Tid Bits #1

The weeks are flying by- I can't believe it's pretty much the end of February! 

With time passing, spring is approaching. It feels pretty much already late March here with the highs in 50's and sometimes even the 60s! As strange at it feels, I can't complain about this warmer weather. On Mondays I have to leave early in the morning to get to work on time to teach at 8:00 am. Last week I think I caught one of the last mornings with the town lights still lit in the morning- It was a beautiful eery scene so I couldn't help but take a picture of the main square in Castel San Pietro. 

Speaking of work. On Fridays I take the same back bus to Bologna as one of the students in 7th grade. She enjoys talking to me, so we sit next to each other on the bus and I listen to all her stories about school and studying and getting bad grades. Yesterday she asked me if I get to go home every few weekends. And our conversation when a little like this: 

Me:  "You mean if I go back to the United States every few weekends?" 

Her: "Yeah, don't you visit your family?" 

Me: "I can't go back for the weekends- it's far away and expensive" 

Her: " Well, then when do you see your family?" 

Me: "I go back once a year. Either for Christmas or during the summer" 

Her: " You celebrate Christmas in the United Sates?" 

I also had a moment of great satisfaction when I went to do a private lesson with another student who is in middle school. The week before his mother told me he just got his report card for the term and his grades were below average. He had an English test that week and wanted to make sure he was well prepared. So of course I helped him prepare for his test and when I went back this week and asked how it went.... he got an A+ ! 

Our puppy, Macchia, is slowly becoming more adventurous around the house. We took her to Poggibonsi so she could spend some time with another dog, Zorro. Unfortunately Zorro didn't want to have anything to do with a new puppy in his territory. 

Macchia is so funny. She has quite a character. We think she spent some time with cats in her first few months because often she seems more like a cat than a dog! 

Of course last Friday was Valentines Day. Valentines Day isn't very big in Italy compared to the United States, but Luca knows that it's somewhat important to me, probably because it's always been a recognized day for me. He got me a bouquet of Ranunculus which are one of my favorite flowers and prepared a three course meal along with a bottle of Rioja! 

Teaching English Part II

Teaching English is hardly ever boring. Of course every job has it's ups and downs and sometimes you may feel like you're stuck in a rut. Thankfully though, often my students make teaching a lot of fun. Here are just a few of my funny stories. I should really keep a little notepad of these comments because I don't remember them all. 

• I tutor two 8 year old boys. For every lesson they bring their bi-lingual picture dictionary for kids. One day these boys were all riled up and they wanted to look up "cacca" in the dictionary which is translated as poop. So they look up this word and just how has this dictionary translated cacca? ---> Shit. So these boys are sat at the table giggling while they repeat shit over and over again, not realizing what they're actually saying. 

• I gave an assignment for my 1st year high school students to write about a time they broke the rules and what the consequence was. This boy I'd say had a rather funny story.... 

• This wasn't my student, but a colleague of mine, and I just have to share it... In Italian the word for niece/nephew is "nipote".  So in this class they were discussing what they did over the weekend. This student shared that she had visited and talked with her nephew, however she was mixing nipote and nephew which came out as nipple. So she told the whole class about visiting her nipple. 

Some moments are funny but also very endearing.... drawing pictures of me and giving me small handmade tokens. 

Such as the time while eating lunch with 2nd year middle school students. Two different students asked me if I used to do TV commercials or if I was a ballerina. 

And this girl was supposed to write 50 words about my presentation on Minnesota and myself and the she had understood 50 sentences. So either she really likes me or was running out of ideas. 

This is only a fraction of the funny things that I experience at work. I think I am now determined to write these catch phrases down. 

An English Teacher

It's been a year and half now that I've been teaching English as a foreign language. About two years ago I thought that I would want to be a teacher and considered looking into a Master's Program and the University of Minnesota. So I volunteered at an Italian middle school, and after two lessons I decided this was definitely not the job for me. Ironically only a year later I was back in Italy taking the TEFL course to get my certification to teach English. 

My first 6 months of teaching, were at a very small school with about 5 teachers, run by a guy in his 30's. The majority of my classes were conversation groups and I had only a few classes focused on grammar. It wasn't very serious, and my position didn't require any preparation. However I probably should've prepared and studied more, because despite being a native English speaker, it doesn't mean you know everything about your language. For example, one day I told my class there is absolutely no difference between using will or be going to for the future. Only later to find out that there is actually a big difference. 

Will  is used for predictions, promises, or decisions made in the moment. Be going to is used when something is already planned, organized, on your calendar. For example: The phone is ringing and your mom says " someone answer the phone!" and you say " Ok! I'll do it!" -- a decision made in that moment. Or: your friend invites you out for drinks tomorrow evening and you say " I'm sorry, I can't, I'm going to the cinema with my boyfriend" It's already been planned.  So having said there was no difference many of students were very confused and thought they had been taught a lie in every other English class, only later to probably find out that I was a terrible teacher who didn't know her material. 

I have learned however, that even if you really don't know the answer, as a teacher you can never say " I don't know" As soon as you say you don't know, you lose any trust with your students and they will question everything you say. So you must be convincing and sure of what you say. Which for me is difficult because I'm a big blusher. And as soon as I don't know something I blush, and I give myself away. 

So my first 6 months was an important learning period for me and I grew a lot as an English teacher. It was good to start at a school that wasn't very serious, with a few classes, to get my foot in the door, make mistakes, learn from them, and gain experience. 

However, come Autumn, it was time to find a teaching position at a better school that would offer me more hours, and pay better. So I went around to different schools and quickly found a new position at a much larger school that has been around for over 30 years. 

I began to teach children as well as adults, and was working all different levels. It was a good balance to work with all ages. The atmosphere was very different from the previous school, and I now had to prepare the majority of my lessons from scratch. Having to prepare lessons for various levels made me feel more confident and when students asked questions not related to the topic we were discussing I was able to answer them.

Teaching is great when you've taught a lesson and you know it went well. Your students understood you, they were interested, engaged, it was light hearted and they laughed. Or teaching can be really stressful and frustrating when you've prepared a lesson and you teach it and everyone leaves with a blank stare on their face and a headache. So you approach the topic at a different angle and they still don't get it. Then you question whether or not your'e a good teacher, you ask yourself what you're doing wrong, and you get disheartened. 

These past 15 months have been a huge learning curve, and I'm hoping that as I approach my 2nd year of teaching that I can only improve as a teacher and keep on improving. But in the meantime I can say that it has definitely been a challenging, exciting work experience. 

Gone Girl

Unfortunately the last book I read, I have to admit, I read only because I had to for my Advanced English class. However I am in the process of reading other books, it's just that I'm very slow, so I think I failed my new years resolution to read at least one book a month. But I know I am reading more than I had been before, so that counts for something! 

Back in February we chose to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn throughout the semester. I hadn't heard anything about it, but it's a mystery/thriller and so I knew it could'n't be so bad. 

"Marriage can be a real killer. 

   On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

   As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife?"

Gone Girl is narrated in two parts; from the perspective of the two main characters: Nick Dunne and Allison Elliot Dunne. At the beginning it's a little confusing because the two lines of thinking don't follow each other. You read excerpts from Allion's diary but then you're in the present time reading Nick's story. 

The beginning is very slow and the writing style drove me crazy. There was so much detail and it felt like it went on forever giving too much information which wasn't really important. However, as you continue to read, big curves are thrown your way and you really are surprised. And there is a reason for all the descriptions and over exaggerated details. 

Over half way through the book I had a hard time putting it down and when I finished it I was left with the feeling that I wanted to read more! I didn't want the story to end! 

I would highly recommend this book for a fun, summer, easy beach read. 

And I hear they are also apparently making a movie too! 

Life of Pi

For my highest English class, Advanced 3, I proposed reading a book through out the course instead of bringing in short readings and the students really liked the idea. So back in October the students brought in some suggestions and in the end we couldn't decide between Life of Pi and The Giver.

We ended up flipping a coin to decide which book to read and the lucky winner was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. 

When we chose the book, I wasn't even aware that the movie was coming out, and I also hadn't realized that it was so popular. I had heard of it before and heard it was good so I was ok with reading it in class. 

The book starts with a prologue that leaves you with the idea that the whole story might even be actually based on real life events, however it's highly unlikely.  The beginning is quite slow and I would say a little difficult to get into, but once you start it's hard to put down. 

Even though the majority of the book takes place on a boat and you feel like there are only so many things that can happen when you're stranded in the middle of the ocean, the story moves along and is interesting to read. Many of my students complained that they were tired of reading and reading and reading about the life boat, fishing, catching rain water, staying away from the tiger, that the story got very boring. This is completely understandable especially if you must read slower than usual and over a few months it feels as if the story just drags on. 

I was frustrated with the ending, because I was hoping for something much for climatic. When I finished the book I felt short-handed, like I wanted a sequel to find out what happens to the main character afterwards. So many pages of reading about life on a boat, just to finish the story so abruptly with no solid conclusion was disappointing. 

I would recommend this book for a light, enjoyable read, simply for pleasure.