international students

[Nomvalt]

International students are often faced with difficulty when adjusting to a new environment and ways of living. Language can be a particularly troublesome obstacle for some to just make it through the day without much grief and frustration. The other day somebody asked me what you say when you want to get a haircut. So, I thought I'd ask here. Would you say 'could I have one haircut please?' lol, sounds like something you would say when ordering a meal from a fast food outlet. How do you describe the type of haircut you want to get? What do you say when you go to the barber's?

Also what do you say when you want to buy tickets to go to the movies?

[Gloamglozer]

My stylist is pretty cool so I just say: "Just shortened and make it look 'cool'..."  And he gets the drift.  Usually if it's not short enough I tell him when he's nearly done so it's no problem for me.

For tickets to the movies, I just say, "Can I please have one ticket to see..."  If I have my concession ticket and it's not a Tuesday, then I put the word "concession" before "ticket".

EDIT:  My experience with international students is not that they can't speak English but their grammar and sometimes syntax is incorrect.  Nonetheless, people seem to still understand what they are asking or saying most of the time.

[dcc]

'Could I have a medium 10 chicken McNugget meal with a Fanta please.'

All you'll ever need with regards to ordering food.

[Glockmeister]

My stylist is pretty cool so I just say: "Just shortened and make it look 'cool'..."  And he gets the drift.  Usually if it's not short enough I tell him when he's nearly done so it's no problem for me.

For tickets to the movies, I just say, "Can I please have one ticket to see..."  If I have my concession ticket and it's not a Tuesday, then I put the word "concession" before "ticket".

EDIT:  My experience with international students is not that they can't speak English but their grammar and sometimes syntax is incorrect.  Nonetheless, people seem to still understand what they are asking or saying most of the time.

I think that there's also a lack of confidence issue with international students in their ability to speak the language and so alot of the time, there's a delay in between words as they go umm..arr-ing their way though their vocabulary. That said, I don't really have trouble understanding them at all. It just takes a little bit of patience.

'Could I have a medium 10 chicken McNugget meal with a Fanta please.'

All you'll ever need with regards to ordering food.

But you miss out on the Angus then.

[olly_s15]

International students own at maths

[humph]

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

[olly_s15]

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

That's interesting. I just had my year 12 spesh orientation and i'm the only white person in there, along with a couple of asians who are full english speaking. The other 70% of the class are international students, and they're quite intimidating when it comes to maths.

[QuantumJG]

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

That's interesting. I just had my year 12 spesh orientation and i'm the only white person in there, along with a couple of asians who are full english speaking. The other 70% of the class are international students, and they're quite intimidating when it comes to maths.

For us it was about 60% international - 40% local (most local students did methods or further as their maths), the class size was around 12 for us and 14 for the other (the other was the stronger class). I had a Russian friend in year 11 who spent a few years in Japan and was like pro at maths and always gave me a hard time (not literally) for not knowing the content beforehand, by year 12 his standard dropped a lot (my other friends got him addicted with video games). Anyway he showed me his physics and maths textbook and both were probably 1/12th as thick as our text books (yes a lot of crap is cut out) and what he was doing in like year 9 - year 10 in Japan was basically at our year 11 - 12 level.

By the end of year 12 we were both on a par with SAC marks, but he never told me his study score or ENTER.

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

Yeah most of the students who did specialist maths are doing engineering (or as humph said "maths/physics with the fun cut out" - so true) or something related to commerce or something related to the health sciences. I'm the only student from my year to do a maths/physics major (not sure if anyone from my school who did year 12 this year is even considering doing a maths/physics major).

At melbourne most people you see who do maths or physics are there to fill in a prerequisite for engineering or commerce, maybe 10 - 17% are there to do a maths/physics major.

[Glockmeister]

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

That's interesting. I just had my year 12 spesh orientation and i'm the only white person in there, along with a couple of asians who are full english speaking. The other 70% of the class are international students, and they're quite intimidating when it comes to maths.

For us it was about 60% international - 40% local (most local students did methods or further as their maths), the class size was around 12 for us and 14 for the other (the other was the stronger class). I had a Russian friend in year 11 who spent a few years in Japan and was like pro at maths and always gave me a hard time (not literally) for not knowing the content beforehand, by year 12 his standard dropped a lot (my other friends got him addicted with video games). Anyway he showed me his physics and maths textbook and both were probably 1/12th as thick as our text books (yes a lot of crap is cut out) and what he was doing in like year 9 - year 10 in Japan was basically at our year 11 - 12 level.

By the end of year 12 we were both on a par with SAC marks, but he never told me his study score or ENTER.

International students own at maths

Not so much at uni, oddly enough. A lot of them go on to do commerce/finance/business, whereas most of the maths kids I know are nerdy anglos.

Yeah most of the students who did specialist maths are doing engineering (or as humph said "maths/physics with the fun cut out" - so true) or something related to commerce or something related to the health sciences. I'm the only student from my year to do a maths/physics major (not sure if anyone from my school who did year 12 this year is even considering doing a maths/physics major).

At melbourne most people you see who do maths or physics are there to fill in a prerequisite for engineering or commerce, maybe 10 - 17% are there to do a maths/physics major.

I think you'd find that most international students move on to the more applied aspects of maths, where there's a clear pathway to a job at the end. Particularly, commerce, since that can lead to jobs that is on the Skilled Migration List.

[vexx]

the top maths students in my year are international students.

the three girls in my methods class, who can't really speak much english, getting consistent 'perfect scores'. i just found out the other day that one of them is 19, the other two are already 18.... is this normal for international students to be older :| considering most of us are just turning 17

[Glockmeister]

the top maths students in my year are international students.

the three girls in my methods class, who can't really speak much english, getting consistent 'perfect scores'. i just found out the other day that one of them is 19, the other two are already 18.... is this normal for international students to be older :| considering most of us are just turning 17

It could be that their year structure for most schools in the Northern Hemisphere is slightly different where they have a really long break during the winter (our summer) or something like that. It could mean that your international student friends probably would be in uni now if they went through their local system. For example, a friend of mine in the US started college (university) I think about 6 months before I did, even though we're the same age.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

i just found out the other day that one of them is 19, the other two are already 18.... is this normal for international students to be older :| considering most of us are just turning 17

My international student cousin had to spend a few months learning English before starting year 11 in Australia, which he had already done in Vietnam. That's probably where age differences could happen.

[vexx]

^ oh i see that makes sense then. there are a few other international students who are a bit older than us probably for that reason then.

[Gloamglozer]

My international student cousin had to spend a few months learning English before starting year 11 in Australia, which he had already done in Vietnam. That's probably where age differences could happen.

Yeah, I know a few international students who have had to go to an "English school" so to speak and learn English before commencing school in Australia.

[Greggler]

lol i just finished yr 11. there is a guy in our year who turned 19 early '09. absolutley rapes physics/chem/methods considering he has already done all the stuff