Old class, new class
Monday, October 5
"Alright, my name is Kawano. This is classroom 201. I am the teacher for this classroom. You are students of this classroom from October... 5... (writes on whiteboard) till... (write write write) October 9. :3"
"There will be a Shuffle Test on... (write write) Tuesday, October 13, and this test will determine your level; hence, the class will be shuffled. You may or may not still belong to classroom 201 after that test. Does everyone understand? Good. ^_^"
Class on this day shocked me when I realised that we were going to be taught Beginner Japanese which I've learned three years ago. But being informed of the Shuffle Test, I had hope yet.
Tuesday, October 6 & Wednesday, October 7
As I went through the lessons, I found that some were slow at understanding, while some tried their best to catch up. And some seemed to appear to know more than the teachers, answering questions like it was nothing and shouldn't be bothered with. (These sort of people annoy me sometimes.) It felt like a very mixed class, with some students clueless and some bored out of their minds. I was politely engaged into the lessons, even though I've learned them. To me, it was like a revision, and this gave me ample time to focus on my own studies: kanji.
Friday, October 9
"Ruzanna-san... The Shuffle Test has kanji. :o"
So Kawano-sensei told me. I could feel my heart breaking inside my chest then. But I also felt it try its best to hold itself together. I've been studying my kanji. Hopefully, I can do this. At the very least, I would know some basics.
Tuesday, October 13
Test day. Test came in three parts; kanji questions came out in the first part, while Parts Two and Three were grammar and reading. If you think that the test was too hard, you could leave. I sat through it till the end. Thought I actually managed. I did my best at least, and I answered the questions as I knew them.
Wednesday, October 14 a.k.a TODAY
I felt normal as I rode the train. After all, I'm just going to school, as I've done for the past week. As I walked from the station to school though, walking pass the morning session students on their way home, I started wondering whether I had proven my worth and was going to be put into one of the better classes. I knew I was at least a level higher than the class I went through last week, but I still fretted that my efforts were not shown through that Shuffle Test.
As I arrived at school, I immediately went to the notice board. My name, my name, where's my name? Ah! Found it! I'm in... classroom 201. Wait, classroom 201? But that's the same class I was in last week, is this the outdated list?...Hmm, my classmates of last week seemed to have to moved to different classrooms, so I guess this must be the right list. What level is this class, I wonder.. E3? E3? I scanned the other classes and found to my disappointment that there are five classes: E1, E2, E3, F1 and F2. I knew that morning classes, which were advanced, started with A. But classes A to D are all in the morning? I don't know how many classes there are to each level though, I assured myself. Maybe it's not that far. But still, back to my own class, E3? The last of the E's? But, how, why, I know my basics of the language. ><
I went up to classroom 201 and stopped at its door, looking at another list pasted on it, the outdated one. I gave a little sigh as I entered, and saw three of my previous classmates in the classroom, while the rest was filled with faces that was only familiar to me as the faces of the people I sometimes pass by on the stairs. I decided to sit at a different table than the one I sat at the whole of last week, next to a Taiwanese who appears to be a boy, but can most definitely pass as a girl, or a tomboy girl. (Actually, I'm not sure myself. :x He's cool though, I like him.)
Class continued from lessons of the week before, but there was something different. It's like, everyone in that class could catch up and pick things up more quickly than my previous class. Everyone understood, everyone knew what was going on. But I couldn't quite grasp it; the lessons were conducted just like last week's, why does the setting feel so different?
And then, it dawned on me; the Shuffle Test wasn't a test to see how much Japanese you knew, not really. It was to see your study pace, and your ability to catch up and learn. It's putting the same type of people with you so that you are able to excel at an optimum pace. And I found that I enjoyed that. It was easier to communicate and inquire among my new fellow classmates about a lesson. E3 was a class that was at the same level as E2. E1 is a little bit more advanced, and is using the second textbook, the sequel to the one we were given at the start of last week. So, with all things considered, I'm in the second highest class of afternoon classes.
I won't say that it doesn't matter that I'm still going through stuff I've learned before. It matters a lot, and it can be considered time-wasting. But everyone has their pace, and the classes have been set up according to that. Kawano-sensei (who is still my sensei since I'm still a student of her classroom) informed us that the higher classes are going through lessons like the Shinkansen, the Bullet Train. As it is, A classes have a test every two days. The school has decided that my pace is this, and I have to agree with it. It's still fast (Kawano-sensei called it "high speed") and I estimate that we'll manage to finish the whole textbook in just two months. I think this will strengthen my basics, and make it easier for me to cope with the higher class if I manage to enter it, which I hope to do.
Next Shuffle Test is in three months. I will know more kanji by then, believe it.
EDIT: I just realised that kanji studies actually starts at the level I'm at now. Not yet though.
"Alright, my name is Kawano. This is classroom 201. I am the teacher for this classroom. You are students of this classroom from October... 5... (writes on whiteboard) till... (write write write) October 9. :3"
"There will be a Shuffle Test on... (write write) Tuesday, October 13, and this test will determine your level; hence, the class will be shuffled. You may or may not still belong to classroom 201 after that test. Does everyone understand? Good. ^_^"
Class on this day shocked me when I realised that we were going to be taught Beginner Japanese which I've learned three years ago. But being informed of the Shuffle Test, I had hope yet.
Tuesday, October 6 & Wednesday, October 7
As I went through the lessons, I found that some were slow at understanding, while some tried their best to catch up. And some seemed to appear to know more than the teachers, answering questions like it was nothing and shouldn't be bothered with. (These sort of people annoy me sometimes.) It felt like a very mixed class, with some students clueless and some bored out of their minds. I was politely engaged into the lessons, even though I've learned them. To me, it was like a revision, and this gave me ample time to focus on my own studies: kanji.
Friday, October 9
"Ruzanna-san... The Shuffle Test has kanji. :o"
So Kawano-sensei told me. I could feel my heart breaking inside my chest then. But I also felt it try its best to hold itself together. I've been studying my kanji. Hopefully, I can do this. At the very least, I would know some basics.
Tuesday, October 13
Test day. Test came in three parts; kanji questions came out in the first part, while Parts Two and Three were grammar and reading. If you think that the test was too hard, you could leave. I sat through it till the end. Thought I actually managed. I did my best at least, and I answered the questions as I knew them.
Wednesday, October 14 a.k.a TODAY
I felt normal as I rode the train. After all, I'm just going to school, as I've done for the past week. As I walked from the station to school though, walking pass the morning session students on their way home, I started wondering whether I had proven my worth and was going to be put into one of the better classes. I knew I was at least a level higher than the class I went through last week, but I still fretted that my efforts were not shown through that Shuffle Test.
As I arrived at school, I immediately went to the notice board. My name, my name, where's my name? Ah! Found it! I'm in... classroom 201. Wait, classroom 201? But that's the same class I was in last week, is this the outdated list?...Hmm, my classmates of last week seemed to have to moved to different classrooms, so I guess this must be the right list. What level is this class, I wonder.. E3? E3? I scanned the other classes and found to my disappointment that there are five classes: E1, E2, E3, F1 and F2. I knew that morning classes, which were advanced, started with A. But classes A to D are all in the morning? I don't know how many classes there are to each level though, I assured myself. Maybe it's not that far. But still, back to my own class, E3? The last of the E's? But, how, why, I know my basics of the language. ><
I went up to classroom 201 and stopped at its door, looking at another list pasted on it, the outdated one. I gave a little sigh as I entered, and saw three of my previous classmates in the classroom, while the rest was filled with faces that was only familiar to me as the faces of the people I sometimes pass by on the stairs. I decided to sit at a different table than the one I sat at the whole of last week, next to a Taiwanese who appears to be a boy, but can most definitely pass as a girl, or a tomboy girl. (Actually, I'm not sure myself. :x He's cool though, I like him.)
Class continued from lessons of the week before, but there was something different. It's like, everyone in that class could catch up and pick things up more quickly than my previous class. Everyone understood, everyone knew what was going on. But I couldn't quite grasp it; the lessons were conducted just like last week's, why does the setting feel so different?
And then, it dawned on me; the Shuffle Test wasn't a test to see how much Japanese you knew, not really. It was to see your study pace, and your ability to catch up and learn. It's putting the same type of people with you so that you are able to excel at an optimum pace. And I found that I enjoyed that. It was easier to communicate and inquire among my new fellow classmates about a lesson. E3 was a class that was at the same level as E2. E1 is a little bit more advanced, and is using the second textbook, the sequel to the one we were given at the start of last week. So, with all things considered, I'm in the second highest class of afternoon classes.
I won't say that it doesn't matter that I'm still going through stuff I've learned before. It matters a lot, and it can be considered time-wasting. But everyone has their pace, and the classes have been set up according to that. Kawano-sensei (who is still my sensei since I'm still a student of her classroom) informed us that the higher classes are going through lessons like the Shinkansen, the Bullet Train. As it is, A classes have a test every two days. The school has decided that my pace is this, and I have to agree with it. It's still fast (Kawano-sensei called it "high speed") and I estimate that we'll manage to finish the whole textbook in just two months. I think this will strengthen my basics, and make it easier for me to cope with the higher class if I manage to enter it, which I hope to do.
Next Shuffle Test is in three months. I will know more kanji by then, believe it.
EDIT: I just realised that kanji studies actually starts at the level I'm at now. Not yet though.