A Typical Day at the Asilo - PART 2

*continuation of previous post*

Later we head in for some lunch, which you shouldn’t be surprised that it’s usually pasta. The kids all sit down and eat with one of the Nun’s tell a story, well, part of a story. Once she finishes most of the story, she allows a few kids to come up in front of everyone and finish it how they’d like, once again motivating creativity.

After lunch I take the youngest kids upstairs to the nap room. The walls of the room are painted with the seashore, birds, animals, and characters from fairytales. Here they each have little beds (lettini) where their sleep for an hour or so. Usually we tell a short story before they all fall asleep.

Once the little ones are fast asleep I head back down to the normal classrooms, a couple times a week I have the opportunity to teach English. Although it’s almost everyday I’m there that I’m asked: “How do you say this?” *Points to something*. 

I really love how curious all the kids are. During this “lesson” I usually introduce simple vocabulary and nothing more. They kids already know the face- nose, eyes, mouth, forehead, hair, eyebrows, cheeks, numbers- 1-10, colors, and some animals. They catch on very fast and they really make it fun for me to teach because they all want to learn!

Usually after being in the classrooms again, we head outside and play some more. Recently the kids (unfortunately) have been finding lots of strange bugs in the garden, which they bring to me, place on my hand to look at and tell them what it is. Let me be clear, as much as I love nature, bugs, and little animals, having more than three creepy crawly bugs on me is TOO MUCH!

Garden where we play for recess. (Asilo Website)

My day is almost done. I usually head out around 2pm at the earliest and 3:30pm at the latest, depending on how much help is needed as the kids begin to leave.

Yet, when it's finally time to head home, I’ve never felt so satisfied and absolutely exhausted at the same time.

A Typical Day at the Asilo - PART 1

Although, just like at Danz, when working with children, each day is different, we try to stay with our schedule in order to keep things moving and get the kids in a healthy routine.

My alarm goes off, it’s 9:30am, I jump into the shower; throw on some jeans and a plain t-shirt, grab a brioche, and I’m out the door by 9:55am. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the Asilo is only a short five-minute, or less, walk away. When I arrive its usually around 10am or a little earlier. I ring the pager and the front gate opens for me.

Right away I head into my classroom, where I work along side another teacher. Usually in the morning when I arrive, the kids are already working on some kind of project. Today, the kids were creating their “Prima e Dopo” artworks. “Prima e Dopo” literally just means “before and after/later”, in other words, they were supposed to create a picture that showed how they looked when they were little and how they look now. Many of the kids created houses, rooms, and their families, simply with marks and paper. Other’s tore color paper and pasted shapes of their homes and families, which they later drew on details, like faces and hands. 

Personally I found this project as a great opportunity for the kids to draw with freedom, creativity, yet it also made them think. Often kids their age (5/6 years old) don’t acknowledge that they used to be little, I think it was a very smart way for the kids to learn more about the process of life, growing, and to reflect how they’ve changed.

A student working on the art project. (Asilo Website)

After we’ve worked for a while, we usually head outside for a recess break in the garden. There the kids can ride little bikes, discover animals and bugs in the garden, play pretend in their little houses, and much more. This is where I learned a lot of Italian childhood games that I never knew before. We played games like “Strega, Tocca, Colore” which is  a game where the person who is ‘it’ is the “strega” (witch). Whoever is the witch says “Strega, tocca, colore… “ANY COLOR”, and the rest of the kids have to go touch the color that the witch said, during this time the witch can try to tag the kids who haven’t touched the color yet. 

This game was the perfect time for me to slide in a little “color” lesson in English. I had the kids play the game with English colors so they could learn, in this case I was always the witch and would call the colors first in English, waited a bit, and then said it in Italian for those who didn’t catch on right away. It was great practice and a lot of fun for the kids; they really wanted to learn so that they wouldn’t get tagged!

*post continued on the next entry*

New Country, New Volunteer Job

 "Asilo Infantile Suor Tarcisia Ponchia"

I recently started volunteering at a Kindergarten in my area here in Turin. Yes a Kindergarten, otherwise defined as boogers, bugs, ‘coodies’, a million new names to remember, learning, nap breaks, lots of curiosity, chaos, and fun. Once my interview was confirmed, I couldn’t wait to get started. The school is located just a short walk away from my home, near the center of the city.

Location of my city and school.

 It is called “Asilo Infantile Suor Tarcisia Ponchia” (Scuola per l’infanizia). Their mission statement, much like most educational facilities, has a goal and desire of making everyone active in their educational community so that that particular aspect of their students lives can reach it’s highest potential.

“…Committed to offering students, their families and all who participate in the life of a school experience that brings everyone to be active agents in the Educational Community...”

The school is a religious affiliated school that is managed by nuns, other contributing educators, and has been around for a very long time. They truly take pride in the education and opportunities they provide for their students. When I first walked in to the building to do my interview, tour, and orientation, I was immediately impressed by all the paintings, decoration, and inspiring pieces that decorated the hallways and walls. Artwork from the children, staff, and families filled the building. Whether it was a drawing of a fairytale story they had heard, or a painting of their houses, families, and pets, the crafts were all over the place. I was guided through the classrooms, play rooms, outside garden, and cafeteria. I was completely impressed with everything I saw.

 "Una Storia Lunga 100 Anni" - "With a History as long as 100 Years"

At first I was a bit nervous to be volunteering in a religious school, as I don’t consider myself very religious in general. (It was nearly impossible to find a volunteer job in a Public Education setting.) I was also afraid that I wouldn’t agree with many of the things they would teach. This is because sometimes I’ve found religious schools to give a very narrow-minded education, shielding kids from the ‘real world’. Yet as I continued my first week at the school, I proved myself wrong. The teachers encouraged all sorts of questions and never pushed the children in any sort of direction that wouldn’t let them “think for them selves”. I was very impressed with the school and everything that it stands for.

Hàblame en Español, y solamente en Español - PART 2

Speak to me in Spanish, and only in Spanish

*continuation of previous post*

I looked over to find Hannah, who held an angry expression while eating her food, clearly aware of the situation. Sarah calmed down and began to tell me that Hannah told her they can’t be friends anymore, they can’t hangout anymore, or sit next to each other any more, or even talk anymore. Why I asked? She continued to tell me that Hannah’s Mom no longer allowed her to be around, sit by, hangout with, play with, or talk to kids who don’t speak Spanish, in fact her Mom made it clear she wanted her to only speak Spanish and nothing else.

I then spoke with Hannah and of course told the situation to another volunteer with more authority. When asking Hannah what happened, she told me “My mom only wants me to speak Spanish and play with Mexicans, I can’t be friends with Sarah anymore because she doesn’t speak Spanish and she isn’t Mexican”. (Clearly she didn’t mean Mexicans in specific, but anyone with a Hispanic decent) I have never been put in a situation like this one before. I had no idea what to say or how to explain how that isn’t ‘okay’ to a second grader, who won’t believe anything but what their parents say as correct. I then tried to explain to her, “What if my Mom told me I can’t teach you because you speak Spanish and I don’t? What if she said that I could only teach kids who speak English and English only?” I tried to help her understand how it isn’t fair, and that you should be friends and love everyone equally no matter what color they are, language they speak, etc.

Of course then I handed the situation over to the other volunteer with more authority than me. I never imagined being in a situation like this especially with children so young, but I did my best to handle it in the right way.

Pictured above is the main hallway of Danz Elementary school. It is my favorite because of the wide variety of flags it has. This is one of the ways Danz Elementary has promoted and contributed to Diversity Education, it really makes the students curious as to where each flag comes from. When they ask where each flag comes from or what it represents, they become even more curious about that particular place. This has been a fun way for them to learn and explore multiculturalism and diversity with their own questioning and curiosity.

Hàblame en Español, y solamente en Español - PART 1

Speak to me in Spanish, and only in Spanish

It was a day like no other, although when working with kids, no day is the same.

The bell rang, attendance was taken, and it was time for food. The kids follow me like little ducklings in a straight line as we head into the lunchroom. I double-checked the attendance, and the kids grabbed their meals. Often times the kids don’t have assigned seating as long as they behave and are appropriate with their food, so we let them sit where they want.

After working with the same groups for a while, you easily notice who each kid is a friend with, who they prefer to sit by and who they prefer not to sit by, in addition, there are also the kids who are absolutely inseparable. In my second grade group, I had two girls named Hannah* and Sarah* who were a perfect pair of trouble, they loved not to listen and always make problems, that is together, they were practically joined at the hip. (*Names have been changed).

 A bracelet that Sarah* and Hannah* made together to give to me one day during inside recess/break

One thing that I always admired about each of my groups is that when some of the kids didn’t get along, it was never because of the differences of color, race, or ethnicity but rather an issue separate from that. Hannah, coming from a Hispanic background, and Sarah, coming from an African American background, were a wonderful pair, who loved each other despite their different races.

On this day, the lunchroom was filled with happy kids, munching down their mash potatoes and green beans, well not so much the green beans. Anyways, about halfway through their meal, Sarah was bawling her eyes out and crawled herself underneath the table. Although second graders cry a lot, the fact that Hannah wasn’t with her trying to make her laugh or pull her out from under the table was the strangest thing to me in this situation. I immediately went to Sarah; crouched down and told her we can fix the problem if she comes out from under the table. She crawled out, and sat next to me at the end of the table. I of course began to ask her what was wrong, but she couldn’t catch her breath, she was crying so hard.

*post continued on the next entry*