Service Learning

For the past few weeks, every Friday, I have become a teacher in an Italian high school and I have now had time to collect my thoughts on the experience and wish to share them with you. As a whole, teaching in an Italian high school was a good experience for me. Not only did I get to see the differences between Italian high schools and American high schools but I also met many new people who made my experience that much more enjoyable. My teacher, Franca Bastianoni, was absolutely wonderful to me and always made me feel that what I was doing was worth something. She helped guide me and was always there to help her students understand as well. She was, by far, my greatest resource.

Friday October 16, 2009
My first day teaching was a tough one. I had four classes all of which had different levels of English competency. Franca asked me to prepare an introduction where I spoke about myself, my school, and anything else felt the need to explain. I made a power point presentation containing pictures of the state and city where I am from, as well as pictures of my family and friends. It was interesting explaining all of this to my classes and I soon figured out which classes I needed to speak slowly in so that they could understand me and which classes I could go more in depth in. For instance, in my 5B class we not only talked about myself but also ended up talking about how, in the U.S, people have to be 21 years old to drink whereas in Italy it really doesn’t matter. However, in my 2A class I couldn’t have a conversation like that because their comprehension isn’t high enough for it. They were all very nice to me though. One boy, when he found out that I attended an all women’s college, stated “Oh! It is a paradise!”

Friday, October 23, 2009
After my first day of teaching, I really had my work cut out for me because almost all of my classes had different lessons I had to create for them. In the U.S, I am a preschool teacher during the summer and over Christmas. This, however, is completely different from teaching high school students in a different country. Not only do I have to attempt to teach, which I have never done on such a high level but also to students who do not speak English especially well. My first class, 3A, and my second class, 4A, had the same lesson as they were basically on the same level of English. However, the students in my third class, 2A, were preparing for an exam called the P.E.T. which is a standardized test that they take in order to asses their level of English. I was told to look over some study books about the P.E.T and come up with a lesson to help them practice. Well I had never heard of the P.E.T before and I certainly didn’t know how to help them with it. I came out of that particular class feeling quite useless as a teacher especially when I found out that most of the students would not be taking the exam. My 5B class is the highest English level and their lesson was on a poem of Emily Dickenson’s. Talk about uplifting conversation. We talked about “I am Nobody. Who are You?” and I asked them questions about it and tried to explain it. This was slightly difficult considering that Ms. Dickinson decided to bypass correct grammar and For my 3A and 4A class, made a power point about American holidays which included Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and the 4th of July. Of course, some of these such as Christmas they are very familiar with so we talked about the differences. Surprisingly there weren’t that many. I may have confused them into thinking that all Americans eat pizza on Christmas Eve though.

Friday November 6, 2009
On my third day, I only had two classes, 2A and 5B, because the other two were on a class trip. For 2A, I made a slide show of my favorite and my most hated TV shows. They knew some of the shows and were able to talk a little about which ones they knew about. My favorites were “House” , “Friends”, and “Supernatural” and my least favorite were “South Park”, “Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy”, and “Hannah Montana”. The students knew about “House” and told me that there are a lot of medical shows in Italy and I explained that it was the same in the U.S. and then we all laughed about how stupid “Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy”, a cartoon show about three boys who do nothing but silly pranks and ideas, was. It a much more enjoyable class than the last one had been and I left feeling much better. My 5B class had another Emily Dickinson poem called “There is a Solitude of Silence”. Once again, Ms. Dickinson proved hard to explain but we got through it and then I had some extra time to talk about my trip to London the previous week and we compared stories because some of them had been before.

Friday November 20, 2009
My forth day of teaching was by far my best day. For 3A and 4A, I got to talk about the Globe Theater and since Shakespeare is one of my favorite things this was not a hard topic. I talked about the history of the Globe and the replica that is now in London. I also gave a little bit of history about the great bard himself. I think that my excitement for Shakespeare and the Globe helped keep my students interested. I had also reached a point where my students were happy to see me. They would say hello as soon as I walked in and give me these wonderful smiles. I had also figured out which classes needed me to speak slowly and clearly and which classes I could speak at a normal pace. These little lessons were really having more of an impact on me than I had though originally possible. Even my 2A class went really well. Franca asked my to prepare something called dictation drawing. Basically, you take a picture and describe it and the students have to draw what they hear. Now, the important thing to understand is that this is an art high school so as I was describing pictures, my students were producing works of art. This was especially funny when I told them to describe a picture to me and I had to draw it. We all laughed when the discovery was made that I have very little artistic talent, especially on a dry erase board. Unfortunately, I did not have my 5B class that day as they were off on a school trip but at least it all went exceedingly well.

Friday November 27, 2009
My last day of teaching was extremely bittersweet. At the end of every class, someone produced a camera and we all took a picture together. Franca also gave me a beautiful necklace charm which had been made by a professor at the school who teaches metal working. Not only was the charm hand made, but it was also gold. Needless to say, I left the school a little teary-eyed. Franca asked me to prepare one lesson for all four classes about New York. I was a little reluctant to do so because I have only been to New York once, and I would like my students to know that there is more to America than just New York. In the end though, it proved to be a good thing because I had forgotten how interesting New York can be. I talked about the Statue of Liberty and what an important symbol it is for the country. I spoke a little about Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Times Square. My last slide was a picture of the World Trade Center and I told my class about September 11, 2001. What surprised me the most was how emotional I became about it. I forgot how much of an effect that day had had upon my life and what a change it had brought to my country. My students then told me about how shocking and sad it had been for them and I realized how very similar we all are, even if we are from different parts of the world.