Reaping the Whirlwind: The Wind That Shakes the Barley,Liberation and After in the Movies

Popular culture includes stories that define and justify the existence of groups and nations. Among those stories are creation accounts, especially stories of the forming of nations through struggles for liberation from oppression. The useful liberation myths are exemplified by two recent films: V for Vendetta and Children of Men. Another recent film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, gives a sober and nuanced account of the Irish Rebellion. It includes the ambiguities of liberation events and the problems that arise and continue after the glorious moment of liberation.     

Linguistic analysis and reading skills of first graders in partial French and Hebrew immersion programs

This study compared the performance of 45 first graders in partial French immersion, partial Hebrew immersion, and traditional English programs on measures of linguistic analysis ability and early reading skills in English. A modified version of the Auditory Analysis Test (Rosner and Simon, 1971) established that both French and Hebrew immersion children were more proficient than their English program peers at explicity analyzing the internal structure of spoken words. Subjects in the Hebrew program read non-words more successfully than either of the other two groups, and read orthographically regular real words better than the control subjects. These results suggest that second language learning, even in a partial immersion setting, enhances linguistic awareness. The potential implications for reading skill acquisition are discussed.This research was funded by Grant A2008 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

The Big,Bad Wolf: Resisting Corporate Evil in “Damages” and State of Play

Popular culture requires readily identifiable villains. Subcultural groups often serve this role, creating controversies. Controversies based on religion are especially bitter. As a rule, religion in the movies is inoffensively sentimental, but The Da Vinci Code is both popular and provocative, treading on the dangerous ground of Jesus's mortality. An Inconvenient Truth, another unexpectedly popular recent movie, is not as amusing, but it concerns issues Jesus cared more about.     

济莱协作区体育产业的发展路径研究

文章通过走访面谈、问卷调查法和文献资料分析相结合的研究方法,并且在全面审视济莱协作区体育产业的现状和问题的情况下,提出了济莱协作区体育产业发展路径的对策与措施。