"What is this...?"
Gender: None specified
Location: Shanghai, China
Rank: Decisive Witness
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:21 am
Posts: 194
I'm currently in 11th grade (I go to an international school in Shanghai), and have these classes-
Pre-Calculus
Biology
Comparative Government (history of various governments and current politics)
Language Composition
Choir (it's a joke, really- there's only 5 people and 1 isn't there half the time)
Modular Technology (basically a class where people work on learning various computer-related things- what is it with everyone and 3D design anyway

?)
Spanish (I still wonder why I picked this over AP Mandarin(Chinese) given that I am a native speaker)
About my teachers-
Pre-calculus teacher is harsh sometimes but OK most of the time. He doesn't actually check homework but rather gives a little quiz to test if you've actually *done it* rather than just copy your work off of someone else. Quite ingenious, really.
Biology teacher is mostly OK but the requirement that chapter notes be turned in is quite annoying. I did perfect 100% on the past 2 tests and had a 77% average because I turned in my notes late; I always forget(

). And we're on the reproductive system, so the usual "inappropriate comments" flow around.
Comparative Government teacher is also the coach for the basketball team, but she's not biased or anything. She actually gets into what she teaches, and is a bit of an activist. That's what I like about her- she makes you care about the topic she's teaching.
Language Composition teacher- She's quite a bit like the Comparative Government teacher (apart from being a coach). Her only other distinguishing quality is that she's from Alabama, and you can hear it in her voice.
Choir teacher is a bit like

- She's all smiles and sugar most of the time, but when she gets on a sticking point (like the fact that she was hired to teach the kindergarten and elementary music classes instead of high school choir) she rants herself to the breaking point (and I got yelled at too- but that's because I was expressing my shock that the "choir" was only 5 people).
Modular Technology was made to have minimal teacher interaction, so I can't really say anything about this other than the fact that the choice of available programs sucks. I wanted to do some basic networking/hardware stuff but couldn't because the school didn't have the resources.
Spanish- The teacher is pretty laid-back except when certain times roll around (tests/quizzes/when the movers annoyed him a lot over the weekend since he's moving to Oregon next year). The assignments are pretty easy too. I still kind of regret this class, though- it almost got me a sexual harassment charge from one of the girl students (no, she had no case- it was just a case of selective memory where she thought she saw me every time she turned around and thought that I was stalking her because of that).
Occassionally, there are subs-
1. -A New Zealander that's quite like

- I just hate him because he's way more strict than the teachers he substitutes for.
2. Mario (something I can't pronounce)- Believe it or not- this teacher is female. Only she and her kid (in 5th grade) know her last name- everyone else, even the students, call her Mario. She's from Finland and she's a PE teacher. She seems to be on the ball most of the time.
3. Chris- Again, like Mario- no one calls him by his last name, and he's quite laid-back, like the substitute he replaces (only cases are biology and comparative government).
4. (some African name that I can't remember)- This teacher got a reputation at the last school he taught as a "bully teacher" and the students at my school call him "Mr. Chewbacca". Enough said.
my classes as they are right now-
It's nearing the end of the year, and the projects are being piled on me. First Comparative Government, and then English. The good news is that these classes have no finals because of the projects

.The other classes, not so much. Also- I have prom coming up in a few days (the whole high school is invited since if it was limited to seniors there'd be all of 8 people- no, I'm not joking) and an internship after that. My school has a program with local businesses where they can arrange for student interns to work there to get work experience. This lasts for 2 weeks and is right after prom. Oh, joy. At least I get no homework during these 2 weeks, but I got Best Buy (yes, there is one in China, and the one I'm interning at is the only one in this whole country). I also have to take the SAT on June 2nd.
So all in all- the experience was fun, but I won't regret leaving.
BTW- someone asked here earlier what A-levels would be in the US. The US equivalent would be the APs. (Even more fun- the school is so small that classes have to be relocated because of exams).

Future Edgeworth!