1 . Great Panda Center

Join GoEco on a 7-day volunteer program in China to help wildlife at a giant panda center!

Your schedule

Day 1: Arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. The local team will be waiting to pick you up and transfer you to the hotel in Chengdu.

Day 2: Walk around Chengdu, visit Panda Breeding Center and enjoy delicious hot pot dinner.

Day 3-6: Transfer to Panda Base in the mountains and take part in rewarding volunteer work! Each day, volunteers will work for 4-6 hours and in the evenings, volunteers will take part in cultural activities ranging from dumpling making to Chinese language lessons.

Day 7: Take a bus to either the airport or Chengdu City Center if extending stay.

Some of your tasks include

• Preparing food for the pandas

• Cutting down and carrying bamboos

• Cleaning panda enclosures

• Occasionally participating in observation and research

Requirements

• Ages 18-50 (This project may accept volunteers who are under 18 with a letter of consent（同意）from a parent)

• Basic English and/or Chinese

• Motivation to work with animals

Total project cost: $1200

• What’s included

Room: Shared hotel room

Food: Three meals a day

Airport transfers: Airport transfers upon arrival and departure

• What’s not included

Flights, travel health insurance, personal expenses

Important note: Please apply for this program 1-2 months in advance. Families upgrading to private accommodations must pay an additional charge.

2 . Do you listen? Do you really listen? Is there more to listening than just hearing?

Listening is, by far, one of the most important aspects of communication. So often, you pay attention to your way of speaking, your _________ , your dialect, but neglect your ability to listen.

It is my _________ that people scream out or change the intended purposes of much of what they hear. Too often, we consider listening the _________ part of conversation, although it requires our focus, purpose, and active participation.

Listening means to give ear to, to pay attention to, to _________ , to witness, to hear with thoughtful _________ , or to understand.

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and to be understood. The only way to understand is to _________ .

Learn to be an active listener. Give off positive body language._________ a willingness to socialize. Ask the right questions. Boost your _________ so that you can understand more and achieve effective listening.

Listening means we should respond, that we should be touched, that what we hear has a(n)_________ on us. I believe that history __________ itself only because no one listens the first time.

You were given two ears, but only one mouth, which is a gentle hint that we should listen more, because God knew that listening was twice as __________ as talking. Listening is the key building block in effective communications. Good listening skills are crucial, as listening is the fundamental __________ of all information.

Isn’t now the time to give the gift of listening to those about you? Given them your __________ attention. Use your God given __________ to become a better listener. For me, I’m going to put into __________ what I believe in my heart and become a better listener.

4 . Alvin, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane last December when something like litter on the ground caught his eye. It was a _______ balloon with a note attached.

“Dear Santa,” the note _______. “My name is Luna. Four years old. This year I have been _______. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.”

Alvin’s heart hammered in his chest. It reminded him of his childhood wish. He smiled and set out to _______ Luna’s wish. He posted a photo of the balloon and the Christmas wish list on his Facebook page, asking for help _______ the sender.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez, the mother of four-year old Luna, had no idea that such a(n) _______ was underway. It had been a hard year for her family as COVID-19 spread. On a _______ tough day last December, she _______ the idea of having Luna send a letter to Santa by releasing a balloon. They enjoyed a _______ Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year.

One day, Gonzalez received a call saying that someone had found Luna’s balloon. Her jaw ________. She logged on to Facebook and saw Alvin’s ________. She called Alvin and finally agreed to let Alvin fulfill her daughter’s wish list.

“Santa dropped your balloon ________,” Gonzalez told Luna, “but one of his elves (精灵) found it.” Not long after that, Luna received three boxes’ worth of ________with a note signed “Alvin the Elf.”

Now, having received so much ________, Gonzalez and her girl intend to pay it forward this year. After all, when Alvin could have just ________ that balloon in the trash, he went more than the extra mile.

5 . Most young people are always on their phones, which may upset many people. ___________, a group called Girl Scouts are receiving _________ for setting up their first walk-in clinic for elderly people, who have difficulty understanding how to ___________ the secrets of their smart phones.

Each teen spent at least an hour of one-on-one time with their oldsters. Based on their _________ knowledge, each Girl Scout was assigned to ___________ different aspects of Android and Apple phones.

Some of the oldsters actually wanted to take part in e-commerce (电子商务), and needed help to _________ a payment account on their smart phones while others simply had _________ when learning how to send messages to their family members. "I was teaching this older woman how to _________, and the first thing she did was to send a message to her daughter,” one of the Scouts said. “How ___________ it was! It just made me feel really, really happy.”

In addition to arranging group lessons for all of the seniors to ____________ together at the end of the clinic, the youngsters even printed out brochures and guides for the seniors to take home in case ____________ seniors would encounter problems with their smart phones in the future.

The eighth graders earned their “Silver Award,, for their job. After experiencing the ____________ of their project, the girls hope to organize more ____________ in the near future. “Those girls were just great,” said Nancy, a great-grandmother who once ____________ the clinic. “They were ready for us and had a very mature attitude about answering our questions, and they ______________ the praise.

8 . Crossing the pedestrian bridge that connects our school to its surrounding neighborhood reminds us that there's more to Rochester than just our school.     1     By staying on campus all the time, we limit ourselves to just feeling like students and not people. Here's a list of things we can do around Rochester whenever we see it again.

    2     It's a big, wide open produce market that happens every Saturday on Union Street. They sell flowers, vegetables, fruits, and clothing, and there are a few restaurants and coffee shops along the alleyway. Often, they have live music, and once I watched a friend play their saxophone there in front of the grape stand.

Study somewhere else besides school. Go to a coffee shop, or one of the public libraries. I like the music library at Eastman, and the coffee shop across the street, Java's. Rochester is full of cafes and spots to sit and study.     3    

Go to a concert, if you're into that. The Little Theater has free live music every single night, and there's a variety of other bars and music halls that bring in local artists. Most venues offer shows for less than $10.     4     That's my favorite. Those guys are crazy, and watching them play their instruments is like being transported into a strange, shimmering world of classical music.

Go for more walks. When you're stuck, listen to music and roam around our campus. Sit under a tree and look at all the people walking by. Or take one of the shuttles that stop in front of the library to a new neighborhood, like the South Wedge, and float in and out of the small businesses along the street. Or, if you know somebody with a car, go to Letchworth and see the waterfalls.     5    

9 . How to Teach A Child to Ride A Bike?

You never forget how to ride a bike, but most of us forget how hard it was to learn.     1    . Here’s what to keep in mind when instructing little ones from two feet to two wheels.

Begin with the right equipment. Start with a bicycle that’s the right size. A newbie should be able to sit on the seat with both feet flat on the ground. If the child has been using a bike with training wheels, remove them.     2    . Long pants and long-sleeved shirts aren’t a bad idea, either, to prevent injury in the event of a fall.

    3    . Head to a location that has smooth, flat, open pavement and little or no traffic to distract or endanger your child. It helps if there’s no one around, too, so he won’t feel self-conscious. The ideal spot? A school parking lot on the weekend.

Emphasize the basics. The fundamentals of biking are balance, coasting, pedaling, and steering. To help a child learn these basic skills, remember to show how to do that in the flesh and dare to let him try. No doubt there will be more than a few stops and starts and maybe even a fall or two.     4    .

Now practice a lot. After a fair number of dry runs, it’s time to move to the big stage. Find a bike path or a little-travelled street in a residential neighbourhood.     5    . Bike along with him to check that he’s using proper safety techniques and feels comfortable pedaling in traffic.