INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PERSONS

The International Day of older persons has been celebrated at D'Alessandro-Vocino School with grandparents and students: two generations compared.

The students have prepared posters with photos of their grandparents, then they have interviewed them to discover how different their life was from today. Here is the interview:

Student: What kind of school did you attend? Grandfather: I went to the primary school, then my father brought me to work on the farm. Back in the day very few families could send their children to school, most of them needed more hands on the farm. Student: Was your school different from today? Grandmother: Yes, it was very different, first of all we had just one book and one copybook, today you have many books and a very heavy schoolbag, then we used to bring to school some coal in a small bucket to warm ourselves. We didn't have any radiators in the classrooms and they were very cold. Student: What was your job? Grandfather: I changed some works because it was difficult to find a regular job, then I decided to emigrate to Germany. My life was OK, I had a good job in a factory but my heart was in Italy, so when I retired I came back to my roots in San Nicandro. Student: Did you have a party to celebrate your 18th birthday? Grandmother: Nooooooo! We didn't use to celebrate birthdays because we didn't have enough money. We were worried about buying our trousseau. Student: Do you remember the second world war times? Grandfather: Yes, I do. I'm 94 years old and I was a boy during the war. What I remember is poverty, sadness, fear. War is a bad thing!

Grandparents have brought to school some traditional cakes they used to prepare at Christmas. Just on this occasion all the family used to gather around the fireplace and prepare these delicious homemade sweets.