Body language is one of the most powerful means of communication, often even more powerful than spoken language. It is said that our body movements communicate about 50 percent of what we really mean while words only express 7 percent. So, while your mouth is closed, your body is just saying.

    Arms. How you hold your arms shows how open and receptive you are to people you meet. If you keep your arms to the sides of your body or behind your back, this suggests you are not afraid of taking on whatever comes your way. Outgoing people generally use their arms with big movements, while quieter people keep them close to their bodies. If someone upsets you, just cross your arms to show you're unhappy!

    Head. When you want to appear confident, keep your head level. If you are a monitor in class, you can also take on this position when you want your words to be taken seriously. However, to be friendly in listening or speaking, you must move your head a little.

    Legs. Your legs tend to move around a lot more than normal when you are nervous or telling lies. If you are at interviews, try to keep them still!

    Posture (姿势). A good posture makes you feel better about yourself. If you are feeling down, you normally don't sit straight, with your shoulders inwards. This makes breathing more difficult, which can make you feel nervous or uncomfortable.

    Mouth. When you are thinking, you often purse(噘嘴) your lips. You might also use this position to hold back an angry comment you don't wish to show. However, it will probably still be noticed, and people will know you're not pleased.

    Face. When you lie, you might put on a false face. But that expression would crack briefly, allowing displays of true emotions such as happiness, sadness, disgust (厌恶) and fear to come through.

    Susan was born as the ninth child in a Catholic family. She suffered from learning disabilities ever since her birth because of her mother's poor health.

    School was difficult for Susan and she was bullied because of her different behaviors. Her siblings, who were much older, had life experiences that were unknown to their little sister. From the time of her birth, Susan was a screamer. The only really safe place that she would use as a repeat was her bedroom. There she would hang posters of her musical idols on the wall and sing popular music into a hairbrush that she pretended was a microphone.

    One by one the siblings moved away from home and then Susan's father died. This left her alone with an aging mother and a cat. The siblings accused her mother of not expecting more out of Susan. She had seen many professionals and remembered hearing the word “borderline” but didn't know what it meant. She tried volunteer work. Her best state of mind, however, was found when she was singing and so she would regularly join others in karaoke or pubs where she could show her skills and receive appreciation from the crowd.

    When Susan announced at Christmas that she was planning to compete in the Britain's Got Talent contest, her siblings tried to discourage her. It was a wonder that she was even able to do the audition considering the troubles she faced just physically getting to the right place.

    “The Woman I Was Born to Be” is a beautiful story written in the simple but humorous voice of the author, Susan Boyle. She tells her story from birth to the present in an interesting and educational manner. The writing is supplemented by photos from her albums.

    I love this book! In fact, I read the whole thing in one day!

There is something in the stories that not only teaches the reader but also inspires us to reach for our dreams — no matter how impossible they may seem to be!

    A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.

    According to course instructor William Barry, associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, a feat he described as "remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.

    Before becoming a student, Bina48 appeared as a guest speaker in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course, Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry. Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.

    "Some interesting things happened in the class," said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is "fairly simple — it's a feeling," said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning "31 different versions of love," said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.

    Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bina48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.

    In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely.

    Here are some music festivals that you might be interested in.

    Boogie

    Tallarook, VIC(26－28 March)

    Boogie is definitely kid-friendly, but with a few rules. Kids are welcome, but need to be fully supervised(监管) at all times and out of the licensed area by 10 pm. Kids under 8 years old are admitted for free. Kids between 8 and16 get in cheaper. There are some activities for kids and a great kid-friendly area.

    Splendour in the Grass

    Byron Bay, NSW(24－26 July)

    Look, Splendour can be pretty crazy, so if you and your kids are out of practice with handling festivals and the stress they can sometimes bring, maybe you should try starting smaller. But if you feel like you can do it, then your kids are welcome to hit Splendour with you. The usual rules apply — you'll need to have them with you at all times if they are under 16 and they can't go into bars. If the child is under 11, then they will get in for free.

    The Gum Ball

    Hunter Valley, NSW(22－24 April)

    We didn't originally include the Gum Ball because they took last year off and we wanted to make sure they were definitely returning. Not because we have anything against them. On the contrary, they are one event that manages to balance brilliant music and a family-friendly vibe(氛围).

    Bellingen Turtlefest

    Bellingen(30 September－2 October)

    Great music for a great cause! Bellingen Turtlefest has been set up to raise funds and awareness for the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping Turtle, while giving families a chance to enjoy some great music at the same time. There's a kidzone, sideshows, workshops and markets, but also an education center and some guest speakers so that the kids (and you) can learn a thing or two while you're at the event.

    Language learning apps are very popular now and offer opportunities to learn vocabulary and practice grammar. But there has been a discussion about just how effective such apps can be.

    Among the most popular apps are Duolingo and Busuu. A previous research found positive results on the use of them. But it mainly concentrates on studies with learners who had signed up for language courses and these apps worked as an after-class support, so the results were not always reliable. A recent study of 4,095 Busuu users has been carried out to find out if users can actually learn a language with an app.

    Busuu provides learning materials for 12 different languages. It offers special models where some contents are available for free while some contents are not, We find that its users are an even mix of men and women. More than half consider themselves to be at the beginner level as there is a decrease in users as their language levels go up. Most people use the app because of personal interest, or because they want to study or live abroad. Females tend to use it less often but for longer periods of time than male users.

    Getting any feedback on Busuu depends on whether your answer is correct or not. While it is helpful, this is not the sort of feedback language teachers prefer, as it does not explain why the answer is right or wrong. In spite of this, feedback in the app is very highly rated.

    More than 92% of the people state that the app has met their expectations and 86% consider the app as very good or good. In fact, more than 80% of the users surveyed strongly agree that using the app has helped them improve their knowledge of the language they are learning.

    Besides, language learning apps also create an environment where mistakes are only known to the users, and this can address the performance anxiety that many learners suffer from when asked to speak a foreign language. So language teachers should encourage their students to use them to do the grammar work, leaving precious class time for more language communication.

It was the early 1950s, and I was a member of the A class at Armidale Senior High School in norther New South Wales. 

In the second and third years we all did General Maths, and our teacher was Mrs Lindsay-Clare Lindsay. Her arrival at our classroom was always quick, "Good morning everyone!" Then our books would be out, and we would watch her closely. 

I've thought a lot about Clare Lindsay over the years. What was her special magic? There are two reasons and I think they're necessary for all excellent teachers. She loved her subject, and she loved us, in a patient and objective way. She had no favorites that I can remember, and she called us all by our first names pleasantly She had a way of teaching that I loved. 

"Now we could go down this path couldn't we? We could argue this, and then this, but that doesn't work because of this. No Can Do(NCD)!" She would put a big cross, and write" NCD" against what she had put down. "Right! Why not go down this new path?" And she would show us that this new way worked. It was fun. We, whether the poor students or the skilled, all did well because of her. I've never found maths difficult, and I_put_that_skill_down_to_her. 

In the fourth and fifth years,we were divided into the science and arts streams(按学生能力划分的班级), and Mrs Lindsay didn't teach us any more. But as the Leaving Certificate exams were coming, one of my friends became nervous about how much maths he didn't know. With great courage, he went to see Mrs Lindsay, and asked if she would help him prepare for his General Maths paper. "Of course!" she said, and did just that, after school, in her own time. He passed. What a good teacher!