This morning started out in a rather odd way. I woke up for no apparent reason, but then I
heard my phone make a noise (fearful that it was Massimo, I didn’t look at it
right away), and since it was dark outside I just wanted to go back to sleep! I
got up and went to the bathroom, laid back down, and looked at my phone! It was my momma wishing me luck on my first
day and telling me that Chili was scared of the storm (which I was not crazy
about the storm WE had here last night either, because this is when I discovered
that I have no flashlight!). However, I
was still assuming that it was early in the morning, so I turned my sound
machine app back on and tried to go back to sleep! As I laid there, I decided that I needed to
set my alarm for 6:20, instead of 6:30, only to turn my phone on and see that it
was 6:23. Fabulous! ::sense the sarcasm::
Now, when I get up, the first thing I usually do is eat breakfast. Today however, because I had nooo idea how
long it would be until I was able to eat something other than a snack bar, I
started with make up! It was difficult to break routine, but it worked out
well! I ended up with 3 tostate this
morning (of course one had to have nutella) and a caffe cup full of coffee
yogurt and the last of my almond milk. I
should confess that I had my outfit picked out for the first day of school
since before I ever even left the States (that sounds funny). I decided to wear my blue/white striped dress
that I bought because I loved April’s that she bought! I also thought it was cute with my brown
sandals, and I knew I could wear my brown cardigan if needed (which it was
early this morning). Once I was dressed
I double checked my purse and then headed downstairs to wait on Virginia.
I was able to talk to my momma for a minute before
Virginia came. I do really like Virginia. This is only the second time I have been able
to see her in person, but she is so loving and friendly. As we drove to school we talked about
different things and she talked about me riding the bus tomorrow and said she
would show me the stop and such. As we approached the school, I reached into my purse to silence my phone, and she looked at me like I was strange; I told her what I was doing, and she said, "no need. I answer mine, and if it is school related then I talk, but if not, then I hang up!" Wha??? Leave my phone on?? When we
arrived at school, I was privy to what I already knew was going to be a
spectacular view of the mountains and it did NOT disappoint. The sun was shining through the clouds and it
was still not fully risen; it was so beautiful.
Still unsure of what I was going
to be doing today, I got out of the car and started following Virginia into the
school; we encountered a few people and she reassured them that I understood
Italian, which made me nervous and of course then I struggled to understand. We soon ran into Francesca and it was good to
see a familiar/friendly face! Once
Virginia had given me a brief tour, and we had gone to the teachers’ room for
her to sign in (where I met others whose names I do NOT remember), the bell
rang signaling that the students would enter the building.
**Side story:
When we arrived at school, Virginia began telling me about the students’
protests. She said that it used to be in
November, but now happens throughout the month of October; every October. She said that the students claim to be
protesting against the government; because, in her words, everyone in Italy
dislikes the government. However, she
does not buy this reasoning and believes that the students are just being lazy
and trying to get out of school. The
doors have to stay locked until they are allowed to enter because they do not
want them to “occupy” the school; as they have done in the past. She said that it is never violent, but rather
they want to come to school and force the teachers to leave. She then asked me if this was done in the
U.S. I said that I had never heard of it
being done and that I could not imagine this being acceptable AT ALL!!!! She asked if I thought we would be arrested;
all I could say was, “maybe??” It is
interesting though.
Once we made our way through the NOISY hallways and
into her classroom, I was becoming a bit nervous. She had explained to me that the students
would probably be a bit timid or quiet because they would be nervous, but that
at the other half of the school (a technical type school is attached) the
students would be rude, crude, and loud (and potentially give unwanted
looks). I had already encountered some
of these “looks” she was referring to, and of course she would whisper, “they
are looking at you!” So we entered the
classroom, and I was so nervous as I realized that I am no longer the student;
though this mindset would quickly change.
Virginia introduced me to her students and had them ask me a few
questions, though we only made it as far as what my name was, how old I am, and
where am I from. The topic was soon
changed and Virginia was off to the races.
1st
class: This will be the class that I am in regularly, and
I am glad! There were these two girls
sitting at the front of the class and one kept looking at me and smiling. I would catch her out of the corner of my eye
looking at me and just smiling. Not
wanting to embarrass her by letting her know that I saw her every time, I tried
to ignore it. However, many times I
smiled at her and tried to convey that I was happy to be there (which I
was). I think she is going to be one of
my favorites (1. Sits in the front…me 2. Was very attentive 3. Seemed very smart and had done her
homework 4. SUPER friendly and smiley!! 5. Looked so sweet and I just wanted to
hug her for being so friendly). There
were some other girls that were sweet and smiley as well, and just in the two
hours I spent with them, I can already tell who is driven in the school work
and who is not. There was also a girl that bore a striking resemblance to
Selena Gomez (Disney channel start girl). She had to reprimand some of the boys
(who she informed me that they call the 3 Musketeers) for not doing their work
correctly (which I’ll get to later).
There were some girls too that had not done it correctly. However, there were a few girls who were on
top of things; I love them already! It
seemed like a good mix of abilities and mix of students who care and those who
do not. I did have to sympathize with
some of them who were struggling to come up with the words; I know that in my
Italian conversation class at UA I was the quiet one who never spoke unless
spoken to because I was terrified of getting it wrong or of not knowing the
vocabulary (Hi, I’m Elyse…or Elisa…and I am a perfectionist). The content of the class period was not at
all what I had anticipated. They are
talking about the Celtic, um, people? Is
that how I would say it? Anyway, the
students had been broken up into groups to do research and then present some
information (this is where the distinction was made between the driven, and the
non driven). From there they went into
the Iron Age and the ages that precede that and the Medieval period and about
the Roman Empire and the Fertile Crescent and the Rosetta Stone and how this
all ties into the Chronology of Human Civilization and Mesopotamia. I’m telling you…it was ALL OVER THE PLACE!! I
had a hard time following it, but I had whipped out my little notebook and was
taking notes as if I were the student.
Virginia said I could ask questions and stuff, but I don’t know that I ever learned some of that stuff; which
she later acknowledged that we might not learn all of this. She told them that learning about the Celtic
people was important because it was the origin of the English language and that
you cannot learn a language without learning its origins; and reinforced the
point with, “can you learn Italian if you know nothing about the Romans??”
Thoughts
after first class: I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO BE THE TEACHER AND
NOT THE STUDENT!! I found myself sitting
there thinking, “how do I do this? I need to be taking notes because I need to
learn about this; I need to know these things!
I want to learn!! Wait, I’m supposed to be paying attention to their
grammar and pronunciation (per Virginia’s request), and she wants me to ask
them questions. I can’t…because I am too
busy learning and playing my role as the…s.t.u.d.e.n.t…ooooohhhh wait…I’m not
the student!?!? It was a very eye opening moment for me there; one that cannot
truly be conveyed in writing; though I am trying. **more
thoughts about students/the school in general will come later (all at
once).
After this first class, which lasted two hours,
Virginia said that she had to go straight to the other class, but I could go to
the bar (yes, there is a bar for snacks and coffee) down stairs if I wanted of
she could send a student to get what I wanted when they went to get what she
wanted. Before we could finish that discussion, I finally met my first, real
live Marcello. He is the P.E. teacher
and he said that his son was studying in Vermont, but that his son should teach
me Itailan and I should teach him English; well sir, is your son’s name
Marcello and is he here or in Vermont; this would totally be a case of
loving that a person is named after their dad. Anyway, so then Virginia asked
me what I wanted from the bar. I just wanted to go to the bathroom; which I had
to get the “keeper of the keys” lady (ahhh Hagrid) to open the teachers’
bathroom. Again, very weird moment to be
the teacher and not the student. When I
got in there (through like 3 doors), I called my mom immediately! I had to tell her about how LOUD the school
is all of the time; it was so distracting (more later). Then I went to the second class where
Virginia was, and a student soon brought us our snacks. I did not want coffee, so I had a fruit juice
(which I think was blood orange juice.. Succa orancia rossa…I think) and a
brioche (sweet bread with nutella in the middle). I ate very little of the brioche, but did eat
the parts with Nutella, and had most of the juice. I had already eaten my snack bar, so I was
not that hungry.
2nd
Class: This class asked me a lot more questions. They asked me about where I was from; how old
I am; what are my hobbies; did I like Cosenza etc. Then Virginia took over and was talking to
them about things they had covered in class.
They talked a bit about “false friends”, which are words in the two
languages that look alike, or sound alike, but actually have very different
meanings. This class was cut short by
the students break; this is when they
went to the bar and brought back snacks and more rowdiness. During this time,
Virginia enlisted their help with the bus system for me; happy to say I
understood about 95% of what they said (in Italian). Virginia also took this time to talk to me
some more. She told me that she is 58,
which I had not expected. She said that
I should meet her son and girlfriend very soon and maybe they have some people
my age I could hang out with (her son is 27).
We talked about how her husband is a doctor and if I need anything that I am to call her and she
will talk to him or I can come see him (what a random blessing!). Even after the break, this class didn’t last
very long. It seemed like I blinked and
it was over with.
At this point Virginia and I moved on to the last
and final class. We had to go further
upstairs and as we approached the steps we saw all of these boys peeking down
the staircase and Virginia said, “They are looking for you!” Sure enough, when they knew that we saw them,
they took off running to the class. When
we walked in, and they all stand up by the way, she told them that they could
sit and then scolded the boys for doing “what you were doing”! I was excited to see that this class had an
interactive white board thing (any teachers reading this and are in disbelief
that I don’t know the name…remember that I work with little children &
babies) and a computer with internet access!
3rd
Class: I really
liked this class. Most of the students
seem to care about what was going on and they had really good English
skills. Virginia let them ask me a lot
more questions that she had done in the other classes. They added questions like, “do you like our
school? Is it different than your high
school? How long will you be in
Cosenza?, etc”. Virginia had requested
that they show me warm and welcoming faces and ask questions and carry on the
tradition of being kind, friendly, Southern Italians, and so when I said I was
from the South, I explained that we too carry a tradition of being welcoming
and it is what we call, “Southern Hospitality”!
So then she talked to them about that similarity. When they asked me about my high school I
explained that we (students) change classes, we are not allowed to bring
backpacks into the classrooms, we have lockers, and we go for a longer amount
of time each day, but fewer days. One
sweet girl said she was fascinated by the locker idea and had me explain; so I
explained the combination lock, that we got a new locker each year, and that we
often decorate the insides of the locker.
They had me talk about why we don’t carry our backpacks into class and
we discussed the safety issues, which she attributed to there being more people
to regulate in America than in Italy (i.e. more students). They talked for a minute about whether they
had heard of school shootings and such; great, this is what we are known for
(Lilla had also mentioned it the day before).
There were two sweet girls in the front of the class and they could have
easily been placed in American high school; every once in a while I would catch
them whispering and snickering to each other and seemingly gossiping about
something. In this class especially I
could see how there are probably some “clicks” or certain groups of
students. It was interesting to start
noting some of the differences and similarities. When the bell rang, Virginia
gave them some homework (writing some different types of sentences about
Halloween), and Marcello came to take them to P.E. Virginia first made them show respect by
standing and saying goodbye.
Thoughts
about the school experience overall:
1.
It
is SO loud that I was constantly distracted.
It did not matter if the door was closed or not. The students in the hallways at various times
and in other classrooms were SO LOUD that I caught myself looking around out of
distraction and it was also keeping me from hearing the students in the class
speaking. This would be so incredibly
unacceptable at home. I feel like Ms.
Baker’s head would have exploded today; and rightfully so. *For those who don’t know, that was my
Principal!
2.
There
did not seem to be a dress code. There
were girls with their shoulders showing.
One girl had on a “Sex and the City” t-shirt, but really all I could see
throughout class was, “SEX”. It made me
laugh because once again that would NEVER fly in the US. However, I heard the other day that a student
couldn’t wear a certain jersey to a school in the US; I think we’ve taken it a
bit too far!
3.
They
do not have lockers or anything. The
hallways are very plain and it is very odd.
The classrooms are also very plain because the teachers rotate
classrooms, offering no opportunity to personalize anything. I suppose there could be advantages to this,
but I would want to personalize my space.
Their only personal space is a little safe type locker in the teacher
room, but otherwise they just take stuff with them to the class (same for students).
4.
Other
than the room with the interactive white board thing, they use little green
chalkboards; the kind that flip over!
WHOA…crazy!
5.
Two
public busses show up just before 1:00 to take students home, but so do
parents.
6.
The
students notebooks are called “copybooks”
7.
The
teachers’ bathrooms are locked. Then,
you go through one door and there are separate rooms for men and women (another
closed door, but no key needed), and then there are “rooms” for each “stall”.
8.
Personally,
it seemed rather unstructured for me.
The way they do not have certain classes every day and some days they
have them 2 hours and others for only 1 hour.
They get their homework, but it might be 4 days before they see that
teacher again. The noise would keep me
from learning; anyone with ADD or ADHD would NEVER survive. The environment was a bit crazy and would not
have been conducive to my learning style(s).
However, it seems to work for them, so I suppose I will just have to
adjust.
After classes were finished, Virginia
took me to see the Headmistress, which they keep calling, “presidente”. This poor woman could not focus for one
minute without being interrupted.
Virginia ran into Francesca and asked for her, “class timetable”, which
is their schedule. Like I said, it is
ALL over the place so they have to have it written down and carry it with
them. Then they called the 4th
teacher that they wanted me to work with; a man who had lived in Chicago for a
few years. Trying to work out which
classes I could be in and when caused them to start arguing. They have
to respect that I have another school to work at, and Virginia agreed that I
should not work on Saturdays (thank goodness).
They begin to argue over who said what and how it was supposed to be;
they started out “discussing” it in English, but quickly moved to Italian;
again, I understood about 90% of what they said, which made it awkward, but
they didn’t seem to care (Headmistress was not present for this). They were saying that Virginia had misled
them; the argument mainly centered around the fact that the
Headmistress/Viringia/supposedly Fulbright said I had to be in at least a 3rd
level class. The man, Angelino, worked
in the technical school with Francesca and his 3rd level classes are
only 2 hours a week (which I am supposed to spend 2 hours a week in 4 classes
at each school…MAXIMUM…an important concept for later); thus, he did not want
me to take up that time. He asked if I
had a plan already; um, no! He also
explained that his upper level classes focus on their technical thing (e.g.
engineering), and their conversation stuff is only on that; thus rendering me useless…by my own admission, not
his until after I’d said it! So, they
decided that his two 2nd level classes on tourism would work; this
was later nixed by the headmistress. We
had my schedule all worked out, but it soon fell apart. The headmistress said, “NO, absolutely not”
to the 2nd level classes. She
was in and out this whole time; Virginia and Francesca talked to random people
who called on her phone; it was crazy! I
explained to Virginia that I only had to work a minimum of 6 hours, so if there
were no classes available, then it was okay because we had easily worked out 6
hours! I was trying to make this easier
for them, knowing that I still had to do this at another school. She seemed happy about that and said she
would approach the Headmistress with it.
When Virginia and I were alone at one
point, I took the opportunity to talk to her about the Reggio Emilia
conference. Before I could even finish
my rehearsed speech about how important it is to me and everything I have
studied in school (all’universita), and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience
she said, “You MUST go! This is so important.
That area is known for their
overall education. Have you looked at hotels?
You must ask me first because I know of some good ones!” WHEW! What a relief! She told me to register
TODAY to guarantee my place! WHAT A
RELIEF!!! I was so excited to have this under my belt and I was so excited that
I could not stop smiling and literally almost jumped out of my chair from
excitement.
After two weird hardcandies with soft
stuff inside them, some complicated things almost worked out, and Virginia had
missed lunch with her husband, we were finally leaving. Oh, she had also called
in a knowledgeable teacher to further explain the buses to me (and I think I
understood about 97% of what he said!!).
So, we were feeling more confident about what I needed to do! She
approached the Headmistress about the 6 hours and she said, “Absolutely NOT! We
have an American and we are going to follow the rules and we have to use her as
much as possible!” Shot down! So, I suggested that I spend an additional
hour with Virginia and Lilla on the days that I am already at their
school. She said she would discuss it
with them tomorrow. I also tried to talk
to her about doing lessons more focused on my interests; the students
interests; my culture; where I am from; ideas that I have gotten from other Fulbright
ETA’s blogs; etc. I am so desperate to
do FUN things with them, like The South vs. Southern Italy; Football (roll
tide) vs. soccer; our Holidays (& cooking); NYC; things that are fun and
not from their textbooks, but rather things that only I can teach them. Their English is more focused on British
stuff and they even all have slight British accents (especially Francesca) when
they are speaking in English; some students have it too! I want to bring my culture to them…not expand
on text book subjects that I am not familiar with! It was somewhat disheartening, and I was
fighting the feeling of frustration.
Virginia reassured me that I would never be doing grammar lessons (she
said that she understood that explaining your own language is hard; that she
could never explain how to
learn/speak Italian and the grammar…). I
am still worried that I wont get to do the fun things like the other ETA’s from
years past. I know that one of my
downfalls is I always want things to go the way I imagine, but this is one that
I imagined because it was reality for most!
On our way out, Virginia was stopped by
the French teacher, but I did not follow what they were saying. When I asked to go to the bathroom, Virginia
said she had to go too. Then she
proceeded to tell me how the French teacher was trying to make her do extra
work that was not her responsibility.
Virginia told me about it for the next 10 minutes; I was a bit nervous
having her tell me these things!
On the
way to my apartment she drove part of the bus route to make sure I knew where
it would go and where to get off near the school. Then she drove me home. We talked about random things; also earlier
that day she had asked me if I looked like my mom or dad (and I explained the
pictures that my momma has of us at different ages and how we look exactly the
same, except the black and white of her pictures). When Virginia was dropping me off she gave me
the kisses and hugs and was touching my face and telling me how she wanted to
host me at her home very soon! She was
so loving and affectionate; my kind of person.
UNTIL…..UNTIL SHE TOUCHED THE UNDER PART OF MY CHIN! She did this like
motion like you grab someone’s chin and tell them they are cute or
something…but she did not grab my chin, it was that under part of my chin! I had to fight the urge to freak out! **this will only make sense to people whom
I’ve explained it to. Holly knows…April
know…I’m pretty sure Erin knows! When I
opened my phone, I saw that I had a missed call from Luca; I’m afraid he will
think I am avoiding him; which I am NOT!
Anyway, so she dropped me off and I went
back to my apartment, ate lunch (ham sandwich and some leftover veggies),
changed clothes, packed my computer bag, and reluctantly was off to the hotel
to use the internet. I was convinced
that there was no way Massimo could be there that early because he had been at
work last night (and would have been there this morning). However, I barely peeked inside when I got
there and he was there; so I just went straight to my outside table. He did eventually come out and ask if I was
feeling better; so he did get the
horrible look on my face last night intended to imply that I was in a bad mood
and didn’t want to be bothered.
So,
internet time was good! I was able to
talk to April for a little over an hour, which was great! I talked to Mrs. Malissa for a few minutes;
always a treat to hear her sweet voice!
I skyped with my daddy and that was good because I hadn’t seen him as
much this weekend! I updated my blog,
put some pictures on facebook, answered a few emails, downloaded the 7
documents from Fulbright regarding our Rome trip, and THEN…then I registered
for the Reggio Emilia
conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH MY GOSH…SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO
SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO excited…I could keep going, but I’ll spare those who
have read up to this point. Words cannot
describe how excited I am about getting to go to this amazing conference and
the opportunity to visit the infant/preschools of Reggio Emilia! My savings will take a bit of a hit, but it
will be beyond worth it! To know that it
will be valuable to my future and that I can go home and share it with so many
people who are passionate about these things as well; well, that makes it worth
EVERY PENNY! So excited!! So, given that my stuff is accepted and such (which I
have no reason to believe it wont be), I will be spending a week in Reggio
Emilia in February! Did I mention that I
am excited?!?!? Reggio….Emilia…AH!
Once I’d spent a little over two hours
using the internet (Massimo was gone at this point and did not speak to me
other than that one time…I never even saw him leave; I just saw the nice lady
show up), I headed back to my apartment.
I had to drop off my computer bag and then go to the grocery store. As I was walking I talked to my momma and
then returned Lilla’s phone call. She
was hoping I could do my family lesson tomorrow. I explained that I was to be with Francesca
at 9 tomorrow morning; she said, “okay you do it at 8!” I had to tell her that I did not come home
and do the presentation last night because we had discussed not doing it this week; I am not a
slacker!! I also told her that I would be at school Wednesday, but then not
until after Rome. I hung up and no
sooner had I hung up than I realized that I had just walked past
Francesca. I stopped her and spoke to
her! We talked for a minute and then
parted ways!
At the grocery store I bought yogurt,
eggs, some lunch meat, some small wheat rolls, and some rice cakes. I am struggling to find “snacks” like I would
have at home. I stopped and bought a
small “planner” so that I could write things down, only to discover when I got
home that it is only for 2013; a lot of help that is! When I got home, I was hungrier than I had
anticipated. So, I made veggies (my now
regular combo of carrots, tomatoes, & white zucchini cooked in olive
oil. I made farfalle (APRIL!) with this
Barilla calabrese sauce (which turned out to be spicier than I
anticipated…making it truly Calabrian).
I also ate half of one of my wheat rolls (with my good Ernesto olive
oil).
It was a WONDERFUL dinner! Also, before I ate, I boiled some eggs;
without a timer I was unsure of how they would turn out. It should also be noted that this is the
FIRST time I’ve ever boiled my own eggs.
Don’t judge!! After I ate I sat down
to write my blog. At 8:30 I went to
write and watch Gilmore Girls and I had one of my boiled eggs. I was SUCCESSFUL…the inside was perfectly
cooked and so I put some pepper on it and enjoyed my seemingly small
victory!
The rest of my night was spent washing
clothes, washing dishes, and getting ready for tomorrow (i.e. checking the bus
“times”, picking out something to wear, etc.).
Taking a shower is one of my least favorite things to do during the
day! This seems odd, but it is because I
freeze half of the time I am in the shower, and then when I get out…it is
impossible to stay warm!!
I also started working on Lilla’s
powerpoint; of my family! I’ll put more
work into it starting tomorrow!!
Welp, 2 weeks down!!! This week will probably fly by and then next
Tuesday morning I am off to Rome until that Saturday (hoping to spend most of
Saturday there as well!).
No comments:
Post a Comment