【推荐2】Located in the picturesque Goulburn Valley in country Victoria is the Kialla Central Primary School, attended by just 77 students, four teachers and one excellent principal (校长). After experiencing epidemic lockdown period (疫情封闭期) that forced them into remote learning for months, the boys and girls of Kialla have just one message — THANK YOU!

“We never expected such a wonderful outpouring of thanks,” principal Debbie Humphries tells Woman’s Day from the school’s playground where the students have gathered to praisethe devoted (有献身精神的) staff who supported them during these recent tough times.

“Spending time with these amazing children, we found one unique quality really shines through their exceptional kindness. From Foundation One through to Year 6, all 77 come together as one, each adding their little bit of magic to the mix,” says Debbie, 52. “Our school motto, ‘A small school doing big school things!’, summarized what we aim to do every day—to go beyond the normal course of duty, to schedule their education according to their individual strengths, and weaknesses, and give them a chance to shine and be their best.”

“I’ve been here at Kialla Central since its foundation,” Harry, 11, explains confidently, “Thanks to the best teachers in Australia, actually the universe, lockdown and remote learning was like being in the classroom—only more fun! Now I’m in Grade 6 and a school captain, and it’s my job to help teach the little ones that we must always look out for each other,” he says.

Annika, who is honored to captain the school with her good mate Harry, is convinced Miss H and the Kialla staff are real-life angels, without the wings! “During lockdown, they changed everything to make learning more interesting. We made Mother’s Day cards as part of our art lesson, and they organized flowers from a local community garden to gift to our mums. If one of us was having a birthday, they all got in their cars and drove by our houses singing Happy Birthday!” she says.

“We’re very proud to know our hard work has paid off — just look at those smiles!” says principal Debbie.

【推荐3】Julian Murphy has had a successful week. He’s the headmaster of an independent school called Loughborough Amherst school and he seems a bit media-friendly. Do you know what I mean? Those media-friendly headmasters? They’re regularly announcing something and not just in school — in the media. They pop up with some teaching thing: maths should only happen after lunch or they’re replacing physics with farming lessons. Anthony Seldon and Eric Anderson were the pioneers — always ringing up with a theory instead of standing in a playground with a coffee and a whistle.

Murphy first got round to being media-friendly back in 2017 when he said he was getting rid of school reports. His reasons were, he told the Independent, that “they end up using almost politician’s speak, using the same phrases such as ‘very lively and enthusiastic in lessons’, which of course actually means they don’t behave well in class”, and that some teachers, “let’s say PE or maths teachers — find writing 200-word long reports quite challenging”.

I quite like his style. He tells it like it is. Well, actually, not any more he doesn’t. Last week’s theory was a bit different. He’s banned staff, he explained to a newspaper, from using the words “good” and “bad” to refer to pupils’ behaviour. Instead, they should say “skilful” and “unskilful”.

One famous presenter tweeted in reply: “What on earth will these poor kids do when they’re exposed to the real world? This is so... BAD.” This suggests that the most sensible way for a school to prepare its students for the big wide world is simply to copy it. The “sink or swim” approach. “Look at those poor cosseted（宠爱）kids wearing armbands（充气臂圈）.” “In the real world no one’s going to carefully explain to you how to read！” But, surely, the fact that people are often rude, and sometimes violent and criminal, in the real world doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a sound idea to encourage those things inside a school.

This is how Murphy explained his new rule: “While I don’t want teachers to be soft, I also don’t want them to be shouty and make pupils feel guilty. I think it’s human psychology — if people make you feel guilty, then you get angry.” I think I agree with that.

Still, in the long run, I’m not sure it’ll do any lasting skilful. Words quickly change their meanings and schoolchildren are a major driver of that. Playgrounds have taken every polite expression for disability ever invented and almost instantly weaponised them as terms of abuse between all kids. It won’t be long before “unskillful” is ruder than “bad” ever was. Rudeness, like life itself, will find a way.

【推荐1】The 22-year-old aircraft engineer Sijo Zachariah had been living in Dubai. But he and his father were in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala for a family wedding when the government placed the area on lockdown. He was bothered realizing they couldn't come back to their home for a while. What the young man had most in mind was how they were going to feed themselves. Groceries in the area were nearly empty. Places that sold plants for gardening were closed.

So, Zachariah and his father collected seeds from whatever fruits and vegetables they could find and planted them on their family's land. Kerala has much rain and sun, making farming easier. Over time, the garden helped feed 20 other families. "We started teaching others how to grow their own crops," he said.

Zachariah became interested in permaculture—a movement that says farming should work with the physical world instead of trying to control the land, thus making farms more sustainable and fruitful. Zachariah had studied and worked in Wales in Britain. He wondered why the food in Wales was better than the food he ate at home. Zachariah came to understand the food was fresher. It came from local farms and wasn't treated with chemicals before traveling to be sold far away.

Zachariah considered a new profession: farming. He connected with other people online who are thinking of a future in farming as well. He said, "There're many people like me who are genuinely curious, but they are stuck somewhere."

Zachariah has left the farm in the hands of his neighbors since returning home after the restriction was removed. He has decided to become a farmer. "It's a big change. But this makes me happy—helping others and being in nature," he said. There is one more reason he was happy with his farming life. "I was getting quality time with my dad as well, so it was like a win-win," he added.

【推荐2】“She got a beautiful eye, walk in a line, smile with her type; She knows all about life, never ask why, driving everyone crazy, crazy...” Everyone is surprised that this original song, She, which has so far topped more than 10 million views on the Internet was produced by a 15-year-old girl in only 30 minutes.

Zhang Yuxuan is better known as Vicky Xuanxuan on social media. “I have never thought the song She would be so popular,” Zhang, a middle school student at an arts school, majoring in violin, said. “A melody (旋律) suddenly jumped out of my head when I was having a math class. I quickly wrote a few words and melody on my notebook, and after class, I rushed home and took less than half an hour to finish it,” Zhang added. She has become one of the most popular music bloggers on the platform and has attracted 42, 6 00 followers.

Zhang fell in love with English songs when she was a primary student. She registered on the Internet when she was 13 years old and in 2019, she posted her first original song December Composer. “So far, I have produced 26 songs and there are dozens of songs that have not been released,” she said. She also invited Allie Sherlock, a famous Irish teen singer and online celebrity, with 4.47 million fans, to sing Dance Monkey together, which also helped her earn a lot of fans.

After being so popular, Zhang felt a bit of stressed and she cares more about the quality of her work. She has received many invitations to music and variety shows but she has wisely (明智地) refused them. She said she still needs to put study first and only spends her time off to produce music. Zhang said her dream is to go to one of the world’s top music schools like the Berklee College of Music in Boston. “I still have a lot to learn including my main subjects like English skills and composition. I hope I can become a songwriter and work with the musicians I like,” she said.

【推荐3】At 71, Maye Musk, who has been modeling since the age of 15 and had four billboards in Times Square in her 60s, probably a record, looks better than ever! The silver-haired, bright smiling COVERGIRL, and mom of famed Tesla founder/CEO Elon Musk, revealed her secrets in an EXCLUSIVE interview with Hollywood Life while attending the BlogHIer Health Summit as a panelist (专门小组成员) in Los Angeles, California. “I look good because there’s good lighting!” she joked, at first. “Seventy-one doesn’t bother me. I think I’m going to be looking great at 81 and 91 and I hope to be 101! Mainly I have to eat very well, which is hard, because there’s so much temptation and I have to maintain my weight not only for health but for energy as well. And fortunately, I am a dietician, which means I advise people on what kind of food should be eaten to keep healthy.”

She revealed that she “eats vegetarian at home because I’m a bad cook and then when I go out I’ll have some meat, fish and chicken and then I will take some home with me and then I have it lasting two more days”. That’s the secret to good gut (肠道) health, everyone! Maye has recently opened up in a new book, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, which is now in more than 100 countries with more to be announced soon, and revealed that it was her children’s advice to put the stories about her personal struggles into her book. “My kids, Elon, Kimball and Tosca, said ‘you have to talk about your struggles, and tell people how you struggled and how you survived because people think you are too perfect on Instagram’.”

“I think people will learn that they don’t need to learn about me, but they will see themselves in the book,” Maye continued to say. “It still shows that you will go through times in your life when you have financial problems, but if you can keep your health and you can keep a positive attitude, you just have to get out there and let people appreciate you,” she said.

【推荐3】The British Government has decided to spend £1.5 million translating the complete works of Shakespeare into Chinese. The project will be delivered by the Royal Shakespeare Company, who has also received government funding for a tour of China.

The plays and poetry of William Shakespeare are arguably England’s greatest cultural treasure. Every schoolchild studies his work, and he is considered to be the greatest Englishman to ever use a pen. Until the 20th century though, Shakespeare was almost unknown in China. The new translations and accompanying tour will bring Shakespeare to a wider audience in China. What, though, do those from the land of Shakespeare’s birth feel about their government sponsoring this project?

Only a very few were angry about this use of taxpayers’ money, with most expressing pride that “their” playwright was to be presented again in the world’s most spoken language. However, there are some huge challenges involved in translating Shakespeare into Chinese.

The first translations of Shakespeare into Chinese were by Lin Shu (1852-1924). They were not direct translations, but taken from a children’s book of prose (散文) adaptations of Shakespeare’s stories. The first Chinese encounters (相遇) with Shakespeare were therefore not with the verse (韵文) of his plays but the stories and characters in a simplified format.

The influence of Shakespeare’s storylines has definitely been greater than that of his language. Shakespeare’s language does not easily submit to translation. Many of the words, figures of speech and references are too archaic (古体的) to be understood even by native English speakers. Much of Shakespeare is written in verse limited by rhythm and rhyme. This is particularly difficult when translating into Chinese.

Besides, Shakespeare’s “History Plays” present a different challenge to the Chinese translator. As dramatizations of real historical events, these plays require the translator to have a thorough knowledge of British history. Meanwhile, Shakespeare’s comedic moments are often based on puns (双关语). These are really difficult to translate directly.