—      that I'm grown-up, I want to help my parents do something.

The girl {#blank#}1{#/blank#} {#blank#}2{#/blank#} my son is my younger sister.

    A few months ago I left my hometown for Canada to study. I felt nervous because I was going to {#blank#}1{#/blank#}new place with new people. What worried me at first {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(be)that I couldn't speak English {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(fluent), and I also couldn't understand {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(they) customs. Everything was different {#blank#}5{#/blank#} my own country. I had to deal with everything alone

    It was a sad moment {#blank#}6{#/blank#}I had to say goodbye to my family and friends at the airport. Suddenly. I felt unwilling {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (leave)my hometown because l grew up there and had wonderful {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(memory) of the familiar place. However， I know studying abroad was a{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(decide)that I made myself I had to accept the challenge.

    By now I have got used to the new life here already, though I'm looking forward to {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(spend) the coming vacation with my old friends back home.

    English perfectly shows the "network effects" of a global tongue: the more people use it, the more useful it is. Parents expect their children {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(master)English, which is encouraging the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(grow)of private schooling. Education authorities are switching to English medium, in part to control the outflow(外流) of children into the private sector.

Teaching children in English is fine if that is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} they speak at home and their parents are fluent {#blank#}4{#/blank#} it. But that is not {#blank#}5{#/blank#} case in most public and low-cost private schools. Children are taught in a language they don't understand by teachers {#blank#}6{#/blank#} English is poor. The children learn neither English nor anything else.

    Research shows that children learn {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(much)when they are taught in their mother tongue than they do when they are taught in any other language. In a study of children in 12 schools in Cameroon last month, those taught in Kom {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(do)better than those taught in English in all subjects.

    English should be an important subject at school, but not {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(necessary)the language of instruction. Rather than switching to English-medium teaching, governments fearful of {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(lose) custom (光顾) to the private sector should look at the many possible ways of improving public schools.

    We want our children to succeed in school and, perhaps even more importantly, in life. But the paradox(悖论) is that our children can only truly succeed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they first learn how to fail. Consider the finding that world-class figure skaters fall over more often in practice than low-level figure skaters. Why are the really good skaters falling over the most?

    The reason is actually quite simple. Top skaters are constantly challenging themselves in practice. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stretch) their limitations, they keep trying their best. They fall over so often, but it is precisely why they learn so fast. Lower-level skaters have a quite different approach. They are always attempting jumps they can already do very easily, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (remain) within their comfort zone. This is why they don't fall over. In a superficial sense, they look successful, because they are always on their feet. Never {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (fail) in practice prevents them from making progress.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} is true of skating is also true of life. James Dyson worked through 5,126 prototypes (原型) for his newest vacuum before coming up with the design {#blank#}6{#/blank#} made his fortune. These failures were essential to the pathway of learning. As Dyson put {#blank#}7{#/blank#}: "You can't develop new technology unless you test new ideas and learn when things go wrong. Failure is essential to invention."

    In healthcare, however, things are very different. Clinicians don't like to admit to failure, partly because they have strongegos (自我) —particularly the senior doctors—and partly because they fear litigation (诉讼). The consequence is that {#blank#}8{#/blank#} learning from failure, healthcare often covers up failure. The direct consequence is that the same mistakes {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (repeat). According to the Journal of Patient Safety, 400,000 people die every year in American hospitals alone due to preventable error. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} healthcare learns to respond positively to failure, things will not improve.