11岁的Hunter和妈妈、弟弟一起参加了美伴洛杉矶冬令营,他和弟弟都在当地学校插班三周。美国课堂到底是怎样的,且听他娓娓道来……
Hello
everyone, I am Hunter. I am from beautiful Tianjin. I study in Maple Leaf International
School-Tianjin Huayuan. My mom signed a winter camp for me in October, which would
give me a chance to experience local school in LA. When she told me the news, I
jumped high because I was so happy that I could go to school in the US! I could
not sleep at night because I was looking forward to the study trip aboard. I was
so excited about it. Finally it was the time! We went to the airport and flew
from Beijing to LA on January 20th. Please let me take you into the school and
see the differences between Chinese and American schools.
The
school I studied in is a Christian school from K-12 grade. It is not big, and there
is only one class in each grade. The number of students in each class must be
less than 20. Every classroom has a small reading corner, and their desks are
different from in China. Students can choose to sit on a yoga ball or a chair, isn’t
that fun?
I
want to share with you the lessons we studied at school in the US.
At
7:30 every morning Mr. Brain, Dean of Admission comes to our car and open the car
door for us. He wants to do something for us just to let us start a good day.
Then
all students take part in raising the American flag and pray in the gathering
point. Sometimes Principal brings her dog Talker to the school and lets us play with it.
When
we are all in the classroom, we use a computer to do reading. We read a story and
write what we have learned from this article.
The
second lesson is the Bible reply. During the lesson we talk about religions.
The
third lesson we go to Number Corner! It is a part of Math and in this week it was
only about angles.
After
number corner time we learn Math. Math we learned in the US is much easier than
in China. So I had lots of fans in class. They kept asking me:” Oh my Gosh!
Hunter! How can you do this so fast? This is amazing! Teach me please!” It was
my pleasure time.
It’s
outdoor time after Math! Every student goes out and plays. We also can eat
snacks at this time.
Science
lesson is coming up. We do a lot of fun experiments in class. We worked on
light bulbs last week.
Journal
writing and language arts are our daily lessons. I wrote an article How
to Build a Snowman, on which I spent four days with about 550 words. Language
Arts is about grammar and definition of words. I am not a fan of language Arts.
Lunch
Time! I personally prefer Chinese food more than American food.
Reading
is the first lesson after lunch. Our teacher reads a chapter of a book for us. After
she finishes reading, we read our books for 30 minutes. I love that time because
I enjoy reading.
We
also learn California History at school. We learned Gold Rush last week and I
also read a book about it. Do you know By the Great Horn Spoon? It is a fun
book. Why do I like the book? Because it is about an adventure and I like adventure
books.
Spelling
City comes right after reading time. We use computer to type our spelling. We
practice 15 words each week.
Music
lesson here is fun too. We learn not only how to sing a song, but also how to
play flute. Playing flute is amazing!
PE
is the last lesson in a school day. It is of course my favorite lesson in the
whole day. In China we run laps in PE lesson for a whole 40 MINUTES!!! And never
play. But in the US, the first thing we do in PE lesson is PLAY. The second
thing we do is PLAY. The third thing we do is still PLAY! That is so amazing! I
love PE lesson in the US so much and the games we play are so fun!
School
ends at 3pm. When we are leaving, teachers do a high five with us happily. After
school, my brother and I went to the school playground for a while. We played basketball,
soccer, football, four-square, swing and the slide.
During
the three weeks in LA I spent a very amazing Valentine’s Day and President’s Day.
Before Valentine’s Day all classmates exchanged gifts each other and all gifts were
so beautiful and lovely. There were chocolates, teddy bears, cards, and candies......
We played games. My favorite one is picking candies with chopsticks. There are
lots of little candies in a plate, every person has a pair of chopsticks and tries
to get candies as much as he can in one minute. I got 58 candies and it was the
highest score in our class!
President’s
Day is one of the 10 official holidays in the US. It is on the third Monday of
February. It has the same status as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Day. This
holiday was first set to honor George Washington, the first president of the
US. Nowadays it is a memorial day to all the presidents in the history of the US.
President’s Day is also called Washington Day, because President Washington was
born in February. On this day in every year, Americans recall history in memory
of the great and respected American presidents in some special ways.
There
is a four-day break for Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. So my mom, my
little brother and I made a one-day trip to San Diego. We visited USS Midway Museum.
That was fun.
After
my introduction to the American school, do you like it? I love the educational way in
the US, which is better than in China, because it is more open, inclusive, respectful
and loving way for me. What is your opinion about it?
Thanks to WITHUS Culture Exchange Company, thanks to my mother, thanks to my friends. The journey opens a window to the world for me. I feel so lucky to have a chance to experience different educational models and concepts in the US. It really broadens my horizon, increases my knowledge and improves my English. I am looking forward to the next study trip in the East of the US.