节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-12
难易度:Low
关键字:mall, binder, locker, volunteer, contribute, packet, enhance


























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In our lesson Back to School, we're learning about how everyone can sense when
the summer is coming to an end.
Because wherever you go, the mall, the... the stores, there are different
notebooks and binders and things that remind people, especially students, that
school is about to start.
And we even got to learn a little bit about high school in the United States in
the Information Cloud.
Well, we have lots more to learn.
So let's continue with our lesson.
Back to School.
Students also must complete the student-service learning (SSL) requirement in
summer.
Most schools in Maryland require students to complete at least 75 hours of
community volunteer work.
They must do this before graduating from high school.
Students devote their time to libraries, school clubs, summer camps and
community organizations.
My daughter Irene has been working at a library to earn her SSL hours.
She helps check out books, make posters and clean up the environment.
This experience is helping her not only contribute to society but also enhance
her communication skills.
Well, I do think community service is a very good thing to do.
And at the top of our reading here:
Students also must complete the student-service learning (SSL) requirement in
summer.
So this is something that all of the students going to this school must do
during the summer.
Now can you tell us a little bit about this, Gabe?
Well, yeah.
Most schools in Maryland require students to complete at least 75 hours of
community volunteer work.
So this is something that is particular to the United States.
It's very special.
Uh, many students have to complete 75 hours.
And this is before they graduate, as we will see.
But first, let's take a look at our key word here.
It is "volunteer." What does that mean, Carolyn?
Well, if you volunteer, that means that you do something of your own free will.
You do it because you want to do it.
And here it's also talking about being helpful.
So usually if you volunteer to do something, that means that you really want to
help someone else.
All right.
And often you do it... actually most of the time you do it without getting paid.
That's kind of what volunteer means, too.
And so Carolyn just used this word as a verb as well: You might volunteer to do
something.
Here in our lesson we're talking about community volunteer work.
So it's a verb or a noun.
That's right.
Well, students must complete this service, this volunteer community work.
And this is particular to the state of Maryland.
Many other states also have programs like this.
They must do this before graduating from high school.
So you don't have to do 75 hours in one summer, but it must be done before you
finish your high school career.
Well, I think that's possible.
And I think it's a great idea for students not to just learn things inside
school in their classes,
but also to learn something through the experience of serving their community in
some way.
Well, students devote their time to libraries, school clubs, summer camps and
community organizations.
And there are lots of different kinds.
There certainly are.
And I think that these are really great things to spend time doing to help out
your local library,
your local school clubs or even summer camps and other community organizations
that are around.
Well, that phrase there "devote your time to something," I think Liz has
something she'd like to share about that in the Grammar Gym.
Hi there, friends.
My name is Liz.
And thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
The writer of today's article mentions:
Students devote their time to libraries, school clubs, summer camps and
community organizations.
That's our Grammar Tip sentence.
Our focus today is on the phrase: to devote [one's] time to...
It's just a fancy way to say or describe how someone uses most of his or her
time to do something.
So today's sentence just means that students spend a lot of their time on
activities at libraries, school clubs, summer camps and community organizations.
Use this phrase when you want to talk about how someone spends a lot of time at
a place to work on something.
For example,
Dennis really cares a lot about animals and devotes his time at the animal
shelter.
Or you can use this phrase to talk about a specific activity that a person could
be focused on.
For example,
Paula dreams of becoming a skater and devotes her time to training at the ice
rink.
If you turn to today's Grammar Tip section, you'll find more examples there.
And that's it for today.
This is Liz from the Garmmar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
So students have an opportunity to devote their time to lots of different
things.
Summer camps was one possibility.
I remember devoting my time to helping out with summer camps as well.
I thought it was a lot of fun.
Now all of these things, helping out in this way, there's also another phrase
you could use.
You could call this community service.
That's right.
It can also be called community service or volunteer service.
There are a couple of different names for it.
Now we're going to learn about Pauline's daugher.
My daughter Irene has been working at a library to earn her SSL hours.
So she chose the library to do her volunteer service.
All right. That sounds like fun.
Well, of the things mentioned here, Carolyn, which one would you rather do?
Work at a library, school club, maybe join a summer camp or help out or some
other community organization?
Well, I do like the library, so I wouldn't mind volunteering there.
But back home when I did community service, I usually helped out at my church
because they had a lot of different programs.
OK. So there are many different options for you to maybe do your SSL hours or
community service.
Well, Irene, she helps check out books, make posters and clean up the
environment.
So the person working at a library can check out a book, too.
They check it out to the person who wants to borrow it.
That's right.
And this experience is helping her not only contribute to society but also
enhance her communication skills.
So this is very beneficial not only for the people that she is serving but also
for herself.
And we see a word in this sentence, the word "contribute." What does it mean to
contribute, Gabe?
Well, when you contribute to something, that means you are giving to that thing.
I usually use this word in a... in a positive way.
So you might contribute to a cause, for example.
We learned about the Adventurists earlier this month.
And they contribute to the cause of rain forest conservation.
They're contributing to a great thing.
That's right.
So you can contribute money by having charity or doing fun events like the
Adventurists.
Or you could contribute your time like Pauline's daugher Irene.
She is just giving her time to help the library when they need it.
That's right.
And this word can also kind of be a noun.
There's another form, to... to make a contribution.
C-O-N-T-R-I-B-U-T-I-O-N.
You are making a good contribution for your society.
That's right.
Well, you can also make a contribution to your class.
You can participate in class discussions in English.
And right now it is time for us to join Michelle and enjoy her contribution in
the Language Lab.
OK.
(Chinese).
And now back to our lesson.
Well, today we are talking about going back to school.
And some of the things that we've talked about today included:
Well, there are lots of things that we need to do to prepare to go back to
school like buying binders and notebooks and pencils,
but there are also things that we do in the summer like volunteer work.
And I wonder: Do you like to volunteer?
What sort of volunteering do you do, Gabe?
Well, I remember in high school, we had one class that taught us all about
leadership.
And one of the things we did was we went out and picked up trash in the
community.
One way to develop yourself to be a good leader is by also learning how to serve
in ways that maybe aren't very pleasant.
I think that is very true.
And you can learn great skills in serving your community by doing volunteer
work.
Well, we have more to learn in our lesson tomorrow here on Studio Classroom.
So we'll see you then.