Some birthday customs are quite similar in many parts of the world—- birthday candles(蜡烛), birthday games, and birthday cakes. But some customs are more specific to certain countries. Here are some children talking about their customs.

Linda: I am fourteen. I come from Aruba阿鲁巴岛（拉丁美洲）（荷属安的列斯群岛中的大岛）. In our country, Children take something special to school for their classmates and all teachers. Each teacher gives the birthday child a small gift like a pencil, an eraser or a postcard. The birthday child is also allowed to wear special clothes instead of the school uniform.

Lucy: I am one year older than Linda. Denmark（丹麦） is my country. A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in that house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child's bed while they are sleeping so they will see them at once when they wake up.

Tom: I am as old as Linda. I am from Brazil. The birthday child receives a pull on the earlobe(耳垂) for each year in my country. The birthday person also gives the first slice of cake to his/her most special friend or relative, usually mom or dad.

    Sometimes people come into your life and you know that they are there to teach you a lesson, or to help you understand who you are or who you want to become.

    You never know these people who may be a classmate, a neighbour or a friend—but when you lock your eyes on them, you know at that very moment they will influence your life in some ways.

    Sometimes things that happen to you may seem unpleasant, painful, or frustrating at first. But in another way, you find that without getting over those difficulties you would have never realized your ability, strength or will power (意志力).

    The people you meet and the success you get help to create who you are and who you become. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are sometimes the most important ones.

    If someone loves you, give love back to them in the way you can, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

    If someone hurts you, or breaks your heart, forgive(原谅) them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being careful of people around.

    Self-confidence is necessary to a person. If you're not confident，it will be hard for others to believe in you. Learn a lesson in life each day you live!

    We spoke to three students from around the world about different national holidays. There are different customs (习俗) for each festival.

    Tan Xiaodong, 15, Hong Kong, China

    “It'll soon be Chinese New Year. Before it, we'll clean the house and decorate it for good luck. Every shop is going to close for a few days and we'll go out a lot to celebrate in the streets. We might go and see the lion and dragon dances in the city center. I love this festival.”

    Wendy, 16, Sydney, Australia

    “Australia Day is on 26th January and it's an important holiday here. We always have a Monday off, so we celebrate for three days. My parents and I go to the countryside for a picnic and friends always come over. Many people go to beach parties or street parties and there's lots of music and dancing. What fun！”

    Amy, 14, New York, USA

    “The first Thanksgiving Day was hundreds of years ago when Europeans who came to America thanked God for his help. It's still a very important day for families to be together. This year we're going to visit my grandparents and we'll eat a delicious meal of turkey. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November every year.”

Information Card

    In the countryside of China, many people are moving to cities to find work. They move because often there isn't much work in the countryside. Service like hospitals and schools are usually not very nice there.

    But in the big cities like London, New York, Pairs, people are moving out. They want to live a quiet life. They don't like the city because the city is noisy and dirty. The traffic is heavy. Living in the cities costs too much. They want a house with a garden and clean air. So they move to the countryside with clean water and green trees. There, they begin new lives and try to make new friends.

    It's true that you can learn new words when you read or listen, but you should also study new words seriously. Here are a few things I do:

    Make flash cards(识字卡)：(A) I find this is really the best way to learn new words. Make some small cards and write the new English word on one side and the word in your language or in easy English on the other side to test yourself. To really make this work, you have to review often (You need a system! ). I think this is the best method for learning English vocabulary.

    Make sentences with the new words: This is great if you can ask someone to check them. It's also great to make some really crazy sentences-that way you won't forget them! I also collect example sentences of the words I'm trying to learn if I see the word in a book, I write down the sentence.

    Make up a mnemonic：A mnemonic is a way to remember something, like a little story. For example, (B) 我在厨房的门上贴上单词 kitchen. The problem with this is that it works for a while but then you get used to the words and forget to read them!