In Valeria's class we talked about stereotypes of the North and South in Italy. They had similar lists, but this was the first class where I had a student or two mention that these are JUST stereotypes and should not be generalized to everyone in these regions. Finally, I was waiting on a student to reach this conclusion. I will not lie and pretend like I did not try to prompt my other students into this, but they never took the bait. So, I was really excited for B. and another student to come to this conclusion. In fact, she came to it so quickly that she was hesitant to mention other stereotypes. I explained that I wanted to know them purely for the fact that I think they are similar to stereotypes in the U.S., and I wanted them to recognize that if the stereotypes about them are not all true, then perhaps the ones of the North are not either. This class seemed to get this pretty quickly, but others did not! However, I am LOVING these discussions.
My second class was Rosina's class, where they had the assignment to search for stereotypes of the North and South in the United States. The one girl that said she searched, found nothing. Now, last night I used Google.it and found a ton. SO, I dont know about this, but we still had a fruitful discussion anyway! I had them remind me of some stereotypes of the North and South in Italy, and then I gave them the similar ones in the U.S. Then, I wrote some on the board that I had, and we discussed their meaning. Explaining "redneck" was fun! Haha...then we discussed stereotypes that they have of Americans, and then Americans have of Italians. I will just let the pictures do the explaining.
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| American stereotypes of Italy |
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| Italian stereotypes of the United States |
Francesca's class was rather boring for me because she just interrogated them about advertisement stuff that was boring for me, and I'm pretty sure it was rather boring for them as well! At the end, she left to go talk to the headmistress and left me with the students. So, we just talked a bit, they danced some, and one of my boys, who loves to do "magic tricks" did some magic tricks.
Angelino did not show up to class to give them their test. He did not show at all. So, they were relatively quiet. I talked to T., Wisconsin friend, about a lot of things: learning a new language, adjusting to life in Italy, Italian schools, etc. E. showed me her Valentine's Day present to her 21 year old boyfriend...she is 15, maybe 16.
After school was over, I took the bus home. I stopped at the grocery store, thanked God for the sunshine, came home and ate lunch, talked to my momma, and started reading about Reggio stuff. I was also excited to be able to login to Gorgas Library to find research articles about Reggio and stuff...Yes, I am the dork who was EXCITED to search for the articles, find them, and now I am excited to read them in the near future! I took a short nap, which was interrupted by an unknown number caller, and so I made do with about 30 minutes of rest. Nick was at Anna Paola's and then took like a 3 hour nap, so it was all me, all afternoon. I was relatively productive. I eventually took a shower and slowly started getting dressed to go to the theatre. Nick woke up and we started talking, and I made and ate dinner while we talked on Skype!
Then I had to get my butt in gear and get going. I walked to the theatre, went into the ticket office, and asked if I could buy a ticket. The guy was saying yes just as my student, C., came in. C. is the student that took Nick and me to the church for the private tour. The ticket guy was asking me where I wanted to sit, and C. does not speak English well enough to help me out, but eventually I communicated that I wanted to sit further away from the stage. As I was struggling to figure out how to say, "on the aisle" (and never did know), he automatically gave me a seat on the aisle! WOO HOO!!!
THe show was REALLY good. The sets were not broadway quality or anything, but their voices were amazing! I understood a good bit of the show, and some of it was not just because I know the story line. There were a few parts where I got a bit lost, but I really enjoyed it, and was even able to enjoy it in Italian! I was also just sooooo excited to be seeing something in this theatre! Sitting there, I could not help but smile to myself and realize that questa e' la mia vita! This is my life, and I am trying to take it all in! The theatre was gorgeous, the show was wonderful, and if I am going to see a show, I prefer musicals! I loved the Freak Flag number, just as I did in English. I found myself dancing in my seat a little bit throughout the show; a true sign of a good show in my book! They even did the curtain call of the Smashmouth song, in English! There were kids dancing up and down the aisle! The show got out around 11ish, and I was so tired...but it was so much!
The walk home was...well, there were supposed to be buses, but when I asked at the theatre, they gave me an unclear answer. So, I decided to walk. The historical center is so empty at night, and it made me a bit nervous, but I stayed on the phone with Nick, which made me feel somewhat better. Then I talked to my momma for a few minutes. Then, I talked to Nick the rest of the way home. Corso Mazzini was interesting...there were moments when there was NOBODY around! It was so weird...so weird that I had to take a picture! It was one of those moments like when we were walking down McFarland Blvd after the tornado...something you never expect to do...now, obviously that was a sad occasion, but I just meant the eeriness of the moment! 
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