【推荐2】Everyone has worries. How do you deal with your worries? There is always something you can do to help yourself feel less worried. Sitting there worried is no fun and it won’t solve your problems. Grades at school are often a top worry for children. If you worry most about grades, ask yourself these questions:

●Why are grades important? What do grades mean to me?

●How do I get ready for class? Do I go over my notes even when there isn’t a test?

●Do I have a good place to do my homework?

●Have I tried different ways of studying?

If your worry is about a fight you had with your friend, you might write down all the things you could do: write a note to him or her, invite him or her to watch a basketball game, say sorry to him or her and so on. Once you have a list of things you could do, you can choose one thing that could get your friend back. You can ask for help when you’re worried. You can find someone to talk to, such as your parents, friends, and teachers.

It was sunny on Oct 30 last year. Zhang Siwen, 13, saw some special fruit at school. She picked one, but not for fun. She took notes (笔记) on the fruit. She carefully drew different parts of the fruit and wrote down some information. Several months later, her nature-related (与自然相关的) notes won second prize at a science competition.

Many students in Shanghai bring fruit, flowers and other plants (植物) together and write down notes with pictures and information. They learn more about nature by writing these notes. The information, such as when and where they got the plants, what the weather was like and how they felt at the time, is all in their notes.

For many students, taking these nature notes is a way to find out something new. Zhang is one of them. When she wrote new fruit notes, she first drew a picture of the fruit and learned about its length (长度) with a ruler. Then, she broke the fruit open. She touched, got the juice and smelled it to learn more. “If you open and squeeze (挤压) some fruits, you’ll find they are juicy,” she said.   

Writing notes on nature can also make students become more creative. “When writing these notes, you can describe everything in your own way,” said Zhang Siwen.

【推荐1】How are school days like in America? What do they often do on weekends?

Well, in America, from Monday to Friday, the students spend (花费) about six hours a day at school. They don’t have morning readings and there are seven classes a day. A classroom is not very big and there are twenty or thirty students in a class. They have different lessons in different classrooms. They don’t have much homework after school on weekdays. They often do sports and read books.

American students’ weekend life is varied. On Friday evening, they always have a party or go to the movies. On Saturday, they often have some special (特殊的) lessons, help their parents at home or play games in friends’ houses. They also watch TV. On Sunday, students often go out and play sports with their friends or clean their rooms.

【推荐2】One of the most important things of the school year, besides exams and parties in the end, is the selection（选拔）of“ Merit Students（三好学生）” , a title that most students consider it as a great honor. However, the title may not live for much longer. Some schools will stop the “ Merit Students” award next year to give students more say in evaluating（评估）themselves.

Then some students raised a question “ Should the ‘ Merit Students’ evaluation system be canceled in China? ” Please read the following students’ debate.

【推荐3】Zhong Kaitong, a grade 4 student from Shenzhen, enjoyed a fun vacation this summer. Instead of attending English or math tutoring courses（培训班）, he played badminton and basketball most of the time.

New rules introduced on July 24 helped Zhong and his classmates enjoy their free time during the summer. To reduce the stress（减轻压力）on primary and junior high school students, the new rules calls for less homework and fewer exams, Xinhua reported.

According to the new rules, children below the third grade will not have homework anymore. It should take no more than 90 minutes for junior high school students to finish their homework. Junior school students will have midterms and final exams, but no weekly or monthly tests.

There are also some new rules for tutoring institutions（培训机构）. For example, subject-based（基于学科的）tutoring will not be allowed on weekends, national holidays or during winter and summer vacations.

“More than 75 percent of Chinese students are taking tutoring courses. Parents are worried that if their children start behind, they will stay behind. Some training institutions use parents’ anxiety to make money,” said Chen Xianzhe, a professor at South China Normal University. “The new rules aims to calm the anxiety of parents.”

“But this does not mean the tutoring courses will completely disappear, since exams are still there,” said Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences. There may be more one-on-one or one-on-two tutoring in the future.

“Therefore, schools should improve their education and not push students into tutoring courses.” Chu added.

【推荐1】How do you feel when your teacher asks you to work in a group with other students? Do you like to work together with others or work alone?

The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, did a test of students’ ability（能力）to work together in groups. They found that students who do well on tests by themselves are also possibly better at working with other people.

This finding is true for many countries. Students in Japan, South Korea, Finland and Canada, where test grades are high, also did well in working together to solve problems. ________. Chinese students, who have high scores as well, however, showed common collaborative（合作的）ability.

“One reason might be that Chinese parents and teachers pay too much attention to scores,” said Zhao Zhongxin, former vice president of the Chinese Family Education Association. “Students have to face a lot of exams and they think school is a place for competition.”

“However, collaborative ability is very important for preparing students for today’s world,” he added. “Luckily, more Chinese parents and teachers have known how important this is and are thinking of ways to help students with this ability.”

Another interesting finding from the PISA test was that girls are better than boys at working together. They said girls are more positive to work with others, which means they are ready to listen to others’ ideas.

PISA also found that the classroom environment will influence（影响）how well students work together in groups. Students may do better if there are a lot of activities, such as class discussions, group work.