Erminia

First. . .great sigh of relief.

Then. . .Yeah, Baby!

According to early literacy teacher extraordinaire who visits Maddy for two hours a week at the asilo we love so much, Little Miss Maddy Duncan is reading. Not only is she reading, she is at the top of the class and doing it better than most in her age group. In fact, she is a natural and loves learning.

We knew it. We've seen signs. It's not totally novel to us. After all, we are highly educated education professionals, right?
It sure does feel good coming from THE teacher, she who can teach reading to a 4 year old, and she who Maddy holds so dear.

I wish you could have seen the joy on her face, the concern and excitement in her voice as she discussed Maddy's progress with us. I first met Ermenia in September 2007, and she told me then that this would happen: Maddy would be reading by the time she left the asilo. It's happened a bit early, as she still has a year and a half left there.

This sure helps to waylay concerns about l'autostima, as reported by another adult. It sure helps us to get over the fact that Marzia recently told us that at times Maddy just flat out refuses to speak and that it must be because she doesn't understand or have a sufficient vocabulary. (Not possibly because the mean girls are teasing -- already? Yes. Already.)

Grazie mille, Signora Ermenia.
I'm pretty sure that you are our favorite. Promise you won't tell dear Marzia, who we do adore.

Amazing what a couple of hours a week can do, isn't it? Pretty dang amazing. Because while Ermenia told us from the beginning that we should be duplicating her efforts at home, we choose to flat out ignore her in favor of reading English books. She was successful in spite of us. (And, yes, I do have a pretty realistic idea of what "she is reading" means for a kid first starting out.)

I'll write a bit about her methods, which I will assume are "Italian methods" some other time.