Buon Giorno! ...goodmorning readers, and welcome to the wonderful world of Ms. Sarahs Blogging. Or should I say Mrs. Sarah...in some of my first year classes (6th grade) I had to teach the difference between Ms. and Mrs. Here, they simple say Professor...(fill in Surname here. Surname= last name.) I have had many first year students call me Mrs. Sarah. I told them not to make this mistake in most American schools because than you will assume the teacher is married. I also tell them to call me Ms. Sarah because my last name is much too long for them to say. Preschoolers at home call me Ms. Sarah too! Simple is where to start off with a langauge. It goes the same for me....I have been here over a month now and still pronouce very ... read more

As the saying goes, When in Rome, be a tourist..... And I would say we were successful enough for a 2 and a half day trip to Rome. Our adventures to Rome began Friday morning when we hopped on our train at 8 am, while I was singing happy birthday to Jennie......not so sure that was her favorite part of the weekend ;). We took the fast train to Rome so the duration of the trip was just over 4 hours. It was 4 hours of beautiful scenic hills to have breath taking views of. We arrived into Termini station and set out to find our hostel. We chose a hostel a trek away from the train station because a handful of people warned us the train station isn't a place to roam around in the ... read more

Ciao and happy Thursday family and friends. A look into my teaching experience in Italian Scuola Media. The word I use most often during my solo teaching is SILENZIO! I think ofcourse you can take an educated guess for the translation of this word. A word similar to Spanish too! Your could say that Wednesday was my first 'solo' English lesson, as the teacher I work with, Francesca was out today. There was an official substitute in the classroom, however, since it was English class, it made most sense that I carry on with the lessons. Speaking of substitutes, in the Italian school system, it is common for a teacher who already works in that school to be the substitute. It works out well this way because as mentioned in previous blogs--teachers switch classrooms, not the ... read more

Ciao, I hope you are finding your week to be bellisimo (Italian for lovely/beautiful.) Here I am close to the end of the second week teaching in Italy and I will share with you my most memorable lesson of the Week. Francessca asked me to teach about the American school system in comparison with the Italian school system. I taught the lesson to the 3rd year class only because they are able to comprehend most of what I am saying. By 3rd year class I mean 8th grade middle school. Middle school grades are referred to as 1st year (6th) 2nd year (7th) and 3rd year (8th), rather than being consecutive grades in American schools. The 'grades' start fresh when the Italain students start at a new school (elementary, middle and high school.) I started out ... read more

Ciao! The first week of school is coming to an end, and I now have a better understanding of my schedule, how the school system works here in Italy, and my role as the assistant English teacher. As mentioned, I have 3 Teachers who I work with, and teach 18 hours a week. My schedule is different each day with some days having no break between lessons and some I have a long streched break between lessons. Today for example, I had one lesson at 8 am, a lesson at 10:45 am, and will have 2 lessons again in the afternoon. For my breaks in between lessons I typically come back to the flat because of the near location to the school, or grab a cafe with Francessaca or Susanna. It is normal to have multiple ... read more