Come to Jesus

Friday!!

Patrizia's class was good!  We had to get a computer and projector for the classroom, and this made everything much more difficult!   A few of the students did their presentations, and of course they were so super nervous, but they were incredible!  I am blown away by them, and they do not even realize their own strengths. 

For my first break I went to get a cappuccino e cornetto and then went to the teachers' room to work on stuff.  While I was sitting in there, this man and woman started talking in Italian, naturally, but then they started speaking about native English speakers, and I looked up at them and the lady said, in English, "oooh you understood us??"  I said yes and they started speaking to me in English.  The lady was one of the other English teachers, who was not very happy about not getting to work with me by the way, and the man was there with textbooks for the teachers to look at for next year.  They started talking to me about CLIL and how pointless they think it is; I talked to them about how it would be like the U.S. saying that native English speakers, who had NEVER studied Spanish, had to start teaching their subject (math, science, etc) in  Spanish.  I just feel like this would never happen in the U.S.  They then started telling me that they didn't think I spoke like an American.  They said that the American accent is very open and I do not sound like that.  They said that I have a soft accent, and do not sound southern either.  It was an interesting conversation.  The man was there advertising textbooks for the teachers to choose from; he asked if it worked that way in the U.S., and I told him that to the best of my knowledge, the school uses the same books in each grade (year).  So that made for an interesting end to my break. 

Linda's class was next and we went to the computer lab, per the usual.  It was my Staten Island group's turn to go.  They did a great job, but were really nervous because they could not find a lot of information about Staten Island.  At one point, MG was talking about how Christina Aguliera (sp??) was from Staten Island, and some others were not listening...this exploded into an argument among the girls and I was just sitting back clueless as to how to stop them.  I understood their Italian during the argument, but did not know what to do.  They were really going at it, but the amazing thing was that I KNEW in advance that this would all blow over and they'd all be BFFs again during the next hour.  That being said, it was heated.  One of the girls went to find Linda, and she came in to break it up and stayed for the rest of the class.  When the State Island group finished, and it had not seemed like the others had been paying attention, I started asking questions.  I was rather impressed that they HAD been paying attention and were able to tell me some of the things that they learned.  We ended class by talking about their assignment for the neighborhoods in NYC! 

I spent my break in the teachers' room sending emails and searching for different information for future lesson plans, etc.  

Rosina was my final class.  This class did NOT go well.  I had students doing presentations about NYC and that same group would NOT shut up.  I had to stop a few times to get those boys to get quiet, but of course they would not stop talking.  Some of my presenters had done a great job of speaking and their information was great, but nobody could hear them because of the boys in the back.  Half of the class had NOT done the assignment, and Rosina was getting pissed because as she went down the list, all of the ones who distract others and NEVER do their work, of course had NOT done the assignment.  They all kept saying, "non ce l'ho...a casa".  This means, "I don't have it...it's at home!"  I did get to have a conversation with them about how "Top of the Rock" is better than The Empire State building, and why.  However, the ridiculousness continued in the back, and so I had to have a "come to Jesus" at the end.  In a VERY FIRM and somewhat angry voice I told them that those who had NOT done the assignment MUST do it for Wednesday because I was NOT going to plan a lesson on the off chance that they did not do their work.  I told them that I was tired of doing that because it was ridiculous.  I also told them that if they did not bring the assignments, then we would just sit in silence and do nothing, and I did mean nothing...no talking to each other, etc.  I would just sit and do nothing.  I told them that I am doing my best to make this fun, but they will not participate no matter what I do, so what am I supposed to think?  I felt bad because M. and some of the others who do their work consistently were looking sad.  However, those others are keeping them from learning. 

When class was over I sent M. a text thanking her for being fabulous and told her she did a great job!  She apologized for the others.  We talked quite a bit and she was so incredibly sweet and fabulous!

As I walked home I talked to Nick, ranted about the situation, went to the grocery store to get some turkey, brasaola (I finally branched out and bought it for myself), and some other stuff.  I came home and ate lunch, and prepared for my...wait for it...interview. 

The interview was with a place in Richmond, Virginia.  A university program, NAEYC accredited, Reggio Inspired, and it is an infant position.  We made it through about 30 minutes before skyped dropped us completely, and then she had to email me the questions.  It was incredible, and I felt really good about it. 

Then I talked to Nick and started crying and getting upset about the idea of leaving home for a job, etc.  I then went out for a walk, came back and cried some more...and determined that I just needed a little bit more time at home; a lot of this came after an email from the interview people. 

I was able to talk to Erin on facebook some, and asked her to start praying for me! 

For dinner I had left over broccoli and black eyed peas with some turkey! I worked on shutterfly, blogs, and had a skype date with Nick! 

Later that night I talked to April for a bit and talked through the interview situation.