In the beginning, I had wanted to concentrate on my Japanese this semester since I needed only 2 more advanced Masters subjects to satisfy my graduation criteria.. and I was "lucky" in the sense that those 2 Masters subjects were scheduled on the same day!! :) Unfortunately, due to some miscommunications (a nicer way of saying some people screwed up), there were some inconsistency between the actual class and the syllables provided that had misguided many to sign-up for that particular class.. Anyway, I have decided to take up the challenge and continue on with that class.. but in order to safeguard myself and ensure that I will have enough good (here, meaning A or A+) credits to graduate, I shall burden myself with an additional Masters subject, thus making it 3 advanced subjects this semester.. :x
With the intention of doing more for the improvement of my Japanese this semester, I had signed up for the Intensive Japanese for Thematic Interaction class that is 5 lessons a week, on top of Oral Expression, Keigo and Grammar classes, which meant that I would have 8 Japanese classes per week!!! But even these have to change after I have attended the orientation week lessons.. :(
Initially, I had wanted to have a same group of classmates so that there will be some sort of "camaraderie" or rapport among us, so I decided to take a class that will meet more than once a week.. however, after attending the Intensive Japanese class for 2 days, I have decided to drop it.. It wasn't because the teachers are no good, nor was it due to the heavy work load.. so why then? Well, because I don't like the people in my class.. not all of them, just 2 of them.. Since this Intensive Thematic class is an unstructured class with students' ideas and interaction taking center stage and the teachers being the coordinators, I realised that those Caucasians tend to dominate the whole class by talking non-stop!! :x They are never shy at expressing themselves, thus the class had become their conventions!! :x :x Add to the fact that our works will not be corrected by the teachers (for grammars and stuff since the main objective of the class is to interact and exchange ideas) and our works shall be graded by follow classmates, I realized that I will not be able to enjoy these classes at all..
I do not need to be encouraged to "think" (as that is the main theme for the class), nor do I need to sit there and listen to some "youngsters" talking about their pub-hopping experiences or their "extensive" knowledge about the night-life in Tokyo.. And also frankly, I can't help but have the impression that most of the Caucasians in Waseda are here for a good time, not so much of a good education per se.. Of course, there are definitely exceptions and I did meet with a few of them.. but that is my general perception.. Maybe I am biased..
In the end, I will drop the 5-lessons per week Intensive Thematic class and take up several other Japanese classes..
All classes is 90minutes while seminars might last from 2hours to whichever timing as dictated by the professor in-charged.. Here is how my school week will look like:
Mondays :
No classes :)
Tuesdays :
9am - Japanese Reading class,
10:40am - Masters class
Wednesdays:
9am - Japanese Oral Expression class,
1pm - Japanese Keigo Communication class
Thursdays:
9am - Japanese Written class,
1pm - Masters class,
2:40pm - Masters seminar,
6pm - Masters class
Fridays:
10:40am - Japanese Grammar class,
1pm - Japanese Grammar class,
2:40pm - Masters seminar (until 6pm or 9pm, depending)
Hopefully there will not be any changes to this timetable again next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment