Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

1. Where's the *downtime*? The time just to hang with friends, or read for pleasure, or whittle sticks? The time to play with the dog or draw on the sidewalk with chalk?

How is that commonly used?

Do you have downtime to play?


2.Or, there's the kid who competes in two sports, plays a musical instrument, goes for private tutoring or takes computer or foreign language classes--all *on top* of a full day at school.

Does that mean those classes are prioritized on the schedule?

3
Some busy, active kids seem to thrive on a schedule that requires a Rolodex and *spreadsheet* to keep straight

Definition:

computer program for numerical data: a computer program that displays numerical data in cells in a simulated accountant's worksheet of rows and columns in which hidden formulas can perform calculations on the visible data. Changing the contents of one cell can cause automatic recalculation of other cells.

Sorry I still don't understand how one can keep time with that thing?

5.
Individual kids have different *thresholds* of activity and may also handle stress in different ways.

1. starting point

2. level at which effect starts

3. wood or stone below door

4. entrance
Which one of the meanings is the most close to the one in the sentence?


Thanks for your time and patience.

[CP]

1. Downtime or down time is the time that the shop is closed, the machinery is off, the workers are gone. The author is using downtime here to refer to the child's time off to play, rather than having every minute of the day part of a structured activity.

2. It means, "in addition to." The kid has all these activities in addition to a full day at school.

3. He's saying that some children prefer such complicated, highly structured schedules -- so complicated that it requires an accountant or a computer program to keep it all straight.

5. He's using the word loosely to mean that all kids are different when it comes to how much activity they want or need, how much stress they can handle in daily life, etc. The threshold is usually used to mean the lowest or highest level of something that can be perceived or enjoyed or tolerated. My pain threshold is probably lower than yours. My fingers hurt just typing this.
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