F2F Class Notes 18th January (Tony)

Grammar

she sent her son to my home

when they are released

Vocabulary

she wanted to relax

the film is Korean

they are one and a half years apart

meditation – when you clear your mind, and relax with no thoughts. for a while

eg: “I think meditation is healthy for most people.” “When you feel tired, you can meditate.”

regulate –  to control the amount, degree or rate of something

eg: “In Beijing the government regulates the heating for the winter.”

jail – place to keep people who broke the law for a short time

eg: “At this jail they have 300 inmates.”

prison – place to keep people who broke the law for a long time

eg: “At this prison there are 2,000 prisoners.”

masseuse – a person who gives a massage

eg: “Some masseuses in Chiang Mai are inmates at the jail.”

A calming influence

Coleman is not the only American school adding meditation and yoga to its academic curriculum. Schools in other cities are also using these tools.

Last year, Visitacion Valley Middle School began offered meditation, NBC News reported. The school is in one of the poorest areas in the city of San Francisco. Some children there witnessed stressful events in their neighborhoods.

A large number of the students see people carrying guns on a daily basis, athletic director Barry Driscoll told NBC News. A few years ago, there were three to five fights at the school every week.

But then, the San Francisco School District partnered with a local organization called the Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education. The center brought a meditation program called Quiet Time to Visitacion Valley and three other schools.

Each day, during Quiet Time, the whole school has two 15-minute periods of Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM is a process for slowing down unwanted thoughts and reaching a state of calm awareness.

At first, O’Driscoll thought meditation was foolish. But, as he told NBC, over four years of having Quiet Time, suspensions at Visitacion Valley have fallen by 79 percent. Over that period, attendance has risen to 98 percent.

A nearby school that uses the program has also seen a big drop in suspensions — 75 percent, NBC noted. In addition, students are performing better academically.

http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/yoga-exercises-added-to-us-school-programs-73487.html