Saturday, July 05, 2014

Gifts of information and language

It's easiest to know what to bring for people I know well. One of my friends likes the varied news magazines one finds in America-- things like Time and Newsweek. The Chinese government keeps tight control over information, keeping the choices of reading material narrow. The Patriot Act notwithstanding, Americans can read what they want.
For the children of colleagues, I bring games and toys which will help them with English: an interactive alphabet busy box for a two year old, a Scrabble game for a girl in her early teens, a book of Shel Silverstein's poems for a child entering 6th grade.

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