School in Japan is interesting. When I used to teach children and junior high school students, I remember how tired many of the students were when they came to class. Each and every one of them were loaded with homework, studying, and club activities. I would ask them what time they would wake up and it was always before 6 a.m.. These students were around 10-12 years in age, and they already had a rough schedule like this. I could not believe it! When I was their age, I did my homework and made good grades, but I also played video games and watched TV.
However, college was a little different than what I was expecting. For me, I had to do a lot of research and consistently write papers. The same was for graduate school, where writing papers longer than 20 pages wasn’t uncommon. My Japanese friend was surprised. For him, university life was fun and engaging, where he would go out to drink with friends and party. Granted, this was undergraduate, so I’m sure it is different in the graduate level, but it was an interesting contrast.
In America, junior high school (or “middle school”) and high school isn’t as busy or difficult as it is in Japan. But apparently, it switches around when university starts, as universities in America require quite a lot of studying compared to Japan.
Questions:
1) What was your life like in junior high school? How busy were you?
2) What club activities were you in when you were in junior high school and high school?
3) Did you go to university? If you did, what did you study?
4) Did you ever go to school in another country? If so, where did you go?
5) What clubs or circles were you in in college? What did you do?
Key Words and Phrases:
were loaded with / in age / expecting /consistently
granted / undergraduate / graduate / Apparently
日本語訳
日本の学校生活は興味深いものです。子どもや中学生を教えていた頃、授業に来る生徒の多くがとても疲れていたのを覚えています。宿題や勉強、部活動で皆忙しく、起きる時間を聞くといつも午前6時より前でした。まだ10～12歳なのに、すでにそんな大変な予定で生活しているとは信じられませんでした。私がその年頃だったときは、宿題をしてよい成績を取っていましたが、ゲームをしたりテレビを見たりする時間もありました。
一方、大学生活は私が予想していたものとは少し違いました。私は大量の資料を調べ、常に論文を書かなければなりませんでした。大学院でも同じで、20ページを超える論文を書くのは珍しくありませんでした。日本人の友人は驚いていました。友人にとって大学生活は楽しく刺激的で、友人と飲みに行ったり、パーティーをしたりするものでした。もちろん学部での話なので、大学院では違うと思いますが、興味深い対照でした。
アメリカの中学校や高校は、日本ほど忙しくも難しくもありません。しかし大学に入ると逆転するようで、アメリカの大学では日本より多くの勉強が求められます。
質問
1）中学生の頃はどんな生活でしたか。どれくらい忙しかったですか。
2）中学や高校ではどんな部活動に参加しましたか。
3）大学へ行きましたか。行ったなら、何を学びましたか。
4）外国の学校へ行ったことはありますか。どこですか。
5）大学ではどんなクラブやサークルに入り、何をしていましたか。
重要な単語・表現
were loaded with：…を大量に抱えていた／in age：年齢が…で／expecting：予想していた／consistently：絶えず／granted：確かに／undergraduate：学部生／graduate：大学院生／apparently：どうやら