Kate - Italy
The Italians call Mantova La
Bella Adormentata, or 'the Sleeping Beauty' because this town gets so
deathly quiet, especially at night. Mantova's high school students are the
exception to the rule. They are most definitely wide awake and full of
prodigious energy.
I'm teaching conversation at Liceo Virgilio, the classical and
linguistic high school in the centre of the oldest part of town. The school
itself is also very old, and built as a gift to the town from Marie
Antoinette's mother, Maria Theresa of the Habsburgs. The ceilings are frescoed
and 30 feet high but not much has happened since the 1700s by way of
renovation. The gym, for example, must have been an old ballroom. Now a flimsy
net on the ceiling protects the paintings from basketballs. Technology is
almost as scarce as it was Maria Theresa's day, making my teaching tools varied
out of necessity – YouTube clips in one classroom and chalk in the next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Study
a TEFL course with TEFL Zorritos in Peru, South America and travel the world,
live abroad and enrich people's lives by teaching them English. A TEFL
(Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate is an internationally
accredited and accepted qualification to teach English to people from
non-English speaking countries. More questions? Head to our What
is TEFL? page
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am the first conversational teacher the school has ever had,
and since it is the program's first year there is no set structure so I am free
to approach teaching anyway I choose. Through a little trial and error, I think
I have found ways to spark conversation among each group of students.
My first class this morning is a second-year class from the
classical school. They study French, English, Latin and Greek, as well as all
the other necessary topics. Despite the ambitious curriculum, they are not
overly bookish and retiring. Quite the contrary. As I approach the classroom, I
hear the hum of chatter. When I walk in, there is an audible spike in the
energy level. "Kate is here! We don't have to work!" I can
practically hear them thinking. The secret is to help them learn without them
realizing they are doing some heavy lifting.
Today they are going to partner up and describe the perfect job for
each other. I ask them to list different kinds of jobs, and I write them on the
board. "Furrier!" "Mafiosa!" "Astronaut!"
"Housewife!" With the list as their inspiration, they're off. They
must consider their friend. What is she good at? What characteristics does he
have? Then they put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Mario would be a
good president of Italy because he is lazy and does not like to work, but he
wants to make lots of money easily and be a leader." Everybody agrees that
they have been accurately judged, except for the girl who was told she would be
a policewoman.Next class: older students from the linguistic high school. They're too
sophisticated for games, so I ask them to consider stereotypes. I came up with
this approach because the students constantly ask me what Americans think of
Italians. Jersey Shore comes up a
lot. "Do Americans think we are like the Italian Americans on Jersey Shore?" I've realized that
I've never really had to think about how Americans generally perceive Italy. As
we talk, I realize this country probably conjures up visions of pizza, wine,
Tuscan villas, the seaside and beautiful people.Now I turn the table on them. I ask them what
they think of Americans. Most of the students at the school are girls, so Gossip Girl and the The OC are their reference points. "You are rich!"
"You live beautiful lives!" "You have expensive cars!"
"Big houses!" And, of course, "You are fat!"I respond by showing them a clip from Eat Pray Love. Julia Roberts is talking to some caricature of a man
in a barber shop in Rome. His last name is Spaghetti. He is saying, "You
Americans, you don't know how to enjoy yourselves! The point of life is not to
work but to pursue la dolce vita.
Relax and don't worry so much all the time." I ask the students if this is
a true depiction of how Italians approach life."No! We work all the time!" they say. Given their multitude
of classes, I believe them. To keep up with so many languages, they must have
to study all the time.The school day finishes early here. When we
spill out onto the cobblestone streets, sunlight is pouring down from the tile
roofs of the stone buildings. Down the street, I can see the blue cathedral
dome and the old, empty towers of the medieval city. The laziness inherent in
the la dolce vita philosophy might be
a myth, but it is certainly sweet to live here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEFL Zorritos: What could be better? Study in a beautiful Peruvian beach town at
our outdoor beach-front training centre with great accommodations available,
including delicious local food. Fully
accredited 120 Hour TEFL course with a practical approach that provides you
with 5 advanced
certifications at
absolutely no extra cost! And guaranteed
job when you finish the course.
Class sizes are limited, so don't wait, make your reservation today!
No comments:
Post a Comment