2 . For Amena Elementary’s second grade in Patchogue, New York, today is the Speech Day, and right now it’s Peter White’s turn. The 7-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.

But he’s a little bit nervous. “I’m here to tell you today why you should...should...” Peter trips on the “-ld”, a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Clinton, is next to him, whispering support, “...Vote for...me...” Except for some stumbles, Peter is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Mr. Clinton invites the rest of the class to clap for him warmly.

As a son of immigrants, Peter started learning English a little over three years ago. Thomas recalls how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Peter would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. “It takes a lot for any student,” Mr. Clinton explains, “especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I don’t know, but I want to know.’ ”

Mr. Clinton got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Thomas says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast about themselves.

“Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities,” Mr. Clinton says, “is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident.”

6 . No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts.

Many years ago, I took the head _______ job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program.

It was a tradition for the school’s old team to _______ against the new team at the end of spring practice. The old team had no coach, and they didn’t even prepare for the game. Being the coach of the new team, I was excited because I knew we were going to _______, but to my disappointment we were defeated. Thinking hard about this bad situation, I came to realize that my team members were _______ me. I had to change my attitude about their ability and potential.

I started helping them build a little _______. Most importantly, I began to treat them like winners. That summer, when the other teams enjoyed their vacations, we met every day and _______ passing and kicking the football.

Six months after suffering our defeat on the spring practice field, we won our first game and our second, and continued to _______. Finally, my boys beat the best team in Georgia, giving me a sudden feeling of great _______!

From the experience I learned a lot about how the attitude of the leader can affect the members of a team. Instead of seeing my boys as losers, I pushed and _______ them. I helped them to see themselves ________, and they built themselves into winners.

7 . Math had never been something I was good at since middle school. Classes became harder in high school, and I was even further from a math teacher’s dream student. So at the start of my freshman year, I had an aversion to math. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do well, but simply that I didn’t think I was able to do well. “I can’t“ became my state of mind in all things related to math.

However, I was soon to learn that “I can’t” was not a choice in Mr. A’s class.

Mr. A always greeted us with open arms as he said, “Welcome! Smile! It’s a great day to be alive!”It was clear that Mr. A had a true passion not only for math but for teaching. If Mr. A ever experienced bad days in life, he never showed it. Mr. A greeted us with that same smile every day. He encouraged each student, from the top achiever to the “I can’t” student.

I found myself looking forward to math class, although I still hated the subject itself. Being in Mr. A’s presence made me feel good, as if I had the chance to succeed. As the year progressed, I spent increasingly more time on my homework, and I met with Mr. A weekly. My classmates began to do the same, and it became “cool” to have lunch and talk with Mr. A. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was changing our attitudes.

Though my story is not one of overnight success and I didn’t become a straight-A math student, my hard work did begin to pay off and my grades slowly began to climb. There were hard times, of course. Difficult math questions sometimes succeeded in bringing me down, but Mr. A kept reminding me, “Kate, smile! It’s a great day to be alive!”

I was not a willing student. Before Mr Jenkins taught me, science     1     (be) a subject full of strange words to me. I had no idea what hydrogen was, and I didn’t really want to know, either! I found it all so boring and difficult,     2     Mr Jenkins made everything interesting. He used to explain things which seemed difficult with lots of practical     3    (example) and in simple language. One day, he took us outside, and we built a rocket!