Today was the first day of Practicum! It was sooo cute! All of the children were adorable! But I am getting ahead of myself. So we woke up and left to get the bus at 7:45 and we walked across the Vatican and there was hardly anyone there. I just felt like I was up and out with the working world. So we rode two buses to Marymount International School. And these buses were crammed!! We were all holding on to our purses very tightly needless to say! So we got off the bus and walked up this long hill to Marymount! It is has a beautiful main building and then two little side buildings! Then we met the vice principal and she gave us a tour of the building. I got dropped off at my classroom and all the students were staring at me and smiling and in awe! haha! So once I got there, they had to go to P.E. so it was pretty hectic! During this time, I was able to talk to my teacher! Her name is Ms. Lavery and she is from New York and she went to St. John's College! And she is lovely. She told me it had always been her dream to live in Italy, so she did everything she could to live here. Getting a working visa is really hard to do here, so she figured out that she had great grandparents that lived in Ireland and she was able to become an Irish citizen. So she has a passport from Ireland and an American passport, but since she has the Ireland passport she is able to to travel and live in other countries in the EU. I found that all very interesting! Then right after P.E. (which is in a very small room-nothing like a gymnasium) my students had to take a reading test in the computer labs. This reading test is an assessment that they take in the beginning and end of the school year to see how they have progressed. It had very difficult things on it four fourth graders. Like the word brazen and explaining a bias. My teacher expressed how difficult this would be for the students since english for most of them is their second language. During this time I graded their spelling tests. They were struggling with the words: women, woman, women's, woman's. (All very confusing!) For lunch most of the students buy; the lunch consists of the normal Italian meal (fruit, pasta, meat, veggie, and dessert). I asked one of the students (Zoe) to tell me what to do so I would know when I buy my lunch! And of course she was more than willing to. I brought my lunch and ate with my fellow teacher friends which was good to check in and see how everyone's day had been going. They have a very long lunch break...45 minutes! After lunch we work on the Social Studies- the Shin Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. I was very impressed with how they talked; for example one student said "I have to disagree with them because" I don't know many 9 year olds that say I have to disagree! But after that the students had Italian. The native speakers go to another classroom and the students that don't primarily speak Italian stayed in another classroom. I decided to stay with the students who don't normally speak Italian because I thought maybe I could learn some. But they were conjugating the verbs that deal with dressing. Some of it I was able to catch on to due to my french studies like mettions means to put on just like met means to put on in French! (Just a little side note, it has been so hard not to respond to people in French...I think my brain is just functioning in the language side of my brain and I have trouble thinking in English! Kinda weird right!? Like just the other day at the supermarket I kept replying "oui, oui" hahah I guess that just means I need to go to France to practice my french!) But after Italian it was time for everyone to go home! It was very chaotic just like it is in America. Some students took the bus and some students get picked up.
Today was just as great as yesterday! Once again we rode the buses to get to the school! We were all a little tired this morning so we stopped at "the bar" at the school for capacchinos. They are only one euro! what a steal! The kids were a lot more calm today and they were actually in the classroom more! Something that touched my heart was the fact that this morning, over the PA system they had a morning prayer. In the opening prayer they were praying for moms for the month of May (so cute!). Then we went outside with the kindergardeners where we watered a garden that the school made! The kindergardeners were paired up with the fourth graders. The best part of the day was when the students circled around me on the carpet and I introduced myself and told them a few facts about myself. Then The students all told me their names and where they come from and which languages they speak! Wow! talk about impressive! They can all speak at least two languages and some even three or four! One little girl asked me "how are you enjoying your experience in Rome?" how mature of her? And they loved that I played soccer in high school...all of the boys raised their fists with excitement. Today I also got to read to them some of The Tale of Desperaux. And they were so well behaved compared to my 1st graders from practicum. I also got to watch the DAP testing that my teacher did for two of the students. She timed them read a passage orally and then they had to respond to the prompt: "what are three things you thought about while you were reading" and "what are three questions they had" I saw two really good students do this so I am interested to see how the weaker students do. When we went home I had to get throat lozenges and I went to a pharmacia and the lozenges were not even out; she had to get them from behind the counter. I thought that was strange! Then I came back to the apartment and then got ready to go on a run (oh I went on this run yesterday and it was amazing but it was much longer than the one today). But it is this huge park! It is marvelous!! There are trails everywhere and tons of people running and biking (it reminds me of a central park kind of feeling). We found castles, churches, and a rose garden! Rome never ceases to amaze me! Then I came back to the apartment and had pasta and a salad with tomatoes (that were soo tasty! Everything was soo fresh!) Then we went on an adventure throughout Rome to find the Trevi Fountain again! It was a little struggle. But it was so fun! We eventually found it! And there were TONS of people there! Still! It was a fantastic day!
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