A Year at an American High School

Task 1

Find out:
1. Where Ketil went to school
- Rowland High School in California

2. How he got to know people
- The teachers had him to talk about himself in front of classes and the other students became curious and began to ask questions about Norway. That is how he made friends.

3. The subjects he studied
- One of his subjects was “Getting Around”, where he learnt to handle bank and money matters, and even to organize a wedding. The point of this subject was to prepare the students for life.

4. What he did in leisure time
- He played soccer at the school’s soccer team
- He also went to the dessert with his family, and they let him drive a dune buggy and a dirt bike.
- He also went shooting with his hostfather who was a gun freak, and he visited both Disneyland and Disney World.

5. What made Tonje’s school somewhat special
- She went to Fallbrook High School. There were 2400 students there, including a lot of Mexicans and a few Blacks. It was an outdoor school with no corridors; the classroom doors lead straight out into the open. Even the lockers, where they kept all their vooks and other belongings, were outside.

6. How big the classes were at her school
- In most classes there were 25-35 students, so you could only talk to the teachers if you really had a problem.

7. What kind of food they had for lunch
- It doesn’t say, but some brought lunch from home, others bought lunch in the school cafeteria.

8. How the students were informed about daily events at the school
- Every morning at 8 you could watch school news on TV screens in every classroom. I think the students were informed about the daily events there.


Task 2

True or False

1. There is a national school system in the USA.
- False. In the USA there is no national school system. Each state decides how its schools are to be organized.

2. Schools are run on a local level.
- True

3. There is homogenous grouping in some American schools, which means that young people with all sorts of ability are mixed in each subject class.
- False. A homogenous grouping in some American Schools does not mean that young people with all sorts of ability are mixed in each subject class.

1. After-school activities are an important part of life in American schools.
- True.

2. Southern California has a hot, dry desert climate.
- True.

3. Students from poor families often go hungry during the school day.
- True. Their lunch is not free.

4. Class sizes in the USA are about the same as in Norwegian schools.
- True. We are 29 students in my class.

5. The school day begins with morning prayer.
- False. They say the Pledge of Allegiance.

6. Most states in the USA guarantee students 12 years of schooling.
- True.

7. Most schools do not care whether students feel much school spirit or not. Students come and go as they please.
- False. They have to come to school every morning at 8 and go home 3 in the afternoon.