Academy of Beasts

7 - Midterms

"... an-do ta-to i-su wai Aidoru i-su goo-do for Jahpan's ka-ru-cha."

"Significant effort. I recommend working on your pronunciation and the overpowering accent, otherwise well done." The Hunter complimented the speaker.

"T-tank kyu Misuta Shin!" The student thanked, seating themselves back down to their seat.

"Each of you has drastically improved since the beginning of semester." The Hunter stated, taking a quick glimpse at the students.

Disregarding Mizore Shirayuki, who was still noticeably absent since the start of the semester to now, the Hunter noticed a few other empty desks with increasing absentees. Ever since the 'Clubs Day' Festival, a total of seven female students, mainly from the junior year level, have since gone missing. Some have disappeared for a longer duration than others while some has only recently disappeared, all without even a trace left behind. And the few empty desks belonged to two of those seven missing female students.

"Therefore, I am confident for your upcoming midterm examinations."

Within the educational institutions of the far eastern lands of Japan, and regardless of educational level, the academic yearly timetable was uniform, consisting of three semesters with examinations held in the middle and the end of each semester. And right now, it was rapidly approaching the midterm examinations for the first semester.

These midterm examinations would allow faculty to identify those among the student body who were high-achievers and those who were in need of academic assistance, as well as providing them the essential feedback needed to refine on their teaching methodologies. Yet despite the fact the midterms were not truly significant in the grand scheme of things, the unrest was already amongst the class upon mention of the exams.

It was because despite English being mandatory in the education curriculum, most students only studied the language to the minimal extent of meeting the prerequisites of attending college entrance examinations, in which English was mandated. Along with a high percentage of students not considering the language as significant within their daily lives after graduation, thus resulting in a lacking incentive to truly learn the language, leading to the current hysteria among the class.

That did not mean the Hunter would not at the very least attempt to add value in the learning process, adapting a teaching methodology to better teach the provided subject guidelines he was given. Unlike the traditional grammar-based teaching method in transcribing one language to the other, as the Hunter had observed done by his colleagues, he leaned towards a communication focused methodology, mainly due to w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶J̶a̶p̶a̶n̶e̶s̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶s̶s noticing the lack of direct practise in speaking the language, which he believed meant little was retained after a lecture. His belief that any person was capable of being taught any subject, regardless of difficulty or sensitivity, under significant consideration had also been a factor (which unbeknownst to the classes, meant his classes were significantly more difficult than the norm, even disregarding the language barrier, yet still within the provided guidelines). This effort paid off, given the improvements within just two months from nothing to something, yet despite it all, the collective worries of the students overtook the realisation of their improvements, and the Hunter could only wait until the panic died down.

"Let's do our best on the midterms everyone!" Moka cheered.

"Okay Moka~." The male students collectively replied in a captivated voice in a rare occurrence of fluid English, the hysteria immediately ceasing.

... Perhaps it was the presence of Moka which had hastened the progression of learning within the class, the Hunter would never know.

"For now, I recommend those who believe require additional tutelage to attend the supplementary lessons after class hours."