阅读理解
Reading books and looking at pictures is
great, but nothing facilitates (促进) learning like travel,
especially for teenagers. Not only do they get to see a world beyond their
neighborhood, they also get to experience it, feel it, taste it, hear it and
better understand the world around them.
After nearly four decades in the classroom and
traveling the world, Phyllis Duvall Bailey knew this perhaps better than
anyone else.
Becoming involved in the work in AKA Sorority
Inc in US, she worked to educate children about the United Nations. There was
no doubt in Bailey's mind that the lessons would mean so much more if the
students could see things for themselves.
Starting in 2015, Bailey, 82, set out to take
her students to the UN Headquarters in New York City to give them a "Window
Seat to the World", and thus transformed them into global citizens.
Indeed, it is a great opportunity to give
students national and international exposure. Since Bailey saw the students as
future leaders, she was desperate to expose them to the UN, its mission, its
agendas (议程) and its supporting
organizations.
She decided to give $10, 000 of her own money
to pay for the late June trip, enough to take 10 students aged 14-17 on a
four-night stay in New York. There, they had guided tours of the UN
Headquarters and the New York City Harbor (海港).
It was Quenyaun Payne's first trip to the city
and Taylor Sappington's second. Payne, 17, is a senior at Mceachem High School
in the state of Georgia, US. Sappington, 15, is a junior at Therrell High
School in Atlanta, Georgia, US. Both said their visit to the UN was inspiring.
"I like not only how countries are
working together but they're focused on common goals like global warming and
keeping peace," Sappington said.
Payne commented, "The trip was amazing. I'm so thankful Mrs.
Bailey made it possible."
Actually, there are a lot of people grateful
for the retired teacher's effort. The United Nations Association of Atlanta
recently gave Bailey its Humanitarian Award, and the United Nations Association
of the US-awarded her with the National Education Award.
But Bailey wasn't looking for recognition or
even gratitude. Over those four days in New York, she'd already felt it and
seen it in the eyes of those 10 teenagers, Payne and Sappington included, who
made the trip.
"It has been a real joy to get to see and
watch their reaction to new experiences," she said.