At the end of the third week of my LiA experience, I'm feeling very settled in and I've gotten to know the center well.

This week, I returned to the center and kept helping out and teaching some of the kids some English. I've been teaching three of the kids at the center, all of whom know a little bit of English and Italian but have different native languages (Egyptian and Tunisian dialects of Arabic). Sometimes we have to be a little creative to figure out how to understand each other, but it's a fun challenge.

To come up with more ideas for what English to teach them, I asked one of the staff members at the center what the kids usually learn when they have Italian lessons with professional teachers who visit the center. She said they've been mostly been learning how to introduce themselves, how to describe themselves and talk about where they're from, and vocabulary for clothes and food. I tried to teach them the same things in English, that way I could match the Italian phrases to the new English ones.

To try to keep the kids interested and get to know them better, I worked on teaching them how to talk about what they like to do. I learned that in their spare time, they like playing soccer, listening to music, and cooking with the center's staff. They showed me a music video by a Tunisian rapper who they like and we were able to talk about the video in Italian. I've been doing my own fair share of language learning by practicing my Italian with the center's staff, who have been super kind and welcoming.