I used to work in a lab for almost 10 years. It was a well-paid job, and a “ not exactly ” exciting but safe job. Then everything changed in 1998 when my best friend introduced me to a man who wanted to open up a computer training school.

Teach!

Me? Teach? Is he mad?

They knew I had a speech problem. I stuttered.

For me a simple sentence was going to take longer than it should. “Hello, how are you doing?” can take you 3 seconds, where it would take me 10 seconds. And someone asked me if I wanted to stand in front of strangers and speak about computer technology.

Then the most amazing thing happened

I said yes!

To this day I’m still not sure why I said yes. Maybe I didn’t want to live a “safe” life where I did the same thing every day, year after year.

I have always felt I know a better way to describe difficult concepts to listeners than a lot of other people. I'm good at explaining things when I write about it. So I took the class syllabus (教学大纲）and rewrote it MY WAY! I did all I could to make it easier to understand.

In my first class I got the familiar funny looks from people when I started speaking. But after 15 minutes, people were asking intelligent questions that showed they understood. At the end of the class when people were leaving, they shook my hand and thanked me.

You won't get THAT from a “not exactly exciting but safe job”！

Many children feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that family members don’t know them as well as their friends do. In large families, it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can go to their friends for some ideas.

It is very important for children to have one or more good friends. Even when they are not with their friends, they usually spend a lot of time talking on the phone with them. This communication is very important to children’s growth, because friends can discuss something, but it is difficult to discuss it with family members. However, most parents like to choose friends for their children. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. The question of “choose” is an interesting one. Have you ever thought of the following questions?

Who choose your friends? What do your parents think of your friends?

Your answers are welcome.

Hi! I’m Steven. I make some new friends with my new classmates. They are Lily, Peter and Sandy. They like doing different things after school. We always have fun together.

Lily

My friend’s a good swimmer.

She’s always in the pool.

Up and down every day.

That’s her golden rule（黄金法则）.

Peter

My friend’s a good reader.

His nose is often in a _____.

Stories, comics, magazines.

He’ll always take a look.

Sandy

My friend’s a good cook.

She often makes me cakes.

I love to help her when I can.

Especially when she bakes!