Helping your teens adjust to their new high school
Switching peer groups, adjusting to a new academic schedule, and leaving behind old friends can be very hard for adolescents. Use these strategies to help your teen adjust to a new school.
Keep a positive attitude
The adjustment period begins before your teen ever steps foot into the new school. Offer a balanced outlook by acknowledging the challenges of moving, but also recognizing that a new school may offer exciting new opportunities. Point out the new opportunities that’ll be available.
Avoid saying things like, “Oh, you’ll make new friends right away, so don’t worry about it,” or “It’s not a big deal. I used to change schools all the time.” Instead, say things like, “I understand you’re worried about how to stay in touch with your old friends.”
Listen to your teen’s concerns
Acknowledge that change can be hard. Comfort your teen by saying you know it will be hard for him/her to leave his/her school and friends.
Your teen might not express their feelings with words but you might see some changes in their behaviour that indicate they are stressed out about the move. Keep asking questions about their biggest concerns. Are they worried about new teachers? Do they doubt their ability to make the basketball team?
Learn about the new school ahead of time
Carry out as much research as possible about the new school before your teen starts attending. Get your teen involved in finding out about the size of the school, the types of classes offered, and extra-curricular opportunities etc. Most schools have websites that offer a wealth of information.
Talking to a guidance counsellor or coach ahead of time can also be helpful. If possible, arrange for your teen to have a tour of the school too.
If at all possible, help your teen meet some students from the new school before the first day. Seeing a familiar face or two when they are the “new kids” can go a long way towards helping them settle in.
Life is full of changes. Someday, your teen will likely need to adjust to a new job, a new home, a new boss, and living with a partner. So changing schools can be a good practice for embracing changes.
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7 December is International Civil Aviation Day. Of course, we immediately think of the Wright brothers, the great pioneers who invented and put the first airplane into the sky.
The more you study the efforts the brothers made, the more you admire them. These were men who had a dream—to do what only the birds had been able to do. For thousands of years it had only been a dream and a mad one, too. It’s mad because it seemed against nature and mad also because of the dangers involved. But the Wrights flew up to 100 times a year. It was the process of trial and error that led to them producing a machine that could actually carry people through the air safely.
They were brave men. They showed courage, without which human beings would never have made any progress. A Wright brothers expert, David McCullough, gave an example of their courage. He noted that the brothers never flew together. Why? “If one got killed, the other would still be alive to carry on with the mission (使命)，” he wrote in his book The Wright Brothers.
Determination was all that they had in the beginning. They weren’t from fancy, rich backgrounds. No business or university sponsored (资助) their efforts. They had to do everything themselves. They put their lives on the line every time they climbed into the pilot’s seat.
The philosopher Aristotle had something to say about courage. He said that it is “the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees (保证) all the others”. Surely the story of the Wright brothers backs up these words. Courage is also part of the American belief that anything is possible if you put your whole heart and soul into it. The Wright brothers certainly had a cando attitude, and they taught us one great lesson: We need ambition and courage if we want to see our plans through to the end.
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I was ready for bed one night. As I planned to turn off the lamp on my bedside table, my eyes fell on the card my brother had given me on our dad’s sixty-eightli birthday. It was a musical card with a photo of Dad smiling inside. When you opened it, a recording of Dad’s songs would play. The card just stood beside my bed.
My dad was a joyful man with a big heart. He always went above and beyond. When my house was on fire a few years ago, it burned down. Luckily, all the family members were safe. Dad took it upon himself to make things right. He called everyone he knew to raise the money for rebuilding the house. In the meantime, I, my husband and our four kids moved into his house.
There was one thing that I loved most about Dad: his singing voice. When I was growing up, he was always singing us songs like the ones recorded in the card. It always made us laugh. Part of the fun for us kids was that, despite his wonderfully deep voice, Dad sang songs to share joy. I could always pick out his voice from the crowd.
With those in my mind, I turned off the light and quickly fell asleep. I was awoken a few hours later by a loud sound. Dad’s voice was filling the room. It was from the card! I jumped out of bed, closing the card before the whole house woke up. How did that card start playing? I thought. I checked the windows in my bedroom. I found a window was left open. It must be the wind that blew the card open.
Then I heard a little noise. It seemed that the noise came from the laundry room (洗衣房). We lived on a farm and raised a dozen baby chicks. Too young to be outside, the chicks were in a plastic bin in our laundry room, under the warnith of a heat lamp. I opened the door to the laundry room and was hit with the smell of smoke.
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The heat lamp had fallen, hitting into the bin!
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Fortunately, the fire was put out at last.
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Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl, whose name was Elsa. Elsa’s father and mother worked very hard and became rich. They loved Elsa so much that they did not want to have her do any work; they let her play all the time. So when Elsa grew up, she did not know how to do anything but laugh and sing. But she was so sweet that everybody loved her. And by and by, she married one of the people who loved her, and had a house of her own to take care of.
Then came hard times for Elsa! There were so many things to be done in the house, but she did not know how to do any of them! Because she had never worked at all, it made her very tired even to try, and she was tired before the morning was over every day. When the maid saw her mistress (女主人) sitting about doing nothing, she, too, sat about, idle (无所事事).
Elsa’s husband had a hard time because of it. He did not have good things to eat, and they were not ready at the right time, and the house looked all in a mess, which made him sad. Elsa also felt sad, for she wanted to do everything just right. At last, one day Elsa’s husband went away. Little Elsa cried bitterly when he was gone, for she did not want to make her husband unhappy, and she wanted the house to look nice. “Oh, dear,” she said sadly, “I wish I could do things right! I wish I had ten good fairies to work for me! Then I could keep the house tidy.”
As she said the words, a great gray man stood before her. He was wrapped in a strange gray cloak (斗篷) that covered him from head to foot and he smiled at Elsa. “What is the matter, dear?” he said. “Why do you cry?”
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“Oh, I am crying because I do not know how to clean the house,” said Elsa.
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“Give me your useless hands,” said the gray man. “I want to hide them to avoid being seen by others.”
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When I was nineteen years old, I successfully landed a job in Toronto. My daily commute (通勤) included a subway ride and then a ten-minute walk through the heart of downtown Toronto. Like most large cities, the homeless people of Toronto often gathered on downtown comers, asking passers-by for their spare change.
Like many busy workers, I learned to ignore the nameless faces who asked me for money each day. When it came to homeless beggars, my limited life experience had led me to one thought — you are on the streets because you choose to be, probably due to alcohol (酒精).
I clearly remember one day in mid-December, the weather was unusually cold I walked with my head down, wishing that my office was closer to the subway stop. I passed the usual groups of homeless beggars, ignored them and continued walking. As I crossed the crossroads of Queen and Yonge streets, I saw a homeless beggar sitting next to a building, wearing thin clothes and holding a white cup in front of him. I heard his shaky voice as I sped past him.
“Spare some change?” he asked. “I would really appreciate it.” I didn’t even bother looking up at his nameless face. I simply imagined him walking into a store and buying alcohol with money that people gave him. “I have no money on me,” I said. I lied to him. Actually I had some change.
Just a few feet past him, I didn’t see the ice on the sidewalk. I fell heavily to the ground and my knee of the right leg was badly hurt. The pain suddenly came through me as I lay on the ground for several moments, wondering if I had broken my knee.
I tried to get up, but it was hard It was too painful. Just then, I heard a familiar voice, just a few inches (英寸) above me.
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“Are you all right?” he asked.
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He held the coins out toward me, saying, “Take them and you can take the bus to the hospital”.
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In high school, Dad got me to play football in the first place. I enjoyed throwing the ball around with my friends, but I didn’t think I had what it took to play on a team. “I’m no football player,” I told my dad. “You’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you give it a try, Adam,” he told me. So, I did. It would give me a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence. I remember how proud he was when I won some awards and the hug he gave me after I received my congratulation letter. There was rarely a game where Dad wasn’t on the sidelines, cheering me on.
Four years of hard preseason football camps came down to my last game. I urged my dad to bring our video camera.
I waved at my parents before the opening kick-off, and put on my game face. My pads broke as I made contact with the offensive players. I grabbed at the clothes of their running back and dragged him to the field. A loud cheer came from the sidelines. There was Dad with the camera, cheering like crazy. By the end of the game, I had stopped seven players and a sacking (擒杀) — my best performance ever, a perfect end to my career. I ran into my dad’s arms. I was sweaty and smelly, but he hugged me anyway. I couldn’t wait to watch the tape — experience every moment again.
As soon as we got in the house, I took the tape out of the camera and put it in the player. My dad, mum, sister and I sat down in the living room in front of the big screen TV. I pressed Play. The video started. The two teams, lined up before the game, then the running back taking the handoff, running up to the line, me reaching out, and then…the sky and clouds! I could hear my dad screaming “Way to go, Adam!” as images of the sky shook up and down on screen.
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I leaned forward to see the next big play.
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The tape ended and Dad was quiet.
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It was a small town with nice landscapes that attracted a lot of rich people to live in. Ming was also attracted by the scenic spots of the town. But he had little money, so he rented a cheap house after he arrived. But what drew his attention most here was those wealthy people. So he took up a job to sell cell phones. But his cell phones were not good in quality.
One day, Ming’s pocket was empty again and wanted to earn money. Luckily, there was still a phone in his pocket to sell. Soon enough, he spotted a target—a seemingly wealthy middle-aged man in an old jacket. Ming came up to him and smiled politely, saying, “Hey, friend...” But the man was very cautious and asked, “What’s up?”
Ming said to him immediately, “Friend, I have a phone. I bought it at 5,000 yuan. But now I could sell it to you at only 3,000 yuan.” The man seemed uninterested in his phone and wanted to go away. Ming stopped him and said, “What about 2,000 yuan?” the man shouted at him, “What do you want to do with me?”
Ming immediately put up a poor face and hugged the man’s legs, crying to him, “Oh, my dear friend! Only 1,000 yuan, is it OK?” Ming began pouring out his “sad story” as he was crying.The man，after seeing this，felt a little bit moved and put his hands into his pocket. Then he took out 1,000 yuan to Ming and took the phone away.
After earning 1,000 yuan, Ming felt happy. As he felt hungry, he went to a small restaurant to have lunch. Ming ordered several dishes and handed over a note of 100 yuan to the cashier. The cashier stared at the banknote (钞票) for quite a while, as if checking if it was a fake note (假币), and then said to Ming, “Sorry, I could not find the change for you for the moment. Please wait a minute.” Then he went away. Staying in the restaurant without anything to do, Ming sat at a table and started to watch TV. After all, his cheap-rented house had no TV.
Paragraph 1：The TV was broadcasting a piece of news
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The police car stopped before the small restaurant and
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty glass jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about two inches in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open spaces between the rocks. The students laughed.
He asked his students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up all the remaining spaces.
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognise that this is your life.”
“The rocks are the most important things—your family, your partner, your health, your children—anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.
“If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, or material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important. Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. Talk with your parents. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the waste disposal. Take care of the rocks first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand. They will take care of themselves.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
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Later, students were asked to voice their own understandings.
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A creative student compared the empty jar to time,
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Last fall, our family was on our way back from a weekend in the mountains. My brother and I were riding in the back seat of our car. I was looking out of my window when suddenly I saw a dog standing by itself on the side of the road. I shouted at my dad, and he made a U-turn to go back and see if the dog was all right.
We got out of the car, walked up to this cold, damp spot (潮湿的地方) and found out there wasn't just one dog — there were three and they were puppies (幼犬). Then we discovered another puppy in a box, down below in the ravine (山谷). My dad went to save that puppy. He said that it looked like it was going to die. The poor little thing wouldn't eat any of the treats we gave it, and it was shaking.
My mom, dad, brother and I were full of questions. Who had left these puppies here? Why would anyone do such a terrible thing? What were we going to do with these four little puppies? We knew that we couldn't just leave them. Since we already had two dogs, we wouldn't be able to keep them either — especially four of them!
My mom went back to the car and got a dry box. We carefully placed the puppies in the box, and my mom held them on her lap (大腿部) as we drove to the nearest fire station. Since it was Sunday, the local animal shelter (收容所) was closed. Mom and I walked up to the front door of the station and knocked on the door. A fireman opened the door, and we asked him if they would take care of the puppies until Monday and then take them to the local animal shelter. While we were talking to the fireman who had opened the door, four other firemen had started playing with the puppies. One of the puppies was already running around the fire station. The firemen could tell how worried I was about these lovely little things, and they agreed to keep the puppies until the next day.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
As we drove down the mountain, I couldn't get my mind off the puppies.
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My mom called the animal shelter the next day to make sure that the puppies were fine.
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1．根据英国作家J.K. Rowling的小说改编，由Chris Columbus执导。
2．哈利失去双亲，在姨母家受虐待，11岁生日时被邀请到Hogwarts魔法学校上学，这是一个神奇莫测的魔幻世界。
3．在Hogwarts，哈利学习了魔法，经历了许多冒险和神奇的事，并交了一些好朋友，同时学会了怎样获得真正的友谊，学会了勇敢。
4．这是一部非常成功的电影，风靡全世界。通过这部电影，我们学会了相信自己和帮助别人。
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