For a couple of weeks, after school classes had finished, I was meeting my Italian teacher to do exam preparations. We made maps, found information online, wrote things down from books, etc. Then I had to study, study, study!
On the first exam, I was pretty scared. My first one was a written exam for Italian. We all waited for the school doors to open and piled into the classrooms that had our class number and letter. My class was 3b this year. Anyway, we each had two teachers and they passed out specific exam papers that had been stamped. Then one of the teachers came around and wrote his signature on the top of each page. They told us the general rules and then we started our four-hour test.
We had a choice between answering a set of questions or writing a letter explaining about certain things. I thought the letter would be easier, so that's what I chose. The time passed and after writing four pages of a letter in Italian, I copied everything in my best handwriting on what we called our "bella pagina".
I had finished before many other people and I went over my work over and over again, making sure I hadn't missed anything. There was a certain time when we were able to get up and leave and when that time came, I turned in my paper, signed my name and wrote down the amount of time it took me to do the exam.
The following day I had French. I was even more nervous for this one because everyone in my class was more experienced in French than I was, but I did my best. That day, we only had three hours. We started and we were only allowed one dictionary. We had, again, the choice between answering questions from a passage or writing a letter and I chose to do the questions. I read the long paragraph and wrote down all of the words I didn't know. After each word I drew an arrow and put the English word next to it. This took up a whole page when I was done, but afterwards I understood the text. Then I started on the 10 questions. I took them each slowly and did my best. I wasn't so sure about how to do one sentence, but I did what made the most sense to me. When I was done, I signed my name, turned in my paper and wrote the amount of time it took me to do it like the first exams.
My next exam was math, my worst subject. This time we had three hours and we went through the same process. I was expecting a multiple-choice exam, but it happened to have only four hard problems, to my disappointment. This one, I started to run out of time on and only tried to do my best. I rewrote everything on my better page and turned it in.
Next day we had our hardest exams called the "Prova Invalsi". They were a combination of math and Italian. This time, the math was multiple-choice, but still hard. Then once I got to the Italian part, I kind of panicked. The first one was a two-page story with questions. Then there was another one-page story and some Italian grammar. It took me a while to do these and it was so difficult that I asked my teachers for help on a question that I was stumped on and they didn't even know how to figure it out. The two teachers even had an argument about it, which didn't help. I ended up putting my best guess in and moving on. That test was four hours and I barely finished in time.
The last written exam was easy because it was English. We again had the choice between a letter or a paragraph with questions and I chose the letter because I thought it was harder than the questions we had. I ended up writing a five-page letter supposedly to a pen-pal about who I am, what I like, about my family, friends, experiences, school, and just life in general. Everyone was so surprised that I wrote five pages, but I thought it was fun. They were even "Wowing" when I wrote four pages for the Italian exam. I recopied it and turned it in.
I had two days in which I rested before starting to study for my oral exams. I was going to be one of the last ones at the school to do that exam, so I had a little more time than some people to study, but it was still barely enough! I had about ten days and I studied mostly in the afternoons and slept more in the mornings. I also had to attend two other oral exams because I was playing a guitar piece with two other girls and so I had to be there when they did theirs. Unfortunately, this made it impossible for me to take a trip to the beach because I was too busy.
When my day came, I made a whole folder of about thirty pages that I basically memorized. I organized them and added pictures hoping that the teachers would like that. For these oral exams we had to go into a room with all of our teachers our class had for the whole year. We made schematics for a main subject that linked to all of our classes for each subject that we had to talk about. My main subject that I chose earlier in the year was the U.S.
I got there and Mummy went with me. There was one person who went before me and before I knew it, it was my turn. I was so scared that I started feeling shaky. A lot of my friends wished me luck before I went in with the other two girls with whom I was playing the guitar song. We played our song, the teachers clapped and the girls left, leaving me alone with all of the teachers. I was told to sit down and I obeyed. I started by showing them my work and my schematic. They asked me to start with one of my subjects of my choice and I decided to do Italian first. I talked about my experience in Georgia and what my life was like before. I talked about my complicated family and about my homeschooling (which people don't do here) and they asked me several questions. They asked about my house in Atlanta and the city. I explained and showed them some of my pictures. Next, my French teacher had told all of the other teachers that I had done a great presentation earlier in the year. I didn't really know any French when I came and so I had to take extra lessons after school. For an interrogation that I was graded on, she made me present myself in front of the whole class and tell them about my family, friends, school and hobbies. She was so proud of me and started bragging about me in front of the whole class. I thought that was very embarrassing and probably turned bright red.
Anyway, remembering this time, she told me to do it again. I didn't do it quite as well as I had done it earlier, but they seemed to be pleased anyway. Then my art teacher jumped in and showed them all of my art work that I had done. She was particularly happy about the cover that I made for all of my drawings. It was also my favorite and it took me several days to do it. She passed it around. Then my Italian teacher (the one who had been helping me get ready for it) knew what I had prepared for and told me to talk about the geography and history of Rome, Georgia and Atlanta. I also talked about a few of the other main cities. They were all interested to hear about my home country and I was glad that they seemed to enjoy my presentation. After a while, they dismissed me, telling me I was "molto brava" and I left feeling a lot better than before. I had finished all of my exams!!!
A couple of days later Mummy went to get my grades and I was delighted to hear that I had passed! I got a seven, which was better than some of the Italian students! I even got my highest grade for the whole year in French and Italian! Unfortunately, the math and Prova Invalsi didn't go as well as I had wanted and they didn't help my grade, but I was still so stunned that I had done a good job overall.
I still haven't decided yet, but I think I'll be going to the language school next year. I'm very excited and I can't wait until I get to meet new people and learn new things!
Missing everyone,
Ashley
Awesome, sweetie! So proud of you. Hope we get to see you in a few weeks when you come!
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