First of all, knife work, food cutting, in fact, like Gabe I learn Western food in Australia when knife work just teach you a lesson, show you once the rest need to contact their own. The main thing is to cut the vegetables, Julienne and all that is in French. Then you start learning about cleaning and hygiene. Then it's soups, sauces, main dishes (bread, pasta, etc.), then several methods of cooking, then appetizers, then meats, vegetables, seafood, and finally desserts. After that it's cost accounting and hotel management. Each discipline is one semester.
Western food is very complicated, so you need to be particularly solid basic skills, the above are basic skills, and then work constantly summarize, recall, review, innovation.
In fact, each of our dishes, there are many allusions and sources. Not out of thin air, not only to boldly innovate but also to have evidence.