【推荐2】Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stone-faced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had slaved over, hoping to hide myself. “What could be causing everyone to act this way?”

Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real talk I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice---flipping(掷) a coin. Heads--the commander, the tails-- the peanuts guy.Ah! Tails, my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.

Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly mass, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear, “My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution.” The whole world became quiet! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?

Obviously, my grade was awful. Disheartened but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No new grades. I felt that the punishment was not justified, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I devoted myself to my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster’s office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my option to skip the six grade. Justice is sweet!

【推荐3】Magazines can got your students to enter the world of English speakers, read interesting articles and improve their language skills. Today we are going to introduce the most popular magazines that may come in your classes.

Students Weekly

This is a weekly magazine published by a Thai company, which has a history of 25 years. The readers of the magazine are mostly teenagers of middle level. Here you can find articles on the topics of education, entertainment, current affairs, latest events, and song lyrics. In addition, there are also some vocabulary and grammar exercises to memorize the newly learnt material.

National Geographic

The magazine is being published since 1888. It mainly contains articles about geography, science, history and world culture. Its language is a little bit complicated, and that's why this resource will suit only for higher-level students. Al part from articles, you can also find a huge collection of photos of nature.

Reader’s Digest

The magazine was founded in 1922. It is a general interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Here you will find inspiring true stories about people and what they have done, some funny moments in the lives of personalities. And you can also read articles about how to be responsible parents.

Sunset

This is a lifestyle magazine that first was published in 1898 in the USA. It focuses mainly on traveling, home and gardening, lifestyle, food and drink. The magazine is full of amazing pictures and interesting articles about places in the United States. The magazine is suitable for students with middle or higher levels.

【推荐2】Darrion Cockrell, who wasn’t much of a student, has been named Missouri’s Teacher of the Year—the state’s highest honor for educators, becoming the first male since 2015 to capture the state’s top award.

Cockrell—the child of “a drug-addicted mother” and a father who was killed when he was four years old—was in and out of the childcare centers and eventually became a gang (帮派) member. In his speech, he shouted out the special people who helped to guide him down the right path when he was going off track.

He thanked his teacher Ken who provided him with life advice while he lived in a boys group home. “He taught me it’s OK to be tough, but at the same time, it’s OK to be compassionate (富有同情心的),” Cockrell said. “He was like a father figure to me.”

The teacher—affectionately known as “DC”—also expressed his gratitude to the football coach that adopted him when he was in the 7th grade and helped to change his whole perspective (视角) on life. “When I changed the way I looked at things, the things around me started to change,” he said. “I had a lot of struggles and a lot of hurdles, and if not for those educators, I would not be here today.”

Now, Cockrell hopes to make an impact on the students at Lindbergh Schools’ Crestwood Elementary in St. Louis, where he’s been teaching physical education since 2015. Among his many accomplishments at the school is his development of the “Crest-Fit” training program for teachers, students and parents.

“Missouri is fortunate to have so many high-quality educators, and Darrion will be a wonderful representative as our state’s Teacher of the Year,” Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven said in a statement. “He guides his students towards long-term physical and mental wellness, and the connections he has established will impact Crestwood children for years to come.”

【推荐3】Short stories for kids can provide them with a lot of fun and entertainment and also teach them the important values of life.

There are some popular short stories around the world, For example, The Ugly Duckling, written by Hans Christian Anderson, which is based on the change of an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan, is one of the most inspiring short stories for children. Then there is The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a classic Aesop’s fable which shows kids the importance of always telling the truth. Little Red Riding Hood, which is written by the Brothers Grimm, tells kids about a strong and brave girl called Little Red Riding Hood and how she fights with an evil wolf to save her grandmother. Here are some examples of different types of short stories.

Ghost stories can be really entertaining and most kids enjoy them. While telling such kinds of stories, you should raise and lower your voice properly and make expressions suitable to what is happening in the story.

Historical stories can help children understand the lives of great leaders and heroes of the past. This will not only help show useful values to children, but also help them perform better in the subject of history.

In stories related to nature, you would be describing famous rivers, mountains and seas. Tell kids what nature has given us and how we should protect it for our own good.

Short stories not only keep kids entertained, but they also help to develop their sense of imagination and creative way of thinking. You can also make up some short stories of your own and spend some quality time with your kids.

【推荐1】Researchers continue to show the power behind our sense of smell. Recent studies have found, among other things, that the smell of foods like pizza can cause uncontrollable anger in drivers on roads.

The study explains that smell is unique in its effects on the brain. According to Conrad King, the researcher who carried out the study, “more than any other senses, the sense of smell goes through the logical part of the brain and acts on the systems concerned with feelings. This is why the smell of baking bread can destroy the best intentions of a dieter.”

Smell, which determines the unbelievable complexity of food tastes, has always been the least understood of our senses. Our noses are able to detect up to 10,000 distinct smells. Our ability to smell and taste this extremely large range of smells is controlled by something like 1,000 genes (基因), which make up an amazing 3% of the human genome.

According to Conrad King’s study, smelling fresh pizza or even the packaging of fast foods can be enough to make drivers feel impatient with other road users. They are then more likely to speed and experience uncontrollable anger on roads. The most reasonable explanation is that these can all make drivers feel hungry, and therefore desperate to satisfy their appetites. In contrast, the smells of peppermint （薄荷）and cinnamon（桂皮香料） were shown to improve concentration levels as well as reduce drivers’ impatience. Similarly, the smells of lemon and coffee appeared to promote clear thinking and mental focus.

However, the way genes control smell differs from person to person. A study by researchers in Israel has identified at least 50 olfactory(嗅觉) genes which are switched on in some people and not in others. They believe this may explain why some of us love some smells and tastes while others hate them. The Israel researchers say their study shows that nearly every human being shows a different pattern of active and inactive smell-detecting receptors.

【推荐2】Nowadays, everyone seems to hope to go into space and live on new planets. Instead of depending on another pre-existing planet, could we make a new planet by ourselves?

First of all, if we were to live on it, we should find a good place in space to put the new planet. We would want it to be in a habitable zone, which means the planet should be at the right distance from its star to make sure there would be perfect temperatures and most importantly, liquid water.

We’d also need the right materials to make the planet. Our Earth is made up of many different elements (元素). If we made our own new planet, we’d probably want it to have similar elements and a similar structure (结构). We’d also want enough water to form some oceans.

But even if we get all of the materials, creating a new planet like Earth could have many troubles. It might be something more like a huge space station. It would be pretty expensive if we wanted it to be super big.

We would probably also need a lot of food because there is going to be many scientists and astronauts out in space working on this project!

According to NASA, each astronaut uses about 0.83 kilograms of food per meal, including 0.12 kilograms of packaging (包装) material. Without the weight of the packaging material, we’d need about 780 kilograms of food just to feed one astronaut for a year.

Putting all these together could make it possible to make our own planet one day! In fact, creating a new planet would probably require a very modern technology and there would be tons of other things to think about. And if this is possible, it won’t likely happen within a very long time.