This week has been EXHAUSTING. I really did enjoy myself but it is a lot of work. The camp doesn't just last from 9 to 5. I got to the school around 8:15 every morning to do some prep and every night I had to make my lesson for the next day. Making the lessons was especially challenging because the kids weren't all on the same level. I had a couple kids that would get bored and start doing other pages in their workbooks because they already knew everything. And I had one little girl in particular who could barely repeat a sentence when I said it to her slowly ten times. It's really hard dealing with a mixed group, but it just isn't possible to have a class for each individual level.
This week was also definitely a practice week for me. I realized I wasn't doing enough pre-teaching. Pre-teaching is basically all of the vocabulary the kids need to know to understand a concept. So I can't teach the present progressive if they only know three verbs. Or I can't have them complete a page in the workbook on opposites if they haven't learned all of the words.
The kids definitely tried my patience a lot. They are young so obviously they are always getting out of their seats and talking even when I have said about fifty million times to be quiet and listen and sit in the seat. I threatened to take away all of their camp money at one point if they talked while I or someone else was talking. Well two little boys continued anyways so I took all of their money. Unfortunately this made one of the boys cry. I took them into the hallway to calm both of them down and luckily the camp director Pino was around to explain to them in Italian that I would give back their money if they listened for the rest of the lesson. I felt so bad that I made a little boy cry that I cried a little bit (but not in front of my class).
The camp director Pino was also trying my patience, and Beth and Liz's. He left everyday for about three hours and usually wouldn't tell us. And for the most part he never understood us. And this wasn't because of a language barrier - he speaks English. He just doesn't get anything. One of the boys in the camp was a legitimate psycho - or as we three tutors dubbed him, "psicopatino" (little psychopath in italian). He is only 11 years old but he has future serial killer written on his face. He is also part of the host family that Beth is staying with. The other kids were terrible to him and would taunt him but he would become enraged and yell or hit or throw things at people. Every time I went to calm him down he had the scariest look in his face. And even though Pino understood he was a problem - AKA he shouldn't be allowed at camp - he wouldn't do anything about it other than tell his parents about his behavior. He was way too passive even though we complained EVERY DAY. It's not our responsibility to make sure the psicopatino doesn't put someone in the hospital.
Anyways...we played a lot of games with the kids this week, especially for Olympics. On Wednesday we had water games and essentially used them as medium for our frustration towards the kids. We poured water on them as they were playing games and when we had balloons left over the end we just threw them at the kids. We would also make them run a lot with tag games to tire them out. Luckily the kids liked the games because they would keep asking to play again.
The one thing that made me want to explode at the kids was when we would tell them not to talk if we were explaining a game or teaching, and the second we finished saying that, they would start talking again. And I know they understood when we YELLED quiet or listen. Or we would tell them if they were going to talk, at least talk in English. But no.
It probably doesn't seem like it but I did actually like the kids. Three of them would always ask me to sit with them at lunch and would hang out with me the whole time, just trying to practice their English. And the girls were so adorable. I could never yell at them like I did the boys, I would only warn them. Apparently I was also known as the fun tutor because I didn't yell as much as Beth and Liz. The kids usually came to me with a question or to just give me a hug.
Today was our last day and the kids had to perform their final show for their families. My kids were really funny - and not to be bias - they were also the best. The older kids didn't really care so they wouldn't practice but mine were fantastic. After the show all three classes had to sing the ACLE camp song and then we distributed their diplomas. A bunch of the parents came up to me to take a picture with their kid, to ask for my e-mail address, or to tell me that their kid raved about me. So I guess I really was the fun tutor. One of the girls from my Olympics team (who was also in the oldest class) started bawling when she said bye to me. I was sad to say bye to most of them so hopefully they do e-mail so we can stay in touch!
I'm a little nervous about next week because a bunch of the kids are coming back, along with new kids. And most of the returning kids are the ones that were the most dysfunctional and troublesome, or were the ones that didn't know anything. And my class will be even more mixed levels. So next week will most likely be a headache.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
i LOVE italian children
Today was my first day of camp and it was amazing! I was having so much fun by 9:30 AM.
I had to get to my school (which is literally a 2 minute walk from my apartment) by 8 AM in order to go through all of our materials and do some planning for the day. The kids arrived at 9 AM and me, Bethany and Liz each led a warm-up. My favorite is of course the one I led. You sing "hip hop english camp rocks" and the kids repeat. Then "let me see your ...(i.e. left/right hand) drop" and the kids repeat. Then I throw my hand or whatever I used to the ground and scream "BOOM shake it up shake it up" while shaking it up to the sky. The kids repeat and we do this line twice. The best part is when I yell "let me see your bottom drop."
Next we divided into our classes and I took my 11 kids into our room. I spent a good amount of time introducing myself and then prompting them with questions of the same topic - where they are from, how many brothers or sisters they have, etc. Then I moved on to my first lesson of body parts but the kids knew all of them. I didn't have to teach any of them in English. They were even shouting to me ones I hadn't mentioned like back, elbow, and neck.
After this lesson we had our first break outside so the kids can have a snack and run around for a bit. Next I went over basic prepositions with the kids, which again, they already knew. At this point though I realized one little girl named Silvia was a lot further behind the other kids in her English abilities. I tried to work with her individually as much as possible but it's hard because then the other kids would finish and get rowdy. I'm a little worried how I am going to help her because I don't want her to just not getting anything out of the week. So hopefully I can find a solution - suggestions welcome!
Since the kids knew prepositions so well it did not take as long as I thought it would. So luckily I had made food flashcards before I left home and pulled those out to test them...just in time for lunch. But first we played the "one potato, two potato, three potato, four...." game and they LOVED it, so they kept asking to play. It's a good filler/distractor. At lunch time the kids made my heart absolutely melt (and not just because it was scorching hot outside). Silvia, the little girl who is struggling, grabbed my hand as we were walking outside and wanted to sit with me. Then four others of my eleven students wanted to sit with me. They were asking me about my favorite movie, actor, song, artist, etc. So it was really good to keep them practicing English even during their down time. One little boy even brought me one of his sandwiches (because their mothers pack them a minimum of three usually) and wouldn't take no for an answer. Silvia even offered me gum after I was finished eating! They had about another 30 minutes to themselves to play or do whatever but the five kids wanted to hang out with me the whole time. We were talking about music so I was playing different songs from my iPod for them.
After lunch we broke the kids up into their Olympic teams. The teams were mixed of different ages and abilities to make sure they were fair. I am in charge of team one and my Italian sister Graziella is on it! The kids had to come up with a name, chant, and pose for their team. Our theme for the week is sports so the kids for some reason chose horse back riding and picked the name "the winning horses." Riccardo had been singing Womanizer during lunch so we put "we are the winning horses" to the tune of the Womanizer chorus. For the pose during our song the kids were either the horse or the jockey so it was really funny. The number on our team is uneven so I had to be a horse too. Unfortunately our judge Greta did not pick my team as the winner. For the next activity the kids had to make a poster depicting their sport, but it was more of a relay race. They had to make a line in their teams and the first person had to run to the poster and draw for 15 seconds and then switch with the next person until everyone had gone twice. My kids made the horse look more like a cow and spelt horses "hourses" so it was funny for me. And again we did not win this competition.
After this activity we had another break and then went back into our classrooms. For the next hour I had to talk with my kids about the show they will be performing for their families on Friday. After an hour they decided their show would be a movie about basketball in which the two teams are Harry Potter or Twilight characters. I pretty much have to write the script so that should be interesting.
Finally the day was almost over but not until after I led the "hip hop english camp rocks" song again. Bethany, Liz and I had to talk about our schedule for the next day too but I was home again by 5:30.
In the morning during my first lesson I needed a minute to flip through our books so I put on music and told the kids to dance. They loved it so much it's all they want to do. We also have "camp dollars" that are given to kids at our discretion - whether they are well behaved, know an answer first, or whatever. So when I had the kids dance I told them I would give whoever danced the best one camp dollar. So I think that's why they want to keep dancing. They also expect a camp dollar after everything. That or a gold star sticker. In regular Italian school kids do not receive rewards or anything of the sort for doing well. They just sit at their desks all day and are lectured. So for the lack of a better word, they went apeshit over the gold stars.
It was an amazing day and I hope the rest of the week is the same!
I had to get to my school (which is literally a 2 minute walk from my apartment) by 8 AM in order to go through all of our materials and do some planning for the day. The kids arrived at 9 AM and me, Bethany and Liz each led a warm-up. My favorite is of course the one I led. You sing "hip hop english camp rocks" and the kids repeat. Then "let me see your ...(i.e. left/right hand) drop" and the kids repeat. Then I throw my hand or whatever I used to the ground and scream "BOOM shake it up shake it up" while shaking it up to the sky. The kids repeat and we do this line twice. The best part is when I yell "let me see your bottom drop."
Next we divided into our classes and I took my 11 kids into our room. I spent a good amount of time introducing myself and then prompting them with questions of the same topic - where they are from, how many brothers or sisters they have, etc. Then I moved on to my first lesson of body parts but the kids knew all of them. I didn't have to teach any of them in English. They were even shouting to me ones I hadn't mentioned like back, elbow, and neck.
After this lesson we had our first break outside so the kids can have a snack and run around for a bit. Next I went over basic prepositions with the kids, which again, they already knew. At this point though I realized one little girl named Silvia was a lot further behind the other kids in her English abilities. I tried to work with her individually as much as possible but it's hard because then the other kids would finish and get rowdy. I'm a little worried how I am going to help her because I don't want her to just not getting anything out of the week. So hopefully I can find a solution - suggestions welcome!
Since the kids knew prepositions so well it did not take as long as I thought it would. So luckily I had made food flashcards before I left home and pulled those out to test them...just in time for lunch. But first we played the "one potato, two potato, three potato, four...." game and they LOVED it, so they kept asking to play. It's a good filler/distractor. At lunch time the kids made my heart absolutely melt (and not just because it was scorching hot outside). Silvia, the little girl who is struggling, grabbed my hand as we were walking outside and wanted to sit with me. Then four others of my eleven students wanted to sit with me. They were asking me about my favorite movie, actor, song, artist, etc. So it was really good to keep them practicing English even during their down time. One little boy even brought me one of his sandwiches (because their mothers pack them a minimum of three usually) and wouldn't take no for an answer. Silvia even offered me gum after I was finished eating! They had about another 30 minutes to themselves to play or do whatever but the five kids wanted to hang out with me the whole time. We were talking about music so I was playing different songs from my iPod for them.
After lunch we broke the kids up into their Olympic teams. The teams were mixed of different ages and abilities to make sure they were fair. I am in charge of team one and my Italian sister Graziella is on it! The kids had to come up with a name, chant, and pose for their team. Our theme for the week is sports so the kids for some reason chose horse back riding and picked the name "the winning horses." Riccardo had been singing Womanizer during lunch so we put "we are the winning horses" to the tune of the Womanizer chorus. For the pose during our song the kids were either the horse or the jockey so it was really funny. The number on our team is uneven so I had to be a horse too. Unfortunately our judge Greta did not pick my team as the winner. For the next activity the kids had to make a poster depicting their sport, but it was more of a relay race. They had to make a line in their teams and the first person had to run to the poster and draw for 15 seconds and then switch with the next person until everyone had gone twice. My kids made the horse look more like a cow and spelt horses "hourses" so it was funny for me. And again we did not win this competition.
After this activity we had another break and then went back into our classrooms. For the next hour I had to talk with my kids about the show they will be performing for their families on Friday. After an hour they decided their show would be a movie about basketball in which the two teams are Harry Potter or Twilight characters. I pretty much have to write the script so that should be interesting.
Finally the day was almost over but not until after I led the "hip hop english camp rocks" song again. Bethany, Liz and I had to talk about our schedule for the next day too but I was home again by 5:30.
In the morning during my first lesson I needed a minute to flip through our books so I put on music and told the kids to dance. They loved it so much it's all they want to do. We also have "camp dollars" that are given to kids at our discretion - whether they are well behaved, know an answer first, or whatever. So when I had the kids dance I told them I would give whoever danced the best one camp dollar. So I think that's why they want to keep dancing. They also expect a camp dollar after everything. That or a gold star sticker. In regular Italian school kids do not receive rewards or anything of the sort for doing well. They just sit at their desks all day and are lectured. So for the lack of a better word, they went apeshit over the gold stars.
It was an amazing day and I hope the rest of the week is the same!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Torino - Tutto a Posto
Saturday morning I left Sanremo on an 11:45 train. I was traveling with Bethany who is at my camp and three other people. The first train ride was about two hours and it was fine. We were traveling through the mountains and all the scenery really reminded me of the bus ride I used to take between Ascoli and Rome. The greens of the mountains and the houses in the valley were just too amazing to sleep through. We had to transfer in Cuneo and my second train ride was pretty interesting. It was only an hour but I was sitting across from an INSANE person. This guy was definitely a drifter or something along those lines. When an employee came around to check everyone’s tickets this guy obviously didn’t have one so he started getting into an argument about it being ridiculous that people pay to use the trains and that he is a citizen of Italy and lots of weird things that I only half understood since he was yelling in Italian. Some woman he had been talking to offered to pay for him so he could stay which really sucked because I did not want to sit with him anymore. He also got into an argument with some old guy that was trying to help the employee and he shouted to everyone that the show was over after the woman paid. He also kept making comments about me because he didn’t think I could understand. He said a few times that I’m not in England so I should speak the language and other weird things like that. He also must be a drug addict because he kept getting up and moving around, taking things in and out of his bag, and was really ancy the whole time. And he had a dog with him that was literally cowering under the seat the whole time and looked really malnourished and mistreated. It was terrible. But finally after an hour I was free of him. 
I got off at the Torino Ligotto station where my camp director Pino and my host family were waiting. My Italian family consists of Yuk the dad (it’s a nickname), Simona the mom, and Graziella my 14 year old sister. Before I went to their house Pino took me, Bethany and Elizabeth who also met us at the train station to a park to discuss the week. At the park we also met with Barbara who is a new camp director starting in two weeks (who I may work for) and Greta who is an Italian high school student that will be our “helper” for the next two weeks. After our meeting I went to my host family’s house which is pretty great. They gave me Graziella’s room for the next two weeks which has a balcony off of it and I have my own bathroom. They have a really big terrace with lots of plants and vegetables and we have been eating out on it for every meal so far! That night they made me dinner and we went a lot between speaking Italian and English. Simona speaks English fluently and Yuk and Graziella both speak pretty well. It’s fun speaking with Graziella because she gets nervous and doesn’t want to try but as I encourage her to keep going and we keep speaking she gets better and better. It’s pretty much how I feel about myself speaking Italian. After dinner we met Bethany and her host family and Elizabeth in the center or Torino to get some gelato. We went to this really delicious place called Grom and then walked around for a bit.
Torino is absolutely beautiful. The city is referred to as “little Paris” because it has a lot of influence and similar architectures from Paris. There is even a “mini Versailles.” After gelato my family drove me around to see some different piazzas and a really beautiful area near the river.
Today my camp director - who is awesome - took me, Bethany and Elizabeth to Bardonecchia which is about two hours outside of Torino. This is where all of the skiing, snowboarding and other mountain sports were held for the 2006 Olympics. We drove up the mountain and met two of his friends - a really really nice couple named Marinella and Alberto. For the next four hours we hiked and walked through THE ALPS. I can’t believe I can say that. At one point they even pointed to a mountain and said “that’s France.” It was pretty cool. We even saw a shepherd on a motorcycle herding cows through the mountain. After we finished our journey we went to Marinella and Alberto’s vacation home which was right near us and had a few snacks and enjoyed the AMAZING view.
I didn’t get back to Torino until around 7:45. I ate dinner with my family on the terrace again and we played some Wii after dinner. I’m really happy that I’m staying with them for the next two weeks because they have been so nice and generous to me so far. I’m also really happy that Pino is the camp director because he is incredible. He was even joking with me today about how I’m pale so I can tell he isn’t going to be a very serious person.
Tomorrow is my first day of camp so wish me luck!
I got off at the Torino Ligotto station where my camp director Pino and my host family were waiting. My Italian family consists of Yuk the dad (it’s a nickname), Simona the mom, and Graziella my 14 year old sister. Before I went to their house Pino took me, Bethany and Elizabeth who also met us at the train station to a park to discuss the week. At the park we also met with Barbara who is a new camp director starting in two weeks (who I may work for) and Greta who is an Italian high school student that will be our “helper” for the next two weeks. After our meeting I went to my host family’s house which is pretty great. They gave me Graziella’s room for the next two weeks which has a balcony off of it and I have my own bathroom. They have a really big terrace with lots of plants and vegetables and we have been eating out on it for every meal so far! That night they made me dinner and we went a lot between speaking Italian and English. Simona speaks English fluently and Yuk and Graziella both speak pretty well. It’s fun speaking with Graziella because she gets nervous and doesn’t want to try but as I encourage her to keep going and we keep speaking she gets better and better. It’s pretty much how I feel about myself speaking Italian. After dinner we met Bethany and her host family and Elizabeth in the center or Torino to get some gelato. We went to this really delicious place called Grom and then walked around for a bit.
Torino is absolutely beautiful. The city is referred to as “little Paris” because it has a lot of influence and similar architectures from Paris. There is even a “mini Versailles.” After gelato my family drove me around to see some different piazzas and a really beautiful area near the river.
Today my camp director - who is awesome - took me, Bethany and Elizabeth to Bardonecchia which is about two hours outside of Torino. This is where all of the skiing, snowboarding and other mountain sports were held for the 2006 Olympics. We drove up the mountain and met two of his friends - a really really nice couple named Marinella and Alberto. For the next four hours we hiked and walked through THE ALPS. I can’t believe I can say that. At one point they even pointed to a mountain and said “that’s France.” It was pretty cool. We even saw a shepherd on a motorcycle herding cows through the mountain. After we finished our journey we went to Marinella and Alberto’s vacation home which was right near us and had a few snacks and enjoyed the AMAZING view.
I didn’t get back to Torino until around 7:45. I ate dinner with my family on the terrace again and we played some Wii after dinner. I’m really happy that I’m staying with them for the next two weeks because they have been so nice and generous to me so far. I’m also really happy that Pino is the camp director because he is incredible. He was even joking with me today about how I’m pale so I can tell he isn’t going to be a very serious person.
Tomorrow is my first day of camp so wish me luck!
Orientation in Sanremo
So I finally arrived in Sanremo at 6 pm on Saturday. There were a few people from ACLE waiting at the train station for me and a bunch of other tutors that had arrived before me. After giving me my knapsack of info and a cute little name tag for the week I was driven to my hotel - Villa Sylva where two of my three roommates were already unpacking. Christina and Meghan are both from Canada and our other roommate Tina who arrived later that night is also from Canada so I’m the odd American out in the room. The room is meant for about 1.5 people (I guess that would be one regular person and one midget) but Christina has been sleeping at her friend’s hotel room because there is more space which is actually better for the rest of us.
That night me, Christina, Meghan and a few other girls wandered down to the shore and found a place on the water for dinner. We ate at this really cute restaurant that had rooftop seating and very delicious food. Unfortunately the umbrella on our table didn’t protect us from the rain blowing sideways so we had to take cover inside. It didn’t let up at all so we had a lovely walk back to our hotel in the rain but we didn’t really care after realizing we were in Italy.
It was pretty tough to wake up on Sunday. I slept for almost 13 hours on and off but in my defense I had slept about three in the 18 I traveled. After finally getting myself out of bed around 11 I went exploring around Sanremo with Meghan, Tina, Talia, Drew and Nathan. We ate a quick lunch on the water followed by amazing gelato. I had nocciola gelato for the first time in over a year and I was essentially on cloud nine. After dying of gelato happiness we walked to the same area where I had dinner the night before because there is a long walkway along the rocks of the shore which equals a beautiful view of the port. The sun was finally coming out so we decided to grab our bathing suits from the hotel and find our way to the beach. We got directions for la brezza (the breeze) but ended up at tre ponti instead. It was a pretty long walk back to the hotel and then to the beach (there is surprisingly little sand and more of a rocky coast), so by the time we got settled the sun was only out for about another 20 minutes until some clouds ruined our fun.
ACLE arranged for everyone (all 150 tutors and staff) to meet at Sax Bar at 8 for some mingling. It was pretty cool to meet everyone especially when hearing the different accents that would come out of their mouths. There are a lot of Americans and Canadians working for ACLE but there is also a good amount of tutors from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia.
Orientation started bright and early Monday morning and was about the same everyday up until Friday. I would wake up at 7, eat breakfast around 7:30 or 8, and walk to either Palafiori or Villa Armond for orientation at 9. It reminded me a lot of the obnoxious number of leadership camps I went to during high school. There were a lot of energizers, songs, and team activities. But all of these things they taught us are what we will be teaching the kids, but of course with the point of learning English.
About every 10 minutes I would switch from sheer panic of “OMG I CAN’T DO THIS WHY AM I HERE I AM GOING TO FAIL MISERABLY AS A TUTOR” to “wow this isn’t bad I can totally do this” and then back again. I think I finally got the hang of teaching by Thursday of orientation.
I switched up a lot between actually liking and not liking orientation too. With 150 people obviously little groups or “cliques” are going to form and I honestly could care less about that kind of stuff now, but for those who were really invested in that idea, they could be pretty awful. I can’t even count how many times that either I or someone else would say something to someone from a different “group” and there would just be no response. Or the feeling of well I can tell this person is rushing to answer or respond so he/she can walk away immediately. The orientation was run partially by returning tutors so they could “lead by example” but they did the exact same thing too. And one of the two female returning tutors was always extremely rude to me. It kind of put me off from ACLE itself. When we finished on Friday and found out our first assignments one of the staff members said “welcome to the family” and I just felt “meh.” I was more excited when the Apple salesman said that to me when I bought my mac.
But I am really excited to start working. My first camp is in Torino and I’m going for two weeks. As I write this I’m on the train with four other people from my orientation. Only one of them is coming with me to my camp, and another girl will be meeting us there. My second week in Torino will only have myself and one other tutor. So other than the camp director (who is an Italian) there won’t be anyone else other than either me and two tutors or me and one other tutor. I’m running the show. My first week there will be 33 kids total and I’ll have a group of 11, and the second week there will be 20 kids total so I’ll have ten.
I think I’m most excited for the organization of the whole thing. The camp won’t just have kids sitting inside learning grammar all day. At every location we have to organize a camp wide Olympics but I think it’s great that my first one will be in Torino where the Olympics were five years ago. We can also pick a theme for the week if we want and we have to write a short skit with a song for the kids to perform for their families on the last day. The last day of orientation we performed our own skits that we had been working on all week. Everyone was assigned one of the levels that we will be teaching. My group was ages 8-10 so they are learning comparatives and superlatives, cardinal and ordinal numbers, descriptions, and the present continuous. We performed “The Last Mario Kart Race. Ever.” and I played Mario, complete with the mustache.
Tuesday of orientation - AKA the second day - we were sent to an Italian school to teach a class an activity or song. I was with a group of about ten people and we went to two different classes of 6 and 7 seven year olds. In the first class only five people taught and the rest of us observed. The first group of kids was pretty well behaved for it being so hot and early in the morning. I was lucky enough to have to teach the second group kids who were referred to as the “smack kids” because they were acting like they were on drugs. I have never been so terrified of small children in my life. At first we were trying to just teach how to say “my name is ...” and then ask someone else “what is your name” but they would not stop getting up from the circle or saying “my name is Berlusconi” or doing anything else to drive us insane. We finally got them to calm down by just playing a circular clapping game and had them repeat body parts. Oddly enough the staff that was observing us told us we did an amazing job because they children were literally the spawn of Satan.
Another memorable day was Wednesday when we played a lot of water games that we weren’t previously warned about. So everyone was soaked and wasn’t too happy about it. We also played a shoe race game which required everyone to take off their shoes they had been in, in the very hot sun, and had been running around in all day. So again, no one was too happy about that.
Every night they had dinner organized for us. I went to this place called Tahiti Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was about a 45 minute walk along the ocean so it was nice but just kind of a pain every night. We had to be there at 8:30 and camp didn’t usually end until after 5 so I didn’t have a lot of time to do anything in between. Thursday night half of us ate in the old part of Sanremo which was absolutely beautiful. The founder of ACLE, a man called Arrigo, took us on a tour of the old town before we ate and it was amazing. Friday night they took us all down to the port where I ate my first night. But this night they got everyone a personal pizza and we sat along the long walkway/rock wall and watched the sunset and drank wine of course. Most people went to Tahiti afterwards for some farewell drinks and dancing.
A few of my friends had to leave on Friday with about 25 other people because they were either heading to Sicily for camp or to somewhere in the south. Everyone else left Saturday morning for wherever they were headed to.
Overall I was pretty happy to finish orientation and head off to my first destination: Torino!
That night me, Christina, Meghan and a few other girls wandered down to the shore and found a place on the water for dinner. We ate at this really cute restaurant that had rooftop seating and very delicious food. Unfortunately the umbrella on our table didn’t protect us from the rain blowing sideways so we had to take cover inside. It didn’t let up at all so we had a lovely walk back to our hotel in the rain but we didn’t really care after realizing we were in Italy.
It was pretty tough to wake up on Sunday. I slept for almost 13 hours on and off but in my defense I had slept about three in the 18 I traveled. After finally getting myself out of bed around 11 I went exploring around Sanremo with Meghan, Tina, Talia, Drew and Nathan. We ate a quick lunch on the water followed by amazing gelato. I had nocciola gelato for the first time in over a year and I was essentially on cloud nine. After dying of gelato happiness we walked to the same area where I had dinner the night before because there is a long walkway along the rocks of the shore which equals a beautiful view of the port. The sun was finally coming out so we decided to grab our bathing suits from the hotel and find our way to the beach. We got directions for la brezza (the breeze) but ended up at tre ponti instead. It was a pretty long walk back to the hotel and then to the beach (there is surprisingly little sand and more of a rocky coast), so by the time we got settled the sun was only out for about another 20 minutes until some clouds ruined our fun.
ACLE arranged for everyone (all 150 tutors and staff) to meet at Sax Bar at 8 for some mingling. It was pretty cool to meet everyone especially when hearing the different accents that would come out of their mouths. There are a lot of Americans and Canadians working for ACLE but there is also a good amount of tutors from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia.
Orientation started bright and early Monday morning and was about the same everyday up until Friday. I would wake up at 7, eat breakfast around 7:30 or 8, and walk to either Palafiori or Villa Armond for orientation at 9. It reminded me a lot of the obnoxious number of leadership camps I went to during high school. There were a lot of energizers, songs, and team activities. But all of these things they taught us are what we will be teaching the kids, but of course with the point of learning English.
About every 10 minutes I would switch from sheer panic of “OMG I CAN’T DO THIS WHY AM I HERE I AM GOING TO FAIL MISERABLY AS A TUTOR” to “wow this isn’t bad I can totally do this” and then back again. I think I finally got the hang of teaching by Thursday of orientation.
I switched up a lot between actually liking and not liking orientation too. With 150 people obviously little groups or “cliques” are going to form and I honestly could care less about that kind of stuff now, but for those who were really invested in that idea, they could be pretty awful. I can’t even count how many times that either I or someone else would say something to someone from a different “group” and there would just be no response. Or the feeling of well I can tell this person is rushing to answer or respond so he/she can walk away immediately. The orientation was run partially by returning tutors so they could “lead by example” but they did the exact same thing too. And one of the two female returning tutors was always extremely rude to me. It kind of put me off from ACLE itself. When we finished on Friday and found out our first assignments one of the staff members said “welcome to the family” and I just felt “meh.” I was more excited when the Apple salesman said that to me when I bought my mac.
But I am really excited to start working. My first camp is in Torino and I’m going for two weeks. As I write this I’m on the train with four other people from my orientation. Only one of them is coming with me to my camp, and another girl will be meeting us there. My second week in Torino will only have myself and one other tutor. So other than the camp director (who is an Italian) there won’t be anyone else other than either me and two tutors or me and one other tutor. I’m running the show. My first week there will be 33 kids total and I’ll have a group of 11, and the second week there will be 20 kids total so I’ll have ten.
I think I’m most excited for the organization of the whole thing. The camp won’t just have kids sitting inside learning grammar all day. At every location we have to organize a camp wide Olympics but I think it’s great that my first one will be in Torino where the Olympics were five years ago. We can also pick a theme for the week if we want and we have to write a short skit with a song for the kids to perform for their families on the last day. The last day of orientation we performed our own skits that we had been working on all week. Everyone was assigned one of the levels that we will be teaching. My group was ages 8-10 so they are learning comparatives and superlatives, cardinal and ordinal numbers, descriptions, and the present continuous. We performed “The Last Mario Kart Race. Ever.” and I played Mario, complete with the mustache.
Tuesday of orientation - AKA the second day - we were sent to an Italian school to teach a class an activity or song. I was with a group of about ten people and we went to two different classes of 6 and 7 seven year olds. In the first class only five people taught and the rest of us observed. The first group of kids was pretty well behaved for it being so hot and early in the morning. I was lucky enough to have to teach the second group kids who were referred to as the “smack kids” because they were acting like they were on drugs. I have never been so terrified of small children in my life. At first we were trying to just teach how to say “my name is ...” and then ask someone else “what is your name” but they would not stop getting up from the circle or saying “my name is Berlusconi” or doing anything else to drive us insane. We finally got them to calm down by just playing a circular clapping game and had them repeat body parts. Oddly enough the staff that was observing us told us we did an amazing job because they children were literally the spawn of Satan.
Another memorable day was Wednesday when we played a lot of water games that we weren’t previously warned about. So everyone was soaked and wasn’t too happy about it. We also played a shoe race game which required everyone to take off their shoes they had been in, in the very hot sun, and had been running around in all day. So again, no one was too happy about that.
Every night they had dinner organized for us. I went to this place called Tahiti Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was about a 45 minute walk along the ocean so it was nice but just kind of a pain every night. We had to be there at 8:30 and camp didn’t usually end until after 5 so I didn’t have a lot of time to do anything in between. Thursday night half of us ate in the old part of Sanremo which was absolutely beautiful. The founder of ACLE, a man called Arrigo, took us on a tour of the old town before we ate and it was amazing. Friday night they took us all down to the port where I ate my first night. But this night they got everyone a personal pizza and we sat along the long walkway/rock wall and watched the sunset and drank wine of course. Most people went to Tahiti afterwards for some farewell drinks and dancing.
A few of my friends had to leave on Friday with about 25 other people because they were either heading to Sicily for camp or to somewhere in the south. Everyone else left Saturday morning for wherever they were headed to.
Overall I was pretty happy to finish orientation and head off to my first destination: Torino!
Monday, June 21, 2010
18 hours of traveling
So I wrote this blog when I was traveling on the train from Genova to Milan because I was really bored and had time to kill. All it covers is my actual journey to Sanremo and when I have time to think straight I will add in what I've actually been doing here... hopefully soon!
As excited as I have been since I found out I was offered a job by ACLE I knew that an emotional confrontation with myself was inevitable, and surprisingly it came to a head while trying to figure out what to wear on the plane the night before I was supposed to leave. I didn’t think I would be as upset as I was but since I also tend to be a cryer, I guess it also makes sense. Luckily my family was kind enough to remind me of how miserable I was last year when I returned from Ascoli - complaining about the food, the people, the scenery, pretty much everything. I suppose I was a tad unreasonable during my transition period, but it was a good reminder of why I wanted to go back so bad in the first place.
The farewell at the airport with my mom, Meg and Steve was tough to say the least. So I threw on my wayfarers as I stood in the security line and chanted to myself to pull it together because there’s no crying in public (or baseball). It was really surreal to be sitting in the airport. I’ve traveled a lot in the past few years, and a few times by myself, but obviously this time was a whole different experience. My first flight wasn’t too bad. I really really wanted to sleep but despite all of my forcing I just couldn’t do it. I watched a movie and some tv shows and made friends with the woman sitting next with me, who is originally from Rwanda and now teaches in New Hampshire. She was on her way to her brother’s wedding in Milan because he lives there, while one of her sisters lives in Rome and the other in Ireland. We were also airport buddies all the way to our separate connecting flights.
I was really excited when I saw the first greens of Ireland when heading towards Dublin for my layover. I’ve never been to Ireland before but I felt an instant connection without even leaving the airport. So much of who I am is Irish, especially because it’s the only part of my heritage that I really look like. Even though I quite clearly love Italy and embrace my Sicilian roots whole heartedly, I’ll always stick out as a foreigner. I feel like I could really be a part of Ireland with no one knowing the difference (until I open my mouth of course). It feels really good to say I’ve at least been IN Ireland.
My connecting flight was okay. I slept for about an hour and a half leaning on my tray table. I felt pretty nauseous for awhile but all of the food and drinks cost money and I didn’t want to spend four euro on crackers. I was so lost in my magazine that I didn’t even notice when we started to descend. So when the plane wheels hit the runway in Milan I dropped my magazine and just thought “Oh my God. I’m in Italy...Again.” I couldn’t believe it was real. I still can’t. The plane was on the smaller side so we even had to walk on the tar mac and when my feet hit the ground I felt so insanely happy.
I was pretty nervous when waiting for my luggage but luckily this wasn’t a British Airways repeat and I actually left with all of my belongings. I had to take a bus from the airport to Milano Centrale for my train to Sanremo and of course an Italian driver behind the wheel is always an interesting experience. I almost forgot how insane and pretty much care free both the drivers and pedestrians can be. I was stressed at the train station because I only had about 25 minutes after I bought my ticket to find the platform, get something to eat, and try to call the ACLE office to let them know when I was arriving so someone would meet me at the train station, and I wanted to call home. But after fighting with the public phone for being way too confusing I gave up and just hopped on the train. I slept for awhile, but it was actually a little embarrassing because i kept snorting myself awake (I guess the tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy were really worth it...). This train ride was two hours to Genova where I had to switch but first make a mad dash to actually figure out the phone this time and run around the train station like a crazy woman trying to figure out where to go. The train ride from Genova to Sanremo wasn’t too shabby. I sat with two Australian girls who were on their way to Monaco after spending three weeks in Italy (and had originally only planned one but loved it too much to leave). They’ve been traveling for about two months and still have another to go so they had some pretty interesting stories.
This is a video I took of some of the train ride from Genova to Sanremo - everything was so beautiful I thought it was worth it! (and you don't need volume...it's just me talking with the aussie girls)
More to come later!
As excited as I have been since I found out I was offered a job by ACLE I knew that an emotional confrontation with myself was inevitable, and surprisingly it came to a head while trying to figure out what to wear on the plane the night before I was supposed to leave. I didn’t think I would be as upset as I was but since I also tend to be a cryer, I guess it also makes sense. Luckily my family was kind enough to remind me of how miserable I was last year when I returned from Ascoli - complaining about the food, the people, the scenery, pretty much everything. I suppose I was a tad unreasonable during my transition period, but it was a good reminder of why I wanted to go back so bad in the first place.
The farewell at the airport with my mom, Meg and Steve was tough to say the least. So I threw on my wayfarers as I stood in the security line and chanted to myself to pull it together because there’s no crying in public (or baseball). It was really surreal to be sitting in the airport. I’ve traveled a lot in the past few years, and a few times by myself, but obviously this time was a whole different experience. My first flight wasn’t too bad. I really really wanted to sleep but despite all of my forcing I just couldn’t do it. I watched a movie and some tv shows and made friends with the woman sitting next with me, who is originally from Rwanda and now teaches in New Hampshire. She was on her way to her brother’s wedding in Milan because he lives there, while one of her sisters lives in Rome and the other in Ireland. We were also airport buddies all the way to our separate connecting flights.
I was really excited when I saw the first greens of Ireland when heading towards Dublin for my layover. I’ve never been to Ireland before but I felt an instant connection without even leaving the airport. So much of who I am is Irish, especially because it’s the only part of my heritage that I really look like. Even though I quite clearly love Italy and embrace my Sicilian roots whole heartedly, I’ll always stick out as a foreigner. I feel like I could really be a part of Ireland with no one knowing the difference (until I open my mouth of course). It feels really good to say I’ve at least been IN Ireland.
My connecting flight was okay. I slept for about an hour and a half leaning on my tray table. I felt pretty nauseous for awhile but all of the food and drinks cost money and I didn’t want to spend four euro on crackers. I was so lost in my magazine that I didn’t even notice when we started to descend. So when the plane wheels hit the runway in Milan I dropped my magazine and just thought “Oh my God. I’m in Italy...Again.” I couldn’t believe it was real. I still can’t. The plane was on the smaller side so we even had to walk on the tar mac and when my feet hit the ground I felt so insanely happy.
I was pretty nervous when waiting for my luggage but luckily this wasn’t a British Airways repeat and I actually left with all of my belongings. I had to take a bus from the airport to Milano Centrale for my train to Sanremo and of course an Italian driver behind the wheel is always an interesting experience. I almost forgot how insane and pretty much care free both the drivers and pedestrians can be. I was stressed at the train station because I only had about 25 minutes after I bought my ticket to find the platform, get something to eat, and try to call the ACLE office to let them know when I was arriving so someone would meet me at the train station, and I wanted to call home. But after fighting with the public phone for being way too confusing I gave up and just hopped on the train. I slept for awhile, but it was actually a little embarrassing because i kept snorting myself awake (I guess the tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy were really worth it...). This train ride was two hours to Genova where I had to switch but first make a mad dash to actually figure out the phone this time and run around the train station like a crazy woman trying to figure out where to go. The train ride from Genova to Sanremo wasn’t too shabby. I sat with two Australian girls who were on their way to Monaco after spending three weeks in Italy (and had originally only planned one but loved it too much to leave). They’ve been traveling for about two months and still have another to go so they had some pretty interesting stories.
This is a video I took of some of the train ride from Genova to Sanremo - everything was so beautiful I thought it was worth it! (and you don't need volume...it's just me talking with the aussie girls)
More to come later!
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