Cricket

Kyle Kwong

My brother Kelvin is 27 years old. He went to the United Kingdom to study when he was 12 years old. My mom decided he should go. He started his seventh grade when he arrived in the United Kingdom. (Seventh grade in the United Kingdom is the started point of Secondary School or College which is second level education. In the United States, it would be Middle School or High School.) Luckily, he did not go to the United Kingdom by only himself. He went to the United Kingdom with his neighbors who were also his friends. Their names are Jackson and Stephen. That trip was only two of his friends and himself. Can imagine three kids went to the United Kingdom by themselves? I was so amazed when I found out.

It was difficult when he just arrived in the United Kingdom. I think it was the same feeling as how I felt when I first arrived to the United States. One thing that was hard for him was English. Although people in Hong Kong started to learn English when they are in kindergarten, it was also he did not hard for him because he did not need to speak as usual as in the United Kingdom or other English speaking countries.

Another reason is because my mom and my dad were not with him. Can you think of how kids live without parents or someone to take care? It probably would be a mess. It was what happened to my brother also. Luckily, they were living in a host-family so they had someone to take care them.

He told me, the first few months were one of the hardest days of his life because in the United Kingdom, almost everything was different from Hong Kong. He needed to adapt to all those things. Because he lived in a host-family, he a lot of had changes to speak in English while he was not at school. Therefore, his English improved very fast. Actually, he said it was not as hard as he thought. How did he improve his English? He played with his friends and the host’s son. But it would only improve his speaking and listening skill. How about reading? He used two ways to practice it. One way was what people always use, reading. Another way was playing computer games. What? Computer games? How do you improve your English skill with playing computer games? The games that my brother played had some mission or task to do so if he wanted to finish the game, he needed to finish all the mission. Most of the words were not very hard, only some of them were hard. But it could when was cool when you play and learn together.

After he started to feel fine about speaking in English, he joined a sport team. It was a cricket team. Cricket is the most popular sport in the United Kingdom. It is more popular than soccer (football in the United Kingdom). A two-innings cricket would take at least six hours a day and it would take two to five days depend on different types of matches. It was the best memory he had of the United Kingdom because he met so many friends by joining the cricket team.

And now, he still has contact with his friends in the United Kingdom. For example, Richard (one of his friends from the United Kingdom) went to Hong Kong for a trip last summer. My Brother was his tour guide. My brother brought him to the famous place in Hong Kong. Richard said he would go to Hong Kong once more if he has time.