College Life

Very large classes, may have 400-500 students for first two years for prerequisites (general knowledge) Please feel free to talk about your own experiences in college. Students think that it’s very interesting. Image courtesy of smokedsalmon at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You don’t have the same classmates for most classes You don’t have the same classmates for most classes. (They are your classmates, not students) This is a strange concept for them because in high school and college they stay with the same classmates for every class (for the most part) every year. Also often students when talking about their classmates will call them their ‘students’. I like to emphasize that a teacher has ‘students’, they have ‘classmates’. Images courtesy of imagerymajestic, stockimages, stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last two years classes are smaller for your major, about 100 students Image courtesy of crimalatt at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are students of all ages-young and old. They think that this is strange because this basically never happens in China. I explain how some retirees will take classes. Images courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You can choose your own major In China students pick what majors they prefer to study, but many of them aren’t allowed to study the major they picked because many students with higher grades also picked that major. As a result the student will be assigned another major. Most English majors didn’t pick English as their first choice. Go around and ask if they got to study the major that they wanted to. Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How do you say ‘我的专业是英文.’ in English? Chinese will mistakenly say “My major is …” even after graduation.

If you are still a student it’s ‘My major is English If you are still a student it’s ‘My major is English.’ If you already graduated it’s ‘My major was English.’

You can change your major any time. Students think this is interesting because it’s almost impossible to do in China. Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are many study halls and libraries for each major. Image courtesy of pannawat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The area where you shower is called the locker room. Lockers

我有一个考试。 This means ‘I have a test/exam.’ Many mistakenly say ‘I’m going to take part in a test’. Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Take a test/have a test (NOT ‘Take part in a test Take a test/have a test (NOT ‘Take part in a test.’) (Test is just for one subject. Exam is for many subjects.) John has a test. I have an exam at the end of the semester. Sarah has an exam next week. She is taking a biology test tomorrow. When is your math test?

我要参加比赛。 Many mistakenly say ‘I’m going to take part in a competition’ when they should say ‘I’m going to be in a competition’. Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Barry is going to be in a competition Barry is going to be in a competition. (NOT ‘Barry is going to take part in a competition.’) Bob has a competition this weekend. Bob is going to be in a competition this weekend.

You can also change colleges You can also change colleges. Your credits from your first college can transfer to another college. They think that this is interesting because it’s almost impossible to do in China.

Only 40% live in dorms, the others live with their parents or in an apartment off campus. They think that this is interesting because every college student lives on campus in a dorm. Make sure they know what a ‘dorm’ means, most don’t know this word but they may know the word ‘dormitory’. Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Out-of-state tuition If you go to University outside of your home state in America you have to pay double or more for tuition. They think that this is strange because in Chinese it’s the same tuition for everyone. Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If a student is really good at a sport or really smart the college will give them a scholarship. There are some scholarships in China, most are small. You could ask the students if any of them have received one. Image courtesy of hywards at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are college sports teams. The public pays to see them play. This is unheard of in China. Image courtesy of digidreamgrafix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many businesses give student discounts. There are student discounts in China too. You could ask them what kind of discounts they receive. Images courtesy of digitalart , Ohmega1982 , digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tuition and textbooks are very expensive Tuition and textbooks are very expensive. It’s an average of $10-20,000 USD per year. They think that this is interesting because the tuition in China isn’t considered too expensive. Image courtesy of hywards at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Many people get student loans from the university to pay for the schooling. When you graduate you have to start paying the loan back. This isn’t the case in China.

Many take classes or get their degree online. I have never heard of this being possible in China. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are also community colleges (technical colleges) to learn a skill in one or two years. (职业学校)

Where does she go to school? What is her major? Did she choose her own major? She has changed her major before, what was her major before? How many years has she been going to school? Does she have a boyfriend? If yes, who is he? How many classes does she have every week? Does she have a part-time job? If yes, what does she do? Who is her best friend at school? How many classes do they have together? She has some classmates who are more than 30 years old, describe them. Does she study hard? How many hours does she spend studying every day? What other activities at school does she participate in? What does she not like about her school? What does she like about her school? How much does she study before taking a test? What competitions has she been in? Has she received any scholarships? If yes, how much? Have students get in pairs to ask each other these questions. Make sure that it isn’t just one person asking all the questions and one person doing all the answering. Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net