Volunteering is a great way for teenagers to make a difference and meet new people. There are many different types of volunteer opportunities for teens available. Here are a few volunteer opportunities that you could encourage your teen to take up.
Help a local food bank
Food banks always welcome donations and new volunteers. They provide perfect volunteering opportunities for those who are interested in helping the homeless. Your teen would be involved in anything, from preparing meals to working behind the scenes to repackage donated food items, serving food, and carrying boxes.
Help at a soup kitchen
A soup kitchen is one of the places where the hungry can get free or affordable meals (usually soup and bread). Most soup kitchens run primarily on donations and the generosity of people. As a soup kitchen volunteer, your child may be made to clean the tables and utensils(餐具), help distribute food, cook food, and more.
Volunteer for Meals on Wheels
By volunteering for Meals on Wheels, your teen will deliver nutritious meals to the elderly or the disabled. It's perfect for teens who have just received their driving license and love any reason to get behind the wheel! They can make a massive impact in a short amount of time. Alternatively, your teen can also volunteer in their kitchen and prepare meals for delivery. With a simple gesture, your teen can bring millions of smiles to people's lives.
Work with Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity's mission is to build or improve a place that someone could call home. Besides helping the community, your teen will learn valuable skills such as repairing, fundraising, painting, and building. You can sign them up for long-term projects or a one-time program.
Leek Town Warriors was a girls' football team which used to get routinely defeated every time they turned out, until James Henry stepped in two years ago. He took the job when the previous coach quit and transformed the team' s fortunes. With the help of his assistant Andy Austin, they started training hard in April 2020.
Some players had never kicked a football before joining the team, so training them took hours of hard work and patience. After a good few weeks, they got down to training and really started to take it in what the coach wanted. "I insist on doing the basic stuff well and letting the girls decide what they feel they need to work on. " James said.
James' first season was ruined by the pandemic, which forced him and Andy to get creative with training. They organized team-building activities with the girls to help them bond on and off the field. James then spent the sessions they could hold focusing on the basics of football like passing and shooting, bringing the girls up to a good standard.
James watched the girls develop over the course of last year, and in September they played their first match of the new season. They won the game, and since then went on an unbeaten run of eight games. The team's star player, 15-year-old Chelsea, has also impressed the audience individually, becoming the top scorer in the league with incredible 30 goals.
James said, "All the effort that the girls, we coaches and parents have put in to get this point has been enormous. If I hadn't had the support of Andy helping me every week, this would have been an impossible task. So I'm incredibly grateful to have him on side. All we want is to bring more girls into the game and show that it's not all about having the best players; it's about hard work and giving everyone the chance to play. "
A happy beagle (小猎犬) called Bella loves Amazon boxes. It tears into them while ignoring other delivery boxes. Little Bit, a tortoiseshell cat, is similarly consumed — but by socks. It raids (偷袭) the laundry basket in the middle of the night and also paws through the open suitcases of house guests, who almost always find themselves missing a sock in the morning. Pets do some pretty weird things. But these strange behaviors often make perfect sense to the pets, said scientists who study animal behaviors. "These behaviors are not invented on the spot," said Carlo Siracusa, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. The pets are doing behaviors that their wild ancestors did, but they've changed them a bit to fit their new lives as pets.
Dogs can be trained to roll over and play dead. But their ancient instincts from their wolf ancestors are still there. Instincts, or instinctive behaviors, are behaviors that are done without thinking. They don't have to be learned. For example, some dogs will scratch the ground after pooping(排便). But they're not trying to bury their poop. They want other animals to notice it. "They are depositing smell in those areas," Siracusa said. "It's almost like drawing a picture with a big red marker around it," he added.
Cats, on the other hand, almost always bury their waste. "They are covering their tracks," says Monique Udell, an expert on human-animal interactions who works at Oregon State University. Cats are predators, meaning they hunt other animals for food. But other animals hunt them, too. So they don't want to be seen or smelled. Mikel Delgado, the founder of a California-based cat behavior consulting service, said that many other cat behaviors, arise from cats' wild origins.
While dogs share many behaviors inherited (继承) from wolves, they've also developed a few of their own. "Puppy dog eyes", the innocent look that many humans are helpless to resist, is one. Over the time period that they've lived with people, dogs have developed certain muscles around their eyes. This helps them make the adorable expressions that win over humans. Like wolves, dogs also like to lick faces. Humans think their pets are kissing them, but they are not. "It's how wolf puppies get food from their parents' mouths," Siracusa said. "It also can be a sign of submission. When a lower-ranking individual approaches a higher-ranking one, it gets down real low and licks the dominant one to say: ‘I'm not a threat to you. '"
A new study suggests that science role-playing may help tighten the gender(性别) gap in science, technology, engineering, and math（STEM）education and careers for women simply by improving their identity as scientists.
Frustrated by the gender gap in STEM, in which some fields employ at least three times more men than women, Cornell graduate student Reut Shachnai wanted to do something about it. Reut said the idea to help foster(培养) young girls' interest in science came to her during a lecture in a class she was taking on Psychology of Imagination.
Reut designed an experiment to test if assuming the role of a successful scientist would improve girls' persistence in a "sink or float" science game. The game itself was simple yet challenging: a computer screen projected a slide with an object in the center above a pool of water. Kids then had to predict whether the object would sink or float.
She studied 240 four-to-seven-year-olds, because this is around the time kids first develop their sense of identity and capabilities. They were divided into two groups. Children in the"story" group learned about the successes and struggles of a gender-matched scientist before playing the game. Boys heard about Isaac Newton and girls were told about Marie Curie. Children in the "pretend" group were told to assume the identity of the scientist they just learned about.
All kids played at least one round of the game. No matter what group they were in, girls got the answers right just as often as boys --nearly 70% of the time. Boys, however, didn't really benefit from the stories or make-believe. Besides, girls pretending to be Dr. Marie persisted twice as long at the sink-or-float game, playing just as much as the boys did.
Reut's teacher Tamar Kushnir said, "Rather than merely hearing about role models, children may benefit from actively performing the type of actions they see role models perform. In other words, taking a few steps in the role model's shoes, instead of merely observing her walk. "
Find it hard to get started? Try these suggestions to help you rise and shine and be effective(有效率的) from morning till night.
● Get up earlier
Sleeping in(睡懒觉) can be a hard habit to break. Actually, it involves two things — going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. Start off by going to bed 15 minutes before your usual turn-in time and setting your alarm the same number of minutes earlier the next day. .
● Have a good stretch(伸展) in bed
Before you even open your eyes, stretch every extremity (四肢) for 15 seconds. Lift your arm and begin by stretching each finger, next your hand, and then your arm. . End with a neck and back stretch that gets you out of bed. By doing this, you will enhance the flow of blood through your system, providing your tissues with extra oxygen.
●
The fewer choices you have to make, the better. Before going to bed, decide what you're going to wear, work out which route you'll take to work and what you'll pack in your bag.
● Consult (查阅) your morning calendar
Hang a large whiteboard in your kitchen. On it, write down all you need to know for that particular day, from doctor appointments to what you're doing with your friends. Check it carefully while you sip your first cup of coffee or tea. .
● Get moving
. But if you can get yourself into the habit, exercising in the morning can give you energy to jump-start your day.
A. Plan ahead
B. Move on to your toes, feet and legs
C. It will help you to structure (精心组织) your day
D. Spend less time choosing things when packing
E. Morning exercise can get you refreshed(神清气爽的) quickly
F. If you're a night owl, an early morning jog might sound like punishment
G. Gradually reset your sleep cycle until you get to your desired wake-up time
Several months ago, a tornado fiercely hit our city without any signs before. We hadn't 1 for it in advance, so we were just forced to go into our 2 actions. I happened not to be in the classroom when it attacked. Hearing the alarm screaming, I rushed 3 as fast as I could back to the classroom.
Never did I imagine that we would put our regular 4 to use. Never did I imagine that my students had 5 against the wall and crouched (蹲) down on their knees. Their eyes were obviously filled with 6 as they asked if their parents, pets, and friends would be okay. I, along with other teachers, tried our best to 7 them, though we actually didn't know what the 8 would be.
I couldn't 9 the tornado any more. However, I'm very proud of my students who performed so well. In such a 10 and dangerous situation, they behaved beyond their ages. Never in my life had I seen them 11 instructions so quickly, without any hesitation. Though some tears were dropping and some hearts were beating fast, the kids were incredibly 12 . I'm extremely proud that they struggled to calm down because of their 13 in me.
Because of the tornado, I realized that my job as a teacher meant a lot. Behind every well-behaved students are a long line of teachers who have made it their life's 14 to educate them with safety, courage, calmness and trust. Though the tornado has presented 15 , I'm sure we can handle them one by one.
What is senior high school life like? The path before you (lead) to a world full of challenges: a new environment, new knowledge and new ways of thinking. However, the opportunity lies in each challenge. you rise to the challenges, you will have the opportunity (acquire) great knowledge and enjoy personal (grow). Most importantly, your time and effort at senior high school will open the door to your potential. In this sense, (realize) your potential means that is important and necessary for you to make the most of our school resources. Take advantage your classes, learn from your teachers and classmates, and make use of our school (facility). Good study habits, useful skills and a positive attitude are (equal) important. As a senior high school student, you must make efforts to improve your communication and problem-solving skills. Last but not least, always look on the bright side never lose hope, even in difficult situations. In time you will find yourself developing into a well-rounded individual.
