John Melton is a high-school biology teacher in Northern California. Andy Neighbor is a sixth-form college teacher near London, England. Sixth-form colleges serve 16- to 19-year-old students. This fall, the two teachers began a one-year teaching exchange. This article is the fourth in a series about their exchange.

An American Fulbright Teacher in England:
"I've dirtied my pants!"

John Melton has been teaching in England for some months now. When asked to name some differences between American students and English students, he replies, "I can only speak about the English students in my classes, of course. But if I must generalize, here goes! My students back home are willing – sometimes overwilling – to answer questions, even when they know they're probably going to be wrong. Here, I'll ask a question, and out of a group of twenty students not one hand will go up. When I brought that up with my English colleagues, they weren't surprised. They said that when they ask a question, they just pick a student to answer it. Most of my American colleagues and I tend to not want to put students on the spot. It's the 'preserving their self-esteem' attitude that is much more prevalent in the States than here."

When asked to describe his favorite class project so far, John says, "It would have to be the genetics unit. To start it off, I do a lesson where the students investigate ten traits they've inherited from their parents. These range from the classic tongue-rolling trait (can you do it?) to the less well-known hair-on-mid-digits trait, which I call 'the werewolf trait,' to the free-earlobe vs. attached-earlobe trait. Kids really enjoy this lesson because it's about them. It's interesting, though, because my British students don't attack activities as my American students do. In America, I often have to slow my kids down; once they see the assignment they want to run with it. They'll often proceed through an activity before having it fully explained to them. Then they'll make mistakes, and I'll have to go back and explain the procedures again so they can gather the data correctly. In England, it's the opposite. My students wait to have things explained to them fully, which is great. But the project work is more difficult because they're less willing to strike out on their own. When encouraged, though, my English students do tackle things and really enjoy it. I should note that there is very little time here to do project-based learning, and the students simply aren't used to it. The syllabus here must be taught thoroughly due to the enormous testing pressures on the students."

One continuing source of entertainment to John's students is his use of "American" English. John says, "It's a dead giveaway that I've said something obscene when the class either bursts into laughter or has a collective jaw-drop. The kids are used to this by now. I'll just ask 'Okay, what have I said this time?' For example, one day I arrived at school with mud on my pants. My car had broken down and I'd had to deal with it in the rain. So, I mentioned to the class, 'I've dirtied my pants.' Well, in England, your pants are your underpants, and your pants are called trousers. You can imagine the reaction! Another time, I heard students outside the class saying, 'All the fag butts here are disgusting.' I thought they were saying horrible things about homosexuals and went to the door to deal with them. Then I realized that in England 'fags' are cigarettes, and they were complaining about the cigarette butts littering the area outside my classroom." John smiles ruefully. "It's a continuous education for me here!"

John's prior journal entries

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