back to school

Japanese language school's very monotonous. We get a schedule that maps out the weeks lessons, quizzes and tests, and it doesn't change a lot. But schedules are so we can look ahead and prepare for the next day's material. We stay in the same classroom the whole day, and the teachers move from room to room. Our seats change every once in a while, so we get partnered up with new people to practice conversation and pronounciation. During class, we repeat what the teacher says, and read off of the overhead a lot, otherwise, we don't really say that much.
I think that's the main reason why classes seem so monotonous. No one asks too many questions because the material we have to cover for that period is already determined, and if we don't get to it, well I don't know because it's never happened, but I guess we'd have to learn it on our own. Even when the teacher asks if there are questions, rarely will someone raise their hand, or shout something out; whatever questions you have, you can ask the teacher after, on your own time.
All of us are studying abroad in Japan, and the teachers will often ask what something is like in our countries: what the retirement age is, about pollution, dating. When someone makes a sentence using the grammar pattern we just learned, and says something like, "Recently in Taiwan, most people don't hold the same job for a long time," there's no chance for another student to ask a follow-up question. Or, we'll be asked a "yes" or "no" question, or a "I think so" or "I don't think so" question, and even for these, there's no time to continue discussing the topic. This continues for a while, and the result is that everyone thinks classes are boring.
At this French language school I went to, we spent most of the time talking about current issues: unemployment, President Bush, drugs. It was a summer course for three weeks, where classes were only three hours a day. The teacher would start with a topic, and list vocabulary words relating to it, then she'd initiate the conversation. She'd also play songs having to do with the issue at hand, and we'd fill in the blanks on a handout with the lyrics. I had the freakin' time of my life, so far, that summer, but not because of the summer course, and not because I didn't have a Japanese Proficiency Exam to worry about.
But I'll flat out say it, I prefer Western teaching habits. You're encouraged to ask questions and argue, you learn the basic form and make it your own, I think you create a closer relationship with your teachers, and every classroom has an American flag (at least until high school). Well, this Tuesday we're changing classes, so things will get switched up a bit. Same textbook and lessons, but new people. The weeks are definitely going by fast, it's already September, three more months until the exam. Language schools are different from regular schools though, according to my sempai, next year's training school will be frustrating as well, but not because classes are monotonous.