Adult Basic Education (ABE) Preparation

Task

    The ABE Department serves a huge population of learners. Our task is to teach basic skills and help learners to get more knowledge to function effectively as a family member, citizen, worker, and lifelong learner in a changing world.

Description

    ABE Is a non-credit program of self-improvement designed to improve basic skills for students who are of different educational levels. Development of reading, writing, and math skills are paid special attention to, as well as life skills, employability, and technology. Students without a high school diploma also have the opportunity to prepare for the GED (General Equivalency Diploma) exams in the five subject areas: writing, social studies, science, literature, and math.

Prerequisites (条件)

    ABE classes are open to anyone 18 or over who desires to improve basic reading, writing, and math skills at the pre-college level. Students who are 16 or 17 must obtain an official permission from high school before attending class.

    To be accepted, students must attend an Educational Planning Session. During the Educational Planning Session students will be given an overview of the ABE programs as well as PCC policies, fees, etc.

    Students will also have their reading, writing, and math abilities assessed (评估> during the Educational Planning Session. The results of their assessments will help the teachers develop individual programs of study for students to guide them toward their personal goals. Students needing special help must get in touch with the Office for Students with Disabilities (503-977-4341) at least two weeks before the session is held.

Courses

ABE 0741: Beginning Literacy

ABE 0742: Beginning

ABE 0743: Intermediate I

ABE 0744: Intermediate II

ABE 0745: Secondary I

ABE 0746: Secondary II (Includes preparation for the GED Test)

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

How to Live Peacefully with Your Parents

    As a teen,you are going through big changes physically and mentally.Your interests are expanding.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Here is the challenge: kids need to explore the world in new ways,and parents need to protect them from the dangers that are all out in the world.These conflicts（冲突）can easily set off fireworks in otherwise calm house. Sometimes conflicts can't be avoided.But by paying attention to the building blocks of successful relationships,you can work towards making home a happy and healthy place for you and your parents.

    For example,try to find time to talk when your parents are not angry,tired,or hungry.A good time to talk is when you are all relaxed.Timing is everything.If the conversation begins to turn into an argument,you'd better calmly and coolly ask to stop it.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.Listen to what your parents are saying,and repeat it back to them.This shows them that you are listening.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} .

    Respect is the building block of good communication.People who respect each other and care about each other's feeling can disagree without getting things ugly.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.How do you build trust?Trust,comes by actually doing what you say you are going to do.Some teens find that doing fun activities with their parents can improve their relationships.Sometime we forget that parents are more than rule makers—they're interesting people who like to watch movies and go shopping—just like their teenagers!

    What do you do if you are trying your best,but your relationship with your parents continues to be rocky?{#blank#}5{#/blank#} You can find supportive adults,such as a teacher or a coach,who can lend an ear.Remember you can only change your own behavior.Your parents are the ones who can change theirs.

A.You may consider seeking outside help.

B.Faced with this challenge,children don't know what to do.

C.And then you will be able to accept what your parents say.

D.You are more likely to get along with your parents and have more independence if your parents believe in you.

E.And your desire to take control of your own life is growing.

F.It also gives them a chance to clear things up if you are not on the same page.

G.You can pick it up again when everyone's more relaxed.

How to Improve Speed Reading Skills

    Speed reading is one of many skills that can improve your reading comprehension and shorten your study time. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Look at groups of words, not single words.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. However, if you can get into the habit of reading groups or chunks of words at one time, then you can read much faster. Start by trying to look at a group of three or four words at once, then work up to looking at an entire line of words. Focus on words that give the sentence meaning, such as the nouns and verbs and pay less attention to the filler words, such as “A, the, and, etc.”

    Scan for keywords.

    Scanning is a highly effective way of extracting answers from a text without really reading it. If you know exactly what you are looking for—a name, a date, a statistic, or a specific word—you can find it quickly by skipping over large chunks of the text. To scan, first visualize the word, number, or phrase you would like to find. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. The information you are looking for should pop out at you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    You can train yourself to read faster by timing yourself as you go. Start by getting your base time. Set a timer for fifteen minutes, and speed read as you normally do. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Do not count the words, just the pages or paragraphs. Record your figures: for instance, you might write “15min/6.5 pages.”

A. Then, run your eyes rapidly over the text

B. Race the clock

C. Check your comprehension

D. If you read a text one word at a time, then this will slow your reading speed way down

E. Here are some Speed Reading Techniques

F. One of the reasons you read slowly is that you have to pause sometimes to understand what a passage is saying

G. When the timer goes off, check to see how far you have got

New Zealand Education

Compulsory Education

Compulsory education starts at age 5 and ends at age 16.

Class Size

The number of students in a class is 30 students.

Classrooms

    Students from Years 5-8 stay in the same classroom for most subjects and move to other classrooms only for specific subjects. In Year 9, students take some courses With their homeroom class and some optional classes with students from different classes. Starting from Year 10, students no longer stay in the same classroom most of the time. They go to different classes according to their own choices and abilities.

Term Dates

    A school year starts in January and ends in December. There are four terms in a year. Each term is about 10 weeks.

Class Schedule

    School starts at around 8:30 and ends at 15:15. There are only five periods a day and a period is about an hour long. In the morning, around 10:30, there will be a 20-minute break when students usually have some snacks during this time. There is a lunch period at around 12:40 for about an hour.

Teachers

    Teachers have to teach students of different year level at the same time. Most teachers teach students from at least three to four different year levels. Besides, quite a number of teachers teach more than one subject. This is because the fact that many courses are optional.

    Look to many of history's cultural symbols, and there you'll find an ancestor of Frosty, the snowman in the movie Frozen. It appeared on some of the first postcards, starred in some of the earliest silent movies, and was the subject of a couple of the earliest photos, dating all the way back to the 1800s. I discovered even more about one of humanity's earliest forms of life art during several years of research around the world.

    For example, snowmen were a phenomenon in the Middle Ages, built with great skill and thought. At a time of limited means of expression, snow was like free art supplies dropped from the sky. It was a popular activity for couples to leisurely walk through town to view the temporary works of chilly art. Some were created by famous artists, including a 19-year-old Michelangelo, who in 1494 was appointed by the ruler of Florence, Italy, to build a snowman in his mansion's courtyard.

    The Miracle of 1511 took place during six freezing works called the Winter of Death. The city of Brussels was covered in snowmen—an impressive scene that told stories on every street corner. Some were political in nature, criticizing the church and government. Some were a reflection of people's imagination. For the people of Brussels, this was a defining moment of defining freedom. At least until spring arrived, by which time they were dealing with damaging floods.

    If you fear the heyday of the snowman has passed, don't worry: I've learned that some explosive snowman history is still being made today. Every year since 1818, the people of Zurich, Switzerland, celebrate the beginning of spring by blowing up a snowman. On the third Monday of April, the holiday Sechselauten is kicked off when a cotton snowman called the Boogg is stuffed with explosive and paraded through town by bakers and other tradesmen who throw bread to the crowds. The parade ends with the Boogg being placed on a 40-foot pile of firewood. After the bells of the Church of St. Peter have rung six times, representing the passing of winter, the pile is lit. When the snowman explodes, winter is considered officially over—the quicker it is burnt down, the longer summer is said to be.

    Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I'm not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don't come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that's just the reality of how life is.

    However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practising. To become great at certain things, it'll require even more time, time that most people won't put in.

    This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don't enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.

    When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It's sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there's a huge chance that you're wrong anyway.

    Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you're not willing to put in the time and work, don't expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won't guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.