#ErasmusPro is the new type of Erasmus designed to promote long-lasting professional training experiences. Thanks to the project "WAVES - Sail towards your future" of APRO Formazione, Francesca, Carmen and Ludovica are experiencing their #ErasmusPro in Valencia for 6 months, from January to July 2019. Each week, in turn, they will tell us how they are living this experience.

Hi everyone, here I am with a new article.

I too, like Carmen, do my internship in a nursery that welcomes children from 0 to 6 years old; in mine, unlike her one there are more classrooms, because it is the main office and that of Carmen is the branch.

The classrooms are:

-aula baby = that welcomes babies a few months up to the year

-fish room (pececitos) = which welcomes children from the age of up to 2 years, born from January to June

-aula little bears (ositos) = which welcomes children from the age of up to 2 years, born from July to December

-room ducklings (patitos) = that welcomes children from 2 to 3 years

-aula butterflies (mariposas) = ​​which welcomes children from 2 to 3 years

-aula bees (abejitas) = ​​which welcomes children aged 3 to 4 years

-room bunnies (conejitos) = that welcomes children from 4 to 5 years

-cows room (vacas) = ​​which welcomes children from 5 to 6 years

The classrooms of small fish / bears and that of ducklings / butterflies welcome children of the same age because it would be a single class divided into two, due to the large number of children. The classrooms are positioned so that each one has the direct exit to the inner courtyard, where there are toy houses, swings and the basket of balls.

In addition to the classrooms just described, there is a "special" one called the Montessori classroom. It is a room with chairs, tables, toy brooms, glasses, cups and many other objects that can develop the intellectual and manipulative abilities of the children, who play independently without the adult suggesting or interrupting them during the game.

A day in my nursery is organised in this way: in the morning, as soon as they arrive, the children are left to play freely and the teachers in the meantime remove the snack, water and any diapers from their backpacks. Then, when all the children arrived, the assembly takes place, or rather the moment when the teachers explain the seasons of the year, the climate of the day (for example if it rains or if there is sun, if it's cloudy or snowy), the days of the week and finally you sing songs related to the topics just mentioned. Afterwards the children carry out the activity of the day which can be pasting small pieces of paper, coloring drawings, drawing lines to learn how to draw / write, etc. When all the children finish their activities, they move on to snacks mid-morning and, immediately after, at the time of the free game that this time can be inside the class with games or outside in the courtyard. Subsequently, divided by age, the children go to the canteen to eat or wait for the parents to arrive to take them; for the little ones who stop to eat, after lunch, it's time to change diapers and bedtime. In the afternoon you get up, have a snack and you return to play freely and then at 17 go home.

The first weeks of training were very difficult because, being new and also foreign, I could not integrate myself, especially when the Spanish teachers spoke with Spanish trainees: since I did not understand everything they were saying, I did not enter into the speeches they made and I I just smiled or tried to understand as many words as possible. Slowly going on with the days, the teachers started to trust me more and more and to give me more confidence, so much that now when they need a hand they call me even if they are not in my class.

Instead with the children it was the opposite: from the beginning I never had any problems interacting because they didn't care if I was wrong to combine a verb, it was enough for me to sit on the ground and play with them so that they would become attached. I think that one of the reasons why the teachers have started to trust is this: they have seen that I know how to do with children and that I have no shame in being a fool to make one laugh.

I must say that I am very satisfied with the progress I am making from a relational-working point of view, but I am enormously happy and I am very proud of the fact that the children, even if I do not go to their class for a few weeks, greet me by saying my name or run to hug me (... my legs because they are little ones) and give me lots of kisses. I think this is my biggest victory.

See you at the next article!

Ps: in the last photo I am dressed for Carnival by Cortes, that is the school mascot

Francesca