Festival Barokk għal Gżira Barokka - lecture minn Kenneth Zammit Tabona

Fil-15 ta’ Mejju 2014, l-Ambaxxata tar-Repubblika ta’ Malta f’Washington D.C., b’kollaborazzjoni mad-Delegazzjoni tal-UE fl-Istati Uniti, kellha l-pjaċir li torganizza lecture minn Kenneth Zammit Tabona, il-Viċi President tat-Teatru Manoel, fuq l-identità barokka ta’ Malta, b’konnessjoni ukoll mal-Valletta International Baroque Festival, li huwa d-Direttur Artistiku tagħha. 

Dan il-lecture kien ir-riżultat ta’ laqgħat li l-Ambaxxatur Micallef kellha mad-Delegazzjoni tal-UE dwar is-suġġett tal-kultura ftit wara li waslet f’Washington, fejn kienet iddiskutiet ix-xewqa tagħha li l-Valletta International Baroque Festival u l-identità barokka ta’ Malta b’mod aktar ġenerali jkunu magħrufa aħjar min-nies ta’ D.C..

L-esperta tal-mużika storika Tina Chancey u l-kollegi tagħha mal-ewwel ħolqu l-atmosfera billi daqqew sonata mill-kompożitur Malti Michelangelo Vella (1710-1792), li kienet l-ewwel darba li qatt semgħuha udjenzi Amerikani.

Is-Sur Zammit Tabona imbagħad afaxxini l-udjenza bit-taħdita tiegħu fuq l-istorja w il-kultura ta’ Malta. Iffoka speċjalment fuq il-perjodu tal-Kavallieri ta’ Malta u kif dawn kienu ġew Malta u mhux talli baqgħu fuq il-Gżira iżda iffjorixxew u għamlu lil Malta attur ewlieni fix-xena kulturali tal-Ewropa fis-sekli sbatax u tmintax. Spjega kif il-belt Valletta kienet mibnija u tkellem dwar l-maestà tat-Teatru Manoel. Wara li kien pinġa stampa daqstant dettaljata, is-Sur Zammit Tabona mbagħad spjega l-kunċett tal-Valletta International Baroque Festival u qal kif Valletta ġiet magħżula bħala l-Kapitali Ewropea tal-Kultura għas-sena 2018.

In-nies fl-udjenza mbagħad kellhom l-opportunità li jistaqsu xi mistoqsijiet lis-Sur Zammit Tabona dwar dan is-suġġett u biex jitkellmu miegħu b’mod aktar informali matul riċeviment ċkejken li ġie organizzat wara t-taħdita. Fuljetti promozzjonali dwar Malta kienu disponibbli għall-parteċipanti tal-avveniment matul il-lejla.

Il-lecture kien organizzat bħala parti mill-programm Conversations in Culture tad-Delegazzjoni tal-UE, li huwa serje kulturali li jsir kull xahar fil-Delegazzjoni tal-UE mniedi sabiex jenfasizza l-kulturi diversi tat-28 Stat Membru tal-UE. Il-lecture ifforma wkoll parti mill-programm tal-hekk imsejjaħ Xahar Ewropew tal-Kultura, li qed jiġi organizzat għat-tieni darba matul ix-xahar ta’ Mejju mid-Delegazzjoni tal-UE.

L-Ambaxxata tixtieq tirringrazzja t-Teatru Manoel, u speċjalment lil-President tat-Teatru, Michael Grech, tal-għajnuna li taw sabiex dan l-avveniment seta’ jsir.

The President receives H.E. Mrs Gina K Abercrombie-Winstanley

 

The President, H.E. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca receives H.E. Mrs Gina K Abercrombie-Winstanley, Ambassador of the United States of America, on a courtesy call.

The President receives a courtesy call by Mr Louis Vella, Honorary Consul General in Francisco, United States of America

New Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for English-Teaching Professionals

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has launched a pilot Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) prepared by and for English-teaching professionals.
Shaping the Way We Teach English was developed by the University of Oregon. It is hosted on the Coursera platform as part of the Department’s partnership with Coursera. This is a free opportunity for current and future educators of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to improve the quality of their teaching methods.

The course offers a unique, multimedia-rich collaborative environment where participants can interact with top-ranked English-language educators from all over the world. Participants will have access to asynchronous materials and methods that complement college courses such as Introduction to Methods for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Interactive discussion forums will also allow participants to share ideas with each other to enhance their English language teaching expertise. The benefits of this course should enable educators to establish, adapt, and evaluate their methods, materials, and classroom activities to improve their students’ study of English.


The MOOC is divided into two five-week sessions with the first course began on April 7; the second session begins on May 12. Participants can enroll in the second session without participating in the first session.

Enroll now!

Free Gospel Concert

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year From Stars And Stripes Malta

ObamaCare Demystified

Those who are eligible to apply for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) more popularly known as ObamaCare must do so before December 23rd in order to be covered as from Jan 1st.  Go to https://www.healthcare.gov/ to apply.

This highly controversial legislation was signed into law by President Obama on March 2010. It was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court on June 2012. Last October's 16-day government shutdown can be attributed almost in its entirety to an impasse about this legislation. The Tea Party faction of the Republican Party demanded that Congress stop health care reform from proceeding by removing funding for it. It failed.

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com/will-obamacare-challenges-succeed-2013-1

 

Besides political hurdles, ObamaCare suffered massive technical glitches when it launched. The website was unable to handle the amount of traffic and reports claim that the system had other numerous bugs. Reuters reported on December 14 that around 15,000 enrolment forms filled out by people applying for health insurance were not transmitted properly to insurers.  As a result of this mess, the Chief Information Officer for the agency running the troubled health insurance website resigned.

Image: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/10/09/3-million-obamacare-website-may-face-months-glitches-experts-warn/

 

ObamaCare will go down in history as being an attempt to clear the Hospital’s Emergency Rooms. Before this act, people who could not afford to pay for medical treatment because they had either had no insurance or because they has been refused insurance could only see the inside of a hospital if they were admitted as an emergency case. Millions of ill persons would have to stick it out until their condition was desperate and once they (sadly) go to this state (and still be alive) they would hog the ERs to get treatment.

With ObamaCare people can no longer be denied coverage or treatment because they had been sick in the past or be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on their application.  Insurers can no longer apply annual or lifetime limits on healthcare. Also ObamaCare practically makes health insurance available to practically everyone.

Immunisation for children is will be free. Young adults can stay on their parent's plan until 26 and improvements related to women’s health such as mammograms and wellness visits are covered automatically.

Another provision of ObamaCare is called the 80/20 Rule, which requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of insurance premium on health care or improvements to care. If they fail to meet this benchmark, for example by spending excessively on advertising and CEO bonuses they must provide a rebate to their customers.

People who were already covered by health insurance will benefit further.

According to ObamaCareFacs.com, as of 2013 there were around 44 million Americans who were unable to get health insurance.

Image: http://obamacarefacts.com/affordablecareact-summary.php