Learning English is challenging because of the various rules and exceptions to the rules. The best way to learn English is to hear it spoken and repeat the words as you hear them. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You will learn how to make English a daily part of your life in order to learn to speak it quickly.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Ask a friend to help you write letters of English alphabet on index cards. You should write a letter on each card. Practise the letters by mixing up the cards and saying the letters. You can ask your friend to help you pronounce the letters and quiz you on your knowledge.

    Make your own videos in English. If you have a video camera, you can tape yourself speaking English and practice along with your own video. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Watch your videos daily, and repeat what is being said.

    Get a private tutor. A professional English instructor can give you one-on-one instruction that will help you understand the rules of English. Your instructor can teach you how to write and speak English.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can also inquire at your local community college.

    Watch movies with English subtitles. When watching a movie in your native language, use the English subtitles so you will understand the connection between your language and English.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You will make mistakes, and that is OK. You need to practice English as much as possible in order to quickly learn to speak the language fluently.

    Do you know an outstanding junior high or high school teacher, coach, guidance counselor, librarian，or headmaster? Nominate (提名)that special teacher you'll always remember and give him/her the chance to be recognized in a famous national magazine through "Educators of the Year Contest"!

Prizes

    Cash awards will be given to those from across the country who are given the honor of Educators of the Year. Besides, your winning essays will also be published in our magazine.

Guidelines

    We will only consider essays written by teens, and nominations must be for junior high or high school educators only. Elementary school educators are not suitable.

    Convince us your educator is special. Tell us about his or her style of teaching, his or her role in school activities, and community service. What has your educator done for the entire school, your class, for you or another student? Give examples with specific details. Keep your essay between 200 and 1,000 words. Remember to include the first and last name, position, and school of your educator in your essay.

Don't forget to submit (提交)your essays through our website. You can also read our submission guidelines for more information on this website.

The Deadline

    The deadline for submitting your essays is December 30. Your essays are accepted and will appear in our magazine all over the year. Winners will be made public after the January issue is published.

    My friend BJ Gallagher told me a great story recently, about her own experience with resentment (愤恨). She once worked as the training manager for a large newspaper, where she found the corporate culture extremely frustrating. The company was a hundred years old and their past success ha d blinded them to the need for change. Finally, after butting heads with several senior executives (主管) many times, she left the company. But she found that she hadn't left her resentment, frustration, and anger behind when she resigned.

    “I finally decided to write about my experiences and my feelings at the newspaper. I wanted to be rid of that company and those people, once and for all. So I wrote and I wrote. It wasn't just a story that poured out; it was a whole book! We called it A peacock in the Land of Penguins. I was the peacock and those newspaper executives were the penguins.”

    “It took me several more years to finally get over my negative emotions. Through a lot of soul-searching and reflection, I finally was able to let go of my resentment. I came to see that there was nothing personal in the way they treated me, and they were good people doing what they thought best for the company. I was the one who had made it personal. I thought they were making my life miserable on purpose.”

    “Finally, the time came when I decided to make amends (弥补) for the sharp, angry things I had said about the company. I invited my former boss to dinner and made my apology. It was a great healing process for me. I finally felt free of the resentment that had been eating me up.”

    “What was the final outcome?” I asked her.

    “Gratitude,” she replied. “Not only wasn't I resentful any more, I was grateful to the company. If I hadn't had those painful experiences, I would never have written a book. And the book became hugely successful – now published in 21 languages; it transformed my business.”

    Art is considered by many people to be no more than a decorative means of giving pleasure. This is not always the case, however, at times, art may be seen to have a purely functional side as well. Such could be said of the sandpaintings of the Navaho Indians of the American Southwest; these have a medicinal as well as an artistic purpose.

    According to Navaho traditions, one who suffers from either a mental or a physical illness has in some way disturbed or get in touch with the supernatural—perhaps a certain animal, a ghost, or the dead. To break away from this, the ill person or one of his relatives will employ a medical man called a "singer" to perform a curing ceremony which will attract a powerful supernatural being. During the ceremony, which may last from 2 to 9 days, the "singer" will produce a sandpainting on the floor. On the last day of the ceremony, the patient will sit on this sandpainting and the "singer" will rub the sick or injured parts of the patient's body with sand from a specific figure in the sandpainting. In this way the patient absorbs the power of that particular supernatural being and becomes strong. After the ceremony, the sandpainting is destroyed so its power won't harm anyone.

    The art of sandpainting is handed down from old "singers". The materials used are easily found where the Navaho settle: brown, red, yellow, and white sandstone, which is ground（研磨）much as corn is made into flour. The "singer" holds a small amount of this sand in his hand and lets it flow between his fingers onto a clean, flat surface on the floor, with a steady hand and great patience. He is thus able to create designs of stylized people, snakes and other creatures that have power in the Navaho belief system. The traditional Navaho doesn't allow copying sandpaintings, since he believes the supernatural powers that taught him the craft have forbidden this; however, such reproductions can in fact be purchased today in tourist shops in Arizona and New Mexico. These are done by either Navaho Indians or by other people who wish to preserve this craft.

    Wellington: Huawei has started a rugby-themed media campaign in a bid to win over New Zealand's public after the country's security agency blocked the Chinese technology giant's equipment from being used in a nationwide Internet network.

    "5G without Huawei is like rugby without New Zealand," ads in New Zealand's two largest newspapers read alongside a photo of players competing in a ball. Large posters also appeal to the country's love of the sport. In November, New Zealand's Government Communications Security Department (GCSD) told Spark it couldn't use equipment from Huawei-the world's largest telecommunication equipment company—in the building of its 5G network because an unspecific "significant network security risk was identified". Spark is now in the process of seeing if it can make changes to prevent those risks, although GCSD has declined to publicly say how that would happen.

    Huawei's newspaper ad goes on to argue the decision would mean less advanced technology and higher prices for New Zealand customers. The ads come after the company last month publicly offered to only use New Zealand, rather than Chinese, staff to build the network—in a bid to ease fears—and called for an urgent meeting with the government, denying (否认) there had been any wrongdoing.

    Western spy agencies have increasingly raised security concerns about Huawei—China's largest telecommunications company-over what they say are possible links to the Chinese government, with the United States reportedly pressing Five Eyes intelligence network allies (同盟国) to avoid the company. Australia and Canada were the first countries to ban Huawei from a building of 5G networks.

The company has repeatedly denied accusations.

    New Zealand's top politicians have repeatedly denied the GCSD decision was influenced by other Western powers and say it's about the particular technology being suggested, not China. They have also denied suggestions New Zealand's diplomatic ties with China have been tense over the decision, with the official promotion of a major China—New Zealand tourism project now postponed.

    Candace Payne's life changed forever in May 2017 when she posted a video of herself laughing crazily and wearing a mask. The video spread widely and "Mask Mom "became a household name.

    During the two years since that, Candace has published several books, starred in a TLC. web series and went on tour with Mandisa. She made appearances on late night talk shows, met J. J. Abrams and was able to fulfill a dream of taking her family to Disney World. It was a busy but joyful time.

    Her latest book is Consider It Joy. "I feel like people need a tool in their hands to actually get the joy they are fighting for, "Candace says, "The book can help you keep track of how much space and time you are devoting to things that aren't worth it in comparison to the joy that I know I could have."

    Getting joy is something that has always been important to Candace. "What the opportunity offered me was not a forced open door," Candace says, "Many people are trying desperately to push things open when they have to be obedient(顺从的) to the little things."

    Trusting herself has required being confident in saying no. She uses a simple tool to evaluate whether an opportunity is right to her. Candace says, "I have a balance beam (平衡木)where I'm asked to walk every single day as a mom, a wife, a speaker and an author. There are so many things I need to balance at a time. I have to realize what belongs there and what doesn't. The most important factor is joy."

    That's the heart behind the book Consider It Joy. "I really wanted to give people more than just advice about joy, Candace says, "I wanted to give them the ability to actually own it in their everyday life."