High School

According to PISA studies, the Canadian school system is one of the best in the world. Both in terms of academic performance and learning conditions. I can fully confirm the latter. However, there are not many differences between the Canadian and German school systems.

As in Germany, education is a matter for the provinces/territories (in Canada's case). Here in British Columbia, it is usually the case that you spend 7 years in elementary school and then move on to secondary school. At secondary school, there is also a distinction between junior and senior. I am in the 11th grade and therefore a senior, but I noticed early on that I am younger than everyone else. And that is not just because I was born late in 2001.

However, this is not a big problem, as most classes here are usually mixed-age. In the school year, you choose 8 courses, and there is a wide range of elective subjects: photography, cafeteria, musical, business, metalwork, etc. It didn't really matter which courses I chose because 1. I am not graduating here and 2. my year in Germany will not be recognized anyway. Nevertheless, I still wanted to fulfill the "guidelines" to experience a typical Canadian school year.

Since a lot went wrong with my schedule and I still don't know which courses I will have next semester, I can only present my 1st semester schedule here:

Each block has its own letter assigned: A- English 11; B- Theater Performance 11; C- Chemistry 11; D- 20th Century World History/ History 12 is what it looks like in my case. I have these subjects every day, just in a different order. For example, on Monday it's ABCD and on Tuesday it's CDAB. My school day starts at 9 a.m., each block lasts 75 minutes, and after the 1st block of each day, there is an additional 10-minute advisory group (AG). This corresponds to the "Ordinariatsstunde" in Germany, but in the end, it's completely unnecessary. Lunch is after the 2nd block and lasts 45 minutes. Then the last two blocks follow, with a 5-minute break between them, and the school day ends at 3:15 p.m.

English 11 is relatively unspectacular. We are currently reading short stories, briefly discussing them, receiving an assignment, and that's it. The teacher is really nice and relaxed, and she also takes into account us 6 international students.

Theater Performance 11 is my favorite class. The people are really cool, I always call them "Dramakids". There are 40 students in this course, ranging from 10th to 12th grade. Every day we have attendance questions, then usually play a warm-up game and then receive small theater tasks. The teacher is also really nice.

Chemistry 11 is also unexciting. So far, I have always received A's in the tests because we already covered this material in the 8th/9th grade in Germany.

History 12 is my most difficult class. We have 70 terms for a test next week that we have to define and relate to other terms. But I still like the class.

The teachers here are generally more relaxed than in Germany. They don't take homework and due dates quite as seriously. But when it comes to attendance, it's a different story. If you are absent without an excuse, an email is immediately sent to your parents. It's all done automatically online. It is also allowed to use your phone here, and listening to music while doing practice exercises is not a problem. You can track your grades online, as there is a website for the entire province.

In my opinion, my school building is typical American. The long hallways with lockers that you can decorate from the inside, classrooms with (many) posters, the school mascot and the Canadian flag everywhere in the gymnasium. (I have included photos.) Due to the construction work, everything is a bit crowded, and the hallways are always full. I even have one of my classes in a container. The new wing gives a glimpse of how everything will look in a year when it's finished. But I won't see much of that.

One thing I still can't get used to is that the restrooms are gender-neutral, why? And on top of that, you can watch people washing their hands from the hallway because there are windows in the wall. Again, why?

Apart from that, I really like the school. The school spirit is bigger here than at home. Many students wear school sweaters and team shirts, and the mascot (Towhee, a small bird similar to a sparrow) is also present. In my opinion, a pretty strange mascot for a school, but well. I'm really lucky with my teachers and with the classes in general.

I'll keep you updated on what my second semester will look like. If everything goes as planned, it will also be something special, but I'll tell you more about that when everything is finalized.

Now I'll also include a link here to the Lip Dub Challenge that my school did a few years ago: https://youtu.be/HhC9TdZEjOQ. The school is represented quite well in it, and it took 5 months of preparation. If you're interested...

That's it for today, have a nice rest of the week, Elli

PS: The clichéd yellow school buses really exist here