In China most children are getting plenty of homework, because it is believed that the more homework children do, the better they will perform in exams. But one primary school in Northeast China has done just the opposite for the past 37 years.

That is Shenyang Railway No. 5 Primary School. Although its students don’t have to do homework, they are still getting high-standard education. This requires teachers to prepare their lesson plans well, so that students can learn as much as they can during class time.

Also, students from all grades will have a 15-minute mini class in the afternoon（most classes in China are 40 minutes）, during which they can focus on developing some abilities such as memorizing, listening, or summarizing （总结）.

However, not having homework doesn’t mean that students do nothing after school. In fact, they are encouraged to read books at night, or watch the news. They can also find and develop their interests by taking the more than 60 clubs at school, including technology, art, sports, and others.

Wang Hongliang, a former student of the school, said, “We really learned a lot from that experience. That’s what I found out during my later studies at middle school and high school.”

The Geography Club

Yesterday afternoon, we had a guest. His name is Mark, and he （A）is from Canada. They spoke French. For many years, Montreal was the largest（B） ________ in Canada, and in 1976 they held the Olympics. We asked Mark many questions about Montreal. Then we told him about our city.

The Robot Club

Last Thursday,（C）我们举行了一场机器人比赛. We held the competition（比赛） in the playground, and we used robots that we had made. （D）Some robots took part in a running competition.（E） _______________ robots took part in a climbing competition. One of them even climbed all the stairs in the school building. （F）Everyone had fun and learnt a lot about robots.

Recently, Chongqing Three Gorges University has held an activity named “Cell Phone Ninja” (手机忍者). They would like their students not to use cell phones for 21 days. It is really a challenge (挑战) for most students.

The activity started on April 12. Each student who volunteered to take part in this activity got a bracelet (手环). If the students did not use their cell phones, there would be a photo on the screen of the bracelet to show that. If they used their cell phones, a different photo would appear on the screen of the bracelet. After the last class of each day, the students sent the photos to the school’s public WeChat.

More than 800 students wished to take part in this test, and 400 were chosen. After seven days, only 103 students remained. The test was set for 21 days because some scientists believe that 21 days is long enough to help form (形成) a habit.

According to the teachers in the university, the activity was not a competition. It depended on students themselves to make the decision. The teachers hoped their students could form better study habits through activities like this one.