You may feel curious about students in other countries. Do they have so much homework? What do they do in their free time? People did a survey (调查) in China, Japan, South Korea and the US last year. This is the result.

Who studies hardest?

Chinese students spend the most time studying. Nearly half of the Chinese students spend more than two hours on their homework every day. That’s much more than students of the US(26.4%), Japan(8.2%) and South Korea(5.2%).

Who sleeps most often in class?

Japanese students fall asleep in class most often. About 45% of them said they sometimes dozed off in class. In South Korea, it’s 32%; in the US, 21%; and 5% in China.

Who is the most distracted (分心的)?

American students are the most active (活跃的) in class, but also the most distracted: 64.2% of them talk with friends in class; 46.9% of them eat something in class; and 38.9% of them listen to music or read other books in class.

What do they do after school?

In their free time, most Chinese students study or use the Internet. Most American students go out with their friends. Most Japanese students do exercise. Most Korean students watch TV.

Caroline, Sarah and Nadia are all students at Park School, in the north-west of England. It’s an all-girls school. The school for boys is not far away in the same town.

The three girls are all 14 and they’re in Grade 9. During the school day, they study subjects on the National Curriculum(课程): subjects like English, Maths, History, Geography, PE and ICT (Information and Communication Technology). They also study two or three languages (for example, French or Spanish) and they do Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. And they each take two creative subjects: they can choose from Music Technology and Drama. And there’s more.

“The school’s got lots of extra-curricular things too — especially clubs,” says Nadia. “There’s a horse-riding club and a gymnasts club. Lots of the clubs meet at lunchtime, but some of them are after-school clubs.”

Caroline says, “There’s a theatre group, and a school orchestra(管弦乐队). I’m in the orchestra — I play the trombone(长号).” “My favorite club is the pottery(陶器) club,” says Sarah. “I love doing artistic things. But I’m in the sailing club, too. The boys from the boys’ school come to this club too. We learn about sailing during the week, and then some weekends we sail in a lake near here.”

The clubs at the school are all free. They think these clubs can develop(发展) their own interests and hobbies.

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English Students Education

English schools begin in September after a long summer holiday. There are two terms in a school year. The first term is from September to January, and the second term is from February to June. Most English children begin to go to school when they are five years old. When they finish high school, they are seventeen or eighteen years old.

High school students take only five or six subjects each term. They usually go to the same class every day, and they have homework for ever class. After class, they do a lot of interesting things. After high school, many students go to college. They usually have to pay a lot of money. So they have to work after class to get money for their studies.