We offer five kinds of courses. Each course has been designed to help students according to their needs.

    Course 1：General English

    General English is designed to develop students' basic communication skills in speaking and pronunciation，reading，listening，writing，grammar and vocabulary. Tuesday to Friday：9：00 am to 11：00 am，$288 per week.

    Course 2：Academic English

    Academic English is for students who want to take the IELTS exam or for those who need to use English in a professional area. Monday to Friday：4：00 pm to 5：00 pm，$320 per week.

    Course 3：High School ESL

    Why not make the most of your time studying in Australia with the help from TIES？We have High School ESL classes each week specifically designed for international students. Tuesday to Friday：8：00 am to 11：00 am，$25 per hour.

    Course 4：Night Classes

    Do you want to improve your English and get the best possible results in your GRE test？We have two night classes each week designed to meet your needs. Tuesday and Thursday evenings：8：30 pm to 10：30 pm. $60 per day.

    Course 5：One on One

    If you are interested in some One on One lessons with TIES teachers，we can design a course to meet your needs. One on One lessons can improve your English language skills more quickly and help students who want to take TOEFL. Tuesday and Friday：2：00 pm to 5：00 pm，$80 per hour.

    Please click here to learn more about the courses!

    Many people spend more than four hours per day on We Chat, and it is redefining the word “friend.” Does friending someone on social media make him or her your friend in real life?

    Robin Dunbar, a professor at Oxford University, found that only 15, of the 150 Facebook friends the average user has, could be counted as actual friends and only five as close friends. We Chat may show a similar pattern.

    Those with whom you attended a course together, applied for the same part-time job, went to a party and intended to cooperate but failed take up most of your WeChat friends. In chat records, the only message may be a system notice, “You have accepted somebody's friend request”. Sometimes when seeing some photos shared on “Moments”, you even need several minutes to think about when you became friends. Also, you may be disturbed by mass messages (群发信息) sent from your unfamiliar “friends”, including requests for voting for their children or friends, links from Pinduoduo.com (a Chinese e-commerce platform that allows users to buy items at lower prices if they purchase in groups) and cookie-cutter (千篇一律的) blessings in holidays.

    You would have thought about deleting this type of “friends” and sort out your connections. But actually you did not do that as you were taught that social networking is valuable to one's success. Besides, it would be really awkward if they found that you have unfriended them already. Then, you keep increasing your “friends” in social media and click “like” on some pictures that you are not really interested. But the fact is that deep emotional connections do not come with the increasing number of your friends in social media.

    If the number of your friends reaches 150, maintaining these relationships can be tough to you, and sometimes even will make you anxious. According to Robin Dunbar, 150 is the limit of the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships.

    CLASSIC TOURS—COACH BREAK INFORMATION

    Luggage

    We ask you to keep a medium-sized suitcase per person, but a small holdall can also be taken onto the coach.

    Seats

    Requests for particular seats can be made on most coach breaks (巴士旅游) when booking, but since seats are booked on a first come, first serve basic, early booking is advisable. When bookings are made with us, you will be offered the best seats that are available on the coach at that time.

    Travel Documents

    When you have paid your deposit（订金）, we will send you all the necessary documents, so that you can receive them in good time before the coach break leaving date. Certain documents, for example, air or boat tickets, may have to be reserved and your guide will then give them to you during the break.

    Special Diets

    If you require a special diet, you must inform us at the time of booking with a copy of the diet. This will be told to the hotels on your coach break. The hotels for certain coach breaks are tourist class and they may not have the equipment to deal with special diets. Any extra costs must be paid to the hotel by yourself before leaving the hotel.

    Accommodation

    On any coach break there are only a limited number of single rooms. When a single room is available, it may be subject to an extra charge and this will be shown on the brochure page.

    Entertainment

    Some of our hotels arrange extra entertainment which could include music, dancing, films, etc. The nature and frequency of the entertainment presented is decided by the hotel and therefore not guaranteed and could be withdrawn if there is a lack of demand or insufficient numbers in the hotel.

    The first newspapers were written by hand and put up on walls in public places. The earliest daily newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC. In the 700's the world's first printed newspaper was published. Europe didn't have a regularly published newspaper until 1609, when one was started in Germany.

    The first regularly published newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam in 1620. In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week. The first daily English newspaper was The Daily Courant (《每日新闻》). It came out in March, 1702.

    In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston. But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper. In 1704, John Campbell started The Boston Newsletter (《波士顿新闻通讯》), the first newspaper published in the American colonies. By 1760, the colonies had more than thirty daily newspapers. There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States.

    Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation (发行量) in the world. But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Dhimbun (《朝日新闻》). It sells more than 11 million copies every day.

    From Madrid to Buenos Aires to Panama City to Lisbon, President Xi Jinping has tirelessly promoted the building of a community of shared future for mankind, and the Belt and Road Initiative(倡议) as a means to achieve that.

    But all don't see it that way. While some are quick to see its positive potentials, other countries insist on viewing it skeptically. There have been the usual doubts about the intention behind, although the mysterious threat they speak of is one they seem unable to explain clearly.

    To some of them, it is a vague assumption that investments from China are potential "debt traps" that call for extreme caution or "threats to national security". That is why the business combinations involving Chinese companies which would be mutually(相互地)beneficial have hit the rocks. The Chinese telecommunications technology giant Huawei, for instance, has found the doors to the 5G telecommunications markets of advanced countries closed to it on "national security" grounds. Likewise, the European Union has agreed on a framework regulating foreign investment(投资) particularly those from China on the same account.

    Even as Chinese and Portuguese leaders discuss bilateral(双边的)cooperation under the Belt and Road, there is no lack of concern about "Chinas influence". But existing EU rules do not forbid Lisbon from seeking such a partnership. If Lisbon sees no harm from foreign investment, no outsider is in a position to prevent it from making a choice in its own best interests.

    Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has reminded EU decision-makers of his country's desire for foreign investment, and advised the latter to avoid taking "the path of protectionism". It was a timely reminder.

    Facing the challenges in today's world, China and the countries that have embraced the Belt and Road are convinced it is the way to common development and the world's lasting peace and stability.

Throughout our daily lives, we have known plenty of people and will know more. But how can we tell if someone is worth our trust? In a paper published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researcher gave us the answer.

The researchers asked 401 adults from the United States to fill out a questionnaire measuring their guilt-proneness (内疚倾向) in different situations as well as several other qualities, and then play a short online game. In this game, Player 1 is given 1, which they can choose to give to Player 2. Any money given to Player 2 is then automatically increased to 2.50. Player 2 can then decide whether to keep all of the money or behave in a trustworthy way by returning a part of the money to Player 1. The researchers found more guilt-prone people were more likely to share the money with Player 1. Actually, in follow-up studies, guilt-proneness predicted trustworthiness better than other personality qualities the researchers measured.

Why might guilt lead to trustworthy behavior? The researchers found people who were guilt-prone also reported feeling a must to act in ethical (合乎道德的) and responsible ways while interacting (互动) with their partners in the game. People who are guilt-prone tend to avoid engaging in behavior that might harm or disappoint others. If they do something bad, guilt encourages them to try to make things right again.

Then, how can we use this research to ascertain whether someone is trustworthy? "One way to do this might be observe how they respond to experience regret," lead author Emma Levine, assistant professor at the University of Chicago Levine, explains. Another way is to ask them to describe a difficult dilemma they faced in the past, suggests co-author Taya Cohen, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University. This is particularly effective, Cohen and her colleagues have found, because it allows us to see if they're concerted about the effects their actions have on others.