Thursday 21 January 2010

★Differences and similarities between British and Chinese education system★

British schools every year have final exams.
The scores of each student and how much the average marks is higher than last year should be posting.
In the UK, expressly provided for the amount of homework for each grade.
Grade 1 have to stay for half an hour of homework a day, gradually increasing the amount of higher grade.
And the amount of high school is similar with ours.
In Chinese class, teachers prelect more than students to think themselves,
and there also much more teaching reference books, more memorisation works,
but the relatively interaction between teachers and students is few, so the class atmosphere is dull.
In British class, there more opportunities for students' expression.
And teachers often encourage students to challenge themselves,
which gives students a dare to challenge the concept.
And British teachers never said to students:'You are wrong.'
And British teacher especially good at asking 'why' or 'how', but the Chinese teacher love to asked 'what'.
Chinese classroom is more like a performance of teachers,
and the British classroom is is a stage of students.

Chinese Education System and British Education System have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Chinese emphasizes foundational knowledge whereas British thinks highly of creativeness.
If it could join two systems together,
there is going be more success and more good for students.

Thursday 14 January 2010

★British food★



First of all, I am keen on British Afternoon Tea this habit. Probably because I like to eat small snacks and cakes.And having an Afternoon Tea with friends always gives me a feeling of happiness or ease :)
The origins of the well known British tradition of afternoon tea is make me find it interesting.
People always think that the originator of afternoon tea was the 7th Duchess of Bedford Anna.
In the early 1840's, traditionally dinner was not served until 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening and the Duchess often became hungry. Especially in the summer when dinner was served even later.


She ordered a small meal of bread, butter, and other niceties, such as cakes, tarts, and biscuits, to be brought secretly to her boudoir. When she was exposed she was not ridiculed, as she had feared, but her habit caught on and the concept of a small meal, of niceties and perhaps tea, became popular and eventually known as "afternoon tea".


Nowadays afternoon tea became more and more popular in the world. And to take tea in the middle of the afternoon became more and more elaborate with the use of elegant tea ware, lace and embroidered table linen, bone china tea services, cake stands, tea canisters and blending bowls. The ladies would dress for the occasion in long tea gowns and preside over the ornate silver teapots while making general conversation with their guests.


To compare with China, the British traditional of afternoon tea is similar to Chinese Yum Cha. It is a dining experience which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum dishes. Yum cha is Cantonese which literally means "drink tea". There also so many snacks while people Yum Cha. And they call the snacks ‘Dim Sum’. Dim Sum usually consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies. And today, Dim Sum is served throughout China.Such as jiaozi in Beijing, pearl balls in Shanghai and spicy wontons in Sichuan province. But I think that the best Dim Sum in China is found in Canton, with its wide assortment of sweet and savory dishes ranging from meatballs to sweet cakes.

Lastly, I fund some informations about British pubs.
The most common pub names in Britain are:

The Crown – this is representative of the King or Queen.
The Red Lion – this pub name became popular when James I ordered red lions to be displayed outside all public places.
Royal Oak – this only became popular after Charles II escaped during the English Civil War by hiding behind an Oak tree.
Swan – a symbol used commonly in the coat of arms. All swans [the birds] are owned by the Queen and protected by law.
White Hart – this was the heraldic symbol of King Richard II.
Duke of Buckingham – named after the Duke who was murdered in Old Portsmouth in 1628.