【推荐1】Calling all book lovers! Here’s a bit of information on bookstores, each with a different feel and uniqueness.

Octavia Books

          513 Octavia St, New Orleans

With a wide variety of titles in a clean and organized environment, this bookstore offers frequent book signing events and various readings and talks, providing the opportunity to meet the authors and other readers with similar interests. A must-see for the die-hard reader!

          Garden District Book Shop

          2727 Prytania St, New Orleans

It’s packed full of locally themed books, a large variety of fiction and non-fiction titles, numerous kids’ books, a nice selection of signed books and other novelties. It is most frequently visited by kids. Its website is full of information, including hours of operation, upcoming events, the date of the author event and more.

          Faulkner House Books

          624 Pirate’s Alley, New Orleans

In the heart of New Orleans’ beautiful and historic French Quarter sits this fanciful and well-liked bookstore. It is located on the bottom floor of Faulkner House, the former home of the American writer, William Faulkner. The shop not only specializes in first publications and unique and out-of-print books — mostly by Southern authors — but also carries new titles.

          Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop

          631 N Carrollton Ave, New Orleans

Named after the owner’s grandparents, it mainly focuses on new and used science fiction, which distinguishes itself from the others, fantasies, graphic novels, and children’s books. Board games are a big deal at this book shop. It offers various gaming opportunities, where readers can choose a game from the gaming library and play to their heart’s content.

【推荐3】Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) is the practice of providing a short period of class time for students to read silently whatever they choose according to their interests.SSR programs can be offered at actually any grade level. However,it takes a great deal of time,effort,and know-how to put a successful SSR program into operation. I first recognized this when I was a high school teacher twenty years ago. Though some of my students were happy to be allowed to select and read books in class, many never truly dived into their reading. I knew that there must be ways to improve the implementation(实施） of my SSR program, but I wasn't sure what they were.

Years later, when I returned to the University of Southern California, I began analyzing a large sample of SSR studies to determine what made them effective and found that successful programs shared five key factors: easy access to reading materials, sufficiently interesting materials, teachers' encouragement, follow-up activities and reading at least twice a week.

In fact, only when teachers follow specific guidelines do these programs achieve their full potential. Having learned this, I decided to create an “ideal" SSR program for my students by employing the five factors above. At the same time, another high school in our district also made the decision to offer students SSR time each day. However, having no knowledge of the five factors, the teachers simply asked their students to “read anything for fifteen minutes."

The result was that the students at my school outperformed (胜过） the other school in four areas: reading comprehension, positive attitudes toward reading, frequency of after-school pleasure reading, and use of a wider range of reading sources. I shared my findings with the other school's staff members. Since then, both schools have experienced the positive benefits of SSR.

Today,I have given many lectures at a wide variety of schools where teachers are eager to learn “how-to" methods for developing programs that will motivate their students to become hooked on reading.They ask a variety of excellent questions and I have never been bored of answering them.

【推荐1】Welcome to Our Clubs in Masonic Village

☆Art Club

The Art Club provides a place for aged people to paint, improve their artistic talents and show their works of art. Members can also sell items that they painted. The money raised goes toward providing painting supplies for club members. Anyone may join the Art Club, whether you already know how to paint or you want to learn how to better express your creativity. Painting supplies are provided by the club for free.

Time: Wednesdays, Thursdays & Sundays from 1 p. m. to 3 p. m. in the Freemasons Cultural Center Art Studio.

Cost: $12 per year

☆Computer Club

This club is meant for aged people with little knowledge of computers. Various topics are discussed at each meeting about computers（such as the Internet, software and email）as well as related technologies. The club has a computer lab with high-speed Internet connection. Members of the club have free access to the computer lab.

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p. m.to 3 p. m. in the Computer Resource Room on Level 2 of Smith North. Open general lab sessions are available for free.

Cost: $35 per year

☆Tai Chi for Arthritis

Arthritis is a common disease for old people. The joints（关节）in the patients’ body often hurt badly. Tai Chi for Arthritis is designed to improve the quality of life of those people who are suffering from arthritis using Sun-style Tai Chi. This style includes quick-moving steps and exercises that may improve mobility, breathing and relaxation. The movements don’t require deep bending.

Time: Wednesday s from 3: 30 p. m. to 4: 30 p. m. in the Irem Clubhouse.

Cost: $65 per year