input: from typing import List
  
  def linearSearch(search_item: List[str]) -> int:
      """ Perform a linear search to find the index of a given item in the array.
      >>> linearSearch(['school', 'hospital', 'bookstore', 'mall', 'theatre'], 'hospital')
      1
      >>> linearSearch(['school', 'hospital', 'bookstore', 'mall', 'theatre'], 'library')
      -1
      """
output:     for i in range(len(search_item)):
          if search_item[i] == 'hospital':
              return i
      return -1