Maria Luigia

I find it strange how my cooperating teacher sits at her desk and waits for me when I am a little late to class. The students are up and running around, screaming on the top of their lungs, but she doesn't mind. She just waits for me to get there and to start my lesson. It seems as if the Italian education system doesn't have a strict curriculum the teachers have to abide by. I teach every time I go to class and was never able to observe a lesson by my CTs and every time I arrive, my CTs make up something on the spot for me to teach. One time she even wanted me to talk about the transportation system in America. I found my self struggling. Do I talk about the Subways? The T? Buses? And another time it was about policemen, firefighters and the 911 system. I was always baffled as to why she would pick these random topics. It is also especially hard to think of lesson plans on the spot.

I follow 4 English CTs and found a few of them are not proficient in English, which is odd because how are you to teach a language when you don't know it yourself? Today was my last day to see a class so I told them that I would miss them. Then my CT told the class to repeat after her, "You will miss us too!" At first I was confused, but soon realized she was trying to say "We will miss you too!" My host mom told me when she was 17 she was already licensed as a primary school teacher and it was very easy to obtain. Hopefully the school system changed and only qualified people can be teachers now.