The First Day!

Today was the first day of Practicum! It was sooo cute! All of the children were adorable! But I am getting ahead of myself. So we woke up and left to get the bus at 7:45 and we walked across the Vatican and there was hardly anyone there. I just felt like I was up and out with the working world. So we rode two buses to Marymount International School. And these buses were crammed!! We were all holding on to our purses very tightly needless to say! So we got off the bus and walked up this long hill to Marymount! It is has a beautiful main building and then two little side buildings! Then we met the vice principal and she gave us a tour of the building. I got dropped off at my classroom and all the students were staring at me and smiling and in awe! haha! So once I got there, they had to go to P.E. so it was pretty hectic! During this time, I was able to talk to my teacher! Her name is Ms. Lavery and she is from New York and she went to St. John's College! And she is lovely. She told me it had always been her dream to live in Italy, so she did everything she could to live here. Getting a working visa is really hard to do here, so she figured out that she had great grandparents that lived in Ireland and she was able to become an Irish citizen. So she has a passport from Ireland and an American passport, but since she has the Ireland passport she is able to to travel and live in other countries in the EU. I found that all very interesting! Then right after P.E. (which is in a very small room-nothing like a gymnasium) my students had to take a reading test in the computer labs. This reading test is an assessment that they take in the beginning and end of the school year to see how they have progressed. It had very difficult things on it four fourth graders. Like the word brazen and explaining a bias. My teacher expressed how difficult this would be for the students since english for most of them is their second language. During this time I graded their spelling tests. They were struggling with the words: women, woman, women's, woman's. (All very confusing!) For lunch most of the students buy; the lunch consists of the normal Italian meal (fruit, pasta, meat, veggie, and dessert). I asked one of the students (Zoe) to tell me what to do so I would know when I buy my lunch! And of course she was more than willing to. I brought my lunch and ate with my fellow teacher friends which was good to check in and see how everyone's day had been going. They have a very long lunch break...45 minutes! After lunch we work on the Social Studies- the Shin Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. I was very impressed with how they talked; for example one student said "I have to disagree with them because" I don't know many 9 year olds that say I have to disagree! But after that the students had Italian. The native speakers go to another classroom and the students that don't primarily speak Italian stayed in another classroom. I decided to stay with the students who don't normally speak Italian because I thought maybe I could learn some. But they were conjugating the verbs that deal with dressing. Some of it I was able to catch on to due to my french studies like mettions means to put on just like met means to put on in French! (Just a little side note, it has been so hard not to respond to people in French...I think my brain is just functioning in the language side of my brain and I have trouble thinking in English! Kinda weird right!? Like just the other day at the supermarket I kept replying "oui, oui" hahah I guess that just means I need to go to France to practice my french!) But after Italian it was time for everyone to go home! It was very chaotic just like it is in America. Some students took the bus and some students get picked up. Then on the way home we stopped for gelato at this AHHHHMAZING gelato place. The best I have had yet! It was called Old Bridge gelato. I can't wait to go back! What a great afternoon snack!!
But I also need to tell you about how famous and wealthy the parents are at my school.
Some of the jobs include: 1. part owner of Colgate 2. Brazilian soccer player 3. Fendi owner 4. owner of a store in the vatican 5. porn star 6. actress  (and her face was on billboards around Rome) and I am sure much more!