What is a Descriptive Essay?

Purdue OWL 


The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe an object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s ability to create a written account of a particular experience. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom (the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader). 

One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again! 

Here are some guidelines for writing a descriptive essay: 

Take time to brainstorm 

If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it. For instance, if you choose pizza, you might start by writing down a few words: sauce, cheese, crust, pepperoni, sausage, spices, hot, melted, etc. Once you have written down some words, you can begin by compiling descriptive lists for each one. 

Use clear and concise language. 

This means that words are chosen carefully, particularly for their relevancy in relation to that which you are intending to describe. 

Choose vivid language. 

Why use ‘horse’ when you can choose ‘stallion’? Why not use ‘tempestuous’ instead of ‘violent’? Or why not ‘miserly’ in place of ‘cheap’? Such choices form a firmer image in the mind of the reader and often times offer nuanced meanings that serve better one’s purpose. 

Use your senses! 

Remember, if you are describing something, you need to be appealing to the senses of the reader. Explain how the thing smelled, felt, sounded, tasted, or looked. Embellish the moment with senses. 

What were you thinking?! 

If you can describe emotions or feelings related to your topic, you will connect with the reader on a deeper level. Many have felt crushing loss in their lives, or ecstatic joy, or mild complacency. Tap into this emotional reservoir in order to achieve your full descriptive potential. 

Leave the reader with a clear impression. 

One of your goals is to evoke a strong sense of familiarity and appreciation in the reader. If your reader can walk away from the essay craving the very pizza you just described, you are on your way to writing effective descriptive essays. 

Be organized! 

It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe.

Language Learners: What is your level of responsibility for learning?

As language learners move from the beginner to intermediate and eventually to the advanced stages of their learning process, the responsibility for learning shifts from the teacher to the student. Setting realistic goals and understanding your level of responsibility during the learning process will allow you to think and become the second language you are striving for.

First, language learners need to set realistic goals. One of the biggest mistakes a language learner can make is to compare themselves to others and visa versa. Each person takes in and digests a second language differently therefore, we must compare ourselves to ourselves. For example, when we were a language learner in our home country, our ability was at level "X". Now, you have an opportunity to study a second language in a school environment in the country where the the language is spoken as a first language. It simply is not realistic to assume that after a period of three to six months that you will be able to speak the second language fluently. When you set goals, they have to be realistic and measurable. Set a series of short-term goals which ultimately will lead to your long-term goal. 

Maybe you'd like to order lunch at Subway but can't express yourself throughout the process? Find a way to get over this hurdle. Achieving this short-term goal is a boost to your confidence which is needed when you fall short on sophisticated vocabulary words, the conjugation of irregular verbs, and get overwhelmed with the various grammar points. The best way to measure your knowledge in English for example is by taking the TOEFL and TOEIC tests. Be prepared to take these tests more than once to achieve the desired score and stay positive by finding success in short-term projects.

Next, as language learners, you need to understand our responsibility for learning. At the beginner level, language learners are responsible for 25% while the instructor makes up the remaining 75%. In the intermediate level, the responsibility for learning is shared at 50-50. At the advanced level, language learners are responsible for 75% while the instructor makes up the remaining 25%.

With more and more of the responsibility being bore by the the language learner, these five tips for learning a second language will allow you to fill in the gaps as you move forward with your second language.

1. Find a structured course and stick with it. Whenever I take on a student for a private lesson, the lesson usually ends with them thanking me since for the past six months, they have been studying English by themselves and learned more in a one-hour tutoring session with me than they did in those six months. The key is to have structure and a sense of purpose that is measurable and specific. For example, "I am studying English because when I take a trip this summer to Australia, I do not want to take this trip with a tour. I want to travel independently." This was the case for my adult students in Japan. Or, "I want to return to my home country and work for a foreign company and the prerequisite is to have "X" score on the TOEIC in order to be considered."

2. Find what works for you. For me, I love to travel, try different kinds of food, watch sporting events and read about historical events. By identifying my hobbies, I was able to make language learning interesting when I became burnt out on the academic portion of my language learning studies. As a result, I continued to learn and remained grounded in my second language.

3. Be "8x". Years ago, a computer's hard-drive read CDs at a certain speed. Then the next generation of computers stated that the computers could read CDs at 2x the speed, or twice as much or twice as fast. I look at many language learners who perform at 1 or 2 "x", meaning that they attend a weekly class, maybe, and do some English-related homework. This is, they think, "enough." Since the language learner's responsibility grows as they become more and more advanced, this is not enough. Therefore, we must be 8x meaning we need to take advantage of every opportunity at our disposal. Structured learning courses may have computer-based programs that will allow extra repetition in troubled areas of our learning. Study halls may be available where we can ask the instructor for one-on-one instruction is another possibility. Maybe offering to exchange an hour of English conversation for an hour of advice on traveling in your home country is another way to taking in extra instruction.

Other ways are if you ride the bus to school, ask the person sitting next to you about the recent game. Explain that you are new to the area and don't know much about the game but know that the locals follow it and you are interested. Or, if striking up conversation with strangers is not for you, listen to NPR or other local talk shows on the radio on your commute to school. Make notes and strike up conversation with your teacher. Find out the weather on the local TV broadcast before school. If you are living in your home country and doing these things aren't possible since English isn't the main language spoken, download English songs, utilize the Internet by watching English-language clips on Youtube or listen to NPR.org. Read online magazines and newspapers. Do more than just the basics. As Chuck Noll, an American Football coach of four world champion teams in the 1970s stated, "Do the basics better than everyone else." In other words, do more than just enough to get by.

4. Make Friends. When I was a language learner in Japan, it was bitter sweet to learn of Japanese people's experiences when they studied English in the US. They had amazing stories of their experiences with American roommates, some even dated Americans, while others had stories of road trips across country. But, there were many Japanese people who said that finding friends were difficult. If they were around my age, I would reply, "If you were in California, why couldn't we have met?" This was because I was the lone American invited to the International Student Association's quarterly potluck party since I would always make friends with international students on campus. One of those friends became my girlfriend which later became my wife. My wife and I were able to learn from each other's home cultures and each other's languages. Now, in my late 30's I remain grounded in my second language as my goal is to express myself to my in-laws and have the opportunity with weekly Internet calls courtesy of Skype.

5. Never Give Up. The best tip is saved for last. Think for a moment about the size of the mountain you're considering to climb when you begin study a second language. One of my favorite saying that I learned in Japan is, "If we fall down seven times, we get up eight times." The key is to follow through and be aware of your goals. I suggest you write your realistic goals down with the date so that you can measure your progress. By doing these things you'll be satisfied with your language learning progress.

In conclusion, don't give up, remain perseverant to get through the baptism of fire of language learning. Keep goals realistic, measurable and understand the responsibility for language learning. Maintain structure, find a plan that works for you, be proactive, make like minded friends and never give up.

Daniel Stone has been a language learner of Japanese since the mid 1990s when he was a US service member serving at Fleet Activities in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa, Japan. Since then, he worked his way through college with financial assistance from the Montgomery GI Bill and earned his bachelor's degree one month before his 30th birthday. At 31, he began his formal language learning in Japan at Bunkyo University in Koshigaya City, Saitama, Japan. Today, he is the owner/operator of a company that trains expats in English, provides test preparation, and assists with the relocation and family support.

Contact Two Birds One Stone Learning to set up a free "getting acquainted" meeting to see if we are right for you.

Daniel Stone, Principal Consultant and Founder
daniel.stone@onestonelearning.com
www.onestonelearning.com

The 300% increase- More of my time as founding Center Director: My philosophy was and is to not have all the students, just the good ones.

International Student Enrollment is complex because there are so many moving parts that are contingent upon so many varying factors.  Branding is key and if your institution is known for not being cognizant to an international person's view towards smoking or have subpar spaces and simply do not have enough space or staffing to support, you will burnout staff and sully your brand along the way.  I recently was asked by the biggest educational institution in town as to why enrollment in one particular nationality saw a 300% increase.

In carrying out a PEST analysis, I was able to provide the following feedback to the top school official at The Ohio State University:

Question:
I hope to understand the 300% increase in the Autumn 2011 of Saudi students at our school.  Was it when your school went smoke-free and nearly every Saudi student transfer from your school to my school?

Answer: 
In employing a PEST analysis, this will give you a balanced perspective to what was going on in the world of Intensive English Programming (IEP) in Columbus in 2011.

Political 
The political environment in the Middle East in 2011 was very turbulent due to the Arab Spring movement.  Not only was ELS being inundated with the influx of Saudi Arabian Culture Mission (SACM) students which by and far really had no business being issued a F-1 visa due to not really exhibiting anything that would constitute admission to a university in the US, but we were also being approached from abroad by potential students from Syria, Egypt, Libya, etc.  If you were in the Middle East, were under the age of 30 and knew enough English to converse on the phone or had a friend or distant relative in the US, odds were that you were trying to get in the US as a F-1 student, so it seemed.

Economic 
The economic environment was favorable for an increase in Middle Eastern students due to the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP), managed by SACM, which basically gave just about anyone from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) a chance to study abroad more or less for the cultural experience, not necessarily for admission into a US university.  I would be interested in the figures that you provided of 111 KASP scholars in 2011 and and 117 KASP scholars in 2012 as to how many graduated the American Language Program at Ohio State and matriculated to an undergraduate or graduate program at any school and of course graduated.  At any rate, ELS had to temporarily pause the issuance of F-1 visas in the Fall of 2011 since the service and accountability provided by ELS was uneven as the CEO of ELS announced in 2012.  The student intake from the Middle East with KSA leading the way had simply overwhelmed the company's infrastructure.

Social 
The social environment was favorable for an increase in Middle Eastern students to transfer from ELS/Columbus to other area schools that could issue the student an I-20.  This was not due to the smoking policy at Ohio Dominican University (ODU) since this policy had been in effect since 2007.  ODU just wasn't enforcing the smoking policy.  In fact, ODU's Safety and Security team was actually smoking on campus themselves.  Once ELS took occupancy in June 2010, the issue became prevalent but other than the ODU security team tattling to me about a student smoking with no specifics, the smoking issue wasn't a driving factor for students to transfer from ELS/Columbus.  It wasn't till March 2012 when ELS devised a "Three Strikes Policy" which I implemented and caused a ruckus with one particular Chinese woman who had befriended some of the Chinese students at ELS.  The first violator of the "Three Strikes Policy" was a Chinese student.  The same holds true to Chinese students, our 2nd largest demographic behind Saudis.  The first violator had issues adjusting to life as a potential college student in the US and a hapless security team who was hesitant to do their jobs reported him because he would brazenly smoked for the whole world to see.  I did my job and he complained to his Chinese friend.  She was relentless with letters to the ODU President and then to ELS.  Some groups can spoil the good name of the others around them.  While they are not despicable themselves, they are a disgusting reminder to those around them.  This is the problem when people aren't held accountable and when they finally are, it is such a painful and foreign experience that they react in such a shameful way. This is how I compartmentalize the social scene at Ohio Dominican in the flight stage of the venture that I started.

Anyway, the reason that there were so many students transferring from ELS/Columbus was that there was no space for them at ODU.  We expanded to the adult education building on Airport Road which is a stone's throw from the ODU main campus but didn't do so till the Fall 2011 semester.  Ramadan was another reason that there were so many students that transferred from ELS/Columbus to OSU's ALP Program and Capital University's ESL Program.  Their scholarship would not permit them to return home and they were too new to take the ELS session off so they got around it by transferring to OSU and Capital which allowed them to partake in Ramadan and remain in good standing with their F-1 visa.

Technological 
Lastly, the technological environment was favorable for an increase in Middle Eastern students to transfer from ELS/Columbus since the spaces in the basement of the dorm building that ELS operated out of was cramped, drab, and downright disgusting due to a cracked foundation which caused water damage to books, paper, etc.  The copier would get jammed since the paper curled up due to the moisture, etc.  Students were receiving instruction in classrooms that had substantial amounts of water along the wall in the rug, and the white boards were curling off the wall due to the moisture.  In the Summer of 2011, we relieved this space to a degree by occupying unused classroom space on the ODU main campus.  Then in the Fall 2011 semester, we expanded to the adult ed building which alleviated the space issues.

To better assess the 300% uptick in Saudis, check with the Office of International Affairs (OIA) on transfers into OSU from ELS/Columbus or any other school.  That will likely be part of your number as well as students with initial I-20s arriving from KSA with SACM scholarship letters.  I was transferring students out left and right around the summer of 2011 due to Ramadan and the fact that every four weeks, more students from KSA were arriving or attempting to transfer in and I had no where to put them or enough instructors to teach them, so I gladly sent the students to a different school. My philosophy was and is to not have all the students, just the good ones.

Daniel J. Stone, MBA

Founder and Principal Consultant

Two Birds One Stone Learning, LLC

3700 Riverside Drive, #21861

Columbus, OH  43221

Office:  614-219-9757

Cell/Text:  864-609-7295

Web:  www.onestonelearning.com

Forecasting Methods for International Enrollment Management

Individual Economic Summary:  Forecasting Methods for　International Enrollment Management

Daniel J. Stone

Ohio Dominican University　　　　

Forcasting Methods for International Enrollment Management- ELS Language Centers and Ohio Dominican University from Daniel J. Stone, MBA

　　　　　In June 2010, I relocated from my home state of South Carolina to Columbus, Ohio to open an Intensive English Program (IEP) on the campus of Ohio Dominican University (ODU).  Typically, institutions of higher education will facilitate an IEP in-house such as English as Second Language (ESL) programs located on the campuses of Capital, Otterbein, Columbus State and Ohio State for example.  In the case of ODU, management of an ESL Program is outsourced by my former employer, ELS Educational Services (ELS).  A third-party vendor, ELS is based out of Princeton, New Jersey and touts itself as the largest recruiter of international students for universities and postgraduate programs in the US, Canada, and Australia  (ELS Educational Services, Inc., 2012).  At the local level, ELS Language Centers is a private entity that provides English language training on college campuses throughout the US. 

　　　　　Forecasting methods were employed to analyze data to carry out ELS's mission which was to make a profit.  In general, ELS has the belief that the more industrious a Language Center (LC), and doing so with as little of possible manpower, the more profitable it will be.  This trait comes from the ELS’s parent companies of Benesse Corporation and Berliz  Language School based in Tokyo, Japan.  With a Japanese belief system coupled by a corporate office in New Jersey and in the case of ELS/Columbus, a district office in Seattle, Washington, not only were there communication and logistical gaps but there were also culture gaps.  This goes without saying the different cultures that the LCs are expected to manage while trying to navigate ODU's politics and being understaffed by design.  The margin for success under these conditions are small since in order to deliver satisfactory results in circumstances that required a major undertaking and a high level of labor intensiveness is determined on all parties involved to buy in and being able to execute.  While the challenges were great from 2010 to 2012 at ELS/Columbus, the LC was accredited by the US Department of Education and became the first International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Testing Center in Central Ohio.  However, a direct correlation that demonstrates that this ELS's mission needs to be broadened to more than just making a profit is the high turnover of quality staff leaving to work at the other ESL programs in Columbus coupled by the resistance received by "ODU Working Group".  The "ODU Working Group" comprised of direct hires of ODU and in theory were to bridge any gaps in services between ELS and ODU. 

　　　　　Looking back, resources were scarce as I moved forward at Center Director at ELS/Columbus in the Summer of 2010.  For example, the time allowed to prepare the forecast for upcoming enrollment periods was only six weeks.  Alone, much of those first six weeks were spent advertising, interviewing, hiring, and training new staff.  As a result, forecasting was conducted simultaneously the first year of operations until ELS/Columbus had enough data from a local standpoint to even consider employing qualitative forecasting.  Therefore naive forecasting was employed that first year since the future trends of enrollment could not be explained at ELS/Columbus until more data (time) was gained.  Nevertheless, qualitative and quantitative forecasting techniques were employed in order for ELS to operate as a proprietary on college campuses such as ODU.  Having a solid understanding of ELS's mission which is to optimize profit, I was well aware that ELS valued what ODU had to offer because it fit perfectly within ELS's model.  ELS would be operating by using the least expensive method while achieving desire results:  profit maximization. 

Quantitative Forecasting-  Causal Forecasting

　　　　　ELS squeezes out inefficiencies and streamlines resources by using the Full-Time Enrollment (FTE) technique.  This technique is essential to ELS since it ensures that the organization remains profitable by managing a LC's hiring needs (Appendix A).  By taking the item to be forecasted, enrollment, teacher's work schedules, classroom space, textbooks, and other inventory are allocated based on the number of students enrolled at the LC.  In short, the more students enrolled at a LC, the more teaching and administrative hours are available.  For example, a student enrolled in a full-time program (120 hours per session) gets a count of "1".  A student enrolled in a part-time program which is enough hours to maintain student visa requirements (80 hours per session) gets a count of "0.67".  Lastly, a student that is enrolled in a part-time program which does not need to maintain student visa requirements (60 hours per session) gets a count of "0.50".  The formula used to determine the hours per day that are allowed is calculated by the formula =IF(Total Full Time Enrollment Count<41,( Total Full Time Enrollment Count multiplied by 7.76+155.2),( Total Full Time Enrollment Count multiplied by 7.76+164.9))/(Number of days of instruction per session which is 20).  Without the FTE technique, a LC is unable to consistently operate within financial standards while verifying that the students enrolled are in the correct program for the accurate length of time.  While managing the present FTE, the future FTE is managed by controlling levels such as forecasting future students' enrollments. 

　　　　　Next, FTE is tracked by hours allowed with holidays factored in versus the hours scheduled that session.  Known as the Cumulative Standard Tracker, the hours unused which are rolled over to the following sessions are banked for when the schedule can't be kept within the financial standards.  For example, a schedule can't be kept within financial standards due to too many students per a class's academic standards.  The maximum number of students for core classes are 15 students and 20 students for elective classes.  At the end of the year, any banked hours that are unused are taken away and the new year starts at zero banked hours (Appendix B).

　　　　　The Future Student Forecasting Enrollment (FSFE) technique allows tracking and forecasting to be kept in order (Appendix C).  Due to the seemingly endless possibilities of a student's status coupled by tight units of enrollment measurements (four 4-week sessions equate to one semester at ODU).  For example, in any given session, the following events can take place:  A student will depart and return to their home country, a student will transfer to another school, a student will return to their home country with the intention to come back to ELS/Columbus school within the next five months (or have to get a new immigration document thru their nearest US Embassy), a student will take the next session off and stay in the US to apply at other universities or take prep exams for entrance into another university, or a student will take the next session off due to a medical condition such as pregnancy.  Then there are the students that are coming to ELS/Columbus school for classes and will have to the following events take place:  new incoming for the first time, transferring from another school to ELS/Columbus school, returning to ELS/Columbus school after being out of the country temporarily, returning to ELS/Columbus school after taking the previous session off, returning to ELS/Columbus school after taking time off due to a medical condition such as pregnancy.  With so many students coming and going every four weeks, and the importance that ELS/Columbus have enough staff to meet the needs and over staffing is not an option due to ELS's mission of making a profit. 

Qualitative Forecasting-  Contractual Shortfalls, Overgrowth, and Ramadan

　　　　　I learned very quickly that the "one size fits all" approach from the corporate and district levels did not work more times than it did work.  Heartburn experienced that first year was later corrected with both qualitative and quantitative forecasting.  Some examples of the how qualitative forecasting was employed the second year was by ensuring that ELS/Columbus had enough classroom space.  In May 2010, I came to Columbus for the very first time for the final interview and offer.  In meeting some of the "ODU Working Group", members of the ELS senior management, aka "Jury and Executive opinion" explained to the ODU employees that in the first year they should expect approximately 45 ELS students comprising of 15 students staying in the dorms on campus, 15 students staying with host families, and 15 students from the outside.  When classes commenced at the start of the Fall 2010 semester, ELS had four students.  By the end of the semester, ELS's enrollment grew to about 25.  It had appeared that ELS's senior management would be correct in their estimate of 45 students the first year.  ELS operates 13 four-week sessions meaning that during the Winter Break, ELS classes were in session.  Between the semesters, ELS took on 40 students, mainly transfer students.  Despite the horrid conditions that first Winter Break, ELS's enrollment had blown past ELS senior management's expectations.  At the end of the Spring 2011 semester, ELS was forced to have classes on the main campus in the allocated spaces as well as empty spaces usually used by ODU.  Between the semesters in July 2011, ELS/Columbus's enrollment ballooned to 140 students, nearly 100 more than ELS senior management forecasted a year prior.  Since ODU's enrollment was next to nonexistent on the main campus between the semesters, ELS was able to used empty classrooms.  From the start of the Fall 2011 semester, ELS fleshed out its oversized enrollment by using the empty classrooms at the LEAD building on Airport Road.  To bridge the logistical gap, ELS and ODU entered into a joint venture for the next 12 months which comprised of the use of an ODU vans and drivers.  In order to sell the point that this joint venture was sustainable, I was able to use data from the past year.  By employing causal forecasting, ELS was able to carry out its mission of profit maximization by utilizing unused classrooms since LEAD students don't have classes during the day.  ODU supplied the resources and ELS supplied the schedule and split the operational costs 50-50. 

            During the first Winter Break,  ELS students did not have adequate food service since ODU failed miserably by not carry out contractual obligations.  ELS/Columbus protected enrollment by moving completely off the main campus the second Winter Break and did not charge ELS students for meals.  The only thing that was on the main campus over the Winter Break were dorm students.  Since ELS/Columbus had the ODU Shuttle, ELS/Columbus dispatched the shuttle on a regular basis to the Easton Town Center where students picked up meals and shopped at Wal-Mart. 

            Ramadan, the main holiday for Muslims and 80% of ELS/Columbus's FTE proved disastrous the Summer of 2011.  Fortunately, due to the newness of the ELS/Columbus student body, they were not able to return home at their scholarship's expense.  Because of this, ELS/Columbus had enough FTE so that ELS/Columbus teachers' schedules were not affected.  New students at ELS took it upon themselves to not attend class which was in violation of the student visa and terminated their studies on the campus of ODU.  They were told that they had to transfer to another school or return to their home country which didn't fit their agenda. 

            In the Summer of 2012, qualitative forecasting had to be employed effectively to ensure that there were no misunderstandings coupled by the fact that FTE would be substantially lower than in previous sessions.  Students effected by Ramadan were given options and signed an agreement and based on the outcome of the options selected determined how many senior teachers could take off the session that was effected by Ramadan and get paid due to the amount of vacation hours accumulated.  

　　　　　To conclude, the importance of both qualitative and quantitative forecasting techniques allowed me as Center Director to manage the scarce resources at my disposal as well as the heartburn of rolling out a new program.  Despite the obstacles, I was able to carry out ELS's mission by hiring staff on a just-in-time basis, utilize unused classrooms, maintain a manageable amount of inventory such as text books, predict the number of beds needed for the dorms and homestay pools.  These forecasting techniques weren't just  one-way for ELS's benefit.  These techniques were used to provide information to ODU's top management for the their forecasting of upcoming fiscal schedules due to the significance of the income that ELS was generating on the campus of ODU. 

 References

ELS Educational Services, Inc. (2012). About ELS.  Retrieved from ELS Language

Centers official website:  http://www.els.edu/en/AboutELS