Postcards

Friday was another awesome day at school!  Last night it struck me to do a postcard activity with some of my students!  I collected postcards from around the U.S. to bring with me, and now it will finally pay off!

Patrizia's class was first.  I divided them into 4 groups and gave them each a postcard of NYC.  I had them work together to answer/write about the following things:
1. What do you see in the picture?
2. Describe the picture.  Colors, buildings (how tall/how many), what do you think might be happening in the picture, etc.
3. What do you think like would be like if you lived in this picture?
4. How might life be different in this picture from Cosenza?

They were incredible.  They were ALL working together, helping each other, and even the weaker students were participating.  I was so proud.  Towards the end I was helping one of the groups of students with copying their writing to a piece of paper that they could give me to take, and the bell rang.  When the bell rang, not a SINGLE student budged from what they were doing.  They all sat there and worked for like the next 5 minutes...it was incredible...and unbelievable.  It really seemed to interest them, and that made me so happy!  Patrizia was really pleased as well!  I was just blown away by their commitment to doing this project.  Patrizia even said, “I think when they feel like they have the power and control, they enjoy it a lot more!”  EXACTLY….that’s what I’ve been trying to say!  She gets it!  I had no doubt that she would though, she is incredible.  

 

 

For my break I went to get a cappuccino, and when I walked in the girl said, “cappuccino??”  I love that…I love when they recognize you and know what you want.  I also had a small cornetto and then went to the teacher’s room to work on the computers a bit. 
  
Linda’s class started in the actual classroom with her giving them a “lecture” about valuing the materials that I bring or hand outs.  Yesterday, we found that someone had crumpled up and torn up the handout I had given them to use as an aid in learning from their friends’ presentations.  So, she was not happy, and had a talk with them about it!  I love to see the teachers demanding respect from the students, but also doing it in a respectful way so that they are still earning the respect.  Then we went to the lab and the group that had “The Bronx” presented and they did a GREAT job.  They found a lot of information.  They talked about crime (stereotypes, etc.), food, the zoo, museums, etc.   They were WONDERFUL.  They struggled a bit more with the language, but they were still incredible.  The one thing that they said that I questioned was that the Bronx zoo is the biggest in the U.S.  Is it really bigger than the San Diego zoo?!?!?!? I did not say anything, but I do question that.  I was hoping that one of the girls in the group would have done more speaking, but oh well.  One of the students, who is really good at English, was speaking so quickly that the others could not understand her.  We did a lot of laughing and the whole class was engaged, as well as Linda.  I am LOVING this project!  One boy in the class had on some jeans that had the flag of Great Britain on them, and then a jacket with the American flag on it.  She had him stand up and show everyone, and it was just such a relaxing and fun day with this group!  They are all so involved in the class and I LOVE them for that.  Linda asked me if Americans still did not like the British and/or did not recognize or like the British English language.  She said that she assumed we still disliked them because of history!  I do not think I know one single American that is still holding a grudge from the American Revolution; in fact, we won that war; we have our freedom.  So, I was very shocked by this question, and I have some ideas about how this relates to Italian culture and the history of the country and their loyalty to their regions, not necessarily the country as a whole.  However, if you want to know these ideas, you will have to ask because I will not be writing them here.  

For my second break I walked the Corso, went in a few clothing stores, went to the chocolate/tea/wine shop to look around, and then tried to print my train tickets for next week, but the printer was not working properly.  They were finally taking the Christmas lights down on the Corso.  I had JUST asked my students about this, and they said that it was because the city had no money...the VERY next day (today), they were taking them down! haha

 My final Friday class is Rosina’s class.  She told me that her son is moving to a city in the north for a job, and she is very sad.  I did the postcard lesson with this group, and most participated and some were simply incredible!  There was one group that was REALLY involved and working hard!  I was so proud!  Some of the boys were acting a fool, and then they get upset when they do not have a good grade in English.  How about you STOP acting a fool, even though I have split you up into different groups, and participate.  Why do they expect to be HANDED good grades when they do not do ANY of the work!  At the end of the class, Rosina wanted to ask them about what they had done.  One of the boys acting a fool was failing miserably at this, so I pulled out the postcard and tried to help him.  He was able to answer her in English, and I tried to emphasize to him that I do not need him to be fluent, but I need him to try his best and respect me and the activities.  Rosina is simply wonderful and loving, and I am going to miss her so much!

 

 

When class was over, I stuck around for a few minutes because my fave student in that class, M., was talking to Rosina about how one of the girls in the class was saying things to her on facebook about having gone to the Fiera with me alone.  **and they say there is no bullying in Italy** M. had already told me about the situation last night, and I felt terrible.  She said that it did not matter and that she would still continue to do things with me if she and I both agreed to.  Of course I want to hang out with her.  Rosina and another teacher told her not to worry about it, and it was all in Italian…and I understood!  I hate that these girls are doing this to M., but I suppose that high school girls are the same all around the world. 

I went home for lunch, had a salad, talked to Nick, and then Nick went to his afternoon conversation lesson.  I worked on cleaning the apartment, worked over stuff, read over most of their postcard writings, talked to Sofia about the transit strike that was forcing me to walk to the train station to get Christy and her cousin, Caroline, and then I was out the door.  Sofia agreed that only in Italy would they strike like this.  

The walk to the station was nice.  The arrivals board said that they would not arrive until 4:25, and THANKFULLY the taxis were still there.  I was worried that the strike would affect them.  Anyway, I was standing there waiting, talking to Nick on the phone, when the 4 o’clock train (supposedly from somewhere else) arrived and then Christy and Caroline came up the stairs.  I was in shock!  Let’s hear it for the arrivals board being incorrect.  Anyway, so we gave hug all around and then headed for the taxis.  When we arrived at the apartment, we stood out on the balcony and talked for a bit, caught up, etc.  I gave them a tour of the apartment, explained the sleeping situation, and then we went to the grocery store to get a few things.  We came back, they showered, we relaxed, I talked to my momma, we all sat around and talked, and then I made dinner.  We had chicken, veggies, and Caroline and I ate some bread with olive oil.  We had a bit of the local wine, turned on a little heat to warm up their room, and then we went to bed.  I was able to talk to April before I went to sleep, and I was still able to sleep on Skype with Nick!  

I was really excited to have visitors and to show them around Cosenza.  It’s nice to see friendly faces, who also brought some oatmeal, gum, and other stuff from the U.S.!  I do miss American things some days!!