Yesterday I had a meeting with the one of the teachers I will be working with. When I walked into the school, it was so strange how different it was from an American school. The walls in the hallways and in the classrooms were completely barren and void of color. I’m used to seeing schools with student art work on display and decorated classrooms. I am very excited to start working with my cooperating teacher…she was really great. I also met some of the other teachers in the school and everyone was very nice.
Cultural Notes: 1. High school lasts 5 years. When the student graduates from high school, he is 19 years old.
2. Students stay with the same exact class of peers for all 5 years of high school. They don’t switch classmates like in America. By the end of high school, the class is like a family because they had every course together throughout their entire high school career.
3. Students don’t switch classrooms…the teachers do!
4. Students don’t have every subject everyday for 40 minutes. The length of each class varies from school to school, but at the school I will be teaching at each subject lasts one hour. Each day the students follow different courses. In America, it can be compared to block scheduling.
Highlight of My Day: I tried a new coffee drink. I wanted to try something new aside from the usual espresso and cappuccino so I had the barista surprise me with something. The drink was called a caffe bistro. It was okay. I wouldn’t order it again, but it was fun to try something new.
Ultimate Sight: I saw the Colosseum today while I was on the bus. At first I said to myself, “Oh my God is that the Colosseum?” For some reason I didn’t believe it, and I quickly looked at the street sign to validate what I was seeing. Sure enough the sign read Via del Colosseo. As I looked at it in awe it was funny to also observe the other passengers on the bus completely unfazed. It’s completely normal considering that they probably see it all the time, but I was looking around as if to capture someone else’s gaze of amazement. Even after seeing the Colosseo my biggest awe struck moment was seeing the Pantheon. That was even more amazing for me.
Impara con me! stampelle- hangers (for clothes)
