Random Presentation

My homeroom class is a "International Understanding class" meaning they learn a bit more about the world, and have more english. They have a english international class, but since they are going to Australia in summer for a 3 week homestay, it is dedicated to learning everything possible about Australia. However, today the teacher (who is japanese, but his english is pretty good) asked me if I would like to do a presentation on Canada. I said sure, thinking that it would be later in the week and I would have time to prepare, but then he told me to come to the front of the class. I was like "EHHH, NOW??!" Ah well...

At the beginning, I had no idea what to talk about, so I asked if any one had any questions, which got the ball rolling. We talked about the fact we have "big" animals (Japan does have some bears in the north, but no wolves, cougars, moose, etc) and the weather and mountains/landscape. They were shocked when I told them in January it was -57C and that we were the coldest place in the world that day XD. The record low here is -4C.

Most of the discussion was about the differences in school/teenage life. In Japan, the school has a bigger part in the student's life. Parents seem to leave the disciplining to the schools most of the time. (Although the strictness differs) you are not allowed to wear makeup, accessories, dye your hair and you skirt must be min. a certain length, guys can't wear their pants too baggy/low. Also, you can't use phones/ipods in school.
 Although they are strict about uniforms and being on time for school, it is totally acceptable to sleep in class. Students are so busy with club and studying that they don't seem to get enough sleep/rest, and so they sleep in class. I also find it rather strange that there are no discussions in class. The teacher just talks/writes on the board and the subject is rarely talked about with the students. They are told how -insert topic- is and they don't usually question it.

They were pretty surprised when I told them that those things were allowed in school and that you could wear pretty much whatever you want. Also, that tattoos are way more common, and lots of teens do drink and some smoke/do drugs. They were also amazed that high school students can drive.
In Japan, if you miss a class, it is an automatic call home, however in Canada, it is common to skip class and the teachers don't seem to care as much. A high school student in Canada is considered more or less an adult, so they are responsible for their education/ more independent and should suffer the consequences of their actions (ie: skipping). In Japan, however you are a child until you are 19/20... and are not that independent. Curfews are normally 8pm or 9pm (coming home at 11pm or 12am is unimaginable for a student).

Also, girls and guys hardly communicate. The guys hang out with guys and girls hang out with girls (at lunch, they even go to diff classes). It's their choice, maybe because they have been less independent/are less mature. This is prob one of the strangest things for me, because I'm used to everyone hanging out together (guys and girls). Even boyfriends/girlfriends don't talk at school! Guys here are really shy and seem to have to talk to me when I'm by myself and there are big groups of them... in Canada, it would be opposite XD.

School is a big part of Japanese students life. School is from 8:30am until 3:30-4pm and then there is normally club after for 2 or so hours. My school in Canada started at 8am and went to 2:30pm/ friday was 1:30pm. Everyone was quite jealous of schools/life in Canada.

The presentation was alot of fun and I think my classmates enjoyed it too. Did I mention I did most of it in Japanese? :D I only needed a bit of help from the teacher, and had to resort to charades a couple times, but overall I was really proud of how much I talked in Japanese! What was supposed to be a 10 min presentation turned into about a 40 min one XD. All of this is just my view on school life, and it could differ from place to place. There are always exceptions,  but this is my opinion on the average student.