The Classroom Beyond the Classroom

By Henry Batterman, Interim Director of Gonzaga in Florence

While the traditional academic experience remains our top priority at Gonzaga in Florence, I am more convinced than ever that teaching in a study abroad program should extend beyond the walls of the classroom and lead students toward direct experience in their new cultural context. An obvious example is an art history professor taking students to Florence’s magnificent museums, but another is an Italian professor taking students to practice their emerging Italian at a market by interviewing vendors or by simply buying fruit and vegetables. Over the last 10 years the Gonzaga in Florence program has built a solid immersion program founded on the importance of experiential learning.

In just the first couple of weeks of Fall 2015 at GIF, students have welcomed opportunities to actively participate in their new Florentine community. On the second day in Florence, GIF ancient history professor Giulia Pettena took forty students on a walking tour of Fiesole, the Etruscan and later Roman town set on a hill overlooking Florence. 153 of the 169 currently enrolled students went to a professional soccer game and saw the Fiorentina team beat Bologna 2-0 on their way to a first place ranking in Italy’s prestigious Serie A league. The day after the game, forty students and faculty filled a local trattoria for a Tuscan dinner in which the waiter explained each of the five courses (including three types of ravioli!). Spending just 15 euros, other students were able to go to Florence’s new opera house to see Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor starring Jessica Pratt, a world-famous soprano. In fact, whether it’s a soccer game or an opera, Florence offers significant discounts to encourage young people to participate in the city’s thriving cultural life.

As the semester progresses, most of our students will find their own direct connections to the community. Next week students will participate in a basketball tournament with teams composed half of American players and half of Italian players, a chance to communicate both in Italian and through the universal language of sports. Many will teach English to Italian children in their homes in exchange for dinner and a chance to know an Italian family in a program called “English for Pasta.” Others will volunteer in churches, schools, a soup kitchen or retirement home and most students will join at least one of the many trips in Italy or abroad organized by GIF’s travel-learning team. The classroom beyond the classroom is vast, a world our students are eager to explore.

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