F159/10. Trento North Italy. Au-pair needed for
family with 4 children, Martina aged 8, Giulia aged 7, Caterina aged 4 &
Roberto aged 3. Dad is a manager, mum is a housewife. The family speak
English and of course Italian. Other help kept: a housekeeper for 12
hours per week for all the housework. Requirements:
Non-Smoker/Experience/English Mother Tongue. Use of internet is given.
To start asap for 12 months. Approx hrs of work:
2.30pm-8.15pm. Total daily hrs: 6. Time off: Weekends and all evenings.
Salary: € 100.00 p/w, negotiable (around £85.00 p/w, at the current rate
of exchange). You will not have to take the girls to school. At 2.45pm
you will need to pick up Caterina from nursery and take her home.
Sometimes, depending on Martina's and Giulia's school hours you may have
to pick them up from school at 4.00pm. It takes approx 5 minutes on foot
from the family's home to the school. The family is located in the
centre of Trento, a nice town in the north of Italy, close to Verona.
The family's previous au-pairs liked it a lot as it's a lovely place to
live and there are lots of young English people who love there. It is a
university town surrounded by the mountains and Lake Garda. The family
live in a large apartment where the children have their own room and
they play in their play room. There is also a large sitting room where
the family's previous au-pairs enjoyed playing board games and dancing.
Accommodation: a private self-contained separate and independent
apartment located in the same block of flats where the family have their
apartment. It is composed of sitting room with kitchen area (complete
with microwave, traditional oven, freezer & dish washer), a large sofa
and TV. There is also a bathroom with shower, washing machine, double
bedroom with a large wardrobe and a small balcony. Duties: You will play
with the children, talking to them in English and keeping their play
room tidy. You will never be left alone with all four children as mum
does not work and spends most of the time with the children. Usually you
will stay at home or go to the local park with 2 of the children whilst
Tiziana (mum) will look after the other 2. In the afternoon you will
play with the children whilst in the evening at around 6.00pm you will
help mum with the different stages of "Pyjama Time". Then after supper,
there is time to read a bedtime story. You will usually have breakfast
and lunch alone and have supper with the family. Family's interests:
Skiing, volleyball, swimming, cinema, walking. The family go on holiday
to the seaside to Jesolo-Venice or to the mountains to Andalo-Trento.
This family is well know to us. We have provided them with 2 other
au-pairs during the past years, one from Australia and one from the UK
and both girls where very happy there and stayed for 2 years and 6
months respectively.
References from previous au-pairs
Trento, February 2008.
To whom it may concern,
It is with great sadness that I leave Tiziana and
the girls after only seven months in their company. I am leaving Italy
for personal family reasons, and hope to return again soon. The girls
are a delight – bright, happy and lots of fun. The older two are
acquiring English very quickly, while the younger, on the verge of
talking, is a blank canvas waiting to learn all she is exposed to.
Tiziana, a very relaxed
and easy-going person, has been very supportive towards my daughter and
I, and involved my daughter in many of the activities they do as a
family. I am very sad to be missing the chance to holiday with them at
their seaside house this coming summer.
Tiziana has been very
generous in setting us up in an apartment with all the necessities for a
comfortable life. She went out of her way to assist us in illness, and
made sure I had enough time off for a full recovery. She supplied us
with a mobile phone, and a bicycle with a new child seat for our
personal convenience.
The girls enjoy lots of games, such as
“What’s the time, Mr Wolf?”, memory cards, dress-ups (especially the
older girl), doctors, families, painting and drawing, craft work,
play-dough, and in particular they love having stories read to them.
There are many parks in Trento to spend
time at during the warmer weather, friends to visit, and a beautiful
city to wander through. The girls enjoy our occasional visits to the
public library, where they can choose both English and Italian books.
While Tiziana has sufficient English to
get by on a day-to-day basis, she has an English-speaking relative who
has been wonderful at facilitating communication so there have been no
misunderstandings. Although they have little English, the rest of the
family are also very supportive and friendly.
Trento is a lovely, leafy, mediaeval
city set in the fertile valley of the river Adige. Parts of the city
date back to Roman times, and the city was founded on the Roman camp of
Tridentum. It is surrounded by the spectacular mountains that are the
beginning of the Alps, and outdoor activities such as trekking, ice
skating, and skiing are not far away. The roads are safe for cycling,
which has been our main mode of transport, and there are scenic cycling
routes along the river, upon which we have spent many weekend hours.
There is not a large English-speaking
community in Trento, although it is possible to meet some of the other
English-speaking childminders. There is, however, the opportunity to
learn Italian, and also to privately tutor English. This has helped me
make many new friends, who I will regretfully be leaving.
I do hope that my successor will have
as much fun and happiness as we have enjoyed with this very kind and
generous family.
Yours faithfully
Anna Larsen.
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been working as an Au Pair for the Zini
family since May 2008. From the outset, the whole family have made me
feel very welcome within their home, as well as within their immediate
and extended family. Tiziana and Diego have both been very good to me in
my time working for them, including inviting me to some of their family
and social gatherings, especially when I first arrived and I didn’t know
anyone.
At the beginning of my stay with the family, I was
living with the family within their own home. After a few months,
Tiziana and Diego very kindly arranged accommodation for me in a
separate apartment. The flat was in the same square as where the family
live and so it was convenient for going to work, but it was also
comforting to know that the family were so close by, should there be any
problems. I have also been very fortunate to accompany the family to
their summer home near to the beach for the last two summers.
Tiziana and Diego have four wonderful children,
Martina, Giulia, Caterina and Roberto, who all understand English very
well. Martina and Giulia have progressed hugely in their ability to
speak the language and are now able to communicate their wants and
needs. While their sentences are not always grammatically correct and
they still have a lot more to learn, they definitely have a very solid
foundation to progress further in speaking the English language.
Caterina is now spontaneously beginning to mimic English words, as well
as very occasionally using them independently. As Roberto is still very
young, he is currently at the stage of uttering his first sounds and
some words.
I would like to highlight that while Tiziana and
Diego have four children, I have rarely been left alone to care for all
four of them at once. If this has happened it has only been for an hour
or so and it has usually been within the family home. It is very typical
for Tiziana or one of the children’s Grandmothers or Aunts to be on hand
to assist with caring for the children. It has been typical for me to
mainly be responsible for the two youngest children.
Tiziana speaks English quite well and we have had
no problems in communicating. However, Tiziana’s sister-in law speaks
very fluent English and I have always been encouraged to call her,
should the need arise.
The family live within a five to ten minute walk of
Trento town centre and to the train station, so it is easy to go out to
meet friends within the town, do some shopping or take trips to
surrounding areas in your free time. Mountains also overlook the town,
so there are opportunities for walking and skiing.
I will be very sad to finish working for the Zini
family in May 2010. However, I am confident that the next Au Pair chosen
by the family will be made to feel just as welcome. I sincerely hope
that your experience in Italy will be just as enjoyable as mine has
been.
Yours faithfully
Caroline
Phillips
September 2009
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