We've all heard the saying: practice makes prefect! In other words, acquiring skills takes time and effort. But how exactly does one go about learning a complex subject such as tennis, calculus, or even how to play the violin? An age-old answer is: practice one skill at a time. A beginning pianist might rehearse scales(音阶) before chords(和弦). A young tennis player practices the forehand before the backhand. Learning researchers call this “blocking”， and because it is common and easy to schedule, blocking is dominant in schools, training programs, and other settings.

    However another strategy promises improved results. Enter “interleaving”， a largely unheard-of technique that is catching the attention of  cognitive(认知) psychologists and neuroscientists. Blocking involves practicing one skill at a time before the next (for example, “skill A” before “skill B” and so on, forming the pattern “AAABBBCCC”), while in interleaving one mixes practice on several related skills together (forming for example the pattern “ABCABCABC”).

    Over the past four decades, a small but growing body of research has found that interleaving often outperforms blocking for a variety of subjects, including sports and category learning. Yet there have been almost no studies of the technique in unplanned, real world settings-until recently. New research in schools finds that interleaving produces dramatic and long-lasting benefits for an essential skill: math. Not only does this finding have the potential to transform how math is taught, it may also change how people learn more generally.

    Researches are now working to understand why interleaving produces such impressive results. One important explanation is that it improves the brain's ability to tell apart between concepts. With blocking, once you know what solution to use, or movement to do, the hard part is over. With interleaving, each practice attempt is different from the last, so rote(死记硬背) responses don't work. Instead, your brain must continuously focus on searching for different solutions. That process can improve your ability to learn critical features of skills and concepts, which then better enables you to select and produce the correct response.

    A second explanation is that interleaving strengthens memory associations. With blocking, a single strategy，temporarily held in short-term memory, is sufficient. That's not the case with interleaving-the correct solution changes from one practice attempt to the next. As a result, your brain is continually engaged at regaining different responses and bringing them into short-term memory. Repeating that process can strengthen neural connections between different tasks and correct responses, which improves learning.

    Both of these accounts imply that increased effort during training, either to discriminate correct responses or to strengthen them, is needed when interleaving is used. This corresponds to a potential drawback of the technique, namely that the learning process often feels more gradual and difficult in the beginning. However, that added effort can have better, longer-lasting results.

    I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man called the waiter and placed his order, “Two cups of coffee, one on the wall.” We got interested and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter attached a piece of paper to the wall saying “A Cup of Coffee.” Similar occasions took place twice while we were there. It seemed that this gesture was quite normal at this place. However, it was something unique and confusing for us.

    After a few days, when we again enjoyed coffee there, a man entered. The way this man was dressed did not match the standard or the atmosphere of this coffee shop. Poverty was evident from his looks. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, “One cup of coffee from the wall.” The waiter served coffee to this man with respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dustbin.

    Now it was no surprise for us; the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by people in this town moved us to tears.

    Coffee is not a necessity. However, the point is that when we take pleasure in any blessing, maybe we also need to think about those people who also appreciate that specific blessing but cannot afford.

    Note the waiter, who gets the communication going between the affording and the needy with a smile on his face. Think about the man in need: he enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-dignity; he has a free cup of coffee without asking or knowing about who has given this cup of coffee to him; he only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left. Besides, we need to remember the role played by the wall that reflects the generosity and care of people in this town.

    Allegra Ford Thomas Scholarship

    $2,500 awards available:1

    The Allegra Ford Thomas Scholarship is a $2,500 one-time scholarship. Applicants must:

    Be a graduating high school senior with a documented learning disability who will be enrolled (招收) in a two-year community college, a training program, or a specialized program for students with learning disability in the fall；

    Demonstrate (证明) financial need;

    Provide most current documentation of an identified learning disability (Please note: attention-deficit (注意力缺乏症)/ hyperactivity disorder (多动症) alone is not considered to be a learning disability; candidates with AD/ HD must also provide documentation of a specific learning disability);

    Be a United States citizen.

    Contact: afscholarship@ncld.org            Tel:646-616-1211

    Marion Huber Learning Through Listening® (LTL) Scholarship

    $6,000 or $2,000 awards available: 6

    The awards are presented to those who are high school seniors with learning disabilities, in recognition of academic achievement, outstanding leadership, and service to others. The awards are given to six students who are chosen by a selection committee every year. The three top winners will get $6,000 each and the other three winners $2,000 each.

    Contact: naa@learningally.org         Tel: 800-241-4792

    Joe Hornsby Ⅲ Scholarship

    $2,000  awards available: 4

    The scholarship will focus specifically on students who have special needs because of physical disabilities and want to further their education at a college/ university or trade school. Applicants must:

    Be a graduating senior of a high school in Mesquite Independent School District;

    Be planning to attend or be enrolled in an undergraduate program at a college, university or technical training program;

    Have had at least a "C" average during high school (2.0 GPA)

    Contact: scholarship@dallasfoundation.org     Tel: 214-741-9683

    WSAJ Past Presidents. Scholarship

    7,500 awards available: 2

    Applicants must be high school seniors who have a history of achievement despite having been a victim of injury or overcoming a disability or similar challenge, and a documented need for financial assistance. They must also have a record of commitment to helping people in need or protecting the rights of injured persons and a plan to apply their education toward helping people. The scholarship is only open to students of Washington.

    Contact: anta@washingtonjustice.org          Tel: 214-741-9863

    From: terri wombat. Com. Au

    To: (happylizijun) yaboo. com. cn

    Subject: My school

    Hi, Li Zijun,

    Thanks very much for your email. I really enjoyed reading it. I think we have a lot in common. I wonder if our school life is similar too.

    I go to a big high school in Sydney called Maylands High School. There are about 1000 students and 80 or so teachers. My class has 25 students in it, which is normal for a Year 11 class. In the junior school there are about 30 students in a class.

    In the senior high school we have lots of subjects to choose from, like maths, physics, chemistry, biology, history, German, law, geography, software design, graphic arts and media studies. (Different schools sometime have different optional subjects.) English is a must for everyone and we have to do least three other subjects in Year 11 and 12. At the end of Year 12 we sit for a public exam called the High School Certificate.

    As well as school subjects, most of us do other activities at school such as playing a sport, singing in the choir or playing in the school band. We can also belong to clubs, such as the drama club, the chess club and the debating society.

    We have a lot of homework to do in senior school to prepare for our exam, so unless I have basketball practice, I usually go straight home and start studying. I arrive home about 4 pm, make myself a snack and work till 6. Then I help the family to make dinner and we all eat together. I'm usually back in my room studying by 8 pm. I stop at about 10 o'clock and watch TV or read a book for half an hour to relax. On Saturdays, I usually go out with my family or with friends and I sleep in till late on Sunday morning. Then it's back to the books on Sunday afternoon.

    How about you? What's your school life like? Do you have a lot of homework? What do you do to relax when you're not studying? I'm looking forward to finding out.

Your Australian friend

Terrie

    The Winter Olympics is also called the White Olympics. At this time, many colorful stamps are published to mark the great Games. The first stamps marking the opening came out on January 25, 1932 in the United States for the 3rd White Olympics. From then on, publishing stamps during the White Olympics became a rule.

    During the 4th Winter Olympic Games a group of stamps were published in Germany in November 1936. The five rings of Olympics were drawn on the front of the sportswear. It was the first time that the rings appeared on the stamps of the White Olympics.

    In the 1950's, the stamps of this kind became more colorful. When the White Olympics came, the host countries (东道国) as well as the non-host countries published stamps to mark those games.

    China also published four stamps in February 1980, when the Chinese sports men began to take part in the White Olympics. Japan is the only Asian country that has ever held the White Olympics. Altogether 14, 500 million stamps were sold to raise money for this sports meet. Different kinds of sports were drawn on these small stamps. People can enjoy the beauty of the wonderful movements of some sportsmen.

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