1 . A few days after Christmas, my friend Zachary came over with his snowboard. Zachary was very good at snowboarding, but I could __________do it at all. I wondered if maybe my new board wasn’t the right size for me, so I tried __________Zachary’s board, but I still didn’t get very __________.

While I __________ with Zachary’s board, he was making run after run down the hill. He asked me if we could go to his favourite hill to do more runs, and not wanting to __________ his fun, I __________said I would go.

While out on the new hill, I still struggled to stay __________. I had fallen a few times when a teenager that I had never __________ before noticed that I was getting __________, and called me over to give me some advice. I don’t talk to strangers as a _________, but my mom was with me, so I felt __________. So I listened to what he had to __________, and then I made another __________. He watched, and then came over to give me more __________. I did what he told me, and I was able to get all the way down the hill without __________. It seemed much easier with the instructions he gave me.

This guy was so nice and helpful about __________ me. He could have chosen to make a few more runs for the day,__________ taking the time to help me. As __________ preteens, sometimes when we think of teenagers, we think of those who are troublemakers, or those who scare us. But this teenager made me feel __________ around him and was really helpful and kind to me.

I’m a much better snowboarder now, thanks to the very __________ teenage stranger.