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This has been such an amazing cultural experience. Me and the other girls talked about how when people just go to all of the touristy cities they do not get the real feel for the culture. The city of Rome is very Americanized because the tourists are what keep it going. Being in a small town we were able to live like real Italian. My favorite meals were the home cooked meals prepared by the teachers. Sometimes it seems like the food is never ending and dinner is a long process. We had to deal with the town shutting down at 1 pm and not opening up again until 5. We all now know what it is like being in a country where everyone does not speak English. However, English is everywhere on store signs, clothes and menus. English really seemed to be a universal language for tourists. In America Spanish is our second language. Spanish is not really recognized in Italy. On the tour bus to listen to the tour the languages options were Italian, English and French. I see how important it is to know a second language. This trip has inspired me to really improve on my French. Hopfully, I will be able to spend more time in France than just the airport and use this second language to communicate. What else that made this a great cultural experience was the people I made and now have connections with. I have gotten to know Dr.Ceprano and Mrs. longo on a professional and personal level that many students never get to experience. Also all the teachers in Torremaggiore took us all in with open arms even if some of them some hardly speak to us in English. Most importantly was getting to know these amazing students. They were such bright young individuals who loved getting to know us girls. They accepted us into their classrooms and let us teach them and let us learn from them. I am going to miss these students greatly and I really feel this bult such a strong bond between America and Italy. The students expressed their love and admiration for America and I expressed it back about Italy. I feel us girls inspired them to want to improve their English and desire to learn about different cultures. This has been a truly amazing experience that I will take with me thoughtout my educational career.
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Over the past week we have gotten to know the students in the classrooms. It was very sad to say goodbye today to them. They all wanted to take pictures with us and it made us feel like celebrites. When we walk around the town all of the students know our names and love to talk with us. This is helping them improve their English because they want to talk with us. The students in Italy are so eager to learn and they have told me what a beautiful experience this has been for them. Two days ago we did a book reading at a coffee shop. We had two sessions, one in the afternoon for children and one at night for adults. I was very excited at the amount of children that showed up. For the children's reading I read "the night before Christmas." We incorporated Italian and English into the readings. Then for the adult reading I read the song "iris" by the goo goo dolls becuause It is one of my favorite songs and they are from Buffalo. I was surprised that the people there knew and liked the song. This was a great experience and nothing like I have ever done before. Today I got to teach in a third grade classroom! The students went into the computer lab because I needed to use the smart board for my lesson. I had an electronic copy of The Mitten by Jan Brett on the smart board. I read a page in English and then the teacher translated the text into Italian. I then had masks of all the animals in the book and had the students hold them. The students were very excited about my lesson. Later on I went to observe another third grade classroom. The students were learning geography and English. The students were so excited to have me there to help with the English. The students started writing me notes about how much they like me and giving me little gifts. The students here are the sweetest things and have made this experience of teaching in italy so wonderful. Today I got to observe in a preschool class. The students were so excited to have me in the classroom. The students and teacher did not speak English but it was still easy to participate with the students. The students were so excited to have me there and would talk to me in Italian. The only thing I really understood was them all calling my name. I read a book to them in English and I was suprised that they were so eager to listen to it. Then I counted to 10 with the class and they repeated it. The students then played a game where they sing a song and hop on one foot, when the song is over the student kiss another student on the cheek then that student would go in the middle. After the game the teacher lined up all the students to take a picture with me. I had such a great time and am excited to go back. Today I observed a first grade classroom. The students were excited to show me their workbooks. Today I observed a first grade classroom. The students were very intrigued by my presence. One of the girls kept turning around and smiling at me. The students were excited to show me their workbooks. I was impress with their work. The students are very eager to listen to me speak. I would point to objects and say them in English to the students. On the wall they had the days of the week. The students all gathered around me and I tried to pronounce them in Italian and the students would correct me. I then said the days of the week in English and the students would repeat what I said. This was a great observation. Afterwards I went into Filomenia classroom and observed her teaching English. The lesson was about colors. She played this cute color song and at the end of every verse the students had to find an object of the color she stated. Later in the night we went to one of the teachers house to have dinner with the teachers. The teachers have had such great hospitality towards us and I appreciate it so much. Now that everything is going soomthly on this trip I am able to reflect on what a great experience this is. This is not a typical trip to Italy where you just visit all the tourist sites, we are interacting with the people and living the way they do. I am learning about the school life by observing the school and talking with the teachers. The students go Monday to Saturday and teachers get one of those days off so they still work five days us. The students make learning a second language very important and start in kindergarten. Back home learning second language is not as important. Where I am from when budget cuts happen things like second language and the arts and the first to get cut. We are now eating like Italians. Breakfast is light followed by a large lunch and dinner. We had our first dinner at the bread and breakfast yesterday and was overwhelmed about how much food they serve us. Later in the night one of the teachers daughters Francesca who speaks a little English took us out to a pub. Her friends were eager to learn about us as we were eager to learn about them. This makes me wish I knew Italian better but I am learning along the way. Francesca and her friends told me how they liked my blonde hair because it is unique around Italy. They even taught me how to say I am blonde and they got a real kick out of it. Another thing we all noticed is there are a lot of stray dogs around the area. This makes us all sad because we do not see this at home. Someone told Mrs. Longo that the city cut all the funds for the SPCA. It is very interesting to learn more about what makes America and Italy alike and different. Now that everything is going soomthly on this trip I am able to reflect on what a great experience this is. This is not a typical trip to Italy where you just visit all the tourist sites, we are interacting with the people and living the way they do. I am learning about the school life by observing the school and talking with the teachers. The students go Monday to Saturday and teachers get one of those days off so they still work five days us. The students make learning a second language very important and start in kindergarten. Back home learning second language is not as important. Where I am from when budget cuts happen things like second language and the arts and the first to get cut. We are now eating like Italians. Breakfast is light followed by a large lunch and dinner. We had our first dinner at the bread and breakfast yesterday and was overwhelmed about how much food they serve us. Later in the night one of the teachers daughters Francesca who speaks a little English took us out to a pub. Her friends were eager to learn about us as we were eager to learn about them. This makes me wish I knew Italian better but I am learning along the way. Francesca and her friends told me how they liked my blonde hair because it is unique around Italy. They even taught me how to say I am blonde and they got a real kick out of it. Another thing we all noticed is there are a lot of stray dogs around the area. This makes us all sad because we do not see this at home. Someone told Mrs. Longo that the city cut all the funds for the SPCA. It is very interesting to learn more about what makes America and Italy alike and different. Today was the first day at the elementary school. The students greeted us with warm excitement. Some students were holding a sign that said "welcome to our school." All the other students either were holding an American or Italian flag. They sang to us and it was so adorable. The students were so excited to see us and all knew to say "hello" and "bye bye" to us. Later on some of the teachers took us to a medevil castle. It was very beautiful and it was nice to look out the windows to see the sun set and the palm trees outside. There was a library in the castle and some of the students were in there. They were very giddy and asked to take pictures with us. We felt like celebrities. I am very excited to spend some more time in the school. Thanks to the unexpected Buffalo weather our flight got delayed. We ran through the JFK airport to try and catch our flight to Italy only to find out we missed it by 20 minutes. Thanks to Dr. Ceprano we were able to get a ride and two rooms to the Holiday Inn. Tonight we will be flying into Paris and then taking a flight to Rome. It is nice to say I have been to France but I sad I won't get to experience it. I took French in school for 7 years and would be interstead in trying out my French. In the future I would like to brush up on my French and try to get more fluent in the language. Knowing a second language is a great tool for a teacher. I hope everything else goes smooth and am excited to be in Rome. |
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