4 . Have you ever been in a class when all the students are kept in at lunchtime just because two or three students won’t stop talking? The teacher gets irate and suddenly everyone is in trouble instead of just the students who caused the problem. This is called “collective (集体的) punishment” and many students in Australia want it stopped in schools.

Some say that collective punishment teaches young people that their behavior has an effect on other people. As most of us want to be liked and “fit in” (顺应), all students then feel that they have to behave well.

Others say that this type of punishment causes students to feel angry with the students who are not behaving well. It destroys trust and good relationships between classmates.

But collective punishment can harm students who want to do the right thing. Teachers at my school say that some students become too disappointed to come to school. They are unhappy because their class gets class detention (课后留校) most days and is known as the “bad group”.

A parent at this same school believes that this type of punishment is useful because it helps teachers to know which students are not behaving well. She thinks that when a class knows they may be given a detention, the students who were doing the wrong thing will own up (承认).

Our school’s psychologist (心理学家), Miriam Koch, says that students who have learning difficulties and keep making trouble in classrooms often have poor social skills. Her opinion is that collective punishment can keep these students away from their classmates. She believes that it is best for teachers to use group rewards (奖励) and clear rules for students behavior to help develop teamwork.

7 . Progress means the act of going forward. Making any kind of progress can make us healthy and happy in life. By setting and actively working towards our goals, we can make progress in our life.

To make more progress in life, start looking at problems in a different way. Whatever happens, if we think positively, it can be useful and helpful. We need to know that problems are part of our life. After we solve problems one after another, we can make more progress and become stronger.

Having confidence (信心) is helpful for us to make progress. Confidence comes from different places, such as proper education, training or having good relationships. We should also stay with people who believe in our success and actively support us. These people can help push us towards progress.

Slow progress is still progress. Just as the old saying goes, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” Progress usually comes a lot more slowly than we expect. Even if progress is slow, try not to be worried. One important thing is that we keep taking steps towards our goals, and another is that we clearly remember what our goals are all the time. The actual speed isn’t important.

The road to progress is not always smooth. Most progress often comes with setbacks along the way. Sometimes, maybe it feels like we’re taking one step forward and three steps back, but it won’t always be like that. Keep going towards our goals and we can much more easily make the progress we want.

Progress doesn’t always happen in a straight line. As long as we keep working, we will achieve higher levels.

8 . Do you do team projects at school? I do a lot. I enjoy team projects because I like sharing ideas with other people. Of course, team activities aren’t always easy. You need to know how to work well together. Here are some suggestions to make team work easier.

Know the goals Make sure everyone understands the goal of the project. If you’re doing a class project, you need to check the teacher’s instructions carefully and ask questions whenever something isn’t clear. There’s a popular saying: If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably won’t get there.

Assign (指派) roles Everyone should have a role in the team. For example, there should be a leader who helps everyone make decisions. There might be a note-taker who writes down the team’s ideas during meetings, and a time-keeper to control the time. There might also be a fact-checker or a group speaker.

Divide the work For large projects, the work can be divided into smaller tasks. Then you can choose tasks that you do well or enjoy. Of course, you shouldn’t always do the same task. It’s good to try new things, even if they’re difficult!

Make a plan After you divide the work, write down a plan on paper. You can use a calendar to help you. List all the tasks and think about when each one must be finished. It’s important for everyone to follow the plan. And if you can’t finish your part on time, tell the others as soon as possible.

Try to be positive (积极的). Everything is easier when you’re enjoying yourself in the team.

9 . My best friend Bill is always trying to find out ways to give the environment a helping hand. One day, Bill brought some green cakes to school. At lunch, he shared his cakes with us. “Delicious!” “Wonderful!” Everyone liked the cakes and wondered how he made them.

The story goes back a few weeks. Bill’s family likes fruit very much. His father especially loves watermelons. He eats a lot of them in summer. They always throw away the skins (皮).

After seeing the cleaner working hard to pick up the heavy rubbish pail (桶), Bill said. “There must be a good way to use all the watermelon skins.”

After a lot of thinking, he decided to make something with the skins. First, he made the skins into juice. Then he carefully made his delicious GREEN cakes.

Once he tasted the cake, he knew his cakes were a great by-product (副产品) of the watermelon eating. And it was nature friendly too.

From now on, he doesn’t need to worry about the heavy waste from eating watermelons. And everyone always wants more of his special cakes.