Supporting Article

Life of a Student


Wei Cheng is a student at Country Garden School. He rolls out of bed at 6:20 a.m. to do his morning exercises in a line with a few hundred other classmates in school uniform. Then he eats breakfast, showers, dresses, and dashes off to morning reading from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. After two class periods, Wei goes outside for another stretching exercise and a snack. He attends two more classes before going to lunch and taking a one-hour rest.

At 2:30 p.m., Wei marches out of his dormitory room for three more classes and then a sports activity before going to dinner.  From 7:00 to 7:30 p.m., he reads the international newspaper as directed by his teacher and begins his homework assignments in his classroom. This has been Wei’s life at the Country Garden School for the past seven years.

Wei Cheng has now had the opportunity to visit the United States. He is studying English at the PLIES Intensive English School, living with an American host family and touring Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and New York City. Wei is just like many American teenagers. He likes to play Nintendo games and basketball, listen to rock music, and play the drums in his band. The demands placed upon him at a private school in China have prepared him well for the challenges of studying in the United States.

Image credit: Morning dance by Gabriel Jorby via Flickr.
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Lisa Nagle

Lisa Nagle, BA, MA, has been working in and around China since 1991. She has lived in Changsha, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Lisa is founder and executive director of Pacific Link International Educational Services (PLIES, www.pacificlink.us) which provides short-term and long-term study abroad experiences for youth from China. View Full Bio