Hannatu Umaru, 12-year-old girl from Nigeria:

I go to the Great Albarka International School in the northern town of Birnin Kudu, located in Jigawa State in Nigeria. I have found that Birnin Kudu has been a loving, peaceful city. My parents have added values of joy into my living; this has made me a happy girl.

However, a lot of times in my city, I see students that aren't working hard towards learning English; this makes my heart bitter. I have a dream to turn this around.

Someday, I wish to become a chairwoman in the Birnin Kudu local government so I can establish a better education for my people. I will build schools that have qualified English teachers from the nursery level to the secondary level. Finally, I will write various books about English for my people and extend them to the world beyond.

Hannatu Umaru, 12-year-old girl from Nigeria

Li Peiying, a 12-year-old girl from Macao of China:

Macao is the city in which I was born and grew up in. It has transformed from a small fishing village into a big city in the last few hundred years.

After its return to China, Macao has seen great progress in its economy. There is an airport and a harbor that connects Macao to the rest of the world. Macao also has a lot of old relics. Macao combines Chinese traditional culture and Western philosophy; the Chinese and Portuguese live harmoniously here.

I love Macao and have fairytale-like dreams about it. I hope Macao can attract children from all around the world to visit it; the cable cars here can take every child to visit every old relic in the city. The cable cars will be like beautiful birds flying in the sky!

Li Peiying, a 12-year-old girl from Macao of China