Canada Education interview-Secondary Education

Secondary Education (Grades 7-12)

Canadian secondary schools are divided into junior high schools (Intermediate, grades 7-8) and high schools (Secondary, grades 9-12). Different schools adopt the semester system and the school year system. Semester-based schools usually start in early September and late January, and students can choose up to four subjects per semester. Year-round schools usually start in early September.

Unlike initiation and exploratory education at the elementary level, the amount of knowledge and coursework in Canadian secondary schools has increased substantially. Compared with primary school students, the abstract thinking ability and logical analysis ability of middle school students have been greatly improved.

The middle school stage is mainly aimed at cultivating students' comprehensive abilities such as critical thinking, problem discovery and analysis, multi-party evidence thinking habits, independent survival and teamwork.

In the secondary education stage, there is a lot of training (Presentation) of oral and written communication skills. Students have to design and complete a large number of projects (Project), focusing on cultivating students' project management, presentation skills and teamwork skills. Students not only need to be able to choose and plan projects independently, express their views clearly, but also learn to cooperate with other students on projects to complete projects together.

Canada attaches great importance to the training of secondary school students' ability to use the Internet to collect and organize information, as well as to propose solutions and practical problem-solving skills. Most of the computer rooms in primary and secondary schools in Canada are equipped with relatively advanced computers (mostly the latest Macs). Students have weekly computer classes. Use google to search for materials since elementary school, and learn the ability to classify, summarize and refer to materials. At the same time, Canada strictly prohibits students from plagiarizing other people's works. Students have been trained and required to clearly mark the source of all reference materials from elementary school. Once plagiarism is found, they will directly give the lowest score. Students' awareness of intellectual property rights starts to build from elementary school.

In addition, Canada also has a very sound and mature volunteer system and vocational skills training. Many middle school students have officially started volunteering from the 9th grade. Most of the 11th grade middle school students have paid part-time work experience. These volunteer experiences are also part of the performance assessment of middle school students, which is very important for applying for universities. The school will provide students with vocational skills planning and training, which not only cultivates students' knowledge learning and application ability, but also attaches great importance to survival, employment and practical ability.

There is no distinction between key and non-key schools in Canadian primary and secondary schools, only the difference between public schools and private schools. Usually go to school according to the area where students live. If students want to choose to enter a good school, they only need to move into the area to which the school belongs, and they can buy a house or rent a house. They don’t need to rely on higher academic performance, interviews, or purchase of school district housing as a stepping stone. However, some private schools have their own assessment criteria for students' grades and family background, which exist as a supplement to public school resources.

Since Canada does not have a unified national college entrance examination system, the university is completely determined by the usual academic performance and personal ability, so the students do not have a lot of examination pressure, and basically grow up in a relatively relaxed and voluntary learning environment, and the students' personality and creativity can be be more fully developed. However, for students who want to go to top universities, they are required to pay attention to all courses such as their usual study, homework and volunteer work, which will directly affect the success index of applying for universities.

In addition, for all students who speak English as a second language, whether they are immigrants or international students, Canadian public schools will specially set up ELL second language training courses. Therefore, international students do not need to worry too much about their language problems. As long as you complete your studies in accordance with the curriculum arranged by the school, the language will basically not become an obstacle to learning. Of course, younger children usually have a shorter language adaptation period. Children under 12 years old hardly have a native accent, and students over 12 years old need a relatively longer time to adapt to the language environment. However, children who study in Canada before university usually show better bilingual ability and thinking ability.

Parents also need to note that, regardless of immigration or international students, only students who have studied in Canada for more than four years do not need IELTS scores when applying to Canadian universities, and students who study for less than four years need to submit their proficiency test scores when applying for universities. Meet the university requirements for IELTS. Therefore, parents should pay attention to this time node when planning the time for their children to study abroad.