the time here is flying by at incredible speeds, as lately i have been living the weeks in anticipation of the weekends. i have been finding my solace in fridays when i escape from this apartment (which i will have to be out of by december 20th) and go to Rho. there, from friday to sunday, i immerse myself in camaraderie and affection, way too much good food, incredibly long and funny grocery shopping trips, adventures in Milan, and small dogs who shower me with slobbery kisses. now that simone's been working different shifts, all that will change a bit...the friday to sunday thing, not the rest of it. his roommates are straight out of a movie, and together with the masses of people that are in and out of that house constantly, they often keep me laughing. i've told them i feel like snow white and the seven dwarves.
by now i'm into my 6th week of teaching, and am still enjoying it as much as the first week, though as time goes on i've come to see the many-faceted aspects of teaching and this school. while some teachers are great, and some students as well, other teachers are less than inspirational and some students hardly human. but this is the mix that keeps me on my toes. there is never a dull moment at Sraffa, the school with a rap here in Crema. i've gotten responses such as "you're teaching at Sraffa!?" the thing that makes me so disappointed, though, is that i feel that so many teachers have given up on these students, or didn't even care in the first place. i see the situation of mutual disrespect as a cycle. granted, there will always be the students who don't give a care and make all the noise as possible and will be as disrespectful as possible. but when there are teachers who in front of students talk about how much less capable this or that student is, who talk about the low levels of the students while students are walking ahead of them within ear-shot, when teachers yell, are rude, and are mean, what sort of incentive is there to study and be good? one teacher one day before halloween was asking students, in english, about their plans for all-saints' day, and went so far as to rapid-fire english questions at students about their dead relatives. one girl started to cry when questioned about her deceased grandfather, and the teacher didn't even stop to ask why or if she was ok, and then shortly after landed on another girl who's father had died and continued asking her questions regarding her father and his death. i was near tears at this point myself, and thank goodness the bell rang a few moments later. if these students are treated like this, and have already been given up on, what's the point for them? people rise or sink to the standards they are given.
so talking with mom the other day, i decided to channel this frustration and attempt to do something about it. i am acutely aware of the fact that i could be stopped short and this enthusiasm curbed by the stinginess and apathy that seem to be rampant in this school. however i want to try to form some sort of english club with frequent activities for the students, be they 5, 10, or 100, so i can get them out of a classroom setting and try to impart cultural and linguistic awareness in them through other channels than the oftentimes lousy classroom environment they're in. i made up a mock poster for a "first meeting" of the english club, in which we would watch an english movie and discuss it in english. italian schools are unlike american schools in that there are no sports teams, no extra-curricular activities, and i have yet to see a guidance counselor. i'll have to present my idea to mariella and will see how it's received, especially since i don't even want to think about all the bureaucratic hurdles i would have to jump over to do something like this. but i want to try because i cannot, for another 7 months, do nothing around here. i've also decided to try to be more confrontational with the teachers, albeit respectfully, and also with the students, telling them what i think about teachers' lesson plans, telling the students honestly and respectfully what i think of their behavior. we'll see where all of this takes me, but i can't imagine it would make anything worse. i would rather be remembered as someone who sort of broke rules and was active and at least tried to do something rather than someone who minded their own business and did what she was told. all this not to mean that i expect to create some sort of phenomenon such as in films like "freedom writers", and i'm certainly no pollyanna, more often tending towards pessimism than optimism. but i have to throw myself into this one...this one's calling my name. potential failure is a welcome alternative to inaction.
this is the tip of the iceberg. stay tuned for updates!
