A Lesson on Language Assumption in Florence where Art is Everywhere

2012 Italy Travel Observations of a Bilingual SPED Teacher Day No. 5

This is the fifth post about my trip to Italy in the summer of 2012. It was one of my requirements to complete the GWU Education Specialist Degree that was granted through the partnership of US Education Department, the school district I worked for and George Washington University. Even then, I was writing from the POV of a Filipino Educator teaching in the USA. There are hidden gems in these journal entries worthy to be shared.

Everywhere you look in Florence, signs of Renaissance abound. Rick Steves describes Florence as a “Renaissance treadmill” that requires a lot of walking in his travel book. In addition, Florence demands a lot of staring and looking up. Churches, museums and multiple piazzas or meeting squares abound. Every inch of old buildings are loaded with artwork, statues and paintings as shown in the picture below.

Near Florence is Pisa, which was only an hour or so away from Santa Maria Novella train station. Hotel Rosso, where we stayed, was in Santa Maria Novella and our group rode a bus to the train station after our visit to the University of Florence. Together with another colleague, and armed with Rick Steve's Italy Guidebook, we set out to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which we later did. However, during our walk from the Pisa Centrale train station to the Leaning Tower, we chanced upon a school building called Scoula Normale Superiore as shown in the picture below.

Wrong Assumption

With my limited Italian language exposure, I assumed that it was a school for the gifted and questioned why there was a segregated school for students with superior intelligence in a country that is known for its national inclusion. I was wrong; it was a public university for Arts and Sciences:

“Scuola Normale Superiore is a public institution of university education characterized by unique features. Students are selected only on the basis of merit, lessons are held in seminar form, and an intimate link connects didactic and research. Student life is deeply integrated, and great space is devoted to international exchanges, according to the best models of higher instruction in Europe” ("About SNS," 2012).

The students may be selected by merit, like in the United States where there is a college application process, but it does not mean that they are gifted students. Also, I initially thought it was similar to an American K12 institution and not a university.

Lesson Learned

This experience taught me to never assume the meaning of any foreign phrase. It also reminded me to help my English Language Learner students to never assume the meaning of a new phrase; they should take time to find out the correct meaning through simple research using dictionaries, the Internet or by asking a knowledgeable person like a translator. Next, we visited UNICEF Children’s Institute of Florence.