When you are about to do something brave, a cheerful wish of "Good luck!" from a friend can be helpful. But if you think you need lots of luck, what else might you do?

    In the UK and US there are some strange traditions for bringing yourself a little more good luck. Some are hundreds of years old and some are much newer.

    Have you heard the saying "When you wish upon a star"? If you are looking up at the sky on a clear night and you see a sudden flash of light, it is probably a shooting star! Seeing one doesn't happen very often. The saying goes that you have been very lucky if you see one, and so if you make a wish, it will come true.

    Maybe you have heard of the lucky  rabbit's foot. Some people believe that rabbits are lucky animals, so they carry a part of the rabbit, its foot, for good luck. There are all kinds of strange, unclear rules about which of the rabbit's feet is the luckiest. It is said that this good luck tradition is the oldest one of all. However, as the funny saying goes, "Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit!"

    People in Britain love trees. If it is autumn and leaves are falling from the trees, some people try to catch the leaves as they fall because they think each leaf they catch will bring them a lucky month in the following year—they will need to catch 12 falling leaves to have a whole of good luck!

      Reality TV (真人秀电视节目 ) is very popular in the UK. These programmes give us a good look into the lives of different people in Britain. Also they are a very cheap way to make programmes. Here are some of them.

Strictly Come Dancing

In the show some famous people learn to dance with a professional dancer. Four professional dance experts give them scores and comments (评论) about their dances. After that, the public vote(投票) for their favourite couple. The two least favourite have to dance again and the judges decide who stays in the competition and who leaves. This show is very popular with people of all ages in the UK.

Come Dine with Me

      Each week four people prepare dinner in their home for the other players. Each player then gives the cook a grade out of 10 for the food. The winner gets￡1,000. Sometimes the food is terrible and the players are very rude to each other.

World's Strictest Parents

      Badly behaved British teens are sent abroad to live with a super strict family for a week. The teenagers have to follow the rules of their host family and go to the local school. After seven days the teenagers return home and their parents tell us whether their behaviour is better or not. There is often a lot of cries and shouts in this show but it can be worth watching too.

    There are about 7,000,000 people in London. London is one of the big cities in the world. London is famous for many things. People from all over the world come to see the famous buildings. There is a famous clock called Big Ben, too.

    Like many big cities, the traffic is very busy in London. When the work hours begin, over 1,000,000 people use the London underground(地铁), but there are still too many buses and cars on the streets. The air isn't clean.

    For me, the best things about London are the parks. There are five in the middle of the city. But my children's favorite is playing in Hamleys, the biggest toy（玩具） shop in the world.

    The 35th Weifang International Kite Festival opened in April 2018 in East China's Shandong, receiving kite fans from all over the world. Shandong has a long history of kite making. Over 2,000 years ago, a man named Gongshu Ban from Shangdong invented a kite. It was made of bamboo. In the following centuries, kite making developed well in China.

    The first Weifang International Kite Festival was celebrated in 1984. In 1983, chairman of the Seattle Kite Association David Checkley took part in a kite show in Shanghai and later he visited several kite manufacturers (制造商). He found that kites made in Weifang were the best. He suggested that an international event take place there. So Weifang began to hold it in April every year.

    At the fifth festival, Weifang became known as the "kite capital of the world". Today, Weifang is home to over 300 kite factories. Their products are sold to over 40 countries and areas, making up 85% of the domestic (国内的) market and 65% of the world market.

    However, there are also some problems. "Only a few people would like to learn traditional kite making," says Yang Hongwei. In her opinion, only something traditional can last. As for this problem, an older craftsman (手艺人) Zhang Xiaodong said, "Only through innovation can we achieve a bright future for traditional hand-made kites." Zhang has created a rocket-shaped kite after China launched the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft. "I have a controller and the two parts of the 'rocket' can separate in the sky," he said proudly. He is planning to use drones (无人机) in kite making next.

If you are 13—18 years old and want to improve your English by studying abroad, Nacel, a great organisation, will help you enter high schools in the US.

In order to succeed in finishing the following exchange programmes, you must have a high English language level, a strong ability to live far away from home and a great interest in experiencing a new culture. You will be able to choose from a short-time experience (a few weeks) to a school term or a school year.

International School Programme

Besides offering common subjects of other high school, this programme offers STEM subjects, giving students the chance to develop skills and knowledge in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and maths. For international students, they can attend(参加) English lessons after school.

Private High School Programme

We offer all private high schools across the country. You can choose any city you want to go. For the programme, students will need to have a good score in our English exam and to attend an interview(面试).

Homestay Programme

Live in an American family in the US! The homestay programme offers teenagers chances to experience the everyday life of a host family in the US. Our wonderful hosts will help you to know the local community as soon as possible.

To find more information, please click Here or:

Phone: 001-651-315-7880 Email: naceltravel@google.com