If he were at home in England, Martin Neighbor would be entering "Year 5" at a private school this year. But instead, he entered fifth grade in a public school in Northern California. In the following excerpts from Martin's diary, he talks about getting ready for school and describes his experiences during the week that school began.

Martin's Diary (August 21 - September 8, 2000)

Monday, 21 August

Today I had to have my last polio vaccination. I thought the jab would hurt, but it didn't one single bit. The doctor gave me a full medical check over, and I was fine. I told her about my asthma, and my dad explained to the doctor how I can control it and not get seriously ill. After my vaccination I had soccer practice with my team, but in England we would call it football practice.

Monday, 28 August

Today was a boring day. First of all, I had to go to the AAA office while my dad had to fill forms in to do with the car insurance. Then to the YMCA for more forms so that I can have after-school childcare the day my school finishes early. Next, Dad had to go to the county education office to fill out more forms, and he had to be fingerprinted. I think that was daft – my dad's not a criminal.

The best part of the morning: We went to a department store and other shops in a really nice, clean, big shopping mall. I used my saved-up pocket money to buy a baseball and a baseball glove. I really wanted these, and I practiced throwing and catching the ball with my dad in the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon I went with my dad, sister, and the dog to watch the soccer practice at Dad's school. Dad will help coach the school soccer team, and I was impressed with their skill.

Then in the early evening, it was my turn to go to soccer practice. This evening, one of the other boys forgot to bring his asthma inhalers and started to find it difficult to breathe well. Luckily, I knew what to do and straight away, I ran over to my kit bag and gave him one of my inhalers to use. He quickly got better, and all the other parents and the coach of my team were very impressed with my actions.

Thursday, 31 August

My first day at school – it was exciting! I was going to an American school, and I thought it would be very different from my school in England. In England we do all the work on sheets that the teachers have made up on the computer, and we glue them into our workbooks.

I was really surprised to see the U.S. flag, the stars and stripes. We don't have the Union Jack flag in our schools at home. Also, we played different games during recess. Amazingly, no one was playing soccer!

I really like my teacher, Mr. Burgess. He is the first male teacher I have ever had. He is adventurous, funny, firm, and fair with the children. Also he is a teacher who would not have to raise his voice at the naughty children. In the past, some of my teachers had to raise their voices at the children.

This evening, our team had a soccer match. We won 4 to 2, and I assisted with the third goal. It was my pass that set up the boy to score. I played in midfield and had a good game, but not as good as the first game I played for my new team. In that game I scored one goal, hit the post, and gave two assists in a 5 to 1 win. To bed – I'm tired. Another busy but much better day.

I think I'll like going to school in America.

Friday, 1 September

My second day at school was interesting. Today we did math. In England we call it "maths." There are so many little differences. I like that. That is what makes the exchange interesting – finding these things out for yourself. I'm glad my parents are doing this exchange.

Mr. Burgess gave us a little test to find out exactly what we could and couldn't do so that he could see exactly where we are in our learning. I thought that it was easy-ish, if there is such a word. There were, however, some sums which Mr. Burgess said he found tricky himself.

We did art as well. In England the foundation subjects, like art, etc., are normally done in the afternoon. We always do the core curriculum subjects like maths and English in the morning and the other subjects in the afternoon. In English we had to write a letter to Mr. Burgess, telling him what we would like to do this year in his class.

Today, I also made a new friend called Robert. Robert was nice to me, and helped teach me the rules of handball. He was also very kind to me because he was not too competitive with me and let me get some people out.

Today was the first day ever that I have walked home from school on my own. In England I always had a childminder. Here, I don't have that. I like not having to go to the childminder's. I can do my homework as soon as I get home, and then it's done by the time my mum gets home from work.

Tuesday, 5 September

We had a really good weekend because we got to know both sides of John's and Holly's families. John's family has the most beautiful garden with all kinds of lovely fruit trees which you never see in England. It was the first time that I had ever seen a lemon or a peach or a fig tree. Our climate is not warm enough to grow such lovely fruit.

At Holly's brother's house, they had a hot tub. This was the first time I had ever seen or been in a hot tub. It's a bit like the jacuzzis you see in the films.

School was different as well, because you don't get half days in England. We only had to go to school until noon, and then we could go home if our parents were collecting us, or as most of the children did, you could go to day care. That is another thing you don't get in England. There is a YMCA daycare site on the school grounds. I'm only going there on Tuesday afternoons.

It was fun because I had the opportunity to learn some sports that I would never learn in England. We played handball again, and my friends and I played baseball. You can do all kinds of activities in the demountable (portable) classroom. In England there is no such system. I always had a private childminder because my mum went to work.

Wednesday, 6 September

I'm still enjoying work at school. I really like my new teacher. He is excellent. He makes all our lessons exciting. I have discovered that I'm not the only person in my class from another country. There is also a little boy from Guatemala.

Martin's Prior Journal Entries

PearsonAtSchool Products
Daily Journals
Writing Journals
Journals as Frameworks for Change
Let's Read

Lesson Plans
Holiday Poems – Grades K-8, Language Arts
Adjective Chains – Grades K-8, Language Arts
An Immigrant's Story – Grades 6-12, Language Arts, Social Studies

Web Resources
Reading Matters
Read about Zlata's experiences in war-torn Sarajevo in the book Zlata's Diary
http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/books/zlata.htm