HUMANITIES SPRING KIDS

Humanities Spring Kids is a arts, culture, and hands-on Italian language summer program for children from 7 – 14 years old. Our home-base in a turn-of- the-century schoolhouse in the hills outside Assisi. Participants can choose to do from one to three week-long sessions of the program.  Kids at HS experience the Italian language firsthand by engaging in a variety of activities which include: cooking, theatre, gardening, arts and crafts, singing, singing funny songs,, writing compositions (my diary), going for walks, and swimming in the beautiful (and cold!) natural springs near HS. In the evenings, everyone plays inside or outside traditonal Italian games – in Italian, of course! HS Teachers are all native Italian speakiers. This is our second year at HS Kids. Along with HS London, it is our newest program! We all had a lot of fun last summer; we are really looking forward to repeating the experience this summer.

HS ACTIVITIES

Mornings

Every morning the kids are divided into 3 teams: actors, cooks, and slaves (don’t worry – the slaves actually had a lot of fun last summer!) The actors: this group performs a brief play each morning. Last year, smash-hit performances included The Three Little Pigs and the Three Bears. All shows are in Italian, of course. The group also  create rudimentary costumes and props. Plays (mini-plays!) are performed on the Humanities Spring lawn right before lunch. The cooks: This group bakes a  snack for the rest of the group each morning. Favorites include typical carnivale fritters and Italian chocolate cake — Kids read the recipe in Italian and learn to follow instructions in the kitchen (mi passi il cioccolato?/  sbatti le uova. Dove é il latte? é nel frigorifero sul ripiano in alto etc). Merenda is served at 11:00; then our little cooks clean up the kitchen in Italian,  of course (you wash the bowl and I’ll wash the spoon. Here is the soap; wipe off the table, please) from 11:30 – 12:00. The slaves: This group makes beds each morning then goes out and picks flowers, arranges them beautifully in each student room (every student comes to HS Kids with a vase) and then decorates the rooms with postcards, posters, fabrics, and their own art work – drawings, collages etc– so that they are beautiful! At the end of morning activities, each HS kid writes a short sentence (or two!) in Italian about that morning’s activities ( “This morning I picked some beautiful purple flowers. This morning I was a little pig in a play. I had fun!”) and then memorizes them so they can say their sentences at lunch to the rest of the group. That is how lunch starts each day. Then students are free to relax; at meals, everyone  speaks in English. Sometimes, kids are very tired after listening to Italian all morning, we think it is important for them to relax, too!

Afternoons

In the afternoons, HS Kids either do art projects (Mondays and Thursdays) or go for nature walks (Tuesdays) in the hills around Humanities Spring. On their walk day, students are expected to find something beautiful and write a description of it for the rest of the group (in Italian! Staff will help! ) Our HS botanist explain the names of some of the local plants, and folklore and myths associated with them. Sometimes students sketch during their walks and sometimes learn little poems about the flowers they see. Every evening, before dinner, each kid writes about their day in their HS diary. Staff helps, of course! Sometimes, kids draw pictures, too, to illustrate their sentences.

Wednesdays

Wednesdays, we all do a practical, manual project together. Last year, HS kids painted all the Humanities Spring shutters green (after sanding them all by hand!). This summer’s projects will include designing a small ornamental garden and then preparing the earth and planting bulbs, building a fence using twigs and branches, creating a garden bench, and more! A HS gardener and a HS carpenter will lead these activities.

Friday Nights

Our last night together, we will have a HS Kids party for kids, staff, and parents. You parents are all invited!!! Your children will put on plays in Italian, serve you Italian cookies and cakes they’ve made in the HS kitchen, and take you to see a little art show of their work! The party starts at 8:00.

A day at…

8.30: Wake-up 9.00: Breakfast 9.30-12.00: Activities: cooking, theatre, games, flower arranging, etc.! 11.00: Merenda 12.00: Mini-play performace (in Italian) 12:30 – 13:00: mini-compositions 13.00: Lunch (before starting lunch each kid will say at least one sentences in Italian about his/her morning activity) 16.00: Walk to the springs 19.00: My diary (let’s write about our day – in Italian, of course, with the help of the staff). 20.00: Dinner 21.00: Outdoor or board games: per esempio, un, due, tre stella, strega comanda colori, Uno, Lupus in Fabula (all in Italian, of course!) 22.30: Bedtime!

HS Method

At Humanities Spring we believe in applied grammar! We believe that having a child write a composition like: “Yesterday I walked for an hour and a half. I saw a cat and a very cute dog. I picked a purple-striped flower. I came home, tired but happy” and then having him memorize it, is the best way to learn the past tense, especially at this age. With the help of HS Kids staff, your children will write simple sentences like these in Italian each evening, during the  “My diary” activity. Sometimes, they will illustrate what they write with little drawings, too. 

What to Bring

1. A beautiful bedspread — by beautiful we mean one your child especially likes.
2. A vase for flowers
3. A bath towel and hand towel
4. A pair of long pants and a long-sleeved shirt
5.  A set of old clothes you don’t mind getting dirty (very dirty!)  – for Wednesday, our project and  painting day
6. Comfortable shoes
7. A bathing suit
8. A new notebook for your HS Kids diary
9. Colored pencils and drawing paper
10. A pinch of adventurousness!

 

Dates and costs

HS Kids will have 7 sessions this summer, two in June and five in August: 1st Session: 6/10-6/15: 2nd Session: 6/17- 6/22; 3rd Session: 7/27-8/3; 4th Session: 8/5-8/10; 5th Session: 8/12-8/17; 6h Session: 8/19-8/24; 7th Session 8/26-8/31. Cost: 600 USD  + 50 USD for the HS association fee. The cost for a sister or a brother is 550 USD.  If your child comes for two or three weeks, the additional weeks will cost 550 USD each. There is a 50 USD discount if you sign your child up before May 15.

For more information

For more information or answers to your questions, please write us at  info@humanitiesspring.com  or call us at 011-39-075802400 or 011-39- 3206755874 .

The association and HS Staff

Humanities Spring has been organizing courses and trips for children, kids and adults (both Italian and American)  since 1991. The HS kids courses are held in our home base in Assisi, in the Subasio Montain National Park. HS Kids teachers are gardeners and photographers, amateur cooks, and painters, all committed to the idea of learning through play and hands-on activities. Our director Jane Oliensis, born in NYC, got her degrees at Harvard and Columbia Universities in Classics and English. A professor at Perugia University for several years, she now dedicates herself exclusively to Humanities Spring activities. At the core of our association are our wonderful students, both Italian and American, who often return to HS as young teachers, as will be the case this summer in Assisi at HS Kids.