Third-Culture Kids

    Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a totally different country? If so, then you are a third-culture kid!

    The term “third-culture kid” (or TCK) was coined in the 1960s by Dr. Ruth. She first came across this phenomenon when she researched North American children living in India. Caught between two cultures, they form their very own.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} About 90 percent of them have a university degree, while 40 percent pursue a postgraduate or doctor degree. They usually benefit from their intercultural experience, which helps them to grow into successful academics and professionals.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} In fact many hardships may arise from this phenomenon. A third-culture kid may not be able to adapt themselves completely to their new surroundings as expected. Instead, they may always remain an outsider in different host cultures. Max, for example, experienced this fundamental feeling of strangeness throughout his life as a third-culture kid.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} While this can be a way to create a network of friends all around the world, it can be difficult for a third-culture kid like Max to maintain close friendships and relationships.

    For a third-culture kid, it is often easier to move to a new foreign country than to return to their “home” country. After living in Australia and South Korea for many years, Louis finally returned to Turkey as a teenager. But she felt out of place when she returned to the country where she was born. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} She did not share the same values as her friends' even years after going back home.

    While a third-culture kid must let go of their identity as foreigner when he/she returns, the home country can prove to be more foreign than anything he/she came across before. The peer group they face does not match the idealized image children have of “home”.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    As a part of the growing “culture”, TCKs may find it a great challenge for them to feel at home in many places.

A. Yet being a third-culture kid is not always easy.

B. In general, they often reach excellent academic results.

C. This often makes it hard for them to form their own identity.

D. However, their parents can help them see the opportunities of a mobile lifestyle.

E. Their experience abroad helps them to gain a better understanding of cultural differences.

F. Unlike other teens of her age, she didn't know anything about current TV shows or fashion trends.

G. Additionally, making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones will at some point become routine for a third-culture kid.

    If you are hungry, what do you do? Have your favorite-meal and stay quiet after that?

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. But it never lets you know, because, you keep it busy thinking about your friends or favorite stars. So it silently serves your needs and never let itself grow. When mind loses its freedom to grow, creativity sets a full stop. This might be the reason why we all sometimes think "What happens next?", "Why can't I think?"

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Why reading but not watching TV? It is because reading has been the most educative tool used by us right from childhood．Since it develops other aspects of our life, we have to take help from reading．

    Once you read a book, you run your eyes through the lines and your mind tries to explain something to you{#blank#}3{#/blank#}．Now this seed is unknowingly used by you to develop new ideas．If it is used many times, the same seed can give you great help to relate a lot of things, which you would have never thought of in your wildest dreams!

    This is nothing but creativity．{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Within no time you can start talking with your friends in English or any other language and never run out of the right words．

    So guys, do give food for your thoughts by reading, reading and more reading.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}．Go and get a book!

A．Now what are you waiting for?

B．Reading can help you make more friends, too．

C．Just like your stomach, your mind is also hungry．

D．Why not do some reading while you are hungry?

E．Also this makes a significant contribution to your vocabulary．

F．The interesting part of the book is stored in your mind as a seed．

G．Hunger of the mind can be actually solved through wide reading．

    We all know it is not always so easy to be happy. We also know how stressed you are, with homework, exams, sports meets and extra outdoor activities, let alone trying to have a life outside school. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Exercise

    Physical activity produces all sorts of things which help us to relax and feel good. Exercise can also make us feel more confident, which certainly makes us happier. You don't have to be a future Olympian. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}If you hate P. E. , find something less competitive: go for a walk, dance around your room or hit a park.

    Thankfulness

    It is easy to take the good thing in life without thinking about them or showing you're thankful.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} An easy way to do this is to make a list before bed of five things you're thankful for. They can be big things, like your family and friends, or little things, like a good hair day.

    Laugh

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But research has shown that a good laugh reduces stress and, even if you start by forcing yourself to laugh, improves how you feel.

    Sleep

    Get enough sleep.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Not getting enough sleep makes you angry and sad, so leave your phone outside your room, turn off the lights and let yourself have a good sleep. Sweet dreams!

A. Teens especially need at least eight hours.

B. If you're feeling blue, know that you're not alone.

C. You can increase happiness if you exercise with a friend.

D. So here are our top tips on being happy and staying happy.

E. Everyone can get something good from moving a little bit.

F. But studies have shown that giving thanks can make you happier.

G. Some days, laughing is just about the last thing you feel like doing.

    Can creativity be taught? That's a question without a simple yes or no answer. Creativity may not be able to be taught directly, but what you can get better at is frequently targeting at the circumstances of life which bring up the greatest chances for true creative expression. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, but more like something which manifests （显现） itself inside those who learn to develop it and create the right conditions for it.

Limit your selection of tools to only the most vital. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. You'll be sharper than someone who merely fights with a larger set of tools.

    Learn how to be resourceful. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Creativity is not just about creating something new but making old things work better as well. Think of crazy possibilities as well as practical ones. You might find inspiration for a workable solution in one of your ideas.

    Don't listen to feedback （反馈） and keep following your own path. The problem of asking for feedback is that the feedback will be given according to the person's past experience. Others will unconsciously push you in a direction that they see as best. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Just don't let criticism （even the constructing type） destroy your creativity during the creative process.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Routines are positive if they strengthen a healthy creative consciousness and negative if they destroy that. The key is to discover a creative routine that puts you in a more creative mindset.

A. Creativity is not like a lightning strike

B. Having a routine is actually not a bad idea

C. You can literally do anything you like with them

D. Resourcefulness is about making the most of what you have to work with

E. The more limited your set of tools is, the more creative the output will be

F. This is done with good intentions, but it actually hurts your natural creativity

G. While breaking your routine once in a while to force new ways of thinking is good

3-2-1 GREEN!

    You already know an environmentalist's three R's: reduce, reuse, recycle. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are three things you can do for the Earth Day.

    Be a real cut-up

    The next time you're about to throw out the plastic rings that hold a six-pack of soda together, reach for a pair of scissors.

    As a young turtle, Peanut got stuck in one of these rings. As she grew, the ring stayed put, forcing her shell to grow around it. By the time someone found her and cut her free, her shell was permanently deformed. Thanks to her hard shell, Peanut is alive and well. She now lives at a nature center in Missouri. But most animals that get caught in six-pack rings die.

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    Easy! {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Hunt for vampires（吸血鬼）

    You know all those electronic inventions you've got at home? Even when you switch them off, they are really still on. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Anything with a glowing LED off/on light, a remote control, or a clock display is always on.

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    Just pull out the plugs or tap the OFF switch till you really need the electronics.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Matt Damon really cares about clean water. So in February, he announced that he was going on strike against toilets. " Until everybody has access to clean water and sanitation（卫生设备）," he said. "I will not go to the bathroom!" He was kidding but to make a serious point. Around the world, he said, "780 million people lack access to clean water; 2.5 billion people lack access to a toilet."

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    No need to go on a toilet strike. Just don't waste water. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Take shorter showers.

A. Use water wisely.

B. How to recognize vampire electronics?

C. Cut the rings apart before you trash them.

D. Use toilets less.

E. But how else can you help?

F. Don't run the water while brushing your teeth.

G. Things that can help with good living conditions are important.

    Today's students are surrounded by information. The ability to figure out exactly why authors write ­ and not accept every opinion as fact ­ is a key skill. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following strategies teach them how to figure out why authors really write.

    Start with why. "Why did the author write this piece?" is the key question asked to identify author's purpose. To help students expand their understanding of "why," post various types of nonfiction (an advertisement, opinion article, news article, etc.) around your classroom and have students quickly identify a purpose for each. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Talk about structure. Authors use different structures for different purposes. For example, one author may use time order to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into context.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Often when authors write, they're trying to get readers to feel a certain way. Perhaps the author of an article about whale conservation wants readers to feel sad about the difficult situation of whales. Or the author of a letter may want to make the recipient feel better about a situation. After students read a text, stop and ask: How do you feel? And how did the author get you to feel this way?

    Connect it to students' own writing. It doesn't have to be said that writing and reading go hand in hand. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} When students are asked to write about a topic that they think everyone should know about, to explain a procedure or to share a personal memory, they'll become more conscious of how authors approach writing.

    Observe how purpose changes within a text. Author's purpose is often studied through the text as a whole, but authors have different reasons for writing within texts as well. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Then, they may launch into a list of facts that make the reader feel discouraged about the situation. And finally, they may conclude with an appeal. Take a short article and break it apart, identifying the different purposes so that students see how author's purpose changes as they read.

A. Get to the heart.

B. Identify the topic.

C. The readers may get more advanced in their work with informational text.

D. For example, an author may include a funny anecdote (轶事) to draw the reader in.

E. In particular, they'll need to figure out author's purpose and draw their own conclusions.

F. Expand students' awareness of why people write by having them write for different purposes.

G. Or keep a running Author's Purpose board with a list of the various reasons that authors write.