Well, a lot I suppose, but today they were all characteristics of my morning.
I woke up to Nick on skype, and I was excited to not have to be at work until 9 and to not have 2 hours with Lilla's class. Well, I would have two hours with Lilla, but not with that particular class. I decided to take the bus half way to school (in case of rain) and then walk half way if it was not raining. Thankfully I was able to walk some! When I got there, I went to the bar and got some strawberry juice. It was so good and natural stuff. I loved it. I sat there for a bit and wrote all of my stuff in my planner, and tried to prepare mentally to face Lilla's class.
Just as I feared, she wanted them to "apologize" for their behavior; this was after she sent me an email saying that she "read them" my email from the other night. All it said was how hard it is to stand up in front of a group of students who are not paying any attention and goofing off. So, awkwardly, we started class. Also awkwardly because Lilla always hands me a list of questions and says, "ask them these questions!" Umm..okay! Anyway, thankfully we got around to them telling me stereotypes of the North and South in Italy. This was exactly what I wanted to do with them today! It was fun, and there were some hilarious moments. One student called Lilla a homosexual, and for the first time in Italy, I saw a teacher truly kick a student out of class. However, I did not see him later when I left, so he probably went to the bar to have fun, thus defeating the purpose! This discussion about stereotypes was somewhat thwarted by Lilla defending the North; by Lilla disagreeing with the students; by the students arguing with Lilla; and the slamming of hands and books in an attempt to get it quiet. However, the noise of the students today was much welcomed because they were passionately discussing the topic, albeit in Italian...but still!
When this class was over with, I was going to Lilla's class of first years. When I came in the room, they all started cheering and clapping. Um...that is sweet, but soooo not necessary! Despite Lilla's somewhat protests, I did a quick introduction with them so that they could ask me questions or something. It did not last long before Lilla wanted me to talk about the Civil Rights. I was really impressed with this group of first years. They knew a lot about the Civil Rights, Rosa Parks, MLK Jr., and their English is good; I'd venture to say that it is much better than the 4th years. They were engaged, interactive, taking pictures, and so sweet! I really loved them, and want to continue working with them FOR SURE!! When the lesson was over, they all clapped. Haha...sooooo not necessary.
I spent my hour break talking to Nick on the phone! Thank goodness for a sweet guy who lets me vent...and then we spend the rest of the time laughing and "catching up"!
Francesca's class started awkwardly because she did not know if she wanted to ask them questions or let me do the lesson. Eventually I started talking to them about the North vs. the South. They had a hard time expressing themselves in English, and at first Francesca tried to say that they were too young to know the stereotypes. Ha...I've done this with younger classes. They eventually opened up, but had more to say about the North than things they knew about southern stereotypes. One of my boys was very passionate about not liking the north...haha...I think we have a few of those in the south! ;) Anyway, here are their answers. It is so much fun to see how there are some consistent answers across classrooms. Love it!!! Then we briefly talked about are these things true...and how stereotypes are not always true, and we have to be careful of believing them!
After class, I rode the bus home and ate lunch! I spent the afternoon working on blogs, talking to Nick on skype, and not much else. Nick eventually napped, and I went out for a walk to enjoy the lack of rain! Right before I left, this is what I saw out of my window! I thought there was something so beautiful about the clouds, blue skies, and the moon!
I walked down the Corso, stopped in a few stores, and just took my time walking around. I did buy a light cardigan at OVS for 7 euros..what?? I could not pass that up! I walked all the way to the river, and I was really glad that I did! It has rained so much here in the past week/week and a half that the rivers actually have water in them, and it made for a beautiful picture.
It really was not very cold outside, so it made for a great walk! After Nick took like a 3 hour nap (so jealous), he called and I talked to him more as I walked around. I eventually went home and started working on things again. I "made" dinner (leftovers basically) and then started working on blogs and such again. I got my clothes together for Lecce, sent emails, talked to people about their trips to Italy (yay for visitors), and talked to Nick.
I still have no idea what I am going to talk about in Lecce, but I have been reading more about Reggio, which makes me happy! Tomorrow I am going to try and go see Shrek at the beautiful theatre in the historical center!
Talked to Nick, and we fell asleep on skype!
No comments:
Post a Comment