Piombino/Italia 3-4 days

 Today begins with the students arriving quietly. We shake hands with several of them, and almost immediately one of them catches my attention, asking me to read them a story. The chosen story is ‘101 Dalmatians’. It’s time to dust off my Italian language skills and give it my best shot. With every page, there are comments, exclamations and fascination… I suspect all sparked by the illustrations rather than the words themselves…

After a short group warm-up activity, each class goes their separate ways. This time I join the 4-year-olds. We start by sharing what everyone did over the weekend (beach, lunch at Grandma’s, amusement park...) – these are some of the plans I manage to make out.

We then move on to the morning routines, accompanied by different songs, gestures and smiles. One of the pupils brings in a story from home, which the teacher reads with great enthusiasm, sparking all sorts of emotions and great excitement among the listeners. Once finished, each pupil draws a picture of what has just been told. Afterwards, they are given the option to do some free drawing, and I join the pupils with various origami ideas, which are well received. Today at break time, an anthill teeming with hundreds of inhabitants caught our attention. We reflected on caring for nature and lent a hand by building a little house for the ants.

The following day brings a very interesting visitor, generating great excitement among the pupils. Today we are visited by Lamine, a maths enthusiast who, thanks to his knowledge and love of teaching, delights us with a wide range of educational games. Such is the joy this brings that we spend the whole morning exploring and figuring out how to overcome each challenge he sets us, whether individually or in groups.

Tangrams, jigsaws, puzzles combining letters, numbers, objects... a variety of games that, without us realising it, make the day fly by unusually quickly. It is undoubtedly a treat for everyone to experience these new activities in the company of such dedicated people.

One final note: this morning I was asked to retell several stories; I’m starting to doubt my level of Italian.