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 International Students
Hannah Schmitz, Year 12 German student.
Hannah studied with us for one year 2005/6 and has now returned to Germany having improved her English enormously. Well done!
The last year has been a very exciting experience for me. I come from Germany and I started studying and living at St. James' School to improve my English and, to meet new friends and to experience life as a boarder.
On my first day at School, I was very nervous and shy. I suppose that this is pretty normal, but my situation was especially scary because I wasn't very advanced in English. However, I integrated quickly into the School thanks to my very advanced in how to explain vocabulary, even with hand signs when needed.
I was the only German in the School, apart from Mrs Pawsey, the German Teacher, who made me feel at home by sometimes talking to me in my native language. Because Mrs Pawsey was the only one I spoke to in German, my English improved very quickly.
In fact, at the Public Speaking Festival in the second term, I even had the main speech and I was very pleased when my team became second. Even though I have to admit that I had a little help in preparing my speech - thanks again. I took part also in some other school activities, for example the Choir. Mr King made my singing attempts unforgettable and I really enjoyed the end of term concerts.
Living in the boarding house was also a lot of fun. Our weekend trips were also unforgettable as well, especially our "Go-Ape" trip where we all climbed like monkeys in trees. I really need to thank Mrs Brown, houseparent, for organising these trips and for making my time in the boarding house so enjoyable.
I enjoyed not only the after school activities, but also the lessons time. Of course this sounds a bit nerdish now, but studying at St. James' was easier compared to the School I went to before because of the small classes. The teachers can help you more individually if you have any problems and the lessons are also quieter which helps a lot to concentrate. The atmosphere is very relaxed in lessons and students support eachother too.
I made a lot of good friends at St. James' School, especially in the boarding house and I really hope that I can keep in contact with them when I live in Germany again.
Click here to read Hannah's message in German.
Brian Cheung, Year 11 student from Hong Kong.
Brian joined St. James’ in Year 7 and wrote this message at the end of Yr 10.
I have been at St. James’ School since 2001. It has been fantastic and I have enjoyed these years very much.
I remember the first time I came here, I didn’t know a lot of English, and I could only speak very simple English, for example “Hi, how are you?”. It is funny if I think of it in a few years. I remember Dr. Evans kept saying to me “Brian, if you work harder and harder everyday, soon your English will get better.” When he said that to me, I just thought, “Play first then study later”. I thought I was right, then when the exams came up I had a big problem because I didn’t study hard enough to do the exams, so only got poor marks.
In my second year my English improved a lot. I could talk to people about my interests like football and music. Now I could make good friends, but my laziness was still a problem. I didn’t always do my homework so the teachers were disappointed. I don’t know why it is that I didn’t bother, but I just don’t want to work all the time. I started to get better grades and this made me work as I saw the teachers were impressed. It was like magic! I often did fast revision before the exams. My mum and dad were really impressed too. I just kept telling myself, “this is only a little exam Brian, you still have a lot waiting for you, you must work harder!”
In the first term of year 9, I wasn’t that lazy anymore. I finally started to work hard. Everyday I’d do any homework I had. I revised for exams, and even lessons. I’d give myself time to play and some time for revision, I had my own timetable to show Dr. Evans. He said that I needed more E.F.L lessons. In these lessons there was Parkle, Richard and myself. Richard always made the lessons fun, he always made jokes and made us laugh. Parkle used to get mad at everything, but it would make us laugh! As for me, I just liked to talk to my friends and make them laugh.
Every year there is a school cross country, swimming gala and sports day. Last year I won the boy’s 100m and my section of the cross country.
In year 9 I felt I had to start working even harder as my GCSEs are coming up soon. So far, I feel I have made a lot of nice friends, they are very kind to me, as are the teachers. It is quite sad that I cannot see my family for 3 months because I do miss them a lot but I have all the things at St James to keep my happy. When I do get unhappy I find a teacher to talk to. This is good because whenever I am unsure or unhappy I can go and find a teacher or someone else I can talk to. If I get good grades in my GCSEs I will stay at St. James for Sixth Form because it has given me such a good time these past few years.
Yann Fayet, Year 10 French Student.
Yann studied at St. James’ this year for half a term in order to experience life in England and also improve his English.
I arrived from Paris this term and I’m very please for being here.
Wearing a uniform is very strange for me because we don’t have lots of in France.
I don’t know everyone here but what I enjoy most is that every body knows each other and they all talk!
I stay at the boarding house and all the guys are very cool with me, they show me the town and all kind of stuffs to do when you are bored!
In England you don’t eat like in France you eat lot on the morning and nothing much at dinner time. In France it’s the other way round, we eat lot at dinner!
My favourite moment in this first week was lunch time when I play football with all the boys, and games!
What about trying to translate this (it’s French):
“Je suis heureux d’avoir appris a joué au cricket parce que c’est un sport national en angleterre. J’aime le sport c’est pour ca que je joue tout les midi au football avec les garcons!”
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