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We finally got back home late Wednesday night after a wonderful experience going back to Rome. The travel back was extremely smooth compared to the start of the trip. I feel like an experienced traveler now that I have gone through this experience. The final days at the school were bitter sweet because I did not want to go. These students and teachers were so welcoming and wonderful that I felt at home in Torremaggiore. The students put on a special production for us and sang songs that were wonderful. The students that I taught my lessons to in the second grade were so very cute and so smart! Second Grade Butterfly LessonI taught this lesson to all three second grade classrooms at the school. Each experience was wonderful. The students watched a video in Italian of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and then they watched the same video in English. We talked about the four stages of a butterfly and the students drew pictures of each stage on a quad of paper labeled with both Italian and English. The students are great artists. They actually already knew the stages of the butterfly life cycle. This is something that usually isn't done until third grade in America. The students then completed a coloring worksheet that combined mathematics (addition) and colors (that were in English). This was a reinforcement tool for the students to understand the colors that they have been learning in their English lessons. The students were in awe when they looked at the finished product of the coloring picture. This exercise allowed me to understand how to count in Italian and add as well as the students to correct me and provide an answer in both Italian and English. This was a pleasure to do with the students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYmvxP0AJI Eric Carle Reading English Version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inyijOtHscU Italian Version of the The Very Hungry Caterpillar Reflecting on this experience and recounting all of the events that have transpired has made this trip even more wonderful. I have a whole list of people here at home that are dying to hear all about my trip and what I did there. I can't wait to tell them all the stories and fun that we had on this adventure. I hope to do this again and because of this experience I have the traveling bug, and want to continue my world travels and adventures.
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This week has gone by so fast. We have had many wonderful experiences at the school working with the students and teachers. We have taken our first set of data, having the students read a passage and answer comprehension questions. After some "bugs” were worked out the sessions went well. This experiment design is to see if the students reading, comprehension, and speaking abilities in English improve due to the exposure to native English speaker’s presence.
The students were very shy and soft spoken on the first day we met them and the reading chosen about computer bugs and pest bugs was more difficult to read and comprehend. We decided to change the procedure of the data collection to have more accurate results. Instead of the students reading the passage on their own first and answering comprehension questions we instead, read the passage to them, asked questions and then had the students read aloud and answer questions again. The students that I worked with could read English fairly well but had more difficulty answering comprehension questions. In the future I would devise the passages and questions a different way. I would link the readings to what the students already know -their schema- and give directions and comprehension questions in Italian. All responses would be in English. I would also like to have had more time with the students and extend this project into an entire semester or unit (two weeks) for a real impact to be seen. Saturday, we did our final recordings and the two students I worked with read this passage very well. There was some word identification confusion and mispronunciations but as a whole, the reading results were better than the first. The students were more confident in their English and working with all the English teachers. They had more practice working in English as a necessity because we, as non Italian speakers, couldn't understand them otherwise. I believe that this experience did, in a small way, impact the reading comprehension, and speaking abilities of these Italian students in English instruction. It also sparked some interesting questions that I will be seeking the answers to. I would also like to think that I have learned a small, piccolo, amount of Italian out of this experience and will be determined to add this language to my oral and literacy vocabulary. My hope would be to come back to this school and work with the students once again to create a community of knowledge and a source of data collection that is accurate and reliable. I would love for this study to be done on a large scale for more accurate results and reliability. But for now, as the pilot program, I believe we have already learned so much from the students and teachers I hope that others can experience the same. Sometimes it's easy to forget and take for granted what we have. Only when you take a step back from yourself and your small problems can you really appreciate what you have. This experience has taught me so much about people, perseverance, strength, and needs versus wants. The teachers and the people that I have encountered while traveling are very different from what I am used to. They are determined to succeed and will do so with their own strength. They are loving, accommodating, passionate, eager to learn, and love to have a great time. I hope to model this behavior and to take a step back from myself to absorb all the love and meaningful experiences this trip has to offer. I hope that others do the same and take as much away from this experience as I am. I am so grateful for everything that pushed us during our travels. It opens one’s eyes to the true nature of people. I want to travel more and see the world in order to create a contentedness to others. Their similarities and differences will shape how I and others see the world.
This weekend we went to the ruins of Pompeii, the hills and very, very bumpy roads of Napoli and stayed at a really nice hotel in Sorrento called Hotel Michaelangelo. It took some time to find it but once we did it was beautiful. And I think we've had our best nights sleep so far with no jet lag feeling. We then headed out to the island of Capri. Took the bus to the ferry stop and lazily bobbed along the (Mediterranean sea) to Capri. It is so beautiful there and it was the quietest I've heard Italy so far. The seashore break and the warm sun felt wonderful after all the traveling we've done thus far. We also made a side trip to Alamfi which was a small little town with a beautiful church. heading back to the B&B took about 3 hours on the bus. I think I'm done traveling for a while and can't wait to work with the students at the school. Monday we will be recording the students in their fifth year reading selected reading passages. We will be taking this data to compare to reading passages after working with the students for the week to see if their reading accuracy and fluency improves due to the influence of native English speakers. We will also be participating in an open read at a local café on Wednesday afternoon for the students and the evening for the adults. This is in addition to the lessons we have prepared for the school. I'm hoping that all who attend will be pleased with our selections to read. This has really been an experience with this trip. I think we've taken all public transportation methods available. Plane, 3 different sizes; train, 2 different types; ferry; subway; moving sidewalk; escalator; elevator; stairs, stairs and more stairs; bus; car; suv, funicolare (trolly up the steep hills of Capri); tour boat, and our own two legs. I've been averaging approximately 10,000 steps per day on this vacation. The food at every stop has been wonderful! Gelato, pasta, fresh fruit, pastries, fish (and I never eat fish ever!), chicken, icream, sausage, lasagna, pesto, and it's all fresh! Pompeii PicturesNapoli PicturesCapri PicturesSorrento PicturesAlamfi PicturesJanuary 9 was day three in Torremaggiore and we have been learning so much here. We were given a tour of the school San Giovanni Bosco which is a beautiful building filled with smiling children and teachers. We were given a royal welcome and I'm sure that all of the towns inhabitants were talking about us. We were greeted by the children and the staff with the Italian and American National Anthems. The children are so happy to see us. Things are very different here. The schedules of the people in Torremaggiore are varied depending on what job one holds but for the majority of the people here they seem to run on the following schedule: Morning: 6:00 a.m. -1:30 p.m. People state their day with coffee or espresso and don't eat what we think of as a traditional breakfast. The children start school at 8:30 a.m. and go until 1:30 p.m. Students also attend school from Monday - Saturday. Siesta: 1:30 p.m. -4:00 p.m. Almost everything shuts down for people to go home and eat lunch and take a nap. The children get out of school at 1:30 unless they are in kindergarten then they come back to the school for the rest of their classes until 3:00 p.m. Afternoon: 5:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. We've been having trouble getting used to this term "Afternoon" at this time. This is when the shops open back up and all of the people come out onto the streets to chat with one another. It seems that not many people watch television because there are so many out and about. This is when business is booming and the streets are crowded with people and cars zooming by in these narrow streets. Evening: 8:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. It seems to me that evening or night time is reserved for the late p.m. hours. This does not mean that people aren't still out but there is a different crowd inhabiting the streets at this time. Older people and children seem to be turning in for the night to their homes or finishing up their daily activities. The streets start filling up with younger people in their early adult years 20-30 years of age. Most of our group went with one of the teachers daughters Franchesca to the local Pub or Bar here in Torremaggiore called "The Saloon". This was a great little bar and the people that she introduced us to spoke English fairly well as she did herself. I think I have learned more Italian from that night with these new friends than I have thus far in our journey. Finally made it to Rome and had a wonderful day so far!
We've endured so much stress and so many changes that I hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly! Fingers crossed all is well at Torremaggiore. |
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