₦airaland Forum

Who dash dem d money? How dare them tell us this nonsense after hoarding COVID-19 palliatives and doing practically nothing to save our dwindling economy?

What a dishonourable way to leave

I weep for my country

Desperate times call for Desperate Measures...Nigerian soldiers need proven strategies--and unwavering government support-- to defeat foes and regain our trust

We shall see

What is Feedback?

Feedback is information that you give to learners about their performance in a learning task, usually to help them gain confidence and do better. While such feedback is generally verbal, your body language can also provide clues about the performance. The primary purposes of feedback are:

• To motivate learners when they are doing well

• To help them understand what their problems are and how they can improve where they are not doing so well
For TESSOL teachers, some examples of feedback in language teaching might be:
• Yes, right! A very good answer!
• An arched eyebrow in response to a mistake
• Comments you write in the margin of an essay
• Do you want to try again? to a student who may not have provided a correct or full answer to an exercise
Feedback can focus on many things, not merely the learners' language skills. TESOL teachers should also focus on (a) ideas in the student’s work (b) his/her attitude towards learning (c) his/her behaviour and (d) their language progress. We can give feedback to the whole class, small groups, or individual learners.

Importance of Constructive Feedback

Your feedback must be constructive and not destructive.

Remember these:

1. Feedback enables students to learn more about themselves and the effect their behaviour has on others.

2. Constructive feedback increases self-awareness, offers guidance, and encourages development, so it is vital to learn how to give feedback constructively. Constructive feedback is not only giving positive feedback (praise). Negative feedback given constructively and skilfully can be very useful.

3. Destructive feedback, which is negative feedback given in an unskilled way, generally leaves the recipient feeling sad or depressed. With unskilled feedback, students don’t learn anything they can build on.

Irobiko Chimezie Kingsley https://meziesblog.com/what-every-teacher-should-know-about-feedback-and-correction/

May her soul rest in peace.

No street of angels anymore in Nigeria. Statements of denial and consent should be scrutinized from all angles because "everything" and "anything" happens in this part of the world.

That's a commendable act from the SSS.

1. Always start with the positive
Students need encouragement - being told when they are doing something well. When offering feedback, it can help the student to hear first what they have done well. It is often common for the giver of feedback to emphasize the negative. Therefore, the focus is likely to be on mistakes more often than successes. In a rush to criticize, we may overlook the things we liked. When you discuss the positives first, any negatives are more likely to be listened to and acted upon.

2. Be specific
Try to avoid general comments which are not useful when it comes to developing skills. Statements such as You were brilliant! or It was not so good! may be pleasant or upsetting to hear, but they don't give enough detail to be useful sources of learning. Try to be precise about what the student did that led you to use the label of brilliant or not so good:

Brilliant: The way you introduced your point just at that moment was really helpful and enabled us to resolve that issue more quickly.
Not so good: By responding in that way, you seemed to want to impose your opinions on the rest of the class.
Specific feedback provides more opportunities for learning.

3. Refer to behaviour that can be changed
It is of no help to give student feedback about something over which they have no choice or control; in fact, it may be frustrating and even de-motivating.

4. Seek/offer alternatives
If you do give negative feedback, then try to turn it into a learning opportunity by asking the student what he could have done differently or may do differently in a future situation. It is always better to get ideas coming from the student. However, if he is struggling to think about what he could have done differently, offer some suggestions.

5. Be descriptive rather than evaluative
This is expanding on 'be specific'. Describing what you saw or heard or the effect it had on you is much more powerful than just giving a judgment, i.e. the way you kept calm, quiet, and focused during that situation helped everyone cope, rather than you handled that situation well.

6. Own the feedback
It’s easy to say to the student You are …, suggesting that you are offering a universally agreed opinion about her rather than an individual one. You must take responsibility for the feedback you provide. Begin with I think … or I feel that ... to avoid being the giver of a general opinion which you don't own.

7. Leave the recipient with a choice
The feedback that demands change or is imposed on the student may invite resistance and is not consistent with a belief in each of us being personally autonomous. Skilled feedback offers students information about themselves; it leaves them with a choice about whether to act or how to act. It can help to examine the consequences of any decision to change or not to change but doesn’t involve prescribing change.

Irobiko Chimezie Kingsley https://meziesblog.com/how-teachers-should-correct-children/

One man's food is another's poison. Bright Chimezie ate okro soup and they said he was commiting suicide.

Hunger pushing a strong man like this to steal. Height of laziness, according to Bubu.

Did PeoplesGazette intercept encrypted message when Morocco and Saudi Arabia are answering questions related to Pegasus spyware? Wahala dey.

Chisos! Someone could have died of a heart attack. That's scary, man.

Quantitative and qualitative research are supplementary methods that one can combine in their surveys in order to get results that are both meaningful - as well as wide-reaching.

In order to attain the best results from these research methods, it is essential to understand the differences between them. So, in this article, we’re going to make some comparisons between quantitative and qualitative research methods. But first, here’s a quick rundown of qualitative vs quantitative to give you a quick overview, then we’ll dive into some of the details…

Difference between quantitative vs qualitative research? Both research methods have different approaches. Quantitative relies more on factual testing and data, with mostly closed questions to arrive at conclusions whereas qualitative explores ideas, classifications, and scenarios, with more words, fewer tables, and graphs, and more open-ended questions.

So, now that we’ve got the overview answer, let’s take you through a more thorough - yet simple review of qualitative vs quantitative to give you a deeper understanding.

https://meziesblog.com/the-difference-between-quantitative-and-qualitative-research/

Quantitative and qualitative research are supplementary methods that one can combine in their surveys in order to get results that are both meaningful - as well as wide-reaching.

In order to attain the best results from these research methods, it is essential to understand the differences between them. So, in this article, we’re going to make some comparisons between quantitative and qualitative research methods. But first, here’s a quick rundown of qualitative vs quantitative to give you a quick overview, then we’ll dive into some of the details…

Difference between quantitative vs qualitative research? Both research methods have different approaches. Quantitative relies more on factual testing and data, with mostly closed questions to arrive at conclusions whereas qualitative explores ideas, classifications, and scenarios, with more words, fewer tables, and graphs, and more open-ended questions.

So, now that we’ve got the overview answer, let’s take you through a more thorough - yet simple review of qualitative vs quantitative to give you a deeper understanding.

https://meziesblog.com/the-difference-between-quantitative-and-qualitative-research/

'5 gay grandfathers' should make better headline

Amazing guy to watch

Your kindness won't kill you...Don't let this sad experience stop you from helping people in need. You will be vindicated at last.

Woe unto men...Eve found a way to deceive Adam into eating the apple. And she was not questioned. Adam took the responsibility of answering God's questions and, eventually, was the first to be sentenced. Women give you heart attack and tell the doctor it's too much booze and weed.

Everyday for the thief, one for the owner.

1. Introduction
Whistleblowing is central to achieving good corporate governance within a political system . This explains why countries need reliable mechanisms for identifying and correcting unethical and unlawful practices in organisations. But every action is open to a reaction so it is a common occurrence for organisations to retaliate against whistleblowers. Evidence-based reports from Whistleblower Org show an increase in the number of whistleblower activities during the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic . For example, China’s whistleblowing doctor Li Wenliang, who worked at a Wuhan-based hospital, was arrested for “disrupting public order” by “spreading false rumours” about the virus. The doctor later contracted COVID-19 from a patient and died. But he was mourned as a national hero for the lives he saved .

The United States Department of Labour defines a whistleblower as someone (an employee or external observer) who, without permission but on reasonable grounds, divulges classified information about an organisation . Whistleblowers generally cite commitment to uphold legal and moral standards, including concern for public interest, as their reasons for disclosing private data. Whistleblower protection refers to the international framework, which offers legal cover from disciplinary or discriminatory actions against people who report workplace wrongdoings to competent authorities in good faith . This study investigates how employees’ involvement in corporate governance through whistleblowing activities can increase transparency and accountability.

1.1 Rationale of the Study
This study therefore, aims at sensitizing people on their moral obligation to enforce accountability, particularly in how governments are allocating resources for health services. Governments’ responsibility to protect the rights of whistleblowers, however, takes centre stage in the research.

1.2 Problem Statement
The UK government has laid-down protective frameworks that guarantee protection and remedies for whistleblowers. But there is no specific method for the implementation of whistleblowing policies under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) .

1.3 Objectives of the Study
Based on points raised in previous sections, the objectives of this study are:
(a) To analyse the existence, purpose and the functioning of whistleblowing policies in the UK and US.
(b) To examine the effectiveness of legal structures for empowering, protecting and compensating whistleblowers
(c) To identify COVID-19 whistleblower risks and future implications around the world.
(d) To understudy actions taken by the British and American government to protect whistleblowers and prosecute offenders during COVID-19 pandemic.
(e) To recommend highly-effective solutions for all stakeholders

1.4 Research Questions
(a) How does the rights and protection availed to whistleblowers in the UK measure up to their counterparts in America?
(b) What are the relevant whistleblower legislations in both countries?
(c) Under what circumstances are whistleblowers in the UK and the US denied legal protection?

2. Literature Review
COVID-19 events exposed the systemic weakness in global whistleblower protection laws . Reports from Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) show that gross negligence among governments is responsible for retaliatory attacks on medical professionals and frontline workers who reported unethical practices like Li Wenliang and the following:

• Dr. Ai Fen from Wuhan Central Hospital, who suffered retaliation from superiors after making unapproved public statements on COVID-19. She later disappeared. Similarly, many doctors and nurses were allegedly summoned by the Chinese police for whistleblowing about coronavirus.
• Ming Lin (emergency room physician in Seattle, WA) was fired for granting an interview to a newspaper about inadequate testing and lack of protective equipment.
• Lauri Mazurkiewicz (nurse in Chicago, IL) was fired by North-western Memorial Hospital, for violating disclosure agreement by complaining to friends about the quality of available protective masks.

In London, the National Health Service (NHS) allegedly warned health workers against granting interviews or reporting their health and safety concerns to the media. These examples highlight the pivotal role of whistleblowers in enforcing accountability and transparency and strengthening public trust . Good corporate governance therefore, lends credence to the effectiveness of whistleblowing activities and the level of protection offered in legal systems .

Scheetz and Wall used a global approach to understudy whistleblower rights and found that most countries lack effective legislations and institutional framework for whistleblower protection, thus, making it impossible to prevent abuse of power, mismanagement of funds, corruption and money laundering. The scholar suggested a multi-stakeholder approach that allows partnership among the media, civil society, international organizations, governments and labour protection/anti-corruption agencies .

Moore et al agreed that retaliatory actions against whistleblowers present danger to public health and safety, also noting that whistleblower protection is the bedrock of transparency reforms in corporate governance. But most countries are yet to enact and strictly enforce legislations for this purpose.

Mintz acknowledged that retaliatory actions against whistleblowers are fairly standardized across organisations and industries. For example, retaliatory actions are classified under: nullification, isolation, defamation and expulsion. Employee is finally forced out of the organisation either by firing or forced resignation. The scholar cited cases where whistleblowers were expelled from an entire industry through blacklisting. Few examples of global whistleblower issues are Snowden, Panama Papers, Cambridge Analytica, Dieselgate and LuxLeaks .

https://meziesblog.com/whistleblower-protection-in-the-uk-and-usa-on-covid-19/

Chai...What some people are buying lots of cash and visiting prayer houses to have, someone gets free and trashes it. Pig with a gold nose ring.

Commendable. We need men of action, not words.

You may have seen an Icelandic horse looking so fearless, small and rugged. But there’s a lot more about the plucky animals; they have a long history and are highly regarded by equestrians all over the world due to their intelligence, loyalty, strength and rare beauty. Icelandic horses got their peculiar name because they were first domesticated in Iceland by ninth-century explorers.

According to Norse mythology, Icelandic horses were first owned by Nordic explorers who travelled around the country on horseback. Apart from being a major means of transportation, the animals were also used to herd livestock and clear farmlands. Unfortunately, Icelandic horses faced mass extinction in the early 20th century, when automobiles were imported into Iceland and people found the animals to be something old-fashioned.

Icelandic horses had mixed genetic roots but are now considered a pure breed in Iceland by dint of governmental regulations on importation of agricultural products. Restrictions and efforts from rescue organizations aim at protecting the endangered horse species, and so far, around 100,000 Icelandic horses can be found in the country—with an estimated 120,000 surviving in other countries, particularly Germany and other EU nations.

The Icelandic government and rescue agencies spend part of their annual budget on importing quality stables for the horse and there are constituted laws to protected the endangered animals from harm.

In modern-day Iceland, most owners of the unique horses no longer use them for farm work. Instead, equestrians find them most suitable for recreational activities due to its special frame.

Icelandic horses are easily mistaken due to their pony size but the animals are stronger than larger horses.

The iconic horses also have natural protection from very cold temperatures. During winter, Icelandic horses grow heavier coat which shields them from adverse weather conditions and regulate body heat. Interestingly, the animals retain their long, flowing mane and tail throughout the coldest season of the year.

The Icelandic breed of horses comes in different colours (gray, black, bay, pinto and palomino), a reason why it’s common to see a rainbow of coats among large herds.

The horse breed has two extra gaits apart from the common four (walk, trot, canter and gallop) namely “tolt” and “pace.” The last two gaits are peculiar to Icelandic horses. “Tolting” is described as a smooth, high-stepping and flowing gait while “pace” requires extraordinary skills that enable Icelandic horses to simultaneously move with both legs on one side of the body and tack up with the other pair, showcasing a flowing gait that makes the iconic horses adorable.

There’s a ban on exporting Icelandic horses. The rare horse breed can never return once it leaves the country because foreign governments—in collaboration with Iceland’s national registries—keep records and monitor the naturally talented animals to ensure that their genetic purity is strictly maintained.

There hasn’t been any cross-breeding of Icelandic horses in over 1,000 years, so they are considered the purest of horse breeds.

Icelandic horses are preferred by new riders because the animals are good natured—a reason why equestrians describe them as “excellent family horses.”. In sport, the horses are best used for dressage and endurance riding but can compete favourably against other breeds in racing.

Icelandic horses are known for their late maturity. They are never subjected to training until the age of 4, and don’t be surprised, their maturity age is 7. But you might need to wait until they’re 20 before taking them on a ride.
Last but not the least, Icelandic horses are confident and fearless, with the capacity to easily navigate through rough terrains than all other breeds.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAm6KIMSSe9/?utm_source=ig_embed

Written by Irobiko Chimezie Kingsley https://meziesblog.com/fun-facts-you-should-know-about-icelandic-horses/

That's a show of love. Hold her tight.

Nweke n'ife...She's tired of eating yam porridge with crayfish...Smoked catfish tastes better...Some guys still find her sexy with the protruding belly for now, never mind that...Calm down, work hard and establish yourself...When the dust settles, she'll call you honey again--and you can call her baby boo boo, if you still care...You love her from the bottom of your heart and she knows it...Harden up, bro...Face your fear.

A highly commendable act. Agueto is humble, calm and generous. He's a role model that many Nigerian politicians love to hate.

Jesus! Can't think about preserving wildlife now.

Truly successful people always strive to leave their comfort zone. A toxic boss gives you the nudge you need to excel. Take the insults as your motivation to attain greater heights. Endure, learn, improve yourself, and leave. You'll thank him / her later.

God, we need you to heal our hearts from wickedness.

�Don't mess dogs sniffing on something...Guys better stay home.