A 300-word composition for the third grade of elementary school. After returning to China to attend elementary school.

When school just started in September 2011, Lao Yu, who immigrated to Canada, and Mrs. Lu, who immigrated to the United States, felt like they were fighting a war when they talked about bringing their children back to China to attend elementary school in the past few years. It’s like a besieged city, those inside want to get out, and those outside want to get in. By 2011, Edmond had returned to primary school for five years, and Yuanyuan had attended primary school for three years. Domestic basic education makes Lao Yu and Mrs. Lu hate and love each other. No matter what, as soon as they graduate from primary school, they have to take their children out again.

The United States: Don’t encourage children to learn so many things

In the summer of 2008, Mrs. Lu’s daughter Yuanyuan finished first grade in the United States, but Mrs. Lu began to feel dissatisfied.

Mrs. Lu immigrated to the United States in 1986 and lived in New Jersey in the eastern United States. In this typical American town, there are not many Asian families. Most American parents have no plans for the education of young girls and just let them play. Many children do not start learning until they are in first grade.

Mrs. Lu grew up in a strict Chinese family education environment. Just like the much-hyped "tiger mother", she naturally hopes that her daughter will receive roughly the same education as herself. My daughter Yuanyuan started attending a Chinese private kindergarten far away from home when she was very young. Yuanyuan had learned a lot before entering elementary school and developed some basic study habits. Yuanyuan herself also liked this method very much. I feel that every day is "very interesting".

When Yuanyuan entered first grade, a problem arose. The teacher started teaching the 26 English letters - but Yuanyuan knew these when she was two years old. She even stopped reading picture books and switched to reading story books that mainly focused on characters. Yuanyuan already knows two-digit addition and subtraction. With Mrs. Lu's training, she can do one hundred one-digit addition and subtraction in one minute. The carry of number addition taught in American elementary schools is a bit "messy". "American teachers really don't know how to teach math," Mrs. Lu said.

Yuanyuan suddenly felt that the first-grade courses were not challenging. "Why is this school so boring?" she often asked her mother. Yuanyuan gradually became depressed and could not sit still in class. Therefore, the teacher criticized her in front of the whole class, which further hurt her self-esteem. Mrs. Lu went to the school, and the principal replied: "That's your fault, why do you have to teach her so much?"

At Mrs. Lu's insistence, the school still gave Yuanyuan a learning ability test The results of the test are: According to the American elementary school syllabus standards, Yuanyuan’s math proficiency has reached the level of fourth grade to fifth grade; her English proficiency has reached the level of third grade. Mrs. Lu hoped that the school would allow Yuanyuan to upgrade, but the school said that Yuanyuan is indeed gifted (highly talented), but we do not advocate letting children learn so many things when they are young, so we do not agree to let her skip a grade.

This made Mrs. Lu very angry and helpless. Mrs. Lu still has many dissatisfaction with American elementary schools. For example, domestic elementary school teachers will regulate students’ pencil holding and sitting postures, but American teachers clearly told Mrs. Lu: We don’t care about this, as long as the children are free. But in Mrs. Lu's view, this has resulted in the handwriting of many American children being "horribly ugly." To make matters worse, in the United States, parents cannot ask about their children's grades because it is private. Mrs. Lu does not want to control her daughter through her grades, but she still wants to know her daughter's specific learning situation.

Mrs. Lu believes that a good basic education can benefit children for life. Therefore, the couple decided after discussion: Mrs. Lu quit her job and took Yuanyuan back to her hometown in Shanghai, where she worked as a volunteer and took her children to primary school.

Parents: Don’t want their children to have only Chinese faces

Mrs. Lu’s decision to send her daughter back to China to attend primary school was based on an important consideration: learning Chinese.

Although Mrs. Lu did not live and work in the Chinese community after immigrating to the United States, she has always maintained a Chinese complex: where I come from, where the language comes from. "I always feel that we must have roots - my children must have Chinese roots."

This is the reason why Lao Yu and his wife insisted that Edmond return to China to attend elementary school.

Lao Yu’s eldest daughter went to Canada after graduating from sixth grade and has basically retained her Chinese. But most children who immigrated under the age of ten soon forget their Chinese language. Every time at a gathering, Lao Yu and his wife discovered that among the Chinese who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, all those who did not know Chinese wanted to learn it. "Young people around the age of thirty also want to learn Chinese, but it is already difficult."

Edmond was born in Canada. He is six years old and cannot speak Chinese. He can't figure out who his grandmother is. I can’t figure out the relationship between relatives in China. In Lao Yu's view, Edmond faces two choices: either become a "yellow banana" or "fully westernize and forget about China." But Lao Yu was unwilling to accept the second option, "You can't have the most important things of a race disappear, be hollowed out, and only have a Chinese face."

Of course, China's economic growth has also This strengthened their determination to return home. Almost all banks in Canada have Chinese departments. If Edmond can learn Chinese well, he will have many career options in the future. Therefore, Lao Yu placed Edmond in an authentic local primary school in Beijing's Xicheng District, hoping that the child could learn "pure Chinese" from everyone.

Between the sense of achievement and frustration

In order to receive formal Chinese-style basic education, Mrs. Lu did not choose an international school using Western education, but chose an experimental primary school in Shanghai , the school has improved the traditional education methods, but also retained some of the essence of traditional education.

The education in school is exactly what Mrs. Lu thought. It regulates children’s habits starting from details such as holding pens and sitting postures. Yuanyuan was already a child who could write beautifully when she was in the United States. After returning to China, the teacher still said that she must correct her "8" writing. If 8 and 6 are not written well, there will be problems with numbers. Mrs. Lu felt that this was exactly what she wanted her daughter to learn. "There are many good things about education in China, but that doesn't mean that everything abroad is good."

Yuanyuan doesn't have much homework. She usually does part of it at school and part of it at home. "The teacher stipulates that homework must be completed within half an hour, no more than forty-five minutes." Moreover, the teacher requires parents to ask their children to stop if the homework cannot be completed by the specified time. Every time she finishes her homework, Yuanyuan feels a sense of accomplishment.

The sense of accomplishment also comes from other aspects. Yuanyuan became the school's little host. The school also used her fluent and standard American English to record English readings and lead the students to follow them. Yuanyuan also often helped her classmates practice speaking English. In order to adapt to Yuanyuan's learning progress, the school also took the initiative to make some adjustments to Yuanyuan's curriculum. She took Chinese language with the first grade, mathematics with the second grade, and English with the fourth grade.

Edmond was not so lucky.

On the first day of elementary school, Edmond cried non-stop because he could not understand the Chinese the teacher spoke at all. A psychology teacher came to comfort him: "Why are you crying? You are a man!" But it was no use. Edmond didn't understand what "man" meant. No one had ever spoken to him like this.

In Canada, children do not have to sit properly in class, and Edmond has never seen a classroom with rows of desks and chairs. Therefore, when he first returned to China, Edmond, who was sitting in the first row, often went to school. After class, I walked to the podium and took a walk.

Despite this, the first grade passed smoothly. In the final exam, Edmond ranked first in the class.

"Every child has a narrow escape from death"

But a few years later, Lao Yu admitted that he initially underestimated the exam-oriented education in China. It was not until personal experience that he understood that this system What exactly is the mechanism?