School Days, School Days

I have now spent four days in class with these darling 5th graders and have some observations about them, their teachers, and the school. The way class is conducted reminds me very much of my own elementary school years. The building is modest, but very clean and well maintained. Technology is all but absent. The atmosphere in class is very relaxed and yet productive. The kids are like kids were in the 1950s: open, respectful of their teachers, and comfortable. They can just walk out to use the bathroom down the hall anytime they need to without asking permission. They always come right back, no fooling around in the hall. On the playground there is no equipment. There is a large grassy area surrounded by talk oaks (?), and some paved area too. They play as we did, running around, chasing each other, making up their own games, kids' games: Hopscotch. Tag. Throwing a foam ball at a bunch of kids standing against the building, trying to dodge the ball. And every few minutes, some kids run up to me and ask me a question. They are totally unsophisticated, but they come from affluent families. I watch the parents pick them up at 12:30 for lunch (pranzo), the big meal of the day, in their BMWs and sometimes SUVs. Carpi is an economically healthy city of about 60,000. Textiles are big here. In fact, this is where Champion brand sportswear is made, or at least is headquartered.

The main teacher (they rotate for different subjects), Daniela Bonini is an elegant woman who has taught for about 25 years and is seeing the same sorts of changes in schools that American teachers experience: parents who think their children can do no wrong. kids getting fatter, classes getting larger. She told me today that she doesn't know how she'll manage next year with 25 or more students. This area is gaining many immigrants from China and Pakistan, and there is an assimilation problem. She showed me a workbook they use to teach about world religions. The parents from Muslim countries won't let their kids stay in the classroom when Christianity is covered. This disturbs the teachers, as one might expect, and the teachers treat the children of all backgrounds with affection and respect. There is a boy from Serbia and one from Pakistan, and one severely autistic boy in the class. The Serbian and Pakistani boys are adorable and very smart! The school system provides a special teacher (typically, someone studying to be a Special Ed teacher) to sit with the autistic boy during class. This boy doesn't speak. He periodically jumps up and literally hops around the room for a few minutes. Everybody allows this and he goes back to his desk where the special teacher tries to regain his attention with some desk activity. The children accept him totally, and don't tease him at all.

As the school year ends about June 7, the teachers feel pressured to finish the curriculum (in which, by the way, they have a great deal of input), and there are a lot of field trips. Two days ago we took a bus for a 10 minute ride to the city center to what I think was City Hall to see a PowerPoint presentation and a talk by an enthusiastic young woman about the European Union. It was wonderful. I knew about 90% of it already, but I learned a few things. The kids loved it.

Tomorrow morning we get a tour of the palace of the founder of Carpi. All of this is centrally located and very old. The bus will pick us up at 10:00. Between when school starts at 8:30 and 10:00, I am to read aloud a chapter in a book the class has read in Italian already: The Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl. I'll ask them questions in English about the main characters in that chapter and the plot. They are very receptive to learning and speaking English. Today I taught them the word, yummy! They asked me if I like ice cream, so I said, "Yes, it's yummy!" They're teaching me Italian and feel quite accomplished to be able to do this, which they are!

It's 11:15 p.m., and I really need some sleep, so that's all for now. I am having trouble attaching more pictures, but I'll try again tomorrow night. My family will spend the upcoming long weekend at their vacation home where there is no computer, so no blogging. School is closed on Monday for the Festival of the Patron Saint, I believe. I am looking forward to some R & R. This business of working again takes some getting used to for this retiree. Buona notte, for now.