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My Old Computer, Thy Name is Lazarus.

As you may figure out from the title of this post, I have indeed given an old computer a new lease on life.

Long story short, I returned home to Australia nine years ago after a two-year stint in the Singapore Armed Forces to commence my deferred undergraduate studies. I needed a new laptop to do my work on, so we shelled out quite a fair bit of money for a slightly-upgraded HP6730b business laptop running Windows XP. It ran well for a couple of years, but as with almost every computer running Windows at the time, the hidden bloat-ware started slowing everything down to a halt, necessitating a fresh re-install of the OS. I ended up switching over to Apple MacBooks after that point, consigning the HP6730b to a life of gathering dust under my bed for years.

I have no idea how the idea started, but I somehow became interested in seeing whether I could give the HP laptop another go. I had no interest in going back to Windows after the convenience of the Mac OS, but I had stumbled across a few IT articles about how people were successfully using various Linux operating systems on old computers, prompting me to carry out some more additional research on the matter.

There were a few problems throughout the process. Apparently, HP computers are pretty notorious for their BIOS; the BIOS that were installed did not allow people to boot via USB, which required an update of the system. Fortunately, I was still able to use Windows XP to slowly and painfully download a program that would enable the computer to dual-boot both the original OS and a little something known as Puppy Linux, a Linux distribution known for its lightweight nature. Hours later, the HP6730b started feeling useful, with Puppy Linux operating like a somewhat active puppy; there were still limitations to the computer’s performance due to its HDD and my unfamiliarity with booting new operating systems, but I could at least get things done without having to wait an eternity.

I still wasn’t satisfied, though - the aforementioned process was a bit of a rush job and, as I have mentioned, the HDD that the two operating systems were on was just not up to scratch. Around this time, though, I was fascinated by the Raspberry Pi single-board computer, and this fascination eventually led me to watching a lot of IT-related YouTube channels, which in turn gave me the idea of completely replacing the HDD with a flash-based solid-state drive (SSD). I was aware that I could do that, but it wasn’t until I started watching tutorials on YouTube that I decided to give it a try myself.

Replacing the HDD with the SSD was the easy part. There were still problems with the BIOS, and I ended up having to burn a CD with a live ISO of the latest version of Puppy Linux. That in itself took a few tries to get right as the process of burning the CD is different for a Mac compared to a Windows PC. I even made a mistake trying to install the OS onto the SSD, but as it turned out, the mistake actually added an additional layer of security to the computer.

The end result was completely worth it. I now have a fully-functional desktop replacement that I can use at home while I can use my MacBook Air outside of the house. Performance-wise, the HP is now like an active puppy running about the house, and is nearly as fast as my MacBook Air during its prime. Throw in open-source versions of Office Suites and Photoshop, and the HP is about as complete as it can get for everyday usage.

I’m still trying to optimise it as much as possible for media-related tasks, but as it stands, bringing this 9-year-old computer back to life was a great learning experience for me in turns of dealing with computers.

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Songwriting 101 with the “French Guitar Cook Book”

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a songwriting kick lately. Things got started somewhat at the start of the year; I was a fan of Glenn Fricker’s YouTube channel approximately this time last year, and at the start of the year, I decided to experiment around with hooking up my then-recently-acquired Hotone Nano Legacy amplifier heads (”Purple Wind” and “Thunder Bass”) with my Avid Fast Track Solo recording interface, which had been lying around gathering dust for nearly two years.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the recording software that came bundled with the interface as it required an older operating system - as it turned out, my computer’s OS had been upgraded beyond the software’s maximum requirements. I briefly flirted with the idea of testing out some of the free recording softwares out on the web, and even got around to trying one out; it didn’t turn out too well as getting everything set up was just too tricky.

Glenn had been saying good things about the REAPER Digital Audio Workstation on his channel, so I decided to download the free 90-day fully-functional trial programme and give it a shot. If I liked it, I would pay the US$60 for the lifetime private licence. If I didn’t, well, at least I could always delete it.

My initial impressions were pretty positive. The software is easier to set up regarding connectivity, and the couple of problems I did encounter were dealt with pretty quickly. The software also came bundled with freeware effects, and was capable of hosting a freeware drumming software I found on the internet. So far, so good. With my basic set-up completed, I proceeded to throw together a few rough demos to give the software a proper shakedown. Alas, I had to stop for a few months due to university and my final compulsory five-week teaching placement.

Towards the end of the placement, I was watching some of Glenn’s older videos, one of which turned out to be sponsored by the author of the “French Guitar Cook Book” (referred to henceforth as the FGCB). I remembered being somewhat intrigued, and decided to buy the iBooks version. I was also introduced to Shady Cicada’s Youtube channel at around the same time, and was immediately hooked by his “How-to” videos. So, I decided to sit down and try to write a proper song, or at least a short two-minute preview.

In hindsight, my first real attempt was on the basic side, even for someone with limited lead guitar abilities such as myself. It was somewhat catchy, but that was it. The point, however, was that it was still coherent as a song, and when I was helping out the music classes during my internship, some of the students were pretty impressed with it. So, I decided to give my songwriting another shot after my internship was completed. This meant paying even more attention to the FGCB, leading to more “EUREKA!” moments.

So, how do we use the FCGB to write songs using pentatonic scales? Let’s start with the basic items:

1. A copy of the French Guitar Cook Book (FGCB). 2. A guitar. 3. Writing materials. 4. A random number generator.

Other items that are not necessary, but are really useful:

* A recording interface (I’m using the AVID Fast Track Solo). * A functional recording software (I’m using REAPER). * A drum machine / drumming software / an actual drummer / a metronome I’ll be using “Still Not the Sharpest Tool” (https://soundcloud.com/zach-tan-600018631/still-not-the-sharpest-tool) as an example for this guide. Some steps will be changed accordingly, but the end results will still be the same as what I did come up with. Step 1: Use the number generator to generate a tempo. This will determine the pace of the song. Tempo: 131 BPM

Step 2: Generate a number between 1 and 12. This will determine the key of the song, with 1 being “A”, and 12 being “G#”. Number: 6. Key: D#.

Step 3: Generate a number between 1 and 8. This will determine the scale you’ll use based on page 30 of the FGCB. Number: 8. Scale: Scriabin.

Step 4: Generate a number between 1 and 5. This will determine the mode of the scale. Number: 1. Mode: Regular Scriabin.

Step 5: Put together the key, the scale, and the mode (D# regular Scriabin). The notes in the scale are colour coded, so look for the key note under the relevant scale and mode, and pay attention to its colour. Going from left to right, note down the other notes in the same mode. (D#, E, G, A#, C). These will be the core chords and notes you will use. Write them down.

Step 5.5: Write the chords in tablature form if necessary.

Step 6: Start playing around with the chords, using a metronome or a drum machine. If it sounds good, write/tab out the chord progression. Slowly work your way throughout the song, remembering to write down everything as you go.

Step 6.5: If you need to include one or two more chords that are not part of the mode, write them down as well.

The following step will be listed under the assumption that you have been recording your own work.

Step 7: When you’ve recorded the entire rhythm guitar track, it’s time to focus on the lead guitar parts. Use the same notes to construct your melodies. Of course, Step 6.5 still applies, and if you’re having difficulties, try looking for the notes on different parts of the fretboard. For example, you might want to use the C Scriabin-V mode instead if your root note is a C. As with Step 6, write everything down.

Relevant screenshots will be uploaded separately.

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Japan: 05/11 - 17/11/17

During the past two weeks, I was travelling around in Japan to celebrate the successful completion of my Master of Teaching (Secondary) degree. In addition to the cities I visited during my first trip back in February (Numazu, Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo), I also dropped by the western seaside cities of Toyama and Kanazawa.

Not including my overnight stay at Narita Airport, I stayed in each city for two nights, which meant that I only had one full day to explore each city as much as I could (or felt like), with the rest of my days dedicated entirely to travelling between cities via either the Shinkansen or the express trains. This was not much of a problem for me, however - Kanazawa, my second stop of the trip, was only about 45 minutes or so away from Toyama via the Shinkansen, and I was already familiar enough with the other four cities to know what to check out immediately upon arrival.

If you’ve been paying attention to your Facebook and Instagram feeds, you would have seen the many pictures I took throughout the two weeks. What allowed me to take the pictures, however, was the fact that I decided to push myself (and my still very-limited novice-level Japanese skills) and put in the effort to explore the lesser-known path. The train ride from Takaoka to Himi in my search for a sardine-broth ramen awarded Bib Gourmand status? The pictures I took of the sea were worth the journey in itself. Hiking up a perilous single-lane mountain road to visit a series of Shinto shrines on the west side of Mt Kurama, just north of Kyoto? You could definitely imagine the sense of satisfaction and achievement I felt upon reaching the final shrine. Ditto for finding the shrine at the end of a treacherous 500m path leading to the top of the hill in the middle of Awashima Island (Shizuoka), just south of Numazu, on a rainy day.

Of course, the main difficulty with exploring the lesser-known path is that the further you go from a major city centre, the less likely you’ll find locals who can speak coherent basic English. As a language teacher and an emerging multilingual, this was a pretty interesting experience for me as I had to dig into my limited Japanese knowledge (for perspective, I’m somewhere between “novice” and “beginner”), and resorted to “translanguaging” (García & Wei 2014) in a few cases, communicating in a mix of simple English and broken Japanese in most cases. I even ended up translanguaging in English, Japanese, AND Mandarin with someone while waiting for a boat ride from Iwasehama back to Toyama.

Of course, I can’t forget the bar owned by an acquaintance in Osaka. The first time I visited the bar back in February, I got lost as I wasn’t sure which “Namba” station to get off, and ended up walking back and forth the place once I actually found the correct street. During my second visit to Osaka, however, I was able to find the place with ease.

What does this have to do with languages? The first night in Osaka during this most recent trip, I decided to drop by the bar to say “hi” to the owner, and to get a drink and some food. It turned out that the bar was hosting an international mixer night, and while I did end up making two new friends that evening, I also found myself speaking a bit of French with a couple of French people at the bar. The following night, I decided to bring one of my Japanese friends to the bar, and wound up helping a salaryman practise his English conversation skills over some alcohol.

Of course, with all the conversations happening, it was only natural that I would make new friends throughout my two-week vacation in Japan. That’s the wonderful thing about languages - it’s my personal philosophy that languages are a code to different cultures, and even a bit of knowledge of an additional language can help to break barriers between different people. I’m a reserved person by nature, and I admit that it’s usually difficult for me to make new friends. That said, by taking a chance in several situations, I was able to find myself in a position to at least overcome my nature and introduce myself.

In the end, it’s about taking that first step forward.

References: García, O & Wei, L 2014, Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, England.

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Looking back upon the internship

Well, what else can I say?

I made it.

In March 2016, I would never have thought about doing a ten-week internship during the final trimester of my Masters degree. Truthfully, I was scared at the thought of doing so because I was afraid that I would screw things up royally and get kicked out.

I won’t deny that I’ve made plenty of mistakes throughout my regular placements and the internship. I’ve taught great lessons and a few shockers. In the end, I’ve come to embrace both the positives and the negatives over the past 20 odd months or so. I’d like to think I’ve grown as a person. My professional practice has also improved in particular areas, and as for my lingering areas for improvement, I’ve finally understood just how deeply engrained they are, and I know what I need to do now to address them properly.

Were my students great? With the exception of a few disruptive elements, most of them were generally good students, if a bit disinterested in learning a foreign language, but alas, the one thing I regret not doing was getting to know them even more. Sure, there’s the fact that I only officially see each class once a week, but I could have done more to interact with them by observing them in different classes.

Was my teaching good? Were my lessons great? Truthfully speaking, I regret to say that my teaching practice might actually have deteriorated somewhat. Once again, it’s due to a lack of practice as a result of the school timetable, but I’ve also come to realise (after having this point repeatedly hammered in by my mentor) that my teaching style has its limitations in the Australian context, and especially in an environment where three quarters of the student population do not give a single care about learning Italian (or languages in general).

I’m fine with this revelation, though. It just means I need to get my areas for improvement sorted out ASAP. Besides, it’s better for me to know about this now than when I’m actually teaching as a fully-licensed teacher.

Surprisingly enough, what I really did enjoy was helping out some of the other teachers, as well as having a say in how the Year Seven and Year Eight students were to be assessed throughout the term, be it through giving feedback on how the Year Seven creative writing assessment task could be extended, creating my own original worksheet for the Year Seven students, or coming up with the basis for the Year Eight assessment task. It was also interesting to note that my best “teaching” came from team-teaching alongside two of the other Italian teachers. Obviously I have my doubts about how feasible it is to team-teach Italian as a fully-licensed teacher, but it is definitely a strength I could use in small doses in the future.

So, what’s next for me? After I’m done with my narrative portfolio (which is actually not a traditional portfolio at all), I’m going to start chilling out a bit before applying for jobs. You already know that I intend to work in Japan as an English teacher at an Eikawa so that I could work on my main area for improvement, but if that doesn’t pan out, I will try my luck to see if I can get a job teaching middle-school mathematics, even though I do not have a specialisation in maths. Obviously I have forgotten almost everything about VCE mathematics, but I can at least still teach the basics that students will need in order to reach that level.

For now, though, thank you for following me on my journey during the second year of my degree. This officially marks the end of “Season 2″, but I’ll still update from time to time about trivial matters.

Until then, grazie mille per il tuo sforzo, and お疲れ様でした！

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Internship Day 49

One more day left to go!

I cannot believe it. If you had asked me eighteen months ago whether I would ever consider doing a ten-week internship at a school, I would have laughed at you before flatly saying “No”. In the end, though, the road towards self-improvement requires getting out of one’s comfort zone, and I am glad that I took the chance to do so. Not only have I been able to improve aspects of my own practice, I have also been able to uncover the depths of my own weaknesses, which will inform what I intend to do over the next few years (see previous entry).

The internship’s not over yet until I return my office key at the end of tomorrow, though, and while I’ll be going on an excursion with the Year Seven classes, I’ll need to stay on my toes to make sure that nothing goes horribly wrong.

My final post will be longer than this.

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Internship Day 48

Two more days left!

Nothing much of note happened today, apart from the usual music class, and I was able to get around to doing a bit more marking. However, throughout the entire day, there was one thought that resonated through my mind.

What else can I do to improve my teaching practice?

I’m a structured person. I’ll admit that I find it hard to deviate from my plan du jour, even if it is not working as well as I’d like it to. At the same time, though, I feel that my approach can have its benefits because having a structure means it is easier to build up the base knowledge I need to make my way around the world, or to even do something. When I’m happy with the knowledge I’ve accumulated, only then will I feel content to start branching out and deviating.

Simply put, if I were to break away from the game plan, I need to know how and why I am doing it.

It’s about learning to walk before learning how to run.

Unfortunately, given my current work environment, that is simply not possible for me. There is no time whatsoever to dive into the grammar; learning languages involves a lot of communication, and if my students do not have the time to communicate in Italian because they are constantly re-learning the grammar, it is only natural they will switch off and become disengaged. Even I’m starting to think that my approach may not be suitable in other schools where languages are taught more than once a week.

So, I’ve decided that I will need to learn how to utilise a more communicative-based approach in teaching languages, and this is why I will be applying to work at an Eikawa in Japan after I have submitted my narrative portfolio when my internship is finished.

Why?

If you do a bit of research, you’ll find that English education in Japan isn’t really done with communication and cultural enrichment in mind, and is mainly geared towards helping students get into high school and university. As such, there is not much point to learning how to communicate in English if they are not going to use it after getting into university. That said, given how competitive the education system there can be, there will be students who can see how being able to communicate confidently can be a huge advantage. Ergo, the presence of specialised English language schools, or Eikawa. From what I have read, there is plenty of emphasis on communicating in English as much as possible, so I hope to pick up a few tricks there to adapt for the purpose of teaching Italian back here in Melbourne eventually.

It is a bit of a scary thought, going over to a country with just the bare basic knowledge of the Japanese language, and with a trigger-happy hermit nation one sea strait away. However, we learn when we are out of our comfort zone by adapting what we know with new information we pick up. I already know that I can teach. What I’ve just done is identifying my major weakness, and figuring out a solution to it.

Good teachers are constantly learning, after all.

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Internship Day 47

Another three days to go.

I had my second-last class earlier today, during which I taught my Year Nine students. Given the tentative plans that my mentor and I had for the lesson, which would involve the students presenting their Italian fitness routines in one form or another, I had to make a request for a room change so that I wouldn’t disturb the maths class next door to my usual classroom.

Given that this was the Year Nine students’ last Italian lesson of the term, it was inevitable that they would immediately start switching off, especially since we had moved into an isolated classroom with plenty of space. As a result, it was difficult to get them back on track due to their spreading out towards the back of the room. The fact that most of the students were either unable to access their video recordings or were unwilling to put on a live demonstration of their routines made it difficult to give them formative feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.

On the plus side, one of the groups did pull through with a video recording and, while it was much shorter than we would have liked it to be, the students’ pronunciations were actually quite good, and they did meet one of the content criterion, which was to make a reference to injuries and maladies, by using it for comedic purposes.

This leaves my final class that I will be teaching on Thursday. Given that I now know the limitations of my “teacher authority” in regards to behaviour management at the school, I have a few things in mind to keep the students engaged until they are ready to engage in a fun drama activity I originally wanted to trial with Monday’s Year Seven class.

For the time being, though, I can have a bit of a breather, helping out with music while also getting some marking done.

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Internship Day 46

Even if it’s the last week of term, I can’t afford to stand still quite yet. Without careful planning, even lessons that are meant to allow students to sit back, chill and relax can get out of hand.

So, naturally, that had to happen to me. The lessons were not total train wrecks, though, and the feedback that I did get gave me ideas on how to properly structure my final two lessons I am teaching as part of my degree, so hopefully things will turn out much better both tomorrow and on Thursday.

It’s not over until the last lesson is over.

In other news, it appears that the Year Seven equivalent to THAT Year Eight kid has finally shown his true colours. With the term nearly over, a couple of the relief teachers who have worked with him throughout the year were finally able to share their thoughts about him with me. Combined with an out-of-class incident that the new maths teacher had with him, well, I regret to say that unless he starts developing a sense of empathy for others, he will not be looking forward to a half-decent future.

Then again, though, it doesn’t help that the school’s teacher-student reconciliation policy, no matter how well-meaning it is, doesn’t seem to impart the fact that actions carry consequences.

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Internship Day 45 (in retrospect)

Nine weeks down. One more to go.

During the past couple of weeks, my two Year Seven classes were working on a hybrid animal activity that was meant to consolidate and make use of the vocabulary and grammar they have been learning during the term. I’m pleased to say that most of the work I have received so far has actually met the criteria that we have set out; while the students could still put in a bit more effort towards the proofreading and editing processes for their final drafts, they were creative, and used the language tools we’ve been providing to good effect.

Unfortunately, things are not going well for one of my students. When I attempted to help him complete his rough drafts, he seemed bereft of his own ideas, and was complaining about how he wasn’t good at learning Italian. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming when he attempted to do an assessed test two weeks ago, and turned in a nearly-empty test paper after thirty minutes, with his name the only thing written on it.

So, this presents me with something to consider when I get my own Italian class - how can I address the issue of fixed negative mindsets towards one’s own ability to learn the basics of another language? Do I need to ask why they would feel like that, and if so, how can I do that while keeping in mind that they are at an emotionally-vulnerable age where a sense of bravado is required to survive middle school

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Internship Day 44

With six days left, I regret to say that I have come to a rather unfortunate conclusion that I will have to report back to the university about. It was not easy to arrive at the conclusion, given that I’ve been enjoying my time at the school as an intern teacher, but as a person who is part of my university’s internship program, I had to make the conclusion as an observing external agent.

I would not recommend the school as a placement location for any pre-service or intern Italian teachers.

You already know about my gripes with how utterly dire the language education situation is at the school, with each class having only one Italian lesson a week for a maximum of ten lessons per term, if they are “lucky” (or “unlucky”, from the students’ POV) to have no disruptions. You’ve also read about how the other Italian teachers and I have the shared perception that our colleagues are unable to appreciate the difficulties of learning a new language from scratch, leading to unrealistic criticism about how we should be writing future CRF rubrics to assess our students’ learning outcomes. The final straw?

I had a brief conversation with the new maths teacher at the end of the day in regards to how some of my students were behaving in my Italian class while there was a mathematics test that was going on next door. As an intern, yes, I’ll admit that I could have checked with her if she was holding any assessed tests given that this week is Assessment Week, so that my mentor and I could have made an alternative classroom arrangement. However, today was the first time the students in my class were actually truly engaged in Italian, and communication is an important part of learning and using languages.

I can understand how ticked off my colleague was, especially because when I was observing her science class last week, we were similarly annoyed by the loud noises coming from the room next door. As an intern, I’ll own up to that. However, the comments she made to me at the end of the day triggered my role as an external observer, and I was left somewhat disappointed. The rooms surrounding the classroom I use for Year Nine Italian were to be booked up for potential re-testing, which means that whatever I had planned for my final Year Nine Italian class need to be held in another classroom away from the general area. Was I consulted? Nope. Was my mentor consulted? Nope.

We get it - the other subjects need more priority at this point. However, given the challenges that the Italian teachers have to face, we are clearly the underdogs in this rat race, and to have our learning resources cruelly neutered without our consent is akin to kicking a wounded puppy or kitten.

Clearly, our dignity does not even matter at this point.

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Internship Day 43

I had a relatively quiet day today. My original plan for Session 1 was to drop by and help out with one of the Year Eight maths classes, but as they were doing a test, I ended up helping out with a Year Seven drama class instead. This turned out to be a good idea in the end as I walked away with an idea or two for next week’s Year Seven Italian classes.

As per usual, I helped out and observed the combined Year Nine/Ten music program during Session 2. It’s pretty amazing to see how far some of the more apathetic students had come along since the start of the term as they were starting to gel more for their group music assessment task, although both the music teacher and I had an unspoken shared agreement that most of the students passing through the music room lacked the discipline to either practise their music at home or during lunch time on the premises, and to stay silent whenever troubleshooting was required. Regarding the second point, while it may seem frustrating, it’s a rule of etiquette that comes from years of experience, so I will not hold it against them. However, regarding taking the initiative to at least put in some practice during lunch time at the school, that’s all up to the students, unfortunately, and if they do not practise, they will not get any better.

It’s the same with learning languages and mathematics.

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Internship Day 42

What is the meaning of life? The answer can be quite personal as we all have our own different purposes in life.

I’d like to think that the reason for my existence is to inspire the next few generations of learners to adopt an open mind towards the wider world through exposure to new languages and their associated cultures. To the uninitiated, that may seem daunting at first, but every journey begins with a small step forward.

The other Year Eight Italian class got around to finishing the final versions of their “Design/Describe a House” activity (most of them did) and presenting their work. I was impressed for the most part - most of the students who did present their work were able to meet the content criteria, and while the grammar was still inconsistent despite the effort on both my part and my mentor’s, some of the assessment theory out there states that this is a natural occurrence if the students are only just familiarising themselves with how the grammatical rules work, and that the inconsistencies will iron themselves out through repeated practice and scaffolding.

The fact that two of the girls in the class went above and beyond to create their own model houses from scratch so that they could make the learning activity more personalised showed the importance of allowing a degree of controlled leeway in language education - this is definitely something I still need to work on in regards to my teaching practice.

On the flip-side, however, I regret to say that today was my last lesson with this particular group of students; based on their timetable, I would have had them on my final day next Friday, but they will be away on an excursion. At least I’ve made a bit of a positive impression on the students, even if the school’s language education policy has made it difficult for me to actually get to know them as individuals.

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Sicilian verbs

Sicilian verbs are divided into two patterns of conjugation, following their infinitive* form:

-àri

-iri or ìri*

1) Infinitive: Manciari [‘man.’ʧa.ɾɪ] (To eat)

2) Infinitive: Gràpiri [’ɡɾa.pɪ.ɾɪ] (To open)

How to conjugate regular Sicilian Verbs?

Sicilian verbs are conjugated based on the ending of the infinitive form (àri or iri). The endings of regular verbs don’t change.

1) Manciari (”Manci” is the stem of the verb, “-Ari” is the ending).

Iu manci-u: I eat                                                  U

Tu manc-i: You eat                                              I

Iddu manci-a: He eats                                         A

Idda manci-a: She eats                                       A

Vossia manci-a: You (formal) eat                        A

Nuautri manci-amu: We eat                               AMU

Vuautri manci-ati: You (plural) eat                      ATI

Iddi manci-anu(manciunu): They eat                 ANU

2) Gràpiri (”Gràp” is the stem, “-iri” is the ending)

Iu gràp-u

Tu gràp-i

Iddu gràp-i

Idda gràp-i

Vossia gràp-i

Nuatri gràp-emu

Vuatri gràp-iti

Iddi gràp-inu

*The infinitive form is the “to” form, as in to eat, to open, to understand.

*Verbs ending in “iri” can have two possible pronunciations depending on the position of the accent in the syllable. For example Capìri [ka.’pi.ri ] (To understand), and Càpiri [’Ka.pi.ri] (to get in there, to fit), are written the same, but the pronunciation of the verbs and the position of the accents are different.

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Internship Day 41

“Ciao ragazzi, today, you will be working on the rough drafts of your “La Mia Casa” learning activity, so by the end of today, we would like to see...”

“Wait!”

“Didn’t you tell us to do it for homework last week?”

“Aww, man, you mean we did it for nothing?”

I blinked, and stared back at the class in shock. My mentor stared at me in shock.

“Zach, did you set it for homework?”

I could only nod back.

“Ok, everyone, if Zach had set it for homework by today, it’s due by today.”

At that point, I had managed to recover my senses.

“In that case, ragazzi, let’s spend the first 45 minutes of the lesson working on the finishing touches on your final drafts, and finishing up the rough drafts if you haven’t done so yet, so that you can present your work to each other in small groups!”

Both my mentor and I were genuinely shocked at the fact that the students in this Year Eight class had actually made the effort to either complete, or work on a substantial portion of their learning task for their homework, something we thought (well, I definitely thought) wouldn’t happen due to the ingrained “No Homework” culture at the school. Regarding the students who had actually focused on the writing component of the task, they just needed to get their work proofread, while the students who were wasting their time during last week’s lesson building their houses on Minecraft had actually spent the week building something they could start writing about. Of course, they didn’t finish their writing during today’s lesson, meaning that they will have a small points deduction when they present and submit their work next week, but the fact that they have started work on their writing means that they have achieved something from today’s lesson.

To make things a bit better, THAT one student was not present today, which meant that the other students in the room were actually able to mostly concentrate on getting their own work done or checked with minimal disruptions. He did send an email to my mentor stating that he didn’t know what to do for the task, and what grammar and vocabulary he was supposed to use for it. I’m sure you could imagine my reaction when my mentor showed me the email with a resigned look on her face.

The one negative of the day came from the whole-school professional learning session that was held after hours. During the past few weeks, we’ve been working on creating taxonomy-based rubrics (CRF - criterion referenced framework) that could be adapted for use within our teaching areas, and today was the day we were to present our rubrics to each other for feedback purposes.

When it was our group’s term to present, it became clear how our colleagues’ apathy towards language education in the school has affected their ability to understand how potentially difficult it can be for students to learn a new language. One of the criticisms we received was that there was no room to allow our students to extend themselves. If we were following the Prep-Y10 curriculum for Italian, our critics would have a point. However, given that we are following the Y7-Y10 curriculum, the actual standards for our students would be much closer to Prep-Y2 English, given that the students have to learn new grammatical rules that are not present in the English language. Furthermore, given our own students’ antipathy towards learning Italian in general, getting them to communicate in simple but grammatically-correct sentences is already seen as an extension of their general language abilities.

Needless to say, the three of us representing the LOTE department had to vent somewhere else.

If it’s going to be like this for Italian at the school, I’d hate to think how a rubric for a Japanese learning task would fare under the same people critiquing the Italian rubric, given that Japanese is on a completely different planet in terms of language difficulty.

[signor-fumitake-blog]

Internship Day 40 (in retrospect)

Eight weeks down, and another two to go. Of course, I can’t rest on my laurels just yet, but the end of the tunnel is in sight.

The internship officer from the university dropped by to see how the other intern and I were doing at the school, allowing the two of us to share what went well and any particular difficulties and grievances we (might) have had, and ask how any of the difficulties we’ve faced may affect our internship portfolio. To our relief, as the portfolio is simply meant to serve as a personal narrative of our time at the school and, as such, is not formally assessed, we will not need to worry about any repercussions of not hitting all the requirements for the portfolio as long as our difficulties were reflected upon, and are used to guide our next steps towards self-improvement.

Given my personal beef with the “one lesson a week” policy for language education at the school, I’ve got plenty to talk about.

[signor-fumitake-blog]

Internship Day 39

So, what is the definition of learning? Is it the acquisition of knowledge? If so, then everyone on the planet should be, by default, geniuses. Of course, that isn’t obviously the case.

To me, and I’ll try to use some exciting slang over here to appeal to today’s youth, learning is about having your mind blown as you start to make connections between what you already know, and the new knowledge you acquire. Will the experience be pleasant? Not necessarily, depending on how entrenched in your views you are, but the more the new knowledge lingers in your mind, the more you start to think: “Hey, while I might not necessarily like the information that’s just been given to me, there has to be a reason why people would say something like this.”

And then it starts. You start to compare what you already know with what you’ve just learnt. You can either remain entrenched in your views, change them completely, or moderate them somewhat. Regardless of what happens, because your mind has been challenged, you have actually gained at least a bit of understanding of your new knowledge.

In case you were wondering, I was helping out the new mathematics teacher with her Year Eight science class again, and during the whole time, I was thinking to myself that the students have the potential to show more engagement if we were to tell them that learning science is about having their minds blown as a result of, well, reconciling new information with prior knowledge.

[signor-fumitake-blog]

Internship Day 38

I am officially 75% through with the internship. I’m still alive, which is a good thing.

For those who may not be aware of it, I actually paid a visit to the school during the final week of the previous term, and while my mentor had a few things going on, she suggested that I shadow one of her colleagues for the first lesson of the day, which was Year Seven drama (one of the two Year Seven classes I’m currently teaching). The Year Seven classes all swap art programmes towards the end of each term, which meant the lesson I observed back in June was either her second or third time with the particular class. I was not aware of this until today.

My mentor’s colleague was taking on a new Year Seven class for drama, which meant she had to start things from scratch again. It was interesting to watch her go through all the behavioural expectations with the students, and to see if the students would adhere to them throughout the lesson. To their credit, most of them did, although I had to step in a few times to physically prevent some of the more over-enthusiastic students from accidentally injuring themselves. They were really playing for keeps!

After recess, I helped out the music class as per normal. The thing about the music class is that there is a special-needs student (heavily on the spectrum), which made it difficult for him to actively take part in preparing for the assessed task throughout the term. As such, he would spend most of the lesson playing along to songs on an electric drum set under the supervision of one of the special-needs assistants. Unfortunately, the assistant was asked to go along on a field trip, which led to me supervising the student in her place.

The kid’s enthusiastic, I’ll give him that. He was willing to try out something new on the drums (once I managed to get it hooked up to an amplifier - it’s a long story), and there were moments where he came close to matching some of the drum fills he was playing along to. Perhaps I should look into providing his minder with drum tabs to some of the student’s favourite AC/DC songs to help provide some direction, although if he’s happy just playing away on the drums, so be it.

I hope he doesn’t freak out when I’m not present at the school next term.