In China, lots of students often use much of their time to study their lessons and don’t help with housework at home. Some students don’t think they need to do housework. Some parents don’t let their children do it. As a result, students are all in need of basic skills.

Luckily, things are changing. In 2021, many schools began to teach students life skills. Guangming Middle School in Shenyang built some farming clubs. There students learnt to plant vegetables. “At first I thought I could only grow some vegetables here, but in fact, I learnt a lot about vegetables,” said Cheng Bing, a girl at the school.

In Hope Middle School, students have a special life skill class: They learn to make dumplings in different kinds of shapes. “I couldn’t make dumplings before, but now I am good at doing it. I really love my life skill class. It’s my favourite class,” said Jia Yan, a boy at the school.

As we know, learning life skills is as important as learning Chinese and maths, because it helps us prepare for our future life. Boys and girls, do you help your parents do housework at home? If not, maybe you should get started now.

People say that family is the first school of life, and parents are a child’s first teachers. On Oct.23, the Law on Family Education Promotion (《家庭教育促进法》) was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. It came into effect (开始生效) on Jan. 1, 2022.

The law says that parents should be responsible for family education. For example, the law bans parents from placing too much pressure on their children. Parents should carefully organize time for children to study, rest, play and exercise, and make sure children don’t become addicted to (沉迷于) the Internet.

Also, it says that society should provide guidance (指导), support and services for family education. In fact, 50 percent of parents said they do not know how to educate their children. The law encourages schools to organize family education guidance and practice activities. Local governments are asked to help schools and families to better communicate with each other.

The law also gives special mention to children of migrant workers (外出务工人员) in rural areas. They may be alone when their parents have left to work in cities. And it asks the local governments to keep a close eye on such families, and help the parents get jobs locally so that they can be responsible for their children’s education.

We all have our favorite teachers——those who are very kind and treat us equally. But what about teachers who are strict with us? Are you afraid of them?