"The South"

Valeria was first, except that Valeria is not there.  There was a substitute teacher, who at first kept telling me to sit down, and then one of my students realized that she thought I was a student myself.  So, she explained to the sub that I am the English teacher; the American.  She was then really excited and started speaking 1/2 English, 1/2 Italian to me.  She said that she could not believe that I was a teacher, and did not look old enough to be a teacher.  So, we eventually got started, and I gave them some grammar comments from their questions we did yesterday.  Then, I gave them the tongue twisters.  I let them practice with each other first, and then they all had to say them for the class.  This was all interrupted by a student coming to tell them something about a ski trip, and the class was barely manageable after this.  I kept having to get frustrated with them about talking, not listening, not paying attention.  I explained to them that it was really hard to stand up there in front of them while they did not listen, and that it was exhausting trying to get their attention.  It did not do me much good, but I tried.  It was slightly frustrating, and it just reminds me of how much more well-behaved they are when Valeria is there. 

Patrizia's class was next.  So, in this class, I started the lesson about, "The South".  They seemed to understand all that we were talking about, which was exciting.  They were able to tell me things I was sharing, and we had a bit of conversation about it.  I love seeing them making a little bit of progress each week.  Some of them were taking notes on their iPhones, which I trusted because of who it was, but it was still strange. 

For my hour break I walked down the Corso, stopped for a small snack and cappuccino, walked to the river, and talked to Nick.  I stood at the river for a while and just enjoyed the sunshine and talked to Nick on the phone.  It was a great hour break, and some much needed time in the sunshine!

My last class was Linda's.  We talked about "The South" and they were very interactive, engaged, and seem to understand.  I told them that I just wanted them to have some background information before we talked about Gone with the Wind tomorrow....they seemed to like it...Linda had some of them read some of the information, and that was fun!  We are all trying to work out the kinks in the class periods, and adjust the lessons so that they are more engaged and interactive...which is difficult because I try to get them to be interactive some days, and they aren't...and I will not FORCE a student to do anything.  However, I am excited about the conversations i have been having with the teachers in Cosenza about ways to improve the lessons, and the things that they love about what I am doing!  It's been a great feedback loop! 

After school, I came home, had lunch, made a review for the students who did "The South", worked on blogs, talked to April, talked to Nick, did some work, washed clothes, made dinner, talked to Nick, and waited on my friend Andrea to arrive.  Andrea is the ETA in Rome.  She was coming to do some research on dialect with the students.  So, I was pretty excited to have company.  WHen Andrea arrived, we spend the rest of the night just sitting around talking.  We talked about so many things...it was great, and again, so nice to have someone here!