In 2019, the NoLBrick project finally took off as a standalone project supported by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice SPIN Research Grant: during this time, I embarked on a 5 months long internship program where I worked as a Japanese Language facilitator during A.Y. 2018/2019 third-year Japanese Language course held in the second semester.

It was a very complex experience: we facilitators had to work as a team, coordinating with each other and Prof. Mariotti even though our backgrounds changed drastically from one another; there was also a sense of urgency, a sense of utmost responsibility towards the students’ education. We had to take part in their learning path, with the aim of empowering them while at the same time keeping the balance with NoLBrick’s bigger, outer focus on long-term effects of language education on society as a whole.

Overall, reflecting back on that time, there are a lot of points I learned and grew from, as it pushed me towards questioning my role in class and how my actions impact others in a practical way.