Synergy

5

Authors: Maria LĂCĂTUŞ

The main challenge for professors who conduct in-service teacher training for teachers with different backgrounds is to identify a common domain of interest in order to discuss specific issues of teaching a particular subject. In the 2009 course we conducted at the Department for Teacher Training in The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies we thought that economic processes that affect our daily life could be the connecting factor in a diverse group, especially during recession periods of time when people are more interested than usual in understanding economy and economic public policies. In spring 2009, the Romanian government started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan that would help Romania in the crisis, which was discussed a lot in the media and many controversial opinions were expressed by representatives, decision makers and different public personalities. In this context, at our post-university course we conduct a session focused on the IMF. The lesson “What is the International Monetary Fund and What Does It Do?" demonstrated how effective cooperative learning activities are.

5

Authors: Maria LĂCĂTUŞ

The main challenge for professors who conduct in-service teacher training for teachers with different backgrounds is to identify a common domain of interest in order to discuss specific issues of teaching a particular subject. In the 2009 course we conducted at the Department for Teacher Training in The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies we thought that economic processes that affect our daily life could be the connecting factor in a diverse group, especially during recession periods of time when people are more interested than usual in understanding economy and economic public policies. In spring 2009, the Romanian government started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan that would help Romania in the crisis, which was discussed a lot in the media and many controversial opinions were expressed by representatives, decision makers and different public personalities. In this context, at our post-university course we conduct a session focused on the IMF. The lesson “What is the International Monetary Fund and What Does It Do?" demonstrated how effective cooperative learning activities are.

7

Authors: Mihaela ZOGRAFI

Foreign language teaching has recently shown increased interest in the relationship between language and culture. One of the objectives set forth in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) published by the Council of Europe (2001) is the development of socio-cultural competence in foreign language learners,as this promotes intercultural communication. This article aims to emphasise the necessity to acquire intercultural competence - ICC as one of the core competences required today. It further defines the concept and presents guidelines and strategies to train it. Lastly, the foreign language classroom is presented as an ideal environment in which to teach language and culture in integrated ways.

7

Authors: Mihaela ZOGRAFI

Foreign language teaching has recently shown increased interest in the relationship between language and culture. One of the objectives set forth in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) published by the Council of Europe (2001) is the development of socio-cultural competence in foreign language learners, as this promotes intercultural communication. This article aims to emphasise the necessity to acquire intercultural competence - ICC as one of the core competences required today. It further defines the concept and presents guidelines and strategies to train it. Lastly, the foreign language classroom is presented as an ideal environment in which to teach language and culture in integrated ways.

8

Authors: Alexandru W. A. POPP

We describe a candid model for learning, why and how learning transpires. We investigate the original as well as the leading conditions of the learning process. We provide an insight into the realm of beliefs and their formation, their interaction and influence with the actor’s environment. In addition, we provide to our terms (and terminology) real definitions, thus differentiating between nominal and real definitions. Having this approach, the same terminology can be employed by other models, theories or frameworks without creating ‘expert language’ barriers. Moreover, we provide an understanding of the influence that learning in general has on human behavior.

9

Authors: Monica CONDRUZ-BĂCESCU

The existing literature on the relationship between culture strength and performance focuses on the consequences of strong cultures for performance levels but has not examined how strong cultures affect performance variability, or the reliability of firm performance. This is surprising, since the arguments relating culture strength to performance draw particular attention to the benefits of having greater internal consistency in goals and behaviors. One should therefore expect strong-culture firms to exhibit less variable performance. This expectation is complicated, however, by the fact that the variability of a firm's performance depends not only on the ability to maintain consistency in internal processes but also on the firm's ability to adapt to environmental change. The relationship between culture strength and performance reliability, therefore, should depend on how strong-culture firms learn from and respond to both their own experiences and changes in their environment.

9

Authors: Dana Sorana URS

This article suggests a possible interpretation of the sentence by resorting to the ancient Hindu grammar and the model of Archetypes. According to the former, Language belonged to a superior ontological level that was called the Primordial Word unifying the material reality and awareness into the causal realm of all objects and their corresponding words (an equivalent to the Archetypes). This causal level manifests only through the Sentence which is an indivisible content. The relationships between its parts illustrate the structure of the Cosmic Ritual that operates a magic transfer leading to completeness and transformation.

9

Authors: Monica CONDRUZ-BĂCESCU

The existing literature on the relationship between culture strength and performance focuses on the consequences of strong cultures for performance levels but has not examined how strong cultures affect performance variability, or the reliability of firm performance. This is surprising, since the arguments relating culture strength to performance draw particular attention to the benefits of having greater internal consistency in goals and behaviors. One should therefore expect strong-culture firms to exhibit less variable performance. This expectation is complicated, however, by the fact that the variability of a firm's performance depends not only on the ability to maintain consistency in internal processes but also on the firm's ability to adapt to environmental change. The relationship between culture strength and performance reliability, therefore, should depend on how strong-culture firms learn from and respond to both their own experiences and changes in their environment

12

Authors: Yolanda-Mirela CATELLY

This article is meant to share with fellow teachers of foreign languages some of the insights on the patterns of efficient learning behaviour of Good Language Learners (GLLs), as they were studied by the author within the framework of a larger empirical investigation on ways and means of developing students’ awareness as far as their language learning and using strategies repertory is concerned. The concept of GLL, its evolution and meaning in the literature are briefly reviewed, then the usefulness - for both students of the foreign language and their teachers – of learning more about Good Language Learners’ know-how is discussed. Finally, a set of activities focused on GLLs’ are presented and rationales are provided for each of them.

18

Authors: Mariana SĂNDULESCU

The mechanisms of declarative responsibilities contribute to text coherence, explaining - on one side- the various evaluations (judgements, opinions, feelings) expressed upon the aspects of the theme contents and - on the other side, the sources of those evaluations. This article aims at identifying the instances assuming those evaluations i.e. who bears the responsibility for the statement - task usually and classically given to the author but also to other responsible, formal, intrinsic instances (like the narrator and/or the presenter.)