France

This was the first group assignment that gave by our General English teacher, Mr. Tristan. In this subject, we learned about the reading comprehension, and writing skills which are how to write a business letter, fax, email,etc. Also, we learned to speaks in English by doing this assignment. In this assignment, we had to give a presentation about the interesting things in a country, and my group chose Tourism in France.

 

The French Republic (French: République française), as known as France, is a sovereign country comprising a metropolitan territory located in Western Europe and numerous overseas territories around the world. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel, and from the Rhine and Alpes to the Atlantic Ocean. French citizens often refer to Metropolitan France as L’Hexagone (The “Hexagon”) because of the geometric shape of its territory.

Capital city : Paris
Official language : France
Motto : “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” (Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité)
Population of France: 64,473,140 people
Area of France: 674,843 km2

Tourism

With 81.9 million foreign tourists, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain and the United States. France features cities of high cultural interest (example: Pari), beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism). Aside from casual tourism France attracts a lot of religious pilgrims to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées département, that hosts a few million tourists a year.

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel) is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair.
The tower stands at 324 m tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. And while the Eiffel Tower is a steel structure, and weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes, it actually has a relatively low density, weighing less than a cylinder of air occupying the same dimensions as the tower.
The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend either on stairs or lifts to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is only accessible by lift. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants.
The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France. The tower is a featured part of the backdrop in literally scores of movies that take place in Paris. Its iconic status is so established that it even serves as a symbol for the entire nation of France, such as when it was used as the logo for the French bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Lourdes

Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes that are reported to have occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous. At that time, the most prominent feature of the town was the fortified castle that rises up from a rocky escarpment at its centre

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west. It is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral and is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.

Flame of Liberty

The Flame of Liberty (Flamme de la Liberté) in Paris is a full size, gold leaf covered, replica of the flame carried in the hand of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. It was given to the city of Paris by the International Herald Tribune on behalf of donors as part of the newspaper's centennial celebrations in 1987. It is located near the northern end of the Pont de l'Alma on the Place de l'Alma in Paris. The Flame of Liberty, which sits above the entrance to the Paris tunnel in which Diana died.

château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

The château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is located at Orschwiller, Alsace, France, in the Vosges mountains at west of Sélestat. The castle is nestled at a strategic location on a high hill overlooking the Alsatian plain; as a result it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. In 1900 it was restored under the direction of Emperor Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist attraction, located on the Alsace wine route.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris, France that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, also known as the "Place de l'Étoile".[1] It is at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The triumphal arch honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought. Underneath is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I .
The Arc is the linchpin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) — a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace to the outskirts of Paris. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail and set the tone for public monuments, with triumphant nationalistic messages, until World War I.
The monument stands 49.5 m in height, 45 m wide and 22 m deep. The large vault is 29.19 m high and 14.62 m (48.0 ft) wide. The small vault is 18.68m high and 8.44 m wide. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence. Its design was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus. The Arc de Triomphe is so colossal those three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, marking the end of hostilities in World War I, CharlesGodefroy flew his Nieuport biplane through it, with the event captured on newsreel.

Conclusion
In fact that France has many beautiful objects, not just places or cities, but also monuments, buildings, and so on. Those objects become so popular in tourism world. Those objects are not just beautiful but also have historic story behind those beauty that became a reason of tourists to come. Those objects become more important in France, therefore tourism becomes one of the economic factors in France. 

Nine Pillars of LSPR

Pada tanggal 22 Januari 2008, The London School of Public Relations mengadakan seminar “Nine Pillars of LSPR”, yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kesadaran dan pribadi mahasiswa-mahasiswa LSPR. Pembicara dalam seminar ini adalah Mr. Arnold Pa’alam dan Mrs. Veronica. Seminar ini diawali oleh Mr. Arnold, dimana seminar ini menyadarkan kita mengenai nilai-nilai di dalam kehidupan kita sebagai manusia (values in life). Mr. Arnold mengatakan bahwa semua manusia lahir untuk menjadi seorang pemenang atau winner dan menjadi manusia yang berguna atau menjadi ‘a great human being’. Selain itu, Mr. Arnold memutarkan video singkat mengenai pentingnya vision, mengenai pentingnya vision bagi manusia. Dengan vision, kita dapat melakukan apapun yang kita mau, dengan vision kita juga dapat mengubah dunia, dan dengan vision kita dapat mencapai apa yang kita kehendaki. Melalui vision, hidup kita akan terarah, dan dapat diarahkan. Tapi, yang harus diperhatikan adalah jika vision dilakukan tanpa aksi atau action, maka vision itu hanya omong kosong, dan juga jika action tanpa vision, maka action tersebut akan menjadi usaha yang tidak ada artinya. Oleh karena itu, setiap manusia, setiap orang harus mempunyai suatu vision. Vision itu seperti tali yang terbentang ke seberang sungai yang dapat menjadi pegangan untuk menjaga kita dalam menghadapi tantangan, dan masalah.Dalam proses pencapaian vision, nilai-nilai atau values yang kita percayai sangatlah berpengaruh. Values merupakan kualitas personal yang sangat berguna, dan sangat penting untuk dirisendiri dan oranglain. Values dapat kita dapatkan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, dari agama, kebudayaan, organisasi, dan lain-lain. Values dapat memproduksi integritas ketika values tersebut diterapkan secara konstan ke dalam kehidupan sehari-hari.
Dengan values yang baik, dan dapat diterapkan ke dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, maka kita akan meraih kesuksesan yang kita inginkan. Inilah yang menjadi tujuan dari seminar ini.
Values sangat berpengaruh terhadap sikap kita atau attitude kita. Mr. Arnold menyimpulkan bahwa dengan nilai-nilai yang baik dan positif, maka kita juga akan bersikap dengan baik atau memiliki attitude yang baik, sehingga dengan semua itu vision akan tercapai. Mr. Arnold pun memberikan penjelasan berupa contoh yang diambil dari penelitian alphabet bahwa:
o Hard work = 98% for success
o Knowledge= 96% for success
o ATTITUDE = 100% for success (influence by values)
Dengan demikian dapat kita ketahui bahwa Attitude sangat berpengaruh dalam mencapai kesuksesan. Oleh karena itu, Mr. Arnold memberikan pesan agar kita menjaga sikap kita kepada setiap orang.
Setelah menjelaskan tentang vision, values, dan attitude, Mr. Arnold melanjutkan tentang pilar-pilar LSPR:
o Respect
o Polite
o Responsible
o Honest
o Disciplined
o Perseverance
o Confident
o Independent
o Do best
Tetapi hanya 3 pillars (Honesty oleh Mr Arnold, Polite dan Respect oleh Mrs. Veronica) yang dibahas dalam seminar kali ini, sedangkan pillars lainya akan dibahas pada seminar yang akan datang.
Mr. Arnold menjelaskan tentang pilar pertama dalam 9 pillars of LSPR adalah HONESTY atau kejujuran. Honesty merupaka suatu kualitas untuk membebaskan diri sendiri atau memerdekakan diri sendiri. Honesty dapat berarti kejujuran pada diri sendiri, orang lain, orang tua, keluarga dan juga pada kemampuan diri sendiri. Sedangkan ketidakjujuran dan mengulanginya, maka akan menghasilkan kehancuran atau ketidak percayaan diri, tidak ada orang yang mempercayai kita, tidak mempunyai teman, dan sulit untuk mencapai kesuksesan. Maka, Mr. Arnold menekankan bahwa dengan kejujuran, kita berhak mendapatkan kebahagiaan.
Setelah Mr. Arnold menjelaskan, seminar dilanjutkan dengan pembicara kedua yaitu Mrs. Veronica. Beliau memberikan pengarahan tentang pilar LSPR yang kedua yaitu Politeness atau sopan-santun, yang berarti sikap menghargai orang lain ketika kita bersikap atau berbicara. Kita dapat mengeksprsikan politeness dengan kebaikan, mendengarkan atau listening, dan bersikap sensitive kepada orang lain. Dengan bersikap baik berarti kita bersikap pengertian, bersikap saling memahami, lembut, dan ramah. Listening atau mendengarkan berarti kita mendengarkan dengan seksama, tidak memotong pembicaraan orang, tidak rebut, dan saling berinteraksi atau bersikap interaktif. Memiliki kesensitifan terhadap orang lain berarti kita bertoleransi, tidak egois, dan memiliki rasa empathy.
Mrs. Veronica juga membahas tentang:
1. Brown and Levinson, Politeness:
• Strategies are developed in order to save the hearer’s face.
2. Politeness theory
• 1963, Erring Geffman published the article “On Face Work” where he first created the term “face”.
• Positive face, when others like, respect and approve of us
• Negative face, when we feel that others can’t constrain us in anyway
Setelah menjelaskan tentang Politeness, Mrs. Veronica melanjutkan tentang pillar ketiga yakni Respect yang berarti mengekspresikan sikap menghargai integritas, menghargai diri sendiri dan juga orang lain. Untuk mendapatkan respect dari orang lain, kita harus memiliki sikap yang menguntungkan untuk orang lain, berbicara sesuai dengan apa yang kita ketahui atau kita lakukan, dan melakukan pekerjaan yang lebih baik daripada ekspetasi orang lain, dan kita harus melakukan hal-hal tersebut dengan sungguh-sungguh. Dengan adanya respect dari orang lain, kita dapat lebih mudah berinteraksi dalam kehidupan social, sedangkan dalam kehidupan personal, kita akan mendapat kepercayaan dari orang lain, mempunyai nilai-nilai yang positif, dan mendapatkan kebahagiaan diri sendiri. Respect merupakan hal yang penting, contohnya: menghargai orangtua, teman dan lainnya. Maka, jika kita tidak dapat menghargai diri sendiri, maka tidak ada satupun alas an bagi kita untuk menghargai orang lain atau mengharapkan oranglain menghargai kita. Respect merupakan attitude atau sikap atau perasaan yang mengutamakan penghargaan untuk menghargai, dan konsep untuk menghargai diri sendiri adalah menilai dari dan melalui respect itu sendiri.
Dengan selesainya penjelasan dari Mrs. Veronica mengenai respect, maka seminar 9 pillars of LSPR ini juga berakhir. Secara keseluruhan, seminar ini sangat berguna bagi kehidupan mahasiswa dalam menjalani dan mencapai kesuksesan. Dengan belajar kembali bagaimana bersikap, menjalani nilai-nilai positif, menghargai diri sendiri dan orang lain, kesopanan dalam bersikap, maka kita pun akan melaju pada suatu tahapan untuk mencapai kesuksesan.

Small Group Communication

Small Group is a collection of individuals who are connected to one another by some common purpose and have some degree of organization among them. There are three characteristics of small group communication, which are:
• A collection of individuals few enough in number so that all members may communicate with relative ease as both senders and receiver.
• The members of a group must be connected to one another through some common purpose.
• The members must be connected by some organizing rules or structure.


1. Basic Types of Groups

There are two basic types of groups, which are:

1. Relationship and Task Groups

a. Relationship groups (primary groups)
The group in which we participate early in life. Usually these groups serve our needs for affiliation, affirmation, and affection.
Ex. Our immediate family
Our group of friends at school
Our neighbors
b. Task groups (secondary groups)
Formed to accomplish something. Some task groups are put together to solve a specific problem. Once the specific task is accomplished, the group is dissolved.
Ex. A committee of college professors might be formed to hire a new faculty member, select a textbook or serve, etc.


2. Reference and Membership Groups

a. Reference Groups
A reference groups is a group from which you derive your values and norms of behavior. It is a group you use as a standard and against which you compare yourself. In other words, you judge your successes and failures in comparison with the outcomes of other members of reference groups. Ex. Compare yourself with and measure your successes against those of your siblings or cousins later you may look to classmates
b. A membership group is a group you participate in but do not use as a guide or to measure yourself

Reference and membership groups are often the same. For the most part you participate in the groups whose values you share. In some cases, reference and membership groups may differ.

2. Small Group Stages

There are five stages in small group communication, and each stage connect with the other stages. Those stages are:
a. The opening stage is usually getting-acquainted time in which members introduce themselves and engage in social small talk.
b. A feedforward stage in which members make some attempt to identify what needs to be done, who will do it, and so on.
c. The business stage is the actual work on the tasks, the problem solving, the sharing of information, or whatever else the group needs to do
d. The feedback stage, the group may reflect on what it has done and perhaps on what remains to be done.
e. At the closing stage, the group members again return to their focus on individuals and will perhaps exchange closing comments.

3. Small Group Formats

a. The round table

Group members arrange themselves in circular or semicircular pattern.
They share the information or solve the problem without any set pattern of who speaks when. Group interaction is informal.

b. The Panel

Group members are experts, but participate informally and without any set pattern of who speaks when, as in round table.

The difference is that there’s an audience whose members may interject comments or ask questions.

c. The Symposium
Each member delivers a prepared presentation.
Symposium leader introduces the speakers, provides transitions from one speaker to another.

d. The Symposium-Forum

Consists of two parts, which are a symposium with prepared speeches and a forum with questions from the audience and responses by the speakers. The leader introduces the speakers and moderates the question and answer session.


4. Small Group Culture

Many groups, especially those of long standing like work groups, develop small cultures with their own norms. Group norms are rules of behaviors identifying which behaviors are considered appropriate and inappropriate. Norms that regulated a particular group member’s behavior called role expectations, role expectation identify what each person in an organization is expected to do. Cohesiveness means closely connected, and attracted to meet your needs.

5. Power in The Small Group

Power permeates all small groups and in fact all relationships inside the small group. Power is what enables one person to control the behaviors of others. There are six types of power in small group, which are:
a. Legitimate
When people believe you have right by virtue of your position to influence or to control their behavior.
b. Referent
Another person wishes to be like you or identified with you
c. Reward
Have the ability to give a person reward
d. Coercive
Ability to remove rewards or to administer punishments
e. Expert
Increase when having nothing to gain personally from influencing others, decrease when having something to gain from securing the compliance of others.
f. Information
Attributed to people who are seen as having significant information and the ability to use the information in presenting a well reasoned argument

6. Idea-Generation Groups
Idea-generation groups are small groups that exist to generate ideas and often follow a formula called brainstorming. Brainstorming is a technique for bombarding a problem and generating as many ideas as possible. This technique involves 2 stages:
a. The brainstorming period proper
b. Evaluation period
In this group there are 4 general rules:
1. Don’t Criticize
2. Strive for quantity
3. Combine and extend Ideas
4. Develop the wildest ideas possible


7. Personal Growth Groups and Popular Personal Growth Groups

Personal Growth Group is a group that sometimes referred to as support groups; aim to help members cope with particular difficulties.
There are three types of popular personal growth groups:
a. The Encounter group
To facilitate personal group and the ability is to deal effectively with other people.
Freedom to express one’s inner thoughts, fears, and doubts is stressed.
b. The Assertiveness Training group
Aim is to increase the willingness of its members to stand up for their rights and to act more assertively.
c. The consciousness-raising group
Aim is to help people to cope with the problems society confronts them with. This group has one characteristic in common (ex: unwed mother, gay father). The commonality of the group can leads members to help one another. The assumption is that similar people are best equipped to assist one another’s personal growth. This group has no leader or leaderless. Also, all members are equal in their control of the group and their presumed knowledge.

8. Some Rules and Procedures

Each group is likely to develop its own unique rules and procedures. Therefore the group may start each meeting by:
a. selecting topic, usually by majority vote of the group
b. The first speaker is selected through some random procedure(the focus is always individual, no interruption are allowed)
c. The feedback from other members is to be totally supportive
During this time members may relate different aspects of their experience to what other have said. This procedure helps raise members’ consciousness.

9. Information-sharing Groups, Educational or Learning Groups and Focus Groups

The purpose of information-sharing groups is to enable members to acquire new information or skills through a sharing knowledge. The members of these groups shares information or knowledge from one to another. They can share or give information or knowledge to the other member.
Besides, the members of educational or learning groups pool their knowledge to the benefit of all. As an example, in the popular law and medical student learning groups, the members may follow a variety of discussion patterns. Ex: a historical topic.
Focus group is a small group assembled for kind of in-depth interview. The aim is to discover what people think about an issue or product. Ex: think of the new lotion for men between 18 and 25, etc. also, this group tries to discover the beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings.


10. Problem-Solving Groups and The Problem-solving Sequence

A problem-solving group is a collection of individuals who meet to solve a problem or to reach a decision. It requires not only knowledge of small group communication techniques but also a thorough knowledge of particular problem.
The problem-solving sequence is probably the one used most often. The six steps of sequence are design to make problem solving more efficient and effective. Those steps are:

• Define and analyze the problem
In many instances nature of the problem is clearly specified. Limit the problem so that it identifies a manageable are for discussion. Define the problem as an open-ended question. Appropriate question for most problems.
• Establish criteria for evaluating solution
Before any solutions are proposed, we need to evaluate them, and then identified the criteria. There are 2 types of criteria, which are Practical criteria and Value criteria
• Identify possible solution
Identify as many solutions as possible. Focus on quantity. Brainstorming may be particularly useful
• Evaluate solutions
Evaluate each solutions
• Select the best solution
The best solutions are selected and put into operation. Groups may use different decision making methods in deciding. Generally, groups are use one of three methods:
1. Decision of authority
Efficient methods, its gets things done quickly, and the amount of discussion can be limited as desired
2. Majority rule
With this method the group members agree to abide by the majority decision and may cote on various issues as the group works toward solving its problems
3. Consensus
It is unanimous agreement. In business groups, consensus means that members agree that they can live with the solution. Takes the longest and it can lead to a great deal of wasted time.
• Test selected solution
Test their effectiveness.

Problem-solving groups at work usually used widely in business in a variety of different types of groups. The problem-solving techniques discussed:

a) The nominal group technique
A method of problem solving that uses limited discussion and confidential voting to obtain a group discussion. The nominal group approach can be divided into 7 steps:
• The problem is defined and clarified for all members
• Writes down
• Recorded
• Clarified
• Rank orders the suggestion in writing
• Combined to get a group ranking
• Clarification, discussion, and possible reordering may follow
• Test

b) The Delphi method
A group of ‘experts’ is established. The method is best explained as a series of steps:
• The problem is defined
• Contributes five ideas in writing
• Combined all the ideas,written up, and distributed to all members
• Select three or four best ideas
• Responses another list and distributed to all members
• Select the one or two the best from new list and submit it
• Responses another list is produced and distributed to all members
• The final solutions are identified and are communicated to all members

c) Quality circles
A group of workers whose task it is to investigate and make recommendation for improving the quality of some organization functional. Members investigate problems using any method. The group then reports its finding and its suggestions. In some case, the quality circle members may implement their solutions without approval from upper management levels.