TEEN SUMMER LANGUAGE, COMMUNITY SERVICE&ZIP LINING
TRIP DETAILS
Age Range: 14-16
Trip Dates: 6/27-7/05, 7/09-7/17，7/21-7/29, 8/02-8/10
Tuition: $2, 895 (airfare not included)
TRIP OVERVIEW
Pura Vida. Costa Rica's national motto means "pure life"——and Pura Vida is exactly what you'll experience as you explore the wonders of this tropical, unusual paradise.
Spanish Classes in Turrialba
We'll jump right into our adventure with morning Spanish classes in the green, beautiful town of Turrialba, surrounded by high mountains and thick forest. With the guidance of our Spanish teachers, we will learn useful vocabulary and use new tools to communicate with locals and absorb Costa Rican culture.
Service with Local Organizations and Exploration of Turrialba
Our afternoons in the Turrialba area will be spent putting our new skills to the test as we spend time volunteering at a local children's home, a senior home, and a center for native women. We'll play games, talk, and help the residents of each place with tasks (helping with homework for the young kids or cleaning for the seniors). On an afternoon off from service, we'll head to a local waterfall/swimming hole and hit the lively Turrialba market to collect flavorful local eats and perhaps some souvenirs.
Manuel Antonio National Park: Wildlife Tour, Beaches & Zip Lining
For our final days together, we head to the Pacific coast to explore Manuel Antonio National Park and its astonishing wealth of wildlife and natural beauty. We'll spend a morning flying through the trees on Central America's longest zip line, and swim in warm, clear Pacific waters! A farewell dinner in San Jose and a final evening of Pura Vida with new friends will round out our rich and full Costa Rican adventure!
I recall when I was a young girl back in Canada, I was sitting and watching a baseball game on TV with my father and we started to debate the importance of sports. Different from my father, I argued with all the overconfidence of a teenager that sports is more than just a hobby to keep us physically healthy and went as far as claiming that "There would be more wars if we didn't have sports!"
As an adult, my teenage tendencies of exaggeration (夸张)may have faded but I still firmly believe that sports is more than just a hobby for both participants and audience. The challenging times we are all living through right now with coronavirus is proof to this. The effect of cancelling all sports from professional leagues right down to amateur budding athletic programs, can be felt by millions of people worldwide. To many the social emotional impact is stronger than the physical. The loss of the sense of community, of belonging, and of an extended family is real for many girls, boys, men and women everywhere. Others are feeling physical challenges as well as they are struggling to stay active during these times.
But the human race is incredible and adaptable in tough situations, and sports once again is playing a role. Sports teams are staying in touch online and are a source of much needed support, love and laughter in these times. So many professional athletes are playing vital roles through this crisis by sharing their messages of support and at times, making valuable monetary donations to the cause. Even in areas of isolation, people are coming out on their balconies and leading their neighbours through a workout programme to help them stay active. Others are turning to online workout programmes to follow. Once again, sports is finding its way.
So, in challenging times such as now, people are still empowered to continue their sports journey and stay strong and healthy.
More than a third of small towns in Georgia lost population in the last year alone, highlighting the challenges of reviving rural areas. New census (人口普查) estimates show that Camilla fell below 5, 000 residents. Sparks fell below 2, 000, and Milan fell to 661 residents for a loss of 7% of its population. All three towns are in South Georgia.
"Many of the young people in these communities graduate from high school and don't come back. They go to college, whatever, they don't come back," said David Bridges, head of its Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation in Tifton.
Meanwhile, Georgia's cities are growing, having no problem drawing people from small towns and other cities. Atlanta grew more than 1% in the past year and is now nearing the half-million-resident mark.
The trend of people moving from rural to urban areas is hardly a new one——it's been going on worldwide for more than a century. But continued population losses have raised questions about whether rural areas can do anything to reverse the tide.
Rural residents can face a number of challenges including access to good jobs, transportation and health care. Manufacturing jobs have dried up in many places, while modernization and new technology means fewer people are needed for farming. And many people are deciding to have smaller families than was typical a century ago.
"The older generation is dying, the younger generation is moving away, and because there are perceived to be fewer business opportunities, financial opportunities, etc. It's very challenging to get inbound population." Bridges said.
Demographers (人口学家) expect the shift from rural to urban to continue. But there are some bright spots in rural America still. Jackson County near Athens was recently named one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation by the Census Bureau. Amazon opened a large fulfillment center there a couple of years ago. And Young Harris, near the Georgia-North Carolina border, has grown by more than 80% since 2010.
Some people say summer is the time when teachers should get more pay. But not everyone is grateful to teachers for keeping kids occupied between August and June. Washington state representative Liz Pike has written a Facebook post, titled "A life in the day of a WA state representative", and responded to teachers' complaints of rising costs of living. The post has received criticism for being anti-teacher. After reading her post, I feel that Liz Pike should rethink her criticism of public school teaching and avoid comparing it to the private school.
Many of us teachers would certainly like teaching to be more like the private school. We see nothing wrong with fair pay for fair performance. In fact, performance is the name of the game. With standardized testing popular throughout K-12 education, teachers are some of the most analyzed and performance-measured employees in the United States. Liz Pike is very angry that teachers want raises even while test scores are dropping. Well, how are we supposed to have discipline in the classroom when our hands are tied and we can hardly do anything with naughty students or fail students who are not prepared to move on to the next grade?
Teachers would love to be able to turn education around and improve students' performance. But we can't and we should not suffer for it. Unlike private school businesses, public schools cannot turn away "customers". A private school business serves customers who walk through the door of their own free will, while public schools have to educate students who only attend because courts say they must.
She says those who are "uninspired" by a lack of a cost of living increase should give up teaching. Is this the message that she thinks should be sent to the students whose academic performance she claims to care much about? That "If you love it you'll shut up and not stand up for yourself?" I think teachers should stand up for themselves and I also think supporting teachers can make teachers teach children how to stand up for themselves.
Until recently scientific evidence for a link between employee well-being and company performance has been scarce. In the new IZA World of Labor report, Dr. Eugenio Proto, of the University of Warwick's Department of Economics, gives some proof. Finding causal relations between employee well-being and company performance is important for firms to justify spending corporate resources to provide a happier work environment for their employees.
Dr. Proto cites a number of researches that uncovered evidence that happiness leads to greater creativity, and that job satisfaction is positively related with worker productivity. These can be defined as people who frequently experience positive emotions like joy, satisfaction, contentment, enthusiasm, and interest. For example, adolescent Americans who are "happier"end up with higher incomes several years later in life.
First, if happiness in a workplace carries with it a return in terms of enhanced productivity, there are enormous implications for firms' promotion policies and for the way they structure their internal labour markets. For example, managers could be rewarded on the basis of employees' job satisfaction. Second, Proto suggests a win-win situation for everyone. The effect running from happiness to productivity raises the possibility of self-reinforcing spirals——ones that might even operate at a macroeconomic level. Happiness might lead to greater productivity in an economy.
A. The conclusions are contrary to what most people think.
B. However, few companies are willing to invest in this aspect.
C. In turn, greater well-being in the population can be expected.
D. These findings have some implications for company practice.
E. Therefore, policies can be introduced to boost staff happiness.
F. Other studies show happy people are more likely to succeed in their career.
G. He notes there is a positive connection between happiness and productivity.
A gentleman lost his family when young. He was homeless and went to the
local1every day. Although the church never let him in, they left one of the windows 2 so he could hear mass (弥撒曲). It gave him 3and comfort. Many times we would bring him into our home for a hot shower, or a hot meal. Those were the times when his eyes lit up, almost like he4 everything he was going through.
Every winter I would get nervous for him and other5people. I would take blankets and gloves to hand out. It never felt like 6 . This winter was the 7 . One night, concerned about our friend, I headed out with warm food and extra blankets. I found our friend's 8 but didn't hear a sound. Worried, I opened the tent and was 9 by what I saw. Another elder gentleman that was new to town was sleeping10 under a pile of blankets. Our friend had 11 him with all of the blankets to keep him 12 . Our friend sacrificed himself so another fellow human could 13 a cold night.
Our friend was buried in our local cemetery (墓地). The only people that 14 were our town's few homeless people, my husband, my dogs and me. No matter how many blankets I buy, it will never be enough, but it's 15 the whole society should make efforts.
When Zhang Lingshan was a child, she would watch the Chinese period drama Palace on television, attracted by the characters' ancient clothing. She didn't know what these beautiful clothes (call)-only that they were from some (distance) past. "They looked fairy-like, dreamy," she said. "I was completely drawn by the beauty of these clothes, and then (eventual) came to understand the culture of Hanfu, and I liked it more and more. "
Now aged nineteen living in Beijing, Zhang is a member of China's growing "hanfu movement"-a renaissance(复兴)of the ancient clothing traditionally worn by ethnic-majority Han Chinese before Qing dynasty. Tight-knit Hanfu communities and university clubs often meet up for themed (activity). Zhang and her friends sometimes visit places with ancient architecture, like Beijing's Forbidden City, emperors once lived, to take photos in costume and post them on social media.
Nowadays, Hanfu is seen as a way (celebrate) Chinese culture and improve national self-esteem. In the past few years, Hanfu clubs and social media platforms (help) bring the Han clothing hack under the spotlight. "It's the confidence of the younger people, the confidence of the country," said Christine Tsui, a fashion columnist and researcher (base) in Shanghai.
1）活动的理由及目的;
2）具体的做法;
3）呼吁从我做起，节约粮食。
注意：
1）写作词数应为80左右;
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear fellow students,
……
The Student Union
Anyone going to an amusement park might have seen the likes of me. I held purses, cellphones and sunglasses while others threw themselves on roller coasters. I admit their bravery, but refuse to challenge my own limitations.
One day when we were at the Wonderland Amusement Park in Toronto. My friends tried to get me to ride a roller coaster. But the click, click, click of the cars climbing up the tracks made me fear. The stop at the top, before falling with peoples screams, seemed terrible.
My friends were still trying to persuade me, and I was still saying no, when I suddenly saw a familiar face, one I had never seen outside a television set. It was Jennifer Capriati, a popular tennis star at the top of her game, already winning titles at the age of fourteen. She was my heroine. I pulled out a pen and the only paper that I could find and walked to her.
She was weaving her way through a rope that led to a ride called the Jet Scream. I was running quickly because I didn't want to pass up the chance to meet her face to face, but I was also a bit nervous. So I waited at the exit to calm down and get closer to her as she came off the ride.
Several minutes later, she got out from the exit, laughing and talking with her brother. I focused on her walking toward me. I looked down at the ground. She walked past. It was more difficult to talk to a star than I thought, but I had to take the chance. I called her name, not very confidently, but more like a question, "Jennifer?" She turned around. Her eyes met mine. Our eyes actually met "Would you mind signing for me?" I asked, handing the pen and paper toward her. Her hand wrote over the paper and said, "You are the first person who has recognized me in the park so let's take a roller coaster together."
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右;
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Hearing her invitation, I was filled with mixed feelings.
……
My friend came up and asked, "Are you sure you will take a roller coaster?"
