School Days in Japan

Students in Japan go to school just like you do. In Japan, school is very important. Japanese children and their teachers stay at school for 240 days a year. They even go to school every other Saturday! The school year is from April to March.

Each school decides(决定) what the students should wear. Some Japanese students wear uniforms(校服) while other students wear everyday clothes. Many students wear bright yellow hats as they walk to and from school. Yellow hats make it easy for drivers to see the children.

Japanese students study many different subjects. Their teachers teach them math, reading, science and social studies(社会学). They also learn to use computers, speak English and write Japanese.

In Japanese schools, students still learn a lot outside the classroom. They go on field trips. What’s more, everyone is in some kind of school club. There are clubs for students who want to learn more about computers. There are science clubs and sports clubs.

In Japanese schools, children work very hard. They learn many things. They enjoy spending time with their friends, especially(尤其) during lunch and at breaks between classes.

Some Grade Nine students at Sunshine Secondary School wanted to create a newspaper. They had a meeting yesterday. Daniel wrote this report about their meeting for the principal.

We had a meeting after school. Helen, Tony, John, Millie and I were at the meeting. First, we wanted to choose the chief editor (主编). Tony suggested that we should choose Helen, because she had experience. She was editor of her class Newspaper last year. So we all voted for her. We chose Helen to be the chief editor.

Then Helen hosted the meeting. She said that we ought to choose a person to take notes. She asked for suggestions. Millie suggested me, because I had experience too. I was secretary of the Drama Club last year. The others voted for me, and I was chosen to be the secretary. I started taking notes.

Helen said that the other three would be editors of the paper. They would write for different sections (版面) of the paper. Then we made a list of three things we should discuss — how often should the paper come out? What sections should we have? What should we call the paper?

We all had different ideas, so Helen said that we should think about them a bit longer. We would make a decision at the next meeting. We arranged to have the next meeting in one week’s time.

No. 1 Middle School opens a reading club. It’s a good place for students to read books. It helps students get into(养成) a good reading habit(习惯). There are some rules(规则) for the students.

No running! Running helps people keep healthy, but Read for Fun is not a sports club. It’s a club for book lovers. So, do not run in the reading club.

No shouting(大声喊)! It’s OK for the students to talk about books with friends in the club. But they can’t make much noise(噪音). The reading club is a good place to read books.

No littering! Students need to keep the club clean. They can’t throw litter(扔垃圾) everywhere.

No food! Students can’t bring food into the club. Because the smell(味道) of the food is not good.