Today was my first day of Service Learning! I woke up around seven in the morning and was ready to leave around eight, eight fifteen. It was not a long walk to my school, but it was a cold, wind chilled morning. Since I was not exactly sure where my school was, Amanda had walked with me; and our schools are right beside each other as well. I was feeling very nervous the closer in distance I was to the school; but I was still very excited for finally being able to teach again since I am missing my classes in the United States while I am abroad. But hey, I am in Italy!
I arrived at Scuola Elementare C. Collodi and was in the main office at eight thirty on the dot. The secretary of the office had called Mariateresa Chieli, my teacher, to tell her that I had arrived, but she had not arrived just yet. Mariateresa comes walking in surprised to see me; although I had no clue why because I had met her beforehand. I guess I showed up a bit early for my service learning but according to her, it was all alright; it was just a little miscommunication between her, Sara, and me.
Right when Mariateresa arrived, we went straight to class talking and walking on the way there. Walking up to class was nerve wrecking for me because I was not sure if I would be able to communicate with the students or not. The door opened and all the students stared at me with curious faces. They all greeted me with a big “HELLO!” It was unexpected but also a very nice welcoming. Mariateresa had said that I made the class a bit nervous because I was so much different from them and they did not know how to react. Slowly the students got more comfortable with my being in the class and started to talk more. We started out the class with physical descriptions, of me. The cool thing was, according to Italians, I am fairly tall; it’s funny because all my life I have been called the short one, until now. Mariateresa seemed to describe people a little differently then how we would describe them; for example, we do not say someone has black eyes or ginger hair, instead we say brown or dark eyes and red hair. But in the end, all the students were fairly good at describing me. They all wrote down the description in their workbooks and even drew a picture of me! Some of the students even noticed my blue nails and drew that as well; these students were amazing artists, way better than me by far. After all the class was done, they all wanted me to write in their workbooks on how well they did. It was very nice to be admired by the students even though I have not known them long. Towards the end of the class, most of them made cards for me to take. It was the most precious thing they could do! I already cannot wait until next Friday for service learning.
This class had around twenty-four students with many names being repeated amongst the students. The students were around nine or ten years old. The students understood a lot more English than I had expected them to; their English was probably better than my Italian. I was very impressed.
My next class had bout twenty-four students as well but these students were a bit older; they were around eleven or twelve. With these students, I had about the same first reaction from them as I did with the first class. These kids impressed me even more than the first though because Mariateresa did not have to translate much for them. I was told to talk about myself a little for the kids to kind of get use to me and start talking. After a brief five minute introduction, I was ambushed by all the questions the class had for me. I answered one after another; and when the students had asked in Italian, I felt great to be able to understand them and immediate answer them correctly. I never realized how much Italian I have learned thus far, and to use it in everyday conversations helps me improve even more.
After about twenty minutes of answering questions, Mariateresa says “Basta! Enough!” So then Mariateresa started the lesson; and like the first class, we did a description of me as well, but not a physical one, just more like an introduction to who I was. My job was to draw myself and describe and introduce myself on the board in first person. Mariateresa said that first person was easier for the students to understand because the English third person was a little too complicated.
So far it was a great first day at the school. In my second class, I met Sophia, Margherita’s daughter; and it was nice that she recognized me. It was fun to let all the students describe me or ask me questions about myself. The most outrageous question that a student could ask me though, was “Do you have a fiancé?” That question shocked Mariateresa and me. It was a question that I never thought anyone; especially a student would ask me.
After the students had finish writing down their descriptions, they all asked for me to sign my name on their papers. It felt like I was really wanted among the students and that they really liked me. It was nice to feel like a role model for them and to know that they appreciated me. When I had to leave, I remember this one boy who sat in the front and was just so upset at the fact that I could not stay longer. He walked slowly with his head down back to his seat and thumped into it. It was the cutest but the saddest thing I ever saw. I just felt so bad and that I need to stay. Once the class found out that I was coming back next Friday, they were all so happy that words cannot justify their enthusiasms.
I was being warned by Mariateresa about her next class; she said that they are very obnoxious, rude, and very loud; she emphasized the “very.” This was also my last class for the day. It consisted of students around eight or nine years old; and there were about eighteen of them. These kids really were loud. The little boys acted as if they were the jokesters of the class; laughing and making jokes out of everything.
I was able to meet Mariateresa’s youngest daughter, Susanna. She was a character; sweet, smart, and welcoming. She was probably the only student that kept a conversation with me; all the other students were either too shy or too obnoxious. Since in this class the students were younger, they were on a lower level of English. For class, we talked about what I had liked and my basic information; like my age, my name, or my birthday.
Although this class was not my favorite, I still had a blast with them. The trick to making the students behave and settle down is to give them a cool prize afterward; so Mariateresa told all the students that if they settled down, are quiet, and stay in their seats that I would go around and sign my name in their notebooks or where ever they would like it. It was so funny to see all of the students shushing each other and sitting quietly until I went around. Some of the students asked me to sign my name in more than one place. Some of the students opened their planner to my birthday for me to sign. The students were so much calmer when they get a ‘prize’ for doing well.