A shoe-themed party is the perfect backdrop for a bridal gathering, tea party, or birthday party. With a little time and creativity, you can create a fun and memorable event. Your party can be as simple or extravagant as you like and here are 8 fun ideas to get you headed in the right direction.

I know my first idea may seem obvious, but many people tend to overlook this idea.

Idea 1

If you’re sending out invites, be sure to use shoes as the theme. The girl theme is very popular and offers you a wide variety of preprinted and printable invitations. The stickers can also be used on your envelopes or invitations. Keep in mind that your invitation sets the tone for your party. Give your guests a little taste of what to expect when they arrive.

Idea 2

Your invitation can also be a real shoe. Be sure to look for shoes made of wire, cardboard, papier-mâché, or plastic at your local craft store or online in different sizes. These can be embellished with glitter, crystals, beads, and other elements. Print the party information on paper and cut it to size to fit inside the shoe.

idea 3

If it’s a party where gifts are expected, you can request that each guest bring a new pair of shoes, from flip-flops to pumps, and donate them to charity in lieu of gifts. These same shoes can be used to play. Example: Shuffle all the shoes in a pile and see which guest matches the most while blindfolded within a given amount of time. Another suggestion of the game is to guess the brand of shoes that each attendee is wearing at the party. The person with the most correct answers wins a prize.

Idea 4

Ask each person to bring a hand-decorated shoe in a brown paper bag. Ask each guest to put her bag on the shoe judging table. Select 3 judges and shuffle the bags on the table. Discover the shoes and let the judges select the best decorated shoe. Be sure to award shoe-related items as prizes.

Idea 5

Go to your local fabric store and shop for shoe-themed fabrics. Your theme fabric can be used to make cushions or chair covers, napkins, tablecloths, etc.

idea 6

Buy a shoe piñata. There are some really funky styles available. Even if you don’t fill it with sweets and sweets, you can use it as a decoration or as a centerpiece.

Idea 7

Check with your local bakery and order a shoe-shaped cake. If that’s too much, serve cookies or shoe-shaped sandwiches. You can create your shoe-shaped sandwiches by using a shoe-shaped cookie cutter to cut the bread and other ingredients needed to make your sandwiches.

Idea 8

If a menu is used, change the names of the dishes and drinks served to shoe-related names. Example: Nine West Pasta Salad, Jimmy Choo Meatballs, Manolo Blahnik blondies and my favorite, Stiletto Martinis.

So remember, you are the hostess with the most and no matter how big or small your event is, you can make it special. Oh, and don’t forget to sprinkle the tables with shoe confetti to add some sparkle to your tables.

Teachers play an important role in guiding a child’s growth and development. From learning the alphabets in kindergarten, a child develops the skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The child then progresses to study literature, science, mathematics, social studies, and foreign languages ​​in high school. All this intellectual growth would not be possible without the guidance and constructive support of teachers. As parents, it is appropriate to show our appreciation to our children’s teachers by sending them a small gift. While we can let teachers know how much we appreciate them at any time of the year, most parents send gifts to teachers on National Teacher’s Day (the Tuesday of the first full week in May), at the end of the school year, or for the Christmas holidays. This article provides some gift ideas for your children’s teachers.

When selecting gifts for teachers, you can think about what they might like and what might be useful to make their lives a little easier. There are many gifts designed specifically for teachers, while other gifts can be sent to anyone, but are especially useful for teachers.

1. Teacher Gift Basket: There are gift baskets designed with teachers in mind. One such basket consists of a gift bag filled with an inspirational book for teachers, a coffee mug, writing pad, gourmet coffee, and assorted gourmet treats.

2. Personalized Coffee Mug: You can send an attractive white ceramic coffee mug that comes in many different designs to choose from. The mug can be personalized with the teacher’s name, grade level, and subject. The teacher can use the cup for his hot drinks.

3. Personalized Photo Frame – You can send your favorite teacher a personalized photo frame with the teacher’s name, school, grade level, or subject taught. There are many colorful designs to choose from.

4. Personalized bag: A teacher must bring the teaching materials, student assignments, papers and books to school. He can make this task a little easier by sending them an attractive and roomy tote bag personalized with their initials.

5. Personalized pen: Each teacher can use a pen to take notes and grade work. A personalized pen with his initials will be a very useful gift.

6. Personalized Flash Drive Keychain: A teacher has to write lesson plans and prepare notes on topics. It will be helpful to have a flash drive to store all of these written materials in one place. This personalized keyring for flash drive is plated in sterling silver and can be engraved with the recipient’s initials. This gift can fit in a pocket or bag.

7. Personalized Small Screwdriver Keychain: Teachers often wear glasses that can come loose from time to time. This clever custom keychain has two small hidden screwdrivers that can be used to fix glasses or change batteries for small electronics. The key ring can be engraved with three initials of the recipients.

8. Coffee Gift Basket: If your favorite teacher is a coffee connoisseur, you may want to consider sending her a coffee gift basket filled with gourmet coffee and savory snacks. Teachers deserve a coffee break from their busy teaching schedule.

9. Thank You Gift Basket: You can also express your gratitude by sending a thank you gift basket, which is a gourmet gift basket with a thank you theme. The gift basket can come with Thanks a Million-themed bags of gourmet treats, or with a printed Thanks a Million ribbon. The basket is sure to deliver your message of gratitude loud and clear.

10. Spa Gift: The job of a master can be challenging and stressful at times. Thus, teachers deserve a little pampering to release stress. You can send a spa gift basket to your favorite master to relax and rejuvenate.

In short, teachers have the important job of shaping your child’s life. You can show your appreciation by sending them a small gift at the end of the school year, on National Teacher’s Day, or during the Christmas holidays. Popular gifts for teachers include a teacher gift basket, personalized coffee mug, picture frame, pen, USB key chain, coffee gift basket, spa gift, and spa gift basket. gratitude.

I wonder what Cinderella would tell us about relationships if we could talk to her now. Would it be “Ladies, don’t give up hope. There’s a handsome prince out there for you” or would it be “Hunny Child, let me tell you. This Handsome Prince thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” !”

His is a truly remarkable rags-to-riches story. She was a girl very loved by her father. In fact, she was her little princess until the day she showed up and said, “This is your new mom. And these are your new sisters.” Shriek, hold. new mommy? Who said something about a new mom? Cinderella was kindness and kindness and all, but do you think she was that happy about it? I do not think.

Add to that the struggles of the blended family. Loving, supporting and accepting does not happen by chance. Lynsey Mattingly’s article on scary mommy Warns of 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Having a Blended Family. I won’t go into them, I’ll just sum it up by saying, “It’s hard!” The division of labor, sleeping arrangements, discipline, all of these things and more need to be worked out and negotiated. And even if he does make it work on paper, there are emotional issues that ruin the best plans.

We don’t know if Cinderella was a spoiled child who refused to share her father with anyone. We don’t know if her father thought her needs were greater than others, although she may have been unaware. We don’t know if the stepmom was nice at first, but she got too tough or mean all the time. Different adaptations of the story take liberties with all of that. However, one thing is for sure. Cinderella’s father died and the life she had come to love died with him.

“Someday My Prince Will Come” became their only hope of escape. In the same way, it is the heart song of many women who think that finding the perfect man is the answer to their problems.

On the other hand, there is the Prince. He was also the apple of his parents’ eye. He too was gifted and was destined to be a king. But if we venture behind the curtain, we see a very conflicted and imprisoned soul. While Cinderella’s dream was to be rescued, hers was to be free. She wanted to experience the world outside the confines of the palace. They both felt trapped in their situations, this is true. And this probably made both of them feel an instant connection. But the way they dealt with their bread was completely different.

Isn’t that like relationships? We feel closer to someone who then brings up our worst insecurities. That’s the messy part of happily ever after that isn’t all that glamorous but needs to be told nonetheless. Because unless we face our emotional constructs, they will rob us of the intimacy we really want.

Ask most people what the biggest day on the Norwegian calendar is and they will probably tell you that it is the first day of the ice fishing season. If you’re in that group (come on, be honest), you might be shocked and surprised to find out that you’re WRONG… close… but WRONG! If you live in Dane, Rock, or Green counties, you must leave the city by train.

The correct answer is Syttende Mai. (Pronounced Setten from me.) Syttende Mai has the same meaning in Norway as the 4th of July in the United States. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Norway, which had been under Danish control since the mid-13th century, was turned over by Denmark to Sweden. Norwegians were upset by this turn of events as they had always considered themselves an independent country and on May 17 (or Syttende Mai) 1814 they signed a constitution declaring themselves so. Sweden was not impressed and continued to rule Norway for another hundred years, finally granting independence in 1905.

But I digress. Syttende Mai is celebrated with children’s parades, grand parades, dancing and food, lots and lots of food. And what do Norwegians eat, you ask? According to Howard Mohr, in his Upper Midwestern Scandinavian lifestyle bible How to Talk Minnesotan, Norwegians like white food. If it is not naturally white, they will make it white. While this is mostly true, it is not completely true. A bit of color sneaks in, here and there.

Like most cuisines, Norwegian cuisine includes things both wonderful and to the uninitiated… terrifying. Here’s a quick overview of Norwegian cuisine. The most famous Norwegian foods are the ever-popular lutefisk and lefse. Lutefisk literally means bleach fish. Lutefisk is air-dried cod, called cod, that is sawed (literally) into manageable pieces, soaked in fresh water for eight days, a lye solution (you read that right, lye) for two days, and then fresh water again for a two additional days. After all that, the lutefisk is simmered until firm and translucent. Lutefisk is NOT an acquired taste. Either you like it or you don’t like it.

While lutefisk is available here and there in grocery stores, especially around Christmas, it’s not the easiest thing to find. The Olsen Fish Company on the North Side of Minneapolis is the largest producer in the world. They earn more than £650,000 a year. They sell dried cod for the DIYers and lutefisk processed and ready to cook for the rest of us. The lutefisk is packaged under the Olsen, Viking, Kemps, and Mike labels, but you cannot buy directly from Olsens because they are strictly a wholesale company.

Lefse is made from potatoes. It’s thin and flexible, and looks and feels like a flour tortilla. It’s been compared to a dish towel, but that’s an unfair judgment by people who have tried shoddy, store-bought, or old products. Fresh lefse is a delicate and flavorful treat, especially when buttered and rolled with brown sugar.

The absolute best place to get lefse is to find a church with a group of little Norwegian ladies who set up shop in the church kitchen and produce lefse to sell as a fundraiser. Stoughton, Mount Horeb or Westby are good places to start. Otherwise, the general consensus among lefse connoisseurs is that the Countryside Lefse in Blair, Wisconsin is by far the best commercially made lefse. The reason is that they make lefse the same way you would at home (or at church). They use real potatoes and roll and flip the left by hand. Countryside Lefse is distributed to local grocery stores, but you can also order directly from their website lefse.com.

Lutefisk is not the only fish dish out there. Almost as ubiquitous is pickled herring. Norwegians eat tons of stuff every year. The herrings are pickled in the traditional way with vinegar and spices and then things get interesting. There are 15 species of herring and at least as many ways to pack them. The two most popular variations are in sour cream or wine sauce, but new varieties have emerged in recent years including Cajun and fresh dill.

Fiskballer (fish balls) and fish soup can contain just about anything. The main trick with fish balls is to pass the meat through a grinder at least five times. The strangest sound of all is fiskepudding or fish pudding. It’s exactly what it sounds like. To get the required light and fluffy consistency, you need really fresh fish. The fish is pureed with cream and a few other things and then baked. It is usually served hot and drenched in butter.

Now that we’re done, we can move on to the big stuff: cookies and baked goods. The most recognizable Norwegian cookies are krumkake. These cone-shaped delights are sometimes filled, but often served plain (as God intended) and are light and crisp with just a hint of cardamom. Sandbakkel comes in a variety of forms. The dough is pressed into shapes that are essentially little pie tins. They have a thicker, more substantial texture and a clear almond flavor. Fattigman (poor man’s cookies) are similar to sandbakkels in texture but without the almond flavor. Fattigman cookies are different because they are fried. A little powdered sugar on top and you have a very tasty cookie.

By far the prettiest and most delicate cookies are rosettes or rosettes. The biscuit starts with a thin dough, then flower- or star-shaped irons with long handles are dipped into the dough, then dipped in hot oil. The cookies are fried until they are a beautiful golden color. Once dusted with powdered sugar, they’re as much a work of art as they are a delicious, paper-thin treat.

Pastries of all kinds are part of the Norwegian diet. Two in particular are worth noting. One is the kransekake. This is an almond cake that is baked into 18 thin concentric rings that are then stacked to form a cone 12 to 18 inches tall, all glued together with frosting. Kransekake is usually served on special occasions, especially weddings. They are decorated for the occasion with real flowers, firecrackers, flags or whatever. They’re about as gooey as cake and seem deceptively simple to create once you’ve got the special baking rings. When things go wrong, kransekake are almost inedible. However, when Ole and Lena smile and everything turns out as it should, the nice texture and almond flavor of kransekake makes all the work worth it.

At the other end of the spectrum, Norwegian apple pie is a study in rustic elegance that satisfies without pretense. Sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, apples, walnuts, and an egg combine to create a sturdy cake loaded with bits of walnuts and apples. It’s simple, but this is a clear case of the sum being greater than its parts. Serve it with some fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top. Best of all, it’s even better on the second day.

Other weird and varied Norwegian specialties include rommegrot, fruktsuppe, and sweet soup. Rommegrot is a sour cream soup that is usually drizzled liberally with butter and sprinkled with sugar and ground cinnamon (Norwegians seem to do this a lot). Rommegrot is thick and sweet and needs something to wash it down. Red draft juice is popular, but you might do better with a beer or Aquavit.

Fruktsuppe, or fruit soup, is pretty much what it says it is, a soup made with tapioca, prunes, raisins, apples, oranges, and just about any other fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruit you have nearby. The difference is that while Americans like their fruit soup cold, Norwegians serve it hot, garnished with lemon and orange slices.

Sot suppe (sweet soup) is self explanatory. It is also a fruit soup made with dried fruits, especially grapes, currants, plums, and tapioca, but this is served cold. Sides include Christmas bread, Christmas cookies, open-face sandwiches, and a variety of sliced ​​cheeses.

This is far from a complete list of Norwegian foods. Norwegian is a cuisine as wide and varied as that of other countries and it awaits you to explore it. Many of the foods I’ve mentioned are available prepackaged or as mixes. The web offers recipes galore for those who want to get down to business. Either way, you can get into the party spirit because, just like St. Patrick’s Day, everyone on Syttende Mai is Norwegian.

Buy Norwegian in Wisconsin

Many Norwegian food items are things you can’t get at your local Pick ‘n Save or Piggly Wiggly. These are special items that are only available at certain stores. Some require special devices. Lefse and krumkake griddles and sandbakkel tins are usually available in the same shops. Here is a partial list of places to visit.

Open House Imports, 306 E. Main St., Mt. Horeb, WI 53572, (608) 437-5468 openhouseimports.com

Open House offers a good selection of items including Freia Chocolates, sandbakkel, lefse and rommergrot mixes, fish soup, fish balls, salmon and caviar spread, cranberry and Hartshorn Salt (a hard to find ingredient in some Norwegian dishes). ). They also carry Norwegian equipment.

Dick’s Quality Meats, 201 Main Street, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572. A good source of herring, lefse, and, at holiday times, lutefisk.

Norske Nook Restaurant, Cafe & Gift Shop — Osseo, 13804-13807 7th Street, Osseo, WI 54758, (715) 597-3765 norskenook.com

Norske Nook – Rice Lake, 2900 Pioneer Avenue, Rice Lake, WI 54868, 715-234-1733

Norske’s Corner — Hayward, Hwy. 27 south, Hayward, WI 54843, (715) 634-4928

The Norske Nook is a Wisconsin legend, offering “from scratch” cuisine and fabulous baked goods. The restaurants offer a limited selection of items, but the selection at the Osseo gift shop is more extensive with imported cookies, lingonberries, lefse, potato dumplings and Norwegian pancake mixes, and more. They also carry lefse and krumkake irons, sandbakkel tins and other necessary equipment.

Dregnes Scandinavian Gifts, 100 S. Main St., Westby, WI 54667, Phone: (608) 634-4414 Toll Free: (877) 634-4414 DregnesScandinavianGifts.com. Dregnes had the best selection of products of all the places we reviewed. They offer Norwegian cheeses, fish soup, two different types of fish balls, vanilla and pearl sugars, Ljus syrup, glug and numerous mixes. Their kitchen shop offers all the necessary kitchen utensils to prepare a delicious Norwegian meal.

Nordic Nook, 176 W. Main St., Stoughton, WI 53589, Phone: (608) 877-0848 Toll Free: (866) 912-6665 nordic-nook.com. The Nordic Nook has a good selection of Norwegian cookware and all the standard food offerings. A couple of unusual and delicious additions are the pepparkakor candies (gingerbread cookies) and the Ole and Lena fortune cookies.

Cheesers, LLC 186 E. Main St., Stoughton, WI 53589, Phone: (608) 873-1777 Fax: (608) 877-0362 cheesers.com. Stoughton has the biggest Syttende Mai celebration outside of Norway, so you know Stoughton is serious about Norwegian food. Cheesers doesn’t offer the kitchen equipment like the others, but does offer a good selection of items including a wide selection of flatbreads and chips, fresh lefse, coffee, Jarlsberg cheese and two kinds of Gjetost. This is a great place for all your cheese needs. Your selection is complete.

As a parent, it is your job to monitor everything that happens with your child when they are in the hospital. Make sure there is an adult who is familiar with your child and your child’s needs during the entire time your child is in the hospital. When they take their child to things like x-rays, physical therapy, etc. You must be there with them at all times. If the well-meaning staff tells you that there is no reason for you to accompany your child, thank them and go anyway. They don’t know your child like you do.

The example of a mother:

“Three nurses came in to put my seven-year-old son on an IV. When they walked in, they started talking fast and completely ignored me as they began to circle him. Before I knew it, they were all putting on gloves and reaching for him. “Wait a minute!” I said as I picked him up as he started to panic. “Everybody out except one nurse” I demanded. They all looked at me like I was crazy, but they all left.

Andrew and I have an understanding that no one else understands. He knows that I will explain everything to him step by step and I won’t let them hold him down if he stays put. He knows that he can cry, scream, kick and do whatever he has to do, but he can’t move his arm. If he hadn’t been there they would have kept him and in doing so would have caused him to panic and undo everything he and I had worked on for the past 7 years.”

Some tips for when your child is in the hospital:

1. Do not ask staff for help with your own personal needs. Take care of your own food, drink and hygiene needs. Ask the staff where you can do these things and ask what the particular hospital policies are, but they are not there to take care of you, they are there to take care of your child.
2. Protect yourself and your child from additional hospital-acquired infections, especially at times like RSV season, which typically occurs during the winter months and is spread by respiratory particles or contact with contaminated objects, such as bathroom fixtures or even clothing. These kinds of things can even be passed on by doctors and nurses using the same stethoscope and blood pressure cuffs on your child that they use on children who have things like RSV. Keep a hand rub bedside cleaner – use it yourself and offer it to professionals and staff before they touch your child.
3. Since both kids and hospitals tend to be sticky, bring a bowl of antibacterial/antiviral disposable wipes and wipe down the surfaces that need it most often: TV remotes, phones (including your own cell), doorknobs, control buttons for beds, toys and dolls.
4. Know your environment. At first, please read the rules and regulations posted in each room. Know where the nursing station, emergency exit, drinking water fountain, and public or visitor bathroom are (unless you can use a private bathroom). What services are there? Food delivered to parents, game room, toys, in room, DVD or internet access? What is the visitor policy? Locate the nurse call button, locate the phone and read the instructions, locate the lights and TV controls. Find out how the buttons on the bed and side rails work. These seem like small, simple steps, but each hospital has different ways of doing things and you need to know what your hospital does and expects.
5. Know where you are going to sleep before night falls, and familiarize yourself with that piece of furniture.
6. Ask the nurse to tell you about each line and tube that is connected to your child to give oxygen, fluids, medications, blood, and liquid food; to collect for the laboratory or to evacuate stomach contents, urine, drainage, pus and air pockets. Each line must be clearly identified, so that fluids and medications do not go into the wrong tube.
7. Be vigilant when any substance is injected into a line. If you think someone is about to make a mistake, speak up immediately, but try to be attentive, not offensive. “Sorry to interrupt, but I thought that line was an arterial line, and they said not to put anything in.” Ask questions and don’t be afraid to speak up.
8. If a change in treatment or procedure is to be made, make sure you understand what it is and why. If the person performing the procedure doesn’t know you or doesn’t make sense to you, ASK.

“While my 7-year-old son was sick and in the hospital the nurse was having trouble taking his temperature accurately. She went in once and took him under her arm and got something close to normal. “That’s not right,” I said. “It’s at least 102” I said feeling the lower part of her stomach where the fever is. She looked at me as if I had lost her mind once more, but she took it again, this time under her tongue. It showed 101. Then she left. She came back a few minutes later. “I’m sorry” she said. “The resident ordered her rectal temperature taken.” She said, embarrassed. “No, you won’t.” , ON A 7 YEAR OLD! NO! So I asked what was the reason for this since at 7 it didn’t matter if it was 101 or 102.

“What difference does it make?” She said that she didn’t know, but that the doctor had ordered it. I told him to call the doctor to come and explain why they would give a 7 year old boy a rectal temperature. She seemed horrified.

She came back a few minutes later looking even more shaken and said, “The resident thought she was 7 months old.” Scary isn’t it?

9. Your child may be connected to monitors that keep up with signals from your child’s body. Most commonly, monitors measure heart and breathing rates, blood pressure (how hard the heart needs to work), and the oxygen supply in the blood. Make sure you know what the monitors are and what the normal numbers should be for your child.
10. Monitors cannot monitor everything, such as how your child feels, talks, behaves, or looks just before throwing up. They also can’t announce that even though the numbers are within the “normal” range, such as over an hour the oxygen saturation drops from 100 to 93, clearly something is wrong, but the alarms don’t go off. To spot the trend, someone has to be watching the child. That’s what nurses used to do in the past: get to know their little patients and be alert to such changes. now it’s up to YOUR.
11. If you think your child’s condition is getting worse, call a nurse.
12. Nurses appreciate gifts, but even better, give them real help. A positive attitude that assumes they know what they are doing and have your child’s best interests in mind. A note of praise to the nurse, with a copy to the supervisor and the head of the hospital, goes much further than chocolates. If you really want to bring a gift, most nursing staff appreciate fresh fruit even more than processed sweets.

I must admit that after hearing “What is your favorite color?” for the hundredth time, he wasn’t too interested in English corners. The idea was to give Chinese students a chance to talk with Americans and practice their English. Hopefully, we could persuade them to visit our training center and take classes. In theory, it was a good idea for everyone except the Americans. I can still see the shy grade-schooler being prodded by his Chinese mother to “show off” the few English phrases the boy had memorized. I felt sorry for the boy as he tried to maintain an hour-long smile and could relate to the boy’s discomfort.

After spending over 300 hours in English nooks during my 7 years in China, I found that there are right ways and wrong ways to have them. Initially we were told that if we Americans just showed up somewhere, a huge crowd of would-be English learners would bombard us with intense conversations in English. This never happened. I helped maintain English corners in libraries, bookstores, parks, schools, on a busy street, and even at McDonald’s. Each of these had to be built from scratch, but can be built into a very successful program.

We had two types of corners in English: free talks and activities. Free English conversation corners used to be effective in universities and libraries. Activity-based English corners were effective in each location, but required more work and preparation. Here are some tips on how to have a successful activity-based English corner.

1. Decide the format of the English corner. Usually we divide the English corner into 4 parts. First, we teach 8 to 10 “Frequently Used American Expressions”. These were idioms or collocations that we could act out and try to present in a vivid way. We never tried to explain the meanings, but rather tried to represent them so that the students could try to guess the meanings. Next, we would usually teach a song that had words that were easy to understand. Then we teach a cultural tip and finally we play a game.
2. Decide to enjoy the situation. I knew that if I was bored with what he was doing, my students would be too. I distinctly remember trying to teach the idiom: “You’re barking up the wrong tree.” I had a student stand on a chair, while I pretended to bark at him like a dog. We always did what we could to add some spice to the lessons, not only to keep students coming back, but also to keep us interested in the lessons.
3. Be flexible. I vividly remember teaching for two years at McDonald’s. We set aside a corner from McDonald’s and had a weekly English corner at 3:00 pm on Saturdays. We brought in a portable screen so people would know what it was about. We brought a professional sound system with two wireless microphones. Everything we had to do to try to make the English corner a success. However, many times, something went wrong. Either there was an error in the worksheet or there were no batteries for the microphones. Sometimes we would plan for 30 students and 100 would show up, and sometimes we would plan for 100 and 5 would show up. If you ever run an English corner, you will have to be willing to “ride the waves.”
4. Follow the 10% to 50% concentration rule. Usually, in China, you would look at one of my classes and divide it in half based on your level of English. Then I would take the bottom half and go up 10%. This was usually a good approach to the material. I would try to give these 40% of students the majority of my time and effort. For the top 50% of students, I would give them nuggets (not McDonald’s McNuggets) of harder English to keep them interested. Then whenever we had pair or group work, I would target the bottom 10% and try to give them individual help. Be careful. English corners in public places will appeal to everyone. It was common for our public English corners to have both kindergartners and college English teachers looking to learn some English.

I still have many good memories, and I made many friends through working in English corners.

Have you gained a lot of pounds since your last family reunion and the next one is fast approaching? You definitely don’t want to look fat when everyone else looks gorgeous in their outfits. Gaining weight is definitely much easier than losing it, but don’t despair, there are weight hacks you can use to make sure you lose that weight fast in a week to look beautiful during the important family event. By the end of the week, you should be confident enough to brag to the rest of your family as well, and you’ll feel better about yourself, too.

Lose weight in a healthy way

Of course, when many people are desperate to lose weight in a short amount of time, they end up doing anything, including crash diets. However, this is not the easy way out and you will not be doing yourself justice, health wise. The healthy way to lose weight fast is to be strict with workouts and diet. It may seem like a lot in a week, but you will definitely see changes when you are strict and dedicated to what you do. Hopefully, the meeting isn’t a week away; if you probably have a few more days, you can be sure that you will see results. Within the week of losing weight, you will have to make sacrifices and watch what you eat in order to enjoy better healthy results with every effort you put into it.

your workouts

You will need intensive exercise within a week to lose a considerable amount of weight. The exercises will burn fat, which will then lead to weight loss. However, you must remember to combine the exercises with a well-chosen diet to make it all worth it. It can be useless to do intense exercise just to recover the fats with the foods you choose for your diet. Since you are looking for a way to lose weight in a week, it will be more beneficial to exercise every day of the day. You can combine aerobic exercise and weight lifting to reach your goals quickly and easily. Some of the exercises are easy to do at home, but you can also go to the gym to maximize the results under the guidance of the instructors.

YourNutrition

What goes in is very important. To lose weight, you need to know your calories and make sure you watch the number of calories you eat every day. You need to make sure that you burn more calories than you eat. It is the easiest way to maintain the fat burning process without starving yourself. A good diet with proper exercise will propel you to the size you want to enjoy faster. By combining both, you will maintain lean muscle mass even when you lose weight. So you’ll have a leaner but leaner and toned body by the end of the week enough to enjoy your family gathering feeling confident. To lose weight in a week, stay away from processed foods, sugary and fatty foods, and alcohol.

The Renaissance is a cultural movement that began in Europe at the turn of the 14th to 17th century or a period between the classical and modern eras. More than its cultural essence, the Renaissance period was known for its developments in art, painting, philosophy, architecture, and other intellectual aspects. It was an era that saw the greatest growth and development in Western Europe.

A1. Renaissance art took its shape from the social conditions that existed at the time that shaped the political structure of Europe. The cultural weirdness of Italy existed, as there was no political form during the early modern period that resulted in artistic and academic advances. This freedom opened doors to trade around the world that brought wealth to Italy by commissioning artwork from her.

Renaissance artists sought human emotions and realism in art. They focused on making human representations with a natural background. They took the approach of Humanism, placing more emphasis on man than on God, which was reflected in their sculptures and paintings. The Early Renaissance period focused more on creating sculptures based on personality and behavior, while the High Renaissance focused more on balance and drama. Renaissance artists were heavily inspired by Roman and Greek art that used nude human bodies with personality in their art. His attempt to achieve perfection in the human arts for expression, personality, and emotions reduced social hierarchies in people’s status, resulting in everyone wanting to learn and share their ideas and skills.

A2. Neoclassicism was a predominant movement in the mid-18th and late 19th centuries in European art and architecture. He focused on classical Western art forms from ancient Greece and Rome. It was partly a movement that had started as a reaction to the Baroque and Rococo styles. It became a predominant part of academic art that continued until the 19th century to become visible as museums of neoclassical architecture.

Neoclassical art aimed to revive the European Age of Enlightenment that was classical Greek and Roman art forms. His aim was to contain the “purity” of Roman arts and he was critical of the Baroque and Rococo styles. Neoclassicism gained importance in France and England spreading to Sweden. He made use of the classical essence related to courage and nationalism.

Neoclassicism aimed to revive classical styles through the use of crisp colors and classical themes. They avoided light and soft colors in their paintings that represented calm and grandeur. The Neoclassicals revived Greek painting styles through the use of mosaics, columns, engravings, and other ornamental elements in their work.

A3. The Renaissance signified the renaissance of the arts, science and medicine and was an era responsible for most of the radical developments and movements in Europe. So much so, that it is also used to describe other great cultural and historical moments. The Classical Renaissance gave rise to the Baroque style, which was more dramatic and direct. Therefore, Neoclassicism was nothing more than a reaction to the Baroque style to preserve the purity of the ancient Roman arts. Furthermore, Neoclassicism remained one of the most prominent in the academic arts.

A3a.

• The Renaissance period was known for its humanistic approach to art, while Neoclassical art focused on purer, more classical elements of style;
• The Renaissance period brought radical developments in the arts, philosophy, and medicine, while neoclassical art was the foremost in the academic arts;
• Renaissance artists believed in more natural and expressive nude art sculptures, while Neoclassical artists incorporated ornamental elements into their work;
• The Renaissance period opened doors to new ideas and developments, while the Neoclassicism period focused on retaining the Age of Enlightenment.

A3b. The Renaissance era was one of the most influential and flourishing periods during the 15th and 16th centuries and led to important cultural developments for almost three centuries. Renaissance art was born out of an evolving civilization whose pursuit of realism and scientific perfection resulted in some of the most important works and achievements in the arts, science, architecture, and philosophy. The hallmark of Renaissance art is its dedication to the classical arts with a renewed interest in Roman styles that featured nude human sculpture without landscapes in a natural setting. It was an important era that brought wealth to Europe and its artistic freedom allowed skilled craftsmen to flourish.

A3b1. Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. Also known as the ‘Renaissance Man’, he was born in Italy and was a renowned painter who became a scholar in many fields including music, science, mathematics and botany. He is considered one of the most diversely talented people he has ever lived. Mona Lisa is one of the most renowned works of its time that was highly appreciated. The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait from the 16th century that was made in oil and of a seated woman.

Andrea Appiani (1754-1817) Born in Milan, he was an Italian neoclassical painter. He trained with Carlo Maria Giudici and learned to paint by copying sculptures. His best works are in the church of San Maria presso San Celso and the royal palace in Milan. Some of his oil paintings include Venus and Love, and Rinaldo in Armida’s Garden.

A3b2. Madame Hamelin (1776-1851) was one of the works of neoclassical painter Andrea Appiani that bears a similar resemblance to Leonardo Da Vinci’s Monal Lisa. Both are half-length oil portraits of half-seated women reflecting natural facial expressions in which their hands are folders with similar values ​​and artistic styles to each other.

A3c. Neoclassicism reached its period of greatest influence in the arts during the 1780s to the 1850s. New discoveries and archaeological settings paved the way for classical themes that also resulted from the reaction of Rococo styles. Neoclassicism retained its classical antiquity and coexisted with its opposite form of romantic art. Artists of the neoclassical era replaced religious and mythological objects with bold, simple, realistic objects. IN the 1830s, the era of neoclassicism was replaced by romanticism.

early start: That doesn’t mean right away your toddler should just sit on the potty and go! It just means that he has to present the idea early. At 14 months, he starts talking about going to the bathroom and reading books about going to the bathroom. I know some parents think they shouldn’t use the word “bathroom” and just refer to the word “toilet” because it could get confusing later. That is not true at all. By the time they are 2 or 3 years old, trust me, they know the difference, so I wouldn’t worry about this when they are younger. I think little kids like the idea of ​​having their own potty. Just make it special for them by talking about how great they are and the rest should fall into place.

No Pull Ups Required: Yeah, the idea of ​​them is cool and it can be convenient at times, but I think just wearing underwear is the best. Pick times or over the weekend when you will do some serious potty training and just put on some fun underwear (like Diego or Dora). They’ll be so excited because they’re wearing their big boy underwear! You want to make sure to tell them not to dirty their special underwear. In my opinion, pull-ups make it too comfortable for them to pee in. You want it to be uncomfortable and if they pee their underwear, it will be. You can always wear pull-ups when you’re out and about, but I think underwear or even nothing at home is better. At first, there isn’t much time between “mommy, pee” and an accident happens.

awards: Oh yeah, make sure you have plenty of these. “I’ll give you a treat if you pee in the potty.” That will be your famous line. It can be anything from stickers to candy. Warning: if you use candy, good luck trying to give out other prizes again! One technique with prizes i.e. you get 1 sticker if you pee and 2 stickers if you poop. Try to make it fun, or else they will feel forced and it will be much more difficult for them and for you. Make sure you keep going, like you would with anything else. If they don’t go to the bathroom, they don’t get a prize.

The method: I think how you do potty training is all up to your child. For some, it will work to do a potty boot camp, where you potty train for 3 days straight. During this time, they should only wear a diaper to sleep. When you’re awake, no diapers and be prepared for lots of accidents! For others, just being patient and letting your child let you know when they’re ready will work. Sometimes a toddler really wants to go potty and feel like a big kid, so that might be enough to get him to do it. In the end, just relax: it’s not like your kid is 10 (at least I hope so) wearing a diaper!

Outside the house: Make sure you are prepared! If you drive an SUV or Minivan, please bring a urinal with you. It can be very convenient and easier for you, instead of finding a bathroom. Keep an extra change of clothes in the car and constantly ask your child if he needs to go to the bathroom. Look out for signs like the infamous pee-pee dance. If an accident happens, try to relax because you don’t want your child to be embarrassed by it.

Night: The most stressful part of potty training can be bedtime. You may think: how is it possible that your child stays all night? Just leave this part to worry about the last stage. Focus on the day and only have your toddler wear a diaper or diaper at night. When you are finally ready for this stage, make sure there is a potty near the bed. Keep a new sheet and pajamas nearby, in case he wakes up after peeing on the bed. If it doesn’t happen at first, it could also be that you just aren’t ready to hold your urine through the night. Be patient and eventually your child will be fully potty trained.

Kids: The best advice for a child is to make him sit down to urinate when he is just beginning to potty train. Just make sure her pee is pointing down! He has enough to think about, and you don’t want to overwhelm him with too much information. As time goes by, you can introduce the idea of ​​standing up to pee. The best thing you can do is watch dad pee in the bathroom. What?! Yes, it makes perfect sense. We lead by example and now you can be just like dad. It will work!

Girls: I’ve heard that girls are easier to potty train than boys. I’m not sure if that’s true, but maybe it has to do with the fact that mom is usually the one to potty train. Something to pay attention to with girls is proper cleanliness. Yes, we all know “front to back,” but introduce it early on, before she wants to do it herself (she doesn’t want any infection).

If you follow the tips above and try not to stress yourself out with potty training, it will just happen. Try to be consistent and remember that toddlers are smart and at this age they want to feel like big kids. Make it special and before you know it, you’ll have a potty-trained toddler.

Christmas gifts almost always come with a Christmas Bow. Wrapping paper, ribbons and bows are used to decorate and draw attention to the gift. It is not the bow that is important, but the gift that it adorns. It is sad that so many people are enjoying all the Christmas wrapping and decorations, but have forgotten the gift – God with us – Emmanuel – the birth of Christ.

Christmas bow games

• Christmas arc pass – In this game, teams race to pass the bows from one end of the line to the other while holding hands. Divide the youth group into teams of 6-10 youth and have the teams line up side by side. At one end of the line place six Christmas bows and at the other end have a basket where they can drop the bows. Give them the following instruction: “With your left hand, grasp the right wrist of the person on your right.” Teams must pass all the arcs to the end and then back, without disconnecting to win. They can only play the bows with their right hand. If an arc is dropped, the team must retrieve it while remaining connected. If the chain is broken, all arcs currently being passed must return to the beginning of the line.
• Gift Exchange Pass the Christmas Bow – Played as “Hot Potato” Bow around the circle while listening to Christmas carols. When the music stops, whoever is holding the bow can pick up a gift from under the tree and place it on her lap or under her chair. The game continues until everyone receives a gift. If the music stops and someone is holding the bow and already has a gift, move on to the next person on the right who hasn’t received a gift yet.
• christmas bow hunt – This is like an Easter egg hunt, only with Christmas bows! Hide all the ties in one room or throughout the house and have everyone look for them.
• christmas arc fight – Place a long jump rope or rope in the middle of the floor to divide the room into 2 equal halves with one team on each side. Each team starts with the same number of goals. Set a timer for 2-3 minutes, and when the game starts, the participants will pick up the ties and throw them across the other team’s room. When the timer goes off, everyone drops all the bows and counts how many bows are on their team’s side. The team with the fewest bows wins.
• taboo word – Everyone is given a Christmas bow to pin on their shirt at the beginning of the party or event. A word is chosen that not everyone can say. (for example, Santa Claus) If someone says the word taboo to another person during the event, he must give him his Christmas bow. They pin the bow on their shirt along with any others they have collected. They all end up trying to get each other to say the forbidden word. At the end of the event, the person with the most Christmas bows wins.
• Christmas bow tree race – The juniors are divided into two teams with the same number of players. One person from each team is designated as a gift and stands at the opposite end of the room from their team. On the march, one person at a time on each team must grab ONE loop from a basket and run to the “gift” and tape it to their arms or head. Young people can only glue bows on the arms and head. The team that places the most bows on the gift in a given time wins. Fallen ties do not count.
• Christmas bow balance – Prepare two baskets of ribbons of various colors in each one. The baskets must contain an equal number of bows of each color. As you call out a color, the next person from each team runs to their basket, puts as many ribbons of the specified color on their head as they like, and walks back to their team. If even one bow falls, they have to try again. Say the colors in random order. At some point the game calls and the team with the most bows wins.
• Christmas Bow Stroke – Tape two lines on the floor at opposite ends of the room as goal lines. Teams blow the goals across the floor to the opposite goal and back. The first team to complete the relay wins.
• christmas bow grip – Play as the normal Spoons game, but replace the spoons with Christmas Bows. In the center of the table, place one bow less than the number of players you have. Shuffle a standard deck of 52 cards and deal 4 cards to each person. Ask everyone to take one of their cards and discard it to their left simultaneously. However, the person to the dealer’s right must put one of his cards on the table to start the discard pile, while the dealer takes a new card. Repeat this process for everyone moving to the left. In each round, the dealer must pick up a new card and the person to the right of him must add it to the discard pile, in order to have a continuous influx of new cards. The first person to have 4 of the same kind (for example, the 4 aces or the 4 nines) has to pick up a bow. After this, all the other players must do the same, and the slowest person is left without a bow and out of the game.
• Put the bow on the gift – In this Christmas version of the classic children’s game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, blindfolded children try to fasten the loop where the ribbons intersect on a gift-wrapped box.
• Christmas bow toss – Bows are thrown into wrapped gift boxes labeled with various point values. If it falls on top of you, the points. You can play with harder to hit targets that are worth more points.
• Christmas Bow Fan – One Contestant from each team must stand behind a Christmas bow with a gift box. As the clock ticks down, each contestant can begin to fuel the bond with the gift box. The contestants and the gift box may not touch the bow at any time or the game will be over. To complete the game, the competitor must obtain the goal in a designated end zone area (square struck on the ground) within the 60 second time limit. The goal must come to a complete stop without leaving the designated end zone.
• Tennis with Christmas bow – Youth divide into two teams facing each other at opposite ends of a table. The object is to blow the bow off the opponent’s end by one point.
• Christmas bow label – Using a glue gun or a piece of tape, attach the bow to a clothespin. You will need two for each participant. When you start the game, give each person two of the bows as they enter. When everyone has their ties, tell them that you are giving them two minutes to get rid of their ties. The only way for participants to get rid of the bows is by pinning them to someone else. Award a prize to the person with the fewest bows. Ice breaker idea: After playing the game, each person has to say one fun fact about themselves for each bow they have pinned. If they don’t have bows, they only have to say ONE thing about themselves.
• Christmas lasso shooting practice – Place a series of rings (or crowns) hanging from a rope as targets. Have the youth take turns trying to shoot bows through the rings or hoops of various sizes for points. The smaller the target, the higher the points.
• Christmas bow collector – Each young man is blindfolded, given a large wooden spoon and placed inside a large gift-wrapped box with the lid removed and filled with Christmas bows. They must also hold a similar box on top of their head. In the allotted time, the blindfolded youths compete using the spoon to scoop ribbons into the box on their heads while everyone else watches. Many times empty spoons will be delivered to the head and many times the box will be lost. When time is up, the young man with the most bows in the box on his head wins.
• Christmas bow plummet – You will need small bows, Vaseline and bowls. Place the bowls a foot apart, with the bows placed in 1 bowl. When the clock starts, each contestant gets to dip their nose in Vaseline and try to lift an arch with their nose. Players can only apply Vaseline by dipping their nose in Vaseline. The player must deposit the Christmas bow in the final container directly from the nose without coming into contact with any other part of the body or object. To complete the game, a player must be the first to transport 5 bows from the starting bowl to the ending bowl, with all 5 Christmas bows in the bowl at the same time.
• Mind Meld Christmas Bow – Put a Christmas bow between the foreheads of two people and run to the finish line.
• Relay of Christmas sticks with bow – Each youth has a toothpick and must thread a Christmas Ribbon down the youth line to the end of the line. The first team to pass all the ties to the end wins. Hands are not allowed.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

• Describe some of the Christmas presents under your tree.
• How are they wrapped? What colors are the ties?
• What are some of the things we need to wrap a Christmas present?
• Gift wrap, ribbons and bows are used to decorate. How many of you would like to receive a bow for Christmas? Just a bow?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

• What are some of the things we think of when we think of Christmas?

Christmas is not about decorations. It’s about the gift. With Christmas comes many decorations: there are Christmas trees; There are Christmas lights, Christmas carols, candy canes, angels, nativity scenes, Christmas cards, Christmas bows, wrapping paper, and even Santa and elves. But these, like a Christmas bow, are just the decorations. They are not the most important thing about Christmas. Christmas is about the greatest gift: it is about Jesus.

It’s sad that so many people are enjoying all the Christmas wrapping and decorations, but have forgotten about the gift.

Read the Christmas story from the Bible:

Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.

MAKE IT PERSONAL

How many of you never open your presents at Christmas? You just leave them with all the wrappings under the tree, never to find out what’s inside. Many people enjoy all the wonderful things about Christmas, but have missed out on the Christ in Christmas. The gift of Jesus, of peace with God, of salvation is never received and remains as a simple object of contemplation or as one more ornament.

Unless Jesus is received into our hearts, the gift may well remain an unopened gift under the tree.

Let your light shine so bright that people know that the true gift of Christmas is not in all the decorations, but in Jesus.