Friday is the last English class of the week. The teacher asks them to look back: listening, asking, reading out loud, working in pairs. "Which one was hardest?" she asks. Many hands go up for reading out loud. Lin Hao's hand goes up too.
The teacher nods. "Hard is useful. Keep your voice on." They read a short text together about inspiring places: a tower in a far city, a museum in the mountains, a bridge over the sea. The names are long, so they break them into parts. Nobody needs to remember every name today.
Lin Hao writes: Keep going. Use your voice. I learned something. He learned that a week of class is also a story. It has a beginning on Monday, and a small ending on Friday. Next week the story can continue.
After the bell, the room is noisy again. Zhao Min says, "See you Monday." Lin Hao answers, "See you. I'll practise the long names." His English is still school English, but it is alive in his mouth.