As more and more people speak the global languages of English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, other languages are rapidly disappearing. In fact, half of the 6，000～7，000 languages spoken around the world today will likely die out by the next century, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

    In an effort to prevent language loss, scholars from a number of organizations—UNESCO and National Geographic among them—have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.

    Mark Turin, a scientist at the Macmillan Centre, Yale University, who specializes in the languages and  oral traditions of the Himalayas, is following in that tradition. His recently published book, AGrammarofThangmiwithanEthnolinguisticIntroductiontotheSpeakersandTheirCulture, grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.

    Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. But he is not content to simply record these voices before they disappear without record.

    At the University of Cambridge Turin discovered a wealth of important materials—including photographs, films, tape recordings, and field notes—which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection.

    Now, through the two organizations that he has founded —the Digital Himalaya Project and the World Oral Literature Project—Turin has started a campaign to make such documents, found in libraries and stores around the world, available not just to scholars but to the younger generations of communities from whom the materials were originally collected. Thanks to digital technology and the widely available Internet, Turin notes, the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities.

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    You may like chewing gum (口香糖) after meals to stop your breath smelling bad; or your mother might use a special neutralizer (调理剂) to protect her permed hair (烫发). But have you thought about the chemical principles behind such everyday actions?

    On March 2, the Senior 3 students from the IB (International Baccalaureate, 国际文凭) classes at Beijing Huijia Private School presented their discoveries, all in fluent English. This kind of seminar is held every year to show the achievements of the IB chemistry experiment lessons offered by the school. IB is a qualification based on a common curriculum (课程) for students aged 16-18 in any country and is recognized by universities everywhere.

    "Once I saw an advertisement for xylitol (木糖醇) gum," recalled Zhang Xinju. "Suddenly an idea came to my mind: are there any chemical reactions when the xylitol is working on our teeth?"

    Zhang and his partner Bu Xuan visited several hospitals to try and find out. "Doctors know that xylitol can protect teeth, but few could explain how the chemical reactions happen," said the 17-year-old boy.

    Presenting the results of their research in English to an audience of Chinese and foreign judges was never a problem for the students.

    "Textbooks for IB students are in English, and our teachers speak in English," explained Wei Duan and Han Yu, whose research topic was "The Acid-Base Reaction (酸碱反应) in the process of Hair-Perming".

    "In Senior 1 we often referred to Chinese textbooks, but we found we could understand and express it all in English by the second year."

    Lu Jiang, the school's IB chemistry teacher and China's only IB vice-examiner, is proud that her students can apply scientific theories they learn in class to daily life.

    "You might have learned these facts from you kindergarten teachers, but few think about the theories behind them," Lu said. "This kind of practice is intended to develop the scientific thinking they will need in their future studies."

    What's your favorite online magazine for kids? Here are four that are worth a look and a read.

    National Geographic Kids

    Parents, students, and teachers can take the help of this quality resource to learn about people, places, science, space, history, nature, and various fun activities. The magazine aims for the age group of 8-14. Interactive content includes videos, games, photos, blogs, etc. This is one online magazine that parents and teachers will always choose without hesitation (犹豫).

    TIME For Kids

    TIME magazine for adults might be too serious. The version for kids isn't but it does go deep with a lot of educational content and teaching resources that are helpfully arranged around grades. The weekly classroom news magazine covers world news and aims to develop the reading and analyzing (分析) habit in kids.

    Weekly Reader

    An offline and online magazine for elementary school students features a lot of educational tools for teachers and students alike. All of its magazines are arranged around grades from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. Lots of the tools are interactive and based around nicely designed stories that make learning fun. Some sections are open to only subscribers (注册人) though.

Highlights

    Highlights, com brings out magazines for kids of ages 2-12. The publication group's purpose is to help children become their best selves. The homepage also gives you further websites to explore like Puzzlemaniakids.com and Highlightskids.com. Play free online puzzles, solve riddles, go creative with fun activities, and even learn a little about nature and science at these two sites. For instance, you can go into a story adventure or create your own stories at The Timbertoes.

    Sooner or later, many families will face the situation of moving. The experience can be very bad for kids, who may not be a part of the decision to move and may not understand it. You can take steps to make the entire process (过程) easier for everyone.

    Many kids like to stay in familiar places. So as you consider a move, weigh the benefits (好处) of that change against the comfort that neighborhood, school, and social life give your kids. If your family has recently dealt with a big life change, such as death, you may want to put off a move to give your children time to accept the fact.

    The decision to move may be out of your hands, perhaps because of a new job or money problems. Even if you're not happy about the move, try to keep a positive (积极的) attitude to it. During the move, a parent's attitude can greatly influence kids.

    No matter what the results are, the most important way to prepare kids to move is to talk about it. Try to give your children as much information about the move as possible. You can ask kids to join in the planning such as house-hunting or the search for a new school. This can make the change feel less like it's being forced on them. If you're moving across town, try to take your children to visit the new house and the new neighborhood.

    A move can have many problems, but good things also come from this kind of change. Your family might grow closer and you may learn more about each other by going through it together.

    July is a month of fun-filled activities for kids and teens as long as you know where to find them. When you want some fun activities for July, consider these ideas happening in this month.

    It takes a special person to travel with kids—a parent. Children have their own needs. Their idea of a vacation is more “adventurous” than a parent's. They need constant inspiration and they can get as tired as they are tiring.

    Make sure you have plenty of room while traveling

    If you are driving, get a mini-van. Sure, you might be more of a “car” type, and you might have resisted buying a mini—van so far. But pick up a rental van for the vacation just to give the kids a little more room for fighting.

    Accommodations along the way can be tricky. Usually it involves a crowded motel for just long enough to sleep, then back in the crowded car. This is not anybody's idea of a home away from home. An accommodation alternative is to camp, but not everyone enjoys a good early morning wake-up wrestle with a bear as much as I do, so a motel might be required.

    Make sure you have plenty of room when you “get there”

    Assuming you are actually heading for a destination, make sure to have lots of room when you get there. This part is easy. But it requires thinking outside the box. Forget hotels, motels, and inns. Look for private rental homes.

    Probably the biggest destination for families is Walt Disney World in Florida. Good news—Orlando, Kissimmee and the surrounding area is full of private vacation homes for rent. In Florida they call them vacation villas, and they offer all the space of home.

    Be prepared for “children being children” events

    Sometimes, stress hits you from behind when the unexpected happens. Like a cut or a scrape…or a child getting sick. Sharon Baillie told me that is why she tells all her villa rental guests where the first-aid case can be found, and exactly where to go for medical attention. This is particularly helpful for her many guests from abroad, who are unfamiliar with the US healthcare system.

    Booking tickets to theme parks and making reservations for just about everything in advance makes the trip less stressful. Try having your children baby-sat. Hire a local baby-sitter once or twice. Vacation Home owners can set this up for you, and some hotels might be willing to, too.