{"id":29,"date":"2010-01-23T20:53:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-23T20:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/?p=29"},"modified":"2011-04-03T12:04:37","modified_gmt":"2011-04-03T10:04:37","slug":"pon-my-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/2010\/01\/pon-my-word\/","title":{"rendered":"PON my word!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(image by Kate Bailward<\/a><\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/em>
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\nMy day-to-day teaching takes place in a private language school.\u00a0 The students that come to my classes come from families who presumably have a reasonable amount of cash to splash, and who have big ambitions for their children.\u00a0 If you ask these students what they want to be when they grow up, you are likely to get a reply along the lines of, \u2018oh, I\u2019ll be a doctor \u2013 like my parents.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s immensely frustrating, as a teacher, to see some of these children messing around and doing no work, knowing that they’ll probably go on to succeed, whatever they do. \u00a0Nepotism will get them wherever they want to go.<\/span><\/p>\n


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In contrast, yesterday I taught my first PON class.\u00a0 PON stands for <\/span>Programma Operativo Nazionale<\/span><\/em>, and is a part-EU-funded language programme available in six states in southern Italy.\u00a0 From the children\u2019s point of view it\u2019s an absolutely fantastic scheme.\u00a0 It costs nothing, and they are getting the same lessons from me as the kids whose parents are paying a fortune for them to come to private language lessons.\u00a0 However, as a teacher it\u2019s a daunting prospect.\u00a0 My private classes range in size from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 11 students.\u00a0 In my PON class I have 29. <\/span>Twenty-nine<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 These are kids whose level of English is barely better than my Italian (i.e. limited to basic greetings and numbers). \u00a0Kids whose teachers still write on blackboards.\u00a0 (There was an interactive whiteboard in the classroom as well, but it was covered up and clearly not to be used.\u00a0 Gutted! I\u2019m absolutely dying to get the chance to play with<\/span> work on one.)<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n

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The programme is run in conjunction with the state schools, and its success or failure can therefore depend heavily on whether the school\u2019s staff are prepared to support the programme.\u00a0 Luckily, at the school I\u2019ve been posted to, the staff appear to be behind it 100%.\u00a0 There are two teachers from my school, and we are both assigned a member of staff from the school to sit in on our lessons.\u00a0 This, I can see, will be a godsend in terms of discipline. \u00a0My supervisor (minder?), clearly has the respect of the children, and isn\u2019t afraid to bawl them out if necessary.\u00a0 In the mid-lesson break yesterday, he went absolutely ballistic on two of the boys.\u00a0 I missed what it was that they\u2019d done wrong, but they received a 30-second tirade on how I merited respect and they should know better than to do whatever it was that they were doing. They were then ordered out of the room for a 10-minute time-out.\u00a0 Impressive, if a little terrifying.\u00a0 I\u2019m very grateful that he\u2019s there, though.\u00a0 I’ve been told of PON classes where the Italian teacher just hasn\u2019t bothered to turn up.\u00a0 Or the teacher has attended, but has spent the whole time translating for the students, which totally defeats the object of the class.\u00a0 Or, unbelievably, asking the English teacher to translate their personal documents.\u00a0 Seriously!\u00a0 (They were told, ever so politely, to get stuffed.) <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n

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The lessons are programmed in for an eye-wateringly long 3-hour session every Friday afternoon.\u00a0 This messes up my programme of long weekends lazing around in bed, but I\u2019ve had it pretty easy so far, so I suppose it\u2019s about time I was tested a bit more.\u00a0 And this will be testing.\u00a0 Apart from my 5 year olds, this is the lowest-level group that I will ever have taught.\u00a0 There are certain similarities between the two groups; the 5 year olds are kept happily entertained by throwing pieces of paper around the classroom or climbing on the tables, and these 12 \u2013year-olds would probably quite enjoy that, too, but unfortunately they have the small matter of an international exam to get through at the end of the course.\u00a0 I have 50 hours \u2013 no, it\u2019s now down to 47 – to get them to the point of being able to have a seven-minute conversation with an examiner on a subject of their choice.\u00a0 Given that a good few of them looked at me with blank-eyed incomprehension yesterday when I asked them the question, \u2018what\u2019s your name?\u2019, 47 hours suddenly seems like no time at all.\u00a0 Terrifying.\u00a0 From both sides of the teacher\u2019s desk.<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n


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