Catégorie : Schools

Enka High School

 

Every morning before going to high school, we went to an elementary school for like two hours. My pen friend, Kayla Justus, was learning how to lead and teach a 2nd grade and 3rd grade class, which is the equivalent of “CE1” and “CE2”. 

She was doing this in the aim to attend the Appalachian State University next year and to major  in Secondary Education at the end of the year.

Every day, Kayla and the teacher, Mrs Wallace, led me do some interesting things with the pupils linked with their lessons which was segregation. For instance I would read some books to pupils and  I would help kids research some African-American figures like Angela Davis and Martin Luther King for example.

    Then, we had to leave the elementary school to go to highschool. Her main classes this semester were English, an hour of autonomous study after lunch which obviously was kind of boring for me so I would meet Sarah in the fitness hall, and then she had Civics lesson. 

   

It was such a great experience. I’ve met people which were totally different from each others sometimes. That was so cool and interesting. 

 

Enka was a typical american high school that you can often see in Tv series like with football and baseball fields, the Cheerleaders, the gossips between different groups and obviously a totally different atmosphere than in France, which was like kind of stress free. I have really appreciated my experience here. 

By Coline Billy

SILSA was one of the schools that some of the american students were going to and that we had the opportunity to visit. The School of Inquiry & Life Sciences at Asheville is an Highschool located near downtown Asheville and not far from the Biltmore Village. It is a really big school but for only 330 students.

The school day was beginning at 8 o’clock and every class lasted 1h30. During the day, American students could have between 3 and 4 classes. Students had only between 15 and 30 minutes to eat their lunch. My exchange partner attended a few classes but really fewer than in France. We attended English, Statistics, Chemistry and a psychology class which was outside of the school in a University nearby.

The classes weren’t like in France at all. Students were more free and they could kind of do whatever they wanted to. But this « freedom » doesn’t make the class messy at all and it encouraged students to be autonomous. In addition, students  could eat their lunches in the corridors or even sometimes during the classes.

Something that really shocked me was the fact that in some classes, students were not really working and were just talking with the teacher. It wasn’t like in France where we have to work during an hour long doing exercises or writing notes. In SILSA, sometimes they were just chatting.

I had a great time seeing the different classes but sometimes it could be a bit boring because I just felt like I was an outsider. Also, when the students had to work on their computer I couldn’t really participate.

I found the school very big, with a lot of rooms and many different buildings. Also, I noticed that almost every students were coming with a car or on foot which is not like in France where a lot of students are commuting to school.

 

By Louis Théobald

           After watching several tv shows featuring a high school student as the main character, you can imagine how excited I was to attend an American high school! Watching it on screen is way more different from reality. Let’s figure it out!

            I was lucky enough to be part of the four students out of thirty to go to Asheville High School. Since Lana, my host, was studying there, I followed her through her school days. The building is amazing! To see old red bricks was surprising but in a very good way. Waking up at 7 am, a quick breakfast, driving to school and there we go! Every day was the same way. Each lesson lasted between 30 minutes and 1 hour and a half hour and were called period. School days were made of 5. When I opened the door, what struke me the most were the desks. Each student had his own desk. No defined places, people could sit wherever they wanted to. Teachers were already waiting for them. No time to waste, the lesson started. All of them wrote down what the teacher was saying on their computers, covered up with stickers, just for fun or in order to spread messages as a piece of work, a little part of themselves that they shared with their classmates. The room’s friendly atmosphere helps to focus. What a pleasure to hear speaking English all day long. I miss it so much.

    French classes were the funniest and the most exciting hours of the day. How interesting it was to see how foreigners learned and saw your language. It was a pleasure to help them do exercises. Sometimes, I couldn’t even be helpful since I wasn’t able to explain how something worked as. Then you can understand the struggles and the little tricky parts of your mother tongue.

            What a shock I had when I realized students only had 20 minutes for lunch and that they just ate a sandwich. The first day, I was starving but I think I could have get used to.

                 Even if I only spent few days there, I can say that movies always emphasize the reality. People just come as they are, do their stuff and live their own life. I felt comfortable, I wasn’t afraid of being judged because of my clothes or my haircut. Of course, it is true that school’s corridors are lined with lockers on each side, and that the school’s emblems are everywhere and cheerleaders do exist but don’t always trust what you see on screen. Try to build your own opinion and to get your point of view.

                  I really enjoyed attending school in another country. To see how it worked has helped me taking steps back and opening my mind to other school system. I feel so lucky to have lived such an experience and be sure, i’ll try again !

By Emma Lesaffre