School is fun

Well, it can be. Sure thing.
Let me explain how my first day at school went.

My first day was actually yesterday when my mentor took me to school and has introduced me to the school staff. It sure felt nice to be acquainted with them. It is important for me to have a good relationship with my collegues as these are the people I'll be bumping into (well, hope not literally ;) in the following three months. I was also given a special locker in the teachers' staff room (which made me feel even more important ;)

My first impression of the school was really very positive. The name is Liceo Linguistico Europeo (liceo meaning highschool) and it is located in the center of Turin. The classrooms are extremely pleasant and the teachers appear to be in good relations, as well. The pupils that go there must be well taken care of. I noticed that the relationship between them and the teachers is more relaxed than it is in Slovenia. It seemed as if pupils with problems could easily go to the teacher for help, which I find great. There are also many activities that this school is involved in, from different projects of making a newspaper, to hosting and attending international exchanges both for the teachers and the pupils.

This first week of my stay here is supposed to be a kind of an introductory week, for me to get acquainted with the school environment and vice versa, of course. And so today I went to my first real lesson here in Italy. It was interesting. And we all know that interesting is indeed a very wide word, carrying different meanings. My first mission was to get the pupils talking. This wasn't really that hard, as their class was actually a special one where all the lessons (even chemistry and mathematics) are held in English. We covered different grounds and so we ended up talking not only of Slovenia and Italy, but also of Italian fashion, music, religion etc. Not surprising, our conversation ended at football ;)

This was to get their attention and I can easily conclude that my task was successfully done. However, when it was time for us to start doing something less exciting (such as doing an exercise), things changed. I couldn't believe my eyes- when I told them to open their books, one started to read a magazine, the other began writing a text message, two started having what appeared to be a deep conversation.. When I asked them to be quiet, they seemed so surprised. As if I said something totally inappropriate. But then, I think I managed to achieve a bit of discipline and they finally got quiet. It seems there's a challenging task ahead of me ;)
But I think that with a bit of luck and a lot of patience, I'll come out of this as the winner.


Either way ..Wish me luck! ;)