Summer Camp starts at 9am every morning, and we start the day singing lots of songs with actions in a big circle in the courtyard. Paola di Rosa school is huge, it has 4 different schools within it, for ages 6 to 16. In the mornings we do group activities and games, like dodgeball, crafting pirates and races. After lunch we go up to the classrooms and have a couple of hours of teaching before finishing for the day at 4pm. We usually have worksheets to give the children, which might involve colouring in a picture by following English instructions, labelling pictures of pirates in English, English word searches, writing a message in a bottle etc, however, there are often periods where the worksheets have been completed and we have to think of ways to keep the children busy! We have found that hangman can work well but can also descend into chaos, with some children playing very intensely (standing up, shouting out, etc) and some children not interested at all. It is really hot here (around 30 degrees) and the kids want to be outside playing not in the classroom, which is why they have a 3 month summer holiday. As the school is a Catholic school the tutors all have to wear long trousers and tops that cover our shoulders- no vests! We didn't know this when we packed in March so we have been teaching all week in 30 degree heat wearing jeans. It's thirsty work. The other English tutors are really nice, and we have a lot of fun chatting with them when we aren't in the classrooms.
The English varies among the children, along with the enthusiasm, so the results of each activity are always very varied! When asking my children to pretend they are a pirate stranded on an island and to write a message in a bottle the results varied from "Help me!" to "Help me! I am the Captain of the Black Pearl and I am stuck all alone on an island near Brazil.". They also seem to struggle to understand "Be quiet" and "Sit down", funnily enough! But I shouldn't paint them all with the same brush, some of them are very quiet and well behaved, regardless of their level of understanding English. And all of their English is much better than our Italian! The Italian I have learnt consists of:
- Basta (stop/enough)
- Seiditi (sit down)
- Avete capito? (you have understood?)
- Io non ho capito (I do not understand)
- Ascolta (listen)
- Silenzio (silence)
All the essential teacher vocab.
Craig's evenings have consisted of being spoilt with food; having carbonara, tomato pasta, pizza, loads of fresh fruit and even all-you-can-eat sushi at an amazing Sushi restaurant.
My evenings have consisted of sunbathing by the pool and eating nice fresh dinners with my host family- fish, proscuitto, salads, cheese and bread etc. Everything in Italy comes with a good glug of olive oil.
I spent most of the weekend with Craig's host family. On Sunday we went to Gardaland, a theme park by lake Garda, with Damiano and Niccolo. It was so much fun! And there were no queues so we got straight on all the rides! In the evening we went to their Aunt's pizza restaurant and I had my first taste of Italian Pizza. I went for the calzone with mushrooms, ham and artichokes (a recommendation from my Dad) and it was amazing!
On Sunday we went sailing on Lake Garda with Craig's host family. We sailed for a couple of hours, then we stopped near the shore and had a swim. We had a picnic lunch on the boat consisting of lots of lovely breads and mini foccacias, prosciutto, pancetta, and fresh fruit. After lunch we docked at a town called Malcesine and hopped off the boat and had an ice cream (me and Craig shared a Chocolate Sundae) and a walk through the narrow streets. For the sail back the boat was at a 45 degree angle most of the way and we sat on the edge dangling our legs over to counter balance.
On Sunday we went sailing on Lake Garda with Craig's host family. We sailed for a couple of hours, then we stopped near the shore and had a swim. We had a picnic lunch on the boat consisting of lots of lovely breads and mini foccacias, prosciutto, pancetta, and fresh fruit. After lunch we docked at a town called Malcesine and hopped off the boat and had an ice cream (me and Craig shared a Chocolate Sundae) and a walk through the narrow streets. For the sail back the boat was at a 45 degree angle most of the way and we sat on the edge dangling our legs over to counter balance.
Monday was the start of Monster week at Summer Camp. My team are called Super Monster School and Craig's are the Multicolour Monsters. Let the fun begin!
On the whole we are really enjoying Italy when we aren't surrounded by screaming children! The scenery and the food have been amazing so far. I'm sure we will be returning to Italy many times in the future!
Total amount spent between two: €891
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