You might think that native English speakers are the best at speaking the English language. But some experts believe that when it comes to successfully communicating in English, non-native English speakers are actually better at it.

    "Often you have a room full of people from different countries communicating in English and all understanding each other. And then suddenly the American or British person walks into the room and nobody can understand them," Chia Suan Chong, a UK-based communications culture expert, told the BBC.

    Chong said that happens because non-native speakers communicate more carefully. "English speakers, on the other hand, often talk too fast, use jokes, slang (俚语) and make references (引用材料) to their country that others might not understand," Chong said.

    It is something that I keep in mind when talking to my Chinese friends. I am careful to speak slowly and use words I know they will understand. Sometimes we confuse each other though. Once I told my friend "no dramas", which means "no problem". She thought I was calling her a drama queen, though, and got upset!

    But don't worry. Experts say that it is the native speaker's fault if they can't understand you, not yours! "English speakers with no other language often don't know how to speak English internationally," said English language teacher Dale.

    The best way to avoid any trouble might be to ask for some patience. If you find it difficult to understand an English speaker, don't be afraid to ask them to slow down and speak clearly.

    Spain is famous for its tomato festival, called La Tomatina. It happens in a small town Hanoi on the last Wednesday of August every year. During the festival there are all kinds of activities, but the most exciting part is the tomato fight. It takes place at the end of long celebration (庆祝). You are encouraged to throw tomatoes in the fight. There're many stories about how the festival began. One of the stories goes that during the 1940's, some friends started a tomato fight, while another story is about a local band. Anyway, everyone in Bunol seems to have a different story.

    Before the tomato fight, there are parades (游行)，musical bands, street parties and so on. On the day of the fight, shopkeepers cover their windows and doors in order to keep away from the tomato fight. At the same time, thousands of tourists and local people come to the town square together. Then large trucks (卡车) full of tomatoes arrive. From the back of the large trucks, a great town band start to throw tomatoes at others. Then the crowds fight back, throwing the tomatoes at anything and anyone. Soon the streets are in the sea of red tomato juice.

    Everyone is supposed to obey a small number of rules: You must squash (压烂) the tomato before throwing it and you are allowed to throw nothing but tomatoes.

    It is usually over in less than half an hour. Everyone then sets off to the river to clear up. Sounds like fun!

    Each year on Feb 21, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) holds an International Mother Language Day (IMLD). The event is to help people to pay attention to the disappearance of the world's languages; many of them are disappearing each year. UNESCO sees this as a terrible fact.

    What happens when a language dies out? Something great is lost-not just sounds and marks but the way that people understand the world and communicate with each other. We keep different cultures and traditions through languages. Kill a language and all these are killed too.

    Through IMLD, more and more people come to realize he terrible situation and try to stop it.

    Google's 2018 Endangered (濒临灭绝的) Languages Project is a good example. Many speakers and protectors of endangered languages upload (上传) texts, audios and videos to the project website. They want to introduce the way that people communicate and express themselves around the world.

    The Myaamia Project is the same kind of effort to revive the language spoken by the Miami tribes (部落) of the United States. Project members work to encourage people to study and communicate with this language, which died out in the 1960s.

    These activities give life to those endangered languages. People who work to keep Languages alive are not limited to the past. Many young people design apps and use social media to support their activities. They "spread the word" to save the world.

    So, while the problem of disappearing languages remains a very serious one, there is hope. We all have a special feeling of our mother language. This is why we should remember the wise words of late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his own language，that goes to his heart."

Primary school students in Changsha, Hunan Province, have started to learn the Changsha dialect (方言) in a course for them to choose which was newly offered this term. 

More than 20 third-grade students from a local primary school have signed up for the course. Many language professors at some major universities in Hunan are teaching it. 

Besides the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, students will also get knowledge about the idioms, nursery rhymes (童谣) , figures of speech and culture behind the dialect, according to Luo Xinru, Chinese language professor at Hunan Normal University and one of the teachers of the course. 

As our country has spent a lot of energy promoting standard Mandarin (标准普通话) , lots of young children have not learned how to speak local dialects, she said. That's why the country has started to protect different language resources in recent years, she added. 

The Ministry of Education carried out the National Language Resource Protection Project in 2015 to do some surveys and better protect its language resources. Our country has set up the largest language resource center in the world, according to the ministry. 

Luo said promoting Mandarin and using dialects are not contradictory and children have the ability to speak them at the same time. 

"Dialect protection is very important and different dialects which carry different cultures and values should not and will not disappear," she said. "We do not expect all children taking the course to learn perfect Changsha dialect, but they should understand the importance of different dialects and perhaps be willing to dive into the research and protection of them as they grow older."

Bill was a boy of 15. His parents went to gambling (赌博) day and night. 

Nobody cared about him. He always failed in his exams. So his teachers didn't like him, nor did his classmates play with him. Bill often slept in class because his heart was not in school. He almost gave himself up. 

One day, Miss Jones, a new teacher, came to Bill's class. She was a smiling, beautiful woman. Bill was in love! For the first time in his young life, he couldn't take his eyes off his teacher. 

It was Miss Jones' class. She was asking a question. "I'd like the smartest boy to answer my question. " Then she said loudly, "Bill, please!" Bill was surprised. And he stood up without a word. 

"Just try it! I believe you can!" After school, Miss Jones had a long talk with Bill. She told him that she cared about him and believed in him. 

Bill thought a lot that evening. From then on, he arrived at school on time every day. Miss Jones helped him with his homework in the afternoon. She even cooked delicious food for him. She told Bill, "Nothing is impossible if you put your heart in it. "

Later, Miss Jones gave another exam. Bill did it with all his heart. He was very excited to find that he had passed the exam. Now Bill discovered that not only could he learn, but he could do it well. A change took place in Bill's heart. 

You see, one teacher saved one boy. It's simple, really.