2010年度赴美交流学生雷雪娜

 

2010年9-12月,根据我校与友好学校——美国阿拉斯加州Mt. Edgecumbe高中的协议,2009级高二文(1)班雷雪娜同学作为我校的交流学生,赴该校进行了近四个月的访问学习。

在美期间她选修了艺术、英语、西班牙语、Pac Rim等课程,参加了划艇、阿拉斯加州庆、万圣节、感恩节等丰富多彩的活动,体验了当地的民俗和文化。这段在异国求学的经历使雷雪娜同学受益匪浅,不仅有助于她提高了英语水平,还帮助她培养了跨文化交流的意识和独立思考的精神。

以下是雷雪娜同学用英语写的访美随感。

UNDER THE FOOT OFMOUNTEDGECUMBE

2009级高二文(1)班  雷雪娜

In Aug. 2010, I was so lucky to have an opportunity to become an exchange student of my school. The school I went is inSitka,Alaska, theU.S., which is namedMt.EdgecumbeHigh School.Mt.Edgecumbeis a beautiful mountain, or rather, a volcano, in the little town. In winter, it looks like theFujiMountain, so I call it “The Little Fuji”. I went there with a girl who was from the Foreign Language Middle School of Yunnan University. It was such a wonderful part of my life that I will never forget it.

When I arrived atSitka, it was a sunny day. Mr. Gelule, the principal, Mr. knapp, Miss Zhang, the Chinese teacher, and Mr. Kimber, the teacher who was in charge of this exchange program came to the airport to pick us up. They told us that it hadn’t been sunny for a long time. So lucky! I had known thatSitkais a rain country before I went.

When we went to the school, two student leaders from the Student Union helped us to find the dorm and helped us organize our things. Then, they took us to visit the school. The school is just near the sea, which is so nice.

After three days, we began our school life there. The school system is very different from that ofChina. The high schools there have four years. In each year, students just have one lesson that they must learn. Then, they can choose three lessons that they like to learn. I chose Art, English 2, Spanish and Pac Rim. We just need to take four classes a day and the curriculum is the same for every day. But each class takes 80 minutes! Students seldom have homework there, but every month, the teachers will let them do a project about what you have learned in that month . Also, the teaching methods are different, too. The teachers like to let students communicate with each other as much as possible. Students don’t have textbooks, and they can tell the teachers what they want to learn in classes.

After school, there were so many activities and clubs. We often went to the Gym to do some sports. We also went out with a staff member named Shon. He took us out of school every day. We often went hiking, went to the beach, went swimming, went to see the sunset and so on. So cool!

Every weekend, there was a party held by a student club. I made lots of friends at the parties and had lots of fun. The teachers often join in the parties with us. They were so kind and friendly.

Mr. Andrewson is a coach of the school. He has a Taiwanese wife. They have two very lovely daughters. They often took us to their home. We went fishing and did many other fun activities. They gave us so much help and so much happiness. I was so glad to know them.

We were lucky that we were able to celebrate some festivals there —— Alaska Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving Day. These festivals were very interesting and fun. But sadly, the weather was not so nice at these three festivals. So, on Halloween we just went to “trick or treat” for about an hour. Even so, I was very happy. On Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Gelule invited us to his home to spend the day with his family. There were so many kinds of animals in his house. I was very astonished and a little afraid. But, we had a very wonderful day with him.

I also learned much about the culture and history ofAlaska. The students at MEHS are from different cities inAlaska. Like inChina, I lived in the dorm. My dormmates were very nice to me. One of my dormmates was a Yupik. She told me about the rituals, life styles and cultures of her nationality. She also told me that they eat frozen whales’ fat and drink raw seals’ blood in winter. Such an amazing eating style! I can’t imagine it.

It was such a great time there. How time flies! Now, I have come back toChina. I still remember the day when I just arrived atSitka. I still remember the day when the Spanish teacher prepared the Spanish fiesta with us. I still remember the day when we cooked Chinese food with the Ras. I still remember…

InSitka, it was my first time to see so many whales and seals swimming together in the sea. It was my first time to live near the beautiful ocean. It was my first time to speak English with everyone all the time. It was my first time to learn and experience a foreign culture personally. This experience, although very short, have made me learn a lot of things. In addition to the improvement of my oral English, I think the most rewarding thing is that I witnessed and experienced the local culture in person.Sitka, the small town, with no prosperous streets or tall buildings, is full of cultures. When different cultures exist peacefully together, you will find that the world is so wonderful. There, inSitka, on the other side of the world, people are just living like that.

This visit also gives me a lot of help in my growth of social experience. I have learned how to make friends with foreigners and I have also had a deeper understanding of how to live independently.

Finally, I want to thank the people who helped me before, during and after my visit to MEHS, the teachers of my school and the teachers inSitka. Best wishes to these people and my friends in theU.S.I will always remember this experience.

 

在埃奇克姆火山脚下

                                                                                                                         —— 我的美国留学经历

 2009级高二文(1)班 雷雪娜

 2010年8月,我幸运地成为了我校的交换生,到我校在美国的友好学校Mt. Edgecumbe 高中留学4个月。Mt.Edgecumbe高中位于美国阿拉斯加州的锡特卡市。学校的名字叫做Mt.Edgecumbe 高中。Mt.Edgecumbe是锡特卡一座漂亮的休眠火山,在冬天,它看起来就像富士山一样,所以我私下把它叫做“小富士”。和我一起去的还有一个云大外国语学校的女孩。这次经历是我一生中难忘的精彩片段。

我们到锡特卡时,天气很晴朗。学校校Gelule先生, Knapp先生, 教中文的张怡老师,还有负责这个项目的Mr. Kimber先生到机场迎接我们。他们说锡特卡已经很长时间没有放晴了。看来我们到得真是时候,在去之前我就听说过锡特卡是一个雨城。

经过不到十分钟的车程,我们就到了学校。两名学生会的同学领我们找到了宿舍并且帮我们整理好了行李,随后他们便带我们参观了学校。学校靠海而建,美丽的海景尽收眼底。

经过三天的学前教育后,我们正式开始了学校生活。学校的教育体系和中国的完全不同。美国的高中一般是四年制,每年学生只有一门必修课程,剩下的课程学生可以选修自己喜欢的学习。作为交换生,我们无需上必修课,所以我选修了艺术课、英语第二语言应用第二教程、西班牙语和环太平洋研究等四门课。这样我每天有四节课,一节课八十分钟,一学期下来每一天的课程安排都是一样的。几乎每天我都没有作业,但是每个月老师都会让学生做一个课程项目来向同学展示这个月学到的知识。当然,老师的教学方式也很不同,老师们喜欢让同学在课上尽可能的互相交流、讨论学习。学生并没有课本,大家可以告诉老师在课堂上想学习的内容。

每天放学后都会有很多社团活动,不一定要加入社团,但每一样活动你都能参加。我们经常去学校的体育馆里做一些体育运动,也经常和一个叫Shon的学校工作人员外出游玩。Shon每天课后都会组织大家外出,他经常带我们去远足,去海滩或者去游泳,遇到好天气就带我们去看日落。真是太棒了!

每个周末都会有不同社团组织的聚会。在聚会中,我交了很多朋友并也得到了很多快乐。可爱的老师们也会和我们一起参加聚会。

Mr. Andrewson 是学校的一名教练。他有一个台湾籍的妻子和两个非常可爱的女儿。他们经常邀请我们去他家,而且还带我们出海钓鱼,参加镇上的活动。当我们刚去到那儿的时候,他们的家庭给了我们很多帮助,让我们更快地适应了那里的生活,我很荣幸能认识他们,同时也很感激他们。

在锡特卡的几个月,我们正好赶上了几个比较盛大的节日——阿拉斯加州庆、万圣节和感恩节。这些节日都很有意思。但不幸的是,在这些节日的那几天,一直都在下雨,天气很不好。因此,万圣节时我们只玩了不到一个小时的“招待或使坏”。即使这样,我也觉得很开心,毕竟是第一次过这个万圣节。感恩节时,校长Gelule先生邀请我们到他家和他的家人一起过节。看得出来,感恩节对于他们是一个很重要很神圣的节日,在经过一系列的祷告之后,我们享用了他妻子为我们准备的美味的晚餐。那是很美妙的一天!

在锡特卡,我还了解到了许多关于阿拉斯加的历史和文化。Mt.Edgecumbe高中的学生来自阿拉斯加的不同城市。像在星耀校区一样,大家都住在学校宿舍。我的一名舍友是魁北克人,她告诉了我很多关于他们名族的文化、习俗和生活方式。她告诉我他们在冬天时会吃生鲸鱼脂肪,喝生海豹血来御寒。这不禁让我感到震惊。

在锡特卡的那段日子是如此的美妙。时间如流水,现在,我已经回国一段时间了。我依然记得我们刚刚到达锡特卡的时候,我依然记得每节课上老师和同学们的欢笑,我依然记得我们在宿舍的厨房教宿管们做中国菜,我依然记得……

在锡特卡,我第一次见到了那么多的鲸鱼、海豹和水母共游的奇妙画面;我第一次在美丽的海岸边生活了那么长时间;我第一次一睁眼就得说一天的英文;我第一次亲历学习了异国文化。这次经历,时间虽然不长,但我却有了太多的收获。除了提高我的英语口语能力之外,我想我最大的收获就是亲自目睹并体验了美国文化。锡特卡,和我之前想象的太不一样,这个小小的城市,没有喧嚣的街市和高楼大厦,但这个充满文化、美景、闲适和宁静的小城早已使我折服。当不同的文化交汇在一起,你会发现原来世界如此奇妙,原来在地球的另一边,人们就是这样生活着。

这次的访问学习,在社会经验上也给了我很多的帮助。我学到了如何去和外国人交朋友,并且对如何独立生活有了更多的经验和更深的理解。

最后,我想感谢在我这次去美国学习的前前后后帮助过我的人——云大附中和Mt.Edgecumbe 高中的老师们。我要给这些老师和我在美国的朋友们送上最好的祝福,我将永远不会忘记这次经历。