italian primary school experience :: {seven}

People like to focus on the differences between the American and Italian school experiences. Granted, differences exist and are often quite obvious; however, there are many similarities as well. (I feel like I'm back in the 9th grade classroom teaching compare and contrast essays with that previous sentence! It's a place to start.)

This year Young One has had the opportunity to meet two published authors: Mike Thaler and Mariella Lunardi. Mr. Thaler visited the local American school in October, and Ms. Lunardi visited Young One's school this week. Both times the authors addressed the children and read excerpts; both times Young One came home with signed copies of books. (We attended an evening session with Mr. Thaler.)

I quizzed for information about the visit with Ms.Lunardi, and Young One would not say much other than that she loves one of the stories in Le Storie di Nonna Lalla. It's about a little girl who gets excluded, so her interest in it is not entirely surprising. She did share that the author brought some of the original illustrations; this impressed my budding artist quite a bit.

This morning Young One told me that she wants to be three things when she grows up: a reader, a writer, and an American Idol judge.

We finally have seen an explosion in her interest in reading. The author encounters could not have come at a better time for her.


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Disclaimer: I hate generalizations. This is my limited experience at my daughter's tiny primary school lost in northern Italy. If you have a different experience with this, please share!