The journey my daughter Cathy has had with her swimming is as long as it is beautiful.
Cathy suffered some terrible 1her early childhood. After years of regular treatment, she 2 became healthy.
Two years ago, while Cathy was watching the Olympics, a dream came into her sweet little head—to be a swimmer. Last summer,she wanted to3 out local swim team. She practiced hard and finally 4 it. The team practice, 5 was a rough start. She coughed and choked and could hardly 6 her first few weeks. Hearing her coughing bitterly one night, I decided to7 her from it all. But Cathy woke me up early next morning, wearing her swim suit 8 to go! I told her she shouldn't swim after a whole night's coughing, but she refused to 9 and insisted she go.
From that day on, Cathy kept swimming and didn't 10 a single practice. She had a 11 intention within herself to be the best she could be. My ten-year-old was growing and changing right before my eyes, into this 12 human being with a passion and a mission. There were moments of 13 of course: often she would be the last swimmer in the race. It was difficult for Cathy to accept that she wasn't a 14—ever. But that didn't stop her from trying.
Then came the final awards ceremony at the end of the year. Cathy didn't expect any award but was still there to 15 her friends and praise their accomplishments. As the ceremony was nearing the end, I suddenly heard the head coach 16, “The highest honor goes to Cathy!” Looking around, he continued, “Cathy has inspired us with her 17 and enthusiasm. 18 skills and talents bring great success, the most valuable asset(财富)one can hold is the heart.”
It was the greatest 19 of my daughter's life. With all she had been 20 in her ten years, this was the hour of true triumph(成功).
A Language Programme for Teenagers
Welcome to Teenagers Abroad! We invite you to join us on an amazing journey of language learning.
Our Courses
Regardless of your choice of course, you'll develop your language ability both quickly and effectively.
Our Standard Course guarantees a significant increase in your confidence in a foreign language, with focused teaching in all 4 skill areas—speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Our Intensive Course builds on our Standard Course, with 10 additional lessons per week, guaranteeing the fastest possible language learning (see table below).
|
Course Type |
Days |
Number of Lesson |
Course Timetable |
|
Standard Course |
Mon－Fri |
20 lessons |
9:30-12:30 |
|
Intensive Course |
Mon－Fri |
20 lessons |
9:30-12:30 |
|
20 lessons |
13:30-14:30 |
Evaluation
Student are placed into classes according to their current language skills. The majority of them take on online language test before starting their programme. However, if this is not available, students sit the exam on the first Monday of their course.
Learning materials are provided to students throughout their course, and there will never be more than 15 participants in each class.
Arrivals and Transfer
Our programme offers the full package—students are take good care of from the start through to the very end. They are collected from the airport upon arrival and brought to their accommodation in comfort. Werequire the student's full details at least 4 weeks in advance.
Meals/Allergies(过敏)/Special Dietary Requirements
Students are provided with breakfast, dinner and either a cooked or packed lunch (which consists of a sandwich, a drink and adessert). Snacks outside of meal times may be purchased by the student individually.
We ask that you let us know of any allergies or dietary requirements as well as information about any medicines you take. Depending on the type of allergies and/ or dietary requirements, an extra charge may be made for providing special food.
Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably accomplish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.
My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren't written until the final threat.
I've been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student(技校学生). They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.
When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he's a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”
I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).
But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who labor in clean shirts in offices don't have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.
My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts(零件）from a junkyard, non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbours and co-workers trust their car repair to him.a
Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.
These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.
I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.
My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.
When John was growing up, other kids felt sorry for him. His parents always had him weeding the garden, carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers. But when John reached adulthood, he was better off than his childhood playmates. He had more job satisfaction, a better marriage and was healthier. Most of all, he was happier. Far happier.
These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston. The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not. “Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence (能力) and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,” said George Vaillant, the psychologist (心理学家) who made the discovery. “And because they felt good about themselves, others felt good about them.”
Vaillant's study followed these males in great detail. Interviews were repeated at ages 25, 31 and 47. Under Vaillant, the researchers compared the men's mental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores with their boyhood-activity scores. Points were awarded for part-time jobs, housework, effort in school, and ability to deal with problems.
The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp. Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people, five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed. The researchers also found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.
Working—at any age—is important. Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility, independence, confidence and competence—the underpinnings (基础) of emotional health. They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals. The most competent adults are those who know how to do this. Yet work isn't everything. As Tolstoy once said, “One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love, to work for the person one loves and to love one's work.”
Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has. There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.
We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue(疲惫) and performance fatigue. In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it has either too boring or too difficult. And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel.
Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones. The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.
Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors. Applying my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical(按字母顺序), never letting myself leave out a tough idea. And I always started the day's work with the difficult task of essay-writing. Experience proved that the rule works.
Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle. Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again. In such a situation, I work as hard as I can-then let the unconscious take over.
When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》), I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles. Nothing like this had ever been done before, and day after day I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked. My fatigue became almost unbearable.
One day, mentally exhausted, I wrote down all the reasons why this problem could not be solved. I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me. Relived, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.
An hour later, I woke up suddenly with the solution clearly in mind. In the weeks that followed, the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind provided correct at every step. Though I worked as hard as before, I felt no fatigue. Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.
Human beings, I believe must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.
I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career as an educational consultant. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra help. Still, I suffered the rest of my school days in public schools.
My life improved remarkably when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually got good at making things with clay(黏土). Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language. I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence came along.
I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. I soon noticed it wasn't a talent thing; it was practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.
Later I decided to apply my previous experience to learning how to read and write. Every day I practiced reading and writing, which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two hard years, I was literate.
Having gone through the long process with art, rock climbing, and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life where I know I am smart enough to dive into an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.
