How do young people learn best? This is something I think a lot when I am teaching foreign languages to young people. I often _____ that traditional teaching _____ are hardly effective for young brains to learn a foreign language.

After moving to southern Italy, I was _____ to have had the chance to _____ a private course teaching English to children under 7. I _____ children liked singing and enjoyed games so I wanted to use these _____ to help my students _____ English conversation skills. I found some fun and _____ songs online, which they loved very much. I also found the English version of some nursery rhymes(童谣)they once were _____ with. All of them were very entertaining and helpful but ______ could still not have a basic ______ in English.

I wanted these students to be ______ in the language I was teaching and I also wished them to speak it. I was eager to deliver 90% of my lessons in English. ______, I knew it would be difficult to get them to talk in a foreign language they ______ speak outside our lessons. So I had to ______ a simple yet effective plan.

One day I decided to ______ a dialogue in English and rather than simply getting students to repeat the phrases, I got them to chant (反复唱) ______. I discovered that chanting was a practical way to get students to speak in English-it ______!

So when teaching English to young people now, I ______ them to make up their own chants to help them remember ______ or complex sentences.

University Can Wait

I was on my way to the library to do some studying for history class. That’s when I saw my friend and her family_______on doors.

As I was standing _______ one house, my friend’s brother walked past me and went to the door of the house. When the resident _______, I heard him say, “Excuse me, I am _______ money for my mom. She needs to have _______ but we don’t have enough money. Could you please _______ with a donation?”

The lady gave him some _______ and he said, “Thank you so much! God bless you.” Then he walked on to the next house.

I could see he didn’t have much and I also saw he had been _______.

_______ going to the library, I went to the bank. I told her I wanted to ________all my savings. The lady in the bank said to me, “But, sweetie, I thought you were going to use that money to go to ________.” I told her something else ________ so she gave me the money. Then I walked to my friend’s house.

They had only raised nine hundred and sixty­two dollars, which wasn’t ________ a quarter of what they needed. I told my friend to ________ my money. When she saw it she ________ straight away it was my university money.

The idea of going to university had been a very________ one for me — __________ I got accepted — but she needed the money more than I did. It was this ________ of money that could save her mother’s life.

I hope all goes well for her and her family. My love and ________go out to them. Leo Tolstoy once said, “Nothing can make our life, of the lives of other people, more beautiful than permanent ________.”

It was 11 pm when Conrad saw the woman on the Main Street Bridge. She was standing by the railing (栏杆).

Maybe she’s ________ , Conrad thought as he continued driving his car home. His friend’s car had broken down, so Conrad was making a quick stop to ________ some tools before heading out to help.

With the tools in hand, instead of taking a ________, he chose to head back over the bridge. Something about that woman didn’t seem ________. Why would she be fishing this late?

As he crossed the bridge,Conrad saw the woman standing in the same spot. He ________ a U-turn and parked with his car lights flashing, blocking one of the four driveways. In case there was trouble, he hoped another driver would ________ and help.

He stepped out of his car and got a clearer ________ of the scene. The woman was in her 20s. “Hey, what’s going on?”Conrad called out.

She kept silent, but he kept probing (追根究底), eventually pulling from her that she was jobless, not doing well in school—________, life wasn’t working out as she’d hoped.

“Not everything goes as planned,” agreed Conrad. He started talking about the ________ in his life. As he talked, he ________ closer.

Then ________ without warning, she climbed onto the railing, saying, “I’m not worth it,”All of a sudden, bright lights ________. It was the police. Someone had ________ Conrad’s car for being parked on the bridge—just as he’d ________. The two officers took hold of the woman, and the woman was ________.