Pure Chaos

Teaching English in Florence very well may be the best experience that I have had since being here.  This was my second week teaching it with Maestra Angela Rumo, who is a saint in teacher like form.  I am in love with these children, but they are the craziest kids I have ever met.  I was put in the 4th grade classroom at Scoula Di Firenze.  The classroom dynamic is something I have never experienced, probably because I think there are laws against it in the U.S. lol  

Imagine giving a room of 8 and 9 year olds a whole Easter basket full of candy and then letting them loose.  At first I assumed that maybe they put me in the A.D.D. classroom, but after conferring with other GU students that were also volunteering in classrooms, the lack of discipline and crazy experience seemed uniform.  These kids don't listen, jump in and out of their seats, yell, throw things, and generally act as if the could care less what they were told to do.  At the end of it all, they kids don't seem as if they are really acting badly, they just seem to know what they can get away with, and love to push that line every single moment.  By no means is this a negative post, I rather enjoyed myself both times, it just was such a leap from what I was used to. 

At one point last week, this little guy was trying to put a golf ball sized ball of aluminum foil up his nose.  Thankfully, he wasn't successful, but then proceeded to start throwing it around the classroom.  Naturally, a small battle ensued over the tin foil ball and before I even realized what was happening, there was a small riot and the teacher started yelling, "BASTA!" The kids all stopped what they were doing and made their way back to their seats.  These small yet all consuming interruptions seemed to occur about every five minutes.

This little tiny girl who sits in the from is adorable, her name is Julia.  She speaks surprisingly good english, and whenever I ask kids a question that they don't know, Julia is "that kid" who loudly whispers the answer and helps them out.  She is precious.

I am working on memorizing all the other kids' names, but it is so much harder than I ever thought it would be.  My respect for teachers has sky-rocketed these last few weeks! 

All in all, I can't wait to see what the next few months bring : )