Jack的小留学生日记 l 我眼中的中英教育差异

亲爱的读者们，大家好!

我叫Jack，今年15岁，从2015年开始一直生活在英国。今天想跟大家聊一下我刚来英国读书时的一些感受。

刚到英国时，我面临的第一个最大的困难其实是天气。虽然刚到克利夫顿预备学校（Clifton College）的时候，我完全不知道会发生什么，这里像一个截然不同的星球-不同的教育风格，不同的体育运动，不同的生活方式等等，但很神奇的是，我竟然很快就适应了，这些技能都很容易掌握。但唯独一项我迟迟不能适应，那就是-天气。这个岛上的天气真的很可怕！甚至连英国人也会对天气感到沮丧，这个问题每天都会在我脑海里萦绕，“鲍勃，今天天气不错啊！”这句话好像成了我对话的常规开场白。

从在克利夫顿的第一个学期开始，雨水好像就没停过：上课下雨，吃饭下雨，体育课打曲棍球、打橄榄球时下雨，室内运动外面还在下雨……老天好像在捉弄我们，一会儿热，一会晴，一会又下雨……

但是，除了一些负面因素以外，还有很多正面的事情，在我看来，正面因素会更多一点，其中最重要就是我有了一个稳定、健康的心理状态跟生活方式。

拿一所普通的中国学校跟英国学校的作业量比较时就会发现，差距特别大。随着年级的进阶，中国学校的作业量会越来越多。但在英国，我记得自己五年级的时候，好像没有什么作业，所有学校布置的任务半个小时就能高质量的完成。剩下的时间，学校会安排我们参加各种俱乐部跟活动，这点特别好，会让生活速度变慢。跟在中国读书需要面对的压力相比，这里的五年级好比就是一个长假。

Jack与William Hanson(英国著名礼仪训练师，克利夫顿学院校友)

第二点差异体现在课程跟教室方面。在中国，学生们会有专门的一个班，但是在英国，往往是老师们有一个自己的专属教室，他们的大部分课程会集中在同一个教室，学生们需要到这里来上课，有点像国内的大学。所以，当我们下了一节课，往另外一个教室走的过程中，可以跟朋友短暂的寒暄两句，休息一下。通常，每节课之间大概有三到五分钟的间隔。

最后，我想说一下克利夫顿学院。这里的同学跟老师都十分热情，很包容，给我一种很温暖的感觉。我想这也是寄宿学校应该要基本满足的条件吧，因为我们不像本地学生那样游走于家跟学校之间，所以，学校就是我们的第二个家。

更多话题，我们下次再谈！

英文版内容

Hello dear readers,

my name is Jack and I’ve been living in the UK since 2015. One of the great difficulties when I first came to this country to study, was the weather; back then when I first came to Clifton College preparatory school, or ‘the prep school’ for short, I don’t know what to expect, it was like living in a completely different planet- different style of education, different sports, and different rules etcetera. But surprisingly, I found these new ways of living quite easy to adapt to and quickly got the hang of it. But what I didn't, and still am uncomfortable with is the weather. The weather is horrendous over here on this island! Even an Englishman gets frustrated with the weather, in fact, it's so much on our minds, we talk about it every day - "Nice weather today Bob" as one would say to the other to start a conversation.

Back to my first term in Clifton, the rain just keeps on going: we go to lessons raining, we go to meals raining, we go to "games" -which is basically sports but the difference between it and PE  is that in games, we play outdoor sports like hockey and rugby but in PE we do fitness and some other indoor sport- raining, we go to bed raining and sometimes it seems like it’s fooling with us’ one minute it’s hot and sunny, the next hailing and then raining again… But the negatives aside, there are lots of positives, way more in my opinion, the first and biggest being the stable and good mental health and the lifestyle. When comparing the homework level between a typical school in China and one in the UK, the gap is quite massive. Although, you get more and more work the higher you go in the system, when I was back in year five, there was literally no homework; all my work can be done within thirty minutes with good quality and the rest of the time, school keeps us occupied with clubs and activities, which is always quite amusing and just slows life right down. Compared to the stress and tiredness in China, my year five was like a long vacation.

The second difference is that of the lessons and the locations. In Western education, unlike in China where the students have a dedicated classroom for all their lessons, it's completely the opposite in the UK and the U.S. The teachers have their own classrooms, which they do their teaching entirely in most of the time, and the students have to walk to their lessons, a bit like university. This gives you time to have a short but sometimes hastily break with your friends as you walk or run desperately to your next lesson depending on your previous teacher's time management or the distance you have to travel. Usually, there is a three to five minutes gap between the lessons to get to your new class. 

Finally, I must speak about Clifton College; the school teacher was extremely welcoming, engaging and forgiving(at times) and the pupils were very welcoming and make me and other newcomers feel warm and at home. That's what boarding is supposed to provide right? A second home for those that can't make the daily journey between the school and home, but it's so much more and I will talk about it next time.

Jack

*文章版权归Jack同学所有