1 . At the end of August this year I moved from London to a small town in Quebec, Canada, called Matane to work as an English teacher. Patience is a word that has appeared in many forms over the past two months.

I don’t see myself as being the most patient person in the world, but I was deeply impressed by my experience in the first week of teaching. I had just finished a discussion with two students and just as they were leaving the classroom, one of them turned back and said “Thank you for your patience.” That was an early reminder of the importance being patient as a teacher. Moreover, patience in the classroom can be the difference between building students’ confidence in a language and breaking down their confidence entirely. Being patient as a teacher means empathizing (共鸣) with students. It is not easy to learn a new language and allowing students to find their way will benefit them in the long term.

Living my life in French is not easy but the people of Quebec are very patient. Quebecers repeat things several times and they are more than happy to wait while I find the correct words to express myself. It’s a learning process, but with the patience of others the process is less frightening.

When I first arrived in Matane, I kept getting headaches from having to concentrate all the time due to the language. I had to keep reminding myself that it would take time, and two months later the headaches are a distant memory and my ears have become more used to the Quebecois accent. The key is to be patient with yourself. There, is no short cut to learning a language, but it will be worth it in the end.

3 . Will your job be done by a robot in the future? Bank of England economists predict that almost half of all UK jobs are under threat of robots. Those most at risk are physical labor, such as factory workers. But could even teachers soon have to compete against powerful electronic educators?

At first sight, it might seem impossible for teachers to be replaced by robots. Teachers use a lot of soft skills that machines find hard to copy. They judge pupil’s needs and adapt materials to make them more engaging(有趣的) and effective. And they provide special care: looking out for students who drop behind or make trouble in class.

Anyhow, some believe the future of education will be technological. In an interview, the futurist Thomas predicts that “by 2030 the largest company on the Internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet”.

He thinks that online robot teachers will make education so efficient that students will be able to finish an entire undergraduate degree in six months of learning. A robot teacher learns what your character, interests and reference points are, and it figures out how to teach you in a faster and faster way over time, according to Thomas.

Over the last decade there has been a huge increase in online learning. Many companies produce courses that allow millions of people to learn at home for free, at their own pace. But there are limitations. Without the face-to-face stimulation(激励) of a classroom environment, most of the students fail to complete online courses. How to stimulate students to learn is one more skill that online teachers will need to master.

Indeed, Thomas admits there is some way to go and he thinks that we should hug the change, even though people will lose their jobs.

5 . To see the world is one thing. To have someone to share it with is another. Indeed travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner. A travel partner can be a close friend, a family member, a pal you’ve met online, or a business friend.

You can have someone to talk to and turn to

Traveling alone is fun, but wouldn’t you feel lonely? Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness. It will be very convenient if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you’re traveling to. You don’t have to ask any information from the locals, and you can save your time.

You can have someone to share the costs with

One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can’t simply ignore the rising prices of hotels or plane tickets. You should also think about your daily needs, such as your food. Of course, you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) for your friends and family. All these can overspend your budget (预算). However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.

You can meet a new friend

Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner. You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.

You can have someone to watch out for you

When you’re in a foreign land, you’ll never be really safe. You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel mate will be able to remind you of your manners in the country and to look after your luggage just in case your belongings get lost. So why don’t you find a travel companion now? Let’s find out how...

6 . My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic. Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School. “Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you,” said my parents.

Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student. Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school. With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades. As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong. My grades were rapidly declining (下降) and by the end of the first term I had had five Cs in seven of my classes!I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it. I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse. And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year: States. I was heartbroken. I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.

Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs. I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself. By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I had received awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.

Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me. I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.

8 . Age has never been a problem for Thessalonika Arzu-Embry. After all, she’s already got her master’s degree.

The North Chicago-area girl started homeschooling at the age of 4. She began having an influence on others soon after. When she was 6 years old, she was an inspirational speaker at an organization called Tabitha House Community Service, a shelter for people who were forced to leave their homes due to the situations such as earthquakes, flood and other natural disasters.

At the age of 11, she graduated from high school and then earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2013. She completed those classes online as she was traveling for leadership meetings.

She doesn’t stop there, though. The girl plans to focus on aviation psychology(航空心理学) for her further study, a decision inspired by her father who is a pilot. She grew up around airplanes and took flights all the time. Her goal is to use it to determine whether pilots are dealing with problems that could have deadly results once the plane takes off—a topic that has been in the news lately. For her, it’s a mix of two of her interests.

In her free time, Thessalonika enjoys playing tennis, swimming and being active in her youth group. She also has three self-published books, which are on her site. Jump the Education Barrier is written to help students finish college, and In the Future aims to help business owners deal with trends. Her third book The Genius Race has a wider appeal. It is designed to help people to be geniuses in various areas of life.

9 . I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labelled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

The war broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it.

From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, sobbing.

Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.

Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I was so buried in my work that I even didn’t noticed Kate had sat up.

She was watching, her tears dried and her expression showed her disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks.”

Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together, giving in, cleaning up and holding on.

10 . Tu Youyou has become the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize for her work in helping to discover a crucial new treatment for malaria. The 84-year-old’s route to the honour has been anything but traditional. In China, she is being called the “three nos” winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she’s never worked overseas.

In 1967, malaria, a deadly disease at that time, spread by mosquitoes was decimating Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam. A secret research unit “Mission 523” was formed to find a cure for the illness. Two years later Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of “Mission 523”.

The team read ancient books carefully for a long time to find historical methods of fighting malaria. When she started her search for the medicine for malaria, more than 240,000 compounds around the world had already been tested, without any success. Finally, the team found a brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood, which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 CE. The team took out one active compound in wormwood, and then tested it.

But nothing was effective until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text. After another careful reading, she changed the drug recipe one final time, heating the compound without allowing it to reach boiling point.

After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu Youyou volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug. In any case, Tu Youyou is consistently praised for her drive and passion. One former colleague, Li Lianda, says Ms Tu is “unsociable and quite straightforward”, adding that “if she disagrees with something, she will say it.”

Another colleague, Liao Fuming, who has worked with Tu Youyou for more than 40 years, describes her as a “tough and stubborn woman”. Stubborn enough to spend decades piecing together ancient texts, she applies them to modern scientific practices. The result has saved millions of lives.