【推荐1】Jindalee State School

Activity Consent (同意) Form — Years 1, 2 and 3 Swimming

From October 19th to November 24th, students in Years 1, 2 and 3 will be participating in a “Learn to Swim” program as part of their learning in Health and Physical Education. Students will be grouped according to their ability. All students are expected to attend all lessons unless they are injured or ill. Students will take six lessons.

If swimming cost presents a problem for any family, please contact the Business Manager on 3725 5710 to discuss other possible arrangements.

If you wish your child to participate in, please complete this consent form and return it by October 12th. For further information, please contact us on 3725 5777 or send an email to info@jindaleess.eq.edu.au.

【推荐3】Feel Happier Today

When I learned that the most popular course in the history of Yale University—a psychology class designed to teach students how to become happier—was available online to anyone who wanted to take it, I decided I had to see what it was all about. After all, I’ve been writing about happiness for years, offering techniques and advice from researchers who found that this idea or that habit can boost well-being. I was curious to see what Yale professor Laurie Santos was recommending, but I assumed I’d already be familiar with many of the concepts. So I invited my husband, Ian, to take the course with me. I wanted to see how someone who hadn’t heard it all before reacted.

Santos’s online course consists of 19 hours of video lectures and is supposed to take ten weeks to complete, but Ian and I spent three months soaking up what she had to offer. We learned that the things we tend to think will make us happier—bigger paychecks, nicer homes, slimmer bodies—don’t actually add joy to our lives. But practices such as exercising more, socializing, getting enough sleep, and enjoying free time over making money do. “These constant practices are really what’s required to increase your happiness,” Santos told me after Ian and I completed her course. “It’s like a tire that you put air into. Occasionally it leaks, and you have to put more air into it. It’s not a one-time thing where you learn it and you’re good. You actually have to put the work in.”

Although part of the course focuses on the desire to get good grades and land the perfect job, we realized that these lessons aren’t helpful just for college students; Ian and I are both middle-aged, with six children between us, and most of what Santos said was relevant to us. “What the science suggests is that these tips apply cross-culturally, across ages, and no matter what job you have,” Santos says. After taking the course, I’m convinced that anyone who adopts and practices the strategies that Santos suggests can truly become happier.

【推荐1】Music will not earn an income unless it is well marketed. No matter how good you are at songwriting, composing music, playing instruments and everything on the creative side of music, you will never earn money without marketing it to your customers.

Let’s look at the steps in marketing and apply (应用) it to the online business world to make an effective marketing plan for your music.

Find out customer’s need

Before you can discover, you need to make it clear who your customers are, by answering the following questions:

First, what industry do your customers belong to? For example, if you are a music producer, your customers will most likely be recording companies.

Second, what field are you in? Music is broad; you need to specialize. Are you a rock songwriter, a pop producer or a jazz musician?

You then need to judge your customer’s need by examining those things already commonly accepted in the marketplace: the lyrics and melodies that are popular.

In this stage, you should examine your competitors by visiting their websites to learn from them. What is done by your competitors in the marketplace (where your business belongs) is most likely to meet your customer’s need.

Predict customer’s need

What you have to predict are the things that even your competitors may not have realized. These can be discovered by doing a survey or interviewing your customers. For example, you need to ask them directly, “What things are you looking for in a music publisher? When you are searching for music online, what would be the best presentation of music material to make you interested?”

Now that you have known what your customers expect from your music, you need to write your music with the goal of meeting their expectations. This time your marketing efforts will most likely pay off.

【推荐2】Hao Ruoqi is known for playing the heroic fighter “Hua Mulan”. She is one of China’s most popular female dancers of the post-90s generation.

In 2017, Hao Ruoqi starred in the lead role of the historical dance drama Hua Mulan. “The spirit of Mulan exists in everyone’s mind, expressing the power of women. I am fortunate to be able to spread the energy of Mulan through dance. I think Mulan was not only a strong person, but also a woman who was capable of great love and wisdom, and had the ability to accept everything.” Hao said.

Hao said that the first practices for Hua Mulan did not go very smoothly. However, she pushed her limits to get closer to the character. She described taking the role as a learning experience and a great challenge.

“During practices, I cried every night when I returned to the hotel, just to reduce the pressure.   At that time, I thought to myself that never again in my life would I want to dance after Hua Mulan,” she said, “but I grew up during that period, which took quite some time. I tried hard to act out every aspect of Mulan’s character very carefully. ”

When it came to the action scenes, she said “This was the most difficult because dancing is a smooth and beautiful art while martial arts(武术) focus on speed and strength. We struggled sometimes to deliver fast and correct hits while maintaining our attractive dance moves. I remember my body was covered in bruises(瘀伤) at that time.”

The production won the top award for dancing and has received admiration from audiences across the nation, having been performed on stage almost 100 times.

Hao’s talent may have been widely recognized, but she’s not resting on her laurels just yet. “I will keep moving forward with my career as a dancer. I hope I can tell more stories of famous figures from Chinese history through the power of dance, she said, “and I’m proud that I can contribute to spreading traditional Chinese culture. I’m not done yet. ”

【推荐3】Few people expected that a new song written and performed by Chinese pop singer-songwriter Daolang, who kept himself out of the spotlight for years, would go viral on social media. However, the track Luocha Haishi (A Market in a Faraway Land) — one of the 11 original songs from the 52-year-old artist’s latest album titled Shan Ge Liao Zai (Folk Songs Fading Away)— has topped the charts on several Chinese music apps and has become one of the biggest hits of the year so far. The song, which was released on July 19, got 8 billion streams by 6 pm on July 30, according to Tide News.

The curiosity surrounding the song seems to be driving its popularity. Social media users are fiercely debating if the lyrics have hidden meanings. Reading between the lines, some online listeners said the song is a stinging satire (尖锐的讽刺) on the current “unhealthy and chaotic (混乱的) environment in show business” in China, while others see Luocha Haishi as Daolang’s   “revenge” on people who once criticized his music.

According to the album’s introduction, Shan Ge Liao Zai is a mix of Liaozhai Zhiyi, which is a collection of ghost stories by Pu Songling, and Chinese folk songs of different regions. The lyrics of Luocha Haishi is adapted from a Liaozhai Zhiyi tale by the same name, which talks about a man’s adventure in a faraway kingdom called Luocha. The people of this imaginary land regard ugliness as beauty, call black white and confuse between right and wrong.

Hong Qi, a singer-songwriter, said in an interview that Daolang loves traditional Chinese culture and folk music, and so it was very natural for the experienced musician to choose the theme that he did. Any other interpretation comes from people’s own imagination.

“As a researcher on classic Chinese literature, I appreciate Daolang, whose new song is creative and gives Liaozhai Zhiyi a new interpretation. I don’t know whether the song is targeted at a certain group of people or one person. What makes it meaningful is that it fuels discussions and makes people think, ”said Miao Huaiming, a professor at Nanjing University’s School of Liberal Arts.

【推荐1】Everywhere I look, there are new buildings being built. The neighbourhoods that I knew as a boy, filled with beautiful old buildings, have mostly disappeared, and in their place, modern, high-rise buildings have appeared. If we continue in this way, nothing will remain of our heritage; soon I will no longer recognize my city. What is left of the city’s traditional buildings and neighbourhoods must be preserved and it is important to begin this process now.

Historic preservation has become popular all over the world in recent years, but many countries have chosen new construction over preservation. There is good reason for this. As the population has become larger, people want the usefulness of modern living. However, the built environment should be more than shiny new buildings with air conditioning and washing machines; it should also show the beauty of our culture and heritage. How can our children understand our culture if we erase so much of the physical evidence (物证) of it?

The reasons for preserving historic buildings are not simply about an emotional connection to the past. There are also good economic reasons in favour of preservation. The repair and preservation of historic sites can become an economic engine, drawing tourists and small businesses to the area. There are several good examples of this in the Middle East. In Dubai, the historic AI Bastikiya district draws thousands of tourists every year from all over the world. It also attracts local people, eager to learn about their city’s past.

Those who are against historic preservation think that it is too expensive. But many recent projects all over the world have told us that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, renovation (翻新) of an existing building can cost about $40 per square metre less than even the most basic new building, while preserving the beauty of the original building. What is more, environmental experts believe that the greenest building is the one that is already built. New building almost always has a more serious environmental influence because it requires the use of all-new materials that must be transported, often over long distances, instead of recycled materials that are already on site. We recycle so many other things. We can and should recycle buildings, too.