More than a handful of people have asked me about the differences I notice between British schools and American schools.  I could answer that question by describing pedagogical differences, differences in classroom management, the fact that British classrooms tend to be much more multilingual than American classrooms, among many others.  But I think the simplest answer is...tea.

Every school I visit offers me a "cuppa" tea the moment I walk in the door.  And the offers of tea usually continue throughout the day...when teachers break while their kids are at playtime (recess), at lunch, when the kids go to afternoon playtime (recess), and basically any time I pass near the staff room.  At one school I believe I was offered tea six times over the course of  a six-hour school day!  And there is an infrastructure for the amount of tea consumed: there is always an enormous hot water boiler, the size of a microwave, bolted to the wall right above the sink in the staff room; and many schools have these large sacks containing a bushel of tea bags.

There's definitely something to be said for all this tea-drinking.  Because it's hot and because you almost never see to-go cups, it forces teachers to stop and breathe for a few minutes in between parts of the day instead of rushing to get ready for whatever lesson is coming next.  It also makes you feel like you're staying at a bed and breakfast, and who doesn't like bed and breakfasts?