Students who wish to go to school in America really have to take the initiative--its a lot of extra work. They must teach themselves the TOEFL and SAT vocabulary (although most get tutors). Also, the SAT is not administered in mainland China, so students must fly to Hong Kong multiple times. Our translator friends tell us that when they took their SAT’s they were surrounded by other mainland students at the airport, at hotels, and at the shopping malls. The test taking center they were at held 3000 people--and there were only five bathrooms, and they had only five minute breaks to use them. Not as much fun as our SAT’s, in short. Most students just take the GaoKao though--I think our perspective is a bit skewed because our guides and many of the kids we meet at English corner have more to do with us precisely because they want to practice their English.
In English class, the students do very little speaking. Instead, they do grammar and other memorization exercises. Many of them are a bit nervous to practice their English with us.
While students are reluctant to ask questions in class--they have to stand up, for one thing, and it’s also not encouraged--they are astonishingly quick to sing songs. At least three times so far, a teacher has asked students to sing in class and the students have obeyed without protest. They really try, too, they don’t just laugh it off. Also, they are astonishingly coordinated in their reactions (i.e. laughter and applause). Maybe everyone is paying very close attention.
Here are some more interesting English names:
- Box 1
- Poison
- Echo
- Bacon
- Bamboo
- Vapor
- No Name
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