Aprende unas expresiones relacionadas a la Navidad y al Año Nuevo.

Super Basic Spanish

Aprende Español: Expresiones Festivas (Navidad)

f you're going to exercise, you have to stretch, right?

Well, maybe not.

The answer might depend on your goals, and what you mean by "stretch."

There are different types of stretches.

In what are known as "static" stretches, you hold a single position for perhaps as long as 60 to 90 seconds. These stretches are great for increasing flexibility.

But there are also "dynamic" stretches, where you repeatedly — but carefully — move your joints through their full range of motion.

Expert opinion on how to use these stretches has changed over the years. But it's now generally believed that dynamic stretching is best before you exercise, while static stretching is better after.

As Alisa Bowman writes for the Mayo Clinic, dynamic stretching helps improve blood flow and joint mobility, which gets your body ready to exercise. Studies have even found that dynamic stretching before exercise can improve your performance.

Meanwhile, some research has found that static stretching can temporarily weaken your muscles, which is why it's generally no longer recommended before certain sports — and especially not for high-performance athletes.

Instead, static stretches are typically recommended for helping to relax your muscles after exercise. Since you've been moving and increasing blood flow to your joints and muscles, you'll actually be more flexible, so you'll get more benefit from those stretches.

But while you may have been told that stretching will reduce soreness after you exercise, research has found that it really doesn't make much difference.

You've also probably been told to stretch to avoid injuries. But research doesn't seem to support that either — especially for static stretching.

Writing for WebMD, Sonya Collins says that, as long as you stretch sometime, it's fine if you don't do it around the time you exercise.

In fact, some experts say if you're short on time, it's better to exercise without doing any stretching than to cut your workout short!

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Do You Really Need to Stretch When You Exercise?

As the US navigates what some experts have described as a loneliness epidemic, employers and employees across the country are trying to address what for many people is a lack of real friendships at work.

It's not a new thing, but remote work has only intensified the problem, says leadership expert Michael Bungay Stanier.

"People have this desire to be seen and be heard," Bungay Stanier says, but on video calls, the group gets right down to business rather than having the natural, informal interactions of a real room. It reduces people to "little heads in squares."

It's not easy to talk about this lack of friendship at work "because it feels like a shameful confession," Bungay Stanier says. But his clients are beginning to bring up the subject.

Awkward as it may be, these are conversations worth having, according to psychology professor Laurie Santos.

At-work friendships are good for employers, too. Santos says research shows that workplace friendships and a sense of belonging are vital to employees' happiness — and companies' success.

We assume that friendships at work are "a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have," she said.

But "maybe one of the reasons we're all so disengaged at work ... is that we're actively not investing in the thing that might matter the most for our happiness at work, which is our connection with other people," Santos said.

Some large companies began paying more attention to employee health long before the pandemic, often focusing on physical health.

Today, more employers are looking at ways to really improve people's mental health and well-being.

And experts say there is a lot that companies can do, even rethinking physical spaces in the offices with relationships in mind.

More than anything, remember the importance of everyday greetings at work — even if they make you a bit uncomfortable. A simple hello, Bungay Stanier says, could be the beginning of the end of loneliness.

中文每日一练

每日听汉语

New English US

Learn English: Giving Directions (pre-intermediate level)

In this episode we will talk about 【Playing games】, you will learn how to say 【traditional,popular】 ect. 
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It is recommended that you study in the following ways:
Step 1: Gist listening. Listen to get the main idea. (more times if necessary)
Step 2: Check the script and learn new words. 
Step 3: Listen and imitate as much as you can then retell the story.
Step 4: Write down what you hear if you want to practise writing.
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大家好，我是Yuli。欢迎收听我的播客。
今天想和大家聊一聊游戏。
在我小时候，小孩子没有手机和ipad，我们的游戏是更传统的。那个时候最流行的游戏是《老鹰捉小鸡》，有一个小朋友当老鹰，一个小朋友当母鸡，其他小朋友躲在后面当小鸡。母鸡要保护小鸡不被老鹰捉走，被捉到的小鸡就输了。大家在草地上跑来跑去，又紧张又好玩。我们还有其他的游戏，例如：跳绳、打弹珠（也叫打玻璃珠）和打扑克牌等等。
现在的小孩子更多的时间花在学习上，没有那么多时间在室外玩。他们很小就有手机，可以在手机上玩游戏，看视频。因此，近视戴眼镜的小孩子也越来越多。
我觉得我们小时候可以玩的东西更多，学习压力比较小。现在的孩子有机会学习更多的东西，压力也比较大。真希望他们也有机会做一些我们小时候的游戏，虽然简单，但是很快乐。
你小时候喜欢做什么游戏呢？留言告诉我吧。我们下期见。
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传统/chuán tǒng/traditional
流行/liú xíng/popular
老鹰/lǎo yīng/eagle
捉/zhuō/catch
躲/duǒ/dodge
跳绳/tiào shéng/rope skipping
打弹珠/dǎ dàn zhū/play marbles
打扑克牌/dǎ pū kè pái/playing poker
室外/shì wài/outdoor
视频/shì pín/video
近视/jìn shì/myopia
压力/yā lì/stress
机会/jī huì/opportunity

Daily Chinese With Yuli

玩游戏 Playing games（Intermediate level）

Today's piece of vocabulary is to "get by". If you can get by with what you have, you can manage to live or do things in a satisfactory way. Not to have great success or do things particularly well, but simply to reach a level that you consider to be OK.

DAILY Business English VOCABULARY builder

This is going OK, not well, but OK.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B6lCs7dHWDt0gexxaXrbTtnVqrVur3nP/view?usp=drivesdk

Teacher Joseph's Podcast

Mouth Movement (with transcript)

Intonation is very important wnen speaking English. Are you using it correctly?