『えいごで読む物語』シリーズでは、ランカル英会話に所属するメイトの日常や思い出をえいごでお届けします。

今回はアメリカ：カリフォルニア州出身のGrewが育つ環境について、自身の経験を交えながら紹介してくれました！

旅行や留学で海外を訪れた際に起きる「カルチャーショック」は誰もが経験したことがあるのではないでしょうか？
文化の違いを比較しながら読んでみてくださいね♪

こちらのコラムは参考となる絵や単語を多く掲載しています。
エクステンシブ・リーディング（多読）用の文章としてもおすすめなので、ぜひリーディング練習にも活用ください。

詳しい練習方法は以下を参考にしてくださいね♪

Intro

When I was growing up I always wondered what it was like for people in other countries. That’s one of the main reasons that I left the US after I finished university.

I wanted to find out what it was like for people around the world. Was it the same as my experience in a small town in California?

While traveling and living in a couple different countries, I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of people from around the world and one of the most interesting things I’ve found is the differences and similarities in what it’s like to grow up in different places.Some of them are small and some are big.  While I can’t give you a breakdown of what it’s like to grow up or live all around the world, I can share what it’s like in California.

My home town

Let’s start this out from where I lived. I grew up in a small town, about 100,000 people, in the middle of a desert where it rained about 5 days a year.

Blue skies every day and within an hours drive of California Disney, National Parks, Mountains for skiing, desserts for riding motorcycles and ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles).When we moved there my town had one high school, one movie theater, one bowling alley, no mall or shopping center, and an abundance of small shops and restaurants.

We also had a Walmart, but every town has one of those. By the time I got to high school we had two in the town.

As a high school student in the US you have a lot more free time than you generally know what to do with. Plus coming from a small town your family is usually pretty sure you are safe, so there aren’t that many rules.

Living in small town in US

This is the case all over America. Small towns are friendly and generally safe. Add to that the fact that most of us can drive by the time we are 16 years old and we have an amazing level of personal freedom to do what we want.

My friends and I had a habit of heading out to the beach an hour away every Friday to chill, swim and have a barbeque.  Many of my classmates would do similar things.

There were skate crews, sports clubs, and video game lovers. Everything you’d imagine from watching American movies. If you didn’t have a car, someone you know did.

So, to be honest once you no longer had a bed time there was a good chance you didn’t get home till 12-1 in the morning on the weekends.

My family became very interested in Motorcross when I was in junior high school.  So, I learned to ride a motorcycle when I was 11. We also loved camping and hiking, so we usually went out at least once or twice a month.

Having fun outside

Southern California is a beautiful place and the weather is great year round, so there’s plenty of opportunity to have fun outside. The locals like to brag that it’s the only place you can go surfing in the morning and snowboarding in the afternoon.

I will admit, I never learned to surf. But, this is something that you can do. There are at least two ski slopes within two hours of LA.There are tons of fun things to do as a kid in the US(California), but we also had to go to school just like the rest of the world.  The thing is, I’ve noticed from talking with other travelers that American high school has a few more options than the school that my friends went to.

Now, keep in mind that not all schools in the US are equal. The amount of funding changes depending on where you are, but my town was pretty nice.

School lives

I was able to take classes like engineering, ceramics, CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), auto-shop (car building/repair), JROTC (military classes), marine biology and tons of other elective courses.

We have standard classes that we have to take like English, History, Math, Science, but this brings another big difference between the US and the rest of the world, even other English speaking countries.  We are only required to take one year of foreign language.

We need more if we want to go to university, but to graduate from high school we only need to learn a second language for one year, at least in California.

This is probably the most confusing thing for me now that I live abroad. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why Americans don’t put any importance on learning another language. Especially when it’s such a great thing.

So, there’s a little taste of California for you, there are a lot of differences depending on where your school is, from the required courses to the lunch system and even the after school programs like sports.

Conclusion

I’ve always found the difference in education between the US and other countries really interesting. Learning about someone’s home or hometown can help us understand each other a lot more.

Even with all these differences, there are just as many similarities. Where you grew up and the school you went to was a big part of you and your culture. This is why I always ask, “What was your school life like? Was it different from mine?”

 

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今回はGrewの経験をもとに、育つ環境についてをお届けしました。

あなたの生まれ育った地域との違いや、驚いたことはありましたか？
異なる文化に触れることで、新しい興味や発見が見つけられた楽しいですね♪

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外国人目線の日本文化＜プレビュー＞

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