ALT

Aloha!　 My name is Melissa Ho and I am Chuou High School's new ALT (Assistant Language Teacher).　 I am originally from the island of O'ahu, the main island of Hawaii, but I also lived in California for seven years.　 I went to college at University of California at Davis, which is very close to Sacramento.　 I studied English Literature there, which is what I got my degree in.

I am very happy to be here in Japan.　 One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Japan was to study the language and the culture.　 I love Japanese culture.　 While I am ethnically Japanese, I've lived all of my life in America and so my family has lost much of our culture, or changed it. I also specifically love Japanese pop culture.　 I am a huge fan of anime and manga.　 It is my dream to join a translation company and translate Japanese text (like manga) into English.

While I was never really good at sports, I do like Western style archery. It's really more like a hobby, since I would just play with my friends on the weekends. 　I would really like to learn Japanese style archery though.

Stemming from my love of Japanese pop culture, my friends and I have karaoke sessions where we sing nothing but Japanese pop songs.　 We also cosplay.　 That is, we sew costumes that characters in anime wear, and wear them to Anime conventions.　 I've been cosplaying for close to four years now, and I always have a lot of fun both making the costumes and dressing up in them.

Some of my other hobbies include web design and of course, computer and video games.　 My latest favorite is an online RPG (role playing game) called World of Warcraft, probably one of the most popular games in America right now.

Thank you for letting me come to Matsuyama Chuou High School!　 I look forward to meeting all of you!　 Mahalo!