Schools in Japan

Schools in Japan

Japanese high school student spends 240 days a year at school – that’s 45 days more than in the UK! Classes are large with about 40 – 45 students in the class. At the end of the school day, all students take part in soji – they sweep the classroom and corridors, empty rubbish bins, clean the blackboards and pick up litter outside the school. Then, the after-school clubs begin.

After-school clubs are very important in Japan. Popular sports clubs are baseball, football and volleyball, as well as traditional Japanese sports like karate, judo and kendo. Kendo is the ancient art of sword-fighting in the Samurai tradition. The players wear body protections bit nowadays the swards are not real. Students can also take up traditional activities such as calligraphy (handwriting), origami (folding papers to make shapes and figures) and shogi (a Japanese version of chess with the squares of the same colour).

When the school year begins in April, new students join a club. Clubs meet for two hours after school each day and many continue in the holidays. The senior /students organize the clubs and the junior have to watch them and collect tennis balls and they can only play when the senior finish!

Over 60% of Japanese parents spend a lot of money on evening classes in private schools for their children. These classes prepare students entrance exams to university. Private schools are often near railway stations to save travelling time for students.

Oh, one more thing. When tired Japanese students finally get home, they can’t waste time on TV or computer games. They have an average of two hours homework a day plus three hours on Sundays!

Are the sentences true (T), false (F) ?

1.   British students have as many classes as Japanese students.

Schools in Japan

Japanese high school student spends 240 days a year at school – that’s 45 days more than in the UK! Classes are large with about 40 – 45 students in the class. At the end of the school day, all students take part in soji – they sweep the classroom and corridors, empty rubbish bins, clean the blackboards and pick up litter outside the school. Then, the after-school clubs begin.

After-school clubs are very important in Japan. Popular sports clubs are baseball, football and volleyball, as well as traditional Japanese sports like karate, judo and kendo. Kendo is the ancient art of sword-fighting in the Samurai tradition. The players wear body protections bit nowadays the swards are not real. Students can also take up traditional activities such as calligraphy (handwriting), origami (folding papers to make shapes and figures) and shogi (a Japanese version of chess with the squares of the same colour).

When the school year begins in April, new students join a club. Clubs meet for two hours after school each day and many continue in the holidays. The senior /students organize the clubs and the junior have to watch them and collect tennis balls and they can only play when the senior finish!

Over 60% of Japanese parents spend a lot of money on evening classes in private schools for their children. These classes prepare students entrance exams to university. Private schools are often near railway stations to save travelling time for students.

Oh, one more thing. When tired Japanese students finally get home, they can’t waste time on TV or computer games. They have an average of two hours homework a day plus three hours on Sundays!

Are the sentences true (T), false (F) ?

2. Students have to tidy the school.

3. The school year finishes in December

4. Teachers organize the after-school clubs

5.  Traditional activities are more popular than sports.

6. Private classes are expensive.