Intercultural workshop

Now I think that in all the fields of education, and more, you need an intercultural competence, because the world has changed, we don't live in a monoculturalism anymore, even in a small reality, such as my small town Sanguinetto.

As job prospects, I think that, in my community, it is necessary to start from primary school to implement an intercultural project. Actually, a large percentage of children are foreigners ( from Romania, Ghana, China..) so it's necessary to try to develop ,in these children, “other attitudes”. The difficulty we encounter is that often, resources and "the courage or desire of some teachers" to get involved and create a stimulating and inclusive program for all, lack.

Many teachers are taken from anxiety to finish the program of the ministry, it doesn't matter what kind of needs or class-problems are in front of him. About what concerns the lack of resources, I mean that it would be nice if the teacher from the early days ,at least, would be supported by an interpreter or a mediator just to know the parents who may have different needs. For example,the fact that the child does not speak Italian and then therefore it would be usefull to create projects or games that allow you to develop a greater awareness of their values, a dynamic and understanding comparison of differences and finally a flexible definition of their identity boundaries. The teacher must pay attention, at the same time, to the risk that his intercultural learning does not take the perspective of "doing good" aliens are like us, are good, sometimes a little kinder to us, the difficulties arise ...he should be able to give life to a thought that is oriented not so much, in the ethics of good intentions (act ,so that, your action is good and also what can happen), but in the ethics of responsibility (so that your good deed has good consequences too).

I would like completing my brief essay with this citation:

"Like to learn from everything that you do not know why the humility you can participate in the possession of that good special that nature has given to every single human being. It will be wiser than all the one who wanted to learn something from everyone who receives something from everyone, ends up being the richest of all.

Do not underestimate, therefore, any form of knowledge, because science has any value. If time does not exempt you from reading the books that will occur: (...) there is a script that does not propose something interesting, if it is examined in due time and place (...).

(...) Do not neglect any science, you will strive to learn something from everyone happy. then when you reach a certain level of education, do not despise anyone, you may wish to adopt this behavior."

cit: "Ugo di San Vittore, Didascalicon, Rusconi, Milano 1987, pag. 138. Si tratta dell’edizione curata da Vincenzo Liccaro del trattato pedagogico che il maestro vittorino, nato intorno al 1096 e morto nel 1141, avrebbe scritto prima del 1125, quando aveva tra i 25 e i 30 anni."

Presentation project

Today we had a presentation of our practical visits. At first I was a little bit worried because I don’t speak very good English, but I had a good group that gave me an easy part to explain. And presentation went well. In the afternoon Lone illustrated to us the educational philosophy that stands behind Denmark school’s system.
It’s stimulating to discover that among the authors we study, there is our Italian pedagogue Maria Montessori. Now I understand why the children do what they want at school: in fact they adopt the policy of laissez fair system and support the concept that children should learn through activities and through things.
The Italian kirdengarden is different: all the activities are planned, the children are compelled to do these activities, there is no other choice. Teachers are very stressed because they have classes of 15 children each and they have to satisfy the different needs of different children. On the contrary, in Danish Institute there are a lot of teachers and pedagogues helping each others and taking care for the children.
It’s so unbelievable! You can find schools in the forest where parents bring their children and they are not worried about that: it’s just amazing, great, magnificent! In Italy a thing like that would not be possible: parents are overly anxious about their children and they transfer all their concerns and worries to the teachers and sometimes they even doubt their professionalism . I’m every day more convinced that I would prefer to work here than to work in Italy and face our disappointing reality.

Practical visits

It’s arrived! This is the day of practical visits: my group has been assigned to nursery/kindergarten and Sputnik. The day began in an institution called Marthahjemment, nursery kindergarten. I was surprised by many different aspects: first of all, there were many children and they did what they wanted: they played, ran, jumped from one room to another, sometimes alone …. And I thought: what are they doing? Where is the teacher? If it happened in Italy, there would probably be a lots of problems with parents. In fact, Italian teachers are much more apprehensive than the Danish ones. Secondly, there are more male pedagogues and teachers here than in Italy: in my Country education is considered a specific activity for women. Finally, one thing completely shocked me: children in the nursery sleep outside, even in winter time !!! Why?????? They always joke by saying that the Danish children are “Viking- Children”.
The second Sputnik is an institution for children with ADHD (children with problems of attentions and hyperactivity). This place for me is very new, because I think in Italy there isn’t this specific centre: also the structure is very good because there are a lot of rooms for this pupils. Every pupil has his own computer so that just in case he/she feels insecure or upset, he/she can go react only with the ”machine” which is a safety area and does not demand big effort to communicate with. Courses separate boys from girls and each pedagogue runs a class of 3 to 6 pupils. Every pupil has its own ”mentor- favourite teacher” whom they can discuss their personal issues with. This special mentor also takes extra care of them and , if it’s necessary, he communicates with the parents as well. In this place there is such a cosy atmosphere that you don’t feel like you are in a school, but in a place where you can spend your free time. A similar place to this in Italy can be the psychiatric clinic, a very controlled and protective building. Here the pupils can go outside and smoke a cigarette without pedagogues’ or teachers’ supervision. It‘s strange!!!!! How is it possible? Why in Italy we don’t have this structure????
These practical visits shocked me. It doesn’t seem true…. There are so many differences between Italy and Denmark….Perhaps I think it’s better for me to remain here to work, there is less stress and I love their values and their concern in education!!!!!

"A very brief History of Denmark"

This morning thanks to Jacob Anderson we could know some stories about Denmark . He talked about his favorite stories: the lesson was very interesting and fascinating, because he used a power point with lots of imagines and it was very easy to understand!!!

One Phrase that affects me is:

“we may be poor, but we don’t have to be stupid”.

This sentence underlines the importance of culture in every social class, including the poor one. All people can have the opportunity of developing their knowledge and some capacity of changing: that is for the poor ones, for instance, their social position in society.

ThReE dAyS iN cAmPpPpP

Wow!!! The University had programmed 3 days in Camp…a good opportunity to share your opinions with other people in your group, to know each others better and to talk about the intercultural understanding. The workshop was based on two lecture. During the lecture of the first text I found this quoting very interesting: “you can be born one race and die another” by Michael Omi. I share the meaning of this statement because nowadays, thanks to globalization, you can change lots of things, lots of thoughts and become another person!!! The second day I discovered that, besides the usual concept of culture - that is a set of tradition, habits, ritual, etc. - exists another aspect: dynamic. Usually we don’t think that it is a part of culture itself!!! Concerning to the second lecture Hmog, I think that sometimes also the doctors, that should be the most interested in people’s health, follow the medicine routine without real consideration for the person in front of them. Finally, with a beautiful draw play, the tutors explained to us a theory of communication.

I think that nowadays the situation in Italy is getting worse and worse. We study only theory, without knowing then how to apply it into practice. Here the lessons are completely different: first we focus our attention to some practical examples so that we can understand the theory better and only after that the theory is introduced and elucidated.

Besides this, during the camp we enjoyed cooking for all the people: we had a lot of fun preparing our traditional dishes during the International dinner Thursday night (everybody from different countries had to prepare their own traditional dishes).

Giovanna and I prepared: one caprese with crostini, pasta with tomato and mozzarella and finally a lot of small pizza. Of course the Italian food was one of the first to be finished: we are good cooks!!!!

Finally, before the conclusion of this great experience, the tutor asked everyone two questions:
What was good? I think all was good because is a new experience for me to live in an intercultural class, at first impression I had good pals of adventure, very friendly and helpful.
What are your difficulties? English language is for me a big problem, I understand the general sense of lessons but sometimes I don’t understand everything. I had a lot of difficulties to speak but this place seems magic, a lot of people help you to explain, especially the teachers. It’s such an amazing experience because even if on the one hand I feel unable to communicate, on the other hand I’m not afraid to make mistakes and that’s the important.