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Today I'm here with Brian and we are
going to talk about our experiences in
school.
Thanks for watching.
» Hi Brian.
» Hello Justine.
» Welcome to the video today. I'm excited
to learn about the differences that we
experienced going to school.
» Me too.
» Can you start by telling us where you
went to school?
» I went to school in New York City.
What about you?
» I went to school in a rural area in
Saskatchewan
in Canada.
So, I think our experiences are going to
be quite different.
» Definitely.
I'm curious about how you got to school
in New York City. How did you travel to
school?
» I walked to school. The school I
attended, okay,
» was only three blocks away.
» Like a five minute walk.
[laughter]
» Wow.
» Did you walk to school?
No, [laughter]
I lived far away from my school. I lived
23 kilometers away from my school, which
is in miles for the USA folks out there.
That's about 15 miles.
So, I took the school bus. There was a
big yellow bus that drove around to all
of the different farms to pick up the
kids that lived on each farm. And then
they would drive to town to take them to
school.
» Wow. 15 miles. Mhm.
» I think the school I attended
is less than half a mile. Very close.
» Wow.
It took me about 1 hour to get to school
» on the bus and then 1 hour to get home
after school was over for the day.
So, it was a long day. How did you spend
the time on the bus on the way to school
and back from school?
» I would usually sit in the same seat as
my cousin.
» My cousin was my friend and she lived on
a farm very close to me. [clears throat]
very close is about 3 km away which is
about a mile and
almost 2 miles I think. [snorts]
So we were the closest neighbors. My
cousin was my closest neighbor and so we
would talk on the bus or sometimes we
would sleep. We would put our head on
the window
» and it was very uncomfortable. So we
would sometimes put our backpacks,
our bags or our books in between our
heads and the windows and we would try
to sleep.
Let me ask you another question about
the bus. In the United States, the cool
kids like me would sit in the back of
the bus if they were to take the bus.
Would the cool kids in Canada, did they
also sit in the back of the bus?
» It was definitely cool to sit in the
back of the bus.
And the buses were for all ages. So,
there might be a 5-year-old
kindergarten student on the same bus as
a bunch of kids from grade 12.
So, it was always the older kids who sat
in the back of the bus. So, no matter if
you were cool or not cool, [laughter]
if you were older, you would sit further
in the back of the bus.
» I see.
I'm curious, Brian, what you did in New
York City at recess when you have a
break between classes and in elementary
school anyway, you get to go outside and
play for 10 or 15 minutes. How did that
work in New York City?
So, at PS 166Q,
which is the name of the school, uh, the
elementary school in my neighborhood,
what they would do was they would take
us outside and it's a very dense urban
environment. There are just streets,
sidewalks, and buildings.
That's it. And what they would do is
they would shut off the traffic from the
block that the school was on
» and we would play in the street.
» That was it.
» Oh
» yeah.
» So what about you?
» You didn't have a park or a playground?
[snorts]
» Not on the school campus. So after
school,
» we would often go to the local
playground. School would get out. We
would hit up the bodega where we would
get like a coke and a sandwich and then
we would go to the playground or
wherever we wanted to go hang out and
that's what we do. So we did have
playgrounds of course in the city but we
didn't have a a playground or a field or
anything like that on the school grounds
because
» Okay.
» It was all concrete everywhere.
» Yeah.
» What about you?
» Wow.
Well, at our school, the elementary
school and the high school were right
close together, and they shared a big
area of grass and fields.
The high school had probably three or
four soccer fields
» and a football field and a tennis court
and a 400 meter running track like like
the loops that you see at the track and
field events or at the Olympics,
» right? Um,
and then the elementary school had two
different playgrounds. There was one
playground with grass with smaller
equipment for the kindergarteners to the
grade threes, I think. And then there
was a different playground for the grade
fours to the grade six students. So, we
had a lot of free area outside, probably
the size of like two city blocks.
» Yeah, [gasps]
there was a lot of uh free space and
lots of grass and um
» what
» we would play many different types of
games.
» Okay, that was my next question. What
type of games did you play during
recess?
When we were younger, we would play on
the playground or play tag where one
person is it and they have to run and
try to catch somebody else and then if
you touch somebody, you catch them and
then that other person becomes it.
» Did you ever play tag, Brian?
» All the time. Yes, we played tag. We
also played a lot of dodgeball. Did you
ever play dodgeball?
» Okay.
» Yes. Um, but I think we played dodgeball
inside. We played dodgeball in the gym.
We didn't play dodgeball outside.
» Yeah, we have a
» Do you want to
» Yeah. So, what is dodgeball? That's a
good question.
» Yeah. Dodgeball is a game where
well there are multiple ways to play
this game. There are two that I'm
familiar with.
The first style of dodgeball is the
students will form a circle
and then that's one team.
The other team goes inside the circle
and the team that's outside, the team
that is the circle will take a ball.
It's a ball about as big as a
basketball, a little softer though. And
they'll throw it at the team inside. And
if the ball hits a player,
that person is out. They must leave the
circle. If, however, a player catches
it, then the person who threw it can no
longer participate in in throwing the
ball. They're out as well.
» And you just see who who wins, who's the
last man standing.
» There's another way to play. That's the
way that we played outside.
When we went inside to the gym,
there would be two parallel lines of
students, two different teams.
And okay,
» they would take turns throwing the ball
at each other with the same rules. If
you got hit, you were out. If you caught
the ball, then the person who threw it
is out. And then it's just down to the
last man.
» Okay. Nice. That's fun.
When you were outside, did you play
sports like basketball?
» Not during recess. We didn't have a
basketball court, but um yeah,
» in the parks there are Yeah.
» Okay. Gotcha.
Did you ever play a game called Red
Rover?
» Maybe, but I don't recall. What is Red
Rover?
Red Rover is
um there's two different teams
and everybody on the team stands in a
line and everybody holds hands. So
everybody in the line is holding hands
with the person beside them and then
they look at the other team that's
standing a little ways away and they
choose one person from that team. So I'm
on this team and you're on the other
team. Okay.
» And so I would say red rover, red rover,
we call Brian over. And so the whole
line is shouting and we all want Brian.
And so Brian is we're all holding hands
in a big line and then Brian has to run
as fast as he can over from the other
team and try [clears throat] to break
through our hands.
And so if Brian breaks through and
breaks our hands open, then Brian gets
to take one of our team back to his
team. So, our line gets smaller and his
line gets longer. But if Brian runs and
we're strong enough to hold our hands
tight and Brian doesn't break through,
then Brian becomes part of our team. And
so the goal is to have the longest line,
the biggest team. It was a lot of fun.
» I did not play this game. I would have
loved to play this game because I was
always much much bigger than everyone. I
would I would have
» You would have been
You would have been treacherous. It
would have been scary to call Brian
over.
» I would have been good at that game.
» Yes, you would have.
I'm curious, Brian, how many kids were
in your classes when you went to school?
or maybe and another question, how many
kids were in your school in total?
» Okay, so I' I'd have to estimate based
on my memory and I would say that in
each individual class there was anywhere
between 20 and 30 children
» in elementary school. In terms of the
school,
» there had to have been thousands because
I I know that
» in my district in New York City, we
divide the city into school districts
and in my district there are 34,000
roughly 34,000 elementary school
students right now. I'm assuming that
was probably the same number
» when I was a kid. And there are about
okay 30 schools
» uh within my district.
» So if you just do the math, it seems
probably about you know a thousand or
so.
» Yeah. Wow. Okay.
» What about you? Um,
in our in my experience, um, in our
classes, there's usually about 15 kids
per class, and there's often two
different classes in the same grade. So,
there would be two teachers for grade
three, and there would be two different
grade three classes.
And in total
um when I graduated I had 31 30 other
kids in my graduating class. There was
31 of us in total.
And
in in total our elementary school and
our high school I think was probably
around 500 kids.
So you knew everyone in your class.
» Mhm. Very well.
» Yeah. That's not the case with me
growing up. I mean, everyone in my
class, but of the same age. No, because
there were multiple classes of the same
age,
» right?
Yeah. I knew everybody's parents and
siblings, their brothers and sisters. I
knew the names of their pets and where
they lived. And [laughter]
» how did you ever manage to get in
trouble? This sounds terrible.
» Oh, there was plenty of trouble.
[laughter]
» I guess that's good to have that that
sense of community. It will keep people
in line.
» Yeah.
» Yeah. We had some wild ones.
» That's true.
» Yeah. You always have the
the there's a few kids I think in every
grade that are the troublemakers.
[laughter] And so the troublemakers,
their parents always knew what they were
getting up to because the news would
always get back to the parents.
[laughter]
with so many kids in your district.
Um, did you say how many schools were in
your area?
» I think 30 31 maybe 32 schools.
» Okay.
» Just in my district, elementary schools.
I'm not talking about middle school or
high school.
» Oh,
» just the elementary school. Okay.
» Yeah. And there are And there are I
looked it up before this talk about
34,000 elementary school students.
» Yeah.
» In the district.
» Wow.
» That's not for the whole city. That's
just the district.
» Yeah. And so the district is just a like
a small area of Would you consider it
your neighborhood?
» No. So it's it's a little bit larger
than my neighborhood where I live in
Atoria. That's the name of my
neighborhood. It's in western Queens.
» Okay.
» But district 30, which is my district,
includes
probably seven,
maybe eight other neighborhoods in
western Queens.
» Oh, okay.
» So, it's a large geograph.
» So, the districts are quite large.
» Yes.
» Yeah.
» Okay.
» Well, in terms of population, yes. But
in terms of geography and space,
everything in New York City is very
compact.
» Yeah.
» So I could walk to those other
neighborhoods
and walk through them
in under 45 minutes.
» So it's not that it's not that spread
out. It's very dense,
» right?
» Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.
» Definitely was so hard for me to
imagine.
No, no. And and in my case, there was
only the one school. There was one
elementary school and one high school
for all of the kids in that large area.
» Wow.
» And um
there was no other options. That's the
school that you went to. [laughter]
Well, everything that we've talked about
has been quite different, but I'm
curious if there's some similarities in
the subjects that we studied.
» Can you talk about maybe it's more
applicable for high school? I'm sure in
elementary school we both studied math
and English and we colored maps in
social studies and um and um learned
about health and the best ways to brush
your teeth.
» But in high school, I think the subjects
um would still be quite similar. Can you
talk about what you studied in high
school? Okay. So, we studied the basics.
We had a history class, an English
class, mathematics,
science,
um I guess different social studies
types classes. We had psychology.
What else did we have? I said history
already. And we had Spanish classes in
which I learned nothing. Oh,
» okay.
» Yeah. In Canada, we had French classes
and I also learned nothing because they
didn't use comprehensible input.
» And now they should know better.
» That's right. They should.
So, let's talk about um
what books did you read in high school
for literature or English class? Okay.
So, for English class, and I would say
this is quite common throughout the
entire United States, there's a core
group of books that students are
required to read. First,
» Shakespeare.
I'm pretty sure yes
» everyone reads or is asked to read
» Romeo and Juliet
» Hamlet
» and Julius Caesar. I think those three
would probably be the most common
required readings from Shakespeare. Were
you required to to read Shakespeare in
high school?
» Yep. But I don't think we did Julius
Caesar.
» I only remember doing Romeo and Juliet
and Hamlet.
» Okay.
» Yeah.
» I guess Americans also read
» killing political figures.
» Oh,
» I guess. [laughter]
[sighs and gasps]
» Which one?
» It's a good practice. [laughter]
» And which of those uh did you like
reading Shakespeare? Were you glad that
you were required to read him?
» As an adult, I can look back and and say
that I'm glad that we were required to
read them, but as a student, I was quite
frustrated. I didn't I had a hard time
with the metaphorical language, but I'm
glad that I was exposed to it.
And I'm also
um interested in the origins of words
and sayings. And I think it's
interesting how many
words and sayings that William
Shakespeare invented that have become
part of our everyday speech.
» Absolutely. Shakespeare is a cornerstone
of the English language in my opinion.
I'm very happy to have read him in high
school and I continue to read him until
this very day. In fact, right now on the
I'm I'm reading his poetry right now.
I'm reading the sonnets and
» and his two long poems. He
he's the best. There's no argument.
[laughter]
» Yeah.
» Um
» did you enjoy Shakespeare when you were
a teen as well?
» Oh, absolutely. Um
» Okay. Not so much Romeo and Juliet,
» which I didn't gain an appreciation for
until more recently,
» but uh Hamlet
and King Lear we read and McBTH.
» These are very violent violent plays and
» I was attracted to it.
» I don't know. Right.
» Yeah.
» I like it. We now that you say McBth, I
remember that we also did McBTH in high
school.
» Yeah, that's one of his his shorter
works, too. So, I think they probably
read that
» a lot in the United States because
that's a short play. Hamlet's pretty
long, but
» Okay.
» You know, to be or not to be, you have
to have to read that.
» That's right.
» And what other books
» did you read in high school other than
Shakespeare?
Um, some other ones I can remember are
um, Fahrenheit 451.
» Did you read that one?
» I did. And then we burned them
afterwards.
» Did you actually?
» No, we should have, though. That
[laughter] would have been awesome.
So, for those of you who haven't read
Fahrenheit 451, the joke there is that
the novel is set in a dystopian future
where the government has decided that
the people must not be allowed to read
books unless they become intelligent and
then rebel against the government. So,
they burn all the books.
That was the joke.
» Yes. And in our class, some of us wanted
to burn the book because we didn't like
doing novel studies.
» But I think it was a good book to read.
And in the same idea or in a similar
theme, we also read 1984 by George
Orwell.
» That's you read that one as well.
» Yeah. Oh, yeah. That one I'm not sure if
we read it for class or not. I was
always
reading a lot, so it it's tough for me
to distinguish what was required and
what I was just reading for fun.
» That's a nasty book. I love that. That's
a very dark book.
» So,
» yes,
» if you want to be depressed, read, read
that book. It does not have a happy end.
» Yes.
[snorts]
» Yes, for sure. Um, we also read a book
called The Outsiders. Do you remember
that one?
» Of course. S E Hinton. And it's a book
about um some greasers,
» right? They call them the greasers and
» the greasers
» and the soaps. I think this like the
» I think
» forget the name of their opponents.
» But it's a good novel about about the
adolescent experience.
» I I liked it. I haven't read it since
then, though, so it's been it's been
quite a long time.
» Okay. I have a copy um because I
homeschool my kids
» and so I wanted to make sure that they
read this book as well. So I have a
copy. Um but maybe I should do a reread
of it as well.
» Definitely. I remember liking it. I
remember liking it. I just return to it.
» Yeah.
Okay. So we did have some similarities
after all. at least in the subjects and
the books that we read um in high
school. Is there anything else that you
wanted to talk about of your school
experience, Brian?
» No, I think that about covers it and I'm
very happy to have had this opportunity
to learn about your experience growing
up and going to school in a rural area
because that was not my experience.
» Yeah. And we are going to have some more
videos on our city versus country
experiences in many different areas of
life. So if you're watching, stay tuned
for more videos from Brian and I on our
website englishponge.com.
We are going to have a series of
conversations where we compare and
contrast the experiences that we had
growing up in very different locations.
Thank you for watching our videos and
we'll see you next time. Bye, Brian.
Bye-bye, Justine.
