Paola Scolari and her students are visiting our school. This is the second time Mrs Scolari is in Helsinki, the previous visit took place three years ago. Mrs Scolari teaches English in V. Monti Comprehensive school in Pollenza, Italy.

What kind of a place is Pollenza?
Pollenza is a small town in the area called Marche, (the centre of Italy), at about 20 km from the Adriatic coast.  Pollenza is an old town built on the top of a hill; about 5,000 people live there, and the nearest biggest towns are Macerata and Ancona.

How many students do you have in your school?
We have about 140 students in the Middle school where I teach, then there are also about 300 more children attending nursery and primary school, but the school buildings are located in 3 different areas.

What grades do you teach?
I teach students from the first to the third year of middle school (aged from 11 to 13/14)

At what age do Italian children start studying English?
They start at the elementary school.

Is English a popular subject among students?
Yes, it is studied/learned in all  compulsory schools till the age of 16.

How come you ever started an email-project with a Finnish collegue?
I met her in the net, about 9 years ago.

What was it like at the beginning?
We were both looking for penfriends for our students, so we started planning a simple e-mail exchange to which then we add other projects (video exchange-exchanging a weekly diary etc)

Have you ever had any difficulties with your projects?
Yes, a big problem we had to face were our( I mean in Italy) computer lab not always working properly.

What have been the most rewarding moments?
Of course the students’ enthusiasm at the coming of the mails, their wish to get to know each other better and when they meet for the very first time.

What have the projects given you personally?
It was really important for me to compare my way of working with the one of my Finnish collegues.

What kind of questions did your students ask about Finland when you told them about the school trip?
They eagerly wanted to know how different school and life in Finland are.

What about their parents?
When we planned the first exchange most of the parents were quite diffident: they thought students were too young for that experience and……..Finland was too far from Italy. Many of my students are living their first experience abroad, first time flying, first time living in a foreign family!

What about the future? Will you go on with a new group next year?
I would be really happy to go on with a new group for a new project, because now I know for certain that also family are not anymore diffident, but really like the idea of their sons and daughters living this fantastic experience and also being the host families for the Finnish students coming to visit us.