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Good news for readers horrified by my recent post about rich Chinese people dining on tiger meat: China is cracking down on those who eat rare or endangered animals.

By closing a legal loophole, authorities can now jail people for up to 10 years for consuming giant pandas, golden monkeys, Asian black bears, pangolins and more than 400 other creatures that are endangered in the wild. None of the stories I read specifically mentioned tigers, but I assume they’re included because they’re on the endangered species list.

Some of these animals are considered delicacies in China, while others are used to make products that reputedly have health benefits. I understand that different countries have different attitudes toward animals, but it simply makes no sense to kill endangered species to make fancy food, sexual stimulants or beauty aids.

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Here’s an update on my student who cried in class because she forgot to do her homework.

After apologizing to me in a letter, which I quoted in a recent post, she followed up with several emails about her struggles learning English. Some highlights:

The reason I cried is that I have no way to commucate with English. My oral English is so poor.

In order to learn English well, I take some time off to study everyday. But when you talk with me, I become tense immediately. I hope I can commucate with you fluently someday.

You are my friend in my heart. During a year, you teach us English. Thank you very much.

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I get some great sickness excuses from my students. Here’s a recent one, written by one student on behalf of another:

Mr. Rick,

Tom has something wrong with his body, so he wants to ask for a leave for a week.

Lisa