quite a lot Art students going abroad After that, I will not adapt to the change of life in the United States and at home and abroad for a while. I always confide to my parents, friends, and counselors from time to time American art study life Problems in learning. therefore "Natural Light" Art Study Abroad It is very encouraging for everyone to actively express their inner thoughts and seek help. After all, if they are stuffy in the stomach, they can't solve the problem. At the same time, when most American students encounter problems, the first thing they think of is to seek help from people familiar with China. But in fact, you have already paid for these services in the expensive tuition fees you pay every year! Don't waste it. Come and have a look!
1. ESL Language Coaching
In order to reduce the barriers for art students to study in the United States, American art colleges generally have a department called ESL Language Counseling Center. When students go to the language center for consultation, the school will usually give you a form to fill in your spare time, and then match the teacher who matches your time in the system as your English partner.
Most of the teachers in ESL Language Center are students of our school. As English partners, they help foreign students practice English. Some of them are for the purpose of earning pocket money (some schools will pay these tutors in hours); Some of them want to understand the culture of art students' countries out of curiosity.
Usually, we meet once a week for oral practice in the form of one-on-one. overseas student Introduction At the beginning, you may be nervous and don't know what to say to someone you don't know. In fact, don't worry. Before meeting, prepare a few topics and think about what you particularly want to know. I believe that partners do not want to make the conversation awkward, so they will also be prepared in advance.
I remember one time when I talked to my English partner about how to order food in the restaurant, he took me to the school cafe, pointed to different foods, and taught me how to express myself in English one by one. To my surprise, bread is generally called bread when teaching in China, but there are many kinds of bread in America, such as whole wheat, black rye, white bread, baguette, etc; Salad dressing also has various flavors: rural salad dressing, honey mustard, mayonnaise, etc. If no one told me these details, I might still order pizza burgers.
2. Writing Center
Writing is one of the most important skills in American art education. Every year, thesis writing is one of the compulsory courses for students. Teachers often ask students to write some articles or papers, talk about their own opinions on reading materials, and encourage students to think more deeply about problems.
This is a challenge for art students abroad. I once met an American art professor who said rudely in front of the whole class, "There are quite a few grammar mistakes in the homework I received. It's hard for me to understand what the article is trying to express. So, students who are not particularly sure of their English, please make good use of the writing center of the school and hand in the paper after correcting it. If there are so many grammatical errors in the future, I will directly fail you. "
In fact, the writing center of the American Art School is not only to help international students. Every time I pass by, I can always see American students. Most of them are students and teachers from the English Department of the school. In addition to correcting students' most basic grammatical errors, the Writing Center can also teach you how to annotate and quote articles (plagiarism in American art writing abroad is very serious), how to modify papers according to professors' comments, and even how to write a good article in general.
At that time, I went to the writing center almost every week to get the most authentic writing help, and my English writing level gradually improved. But before you go, you'd better make an appointment online or by phone to ensure that someone in the writing center is available to help you correct your composition. Although the writing center is not particularly busy at ordinary times, students will rush to the writing center for the final sprint at the end of the mid-term and before the deadline for the submission of papers.
3. Library
Whether at home or abroad, libraries are campus resources that every student must learn to use. The collection theme of many American campus libraries is often the academic direction and characteristics of a university. American children began to use the library from an early age. After entering middle school, they have basically become familiar with searching materials in the library.
However, China's basic education is deficient in this respect, which leads many Chinese students around to regard the library as a study room and waste its rich collection of books. Nowadays, most libraries are fully computerized. Students can find the documents and books they need as long as they go to the school's internal website to search for keywords.
At my school at that time, there was a staff member who would find out the books I wanted and inform me to go to the front desk to get them. They didn't have to go to the bookshelf to read them themselves, which saved a lot of time. If you need to write a paper to look up information, you can go to the front desk to find the librarian, who will patiently show you how to find articles in the huge database.
Generally, students of our school can browse those documents online for free after entering their student IDs. However, sometimes some important materials may not be available in your school's database, which means they do not have them in stock and need to borrow them from other libraries with larger collections. If your school has enough access to digital resources, you can basically borrow any information you want.
In order to enrich students' spare time life, the library of our school will also provide students with free tickets for various museums and aquariums every month. I was surprised that many of my classmates didn't know such a welfare. In fact, the website of the school library clearly writes all kinds of resource concessions, so as long as you are careful, you can make good use of these rich resources.
4. Academic Advising Office
Choosing a course is a big deal for students. "If you choose your own course, you will learn it with tears". The quality of selected courses directly affects students' GPA, which has a great impact on students' future employment and further education.
The tuition for studying in American art is so expensive. In order to ensure that students can choose courses with quality and quantity, American universities have an academic guidance office. They will specially appoint a professional tutor to help you check the courses you choose, answer your questions and give you constructive suggestions. Especially for international art students, sometimes the course selection involves how many credits can be taken to maintain the full time status of international students.
If students feel that the courses required by the school are too burdensome, they can raise their concerns to your professional tutor to see how they can successfully complete their courses and continue to remain full-time students. If you reluctantly take a course and your GPA does not meet the minimum requirements of the school, you will be required to drop out.
Usually, American schools are in the trial stage within one to two weeks after the start of school. Once students find that the progress or difficulty of the class is different from their expectations, they can withdraw from the class immediately. Therefore, art students must contact teachers in academic guidance offices of American colleges and universities more and listen to their opinions.
5. Career Service
Most of the children who go abroad to study art should want to stay in the United States and work for a period of time before returning home after graduation. But for those of us whose mother tongue is not English, it is really difficult to find a job in the United States. Fortunately, there is an employment guidance center in the American art school to help students find jobs.
When I was looking for a job, I went to this office several times a week to revise my resume and cover letter until no grammatical error or expression problem could be seen. The teachers in the Employment Guidance Center are very dedicated. In addition to helping to change the paperwork, they will also help undergraduates to carry out four-year career planning, such as when to start looking for internships, what networking activities to participate in to establish contacts, and even conduct mock interviews. From time to time, the Career Guidance Center will send an email to invite you to participate in various job fairs held by the school, lectures related to job interviews, etc. (such as how to answer questions during interviews, and how to dress appropriately for interviews).
On the website of the Employment Guidance Center, the company's recruitment information is often listed. Several Chinese students in our school find jobs through the company's campus recruitment. Compared with social recruitment, this saves one step of resume screening and is closer to success.
6. Psychological Counseling Center
When I first came to the United States to study art, I always thought that the psychological counseling center was for students with psychological problems. Later, it gradually became known that the United States attached great importance to the mental health of students. The counseling team of the school will provide one-on-one psychological counseling for students, and the content of the discussion is absolutely confidential.
Especially for Chinese art students who are far away from home, they will inevitably feel homesick and lonely. If there is no one around you to talk to, you might as well go to a psychologist to talk about it. They will know how to enlighten you and help you reduce a lot of burdens and pressures. It is also a good opportunity to practice oral English.
The above is Natural Light Art. For those of you who have studied or are about to study in the United States, write a true story of your own to help solve the problems of learning and employment encountered in the life of studying in the United States!
More questions about studying in the United States:
Studying in the United States_Studying in the United States_How to apply for a scholarship
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