Cora attends "Scuola Materna." The best description I can give of it for an American is to call it equivalent to kindergarten. (This is basically because it's the literal precursor to first grade, if for no other reason.) In Italy, scuola materna lasts for three years. Children start at age 3 (or just before, as is the case for Cora), and move to first grade at age 6 (or just before). In general, these schools are organized such that a class (of approximately 20 students) mixes kids from all three ages in a single classroom. The idea is that the older kids help with the younger kids and the younger kids learn from the older kids. In Cora's school, however, this is not the case. So Cora is in a class with kids that are all approximately two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half.
They have a careful approach to starting the kids in school (for many of the kids in scuola materna, this is the first time they have been to school), which is called the "inserimento" (or "insertion") period. Basically, the kids go to school for the first few days for just an hour, with their parents. They extend this to two hours, and the parents try to duck out for a bit. Then after a few more days, they add lunch. Then they add nap, until, eventually, school goes from 8am until about 3pm. We're nearing the end of the inserimento now. Cora LOVED school initially (the first day, she asked why she couldn't stay all day). However, when it came time for her to stay at school without a parent, she was not as enamored with the idea. So our inserimento has been a bit slower than it was supposed to be. Cora finally stayed for lunch last Friday, though she cried during lunch. When presented with rice, she cried. I asked her why, and she said "because I wanted you and daddy. But I ate my fish!"
Her teachers appear to be pretty fantastic. The primary teacher in her class actually speaks fluent English. However, in watching her interact with Cora the first couple of days, it was obvious she knows what she's doing in terms of interacting with children in different languages. She would speak to Cora first in Italian. Then pause for a response, then clarify in English (when necessary). Cora would still prefer her to speak only in English, but I think she'll come around. The teacher also asked me if I would prefer to speak with her in English or Italian. I told her I only speak a little Italian, so if she wants to be sure I understand, then we ought to use English. She said (in Italian) "Great. I'll use Italian. I will speak slowly. If you don't understand, ask, and then we can change to English." Our first parent-teacher conference (things like... how is Cora's temperament, what does she need for nap, how is she at eating, etc.), we did, I'd say, 75% in Italian.
The school is also very nice. The parents are really great. Many of them speak English, and most are similar to us (two working parents, a mix of kids of different ages, etc.). In fact, one of the parents works as a researcher in computer science at the local research institute. In addition to his son in Cora's class, he has two daughters at the elementary school Maya will be going to. We connected with him, and asked him if he could help us figure out what supplies Maya might need on the first day of school. He immediately connected us with another parent of a student at Maya's school, a parent whose child happens to be in Maya's class. She immediately invited us all over to dinner at her house the next evening. So...
Two days before Maya started third grade (her school is called Sanzio), we had dinner with two families, including one other little girl who is also in third grade at Sanzio, and is in the class Maya had been assigned to. In Italy (or at least at Sanzio), once students are assigned to a class in elementary school, they stay with the same cohort of students AND TEACHERS for the entirety of elementary school. The idea is that there's significant continuity for the students. I was worried that this might be troublesome for Maya, since the group of kids might be already pretty tight, and she'd be an interloper. This doesn't appear to be the case. The little girl that Maya met before the first day of school seems to be very nice. (As is her mother, one of the most welcoming people I've ever met.) This girl and Maya played at her house (with a couple of other kids) for a few hours around dinner, and I'm not sure they said a word to each other, but they did play together. We then also met her outside of the school on the first day of school, and she walked Maya into the classroom.
The way drop off happens at Sanzio is that everyone waits outside the door to the school before 8am (school start time). [An aside... "outside the door of Sanzio" is also "in the shade of Castello del Buonconsiglio, built in the 13th century"... things that just aren't the same in Texas...] At 7:55, the door to the school opens, and the children rush in. This, even on the first day of school. There are five grades in this school and three classes in each grade (mostly), so this is a lot of students. So that was interesting. Maya was impressive. She shouldered her bag and walked inside with her new friend, even though I'm certain her tummy was swarming with butterflies.
The first two days of school (which is all that has happened so far) were both half days (the kids left before lunch). Maya will have about five different teachers: her "Italian" teacher (because she teaches in Italian), whose name is (Maya thinks) Cristina; her "English" teacher (she actually teaches the kids English, so the name is appropriate), whose name is Anka; her "German" teacher (yes, they start teaching the kids German in third grade), who Maya hasn't met yet; her religion teacher (this is optional, but we thought, "what the heck?"), who Maya also hasn't met yet; and I swear there's a fifth, but I can't remember why or for what. From what I can glean, the kids get some amount of actual English instruction every week and some amount of German instruction every week. Then they have music, art, and PE (I think in English). Everything else (grammar, reading, math, history, science, etc.) is in Italian. (I think.)
Maya will tell you she's still not excited about school (which we will have her tell you in her own words on her blog soon). However, even after just the first (half) day, she couldn't stop chattering about what she'd done. Apparently the English teacher (Anka) met Maya at the classroom door the first morning, to the point that Maya had the impression that she'd been waiting for her. She basically got Anka's undivided attention for the day, including a personal tour of the entire school building (which included the "teachers' stairs"). Anka also showed Maya all of the places in the school where she (Anka) would be if she wasn't in Maya's classroom, in case Maya ever needed to find her. On the first day, the class introduced the two "new kids", did some English activities, then did a science activity (with a partner... Maya worked with the little girl she'd already met), and put their supplies away. On the second day, there was less English instruction and more Italian, though two things happened that made me particularly pleased (and that Maya completely took for granted, which I guess is fine...). First, her Italian teacher modified the "Italian" assignment for Maya. The way I understand it is that the rest of the class was writing a story, but, since Maya can't write a story in Italian (clearly), the teacher had some kind of vocabulary-building exercise for Maya that involved writing some words and drawing associated pictures ("pesci" was an example). Second, the English teacher asked Tim if we had anything written down explaining what Maya had been doing in English in Texas so that the teacher could create lessons for Maya so she's not "bored" during the English lessons.
So, in summary, things are going pretty well with school. To be honest, I thought the inserimento for Cora would be completely smooth but that Maya's transition would be bumpy. We're only two days in for Maya, so it might still be "novel" enough to be interesting, but so far, it looks like I had it backward. And that's fine. The scuola materna is more than equipped to handle rough starts, and the staff and parents at Sanzio seem dedicated to helping Maya feel welcome, which seems to be so important.
Cora at school:
Maya on the first day of school:
Look for the signature spiky backpack...
1 comment:
Love that spiky backpack. Miss that spiky backpack. <3
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