Sometimes it is difficult to talk to taxi drivers. They must give all their attention to the road as they work out the shortest way to the place where you are going. However, passengers from Wangfujing were in surprise when they took a taxi. The driver just would not stop talking in English.

    Organized by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy, “Dare to Speak” examines if Chinese people will speak English in “real-life” situations.

    Matthew Knowles, an acting student from South Carolina at Beijing Film Academy, acted the part as the “driver”. He collected six passengers on Saturday morning, most of whom were female white-collar （白领）workers.

    “Of course they were surprised at first, wondering why I'm driving a taxi, and wondering whether this is a real taxi, but then most of them were pretty willing to speak,” he said. Knowles said he was also surprised by his “passengers”. “Apart from my first ‘passenger', who could speak very little English, all the rest spoke English very well, and it was fun to communicate with them,” he said, adding that some “passengers” were quite talkative.

    The “foreign taxi driver” project was just one of the “Dare to Speak” activities, which have been going on since the end of October. Other projects included a foreign store owner near a high school in Beijing, a cook in a Shanghai university canteen. They were testing the willingness of Chinese people, especially students and white-collar workers, to speak to foreigners in English.

    Rong Xin, senior manager of IELTS （雅思） with the British Embassy, said they hoped to let IELTS takers in China know that communication is the ultimate goal of IELTS.

    “We hope that more and more IELTS takers in China can realize the importance of communicating in English in real life, instead of just getting high test scores,” she said.

    Teaching idioms (习语) is a lot of fun. Here are some good books that can teach children idioms.

    THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

    It has idioms that are widely used. Each idiom has a picture to go with it. It is for children in the 1st grade & up. It is written by Tamara James.

    THERE'S A FROG IN MY THROAT

    This book has 440 idioms about animals. Each idiom is given a short explanation to tell what it means. It is for children in the 2nd grade—6th grade. It is written by Loreen Leedy.

    BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH

    It shows a boy's first day of school through idioms. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Serge Bloch.

    MAD AS A WET HEN

    It is a book for teaching classic idioms. It is for students in the 3rd grade—5th grade. It is written by Marvin Terban.

    MY TEACHER LIKES TO SAY

    It is about idioms used by teachers. It is for students in the 1st grade—4th grade. It is written by Denise Nelson.

    Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes(音符) in his head. Two years ago, he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata（奏鸣曲）by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him.

    Amazed that he remembered this long and difficult piece of music and played it perfectly, his teachers say Samuel is unbelievable. They say his ability is very rare, but Samuel doesn't even realize that what he can do is special. Samuel wanted to become a lawyer as it was the wish of his parents, but music teachers told him he should study music instead. Now, he studies law and music.

Samuel can't understand why everyone is so surprised. "I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. About two years ago, I suddenly decided to start playing the piano, without being able to read music and without having any lessons. It comes easily to me —I hear the notes and can bear them in mind—each and every note," says Samuel.

Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. The piece had more than a thousand notes. The audience was impressed by his amazing performance. He is now learning a piece that is so difficult that many professional(专业的) pianists can't play it. Samuel says confidently, "It's all about super memory—I guess I have that gift."

    However, Samuel's ability to remember things doesn't stop with music. His family says that even when he was a young boy, Samuel heard someone read a story, and then he could retell the story word for word.

    Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn't know what he wants to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and continue his studies.

    The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, is one of the most brilliant structures on Earth. It is nearly 400 years old. Emperor Shah Jahan had it built in memory of his wife. It took about 20 years to build the monument. Some 20,000 workers and 1,000 elephants helped get the job done. Today, the Taj Mahal is not just a symbol of cultural history. It's also India's most famous tourist attraction. About 8 million people visit it each year.

    But pollution is turning the white marble monument shades of green, yellow, and brown. The Taj Mahal stands on the polluted Yamuna River. Insects are attracted to the dirty water. They leave greenish droppings on the building. Air pollution is also a big threat. Factories and cars release pollution into the air. It sticks to the Taj Mahal's suidEace. In the 1990s, India's Supreme Court ordered hundreds of factories near the monument to close. Also, car and bus traffic was restricted. From time to time, workers clean the Taj Mahal. But doing so is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. And it doesn't prevent the discoloration.

    On July 11, India's Supreme Court gave the city of Agra a warning: "Either you destroy the Taj Mahal or you restore it". Authorities in the city submitted a draft of an action plan on July 24. It suggests banning plastics and construction from the area. It also calls for the closing of more factories.

    "In order to preserve the Taj Mahal, people must come together to work toward a solution. There needs to be positive pressure on people to act. We need to act immediately," Sachchida Tripathi says. He worked on a 2014 study of pollution at the Taj Mahal. "We are trying," he adds, "but we need to try more."

Camp Odayin provides fun, safe and supportive camp experiences and community building opportunities for young people and their families this year.

Winter Camp February 15th-February 17th

It is hosted in Amery, a two-hour drive from the Twin Cities and free round trip transportation is provided from Minneapolis and Madison. This camp is for children who have attended Residential Camp or Day Camp before. Campers can experience snowshoeing, skiing and snowboarding. Registration is processed during December & January.

Mums Retreat May 16th-May 17th

Scheduled in downtown Stillwater, Mums Retreat will seek to improve the quality of carers' life. It will include meals, boarding and yoga activities.

Registration will open in April for mums who receive the email invitation from Camp Odayin. If the limit is reached, we will start a wait list.

Residential Camp July 13th-July 18th

Campers will have a chance to communicate with other young people sharing the same grade. Hosted in Lutherdale, it will include swimming, horseback riding and talent shows. The approval by the Camp Odayin director is necessary.

Registration will open in early March and is due on May 1st.

Family Camp October 26th-November 1st

Hosted in Camp Lake, the camp is a two-night commitment for families with children suffering from heart disease, who will benefit from connecting with other families that have similar health, emotional and social concerns. Activities will include drawing, fancy dress balls and movies.

Families that have a child in 12th grade or younger(no minimum age) can attend. Camper registration is available online in late August.