Masaki Yoshida is one of the many Japanese high schoolers who come to America as exchange students. About a month ago, I sat down with her and discussed the differences between life in the US and in Japan.
The main differences she discussed were related to school here vs school in Japan. Upon speaking with her, she explained how in Japan school stricter and more conservative than American schools, especially Rome High School, where she is attending for one year.
For instance, while at Rome high we can use our smartphones, eat snacks in class, dress casually (as long as we stick to the dress code, which people usually get away with breaking), and choose our own classes, at her school in Japan she was not allowed the same privileges. She was required to wear a uniform, her classes were chosen by …show more content…
However, here in Georgia people speak faster. Also, there are a lot of accents and slang words that make English harder to understand.
The language barrier makes understanding subjects like literature and history difficult. Teachers speak faster and homework assignments are all in English. However, team sports, band, and chorus are her favorite classes. Math also is one of her easier classes as it consists mainly of numbers, pictures, graphs, etc.
Then again, the majority students at Rome High know only a few words in Japanese such as “Sayounara”. A large portion of students who are fluently bilingual just have parents who have immigrated from foreign countries, especially Latin American countries. While Yoshida has been learning English since she was 10 years old, many students at Rome High put off taking the two required years of a language At Rome High until their junior and senior years. Very few people take the first year of a language as an 8th grader and go on to take it throughout high school up to the AP
The main differences she discussed were related to school here vs school in Japan. Upon speaking with her, she explained how in Japan school stricter and more conservative than American schools, especially Rome High School, where she is attending for one year.
For instance, while at Rome high we can use our smartphones, eat snacks in class, dress casually (as long as we stick to the dress code, which people usually get away with breaking), and choose our own classes, at her school in Japan she was not allowed the same privileges. She was required to wear a uniform, her classes were chosen by …show more content…
However, here in Georgia people speak faster. Also, there are a lot of accents and slang words that make English harder to understand.
The language barrier makes understanding subjects like literature and history difficult. Teachers speak faster and homework assignments are all in English. However, team sports, band, and chorus are her favorite classes. Math also is one of her easier classes as it consists mainly of numbers, pictures, graphs, etc.
Then again, the majority students at Rome High know only a few words in Japanese such as “Sayounara”. A large portion of students who are fluently bilingual just have parents who have immigrated from foreign countries, especially Latin American countries. While Yoshida has been learning English since she was 10 years old, many students at Rome High put off taking the two required years of a language At Rome High until their junior and senior years. Very few people take the first year of a language as an 8th grader and go on to take it throughout high school up to the AP