Chinese Students Learning And Sharing Oskaloosa

The Chinese students have been learning about the education system in Oskaloosa during their visit.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Four students from China have been calling Oskaloosa home for over 4 weeks now. The students talked about the differences between the two cultures.

The four students adopted American names during their visit. Vincent, Sophie, Kassey and Rain were just returning from a day at Adventureland when we caught up with them at the Oskaloosa Middle School.

Vincent said that during his four weeks in Oskaloosa, he has enjoyed meeting the people, saying they are very nice. He enjoyed his time at OHS, “I like it here very much”.

“I think the life here is totally different from the one I had in China,” added Sophie.

Sophie said that not only has her knowledge of Oskaloosa grown, but also her understanding of Oskaloosans and their habits, “and I like it here”.

“I think the school is good and has a lot of activities,” Kassey added. Kassey has enjoyed watching the local track season unfold. Softball is another activity that Kassey has come to enjoy.

Rain agreed with her peers in that the teachers and students at Oskaloosa were very friendly, “and they helped me a lot”.

“I tried lots of new food,” added Rain, “Very delicious food here, like pork chops, corn, sweet potatoes. It’s really delicious.”

When Rain brought up food, Vincent teased, “I’m already hungry”, even though it was just mid morning.

The students are here, learning more about America, Iowa and Oskaloosa, as part of a student program developed with the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School. The school is located in the Hebei Province in China.

This spring, a group of middle school students visited the school in China during their spring break. Their trip came as the result of a group of middle school students from China visiting Oskaloosa for a week last year.

This most recent visit will lead to opportunities for Oskaloosa students visiting China in return.

The air in Iowa is something every student agrees upon. “It is very clean,” is a common statement by any of the visitors.

Another interesting difference, says Rain, is in music. “My host family, the girl drives to school every day. We listen to music very loudly in the car. And American music, like Pop, is very high and very happy things, It makes you happy and the rythm of it is really strong.”

Rain is fond of the song by Maroon 5 titled “Sugar”. Follow this link for a Youtube Video of the song.

Rain says that Chinese songs are romantic and soft, “Slow and peaceful.”

American music is available to students, like Rain, at home in China, but it’s not the normal music heard every day. The students at the foreign language school have used American music as a way to practice English.

Even though the cultures may be different, Rain sees both peoples as very similar. “Warm hearted and very open to each other.”

Rain said that many of those similariaties, between the two peoples, help both groups of people communicate with each other “smoothly”.

Vincent added that he sees many similarities in home life and the desire for families to be together and spend time with each other.

Initially, Sophie said that she thought that American students didn’t have as much homework as Chinese students. But, after spending time with her host family, Sophie says that American students have just as much homework as they do. “Actually, they (American students) are really tired and busy.”

“The biggest thing I have learned from here is… if you want to get success, you have to put [in] more time and effort,” Sophie added.

Food and meal time are things that really stand out to the students. Eating when hungry and eating on the run are American traits. “I think it’s because you pay attention to the effeciency of everything,” said Rain on American eating habits. “That is why you eat very fast.”

When they are done with their time in Oskaloosa and the United States, Rain said, “I think we should go back to our school and talk to our classmates, our schoolmates and the teachers in our school, to tell them how American school works and how their students spend their day in a school.”

Flexibility and the freedom to choose their own classes is different from those in China. “Maybe that is something we can learn,” said Rain, “Because the students have their own advantages and disadvantages. They want you to go further on the advantages.”

In the long term, the students hope that the exchange of cultures will help both countries have a better understanding of each other.