This post isn't about the Italian experience, but more so about educational experiences while in Italy.
I have been co-tutoring English to a couple of Italian middle school age girls, who on are the cusp of their teenage years. Rather than "book work" or conjugation worksheets, the focus is on speaking the language. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. One girl is currently on a two month vacation and my "colleague" has been back home visiting family. So, for the past few weeks it has just been Irena and me. We have read and discussed children's books. One day, I wanted to make sure that she wasn't offended that I was bringing easy reader and picture books. Pre-teens can be dramatic. I brought a couple of Italian books I have to show her that I use children's books to help me with learning Italian. One of the books was "The BFG" by Roald Dahl, only in Italian it is "Il GGG." For those of you that have been deprived of this hilarious book, the story is about the Big Friendly Giant, or in Italian the Grande Gigante Gentile. Anyways, when I showed her the book she said, "Ah, si!" Her mom, who likes to hover around the lessons, went to the bedroom and returned with 5 Roald Dahl books in Italian. It warmed by heart. I bought "Il GGG" as soon as I saw it in the mall, Il Leone. It was one of the books I read aloud to my class of fourth graders last fall. It brought back memories of the class roaring with laughter hearing that frobscottle causes whizzpoppers. (If that reference eludes you, read the book. It doesn't matter how old you are, read it. The child in you will love it!)
Irena said she didn't mind using easy children's books because she understood that she could learn new vocabulary, but not be overwhelmed by it. I have her discuss the story as we go along, just as I would with my kindergarteners or elementary students: predict what the story will be about and what will happen next as we read through it, analyzing the pictures to gain understanding of the vocabulary and story elements, discuss the characters' feelings and motivations for their actions, etc. I realized new things as we read through "There's a Nightmare in my Closet." The roles of the boy and the nightmare are reversed when the nightmare acts like a crying child and the boy acts like a monster by shooting it. I didn't think about that until she thought that the monster was crying because he was tired. As any parent or teacher of preschoolers know, tired children turn into cranky criers.
Based on a tangent from that book, which I won't detail here, we started talking about the Three Little Pigs. Her mom brought out two versions. I had Irena tell me the story without reading it, since it's a familiar story. She started with the version in which the pigs get eaten along the way. She said she didn't like that version, so she switched books to show that all the pigs survived. That sparked a celebration in my mind, because now I could use a unit I had previously taught about comparing and contrasting different versions of The Three Little Pigs and having the student come up with their version of the story. Today, I brought The Alaska Pigs, which we just skimmed through to show her the idea of what we would be talking about. Then we started Three Cajun Pigs. It is written in authentic cajun dialect, so there was no way I was going to even attempt to have her read it. (I was able to include a mini Social Studies lesson with the geography and culture of the story.) Instead, we looked at the pictures and she told me what was happening on each page, where the mouse was hiding (to practice directional words), and how it was similar or different from the original story.
After we had gone through a few pages, her dad came in. He speaks English and this was the first time I had ever met him. He was very interested in the session, especially since this was the first time that he had been able to observe. He sat down at the table and began to participate in the lesson by asking questions about vocabulary and grammar. Judging by her facial expression, I concluded that teenagers worldwide get annoyed with their parents intruding on their experiences. It was still good to have him participate, especially since he could see his daughter use words that she has learned from previous sessions, words that he was unfamiliar with. We will finish the book next week, look at "The Three Little Wolves and The Big Bad Pig", and then I want to give her a summertime homework assignment of writing her own version, just something simple. We'll brainstorm it first to get her going.
I also got to talk about the difference between cookies and biscuits. Not British biscuits, which is what came up in her dictionary. Real Southern biscuits. Oh, how it makes me long for Hardee's. I'm going to make a batch of biscuits to take next week, for my own little show and tell. It amuses me how random topics get thrown into the weekly sessions. From now on, The Three Little Pigs will remind me of biscuits and vice versa.
I had an epiphany which washing dishes last week and thinking of writing an Italian Three Little Pigs. You can't fully appreciate your own culture until you learn about another. For instance, in her world, going to school on Saturdays, but getting out at noon each day, is the only think she knew. I think she came to appreciate it more when she found out that American high school students don't get out until 3pm. She said that was her schedule in primary school, with a slightly amused tone. I never came to fully appreciate Hardee's biscuits until I moved to Albuquerque, nor did I appreciate central air conditioning until I had to live without it. That's another bonus of tutoring. They have AC in their tiny apartment. Oh, it felt glorious!
I am also constantly appreciating the richness of the English language, little things that I had never thought of. For example, today I explained the difference between holding something and holding onto something, so you don't fall. I hold a book, but I hold onto the pig's tail so I won't be left behind to be eaten by the crocodile (reference from the book). It's not a huge difference, but it is about control. I may be reaching a bit too far with this, but if you hold something you have control over that object. If you hold onto something, the object has the control. (How often do we try to hold Christ in place instead of holding onto Him?) Of course there are exceptions, but the point is why I love language. It's all about expression, and the more proficient you are in any language, the better able you are to define a situation or feeling. Yes, I like using big SAT words, not because it makes me sound smart (well, maybe that is a bit of the motivation), but because I can more accurately convey what is in my head. At least that is the goal.
As a teacher, I am glad to be getting practice and honing different methods. For example, a teacher does need to plan too much for the day, just in case the class breezes through the lesson. However, I tend to try to pack ALL of my plans and ideas into each lesson, which leaves me frustrated and results in unfinished units and stressing over time limits. I started to fall into those habits the first couple of times I tutored on my own. I was grateful for the chance to put myself in check, in an environment that didn't compound the situation with grades, conferences, and several subjects full of the same bad habits. I am grateful for the chance to teach one on one. That's the part that I miss about teaching, connecting with a student and hearing that sweet sound of "Oh, ok. Now I understand."
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