I will be the first to admit that my German skills are quite poor. I decided to minor in German because I _________ the language. However, I was not particularly good at_________it. The grammar and word order confused me. All the nouns have genders, and it is hard to_________which noun is which. After two years of study, I still communicated in _________German, so I signed up to_________in Germany to complete my degree. It was the_________term I would ever have.

Once in Germany, I found the German I’d learned in university wasn’t _________for everyday conversation. My book knowledge fell by the wayside and I was always on edge at school and _________whether the professors would call on me in class. I only relaxed a little around my eight roommates, who were willing to speak German_________ to me and didn’t seem to __________my mistakes.

All the classes were in German and__________, and history was the worst. The professor spoke rather __________ . I sat in the front, took notes and even recorded the lectures, but nothing__________ I had no idea what the class was about.

At the end of the term, it took all of my__________to ask my history professor for a form saying I’d attended the class. He said yes and told me to__________at his office at a certain time. I’d like to say I got the form and took it back to my university to get my credit , __________I didn’t. I was too afraid to be in his office and let him see how __________ I could really understand. I was sure I was the only one in the class at such a__________level. So I gave up the meeting. Years have passed, but I still remember how it felt to__________so hard to learn another language. I think my __________ that term taught me just as much as my successes.

At 35, Yong Duckworth is the oldest student at Chrisney Elementary School in Chrisney, Indiana. Duckworth attended first grade last September, _________ to learn English. Since arriving in the U.S. 13 years ago from Korea, Duckworth had _________ private teachers and adult (成人) education classes. Nothing_________.

Then Duckworth called Chrisney headmaster (校长) Leroy Meyer. “I could hardly _________her,” says Meyer. “The best I could make out was that she_________ someone to help her learn English. She wanted to know the _________ by age 40, so she could open her own business.”

After _________ to find a private teacher for Duckworth. Meyer suggested that she attend first grade at Chrisney. Duckworth _________ at once.

Duckworth’s experiences at Chrisney have been_________ ones. She is as much a mother as a classmate to the other students. During story hour they sit around Duckworth. She asks them to____________“please” and “thank you,” and hugs (拥抱)them when they need ____________.

Duckworth studied English in junior high but ____________ learned to speak fluently. She once opened a clothes shop, but her business failed because of her language problems. “Too much people hurt me because I speak ____________ English,” says Duckworth. “In Korea I had many people tell me I’m a smart lady. Here broken English makes me ____________.”

These days, her 4-year-old son, Simon, is her main motivation (动机) to learn English. “Duckworth knows she’s going to have a challenge (挑战)____________Simon”, says Duckworth's husband Ben. “He’s going to start coming home with ____________ and she’s going to have to be able to____________ them.”

“I worry some day he asks me, ‘Mom, what is this?’ If I can’t ____________ him, I’m sad,” says Duckworth.

“Duckworth is having a great influence on young students at Chrisney,” Meyer says. “When they see a(n) ____________ person going to school, they realize how important ____________ is.”

Before arriving in China, I had read various books relating to China, famous Chinese novels as well as non-fiction and the seeds of my fascination were_______. Therefore, on arrival, I couldn’t have been more _______ to be living in this historically huge and culturally rich country.

Yet despite my enthusiasm, learning Chinese hadn’t even crossed my _______ . This wasn’t ignorance or laziness, but rather fright at the thought of _______ what is regarded as the most difficult language in the world. In my view, the Chinese language was the privilege of the highly intelligent.

_______, after a year in China I began to feel uncomfortable, because lots of Chinese people could speak English and yet I couldn’t even speak the most basic Chinese. With these factors and a(n)_______ for a new challenge I_______to begin my language journey.

At the beginning of two years, I made _______ progress. I found it less difficult than thought.

When speaking_______to native speakers in Chinese they almost always understand me. But it has still been the challenge that has taken a lot of hard work and________. The thing I find most discouraging is listening since native speakers talk________, I can’t always understand what’s been said, but my weekly online language exchanges help with this. Furthermore, there is a long way to go ________ I reach my goal of fluency. The key to progress is to be patient and persistent. My biggest ________ from learning Chinese is that it’s not only reachable but can also be enjoyable. Learning Chinese not only helped me in daily life, but ________ my cultural understanding of China. Now my only regret is that I didn’t ________ earlier.