Kat (Germany): My high school in Germany was really small, only about1 a thousand
people, and it was a very close-knit2 community. In a German high
school, there are students from ten years old to twenty years old, so it's a
really nice family atmosphere.
Mike (Singapore): My
high school, it's an international school. Students are from ... well, majority3 of students
are from Asia, but we do have students from Europe and from the Americas, and I
like the multicultural environment4.
It's very nice.
Paul (England): My
high school was a grammar school, which meant
that5 we had to take
an exam6 to get
into7 it. It was also an all-boys school8. And it's quite a prestigious school within9 the area, due to10 the entrance exam11, so the academic
level at the school is quite high. But also, with it being an all-boys school,
there was very strong focus on sports.
Tim (United States): I
went to a public high school, which is paid
by local taxes12, so since13
I had kind of a wealthier town14,
we had a nice school. There are a lot of art programs and technology programs
and a lot of good teachers - not too many students there, only about a hundred
and eighty students in my class.
Warren (Canada): Well,
my high school was from Grade Eight15
to Twelve, so that would be about thirteen to seventeen. It was a fairly large16
school, mostly because17
there are so many grades, but each grade had a fair amount of students as
well19. They weren't that well known for20 sports or the arts; they're more
of an academic school, but we did have a pretty good track21 and field and we had some nice basketball courts22
as well. My favorite thing to do there was to play in the basketball courts.
Dani (England): Well,
my high school, for me, kind of has two parts, because to begin with, when I
entered my high school, it was completely different to when I left23. Because while24 I was there, they actually rebuilt24 it, so first, it looked kind of interesting25. There were lots of
different buildings, different shapes26,
different sizes. By the time27
I left, everything was kind of uniform and box-shaped28, and it looked terrible.
Vocabulary
1. About
= aproximadamente
2.
close-knit = unida
3. majority
= maioria
4. environment
= ambiente
5. meant
that = significava que
6.
take
an exam = fazer um teste
7.
get into = entrar
8.
all-boys school = escola somente para meninos
9.
within = dentro de
10.
due to = devido a
11.
entrance
exam = exame de entrada (vestibular)
12.
paid
by local taxes = pago por impostos locais
13.
since = uma vez que
14.
wealthier town = cidade mais rica
15.
Grade Eight = oitava série
16.
fairly large = bastante grande
17.
mostly because = principalmente porque
18.
fair amount of = grande quantidade de
19.
as well = também
20.
well
known for = bem conhecido por
21.
track = pista
22.
basketball courts = quadras de basquete
23.
when
I left = quando eu sai
24. rebuilt = reconstruiram
25.
looked kind of interesting = parecia meio que
interessante
26.
shapes = formas
27.
By
the time = Na época em que
28.
box-shaped
= em forma de caixa