Day 6 - Getting into the swing of things!

Alex Hill

Last night because of the football we were unable to go to the restaurant so we got pizza’s from a takeaway and drinks from the supermarket and took it all back to the hostel and ate our food and chilled in the hostel until it was time to go to the San Siro for the match around quarter past 7.

 We went to the football to watch AC Milan Vs Athletic Madrid in the Champions League, the atmosphere was good with over 80 thousand people chanting for AC Milan to win but Athletic won 0-1.

Today we went to the school we have been coaching in, throughout the day we was participating in the activities, sometimes taking part of the lessons such as the warm ups and interacting with the students trying to understand Italian and them learning English from us. Tonight we had salad and pizza for our starter for the main we had chicken curry and rice and for desert we had profiteroles.

Day 4 - First day of coaching

Today was our first day getting into coaching with Rossi and Pistorello taking part in their lessons playing football and then we had the chance to get involved with helms in which we was interviewed by the students, with them asking us questions it helped both us and the Italians bond.

After we finished at the school we had a tour around the churches, one in which had fantastic art work in and I was able to light a candle for a donation to the church, when we was moving on the next church that had Leonardo Da Vinci's last supper but we couldn't see it as the tour guide wasn't sure if we had to book it or not, the last church we went to a church that was made and looked after by monks in which they had skulls heads and bones in the walls as decorations.

When we finished the tour we had some free time to do what we want around the Duomo in which me, Rory, Toby and Joe went to get a coffee and some cookie dough Gelato which was tidy.
After we made our way back to the restaurant we had our 10,000,000 course meal which left us all stuffed, towards the end of the night we made our way back to the hostel and relaxed before waking up for the next day.


By Ashley Davies

Day 5 - Starting to coach our sessions and San Siro!

Day 5

Today we began our real full day of coaching. The teachers in the school gave us the opportunity to start leading the group using our own session plans that we had prepared the night before.

The whole day today was based on football. We had a total number of 4 lessons with ages ranging from 14-19. This gave us the opportunity to get involved with people our own age and see how different PE lessons are in other European countries.

Leading in another country was a good experience for me and was also a challenge too. The students found it difficult to understand which required us to break things down and use simple language and demonstrations to ensure the students had a full knowledge.

After watching the teachers for the first 1-2 hours we were able to pick up the structure of the lessons and add our own games and warmups in the same similar structure. I am confident in leading and felt confident to be working along side Ashley and Toby and felt as a group we were strong leaders. Being put in front of an full Italian class was definitely a challenge for us all however I think that we were able to conduct ourselves well and deliver a strong session.

Tonight we are heading out to the San Siro stadium to watch AC Milan vs Athletico Madrid in the Champions League. We are all very excited for the game as for the majority it will be the first time them have seen a live game in such a big competition, as it is for me. This also will be an amazing sight and I feel a great atmosphere within the stadium and the group will be present this evening.

I look forward to the coming challenges the rest of the project will bring.

Joe Hadfield

Day 3 - First day in Instituto Leone XIII

My room woke up at around 6:30 and started discussing what we think the day would be like, we thought it would have been very class room based and would be learning Italian and would be getting introduced to the teachers we would be working with. We were all getting excited to see what the school and facilities were going to be like and what groups we would be working in for the different lessons. We then started hoping that we would be together for some of the session so we could plan and deliver then together. We met down in the lounge at about 8 and set off to the school, everyone seems quite tired but I was wide awake really looking forward finding out in depth what I will be doing in these two weeks in Milan. When we were walking to the school I started to feel quite nervous, hoping that they would be very friendly towards us and understand that out Italian isn't very advanced. We were walking for about 5 minuets when the school got pointed out to us, it was massive! You could see some of the sports pitches and a massive building in the back ground. I started to get excited because the school looked very nice and seemed to be very sports based which is a massive plus.

We were greeted by the entrance and everyone was very welcoming which made the situation less awkward as we were just standing not knowing what to say or do. We then got taken to a room and Pablo introduced him self and started to talk briefly about the school and its history, which as it was founded before WW2 but then moved to its current establishment after wards. After this he took us on a tour of this huge school, showing us class rooms, sports and drama facilities which were all so modernised and lovely. The school had lots of culture and religion init as in the corridors there were huge paintings stung on the wall. After the tour we then went back to class room and was presented with lots of interesting and unusual facts about Milan, he talked about its history and culture and also the geography of the place which I was many interested by it as I enjoy geography so I really enjoyed the presentation. After the presentation we has time to look around the school and interact with some of the students at first it was very awkward and I felt nervous but the children started coming up to use and chatting so I started to feel more conformable. when we returned to the class room we started to get introduced to the Italian language, getting taught words and phrases which we would learn within out sporting lessons which I found very helpful as I don't pick up languages very well. We did language for a while and then went to lunch, at lunch we has some pasta and fruit and chatted about the morning with my mates as we were paired together for the majority of the sports sessions. We then walking around looking at the out door sports facilities which were amazing!

We then thanked Paulo and the other teachers that we met and headed back to the youth hostel. At the hostel we started to plan some warm up sessions that we may be delivering with the  weeks that we are placed at the school, this was very fun as I enjoy planning session as I can take them away and use them in the session that I teach in Britain. I was then sitting in the lounge by myself doing some more sessions by my self when i started talking to a local about the area and the best places I should visit within Milan so I have decided that i need to see if I can look around the Cathedral in Milan because apparently it is beautiful inside and out and has an amazing view of the city.

After we had finished we then went get the metro back by the school and went into an Italian restaurant, here we got to try a variety of Italian dishes from pasta to lasagne, which was very interesting to see what foods are associated with Italy. Even though I didn't really enjoy the majority it was good to gain more knowledge of the Italian culture.

Over all I think this day has been very beneficial to my learnings as I have gained lots of knowledge about Italian and Milan culture and history and also about what I will be going during these two weeks. I am now really exited about the trip and cant wait to start coaching!

Day 2 - Visiting Milan and our amazing tour of the city centre

Day 2

 We went down to get some breakfast way early but it was a waste of time because it was horrible, so i came up stairs and got some strawberrys that I got from the supermarket near the hostel yesterday.

We used the tube to get into Milan City centre, it looked just like the tubes in London, they smelled abut but it was cool. We went to the Costello sforzesco and it was one if the most beautiful places I have ever been in, and I got good picture for photography.

After the tour we went shopping and I got a purse for my sister and a few clothes for my brother, then  we went to a place it get food and it was a house special of lasagna and it was really nice.

We went back to the restaurant we went to yesterday but I got a chicken and spinach dish with cheese sauce. It was so nice!!!!!! Then we came back and now we are about to go to bed ready for our first day of coaching. We are all really excited, and a little bit nervous!

Day 1 - Travelling to Milan

Woke up at half 6 got a shower and packed the rest of my suitcase. Loaded the car with my suitcase and started my journey to the airport. Got to Manchester Airport at 8:20 am and met everyone at Terminal 3. We checked in at about 9 and went through security (Tash didn't beep either). Once everything was weighed and checked we got a meal at boots! Loved it considering I didn't have breakfast!( tomato pasta, chicken, flapjack and sprite).

At 10:55 we boarded the plane at gate 49. The plane looked really small and unsafe! We had to walk down stairs to walk up some more onto the plane. Best thing was we got to sit next to a friend so I chose Tash. Not the best idea as she started talking about the plane crashing and bursting into flames. Then the plane started to the move slowly! Me and Tash ate a whole packet of mints to avoid bubbles in our ears.  Once in the air we started playing hangman, pictionary and noughts and crosses to by time. Before we knew we had landed in Milan. When we finally collected our luggage we headed out of the airport and into the coach waiting for us.

Once we got to the hostel we booked in and carried our bags up four flights of stairs. Not good! Once everything was unpacked we headed downstairs, had a tour of the hostel and headed out for tea. Had mushroom risotto but should of got a pizza. We the. Headed back to the hostel and went to sleep.

Tom Bragg Monday 14th

Monday 14 Feb

Today I woke up with a sore throat not a good start. When we got to school my group was to do a full session for the first and it was amazing. We did football with 14 year olds. I think this made to session flow better as they had good English so I found it easier to coach. We also did a session with the 3 year olds in the gym. This was amazing it was so much fun as you can see from my part in the video. I found it really enjoyable and I found it very good and I feel like I have improved as a leader because of this.