For those of you who can be in the Osaka area on September 23, my school is holding its annual HAL-MODE FESTIVAL, wherein graduating students show off their portfolios (among other things). As a student, I can get as many tickets as needed, so drop me a line if you’re interested.
No, I’m not dead, just really, really busy. I have a few posts in the works, and intend on creating a FAQ to help answer the questions asked. Until then, please bear with me as I try to juggle school work and my other obligations!
So, my teacher came up to me and my classmate during one of our breaks today. My immediate reaction was, of course, “Oh, crap, what the hell did I do?” But it turns out that I wasn’t in trouble, but rather that he wanted us to help out with something having to do with class assignments.
Oh yeah, did I mention that the closest I ever came to being all gung-ho about helping out with school was when I joined the prom committee in the 8th grade because the vice principal looked so forlorn that no one was joining? There have been times when I’ve thought, “Maybe I should get more involved with the school,” but ultimately I haven’t.
Now I’ve been drafted into it. I wonder what my teacher thought when I gave him my Look of Horror. But, yeah, so whenever students have assignments due, we get to get up at the end of class, collect them, then go down to the office, mark down anyone who didn’t turn one in, then place the stack on my teacher’s desk. This also means that every Friday I will have to stay late after school.
Oh well, at least it gives me more time to hang out with my classmates (one of whom I’m already friendly with, and the other of whom I now have a chance to be friendly with).
So, it’s been a little over a week since school started. It both is, and isn’t, what I expected. Having gone through various types of schools — typical K - 12 American schooling, university in Canada, and finally Japanese language school — I have experienced a range of approaches to teaching. HAL has incorporated elements from all of those so far, as well as adding its own unique style in the process. (more…)
From start to finish, applying for and getting into HAL was a nerve-wracking experience. Although I had applied to Yamasa without any outside help, that was in English and this was in Japanese. Not to mention that the Japanese way of doing applications slightly differs from the American and Canadian one.
I was lucky to have Yamaguchi-sensei, who was my main class teacher at the time, and Taniyama-sensei, a private lesson teacher who I do gaming-related classes with, to help me through. Without them I probably could have done it, but it would have been a lot worse of an experience.
In what follows below, I’ll be detailing the process of how I got into HAL, from the beginning up until I was told that I got in. (more…)
