We're not all fat...and we dont all like...

Last night I found a quote about McDonald's and their business last year.  It said that McDonald's made more money in Europe last year than in the U.S. I was happy to see this because I want the Italians to understand that all Americans are not fat, and all of us do not like McDonald's.  Anyway, Students and teachers were quick to point out today that there is less competition for McDonald's in Europe, and some students suggested that it made more money in Europe because they were all trying to be like Americans.  Umm..okay...why?

So, the day started with Valeria's class, and there was a substitute teacher in there.  I discussed the North and South with them, and then we discussed the stereotypes of America and of Italy!  It really was a lot of fun, and I was really proud of how most of them participated!  It is always so nice to feel like the students enjoy the lesson and want to participate! We ended a few minutes early, and I got a short vocabulary lesson about makeup from some of my girls!  Here are their answers about Italy/America.

 
For Patrizia's class, we started out by watching Kelly Clarkson sing "My Country 'tis of Thee" from the inauguration, because I wanted to show them the video and hear the song after we talked about the line from MLK Jr's speech!  We also watched Beyonce's performance of the National Anthem!  I won't lie, these songs gave me chills and I found myself a bit nostalgic for the U.S.  Like, I was thinking, "I'm getting the heck out of Italy...take me home!"  It was a fleeting thought, but yay for the National Anthem having such a powerful effect; as I believe it should!  So then we talked a bit more about the Civil Rights, and how it made them feel.  It has actually been a little hard to talk about the Civil Rights because it is so terrible, obviously, and in teaching the "basics", there is very little positivity in the lesson.  The power went out for a while, thanks to all of the rain/lightening/thunder we were getting, but we carried on, and it came back up eventually.  Once we finished, I told them that tomorrow we would be talking about stereotypes of other countries and of the North and South.  I want them to tie some of this together...stereotypes are not always true, and can lead to hatred and racism, such as that of the Civil Rights movement (well, you know...).

For my one hour break, I went to the other school to print some things and worked on my blog for a bit! 

Next up, and the last thing of the day, was Linda's class.  This class was amazing.  We talked about stereotypes of the North and South (in the U.S.), America and Italy, and they were totally engaged and interactive.  I cannot even begin to express how happy this always makes me!  There were a few stereotypes of Americans that I simply could not let slip by me.  So, I explained that when I think of Americans, I do NOT think of fat...in fact, I think of the fact that we are all constantly on diets...Now, I know that as a whole we do have an obesity problem, but I mean...do you guys not all agree that most people you know are on a diet...or dieting...or trying to lose weight in some way, shape, or form??  Am I wrong here??? Oh, their assignment was to find the stereotypes about our North and South...I had to add some, but I thought they did a great job!  :)  Here are the results:

 

 

Their assignment for tomorrow is to come prepared to talk about TRUTHS about the U.S. South and the Italian south.  I'm interested to see what they come up with!


After school I went to the grocery store, got a tomato near my house, because the grocery store I stopped at did not have them...um it's Italy, I thought they all ate tomatoes (haha..cheesy stereotype joke).  I ate lunch, talked to my momma, took a short nap, talked to Nick, wrote blogs, talked to Erin (wooo hooo), worked on blogs some more, created my Alabama Football presentation for Lecce, got my things together/packed for Lecce, made a Friday plan for getting my stuff to school and then the train station, took a shower, and went to bed!