Four smart ways to help build your children's vocabulary

    “Johnny next door can name his colors, but Gloria can hardly even say her own name. What am I doing wrong?”{#blank#}1{#/blank#}But the good news is that children really are born to absorb the language around them. The following are some ways to help build your child's vocabulary.

Never use baby talk

    Young children understand so much more than they can initially repeat.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Of course you are not going to start speaking to a baby in difficult English, but it's important to speak to them the way that you'd speak to anybody else. Even if your child can't or doesn't use the same vocabulary when he talks, it is helping his language development.

Follow your child's lead

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Trying to turn her attention away from the clown (小丑) so that you can point out the word for “elephant”, is not only frustrating, but also it's probably not doing much good. Instead of driving the conversation, you'll be more successful in making words “stick”, if you look at what your child is paying attention to.

Encourage any kind of reading.

    Even young kids who haven't yet learned to read will memorize books that they've often heard. So go ahead and have your child “fill in” words as you're reading together.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}For older children who are already readers, it's important to let them choose their own reading material.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    At two years of age, some kids may only use about 30 words while others may be able to use 300 words. But there's very little evidence that those children with 30 words at age two will have worse outcomes by the time they are five or six years of age.

A. So don't talk down to them.

B. Correct pronunciation gently.

C. Don't panic if your child is slow to talk.

D. It will help with their vocabulary development.

E. That sort of comparison can lead to a lot of parental anxiety.

F. Let's say you're taking a trip to the circus with your young daughter.

G. The best thing that parents can do is really just talk to their children all the time.

    Do you know what a big dream is? Does a big dream show one's future? Or, is a big dream something that provides only entertainment? Children dream big dreams, but there are three barriers to realizing dreams{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

The self

    Immediately following the birth of a big dream, a negative self-talk takes over and gives all the reasons why it cannot happen. This voice inside of people is the ego（自我）.It's there for protecting and should be listened to. Sometimes it is right, but more often it is wrong{#blank#}2{#/blank#} That's why only a handful of people make their dream come true

Family and friends

    Family and friends are a lot the ego.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} so they will often list all the reasons why the big dreams won't come true. Sometimes, family and friends destroy dreams of those they love most, out of their own fear of those left behind.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    If one gets past the first two barriers, one has to face the world. It is the last and the most terrible barrier. In the past, big dreamers were locked up and sometimes even killed when they were shown to the world. Fortunately, in most of the world today, big dreamers just get laughed at {#blank#}5{#/blank#}When children feel confident and then try their best, they will be ready to accept any failure. The truth is that every great dreamer whose dreams have never seen the light of success knows failure well. They simply fail until they succeed

A. The world

B. The future

C. Most people are influenced by it

D. They want to protect those they love

E. And their big dream is to be a rock star or a famous artist

F. They often kill them before they ever have a chance to grow

G. The way to realize a big dream is with confidence and action

    As a child grows up，you may wonder how you can teach him to become a respectful adult. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} A child who learns to respect not only learns to receive respect from others in kind，but also learn to respect himself.

    Show him respect.

    This is the best way to teach your child how to respect others．Listen to your child attentively and he will learn to listen to you，understanding how important this is in communication．

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The more you say "please" and "thank you" to your child，the more likely he will learn to use them．Politeness then becomes a normal part of any conversation．

    Agree to disagree．

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Explain your decision so that he will understand you and expect respectful responses．Disagreeing with you doesn't necessarily mean disobedience(不顺从)．

    Control your impulse to overreact．

    When a situation arises，stay calm and keep in mind that you are supposed to be modeling correct behavior.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Praise，praise，praise

    So much is focused on what a child does wrong and how to correct it that his accomplishments are not celebrated enough.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A．Teach manners by using polite requests and responses．

B．Try to remember that a child won't always agree with you．

C．Respect is necessary for a meaningful and successful life．

D．If he sees you lose your temper，he is more likely to respond that way in future．

E．A child may act as he pleases，and he will live a happy life．

F．Seeing a child exhibit respectful behavior，make sure he knows how proud you are of him.

G．Respectful behavior is always accompanied by bad behavior as a child．

    The "Chong Yang Festival" is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, which is also known as the Double Ninth Festival.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Climbing Mountains

    People like to climb mountains on this festival, so Double Ninth Festival is also called "Mountain-climbing Festival".

    The 9th lunar month, with clear autumn sky and bracing air, is a good time for sightseeing.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. It is really refreshing to climb mountains and enjoy the beauty of nature at this bright and clear time in autumn.

    Climbing mounting also indicates "climbing to a higher position". Another reason why climbing mountains are valued by people, especially by the elderly is that it has a meaning of "climbing to ligneous life". Climbing mountains on Double Ninth Festival was already popular in the Tang Dynasty.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    Drinking Chrysanthemum Flower(菊花) Wine

    The chrysanthemum flower wine is unique in brewing. In ancient times, people usually picked fresh chrysanthemum flowers and leaves on the 9th of the 9th lunar month, and brewed the mixture of them and grains into the wine.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The wine is said to have wholesome effects on sharpness of the eye, drop of high blood pressure, reduction of weight and removal of stomach trouble, thus contributing to longevity.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    The Double Ninth cake is also known as "flower cake". It dates back to the Zhou Dynasty. It is said that the cake was originally prepared after autumn harvests for farmers to have a taste of what was just in season, and it gradually grew into the present cake for people to eat on the Double Ninth Day.

A. Eating Double Ninth Cake

B. Making “flower cake” with friends

C. A lot of poems were devoted to this custom

D. So people love to go sightseeing this month

E. It would not be drunk until the same day next year

F. Here are some traditional customs of the Double Ninth Festival

G. But few Chinese people are aware of the importance of the festival

How to Help Children Learn From Their Mistakes

    Everyone makes mistakes. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} As parents, it's our duty to help our children learn from their mistakes. Turning a mistake into a learning experience will help your child grow. Here are some tips for helping children learn from their mistakes.

    Explain exactly what the mistake is. It's important to make your child accept the fact that he made a mistake. Talk with your child and help him exactly understand what he did is not right.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Never imagine he knows; always talk over the problem early.

    Ask your child to make an apology if his mistakes hurt others. This step takes a mistake that is connected with another person even further.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} By making your child go to see and talk with the person who was hurt, he will more fully understand the results of the mistake and learn from what bad experience.

    Offer suggestion in different ways to lead your child to avoid making the same mistakes again. You can choose to share your personal examples if you had the same problem before.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} He may not want to do exactly the same thing, but it will get him to start in the right direction.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Having your child try to work through the problem and know how to deal with it only by himself will help develop his reasoning skills, which is good for his self - development. In this way, he will know what he should do if a similar situation appears in the future.

A. Tell your child how you deal with the problem.

B. Children need to learn the results of their mistakes.

C. Praise him if he fully understands the mistake he made.

D. Now it's time to help him properly correct mistakes.

E. Encourage your child to find a way to deal with the problem alone.

F. Learning from mistakes is what makes us become better people.

G. Sometimes a child fails to know why the things he did are wrong.

    Finding motivation (动机), especially study motivation, is not always easy. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are some ways of doing it.

    Offer yourself encouragement.

    Yes, you should give yourself a prize or some kind of reward when you've done a task. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Remember, you have to know the exact conditions that you need to meet in order to receive the wonderful cake.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    You need to feel confident about your studies. I am sure all of us have succeeded on several occasions. Remember these past successes and you will feel more motivated to continue!

    Write down your goals.

    Don't just think about them, don't just say them, write them down! {#blank#}4{#/blank#} And that's why you find salesmen always want you to write something down before you actually buy something. By writing your name down, you are in a sense giving your support for their cause. If then you are asked to buy what they are selling, you are more likely to do that than if you hadn't signed the paper!

    See your goals.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Put them up on the wall and paste (粘贴) small post-it notes all over the place. You have to keep on reminding yourself of the purpose behind your studies and what type of results you're expecting to achieve.