My neighbor is a doctor. He and his wife are some of the1people I have ever met. A few years ago, we started this kind of "favor war" where one of us would do something kind for the other, such as2the driveway or building a shed, and next time the other would3to top it with another favor.

    Yesterday morning, it snowed heavily and I remembered he shoveled (铲) my driveway for me. So I took out my shovel and took care of both our driveways and sidewalks because it was my turn to do a favor4. It took a while but I finished it and got into my car for work.

That night I got a5on my door, it was my neighbor. He immediately shook my hands and thanked me for shoveling his driveway and sidewalk, so that he was able to get to work earlier and6a boy.

    "As soon as I started the car early this morning, a call came through that a young boy in our neighborhood was seriously ill.7, my partner and I were only about 2 minutes away, but the closest ambulance 10 minutes," added he. "A young boy got to live his life because you did me the favor."

    It wasn't too much8to shovel a driveway, but what I did got a young boy to see his family again, go back to school again and live his life again.9favor is too small. Even the smallest favor can make the biggest10. One favor will always be followed by another.

A great start of a new school year

Every teacher wants a great start of a new school year. But for everyone, it is not that easy.

* How well do your students know you?

* How well do you know them?

* How well do they know each other?

* How well do they know the school?

Think about these questions on the first day of school.

If you're a teacher in a middle school, you can try these activities (活动) on that day.

Describe (描述) yourself

This can be fun. If you want to have a good start, just describe yourself first. You can use words or pictures.

A learning-way test

Every student is good at something. Do you want to know what your students are good at? Then you need this activity. By doing this test, you can help your students to find the best way to learn.

Ghosts of our loved ones

Many people think things like ghosts and death are scary. But in fact, we just had a festival celebrating these things.

Every year, on the 15th day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, we celebrate Zhongyuan Festival, or Ghost Festival. It is on August 30th this year. On this day, families light lanterns to help dead people find their way home. But at the same time, living people don't want to stay out at night during Ghost Festival. They believe ghosts may hurt them.

Ghost Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival are both holidays that honor the dead. During Ghost Festival, the spirits of all dead people are honored. But we only honor our dead family members at Qingming. People believe the spirits of the dead would come back to Earth during Ghost Festival, but not during Qingming.

In Chinese culture, death is a scary and heavy thing. People are mostly afraid of it. But in some other cultures, death is a less gloomy（阴郁的） thing. 

In the US, people remember the dead on Halloween. But they make it a fun festival. People wear scary clothes. Children do fun things, like trick-or-treating.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is a time for the living to connect with the dead. They make dolls of the dead and tell stories about them. There are also parties at night. Whether you like it or not, death is apart of life. Understanding death can help us cherish(珍惜) our time here and live best lives.

This week, our city is having an Art Festival! It's a really fun and colorful event where we can all enjoy different kinds of art. The Art Festival is for everyone, not just for adults. Kids can also enjoy it. So, if you're in our city this week, don't forget to come to the Art Festival! I'm sure we'll all learn a lot and have a great time! 

I'm Li Hua. Great changes have happened to me in the past three years.