1. What are the differences between the three words “vacation”, “holiday” and “break”?
Vacations are when people go somewhere far away traveling.
Holidays are school-free days for special celebrations, like Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas.
Break is time that students leave from school. Like summer break, class break etc.
2. How many holidays are there in US? What are they? And compared with China,
which country has more holidays?
There are lots of holidays in US, like Valentines Day, Mother Day, Father Day,
Martin Luther King Day, Halloween, Thanks Giving Day, Christmas. Compared with China, it seems we have almost the same numbers of holiday, but American have more then us.
3. The Chinese students have two vacations: summer vacation and winter vacation
(each lasting about one month), how about the American students? How long does each vacation last for American students?
American students have three vacations each year. The spring break, which is the
shortest, just last for one week. The winter break is 3 weeks long. And the summer break is the longest, nearly three to four months long!
4. How does your partner plan his/her vacations?
My partner will go to visit other families during this winter vacation. If her
family don’t have a plan, she will stay at home and have fun with her computer and the Internet. But she would like do outdoor activities when her friend invite. She also have to work in the Disney land as a vacation job to earn some money for daily use.
5. What does community work mean? Do American students have to do
community work in their vacations? Is community work considered important for their credits in school?
It is a kind of work for the community where the students are living. Schools
sometimes let their students to do community works as an offer. The community work plays an important part in student ’s credits. But students can make their score if they have an summer job or something else.
6. How does your partner feel about the Chinese people’s 谦虚 （modesty ）?
Compared with Chinese, how do Americans do in situations where Chinese people show their modesty?
My partner think Chinese people’s modesty is strange but really interesting. And
she said she can ’t stand that at first, but because of her Chinese friends, she finally understand and get used to them. Americans always feel proud of people ’s praises, so if you tell an American he/she dress well, they might say
“Wow, thank you! ”, if you tell the same thing to a Chinese, he/she might say “No, no, no, I’m just Ok.”
Most Americans can’t understand Chinese people’s modesty. Because we have
different cultures. Americans are more straightforward than Chinese, they believe what you say about yourself, if you say you are just OK, they think you are just OK. But in China, saying “I ’m not so good ” is a common modesty. Americans like to show off their advantages, in the opposite way, Chinese usually don’t what people know all the things which they do well in. That make sense and finally cause the different modesty between America and China.
7. How do you feel about this class? (Do you like it? Why? Do you think it is
helpful to your English study? Why? Do you feel comfortable speaking English to a native speaker in this way? What can be improved in this class? )
I think it is good and improved my speaking English, it is really helpful. I feel comfortable with each partner. Speaking to the native speaker has always
corrected my pronunciation. If we will keep it to the next term, I’ll take part in it again.
1. What are the differences between the three words “vacation”, “holiday” and “break”?
Vacations are when people go somewhere far away traveling.
Holidays are school-free days for special celebrations, like Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas.
Break is time that students leave from school. Like summer break, class break etc.
2. How many holidays are there in US? What are they? And compared with China,
which country has more holidays?
There are lots of holidays in US, like Valentines Day, Mother Day, Father Day,
Martin Luther King Day, Halloween, Thanks Giving Day, Christmas. Compared with China, it seems we have almost the same numbers of holiday, but American have more then us.
3. The Chinese students have two vacations: summer vacation and winter vacation
(each lasting about one month), how about the American students? How long does each vacation last for American students?
American students have three vacations each year. The spring break, which is the
shortest, just last for one week. The winter break is 3 weeks long. And the summer break is the longest, nearly three to four months long!
4. How does your partner plan his/her vacations?
My partner will go to visit other families during this winter vacation. If her
family don’t have a plan, she will stay at home and have fun with her computer and the Internet. But she would like do outdoor activities when her friend invite. She also have to work in the Disney land as a vacation job to earn some money for daily use.
5. What does community work mean? Do American students have to do
community work in their vacations? Is community work considered important for their credits in school?
It is a kind of work for the community where the students are living. Schools
sometimes let their students to do community works as an offer. The community work plays an important part in student ’s credits. But students can make their score if they have an summer job or something else.
6. How does your partner feel about the Chinese people’s 谦虚 （modesty ）?
Compared with Chinese, how do Americans do in situations where Chinese people show their modesty?
My partner think Chinese people’s modesty is strange but really interesting. And
she said she can ’t stand that at first, but because of her Chinese friends, she finally understand and get used to them. Americans always feel proud of people ’s praises, so if you tell an American he/she dress well, they might say
“Wow, thank you! ”, if you tell the same thing to a Chinese, he/she might say “No, no, no, I’m just Ok.”
Most Americans can’t understand Chinese people’s modesty. Because we have
different cultures. Americans are more straightforward than Chinese, they believe what you say about yourself, if you say you are just OK, they think you are just OK. But in China, saying “I ’m not so good ” is a common modesty. Americans like to show off their advantages, in the opposite way, Chinese usually don’t what people know all the things which they do well in. That make sense and finally cause the different modesty between America and China.
7. How do you feel about this class? (Do you like it? Why? Do you think it is
helpful to your English study? Why? Do you feel comfortable speaking English to a native speaker in this way? What can be improved in this class? )
I think it is good and improved my speaking English, it is really helpful. I feel comfortable with each partner. Speaking to the native speaker has always
corrected my pronunciation. If we will keep it to the next term, I’ll take part in it again.