Sports, theater, and clubs: everything about school life outside the classroom

There’s more to school than just the classroom. Here’s what it’s like for American kids when they’re not learning in the classroom

Lesson summary

Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with stories about current events and trending topics. This summer, we’re talking about daily life in the U-S-A.

Last Thursday, we talked about school; we talked about what kids learn in school. But there’s more to school than just learning.

There is. What else is there besides learning? There’s a lot. There are meals, clubs, activities, sports, all kinds of stuff. That’s today’s topic. And in the second half of the lesson, I’ll give you a very, very specific way of using the phrasal verb “try out.” And if you think you know it—just listen. I bet the way I’m going to show you today is different from what you’re thinking. That’s in the second half of the lesson, after our main topic.

This is lesson number 698, so that means JR has uploaded the full lesson and all the associated learning resources to PlainEnglish.com/698.

School life outside the classroom

Today, we’re talking about the typical school experience outside the classroom. The big social moments of the day are lunch and recess, so let’s start there.

The school day goes from about 8:00 to 2:00 or 3:00, so everyone has a scheduled time for lunch. Most schools have a cafeteria that serves hot meals. Parents can send kids with cash to pay for a hot lunch each day; some schools have electronic accounts. But not all students buy lunch at school. A lot of parents send their kids to school with a packed lunch from home.

Most states require that schools have a period called “recess.” This is a short period, usually 20 minutes or half an hour, for outdoor recreation or play time. Young kids go out on the playground or in the sports fields. Older kids can do the same, or they can stay inside, maybe go to the school library.

Now here’s one thing everyone asks about: do schools in America really have lockers? Yes. The answer is yes—it really and truly is like what you see on TV shows and in movies. The hallways of the schools are lined with metal lockers. The lockers are tall and skinny.

This is a place to store books, gym clothes, lunches, notebooks, school projects, things like that, when you’re not using them. All students are assigned a locker at the beginning of the school year, and they keep the same locker for the whole year.

The lockers usually have a combination lock. The first time most of us ever learned to open a spinning combination lock was when we got to middle school and got our first lockers.

The movies exaggerate the amount of time kids spend at their lockers: you really only have a few minutes between classes, and then a little time at lunch or after school. But yes, most schools do have metal lockers for students.

The school experience continues even after the last class ends. When the last period ends, most kids, on most days, will get on the school bus to go home. But schools offer a variety of after-school activities, and many students stay at school late for these activities. The selection is different in every place, but here are some of the common activities.

Almost every school has a band. Students can play the trumpet, the trombone, the drums, the clarinet, and other instruments. The band practices after school and performs at sports games and at special concerts.

A lot of schools have a school newspaper, so journalists-in-training stay after school once or twice a week to work on stories and put the newspaper together.

Theater is popular. Many schools put on plays and musicals, so the students involved in the production meet after school to rehearse and prepare the set and costumes.

There are clubs associated with art, dance, music, and other interests. Many schools have clubs that allow students to explore their academic interests in a less formal way. These days, there are computer coding clubs, robotics clubs, debate clubs, engineering clubs, things like that.

The yearbook is an American school tradition. This is a printed book offered for sale at the end of the year. Yearbooks have individual, formal portraits of each student. And then the other pages are filled with memories of the school year. Each club usually gets a page or two, sports teams each get a few pages, there’s usually a section about the teachers, the administrators, things like that. And, you might have guessed, a student group produces the yearbook.

Teachers usually sponsor after-school clubs and activities. That means the teachers stay at school late to supervise and coach the individual clubs. These aren’t usually an everyday experience—clubs meet once or twice a week, some for the full year, some for only part of the year.

Sports teams meet after school. Sports are seasonal, with football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball and softball in the spring. There are many other sports options, too: field hockey, volleyball, tennis, track and field, and soccer. A lot of schools offer swimming. If there isn’t a pool at the school, the swim team trains at a local YMCA or at a school in a neighboring town.

Sports can fall into two categories: Club, or recreational, sports are just for fun. And then varsity sports are more competitive.

Club sports are open to everyone, and the school usually forms teams out of the people who sign up. It’s all low-pressure and just for fun and exercise.

But competitive sports are different. High schools and middle schools have teams that compete against other schools in the area. To play competitive sports, students have to try out and be accepted to the team. They wear the school’s team uniform, they play in the name of the school and the town, and they compete against other schools in the area.

Students who stay after school usually have to arrange their own transportation home—they have to get picked up by parents, parents of friends, whatnot. Some towns offer a late run of the school bus a few hours after school ends.

What else should you know? Most schools have a “guidance counselor.” A guidance counselor is a person whose job is to help and give advice to students, to help make their school experience better. Guidance counselors can help students work out interpersonal problems with others. If students are having problems at home, they can talk to the counselor about that.

Counselors can help students make a study routine, prepare college applications, select elective classes, things like that. Seeing a guidance counselor is not usually mandatory. But the counselor is a non-teacher whose job is to help make the school experience better for students.

Jeff’s take

So now you know what it’s like. Between last Thursday and today, you have a pretty good idea of what it’s like to go to school in the United States. What do you think? Is it better or worse than where you are? Harder, easier? More interesting?

I didn’t do a lot of after-school activities. These are not required. Some kids do a lot; some don’t do anything at all. I did the school newspaper. I did the yearbook a couple of times. I was in one play—I was terrible.

And I created a website. It’s true. That’s where it all began. I was part of a community service club and we taught senior citizens in our town how to use a computer. And part of the club project was to create a website. I don’t remember what I put on it, but I remember the background colors were dark and the text was bright yellow. Something tells me that wouldn’t pass muster with Google’s accessibility guidelines today.