April 13--Field Trip!

On Wednesday, Maya had invited us to go on a field trip with her 3rd grade class. They had been staying photography and their teachers gave them an assignment to visit three places in Trento (with the class in the afternoon) and take a series of 24 photos. Each student had a disposable camera and they were encouraged to be inventive with their photographs. We accompanied Maya and another student--basically making sure they didn't get separated from the rest of the class. The children had a blast filling out their subject assignments, running around to find the best shot. We were amazed at how well the class behaved and how they threw themselves into the assignment. We were so busy watching Maya and her classmates having fun that we didn't take any pictures ourselves.

It seemed to us that Maya is getting a very good education during her year in Italy. She has learned a lot of Italian in a very short time (although she's very shy about using it in front of us). Her teachers insist that she has been a great addition to the class and has helped the native Italian speakers improve their English (her class is taught half in Italian and half in English). The curriculum seemed to us to be very challenging, especially in history and geography, two subjects not usually taught in such depth in American schools, especially in the 3rd grade. In the school Maya attends the students stay with the same classmates and teacher through primary school. (I think the native English speaking teacher may turn over more often than that.) The curriculum that the Italian teacher has developed was very impressive, just as she was. It's possible that Maya may have missed some things taught in 3rd grade in Austin, but she's been exposed to some things she might not have gotten until high school.

I did get a chance to take some pictures later after the field trip.

This was taken from infant of Maya's school which is right next to a 13th century castle.

Two cuties with flowers.