My Junior college Immersion Experience (by LIu Jingjing)

My Junnior College Immersion Experience
I had been looking forward to the Junior College Immersion Programme for a long time. First, after having only English class every day for three months, it was good to have a refreshing change. Second, it was the last chance for me to study in a high school. I dearly cherish my memory of high school in China, of the old buildings, of the beautiful ponds and fountains, of the cobblestone road under the greenwood tree. What would a Singapore High School, or to be precise, a Junior College, be like? I wondered, with anticipation and trepidation.

The Junior College I went to, Tempines Junior College, was in the very east of Singapore, so we are frustrated to find that it would take us one and a half hour to go to school if taking the public transportation. The ministry of education kindly arranged bus for us in the morning, which shortened the time to forty-five minutes. Nevertheless, getting up at five thirty in order to catch the bus, which left hostel at six fifteen, was still a torture to us, as we had been used to having a sound sleep till seven thirty or even later. I, as well as everyone else, whined about the arrangement, until one day I found out that many JC students spent the same amount of time to go school. “We only had to bear it for two weeks,” I thought with sympathy, “but this is what they have to do every day. Poor guys.”

Being a Singapore JC student was indeed not that easy. They need to change the classroom frequently and there was no break between classes, which made students tired, although they had fewer lessons than we had in China every day. I was surprised to be told that Singapore students only have one chance to take the A-level exam. (Maybe Singapore can learn from the American SAT exam system, which allows students to take as many times as they can. This is impossible in china due to the large population, but it can help Singapore students.) Singapore students only have two years to prepare for the A-level exam. Therefore, it was understandable to keep hearing the teachers say things like “you must work very hard now; otherwise it would be very difficult for you to get a good result in the A-level a year later.” Haha, it sounded familiar. That was what my high school teacher used to say.

However, studying in one of the most developed countries has its advantage. My formal high school in China was one of the best in our province and quiet rich with the government subsidy and alumnus donation, but we were still not able to have the advanced facilities in Singapore. I envied the nice equipment in the lab, and admired the rock climbing wall, hand ball field, and the gym. They could have so many co-curricular activities, in a high school, which was quite unbelievable. I went to the modern dance club with my buddy, and learn JAZZ and BALLET! I never imagined myself learning dancing, but it turned out to be fun.

On the last day of the programme, we held a BBQ party on the sea beach and took a lot of photos and I chose one to be my laptop background. Now Every time I turn on my computer, the happy days in Junior college recur to my mind.