At Maple Leaf, one of the things you are most likely to notice about the students is that they live a much more regimented life then say, your average North American teenager. The schedule for the middle school students weekday is something like:
6:00-6:30 Get up and make beds, change etc.
6:30 -7:10 Eat Breakfast at the cafeteria
7:20-7:40 Morning reading (study period- sometimes group study led by one of the students who is the assigned classroom leader, sometimes individual study time).
7:50-9:30 Classes one and two
9:30-10:10 Either the weekly flag raising ceremony or exercise break (tai chi, aerobic stretching, marching, jogging, etc.)
10:10-11:50 Third and Fourth class
11:50-13:30 Lunch at the cafeteria and a forty-five minute nap at the dorms.
13:40-17:20 Classes five through eight, with a ten minute break at three thirty for eye exercises.
17:20-18:10 Supper at the cafeteria
18:10-18:20 Reading and writing practice in Chinese and English
18:20 20:00 Two periods of self study time.
21:15 Bedtime for grades seven and eight.
20:10-20:50 Last period of self study for grade nines.
22:00 Bedtime for all students, lights automatically turn out in all the dorms.
As you can see, the days are pretty packed for most of these kids. It may seem like an incredible amount to ask teenagers and preteens to do, but the fact is that most of them seem to be able to handle it. Sure, many students are tired, and some do try to sleep in class, but the majority are alert, energetic and want to learn, study and succeed. The goals of many of these students are very high, and they are constantly reminded by the Chinese staff and their peers and parents of the need to work hard to achieve their goals. It doesn’t leave much free time for the students, but they are always playing between classes, and almost all take part in at least a few clubs (which usually take place after supper or in block seven every other week) where they recreate and “cut loose” a little.
Maybe it has something to do with equating regimentation with successful study and achievement, or maybe there is some other reason for it but the students are often seen marching from one building to another or from class back to the dorms in their homeroom groups. Not sure exactly what the reasoning is but it is definitely something t watch the four hundred grade sevens and eights marching home to the dorms after evening study.
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| Marching in front of the flags where we do flag raising ceremonies on Mondays. |
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| P.E. Class... |
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