(no subject)

[lazchan]

Okay, so--

This is to my flist of those that are in high school/have recently graduated high school.

Can you give me a general overview of what high school is like? Things that are popular (clothes, actors/actresses, singers, etc)

Also about graduation and prom?

I'm trying to put together lesson plans about some of the differences between American high schools and Japanese ones and I'd just like a current view if you all can help. ^__~ Thanks!

Comments

[nikitsuki.livejournal.com]

i may be one of the youngest (??) having graduated a little over 3 years ago.
High school... is high school. I went to class from 7:30am-2:15pm. I usually stayed after until around 4pm if i had any after school activities (like art club or Social Awareness).
I had about 6 classes a day, 5 of which were 75 minutes long and one 50 minute class. I had a locker that used to open if i hit it hard enough. lol. I never used it for that reason (except to store junk i didn't want.)
Prom was awesome. My school has a promanade where everyone goes downtown and marches around the town common to show off that we're going to the prom. I had a nice flowing pink dress (very spring like) and danced all night with all my friends. My date was.... 6 ft 2 and I'm ... 5 ft 2. So, needless to say, my prom photo looks a bit weird. After prom, we got into our limo, got a city tour of boston from our limo driver, drove home and slept over a friend's house. The next day, we went to the beach and just had an awesome day at the beach.
The last week of school when I was a senior we had all sorts of activities like yearbook night (getting our yearbooks and getting friends to sign them), Awards Night, Senior Show (a drama production my school does run and directed by the senior class), and an Afternoon cookout the day before graduation.
Graduation was really boring. We had it outside on our football field and it was about 90 degrees outside. There was no shade, and no water. We all sat in alphabetical order and the person sitting next to me had snuck in about 15 beach balls. We weren't allowed to have them because they were "disrespectful" towards the people giving speeches and junk.
That's pretty much all I remember. Need anything else, just let me know!

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I get to entertain the kids with what American high schools are like. I talked about them a little bit, but now my teachers want me to focus on graduation (since it's coming up for them) and one teacher suggested prom. LOL

<3 Thanks

[nikitsuki.livejournal.com]

do they get prom? Yea, as I remember, our graduation ceremony was... about 2 hours long. Not that long but too long for me. I graduated with a class of 300 people so it took a while for all the names to be called and for us to walk along the grass and such. Ugh so boring.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Nope, they don't get a prom or the dances.

[seeshellirun.livejournal.com]

As someone who is highly involved with high school girls, I can speak with a certain degree of expertise because I listen to them yammer on and on about the same things. :P

The Jonas Brothers are the new boy-band and a couple of my girls will not shut up about them. Hannah Montana, too, is pretty big even though the show/music are geared towards those slightly younger (my girls are seniors and they still love it).

As for clothes, the biggest thing are the ridiculously skinny, dark jeans. No more boot-cut - no, these suck down to your ankles. And do you remember these slip-ons from when we were in school? Well, they're back except now they're much cooler and look like this, and everyone has something similar. Even the boys.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Hannah Montana is popular in Japan, too! (with high school girls).

And thank you for the fashion and popular music thing. They ask me about music and I just sort of blank out. =D

And wow, the shoes are much cooler than what we had in high school. I want to get me a pair now. XD

[phoenixdown7.livejournal.com]

man, well, I'm in the same boat as you, as you know. I've already graduated from college, but I can tell you what I did for my graduation (and I'm pretty sure my high school still does it).

We had our ceremony in the football field and when it was over, all the graduates got into buses which took us to a 'secret location' although we all already knew where it was, because the previous seniors had told us. We went on a yacht in the San Francisco bay...and it was awesome! I can honestly say that was the best time I ever had in high school, which his ironic because it was the last thing I ever did there as well...

The yacht was awesome because it had three floors, the bottom floor had a bar and a dance floor, the middle floor had a karaoke machine and a dance floor, and top floor had poker tables. It was soooo great.

Also, the week before graduation, we all had a senior class outing to a local beach, instead of going to school. that was pretty cool...and it came with a barbecue.

My school had both Junior and Senior prom, so I went two years. The first year, it was at a huge hotel in downtown San Jose, and the second year it was at an aviation museum. I think I liked the first prom better, simply because the food was better. ^__^

Hope that helps...even if it may be a little outdated!

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

Mine is like.. nine years outdated, so yeah... *grimace* I remember some of the stuff we did, but a graduation is a graduation, right? XDD

[kitesareevil.livejournal.com]

You just made me realize that I can no longer speak from experience on high school. Not that I was much help before since my idea of high school involved me ignoring everyone and being ignored as often as possible to make the experience less painful.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

I hated high school, which is why I can't speak about it, either! LOL I did the same thing as you did.

[lorei.livejournal.com]

Well, um..I'm in high school XD;

Clothes: Lots of Forever 21. Denim/print skirts of spandex (usually black) and fitted print tops/sweaters. A lot of Uggs (http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?invocationType=imageDetails&query=uggs&img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheepskin-boots-and-slippers.com%2Fimages%2Fdiscount-ugg-boots.jpg&site=&host=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sheepskin-boots-and-slippers.com%2F&width=114&height=124&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages-partners-tbn.google.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AT63XLeJ6rlTVrM%3Awww.sheepskin-boots-and-slippers.com%2Fimages%2Fdiscount-ugg-boots.jpg&b=image%3Fquery%3Duggs).
Lots of dresses over jeans, "layering", prints. Everyone is trying to be "cute." Scarfs are big, jewelry is not.

Boys wear jeans and athletic shirts. Blah blah.

Pop culture: Girls 'like' Hannah Montana/Disney, because they think it makes them cute. "Hard rock" (really just pop) bands like Paramore are big, so is whatever is on pop radio.

Artsy kids dye their hair and wear spike belts. Otherwise they look the same.

Freshman hang out in malls/movie theaters on Friday night. Everyone else goes to parties and gets high/drunk/laid so they can brag about how grown up they are.

Schoolwork is important. APs! Grades! But it's nowhere near as much pressure as Japanese kids have :p

Prom is at a hotel, and it's one/half dancing and one/half grinding. It's 90% rap music that's played.

Graduation I don't know, but I wish I did :p Soon, soon.

Somehow I doubt this helps but hey! Good luck!

[nikitsuki.livejournal.com]

makes me glad to know that not a whole lot has changed since I graduated three years ago. Layering and Uggs were pretty big in my high school too.
I'm pretty sure however, that If hannah montana was big during my high school days, I'd fork my own eyes out.

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure however, that If hannah montana was big during my high school days, I'd fork my own eyes out.

Me too!

[lazzchan.livejournal.com]

No, no--it helps. why is layering in again? Guh, I thought it went out ... but...apparently not. Fashion trends from the 80's creep back into our lives.

(and psh, my students aren't all that stressed ovr grades. My teachers despair over them. XD)