“Listen!” Mr. Lee said seriously at the beginning of his first class, “I will put a lie（谎 言）into each of my classes. Your job is to try to find it.”

That was really a clever way to fix our attention on the boring subject—geography. Then in the following weeks, we listened to Mr. Lee carefully in order not to miss every single word.

When his class ended with nobody finding the lie, Mr. Lee would say, “Ah ha! Each of you has a lie in your notes. Discuss among yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you at the end of this term.”

Mr. Lee’s special style of teaching worked. All of us reviewed and discussed about our notes actively.

At the end of the term, Mr. Lee finally said, “Do you still remember the first lesson when I said that every lecture has a lie? ”

Confused（困惑的）, we said yes.

“Well, that was a real big lie. In fact, all the lessons are completely true without a lie. But I am glad you worked so hard. Move on...”

Hearing this, all eyes in the classroom went wide.

While my knowledge of geography has been forgotten over time, the lessons have stayed with me. “Experts（专家）” can be wrong, so develop a habit of questioning and check it against things you already accept as a fact.

American schools are quite different from those in China. In America, at the beginning of the term, students must choose their courses and teachers first. 【小题1】

【小题2】 So at the first term, don’t select too many courses, or you’ll feel very nervous and it may be bad for your study. Then you have to ask for some teaching plans. You should try to know something about subjects, time planning, marks and textbooks. At the same time, you must choose the teachers. 【小题3】 Knowing about them, you can choose the ones that suit you.

There is another thing after you select the course and the teacher. How to buy textbooks makes each student feel hard. 【小题4】 In order to save money, many students buy some used textbooks, and some students usually borrow textbooks from the school library.

In class, discussing is very important. Teachers encourage students to ask questions or show their ideas. They don’t usually ask you to sit still. 【小题5】 They don’t give you much homework to do, so in American schools you may practise and think independently by yourself.