American high school life: IMSA

AURORA, Ill. -- On April 15, we went to Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) to learn about the American high school life by attending classes, having lunch at their canteen and hanging out with the students from the academy. We were separated into small groups and visited different classrooms.

Praew: First I went to Chemistry class, where the students were reviewing for the exam on the coming Tuesday. Three girls I sat with during class then took me to tour around the school. I saw lots of artwork along the way. This hallway was decorated with wall sculpture made of colour pillows. It was beautiful and creative.

The second class that I attendeded was Biology class, which specializes in diseases. The teacher assigned students to do report about disease they are interested in and they had to present to other students. Then they discussed and used their tablet computers to find more information. I think this class is very interesting beacause of the way they learn their subject. After that I had a few hour break for lunch and playing games with my new IMSA friends, who were very kind and friendly. Calculus was my last class. The teacher used computer graphics to teach students. The computer graphic made me, who did not know Calculus before, understand it. I had a great time there and I hope schools in Thailand will be developed as good as IMSA.

Brenda: Since Praew and I got separated, I had to attend History class for the first period. The teacher was Dr. Clay Skinner, the teacher who came to NIU to explain about the river ecology of Bubbly Creek on April 12. We watched a short video, History of Technology, which consists of two parts. It emphasizes mainly on transportation using boats and ships. Then we went to the class next door, which was the math class (CALCULUS!!!). I was hoping to work on the problems with the students there but unfortunately, I hadn't learned the topic taught on that day. But it was fine because I learned new lessons. After lunch, the last class I attended was political science. They talked about what happened where between 1953 and 1961. I learned that the needs of the Third World to be modernized include having skilled people, financial support, education, industries, and so forth.

Praew: During the lunch break, we were separated into different tables so that we could chat with the students. I enjoyed the food. My favourites were fish curry and ice cream! We then went to the meeting place to play get-to-know games. The first one was to form a circle with one person in the middle with their shoes taken off. He/she was to introduce himself/herself and say one thing about him/her (e.g., I love dancing). Those who are in common with that person will have to move away from their places and the one without a pair of shoes will go in the middle. Another one was TRUE or FALSE game where each person had to say 3 facts, where two of them are true and the other is false and the rest of the players will have to guess which one is incorrect. Finally, we went up to the library, where we chatted with students (again) and read books.

Visiting IMSA was a great fun and we learned the difference between high schools in Asia and the ones in Western countires. These include:

• Students here do not hesitate to raise any questions about the topics in class and teachers are willing to answer them.



• Students can choose the subjects they want to study, where for us, we can only choose when we get to universities.



• Students are provided with laptops they are allowed to use in class so that they can "Google" the information they want to know immediately.



• A lot of presentations are done: the teachers use media to explain the lessons, which seems more interesting.



• The interaction between students and teachers is more like friends there, which is good because teachers can know the needs of their students more easily.



• They don't have uniforms.



• We have morning assembly in our countries.



• There are only a few people in one class, which makes the learning more effective.



• There is a large variety of subjects to choose at IMSA.

Praew (Thailand) and Brenda (Burma)