Last day in Italian classroom!

Ciao! Today was filled with more classroom excitement! We started our morning off inside the same elementary school as Monday!

Children at work!

We saw some of the same faces as before and were greeted by new ones that we were working with! We started off working with fourth and fifth grade classes combined to make it easier on us! The kids were awesome and chop full of questions for us. After the first few questions that always came up, such as "How old are you?", the questions became more detailed. For example, the boys would ask me questions about video games. I notice this happened the same as it would in an American school.

My first group!

The girls tended to ask more questions about animals. After questions, we moved into our "Where's Walrus" activities! The kids loved the book. Just as they did in America and the previous classes, there were plenty of giggles! I could see a real difference in the age groups when it was time to draw the pictures. I noticed that there was a similar pattern to the way the kids responded to drawing in Italy as if we were in America. The kids did not seem as excited to draw as younger students had been showing. The kids acted as if they would be embarrassed as to what others would think about their drawings.

Second group!

It took a lot of motivating to get the students to start drawing. Some of the drawings were great, others were not the best. I could tell that some students had given up earlier in their lives on working on their art. After the activity, we taught the students our song before they were dismissed. We had a nice little break and were served some cookies and juice while we waited for the other group. The next group of kids were younger.

Second class!

They were age 6 and 7. They did not ask as many questions as the older kids. When asked if they preferred cats or dogs, more males chose dogs and more females chose cats. We did the walrus activity with them also. They giggled a lot at the book and really enjoyed it. It took a lot longer to get them to start drawing, but everyone did do a drawing. Some were awesome! After a few minutes of drawing, the students acted very similar to American students of that age. They lost interest and we lost control of them.

Cherry farm!

Their actual teachers did not help us regain control of them. Maybe that is because the way they were acting was normal for them. I am not sure. After the class was dismissed, we headed to lunch. We were served another 3 course meal. The lunch room was very chaotic again compared to an American lunchroom. It was very loud but the teachers did not seem disturbed by it at all. I am assuming that this is just how lunch goes in this particular Italian school. After lunch, the mayor came back by to the school and gave us all a gift. It was really awesome of her! We left the school and headed out to a cherry farm. The trees were beautiful and full of cherries! We sampled some and left out for a snack! After our snack, we went to a vineyard and saw some more of the grapes used to make Balsamic Vinegar. The tradition of the vinegar is huge in this area of Modena, Italy. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel for a nice rest. For dinner, we headed out with our adoptive grandparents for a nice 3 course meal! Tomorrow, we leave the Modena area and are headed to the city of Florence!