- American English vs. British English
- Very different steps when solving math problems
- The more you talk in class, the better
- Date format - M/D/Y
About the 3rd point for Academics, I can't stop saying that Americans are SUPERB when it comes to talking. I thought that I was a pretty good presenter in Singapore but it's a totally different story here. I can still remember people in Singapore reading off their scripts directly when presenting, thinking about that makes me LOL..
Turning knowledge into words is a skill. Apparently, people here have already mastered this skill.
During English and History classes when we sit around a large table (approx: 11 people), there's a lot of things that I wanted to say but I just can't talk. In Deerfield, you are not just graded 100% on your tests and exams, about a quarter of your grades is from class participation. So during these 2 classes, there were times when I raised up my hand to participate in the discussion and I'm so NOT eloquent compared to my peers. I usually paused halfway through my 'speech', using time to convert knowledge into words. Normally, I paused for 2 seconds but even 2 seconds is considered to be a lot of time. My peers, on the other hand, talk NON-STOP until someone else raise up his/her hand to comment or rebut.
I better get going, got lots of homework...
PS: Although school here in USA is generally better than what I have been through before, I will always be Tanjong Katong Secondary School's ambassador. And I'm proud of it :) Of course, I'm Deerfield Academy's ambassador too!
