English classes at school

My contact with English would be re-established only a few years later, when I started English classes at school. I remember the first English class I had. Our teacher at certain point told us: “now you are going to have English classes”, and she brought us to a new classroom, which was completely different from our usual one: there weren’t any desks, but three big tables, there were animal, food and weather posters on the wall and the classroom was green. Even the teacher was different: she was younger than the others, she was blond, she dressed in a very particular way and she had lived in Tanzania for a while. I simply loved her since the first day: she was very sweet, funny and dynamic and English classes soon became my favorite!

Sadly, the year after this Teacher, Tiziana, went back to Tanzania and we started having classes with another teacher, who wasn’t half as funny and dynamic ad Tiziana, but was instead very strict and severe. At first it was difficult to get used to the new teacher who wanted us to learn grammar, to study the verb to be, memorize it and write it on the blackboard.

Finally, things changed: a new school, new classmates and new teachers! My new English teacher was somehow strict, but she was so funny that everybody ended up liking her (in spite of the grades we used to get in the tests). But we had classes with her just for a year, then, since she had a child, she stopped working. At this point our French teacher started teaching English as well. She was my favorite teacher at the time: the sweetest teacher ever. I admired her very much and at this point I decided that I would study languages in the future and I would be a teacher like she was!


Sadly, another year passed by, and my favorite teacher started working at another school. In her place, the strictest teacher I have ever had came! The transition was really dramatic! With the previous teacher we didn’t have much homework, we had games and learning was fun. With the new one instead we had loads of homework to do, we had to translate everything we found in the book and we had to copy each dialogue at least twice in our copybook (and then translate it).


We don't need no education

We dont need no thought control

No dark sarcasm in the classroom

Teachers leave them kids alone

Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall

“Another brick on the wall” by Pink Floyd, 1979

However, in spite of hating her at the beginning, little by little I started to like her, I saw I was actually learning something, my writing improved and she encouraged us to find pen pals around the world. This way to learn English through communicating with different people and learn more about their countries really had a positive impact on me, and whenever I had the chance, I tried to make friends around the world (you can try, too, clicking on the image beside)!