11岁的Hunter和妈妈、弟弟一起参加了美伴洛杉矶冬令营，他和弟弟都在当地学校插班三周。美国课堂到底是怎样的，且听他娓娓道来……

Hello everyone, I am Hunter. I am from beautiful Tianjin. I study in Maple Leaf International School-Tianjin Huayuan. My mom signed a winter camp for me in October, which would give me a chance to experience local school in LA. When she told me the news, I jumped high because I was so happy that I could go to school in the US! I could not sleep at night because I was looking forward to the study trip aboard. I was so excited about it. Finally it was the time! We went to the airport and flew from Beijing to LA on January 20th. Please let me take you into the school and see the differences between Chinese and American schools.

The school I studied in is a Christian school from K-12 grade. It is not big, and there is only one class in each grade. The number of students in each class must be less than 20. Every classroom has a small reading corner, and their desks are different from in China. Students can choose to sit on a yoga ball or a chair, isn’t that fun?

I want to share with you the lessons we studied at school in the US.

At 7:30 every morning Mr. Brain, Dean of Admission comes to our car and open the car door for us. He wants to do something for us just to let us start a good day.

Then all students take part in raising the American flag and pray in the gathering point. Sometimes Principal brings her dog Talker to the school and lets us play with it.

When we are all in the classroom, we use a computer to do reading. We read a story and write what we have learned from this article.

The second lesson is the Bible reply. During the lesson we talk about religions.

The third lesson we go to Number Corner! It is a part of Math and in this week it was only about angles.

After number corner time we learn Math. Math we learned in the US is much easier than in China. So I had lots of fans in class. They kept asking me:” Oh my Gosh! Hunter! How can you do this so fast? This is amazing! Teach me please!” It was my pleasure time.

It’s outdoor time after Math! Every student goes out and plays. We also can eat snacks at this time.

Science lesson is coming up. We do a lot of fun experiments in class. We worked on light bulbs last week.

Journal writing and language arts are our daily lessons. I wrote an article How to Build a Snowman, on which I spent four days with about 550 words. Language Arts is about grammar and definition of words. I am not a fan of language Arts.

Lunch Time! I personally prefer Chinese food more than American food.

Reading is the first lesson after lunch. Our teacher reads a chapter of a book for us. After she finishes reading, we read our books for 30 minutes. I love that time because I enjoy reading.

We also learn California History at school. We learned Gold Rush last week and I also read a book about it. Do you know By the Great Horn Spoon? It is a fun book. Why do I like the book? Because it is about an adventure and I like adventure books.

Spelling City comes right after reading time. We use computer to type our spelling. We practice 15 words each week.

Music lesson here is fun too. We learn not only how to sing a song, but also how to play flute. Playing flute is amazing!

PE is the last lesson in a school day. It is of course my favorite lesson in the whole day. In China we run laps in PE lesson for a whole 40 MINUTES!!! And never play. But in the US, the first thing we do in PE lesson is PLAY. The second thing we do is PLAY. The third thing we do is still PLAY! That is so amazing! I love PE lesson in the US so much and the games we play are so fun!

School ends at 3pm. When we are leaving, teachers do a high five with us happily. After school, my brother and I went to the school playground for a while. We played basketball, soccer, football, four-square, swing and the slide.

During the three weeks in LA I spent a very amazing Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. Before Valentine’s Day all classmates exchanged gifts each other and all gifts were so beautiful and lovely. There were chocolates, teddy bears, cards, and candies...... We played games. My favorite one is picking candies with chopsticks. There are lots of little candies in a plate, every person has a pair of chopsticks and tries to get candies as much as he can in one minute. I got 58 candies and it was the highest score in our class!

President’s Day is one of the 10 official holidays in the US. It is on the third Monday of February. It has the same status as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Day. This holiday was first set to honor George Washington, the first president of the US. Nowadays it is a memorial day to all the presidents in the history of the US. President’s Day is also called Washington Day, because President Washington was born in February. On this day in every year, Americans recall history in memory of the great and respected American presidents in some special ways.

There is a four-day break for Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. So my mom, my little brother and I made a one-day trip to San Diego. We visited USS Midway Museum. That was fun. 

After my introduction to the American school, do you like it? I love the educational way in the US, which is better than in China, because it is more open, inclusive, respectful and loving way for me. What is your opinion about it?

Thanks to WITHUS Culture Exchange Company, thanks to my mother, thanks to my friends. The journey opens a window to the world for me. I feel so lucky to have a chance to experience different educational models and concepts in the US. It really broadens my horizon, increases my knowledge and improves my English. I am looking forward to the next study trip in the East of the US.