Letters from Pompeii

Year 5 and 6 students recently completed a unit learning about the devastation of Pompeii after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy on the 24th August, 79 AD. Children read the letters of an eye witness account from Pliny the Younger to his historian friend, Tacitus. As part of their assessment for the unit, children were to write a letter to a loved one as if they lived through the devastation of that tragic 24 hours in history. I was extremely impressed by the commitment many of our students made to writing a creative and emotive letter. The following is a beautifully recorded letter depicting the essence of the era, written by Catherine from Room 28. 

My Dear Antonio,

What I have to tell you is one thing history will never forget.

I was doing what I was usually doing, practicing what Mother and Father say I am great at, drawing. I was reclining on the luscious sofa drawing my beautiful view of Herculaneum, one of my neighboring cities. All of a sudden, the ground shook a little and my mother felt as if something was terribly wrong. "Darling, tell Astios to send a message to your father saying: come home quick!" The ground is only shaking but I feel as if something is terribly wrong! And Darling, stay with me". I laughed a little at mother's embarrassing short poem but it's obvious that they were made for each other.

So, my father desperately came home. It's now 2:00pm and I'm very worried because I see very dark and toxic looking smoke racing up the gigantic mouth of Mt. Vesuvius. I didn't want to tell my parents because they already had a lot to handle with my father's business. But my younger sister, Adriana told my parents and they ordered us to start packing. No sooner had those words left their mouth, a loud BOOM met our ear drums [followed by] a shower of ash and rocks.  We were frightened by the awful sight as our joyful and heart-warming city had been nearly half buried under dark ash and rocks. My eyes started watering but a good thing was I couldn't see the dreadful sight.  Mother and Father decided to leave Pompeii once and for all and didn't hesitate to put their plan into action.

But I didn't want to leave. I had my friends and family here. And our house and belongings. Besides, this is our hometown! But my bratty sister thought this was a joke. "Yay! We're moving to a different land! Where the birds are chirping, blues skies like blankets, per....." Adriana was dreaming "Adriana?! Can't you see we are about to get killed along with an entire city! Who knows if South Italy might get wiped out with us?!", I screamed. "Catherina, don't talk to sister like that Darling. Adriana, your sister has a point, this is very serious. From now on, she is in charge of you. Listen to her, okay Dear", my mother said, very subtlety. Meanwhile, my father had nearly finished packing. But just as we were about to leave, CRASH! Something fell down but we saw nothing except the things from the shake. Then another CRASH! We looked down from our balcony, and we saw tiles. Tiles were falling off our roof!

So, we ran south as far away as we could from Mt. Vesuvius. The ground started shaking and the volcano started making angry sounds! Everything was getting destroyed! Suddenly, when we were at least 3 cities away from Pompeii a black smoke started coming out Vesuvius and everything in its way started getting destroyed! It was the pyroclastic flow! We hid as it made its way towards us but it stopped in front of a huge building..

After a week, we returned back to Pompeii but EVERYTHING was destroyed so we decided to live in another city for 2 years while father and mother people started rebuilding. Life was very different because it was so plain but it's better to live poorly than to have no life, right? We lived in a plain apartment with plain food and clothes. We could only wear our dresses on special occasions so this is life, right? But I'm grateful for it.

Yours sincerely,

Catherina (Catherine).

L'incredibile Cinque Terre

Ciao a tutti.

I write this on my last day in Italy. Whilst I am sad to be leaving this beautiful country, its people, food, stunning landscapes and the wonderfully warm weather, I am looking forward to seeing you all on my return in just a few, short days. I have posted below some photographs of the breathtaking landscapes and villages of the Cinque Terre. Can you guess what Cinque Terre means in English? That's right, there are five 'lands', or centuries old villages that are built into the coastline of the Italian Riviera. The villages of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore can only be visited by train or by taking a boat or ferry. Only the locals who live there and services such as the police, ambulances, postal and produce deliveries are able to access the villages by vehicle.

The Liguria region in which the Cinque Terre is built, is famous for its pesto sauce made from the herb basil, parmesan cheese, olive oil, pine nuts, salt and pepper. I'm sure a lot of you will have tried it before. It is delicious, especially on hand made pasta. I hope to be able to make pasta and pesto with you all, later in the year.

I am very excited to share with you all the many photos I have taken, as well as a competition I am currently planning for the last week or two of Term 3.

Until Monday, keep smiling, stay warm and sogni d'oro 😊

Signora Isaia

Scuola elementare a Baveno

Ciao a tutti

Today, I leave Baveno and the very beautiful Lago Maggiore and travel to the Cinque Terre (more to come about this spectacular region).

A few days ago, I left a note for the principal of an elementary school in Baveno. Baveno Elementary School is a state school, like Wattle Grove and similar to a primary school in that students are from the ages of 5 to 11. I wrote of our wonderful school and how much I would like an opportunity for our two schools to develop a relationship so that we may all learn about each others' language and culture - just like we are learning from our sister school in Canada. As all schools in Italy are closed for the summer holidays, until mid-September, I have left my letter with the lovely lady who lives next door to the appartment I was staying in. She told me she will be very happy to pass my letter on to the principal when school returns. I have everything crossed we will receive some good news in the weeks to come. Below are a couple of photos I took of the school. It looks pretty different to ours, doesn't it?

This time next week (Monday, Week 6), I will back to see all your smiling faces. Until then..... ridi😁

Signora Isaia

Divertimento sulla funivia

Ciao a tutti

Today, I took a ferry (traghetto) from Intra, near Baveno on the west side of Lago Maggiore to the east side commune of Laveno. Here I went near to the summit of Sasso del Ferro (1,100 metres altitude), by riding in a funivia (cable car). Unlike other cable cars I have been on, these were like open capsules for only 1 or two people at a time. It was a little bit scary to begin with, then the splendour of the breathtaking views over Lago Maggiore, the Alps, the Lombardy Lakes and the Po Plain, had me totally absorbed. The funivia is not only used as a mode of transport but for the restaurants and small shops nestled at the top, to send their rubbish bins to be emptied at the bottom.

Un grande saluto a tutti voi da Baveno, Italia!

A big hello to you all from Baveno, Italy.

To all my wonderful students. I have missed you and think of you most every day. I wish you could all be here with me to experince all that I love about Italy. After a few weeks in different places throughout the UK and Europe, including a brief stop in Venice, I am now in Baveno, a small town in the North of Italy, very close to the Swiss, French and Italian Alps. To give you an idea of distance, we drove from Montriond in the French Alps, through the Alps in Switzerland and then into Italy in less than 4 hours. That's right, three countries in four hours! The town of Baveno is situated on the stunning Lago Maggiore (The Greater Lake). In area, it is the second largest lake in Italy, after Lago di Garda and Lago Como. It is Italy's longest lake, spanning just over 64 kilometres. It runs through both Italy and Switzerland and there are many towns that overlook these Mediterranean waters. It is my third night here and at the moment, we are experiencing a summer storm. There has been lots of rain in the last two hours, but the temperature remains beautiful, currently around 26 degrees celcius. I believe it has been raining a lot in Perth, however, I'm sure it is very much colder.

I am posting a photograph of the view from our appartment. It is 8:30pm and if you look closely, you will see a rainbow. When the weather clears over the next day or two, I will post some more photographs 😊

I trust you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday break and hope you are enjoying the lessons I prepared for you. You have a wonderful relief teacher in Signora Stirling. I know you will all be making me very proud.

Divertiti! Riprendero' presto.

 Signora Isaia

Festa Della Mamma

Throughout weeks one to three, students across all years were introduced to how Mother's Day is celebrated in Italy. A very important day on the Italian calendar, the Festa Della Mamma (Festival of the mum), is celebrated on the same day as we pay tribute to our beautiful mums in Australia - i.e. - the second Sunday of May.
Some of the phrases students were introduced to, included:
Buona Festa Della Mamma (equivalent to saying Happy Mother's Day);
Ti voglio bene Mamma (I love you Mum), and
Tu sei la Mamma, piu` bella del mondo! (You are the most beautiful mum in the world!).
Below are some images of the mini projects students completed for their mums' special day.
Room 24

Room 28

Room 15

Ben tornato! Welcome back!

Commencing in Term 2, all children from years 1 to 6 will start to learn the Wattle Grove Primary School song in Italian. This is set to pose a significant challenge. Not only will most of the vocabulary be new, the rhyme and meter is very different from that which the children are familiar with. Of course at Wattle Grove Primary School, we never shy away from a challenge! It may, however, be necessary to simplify some of the Italian lyrics for the sake of ease and a better melodic flow. As we learn and practice together, we will have a better understanding of what changes may be necessary.

In the first few weeks of Term 2, testing will continue across all year groups in preparation for reporting. We will be learning some new vocabulary to share with our beautiful mums and grandmothers, in time for Mother's Day. As well, all years will either be completing or starting a project focusing on wild animals. This is in addition to year specific vocabulary warm-ups which continue to be incorporated into every lesson. The children will be aware they can access their vocabulary warm-ups, including revision from last last term and last year, right here on the blog!

Toward the end of Term 2, I will be on leave for 8 weeks. More information regarding the work I have set for the children and the teacher taking my classes, will ensue.

I look forward to another dynamic term of teaching your children the very beautiful Italian language
and culture.