dubai still has a very bright future.

Thank You

Dubai Development

Development of Dubai: The Past 30 Years

 

In this essay I will be researching about the development of Dubai, I will do this by using the Internet, using the library and interviewing people directly involved with the development. I plan to give an insight into the development, why it happened? And what Dubai holds for the future? I will also be looking at why the development went a heads and if it was worth the money and time that people all round the world put into, to make it the city it is today.

 

Where is Dubai?

 

Dubai is situated in the Middle East and is one of the seven Emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is also the largest populated city in the UAE, which was established on 2^nd December 1971. Dubai is situated on the northeast coast of the United Arab Emirates and shares borders with Abu Dhabi in the south, Sharjah in the northeast, and the Sultanate of Oman in the southeast. The UAE is made up of seven different emirates, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain, with Abu Dhabi the largest. Dubai is located in a desert climate and the cooler months from November to March. The temperatures can soar up to 40 degrees or more in the summer. The capital and the largest city is Abu Dhabi while Dubai is the commercial capital and the second largest city in the UAE. The UAE has the 7^th largest oil reserves and is one the most developed economies in West Asia.

 

How Dubai has changed economically?

During the 1990’s Dubai was little more then a village in the desert, but with surrounding oil reserves decreasing Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made massive social adjustments, which created Dubai into the social hub that it is today.  Another major factor that alarmed lots of businesses and investors that there is no tax in Dubai. This has attracted lots of people and has changed form a city with just 380,00 people to a city with 2 million plus people. Another one of the sheiks aims was to change Dubai from an oil based economy to a bank and tourism based economy. This has proved very successful with oil only accounting for 6% of income to the country. However, not all is good, at the early parts of the new millennium prices of residence were booming, but in the last 4 years in some areas prices have dropped as much as 75%. Also, over the last couple of years around 261 projects have got to go on hold due to financial problems.

 

The other side of Dubai

 

Whilst Dubai has had an outstanding economic growth in the last 15 years, there still the other side of Dubai that doesn’t get advertised or get shown to the outside world. Even though Dubai and Abu Dhabi control 83.3% of the UAE’s money, however, they have 40% of people living on minimal wage. This is because there are two parts of Dubai, upmarket Dubai, where all the skyscrapers and huge development has happened, and downtown Dubai where the slums and black market is. The infamous, karama market, which is a market were you buy fake goods from any brand. This is the main way that the lower class gets their pay from.

 

What does Dubai hold for the future?

 

Trade and tourism and trade are set to grow at an alarming rate throughout the forth-coming years. These two industries helped Dubai achieve a 3.5% increase in economy in 2011. During the early part of the 2000s, Dubai largely looked to trade with the West and did so with huge success as now only 12% of the population are natives. However, now they are looking to raise their trade locally with fellow Arabs and Far East. In 2011 CB Richard Ellis stated that Dubai was ‘the trade gateway between Europe and the Asia’. They also ranked Dubai the 9^th most popular place to be doing business with. Stephen Pycroft, Executive Chairman of Mace, states that ‘Dubai will once again be restored, even though the coming years for Dubai are uncertain, primarily caused by the Arab spring in the surrounding countries, such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi has meant that these countries and the millionaires that live there have stopped investing in their own countries and there is a growing expectation shown by a small economic upturn in Dubai, that people in these countries are investing in Dubai once more. And whilst it will never return to the glory days of the early 2000’s there is a expectation will become a area of investment and economic growth’.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, Dubai has developed massively over the last 20 years as it has gone from a run down village in the middle of the desert to a city that has matched feats that nobody expected. However, where some risks as the sheiks put in millions of pounds to fund the build up of Dubai and if it did not pay off then they would lose their money. This is demonstrated from the Burj Khalifa, formally names the Burj Dubai. The Sheik of Dubai put in millions to fund the project however they faced many problems and eventually he became bankrupt. So he called for the Sheik of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa, for his help so he funded the rest of the project but in return he wanted it to be named after him, hence Burj Khalifa. I believe that Dubai has been a success in development, it shows that how a city can be constructed from nothing. It also helps inhabit millions of people that otherwise may have nowhere to live. It gives a common tourism attraction for many people in the west, because of the great buildings. Or example, the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, the Emirates mall, the largest indoor skiing center and the Dubai mall, the largest mall in he world. So was Dubai a success? I believe, yes.

 

 

Bibliography

http://www.counsellingdubai.com/where-is-dubai-located.html – 15th February

https://blog.modernwealthmanagement.co.uk/dubai-is-the-sky-the-limit/ – 15^th February

 

 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Q. How does Coleridge develop his narrative in ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner?’

A. In ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, Coleridge uses different types of literary devices to portray a vivid picture of the events of the mariner. He uses metaphors, similes and he also uses first person perspective to express his ideas.

Coleridge uses first person narrative to create the effect that the reader was there and experiencing the event, for example: ‘And I am next of kin’ this create a connection between the reader and the poet immediately.

In Part 1 the poet doesn’t use much imagery so that it portrays that the wedding guest is dull and boring, however in Part 2 he uses interesting imagery,’like God’s own head’, to engage the reader more and make it so that the mariner is an interesting character which also emphasises the emotions of mariner.

What I Have Learnt?

Throughout this year we have learnt lots of things in English. We have learnt to quote effectively, analysed Shakespeare, learnt about rhetorical devices and how they are used in speechs today and a great deal of vocabulary. However, I think that the most important thing that we have learnt this year is how to use the internet effectively in our studies and how to use google docs and Wordpress to analise our peers work.

Technology Today

Has technology taking over? In 10 years will there even be such things as books? will jobs be dominated by robots working ten times faster then normal people?  Every post on facebook, every tweet you publish, every hashtag that you use will be recorded in history that could be the difference between getting the job or not. I find all of these thoughts very worrying.

Macbeth Soliloquy

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MMSWQGlnZAZXf7ocRwscxXqxDrQ2-mcFatEVO3RyBWA/edit