aI heard you were teaching English over there.Tell me about it. Did you like it?
听说你在那里教英文。说说看,你喜欢吗?
bOh, yes, it was very interesting.
是的,非常有意思。
aWhat were the schools like?
那是什么样的学校?
bOh, I didn't actually teach in the schools.I taught after school. I taught in English institutes.
我不是在学校教。我教课后的,在英语培训机构。
aBut you taught children, yes?
你是教小朋友吧?
bYes. That's right.But children in Taiwan are very different from children in America.At least as far as studying is concerned.Many children in Taiwan go to special institutes after school.
bThat's right.After their school day is over, they go to a special institute to study math or English.They are very serious about learning over there.
没错。放学后他们上补习班学数学或英文。在那里他们非常认真地学习。
aHmm. That sounds pretty oppressive for the kids. Don't they ever relax?
听起来相当压迫孩子,他们不休息吗?
bOf course they do.You know, Eliza, before I went over there I thought the same thing.I thought that maybe kids in Taiwan study too much.But now that I've worked there, and taught them, I feel it is a good thing.Their parents are very concerned about their education. More than American parents are. And that is good. American kids don't study enough.
aAsian cultures value learning very much. I know that.
亚洲的文化非常看重学识,我知道那一点。
bSo it was interesting for me to see parents very concerned about education.They would come to me after the class and ask how their son or daughter was doing.I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.In America, too many parents don't pay attention.
aBut aren't the kids tired out? I mean, they go to school all day, and then they go to school in the evening too.
但是小孩子不是累垮了?他们白天一整天上学,晚上还要去补习班。
bAs an English teacher, I tried to make the lessons as fun as possible.I tried to have a good time with my classes. The students often enjoyed it.And if the students enjoyed it, they learned more. So it was a good experience.