中学生去加拿大留学:如何生活

You are in Middle School in China and you know what it is like. Perhaps some of you wonder what it is like in Canada. I'll try to tell you.

In Canada we call grades ten, eleven and twelve high school and it is very similar to your middle school in many ways. Students go to school,many wish they didn't have to,they complain1 about too much homework,some students do well and others do not. In other words it's just like China.

There are, however, important differences.As in China,a Canadian high school can be a private2 school but more likely, is a public school. However, neither kind of high school has gates and guards so they look different.School usually begins between eight and eight thirty in the morning but ends by about three or three thirty in the afternoon and students don't go to school on weekends. There are usually fewer than 30 students in a class.Students have two to three hours of homework every night and their parents must help them balance3 their time so they get enough exercise and rest along with all the work. There is less memory work in Canada and more teaching by explaining.

One big difference is that rules for Canadian students are much less strict. Public school students do not wear uniforms4 and their teachers begin to treat them less like children and more like adults.

This can be a problem for many students because it means they must take the responsibilitys for learning themselves. This is because university in Canada is very hard and classes are large. Teachers there make information available to students but whether the student learns it or not is up to him. We say 'you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink'. We can give information to students but we can not force them to learn, so we don't try. They must do it themselves.

Most Canadian high school students are very social because they are also learning to get along with other people. Most have girlfriends or boyfriends with whom they go on dates on the weekends,sometimes going to a show or to a party. Many students also have part-time jobs to make a little money. Some help look after other children,deliver newspapers or work on Saturdays in a store or restaurant. It is good life experience.

Still,there is more that is the same than that is different. Canadian students like television,music videos and sports. They are curious about what school life is like in China and other countries. They want to get a good job when they grow up, make lots of money and have nice things. They are not very different from you.省略plain vi.~about抱怨,发牢骚,诉苦

2.private adj.私立的,私营的,民间的

3.balance vt.使平衡,使均衡

4.uniform n.制服,(特定阶层或团体等使用的)特种衣服

5.responsibility n. 责任,责任感