TEFL in Rome, the Eternal city

Roma

As far as capitals go, Rome does a beautiful job of summarising all of the intricate parts of Italy. To capture such charm, elegance, grace, flavour and attitude in a single city is impossible, of course, but the Romans have certainly nailed something. Alexandra, a teacher from Germany touched on something that really inspired me. A lot of what is Italian, and in fact, teaching in Italy is based on - ‘Si depende’. It depends. She gets this answer in her classes and witnesses it through her daily life in Rome. Unlike her own culture’s stereotypical preference for defining things with specific answers (something a lot of cultures have in common), in Italy there is a feeling, an action, a way of life, that cannot be confined to one answer or one way or one opinion. It depends - on how you feel, how we feel together - an Italian expression of their flexibility, and their ability to cooperate the opinions and ever-changing feelings of everyone.

Alexandra used the metaphor of a family dinner. Life is not lived to be lived but lived to enjoy, and ponder, and slowly stroll through. With as much enjoyment as possible. Not only is this apparent in the Italians themselves, but we witness this through their slow food, rich with flavour and dripping in love and effort. The architecture, never simple, but made to stop you in your tracks in the midst of a busy day. No beauty is a waste, and no beauty is unnoticed. To see it, all you have to do is speak to an Italian and listen to the language slowly trickle from their mouths as though it were delicious poetry.

I spent some time in Italy, missing these things and allowing my own style of living to get in the way of enjoying and being open to the country and the way it lives. It can be irritating if you do this - and so Alexandra and Rosie agree - should you pay attention to the differences from one culture to another. In England, a lot of things ‘work’, there is generally good public transport, ability to get cash almost anywhere, everything has set opening times, there is a common decency and expectance to be polite even if not completely genuine.

There’s a lot to say about the beauty of Italy. There are also some things to consider when deciding to move here, and specifically Rome, to teach.

Italy can be badly organised

The transport in Italy in general has a habit of being delayed, not turning up, or being extremely confusing. In most of the cities you cannot buy a bus ticket on the bus - you need to remember to get one beforehand. This is information that would have saved me a few hours of waiting around and certainly a few less frustrated remarks - “but WHY?!”

The cash machines also have a habit of not having any cash. You can rarely buy a ticket, or anything that is of a low amount with a large bank note, so you need to try and carry change whenever you can. Which isn’t the best, when you’ve just spent 20 minutes finding a working cash machine, to get the cash, to not be able to buy the ticket anyway. (Can you tell I have been in this situation more than a couple of times?)

It is not very straight forward to set up a life in Italy

It might seem obvious, but in most countries, European or otherwise, you should be able to find somewhere to live, set up a bank account, introduce yourself to companies and find a job, knowing little of the language. A lot of countries - not that they should have - have incorporated English teachers and have a good knowledge of English in which to welcome them. Italy is not the best at this.

Of course, in Rome, and other regions, there is a knowledge of English, and it is improving. However, this is mostly found within the tourist sector, and unless you are in a restaurant ordering a bottle of wine and a pizza (which, you will do, about 10 times in the first month at least), you might run into a bit of trouble. So, I mention this in most of my articles, but LEARN THE LANGUAGE. You will struggle without it.

Italian’s can come across as… a very different species

Coming from experience, it can sometimes be hard not to take the Italian attitude personally… but it is just who they are. It’s something that takes a little getting used to, but embrace it and the beauty of who they are as a culture will soon shine through. The Italians love taking their time, with everything. So give them it.

Rosie mentioned the best way to apply for jobs in Rome - don’t bother handing out your CV. Schools respond far better to a face to face applications, and you will need to be persistent. Should you hand in your application or interest over email you might be waiting a long time, or forever, for a response.

Italy is still in Europe!

It gets cold. It rains. It snows. There are miserable days. Yes it is beautiful and the weather is significantly better than in the UK (it’s not really hard, is it?), but remember to bring warm clothes if you’ll be staying for winter. Which you should be, as the best time to find a job is October. So don’t go hastily throwing away those gloves yet!

Teaching in Italy will be what you make it. Si depende. The lack of monotony and social aspect of teaching will be enough to ensure you are consistently learning and growing as a teacher, but don’t forget to open yourself up to the whole experience of Italy, and Rome. Alexandra described teaching as “…being on stage. You deliver, reflect, and then move on and improve”. It’s more than a job, and so much more than passing on information. Allow yourself to flow out in teaching and allow Italy to flow into your life the way it wants to. Slowly, beautifully, and with plenty of coffee.