节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-03-01
难易度:Low
关键字:extremely, locker, specific, tray, elementary, beforehand, passionately
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
My name is Carolyn.
And it is the first day of March.
And today we will be continuing with our EXCHANGE series and learn more about
Alex's life as an exchange student in Mountain Lake, Minnesota.
We've already learned a bit about Alex over the past two months.
Right.
First we learned about his decision to study abroad.
Last month we learned about where he was going.
He was a bit nervous, but I'm sure that it was a very exciting year.
Now open up your magazine to the first lesson of the month, School Life, and
let's learn.
(Music).
School Life.
So many surprises!
Two weeks after I arrived, school started.
I was extremely nervous before that.
I didn't know what my school life, classmates or teachers would be like.
On my five-minute walk to school, I prepared myself for possible challenges.
First I went to my locker, which my host dad had shown me beforehand.
This is something very different for me.
In Taipei, most of our classes are in the same classroom, so we put our things
in our desks.
But in America we went to specific classrooms for specific classes.
So everyone put things in lockers.
Hi, everyone.
(Chinese).
Thank you, Michelle.
Well, I think the first day of school is a bit scary for anyone.
It's hard to prepare yourself for the new environment.
I think you're right, Gabe.
This is especially true when you are going to a new school.
You don't know the teachers, the students, where the classrooms are; there are a
lot of uncertainties.
Yes, there are.
It can be even scarier when you are going to a school in another country.
Not only do you not know anyone, but you also have no idea what to expect from
your classes or the way the school works.
Ah, yes. So Alex was worried about school life.
That's the title of our lesson.
So let's take a moment to think about what that means.
Gabe, what is school life?
Well, your school life includes all of the things you do at school.
So this is everything, from classes, reading, studying and homework to sports,
clubs, lunchtime, breaks, school rules, transportation to school and many other
things.
Wow, there are a lot of different areas to school life.
So what things make up your school life?
What do you do on a regular basis at school?
Talk about that in English.
Now Gabe, we could talk about other things in the same way, right?
Uh, right.
Actually, you could talk about your home life, the things that happen in your
home.
Or your work life. You could... talk also about your church life.
What things are you involved with at church?
Ah! Well, I hope you have a great church life, a great work life and... wait, I
hope you have a great life.
And today we learned about Alex's school life in the U.S.
But before we start to discuss his school life, we need to take a look at a
grammar point with Liz.
Let's join her now.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
Here's our Grammar Tip sentence from today's article:
I didn't know what my school life, classmates or teachers would be like.
Notice the phrase: what [something]... would be like.
It's a phrase people use to tell others about the qualities of something.
In the case of today's sentence, the writer did not know much about his new
school life, classmates or teachers, so he did not know what they would be like.
In the same way, if you're unclear about something, its qualities or how things
are going to happen, you can use this phrase: what something would be like.
For example:
Irene has never been on a plane and often wonders what it would be like to fly
somewhere.
Or: Randy is nervous about meeting his girlfriend's parents; he has no idea what
they would be like.
Want more example sentences?
You'll find them in today's Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom
magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
So Alex didn't know what his school life would be like.
He wasn't sure what to expect because schools in different countries work very
differently.
And Alex points out some of the larger differences between his school in Taipei
and his exchange school in the U.S.
Yes. Perhaps the first big change was that his school was only a five-minute
walk away.
That's fantastic.
Alex grew up in Taipei, where many students have to travel long distances on the
bus or MRT to their... or their parents have to drop them off.
And that's a good phrase to know when talking about school: to drop someone off.
Now what does it mean if you drop someone off?
That means that you take someone to a place and leave them there.
So parents can take their children to school and drop them off.
The children stay at school, and the parents leave.
Or if you're married and only have one car or scooter, you could drop your
husband or wife off at work.
So you drive them to their office first, then let them get out of the car, and
then you drive yourself to work.
You could also drop someone off at the airport.
Or you could use this when talking about a bus.
The bus will drop you off at the bus station.
But you don't say that I dropped off the bus.
You should say I got off the bus.
Very good point.
Well, no one needed to drop Alex off at school because he just lived five
minutes away.
That's one advantage of living in a small town instead of big city.
I walked to school every day until I started high school.
What? Well, what happened when you started high school?
Well, the high school was built on the edge of town, so I had to take a school
bus.
Now that is an interesting thing that you see at schools in the United States:
school buses.
These are long buses owned by the school districts that are used to transport
students to and from school.
School buses are usually bright yellow, and only students can ride them.
Each bus has a number, and stops at different places within the school district.
Some buses have to travel very far to get to students' houses.
Wait. You mean the buses actually go to your house, not a bus stop?
Well, the buses do have certain stops, but usually those are right in front of a
neighborhood.
When I rode the bus for high school, I had to walk to the junior high and get on
the bus there because there wasn't a stop at my house.
Ah, I see. So school buses are pretty interesting.
They make it very easy for students to get to and from school.
But if you miss the bus, there isn't another one.
You have to find a different way to get to school.
Yes, missing the bus was certainly a downside, especially since there weren't
any taxis.
Well, that would make it pretty difficult.
Now one other difference that Alex noticed was that he had to change classrooms
for each class.
In Taipei, he spent most of his time in his homeroom.
Another great word for us to talk about: homeroom.
In most U.S. schools, a homeroom is where you report once during the day for
announcements, report cards or other things like that.
But in Alex's school in Taipei, a homeroom was where he spent the majority of
his time.
Most of his classes were taught in this room, probably by his homeroom teacher.
Well, we still have a lot more to learn about Alex's experience right after
this.