No matter what your goals are in life, there is one great law that you need to obey in order to be successful: No one else is going to climb the ladder (梯子) of success for you. 【小题1】 Prom the day you leave your parents’ house, you are responsible for your life and the choices you make.

If you want a better life, you need to make better decisions. 【小题2】 However, it doesn’t change anything. Only you can change your life by changing the choices you make. Take responsibility for everything in your life. Even if it’s not in your direct control, you can always choose how you respond.

【小题3】 If you choose what is fun and easy over what is necessary, you will never reach the levels of success and happiness you are capable of achieving in your life. That’s because every great victory requires great sacrifice. If success was easy, everybody would be success.

There is nothing that you can’t achieve with hard work. People often think that their lives will suddenly change through some magical event in the future. 【小题4】 Your life changes only to the extent that you change. Nothing will ever change if you don’t change what you do daily.

A great way to actively create your future is to ask yourself: If I already achieved my goals, how would I act on a daily basis? What books would I read, how often would I work out, and how would I spend my time at the office? 【小题5】

People have different ideas about what makes a class “too big”. Some studies consider a classroom with more than 30 or 35 students as a large class. Other studies say that a class with more than 60 students is considered large. Many English language teachers around the world face a common problem—large class sizes. 【小题1】In today’s Education Tips, we discuss what teachers can do to help manage large classes.

* 【小题2】

Researchers suggest creating a list of classroom rules with feedback from the students themselves. If students are part of such a process, they are more likely to follow the rules for class.

Darpak Sabankili is high school English language teacher in Togo. 【小题3】. He also tells them what would happen when they break the rules. He then puts the list of rules on a wall in the classroom for everyone to see.

*Organization and routine

Organization is extremely important with large groups of students, and keeping them focused.

Start each class with a schedule for the day. When students know the plan for each class, they may be less likely to misbehave. 【小题4】This may include a “quiet signal”（such as raising your hand）, or a word or a phrase that you say to your class.

*Plan a variety of “activities”

【小题5】This is especially true with large classes. Therefore, teachers should plan to have many different activities, with different levels of difficulty. This helps keep the class moving at a quick speed and helps prevent students from feeling bored.

How to support a struggling friend

We’ve all been in situations like this, both big and small and everything in between: from missing the bus to work to struggling with the loss of a loved one. Common wisdom suggests that a problem shared is a problem halved. We really want to help, yet we don’t quite have the words or the tactics.

Research shows that many people don’t really know what works best to help their friends effectively. 【小题1】 A survey of the methods that people used to manage their friends’ emotions identified 378 distinct strategies. Given this large variety of strategies, it’s no wonder that deciding what to do when you have a friend in tears can be a little challenging.

The good news is that there are simple strategies you can learn that will help you provide more effective support to your friends.

Ask questions and really listen

Just as playing down a friend’s problem is unwise, so is trying to empathize too quickly. While this impulse is understandable and quite normal, it is also likely to go wrong. 【小题2】 So how might you best address the situation instead? A recent research suggests that it would be better to slow down and start by asking directly how your friend is feeling, rather than thinking about how you might feel in a similar situation.

A related technique to try is active listening, which is commonly used by therapists, and relatively simple to implement. 【小题3】 For example, your friend might spend some time explaining a series of stressful events across their week, describing arguments with their spouse, a mounting workload and some worries about debt, and you might respond by saying that it sounds like they are overwhelmed both at home and at work right now.

Don’t take charge

If your support is too directive and take-charge, it might make your friends feel like they aren’t able to handle things on their own, like a kid who needs their parent’s help to manage their problems.

Instead, it would have been better to ask them what they want, and how they might be able to change this situation, and then listen to them talk through their options one by one. In doing this, you provide a sounding board for them to take control of the situation on their own. 【小题4】 This will help them organise their thoughts and come to some solutions, without feeling like you did it for them.