Three weeks ago I started attending the 8th grade at Dong Xing Junior High (東興國中). Even though I have already completed 8th grade in Maine, I am not going to 9th here because in 9th grade students spend most of their time studying for a big exam that determines what high schools they can attend. We decided that it would be better for me to be in 8th grade because my main focus is to study Chinese and the 8th grade do more learning and less studying for exams.
1. The number of people in the 8th grade at Dong Xing is larger than all of the students at Molly Ockett Middle School (5th-8th grade). There are 22 classes and each class has 25-30 students.
2. School hours are drastically different. At Molly Ockett I was at school from 7:30-2:30 on a typical day. School here runs from 7:25-4:40 M-Th and 7:25-3:40 on Fridays. I am still getting used to this new schedule. I am usually exhausted when I get home.
3. Students at Dong Xing take 2-3 tests a day, one on the morning after cleaning (打掃 dá sǎo), and other tests during class. I take the english tests and sometimes math, but the other ones I have trouble reading the questions, so I usually try my best to answer 2 or 3 questions in the time that is given, using my dictionary to look up words. In Maine I took about 1 test a month per class at most.
4. I wear a school uniform at Dong Xing. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we wear our sports uniforms and Tuesday, Thursday we wear our formal uniform. At Molly Ockett there is a dress code but you may wear the clothes of your choice.
5. I take a larger variety of classes here. I have a scouts class where we learn how to tie different types of knots, a home-economics class, dance class (I like that one!), workshop, and computer programming along with all of the other more typical classes. I had math, science, english, health, PE, music and art at Molly Ockett.
6. We have two times a day at Dong Xing that we clean the classroom and bathrooms, when we get to school, and after lunch. There are janitors at Molly Ockett that do that kind of stuff.
7. Kids eat lunch in the cafeteria in Maine. Some students bring their own lunch and others get school lunch served to them on a tray. Everyone here brings their own dishes and utensils and eats the school lunch in our classroom. I go down to the second floor to get my vegetarian meal.
8. After lunch we have a 30 minute rest time where we lay our heads on our desks and nap. This is my favorite part of the day. In the US we went to recess after lunch, which I felt was unnecessary in 8th grade. Most students stood around waiting for it to be over.
9. Everyone is part of a club at Dong Xing. Clubs meet during period 7 and 8 on Wednesdays. I joined the ukulele club because I already can play a bit. At Molly Ockett clubs and extracurriculars are optional, but there is much more time to participate in them because school ends earlier.
10. Each class I had at Molly Ockett had a different group of students, and students moved from classroom to classroom each period. At Dong Xing almost all of my classes are in the same classroom and they are all with the same students. Teachers move from classroom to classroom.
School here has been challenging for me, but I appreciate that my classmates and teachers are very helpful and want support me in learning Chinese. I hope that by the end of the semester my Chinese will have improved enough to understand what the teachers are teaching in class.
~Soleil Huang-Dale
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