Yesterday was a fantastic day!

Yesterday was a fantastic day! It was our first day of class. We learned about our schedule and what we will do for the next weeks. Today, will be even more beautiful because we show our city, Lecco, to Leah.


It isn't a big city but it's very very good for tourist attractions. For example, in Lecco we have the palace of the fears, where there are many shops. We also have the Basilica of St. Nicholas, the planetarium of the city, the Museum of the World War Two and other but not particulary important.

Yesterday, we relaxed at home because I was sick. We still had a funny day. In the morning, we worked on our English writing on the blog for the first time. We then all (Leah, too!) got set-up on DuoLingo and Memrise. On both programs, we get prizes and report cards but Leah can control the activities and skills from her computer. It is cool because she can see what we're doing from her own screen and help us by speaking aloud and writing on paper. This is a fun way to learn that I haven't done. DuoLingo shows you the different words and sentences, then makes you write them, and then makes you identify them on your own.


We had a break during which Leah corrected our mistakes made on our blog posts. She then showed us what we did wrong and how we can improve. Then, we all made lunch. A little later in the afternoon we made healthy pancakes with only banana, two eggs and a pinch of baking powder. Fine, we added some Nutella!!!

When we were finished with the pancakes, I worked on my school homework: technology and math!

After dinner, we watched a film called Mean Girls. It was so nice!!!

-Alice

Easy as pie! Or pancakes!

After our first day of official class time, I think we were all happy that it went so smoothly. The girls seemed to know more English than they thought they did, which boosted both their confidence and motivation. I am excited about our blog for many reasons. First, we will be able to look back and see how far we've come. It is a difficult (but incredibly useful) skill to sit down and force yourself to just write. Consistent use of a blog makes developing of this skill way more fun---as we can all write about things that interest us individually. Through this resource, we are hitting all the areas of the English language. We are working on vocabulary and sentence structure when initially drafting the posts. In addition, we are constantly discussing the content of our posts in English as we write. Thus, we are practicing conversational speech. Lastly, grammar and new vocabulary is improved as I help them edit and enhance each of their posts. We look for errors and ways to make our sentences sound more sophisticated. Of course, the first step is just getting the message across but the eventual goal is to speak in full sentences with little mistakes. This takes time but by being strict on the girls now, I think this will improve dramatically by the end of our classes.

Yesterday, we made healthy pancakes! I was especially excited because they surprisingly tasted like normal pancakes! I am excited to make these next year at school. They were so easy to make and the equivalent of just eating an egg and a banana for breakfast. I would choose pancakes over an egg and a banana any day! We all cooked lunch together prior to our pancake extravaganza (which luckily decreased our pancake consumption). Then, we all watched the first episode of Gilmore Girls (our new favorite English series ;)) together. Alice is now caught up and I'm excited to see what happens in episode 3! Finally, although they might think that American girls are really scary now, we watched the all-time classic, Mean Girls. I have seen it more than 50 times probably, but I still enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time! It may not have much intellectual value but it makes everyone laugh. Laughter is valuable!

-Leah

My First Day of Official Lessons!

Yesterday, was my first lesson in english with Leah. We created our own blog and it was very funny.
In our blog, we will write about everything that happens during the day before and specifically comment on what we found interesting. Basically, we are going to reflect!
Indeed, my last post I wrote about when Leah firstarrived here with our family.

I hope that you all enjoyed my text! Furthermore, in the afternoon we cooked the banana pancakes with nutella! I was so excited because we made an American snack, but here in Lecco! I liked it. This afternoon, we will go to Lecco to show Leah our city. We will do shopping and many other things as we roam around. In Lecco, you can visit S. Nicolò's Church, two museums on World War II and if you want you can even go on the ferry to Bellagio or Como. We are going to do this later in the week!

This is a beautiful experience. I like to speak English. 

-Martina