Last Day of Orientation

The TASIS campus was buzzing with activity today as the boarders moved in. While the middle school and high school staff were busy with that, the elementary staff continued with training. There have been too many meetings and not enough time to prepare our lessons and classroom. It will be a long weekend. I’m going for a bike ride Saturday morning first though!

At lunch today I sat with several teachers from Italy and Switzerland. I hope I can do so often; I really want to learn Italian. I have a long way to go though because I had no clue what they were talking about. Next time I'm going to have them tell me the topic of their conversation so that I have some context as I try to pick up parts of the conversation.

Some interesting tidbits about living in Switzerland:

• You need to use a key to lock the door from the inside.
• Some doors are locked from the inside and you have to find a button to push to open the door to get out.
• Drivers are much more considerate of bicyclists; they drive patiently behind you until it’s safe to pass you.
• Drivers are also very courteous when waiting for others to pass through a road that’s only one car wide.
• In general, cars are much smaller here, but that doesn’t stop larger cars from trying to go down roads so narrow that they scape their mirrors on both sides.
• There are signs for hiking trails all over.
• In general, people are much thinner here than in the US.
• There are no screens on windows and, thankfully, there are very few mosquitos. (I don’t know why birds don’t fly in, or other critters crawl in.)
• Post offices are sort of like banks.
• I haven’t seen a straight road yet, and very few addresses. I don’t know how mail gets delivered.
• You can drink the water from any faucet, even ones in the middle of nowhere, or in the middle of a road, put there for hikers and bikers.
• As you have seen from pictures, the buildings are charming with many of them connected.

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Another Busy Day

Lots of meetings….too many meetings! However we had an outstanding training regarding EAL (English Language Learners) in our classroom. TASIS is truly an international school. Only 3 of the 9 children in my room listed English as their first language. TASIS also has an Italian section of each grade for students who either speak Italian as their first language, or want to learn Italian. Several English speakers opt for the Italian section so they can learn a second language. Also, all students in the American sections have an Italian class four days a week. TASIS has incredible support programs set up for language learners. The lowest level of English language learners have two classes a day where they are pulled out for English instruction. The training today was to give classroom teachers ideas for supporting English language learners in our rooms. One key factor in helping all students is keeping their class sizes small. Also, all students (Italian and American Sections) are divided by ability for Reading Mastery and Singapore Math. Every 1^st-5^th grade class has Reading Mastery and Singapore Math at the same time so that the ability groups may cross grade levels. They have additional EAL and Learning Support teachers to keep the ability groups small. Impressive!

We went to Bellinzona for our Biometric Work Permits. Interesting! They took our picture, and electronically recorded our fingerprints and signature. Felt like I was in a science fiction movie!

The pictures today are of the area near where we pick up our laundry. My few items were magically washed, ironed and folded and put neatly in a cubby for me, very appreciated! Hopefully you can see how charming the homes and cobblestone streets are, however some of their charm comes from their twisting nooks and crannies. Yep, got lost once again! That’s embarrassing to say because I’m usually pretty good with retracing my steps. Oh well, I’m fascinated by the architecture and enjoyed taking more pictures. At least I found my way out without having to ask for directions!

It was a rainy day here, but I was lucky to get a short ride in after dinner. I think my legs are finally getting a little stronger on hills. I don’t think I’m going much faster, but my legs are less tired, and I think my breathing is getting easier. My long distance endurance is probably fading L.

My doorbell rang tonight! I was perplexed as to who it could be. My landlady pretty much just barged in and rushed into my bathroom. Through pantomime she explained I needed to use a clamp thing to hook my shutters open so they didn’t bang and wake up the neighbors. Oops! Scusa!

Ciao!

 

Laundry Room

My laundry cubby

TASIS Banquet

Elegant! Cocktail attire; wine and delicious hors d'oeuvres; three course meal - appetizers; shrimp, skinned tomatoes, rice; steak, carrots, beans, and potatoes; champagne glasses of gelato; candelabras; entertainment by new faculty who are pianists, opera singers and poets…… We had it all! Life is good at TASIS!!