a crazy, exhausting week in taggia

After a four and a half hour train ride, we arrived in Taggia Arma, in Northern Italy. I had arranged through a Facebook group to meet up with three other tutors in Milan for the trip, which was nice. I sat with Rebecca from Australia, who luckily knew how to speak Italian, which came in really handy asking for directions and ensuring we were getting off at the correct stop.

We (well Rebecca, mainly, as she was doing all the speaking) befriended a couple of older ladies on the train and they were really entertaining. I soon learned that Italians are super hospitable and friendly if you make a little bit of effort - after a few minutes they were sharing their food with us and asking all about our lives. On the next train we met a crazy old lady who was sharing her conspiracy theories with Rebecca, was a right laugh!

So we were met at the train station by a couple of tutors who would become our mentors for the following week, teaching us all we needed to know about teaching Italian kids English. We stayed at Castarello Golf Resort which was a beautiful, sprawling complex high in the mountains but it was not exactly a holiday - early mornings, late nights and hot weather making for a really tiring week.

Our course covered everything from energiser games and songs to play with the kids to start the day, how to deal with the language barrier, how to deal with young children who aren't used to such a long day (in Italy, the youngest children only go to school until lunchtime), arts and crafts, games and activities, lesson planning, how to use gestures to convey information and instructions, and so much more! We were given a comprehensive manual which provides all the basic information we will need, including lesson plans for every level, but we are also encouraged to bring our own ideas and experience.

There were around 60 of us doing the course, and the majority of them were either teachers on their summer break, or studying to be teachers.

Not having any teaching experience, I went into the week pretty unsure about my abilities but over the course of the week, I felt like I was gaining more and more knowledge and practical experience. By the last day, I was feeling pretty good but still nervous about meeting my first host family and camp group!