Back to School

All over the Northern Hemisphere, September is the time to go back to school. Summer and vacation time come to an end. Parents and children hurry to stores to buy autumn clothing and school supplies. In some localities, schools provide the supplies for the children. In others, schools send home long lists of items that the students will need for the school year. In these distressing economic times, some schools seem to be providing less. Nonetheless, most schoolchildren in the U.S.A. have the material essentials for learning, while in some parts of the world, they do not even have books. Sometimes organizations sponsor book collections, so we should be sure to keep an eye out for such charitable efforts in order to improve the educational experience of children everywhere.

Vocabulary

Northern Hemisphere--(noun) the northern half of the earth, the earth north of the equator
Autumn-- (adjective here, also can be a noun) fall
localities-- (noun) places
distressing--(adj.) upsetting, trying
sponsor--(verb) to finance or take responsibility for someone else
to keep an eye out-- (idiom) watch
charitable--(adjective) generous, willing to give money to help others

Vocabulary Exercise

1. I would like to _______________ a relative to immigrate to the USA.
2. Please ________________ for my husband because he is on his way.
3. Watching the news of the war on TV can be ______________.
4. In the ______________________, the weather is cold when we celebrate Christmas.
5. Many _________________ have snow in December.
6. Susana was kind and ______________ to her needy neighbors.
7. ______________ is my favorite season.

Grammar

The present tense of verbs is used for regular actions. For example, every weekday children attend school. Find the present verbs in the paragraph. Write a sentence using one of them.