English-speaking au-pair in Reggio Emilia, Italy

Details

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  Description

  Hello Workaway traveller!
  
  We are looking for a loving, patient, English speaking girl willing to live with us for for the summer (from end of June to end of September). We would like her to help us to raise our two young children in an open, multicultural, and welcoming atmosphere, while also teaching them English. We are Italian and returned to Italy five years ago after having lived abroad (USA and UK) for 12 years. Our girl is 6 years old and our son is 8 years old.
  We are looking for someone loving and warm, who adores children and wants to become part of our family.
  
  We have big families and lots of friends, and love to have people around.
  Our house is located in a village just outside the city centre of Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia Romagna region in North Italy, strategically located to easily reach Milan, Florence, and Rome with high speed train.
  The house is close to our family's farm producing the famous Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Gardening

  Babysitting and creative play
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our traveller will experience Italian family life in North Italy. She will have time to travel and to learn Italian. She will have mornings, evenings and weekends free. Beside looking after the children, she will expected to share with us the setting the table before dinner, loading the dishwasher after dinner (if she is having dinner with us), keeping the house in decent order, and if she has some spare time, in helping doing the laundry for the children.
  
  The house is located in Roncadella, a small village just outside the city centre of Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia Romagna region in North Italy (closest airport Bologna). From the house it takes 10 minutes by car and 30 minutes by bus to reach the historical city centre of Reggio Emilia. The high speed train from Reggio Emilia’s train station takes 45 minute to Milan, 1 hour to Florence, 2 hours and 1/2 to Rome.
  
  If interested, our traveller will be exposed to country life as our house is very close to dad family's farm, which produces milk used to prepare the famous Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
  At the same time, she will be able to easily reach the historical city centre of Reggio Emilia, which has a very rich cultural life (theatre and ballet) and beautiful shops. If she needs a student Visa, she will need to attend an Italian school which is located in Reggio's city centre.
  
  In addition, Reggio Emilia is famous in the world for the "Reggio Emilia educational approach" for preschool and primary education. Therefore if our traveller is interested in pedagogy she will have plenty of opportunities to be exposed to this philosophy.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  In July the traveller will have to look after our children in the afternoon, from 1 pm until about 5 pm. In August and early September she may be asked to look after them in the morning as well, although she will have at least one full week off in that month.
  Please note that we will be happy to pay a small sum per month (similar to the pocket money usually given to au pairs). Still we do not see this as a job, since the traveller becomes part of our family.
  
  Essentials:
  Some previous experience as nanny or babysitter for young children
  Warm, compassionate, patient, and willing to love children unconditionally
  Native English speaker or perfectly fluent in English
  Generous and sincere
  
  Desiderables:
  Able to play an instrument (we have a piano) and/or to paint, interested in art
  Love for nature and country life
  Feminist and careful in not fostering gender and racial biases
  Interest in Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the Italian food
  
  
  MORE ABOUT US:
  Our girl is cuddly and exhaustingly chatty. She knows exactly what she wants but can negotiate nicely. Our boy is very talkative, loves reading, singing and “roughhousing”. Mum is a 46-yo neurologist and works full-time as clinical academic at the University. Dad is 45-yo, works as enterprise architect and frequently works from home.
  We have a lot of friends and we love to invite those who live locally for dinner and those who live abroad to stay with us during their holidays. We also both have very large families who live locally, with several nephews and nieces aged 14 to 26. We love travelling, cinema, and music. Dad loves sports. Mum is an avid reader.
  Above all, we love people and believe in the power of travelling as a way to contribute creating peace in the world. We would like for our children to become compassionate, open-minded, and respectful of diversity.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  The traveller will have her private large bedroom with ensuite bathroom (shower, no bath tube) on our ground-floor flat (250 square mt) in a recently renovated farmhouse. She will be expected to clean her own room and bathroom and keep it in order (we have help for cleaning for the rest of the house). There is a large garden in case she is interested in gardening (not required).
  
  The traveller will be be able to reach the historical city centre of Reggio Emilia in 10 minute driving, 30 minutes by public transportation, or about 20 minutes by bike (it is a long bike ride but our previous au pairs have enjoyed doing it).
  
  We will be happy to cook for everybody including our traveller, but she will be expected to help in setting up the table (as everybody else in the house)

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  What else ...

  We have hosted five wonderful Workaway travellers: we do like to keep contact! We also used to have baby sitters and au pairs when living in London (we were always told that we are super-easy to work with ;-).
  We are very social and will be happy to introduce our traveller to our friends and families, and invite her to our social gatherings.
  Our traveller will have time to do online working or studying in the mornings, especially in July. She will always have the weekend free to travel and explore the surroundings, but of course we will be happy for her to stay with us during the weekend too if she prefers so

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Good WiFi, fibre based connection

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  Space for parking camper vans

  They can park in the courtyard (no garage, just open air)

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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