Studying Italian Abroad

60 Another Dictionary

2010-12-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

I could not resist the temptation, and once more I brought back a full-sized dictionary from my trip. [See blog 46. Buying A Dictionary When in Italy]. This time it was the full-size all-Italian Hazon – Dizionario Garzanti di Italiano 2.0. The reason I chose it was that it offered a CD with a “speakaggio”. This feature allows you to hear the word spoken. Although there are other dictionaries that offer the same feature, or at least one that I saw, I like some of Hazon’s other features.

However, the Hazon is not my favourite dictionary because of the annoying requirement of having to re-insert the CD every three months. What happens when the CD wears out or becomes damaged, I don’t really know. For this reason, if I could have found a Sabatini with the same feature I would have bought it instead of the Hazon.

I bought my dictionary from Feltrinelli, the largest bookstore in Bologna and located opposite the two towers. They were offering a 30% discount, but when I went to pay with my Visa the cashier pulled out a Feltrinelli card and went into a long tirade that I didn’t understand, and as I didn’t want another card, I did not buy the books. It was not until the following Monday when the sale was over that I discovered that the Feltrinelli card is not a payment card but a ‘membership” card that gives an automatic discount in any Feltrinelli store! Oh well, I did get the publisher’s 15% discount anyway.

This may sound excessive but when I am reading I have all three dictionaries open on my computer, and each has a role to play. I use the Italian-to-English Hazon as my standard, but note that a bilingual is not as complete as an all-Italian dictionary. I use the all-Italian Garzanti when I want to hear the way a word is pronounced, and I use the all-Italian Sabatini when I want to check on the conjugation of a verb. Overkill perhaps, but pleasurable.

59 Not My Favourite Restaurants in Bologna

2010-12-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

I hate nothing more than to eat in a restaurant frequented by North American co-eds, or crass Americans. For this reason I list Pizzeria BRACE on via San Vitale 15 as a restaurant to avoid. It may have good pizzas, which I didn’t order, but whatever good it had was spoilt by the noisy co-eds and the loud-mouthed waiter who obviously thought that he had to pander to these kids.

Let me explain what I mean by crass Americans lest I am accused of tarring all Americans with the same brush. While eating at a restaurant, the table next to mine had a group of Americans including one LOUD woman and a younger male who obviously was studying in Bologna and acting as guide. Whatever he ordered came with French fries, and he called the waitress over and asked for Ketchup! She politely but firmly explained that he was eating at an Italian restaurant and Ketchup is not part of the Italian cuisine. Hallelujah!

I made the mistake of eating at the Pizzeria Spacca Napoli on Via San Vitale 45/a. After a long wait, all my dishes arrived at the same time – they had been re-heated. Perhaps my mistake was in not ordering pizza. I would list Trattoria Anna Maria Via Belle Arte 17A as one that could be avoided although it came highly recommended. It obviously is famous, with many German tourists and walls plastered with letters of praise. I had lasagne bolognese which cost 13.50 euros. It was a small helping and dry. The total bill came to 28 euros, and all I had with the pasta was a simple salad, a quarter carafe of wine, coffee and a half litre of water. If the food had been good I would not have minded the price, but frankly, I would abandon this restaurant to the Germans.

58 My Favourite Restaurants in Bologna

2010-12-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

In this blog I will list my favourite restaurants. My requirements were good food, ambience, waiters who spoke Italian to you, and reasonably priced.
My favourite was:

OSTERIA DELLE DONAZELLEVia della Donazelle 4/3 off Via Independenza not far from Via Ugo Bassi.
COPERTO . . . . . . . 1.5
Lasagna . . . . . . . . . 7.5
Pork Grilled . . . . . . 6.9
Mineral H2O .5L . . 1.5
1/4 carafe red . . . . . 3
Coffee . . . . . . . . . . .1
Total . . . . . . . . . . 21.4
To reach this restaurant you have to go down a lane and turn right and walk down some steps. I enjoyed the ambience. I believe it caters to the literary set, and while it offers a menu in English – for me this is always a bad sign—it was all Italian inside. The waitress asked if I wanted a menu in English or Italian and I answered in Italian. She was happy to speak Italian to me. The lasagna was delicate. Twice I took friends to this restaurant.

Trattoria Fondazza
Via Fondazza 35 Walk on Strada Maggiore away from the two towers until you reach via Fondazza and turn right.
COPERTO . . . . . . .1.5
Lasagna . . . . . . . . .7.5
Insalata mista . . . .5
1/4 carafe . . . . . . . 2.5
Total . . . . . . . . . .16.5
Excellent lasagne served only on Saturdays. A no-nonsense place, for locals. I went several times.

Lo Squero Ristorante Pizzeria
Via Saragozza 65/E second restaurant from the gates
COPERTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Frittura Calamare/Gambetti . . . . 12
Melanzana griglia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1/4 carafe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Caffe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.5
Had an excellent plate of squid and prawns
"Traditional pasta" like Tortellini con Ragu costs 6 to 8 euros
Went back and had steak for 8 euros
This restaurant caters to German tourists, but nonetheless it serves good food, especially seafood. The second time I had a snotty old waiter who insisted on speaking English, at least to begin with.

Trattoria RossoVia Augusto Righi
Set meal . . 10e
1/4 carafe . . 2
A no-nonsense place, it serves a set meal as well as a la carte. I went several times.

Ristorante Rosso San Martino
Piazza S Martino 3/B Located just up from Piazza Verdi
COPERTO . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.5
Tagliatelle/Ragu . . . . . . . .7
Insalata mista . . . . . . . . . . 3
1/4 carafe . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Caffe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14.5

Fixed meal . . .10 e
It has both a fixed dinner, which I tried the first time, and à la carte. Went several times, and brought my friends. Mainly locals.

If you want a cheap meal and don’t mind the surroundings – in this case a self-service cafateria, then try:
BASS'OTTO BARUGO BASSI 8
Set meal . . . . 9 euros
1/4 bottle . . .0.95

It wasn’t until my last day that I discovered Trattoria Leonidas -- famous for serving traditional Bolognese dishes. It is located on via Allemana off Strada Maggiore not far from the two towers. Unfortunately, I only went once. I would have gone back more often if I had discovered this restaurant earlier in my stay.

In my next blog I will continue on restaurants I visited in Bologna.

57 A Typical Italian Dinner

2010-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

A typical full Italian dinner has several courses:
Antipasto
Primo piatto or first “plate,” i.e. course, e.g. pasta or soup
Secondo piatto or second course – meat or fish
Contorni or side dishes – potatoes, vegetables
Dolce – dessert
Cheese

Not too many people, especially among the younger generation, have this full meal except on special occasions. Many people now have a selection from the above. If you have a coffee, make sure you don’t order a cappucino or you will be seen as a typical crass North American.

Unlike a typical North American restaurant where everything is served on one plate, in Italy the main course is served separate from potatoes and vegetables. These are ordered separately and served separately. The reason for this is that you should be able to enjoy the taste of individual dishes. Each dish has its own taste, and the way the restaurants [or home] serve it allows you to savour the food. It is an excellent idea, and so don’t wolf your meal down but savour each mouthful!

I ate out every night during my stay of five weeks and so I had to keep within my budget. I would limit myself to a first or second course and a salad with wine and a coffee. Since I love pasta, it was not difficult to concentrate on it. Occasionally, for variation, I would choose the second course and a side dish of vegetables. The salads were wonderful, and if you want a meal almost in itself, have an insalatone [large salad]. The first time I ordered one I wasn’t prepared for its size!

Italy has such wonderful gelato [ice cream] that my “dessert” was usually a gelato once a day, and not necessarily after the meal.

In my next blog I will list my favourite restaurants I ate at over my five weeks in Bologna.

56 Restaurants in Bologna – Diner Beware!

2010-11-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

One reason for selecting Bologna is that it is famous for its cuisine. Well, I didn’t find it so. I was later told that Bologna’s reputation for good food lay more with foreigners than with the Bolognese. Perhaps many, many years ago there was truth to this myth. I was also told that if I wanted good Bolognese food I would have to go outside the city walls into the countryside. So, divest yourself of this myth. What Bologna does have, are some restaurants that are far from honest!

Bologna has several Southern or Sicilian owned restaurants, and you will more likely find these charging you more than they should. I first went to the Regina Marguerite, S.Stefano 40 for a fixed lunch and enjoyed the food. So I decided to go back for dinner. When I went to pay, I looked at the bill, trying to understand it when my waiter, “Guido” told me that he had made a “mistake” and deleted 7 euros that he had overcharged me! I went back again, and this time he found that he had made another “mistake” for 1 euro. I discovered that this restaurant is notorious for making “mistakes”. I took a friend to an upscale Sicilian restaurant, Panne e Panelle on via San Vitale 71 recommended by a fellow student for its fish dishes. When the bill arrived there was an item Varie [“various”] for 5 euros, but for the life of me I can’t think what this charge applied to.

Still, none of my experiences can equal what happened to my friend. He had found a restaurant just up from Piazza Verdi in the university area. It too was a “southern” restaurant, [the name escapes me, but one room serves also as a store] and according to the owner serves a cuisine from Lucca, Sicily. When my friend received the bill, he was quite amazed to discover 10 euros charged for two dolce [desserts] which none of our party had even ordered! To add insult to injury, the owner was less than graceful when my friend asked for the charge to be removed.

It was not Sicilian/southern restaurants that alone were guilty of such sharp practices. For example, my instructor took a school party for a farewell dinner to a modest looking trattoria named Il Cantinone at 56a via del Pratello. The food was good and prices reasonable and so I decided to go back on my own. I ordered “lasagne Bolognese” which is lasagne with meat in white sauce. All pastas were listed as between 7 to 8 euros. When I went to pay, the waitress screwed up her face in an unctuous smile and asked if I had enjoyed my dinner. I said yes, and was charged 13.50 euros for the lasagne! I paid this price for lasagne only one other time, at a much fancier and famous restaurant. On another occasion I invited my friends to dinner at Alferico, S.Stefano 33a. The waitress-- we suspect was an Eastern European-- served us with a smileless face, and when the bill arrived I noticed that she had charged me 51 euros for 4 main dishes. I knew that two of the dishes cost 12 euros each. Later I discovered that all four were each 12 euros!

The moral is check your bill and know what the dishes cost! There are, of course, honest restaurants in Bologna where waiters and managers do not indulge in sharp practices, but unfortunately, the dishonest ones leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Such treatment will only harm Bologna’s efforts to encourage tourists to visit the city.

Before I give a list of restaurants and their charges, I will describe in my next blog a typical Italian meal and what I usually had for dinner.

55 Bologna

2010-11-28T17:35:00.000-08:00

For me to go to Italy involves a lot of time and money. So my goal is both a learning experience and a holiday. What a school offers in terms of extra-curricular activities forms part of my vacation, as does the city I choose. I chose Bologna because of its reputation as a University City, its cuisine, and its geographical location.

Bologna is certainly a beautiful city, famous for its arches or porticoes that are omnipresent. In fact, you don’t need to bring an umbrella. I used mine once, after which I decided it was a waste of time. Bologna is also known as the red city, both because of its red sandstone and its left-leaning politics. I don’t know how “left” the city really is these days, and I suspect that its political inclination owes a lot to the fact that it has a large body of university students. As a cynic might say, students can afford to vote left, until they graduate and find their first job. Whatever its political stripe, Bologna has a lot of very expensive stores, so there must be a lot of rich people about, and the city even has an office for the Lega Nord, the right-wing, separatist party.

Perhaps because of its left-of centre ambience, the city has an enlightened approach to its museums and galleries. Nearly all are free, and there are many galleries – so many that I didn’t get to visit all of them. Of course, this being Italy, not all are opened all the time. So if you go, get the latest schedule and it may help. I tried several times to visit the Museum of the Resistance, but even when the brochure stated that it would be open, it was closed.

The city is also rich in music with many free concerts. My musical highlight was the finals of a singing competition for future opera stars. The Music Conservatory also sponsors free concerts by their students. Many of these student musicians will be the future professionals, and I for one, will look forward to following the career of the cellist I heard at a recital.

Bologna was, historically, the Pope’s second city, and unfortunately, Bologna is like Rome in its worse aspects. Cars are everywhere, even in the centre, and they drive on their horn, and you play “dodge’m” with them. [Actually, Rome closes the centre to cars on a Sunday.] By my third week I had a dry cough caused by the pollution in the air. Unfortunately, pollution comes in several forms: foul air from the cars, noise from the cars, and dog shit on the streets. To feel the difference, take a trip to Ferrara or Parma. The people of Ferrara have embraced the environmental culture and bicycles are the order of the day. The air is fresh and tranquillity pervades the city. And in Parma -- unlike Bologna where you cross when you can -- the pedestrians actually wait at the stoplights!

I found the people of Bologna very friendly and polite. Don’t be afraid of the evening crowds that gather outside a bar or at Piazza Verdi, the university centre. I found everyone polite and considerate whenever I had to walk through the crowd. Striking up a conversation is not difficult. Of course, many, especially the younger ones, will want to try out their English as soon as they suspect that you are English speaking. Waiters will nearly always try to speak English to you, but if you look hard enough, some restaurants and waiters still respect their own language. But, and this is a big but, I found many restaurants, especially those run by Sicilians downright crooked, and in my next blog I will go into detail on the several bad experiences I had.

54 –Selecting ARCA as My School of Choice

2010-11-26T11:46:00.001-08:00

In describing my search for the “right” school, that is, the school that would best suit my current needs, I am hoping that you will extract something to help you in your choice. Bear in mind that a school that suited you when you were first learning Italian just may not be what you want now at a more advanced level.

Twice I had used the web site it-schools.com to find a school and each time I had been satisfied, but the other times when I didn’t use this site I had been disappointed. I was even reluctant to return to Italy after my experience at Scudit. So when I decided to try again, I went back to the it-schools.com web site. I had decided that I wanted to study at Bologna because it was famous for its university and its cuisine. Moreover, I didn’t want to go south of Rome, and Venice was too touristy. Also, from Bologna I could reach many interesting cities in a short time.

From it-schools.com I found several schools and wrote to them, explaining that I was looking for a school that emphasises conversation. I also suggested that they peruse my blog if they want to understand what I was seeking. All came back with their stock replies – you can recognise this because they don’t answer your questions! Two schools did make reference to my blog – ARCA and another one.

I had also asked the members of my Meetup Italian Conversation group for recommendations, and someone had recommended Cultura Italiana because she had studied there. Normally this should have been a green light, but what is good for the goose may not be good for the gander. I wrote to Cultura Italiana, and it replied that if I wanted conversation I should take their individual lessons. In short, they weren’t interested, and so I dropped them. My rule is that I avoid schools that don’t go beyond their stock response. I decided to focus on ARCA because it was prepared to engage in a dialogue and it was in Bologna.

After my experience at Scudit I had decided that I would not decide until I had explored all avenues and could feel tolerably satisfied that I would find what I wanted. I asked for references and they gave me the name of a fellow Canadian student who had studied there. She gave the school a glowing recommendation and explained what they had done. Normally I would have been satisfied, but I still had reservations. After all, she was a senior university student studying Italian and probably had a level way beyond mine. If you are an advanced student most schools won’t throw grammar at you but, I hope, conversation. And I didn’t think I could classify myself as an advanced student. Based on class tests I took at ARCA I would be classified as an Advanced Intermediate [2B].

I had many exchanges of email with Serena who runs the administration, and I am grateful for her patience. Following a conversation with her on Skype we agreed that I should speak to Michael Cotton the Director of the school. We spoke for over an hour, and I discovered that he was English and that ARCA had originally been a school that taught English to Italians. I believe you can get a good feel for the school by talking to the Administration. Besides, if they are prepared to speak to you for over an hour on Skype it shows that they care. Compare this to Cultura Italiana’s response! Michael sensed that I was still uncertain so he suggested that I speak to one of the teachers, which he arranged.

I spoke to Mauro for an hour and a half on Skype, and I asked him to give me an example of a typical lesson, which he did. At that point I felt comfortable that if I went to ARCA I would receive the type of teaching I wanted, namely one that emphasised conversation. In short, I would find the type of lesson where the student played an active role rather than one where the student sat passively and the teacher poured into him volumes of grammatical rubric.

So I recommend that you choose your city or area, and use it-schools.com to find the schools. Next contact them, first by email, and then when you have narrowed down your choice speak to the people running the schools. But first make sure that you know what kind of school you want. As I have been stressing, Italian-run language schools stress grammar sometimes at the price of conversation. The best of these, like Leonardo at Siena also have a reserved time for conversation. But for me, at my intermediate level, I wanted and want the emphasis to be placed on conversation, which is what ARCA gave me.

In my next blog I will discuss Bologna.

53 ARCA – Reservations

2010-11-24T16:07:00.001-08:00

To give a balanced assessment of ARCA I would like to share with you two minor disappointments I experienced with the school. I certainly can’t blame it for the first one, which is more a product of the student body or me, or both of us. The first disappointment is the feeling of isolation I experienced over the four weeks. The second was the disappointment I felt with my first day of what was meant to be the start of a four-week course.

At all the other schools I attended, I never felt out of place despite being so much older than the other students. They ranged from 19 and up, but no matter their age, most were “open” to meeting and sharing with others. It is really not a matter of age but of maturity. I never felt an age difference, and we often joined in non-school activities. Not so at ARCA. I did not make any friends of whatever age. It could have been because in my class I was the only new student in a group that had known each other for a long time. Nor was there anyone else outside of my class with whom I could share activities. My compensation was that Bologna had a lot to offer in terms of free museums and concerts, and I had a very fine landlady with whom I held long conversations. But I was very happy when in my fifth and last week at Bologna my friends came to visit me.

This sense of isolation is not a fault of the school. It has no control over its student body, and being a small school, it has a limited spectrum of people. You will probably encounter a different set of students when you attend. Or, you may not care, especially if you are attending for a shorter period, or you may like being alone. Of course, if you are younger you won’t experience, I hope, the isolation I had felt.

My second reservation has more substance. When I signed up for the 4-week course I expected that the course would have a start date and an end date. It certainly had those in the on-line calendar. In fact, these dates seemed to have no significance, at least from the student’s perspective. It seems one can join in at any time, stay as long as one wants, and leave. I found the same problem at all the commercial schools I attended in Italy. For more honest advertising the schools should inform potential students that there is no start or finish and perhaps indicate what will probably be taught in any given week.

Perhaps because there was no true start date to the course, ARCA had no welcoming reception. ARCA does not need a reception in the form of a social gathering because it is small enough that new students can be introduced to those already attending at the long coffee break or pausa. But the school should have a welcoming procedure for all new students and it should introduce the administration and most of the established instructors. It should not rely on any one instructor but should be a policy of the school. The purpose of this reception is to give an introduction to ARCA, Bologna, and more importantly, to such important information as telephone numbers for police, hospital, and immigration. Ideally, it would also contain a current list of recommended eating-places.

In my next blog I will describe how I arrived at selecting ARCA.

52 ARCA: Extracurricular Activities

2010-11-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

ARCA offered a good selection of extra-curricular activities. Once every two weeks we had an out-of-town excursion. During my four weeks we visited Ferrara and Ravenna. On the non-excursion weeks we were taken on tours of specific locations in Bologna. In terms of excursions and in-town visits ARCA was equal to both Leonardo at Siena and Linguait. However, ARCA interspersed weekly outings to a local bar. We also went out for dinner twice during this time; once as a farewell for some students and the other time during the Notte Bianca, a night where everything stays open all night, or at least very late. I certainly have no grounds to complain about the amount of extra-curricular activities. Compare this to Scudit, where we had one tour and one visit in four weeks!

My reservation is not with the amount of extracurricular activities but with the kind of activities. There was too much emphasis on drinking at a bar for my liking. Doubtless this appealed to the younger students and instructors. Since they comprised the majority, I presume one should not complain. I recognise that the student population defines the kinds of activities held. Nonetheless, there were also older or “mature” students to whom sitting around a table guzzling wine or beer while being deafened by the noise of voices and music is an unsatisfactory way to spend an evening. It’s not that I don’t like a drink – I enjoyed the evening spritzes at Verona where we could talk and be heard. I also enjoyed the two dinner outings although neither could compare with the dinner Leonardo at Siena arranged for a group of us.

My impression, and it is only an impression, is that unlike ARCA, Leonardo at Siena had put a lot of thought into what they wanted to offer to their students. We had the customary out-of-town excursions and visits to points of interest within Siena. However, the school also seemed to have a goal, which was to introduce their foreign students to Tuscan culture. This meant, besides visits to churches and to other towns, an introduction to Tuscan food. Thus we had a lecture one afternoon on authentic Tuscan cooking. We also had a “Tuscan dinner” outside the city walls, and oh, what a dinner! Five years later and I still remember it with great fondness. It could be that Leonardo at Siena had a larger student population with more mature students, which facilitated such a dinner, but as I mentioned, ARCA was not devoid of mature students.

Bologna, besides, is famous for its cuisine, rightfully so or not, and I would like to have had some introduction to Bolognese cuisine. Although at ARCA I did have an instructor teach us how to cook several dishes during the first week when the regular teacher was absent, this was more an impromptu response to a request by the class rather than a school project. True, one could sign up with a separate culinary institution, but Leonardo at Siena took it as part of its mandate to introduce us foreigners to Tuscan cuisine as part of their introduction to Tuscan culture. I would like to have had ARCA do something similar for Bolognese or Emilia Romagna cuisine.

In my next blog I will discuss two minor disappointments I had with ARCA.

51 ARCA: Beyond the Classroom – Instructional Activities

2010-11-18T22:54:00.001-08:00

For most of us the reason for going to Italy to study the language is the belief that we will be able to practise it outside the classroom. In Bologna I found that people [but not waiters or the young] would reply to your queries in Italian. And here ARCA offers something that I had not found at the other schools: the possibility of connecting with an Italian student to exchange English for Italian.

Since the school also teaches English to Italians, it has, or could have, a wonderful resource to help us. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until my last two days that they found someone for me, because the university was only just starting in September. As it stands, the student attending ARCA has to make a proactive effort in order to link up with an Italian from the school. I firmly believe that if ARCA were to have a bank of past and present students who would like to practise their English in exchange for Italian, it would strongly enhance its attraction as a school to attend.

What I did have was an excellent landlady with whom I had long conversations. Four out of my five times in Italy I have rented a room with a family, and my stay at Bologna was by far the most rewarding. ARCA did a wonderful job by placing me within walking distance of the school as I had requested. Aware that my grasp of Italian was limited, my landlady spoke at a measured pace with me, and we had interesting, long conversations. I couldn’t have asked for more even if I had signed up for private conversational classes! But generosity was not limited to her time and patience. She also taught me to cook, made me coffee in the morning, and invited me to dine with her on more than one occasion. As there were also two Italian tenants, I certainly found opportunities to converse. Thank you, Cristina.

Speaking well means pronouncing correctly. Unfortunately, a surprising gap in ARCA’s armoury of pedagogical tools is its neglect of pronunciation. It seems to be a common neglect, because of the five schools I attended, Leonardo at Siena was the only school to work on our pronunciation. It sponsored an hour-long extra-curricular class in the afternoon where a drama teacher ran us through a set of pronunciation exercises. It was a hilarious hour, lots of fun, and educational. I would like to see something equivalent featured at ARCA since it is a school that emphasises communication. Combine this feature with accessibility to Italians for an exchange of language practise, and ARCA could boast a really unbeatable programme.

In my next blog I will discuss the extra- curricular activities I found at ARCA.

50 Is ARCA the Right School for You?

2010-11-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

Before you decide on a school you need to ask yourself what kind of school do you want. Do you want a school where you sit more or less passively and receive instruction for most of the lesson? Call this approach the traditional approach: highly structured, and intent on teaching you grammar. This approach you can find at most Italian language schools. You can also find the same back in your hometown.

Italian-owned language schools from my experience, and from what I learnt from others, focus on grammar. For example, when I tried to explain to Robert Tartaglione, the Director of Scudit, that grammar should not be the major emphasis, he launched into a tirade about the importance of grammar, and that one could not speak without knowing it. If you attend this type of school, and are lucky, your mornings will be broken into two hours of grammar and an hour of oral work. At Scudit we didn’t even have this hour of oral work. If this is the approach you want, then I recommend Leonardo Da Vinci [Siena] or Linguait [Verona].

If you judge your “money’s worth” by the quantity of information received as manifested by the notes given and taken, you will certainly come out from a four-week course at one of these schools with a substantial amount. But I doubt if you will be able to speak nor will you remember much of what you were fed. And being “fed” is an apt description. At all three of the schools mentioned above, the instructor spent the last days giving a list of words that we might find “useful”. If they had been given at the beginning of the course and we were then led to use them they might have proven useful. But as such, they were indigestible, and soon forgotten.

On the other hand, if you want to speak the language, then I recommend ARCA’s communicative approach. If you are used to the traditional method you may feel uneasy that there appears to be little structure and minimal content. Don’t fret that things seem so slack. As Polonius might say, there is method to their madness. You are receiving what you need in order to communicate, which should be your goal. Relax. Learn what grammar they give you in class, and embrace the many opportunities to speak. Don’t be afraid to try out what you have learnt in the school’s relaxed atmosphere. You will improve, which is all you can expect in four weeks.

In my next blog I will start my discussion on features, or the lack of, beyond the classroom.

49 ARCA: A Typical Lesson

2010-11-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

Although we had up to eight or nine students in the class, we rarely had more than five or six, for most had been attending for almost a year, and many had developed a life outside the classroom – Bologna has many student bars! In fact, in my class I was the only “new” student. I had signed up for the four-week course that started in September.

Although our instructor had a pre-determined grammatical content that she brought to the class, for example the futuro, condizionale, etc. she started by asking if there was something we wanted to practise. Someone had asked for the congiuntivo and so we worked on it. She gave us a sheet that explained its major guidelines, that is, what we would need for general use in conversation, and not an exhaustive treatise on the congiuntivo. I learnt very quickly that I had overstudied my grammar because for the past years I had studied on my own from a Grammar Review Handbook for university. What I needed for communication was a lot less than what I had studied.

We would do a set of exercises from handouts, and then she broke us into groups for discussion with the goal of using the congiuntivo [or whatever the grammatical subject we were studying]. Homework would be to complete the drills, which were reviewed the next day.

We read articles, which we had to explain, and this was followed by mini debates, where she encouraged us to use the congiuntivo [or whatever grammatical subject we were studying]. However, it was never forced on us. For example, we may discuss without using the congiuntivo. She might rephrase what we said, or she may add something to the debate, in which she would use the congiuntivo. And as we got accustomed to hearing the congiuntivo used, some of us began using it. If we misused it, as I did, she corrected me. The best analogy I can give for her approach is that of shaping a figure from plaster: no major wrenches, but just gentle contouring – adding the use of the congiuntivo where we found it comfortable to use. These exercises and discussions were repeated over the week and beyond. What this approach does is gently ease us into using the grammatical point until it became second nature – at least for some of us.

The pausa [coffee break] took place between 11 to 12 in the morning. The entire school adjourned to the predetermined coffee bar on the piazza Santo Stefano where we all sat around little tables, and of course, chatted in Italian. To a superficial onlooker, this long pause might appear as a waste of time, but on closer observation one would notice that the instructors always mixed with the students and generally distributed themselves about the group. Anyone who was left out either from apprehension or timidity would be soon roped into conversation with one of the teachers. This would also ensure that Italian was generally spoken and thus the long coffee break was transmuted into an hour of casual conversation with no pressure on the speaker.

After the pausa we returned to class where we continued where we left off, or sometimes on Fridays we played a word game where one person on a team had to explain a word without using it – a practical way to improve one’s vocabulary.

In my next blog I will discuss whether ARCA is the right school for you.

48 ARCA, Bologna – A School for Conversation

2010-11-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally found it: a school in Italy that really focuses on conversation. The proper, technical term would be “Communication”. If you have been following this Blog you will already know that I have been desperately seeking a school that emphasises speaking rather than grammar. Not that grammar was not taught, but that it was always and only the handmaiden to our oral use of the language.

Located in the centre of Bologna, ARCA is a small school whose roots are to be found in the teaching of English to Italians. Hence its original name: Modern English School. The Italian side followed later. With its English origin and practice, the school not surprisingly approaches the teaching of Italian based on a philosophy used in teaching English as a Second Language [ESL]. In this approach the emphasis is placed on communication and not on the study of grammar.

Being a small school, ARCA has a small corps of permanent teachers who are all Italian natives and have all trained in the ESL approach to language teaching. This itself is revolutionary, because the method runs contrary to all their training as teachers of Italian. The advantage for the students is that there should be a homogeneous approach at the school. So my experience should be found [within reason] in any of the other classes.

The first thing that strikes an incoming student is the relaxed, friendly atmosphere – everyone is a member of one extended family. Now, other schools, in fact, I would think all commercial schools, try to generate a friendly atmosphere, but at ARCA you sense that it is genuine. Everyone knows each other, and during the break called the pausa, everyone [students and teachers] wander down to the coffee shop at the nearby piazza Santo Stefano, where we sit around a set of tables and chat for an hour or more. It’s all very relaxed.

This casual, relaxed atmosphere pervades the classroom, but don’t be fooled. My teacher wants this casualness for a very specific purpose. As she explained to me, one can’t speak a foreign language when one is all tensed up. Worry about the grammar when trying to speak and one won’t speak. Instead, be like children at the playground: they just talk and let loose. From time to time she would nudge one along the right path with a correction or by some grammatical exercise, but being relaxed and just speaking was the goal. For me this apparently simple lesson was the hardest to learn, and I set it down to the fact that for too many years I was trying too hard and being obsessed with grammatical correctness. My epiphany came when I made the analogy to tennis: learning the theory of a backhand and being conscious of the mechanics when you strike the ball won’t help you in a game. But going out on the courts and just hitting the ball back and forth and eventually, with guidance , you will develop a good backhand that is second nature. Remaining relaxed and not fretting over the “correctness” of one’s speech was the big and important lesson I learnt from ARCA.

In my next blog I will discuss a typical lesson at ARCA

47 My Article in HLT: Humanising Language Teaching

2009-12-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

I have written an article on the type of Italian course I want, and HLT: Humanising Language Teaching has kindly published it. For those of you who may not know, this web magazine is a mouthpiece for a more interactive approach to teaching as championed by Mario Rinvolucri.

To reach the article:
1. Type http://www.hltmag.co.uk
2. Click on Current Edition
3. Scroll down to Student Voices.
4. Click on Student Voices.

Please note that the article has my old email address. My new address is reynoldh@shaw.ca

46. Buying A Dictionary When in Italy

2009-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

From my own experience I would recommend that when in Italy you take the opportunity to bring back a full-sized dictionary. Your instructors could inform you as to what to buy. From Verona I brought back a Sabatini 2008 Italian to Italian, and last year from Rome I brought back a Garzanti Hazon di Inglese 2009 More importantly, I also bought their respective CD. In fact, you may be able to buy just the CD. I find I hardly use the paper version of the dictionaries, although they are useful to have.

I am sure you have discovered that often if you look up a word in the English-Italian section and then look up the Italian word in the Italian-English section you will sometimes discover a totally different word! What I do is then turn to my all-Italian Sabatini, which then often launches me into a pleasant and interesting journey as I track down the words whose meanings I don’t know in order to understand the original explanation. It can even become a lesson on its own!

I like my Sabatini because it is very easy to use on my computer. The Hazon CD is, in my opinion, a trifle idiosyncratic, but it offers, or attempts to offer features like “false friends” and other methods of searching for word usage. Once you get used to its method of accessing the features you may well like it. I don’t own the all-Italian Hazon CD, but it has an interesting feature – it has a voice pronounce the words [or so I believe]. Perhaps the latest Sabatini also offers the same feature.

If there is one feature I don’t like about the Hazon it is that one has to re-insert the CD after a month or two. I couldn’t make a backup copy of the CD, so I don’t know what happens when or if the CD should cease to function. I think this is an important point to bear in mind when selecting a dictionary on CD.

If you should pale at the thought of lugging a full-sized dictionary back to your homeland have no fear. When returning from Verona I inserted the Sabatini in the centre of my suitcase and from Rome I carried the Hazon in my carry-on. Obviously I was not burdened with excess luggage!

Why did I choose the Sabatini and the Hazon over some other? The Hazon was recommended to me by an Italian friend. With respect to the Sabatini, I was actually in search of another dictionary recommended by my instructors. However, I walked into this wonderful bookshop owned by an old gentleman totally surrounded by his books – one could hardly walk in the shop-- with whom I had a marvellous conversation in Italian, and he persuaded me to buy the Sabatini. And I have no regrets.

45. A Comparison of Scudit with Linguait and Scuola Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) (4 of 4)

2008-12-15T10:34:00.000-08:00

Extra-curriculum Activities
Leonardo: This school offered a host of activities: mid-week lectures on Tuscan cooking, the contradas, pronunciation, and guided tours to churches and galleries. The highlight, though, was the dinner at a local inn located on a farm.

Linguait: Each week there would be a free showing of a film with subtitles, but these were not integrated into the morning lessons. Consequently, attendance was very poor especially for the older films. There was a weekly visit to some location of interest in Verona. There were also communal activities during which we practised our Italian. As I have re-iterated several times, even in Italy most students converse in Italian within the walls of the school rather than outside.

Scudit: Offered a weekly film, which was better attended than that at Linguait because of the effort by the Director. He would go from class to class recruiting for the film. Besides the film, we had a lecture on the lyrics of modern Italian songs. It could have been in lieu of the weekly film, or in addition—I can’t remember.

Both Linguait and Leonardo – especially Leonardo —offered so much more than Scudit that I regretted not having chosen another school in Rome. With the advantage of hindsight, I believe I should have kept to my normal policy of going to It-schools.com and selecting a school in Rome from its list.

Excursions
Leonardo: Each weekend, the school offered a tour to other cities in Tuscany and Umbria. Generally, the median price of these excursions was 30 Euros [2005]. I found them good value, but it was perhaps a bit steep for some of the younger students.

Linguait: Each week there was an excursion to somewhere outside Verona – to taste artisan-made grappa, wine, olive oil, or to visit an exhibition in Venice or another neighbouring city. As with Leonardo, I found these excursions good value, but not some of the younger students.

Scudit: There was ONE excursion, namely to Frascati and it was educational, enjoyable, and affordable. The total cost per student could not have been more than 12 –15 Euros. Unfortunately, it was the ONLY excursion in the four weeks of the course.

Common Room
Leonardo: None. Students leave after class and return when there is something sponsored.

Linguait: Not really, but has a small hall with Internet and 4 computers. It was only one minute to local café and bars. Students can also borrow videos and books. Has Internet access.

Scudit: Not really. Has a hallway and has wireless Internet access.

44. A Comparison of Scudit with Linguait and Scuola Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) (3 of 4)

2008-12-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

Administration
Leonardo: The Administrator/Director remained behind the scene ensuring that the school ran smoothly. My only objection is very much a personal one in that I didn’t think she was really interested in the suggestions I made at the end of my stay.

Linguait: The school had both a Front man and a Back room Administrator as well as other owner-teachers. I thought this was the best administered of the three schools in what I consider the most important aspect – the placing of students at their correct level and ensuring minimum disruption from new and departing students.

Scudit: The Director was front and centre at this school.

Incoming Test
At all three schools incoming students had to take a test before being placed.
Leonardo: A very thorough test comprising, grammar, reading, writing, and speaking. The last occurred after the Administrator had marked the written test. My only complaint was that there was no follow-up after we had discussed my strengths and weaknesses. See Blog 7.

Linguait: A written test followed by an interview as per Leonardo. Despite my caveat with Leonardo, both schools were thorough in testing students and in trying to place them at the appropriate level.

Scudit: The test was strictly on grammar, and as a result, my class displayed a wide range in terms of comprehension and ability to speak. Although the school was flexible enough to move students about, a more thorough testing, or just an interview might have helped when placing students. Poor testing results in insufficient consideration before placing a student, especially as the school claims to emphasise conversation in its brochure.

Orientation - Reception
Leonardo: There was a welcoming reception, but no effort to introduce students to each other at the reception. If my memory serves me, there was another reception two weeks later. But there was no real orientation that I can remember.

Linguait: There was a welcoming reception and some effort at introducing students to each other. There was also an orientation at which we were given information on Verona, including restaurants etc. Even if some of the material needed to be updated, full credit should go to the school for this effort.

Scudit: No welcoming reception, no orientation. Nothing. Nada. Shades of Università per Stranieri, Perugia! (See Blogs 4, 5).

43. A Comparison of Scudit with Linguait and Scuola Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) (2 of 4)

2008-12-10T11:05:00.001-08:00

Objective
Leonardo: Solid foundation in grammar based on the school’s own textbook. Second part of the morning is devoted to conversation.

Linguait: Focuses on the “spoken language” but tied to grammar. Class started by students recounting what they had done or whatever. The second part of the morning is devoted to conversation.

Scudit: Essential grammatical points. Class started by students recounting what they had done or whatever. No special time allotted to conversation. Any conversation occurs in response to questions.

Material
Leonardo: The school has its own set of exercise books that range from Beginner to Advanced. The instructor also brought in extra photocopied material

Linguait: The instructor used photocopied material, although I hope someday the school produces its own textbooks based on their approach of focusing on the “living” language.

Scudit: The instructor used photocopied material but a lot less than at Linguait. It appeared to me that the same material was re-cycled through different classes perhaps indicating a prepared approach. At least, I hope so.

Quality of Teaching
All three schools offered a high-level when it came to quality of teaching. All the teachers were approachable and patient.

Leonardo: We had a change in instructor after the first two weeks –I was told this is part of the school’s rotating policy. Perhaps one of the two instructors was a little blasé and at times was “winging” it.

Linguait: We had a main teacher and a second one who came in for the last hour for strictly conversation.

Scudit: One teacher for a week or more depending on what happens when students leave. Depending on how much movement there is, it could be less satisfactory.

Although at both Leonardo and Scudit the teachers were high energy and good, I preferred the instructor at Linguait who had a more measured pace and was easier to follow.

Ambience
Leonardo: Excellent atmosphere: professional where staff were friendly but only spoke Italian [as far as I know] so one had to converse in Italian. There was no mixing between staff and students outside of class. It was a school where one attended and left after classes. However, unlike Scudit, the school held a good mix of extra-curriculum activities.

Linguait: Very friendly, in that the staff went out of its way to create a friendly atmosphere. Unlike Leonardo, staff would adjourn for a drink with students after an excursion. I found their meetings to grant diplomas with applause, hugs, etc a little too gushy, but, then, I’m a bit of a cynic and grouch. Nevertheless, I do believe that many people will enjoy the school’s friendly atmosphere. My main objection was the mixed focus in that the staff did not always speak Italian.

Scudit: Like Leonardo, very professional in that the staff only spoke Italian to the students [as far as I know]. And like Leonardo, it was a school where one attended and left after classes. Instructors were friendly, and approachable. The ambience reflected very much the personality of the Director.

42 A Comparison of Scudit with Linguait and Scuola Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) (1 of 4)

2008-12-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

In this and the following three blogs I will attempt to compare Scudit (Rome) with Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) and Linguait (Verona). I have omitted the University per Stranieri, at Perugia because it was such a BAD experience that I wouldn’t wish it even on my worst enemy. Do bear in mind that I attended Leonardo da Vinci at Siena four years ago and things may well have changed. There are several Leonardo schools, including one in Rome, but remember that beyond the text books, what applies to Siena may not (probably does not) apply to the other Leonardo schools.

City
Leonardo: in Siena, Toscana. Beautiful city, beautiful Tuscany countryside with accessibility to other interesting cities. Had very little contact with the local people, whom I am told are highly insular. The taxi drivers, waiters, and sales clerks I encountered were honest!

Linguait: in Verona, a beautiful Roman city – a smaller Rome, or a smaller Florence -- take your pick. More of a Northern European feel about the place. I liked the city and the people I met.

Scudit: in Rome. The Eternal City; The city of dog poop; of churches, museums …it’s all here. Most clerks and bus drivers insisted on speaking English.

Course Attended
I attended the Standard 4-week Course at each of the schools. These courses had a definite start and end date. However, at all three schools these dates seemed to have little significance since students could enter and leave at any time. At both Leonardo and Scudit the so-called 4-weeks was broken into two 2-weeks periods to accommodate new students. I maintain that if a school advertises a course for a set period it should limit entry to those students who take the entire course.

Disruption by Incoming Students
At Leonardo and Scudit there was a definite interruption as the instructors awaited the distribution of new students.

Leonardo: we were “occupied” by a film while new students were being tested. We also wasted a good portion of the first week while the instructor reviewed what we had completed with the new students.

Linguait: most of the students stayed for the four weeks and there was no pedagogical cooling of heels while we waited for new students. We received three new students in a class of 10, but there was no going over earlier material. These students appeared to fit in well. In this respect, Linguait did offer the best sense of continuity.

Scudit: My class from the second week dissolved away after one week and I was placed into a new class in my third of four weeks! So much for the so-called 4-week “course.”

41 What to Avoid in Rome

2008-12-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

They call Verona “little Rome” because it too has a Coliseum and Roman ruins and is, indeed, a Roman city. However, it differs from Rome in one major way – Verona is a lot cleaner. I was amazed how often the city cleaners cleaned the streets each day. I presume, Rome being a large city, cannot have the same level of cleanliness. Rome is called the Eternal City. Well, I would also called Rome the City of Dog Poop. Whatever you do, keep your eyes on where you place your feet!

Before I visited Rome, I had horrible fears of pickpockets and purse-snatchers, but I found that the Historical City is really quite safe. This does not mean that pickpockets don’t thrive, especially in crowds or on the bus from the Termini station to the Vatican. Currently (2008) Rome has a right of centre mayor, and like Verona, the police are everywhere but not intrusively. This makes good business sense because tourism is a major industry. Nevertheless, keep your wits about you.

The police can’t protect you from scammers since scamming involves your voluntary involvement. Do be careful of anyone asking the way or who wants to borrow your map or your cell phone. By all means lend if you are inclined, but if the conversation goes further and he offers you something just remember the good advice given me (but alas too late), “when money is raised, walk away!” I wish I had! The scammer’s approach is to befriend a mark and then offer something out of “friendship,” which one then finds difficult to reject because one does not want to offend.

Another type of scamming is institutional in the sense that restaurants that cater to tourists often have hidden costs. One can have dinner sitting under the stars even in October, something most of us enjoy. These restaurants often advertise their menu, and all looks reasonable – 6 to 10 Euros for pasta and other reasonably charged features. However, when the bill arrives you will discover anything up to a 3 Euro cover charge for eating at an outdoor table, plus 10% Service Charge, plus exorbitant charges for wine, coffee, etc. One way they hit you is to charge 5 Euros for a glass of house wine or 12 Euros for half a litre. Coffee can cost as much as 3 Euros -- at a bar it’s 0.7 Euro. By the way, “Service Charge” is not a tip for the waiter but for wear and tear. Waiters are well enough paid that a tip is not expected but appreciated. A tip is one Euro per head or less, and not the North American 15% and up!

Do read your bill and be very aware of what you hand over. I went to a restaurant near the Coliseum, and for once had a waitress who was attentive and spoke Italian to me. I thought, “how nice, I am being pleasantly served in Italian”. But then another waiter with a cheeky mannerism tried to take over from her – I think he was the senior waiter. He started by speaking German to me, then English …I just glared at him. Whenever he came to ask if I wanted something else I answered abruptly no, and then called her over and told her. When it came to paying the bill I wanted to make sure that she received the tip. I gave her a 50 Euro bill and she returned without the main change. I explained to her what I had originally given her. She was obviously embarrassed and hurried back to retrieve the correct change. I noticed her remonstrating with the other waiter, who had obviously handled the payment and had tried a fast one on her as well as on me. (I still gave her a tip.)

Finally, if you want to get away from the tourists eat at the time Italians eat, which is from 8 p.m. on. Also, remember that restaurants that don’t have outside dining or are hidden away from the main tourist thoroughfares often offer good food at more reasonable prices.

40. Scudit in Rome

2008-12-03T10:51:00.001-08:00

There is a saying that one must see Rome before one dies (or is it one sees Rome and then dies?). Either way it certainly is true that Rome is breathtaking with its ruins, churches and galleries. However, let me divest you of one illusion, if like me you believe that there are seven hills around Rome. I think bumps in the road might be a better description of some of these “hills”! Bumps or hills, I certainly kept myself occupied for five weeks visiting the different sites and galleries.

For the student who hopes to practise Italian with the local populace, Rome is definitely NOT recommended. Normally, one wants to live in the Old or Historical City because that is where all the galleries and historical sites are found. Unfortunately, this is also the centre of the tourist trade. Most waiters spoke English, and insisted on speaking English even when I kept speaking Italian! I tried to ask a bus driver the direction and before I finished he had answered me in English and in a tone that let me know that he couldn’t be bothered listening to my Italian! Mercifully, occasionally I did find a driver who replied to me in Italian, but what got my goat was that the civil servants -- your museum attendants --insisted on speaking English. I can understand a sales clerk or waiter speaking to me in English, but I would have thought that servants of the state would take pride in their native language and speak first in Italian and only switch if they observe the stranger struggling to understand.

To order my food in Italian I mostly went east of the Termini station to the university area known as San Lorenzo. I’m told it is an old established working-class area, and amid all the wine and beer bars one can find excellent and economical restaurants. Here one can still find a carafe of wine for 5 Euros as opposed to paying 5 Euros for a GLASS of house wine in the Old City. To add insult to injury, it was often the same brand and type of wine! My only regret is that I only started going to San Lorenzo in my last two weeks. If you do follow my suggestion of visiting and eating there, I would recommend you take the bus rather than the train. Walking from San Lorenzo to the train station at night means you walk along a rather isolated and dark street. On the other hand, the bus leaves from within San Lorenzo.

Rome has so much to offer that you may well like to attend a school like Scudit that offers little – at least in comparison to some other schools—in terms of extra-curriculum activities. Being inherently lazy with a strong dislike for reading Guide books, I like to have a learned guide show me the sites. I certainly enjoyed the one and only tour the school sponsored. I just wished there had been more. I still have fond memories of how much Scuola Leonardo offered in terms of tours around Siena [See Blog 3]. Linguait also sponsored several tours around Verona. Both of these schools took their students to churches, museums and galleries. Alas, nothing comparable happened during my attendance at Scudit. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you from looking for another Roman school that has a fuller menu of extra-curriculum activities.

39. My Best Week at Scudit

2008-12-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

I don’t want to give the impression that Scudit was not a good school. As I indicated in blog 33, what the school did it did well, although I found its testing inadequate and its offering of extra-curriculum activities sparse during my four weeks. As I further stated in Blog 33, I had misread their brochure and consequently went with false expectations of classes focusing on conversation rather than on grammar. However, I was not the only one to misconstrue their publicity as at least two others I met expressed the same disappointment to me. As I mentioned in Blog 34, I complained to the Director that he had placed me in a class that was too easy and so for my second week he placed me in a different class. If the rest of my stay at the school could have been what I experienced during this week I would have been very happy indeed.

In this class the emphasis was truly on conversation. The instructor would throw out a subject for discussion or show us a cartoon strip and we would devise a story based on the drawings. Although the instructor had grammatical points she wanted to discuss, she allowed the class to follow its own head. For example, one day she mentioned something scandalous that she had read in the newspaper and asked us for our opinion. So we got into a lively discussion. At times, she would stop us and explain some grammatical point that one of us had used incorrectly.

On another occasion, the instructor brought in a set of comic strips and each of us had to take a role and act out what we thought was happening between the characters. We spoke a lot and laughed a lot, and again, the grammar “lesson” rose from our efforts to speak. By the end of the week I was feeling more comfortable speaking. I felt less rushed so that I was beginning to use the appropriate tense. If I could have had four weeks of this type of class I am sure my ability to speak would have taken a quantum leap. Unfortunately, the following week there was a wholesale exit of students and I was placed back into a “normal” class, at which point I resigned myself to another standard course of grammar with some conversation. If you read this blog and know FIRST-HAND of a school in Italy that teaches the way I am advocating -- conversation with grammar coming from the discussion - - please do let me know.

38. Scudit: Insufficient Extra-Curriculum Activities

2008-11-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

My purpose for attending a language school in Italy is two fold: to improve my Italian and to have a holiday. Living thousands of miles away in Western Canada, I have to spend a lot of time and money to pay a visit. Not surprisingly, I want a school that offers both good instruction and a full plate of interesting extra-curriculum activities. I think most private schools recognise this second need. They see these activities as both entertaining and educational, for they not only contribute to the enjoyment of the visit but also create opportunities to practise the language. With this in mind, I must admit that I was quite disappointed with Scudit’s very limited offering.

What the school did offer it did well. During the first week we were taken on a guided tour of Piazza Popolo and its neighbourhood. But that was the only tour in my four weeks. There were no visits to churches, galleries, or restaurants. Rumour had it that the person in charge was sick, but there appeared to be no backup policy in place. So those of us who had come from afar and did not have the benefit of a quick return were deprived of an important aspect of our visit.

The weekly film was generally well advertised, with the Director going from class to class and advising students of the upcoming film. Each film was generally introduced or followed by a short lecture. We also had a lecture by the Director on the modern Italian song. I can’t remember if this lecture was in lieu of a film or in addition to the weekly film.

The one other activity offered and the highlight of my four weeks was an excursion to Frascati. Following a guided tour of the town we adjourned to a cafe where we drank the famous Frascati white wine. This was a wonderful evening, and full marks must go to the school. Most importantly, the cost was low – price of a train ticket was 1.90 Euros one way, 5 Euros for the tavern, and we bought our own food from the local stores. The total cost was such that everyone could afford it, and I think other schools could learn something from this philosophy of an outing.

Unfortunately, that was the extent of the extra-curriculum activities at Scudit for my four weeks. Perhaps one reason why it did not offer much in terms of activities could be that it tends to cater more to European students for whom Rome is just a step away. Perhaps the school failed to realise that we outlanders from overseas may be on our one and only visit to Rome and want to make the most of it. To appreciate how slim were the offerings by Scudit, compare them to those of Scuola Leonardo at Siena [Blog 3] and Linguait in Verona [Blog 25]. Or type http://www.it-schools.com* and locate those schools listed in Rome.* You can find out what cultural-social activities the different schools offer. Perhaps some of these schools might be overstating their “offerings,” but nonetheless extra-curriculum activities appear to play a major role in their educational and social philosophy.

*I recently met someone who had attended a school named Ciao and sang its praises both for its teaching and its extra-curriculum offerings. I myself was seriously considering attending this school but chose Scudit because, as I indicated in Blog 33, I had misunderstood what its brochure meant by “emphasis on conversation”. However, I must stress that I have no personal experience of Ciao.

37. Scudit: No Orientation or Welcome

2008-11-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

At Scudit there was nothing for incoming students -- no welcoming event, no orientation, nor any attempt to introduce students to each other outside of one’s own class. There was no sense of a society of people pursuing the same goal. Except for a few of us in my class, I did not find that there was any interaction between students. The school was very much one where one attended one’s class and then left; or attended the weekly film and left. If this lack of social activity appeals to you, you will like Scudit. Presumably, you have a social life outside the school where you can practise your Italian. However, most foreign students who go to Italy to study the language do not have this luxury.

It is really quite ironic and UNTRUE that one BIG advantage in going to Italy to learn the language is that one will be able to practise by speaking to the populace. In my opinion, students are really an isolated group in the midst of a larger populace with whom there is little communication. Sure, hang out at the bars [coffee and alcoholic] or at the discotheques and you can doubtless find the opportunity to chat with someone. But not everyone likes to spend time at these locations. Or, if these places are the true source of learning the language, then I would recommend that you save your tuition money and spend it at the bars! The truth is that most of one’s speaking of Italian is done with other students and teachers, and this is especially true in Rome, where people will more often answer you in English as soon as they detect that you are an English speaker!

Unlike Scudit, at both Linguait and Scuola Leonardo non-class activities played an important role in furthering one’s language skills. At Linguait there was a very strong effort to encourage intermingling through inter-class activities such as games and excursions. Although it did not have a common room, the local bars were two minutes from the school, and students were encouraged to meet there for a drink. Scuola Leonardo lacked a Common Room or a local bar, but the school was very active in introducing students to cultural features of Siena – all in Italian. During my stay Scudit offered very little in terms of extra curriculum activity.

36. Scudit: Class Instability

2008-11-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

It seems to come with the territory, but all three private language schools I have attended manifested a lack of stability in its student population over the declared length of the course. Ostensibly, each course was four weeks, but the “four weeks” was really broken into two-week periods, and so those of us who travelled from afar to attend the entire course were subjected to the inevitable disruption that occurs while new students are tested and placed. To make matters worse, it appeared that one could join or leave at any time.

This practice of allowing students to enter at any time may be economically advantageous to the school, but it is highly disruptive and, in my opinion, unfair to those of us who sign up for the entire course. If a course has a set day when it starts and ends, the school should respect these dates. Either declare the course a 2-week course -- or for whatever period of time the school deems fitting -- or allocate the students accordingly. Students who attend all four weeks should be in one class, and those for 2 weeks or less in another. With the current practice, the schools are exploiting the forbearance of those who attend the entire four weeks of the course.

At Scuola Leonardo, we were actually stalled for an afternoon while the incoming students were tested. We also lost most of the third week as the instructor went over the same material with the new entrants. At Scudit I lost the entire class after my second week. In fact, I got the impression there was a wholesale shuffling of students old and new. I even found material that had been taught to me in one class repeated in the next right down to the handouts. Ironically, the course had a definite start-up and final date, and yet students could join at any time. Full credit must go to Linguait because there my class was fairly permanent for the four weeks, and the small number of new entries did fit in easily.

Let me repeat: I think a school that truly respects those students who sign up for the entire 4-week course as advertised should run a separate class for them. Otherwise we are being unduly exploited because it is most disruptive if not also dishonest to hold back our class while they test and place the incoming students. I strongly urge anyone who is thinking of registering for all four weeks of a 4-week course to first find out from the school what is its practice with respect to short-term students. If possible, avoid those schools that allow students to enter at any time.

35. Scudit's Method

2008-11-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

The typical night-school courses in Italian, and perhaps even intermediate Italian at a university, would consist mainly of grammar drills. For example, when I started learning Italian in Vancouver, in my first three courses --Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced (really a hyperbole)-- we did nothing but exercises and dictation ad nauseam. Students who have suffered through this style of language learning would certainly benefit from Scudit’s approach. What Scudit did well was to extract from these standard language courses what is essential. At the end of four weeks I had a good bird’s eye view of the tenses, and this was fleshed out with knowledge of certain word usage and phrases.

Like Scuola Leonardo da Vinci [Siena], the ambience at Scudit was professional in that communication was strictly in Italian. At no time did any instructor (as far as I know) break into another language. This was laudable, for after all, we attend the school in Italy in order to learn and practice Italian. In this respect, I think Linguait could learn from Leonardo and Scudit.

An interesting practice was to “forbid” the use of dictionaries. The instructors would protest loudly but humorously if a dictionary were produced. Their reasoning was that if the student did not know the word there were other words and ways to express oneself. And if really stuck, one could ask the instructor. Not allowing the use of a dictionary was an excellent and refreshing practice because verbally we had to stand on our two feet rather than rely on the dictionary as our mental crutch. And surprisingly, I soon discovered I didn’t need it. In fact, I even stopped carrying my dictionary when I went for walks in Rome – although I should hasten to add -- I hardly spoke Italian in the city. Still, a certain confidence comes with not having to fall back constantly on a dictionary. And confidence is what we need to speak a foreign language.

The teaching that I received was of a high level, for my instructor knew her material and also demonstrated a high level of energy. So if content and delivery were excellent, why would one not attend Scudit? If these are your only criteria, then by all means go there. However, I would imagine that many other language schools in Italy could also serve your purpose to develop both a good grounding in Italian grammar and the ability to speak. For example, Leonardo da Vinci has a well-established programme with its own set of textbooks for each level. You also receive a certain time of the morning devoted to conversation – all this and a lot more (see blog 8). On the other hand, if you want to base your studies more on the everyday language of the street, you can go to Linguait (See Blog 21). From my perspective, other criteria also come into consideration such as stability of the class and extra-curriculum activities. Finally, choice of location may play a role, but this has less to do with the school.

34. Scudit's Entrance Test

2008-11-19T10:28:00.001-08:00

All entering students have to take a test on their knowledge of Italian grammar. The test I took covered tropics found in a “standard” Italian language course. There was no testing on comprehension or conversation. Given the “method” of the school, the test serves as a template with which to place the students.

My knowledge of grammar was rusty because for the past year I had avoided studying grammar. Rather, I had focused on comprehension by watching movies, reading, and conversing – at least as much as I could get. I’m sure I made a mess of the test, although a night’s review of my notes soon brought back the grammar. On the other hand, I am certain that a week, a month, a year later, I still would not remember the rules because learning to speak Italian is a hobby and not a university or job requirement. I expect to continue to make errors when I speak and to be corrected until I assimilate the rules.

Although the simple grammar test might serve its administrative purpose for placing students according to their ready knowledge of grammatical topics, it also had its drawback. As happened at the University of Perugia, a class would have a mixture of those adept at speaking the language but weak in grammar and those who were weak in conversational Italian. When it came to conversing, those students who could speak tended to dominate. There is also a natural predilection for the instructor to turn more to the students who can speak rather than listen to the halting attempts of the weaker students.

I presume it was because of my test result that I was placed in a class which I found too easy, and, in my opinion, wasted my first week. In fairness to the school, when I complained to the Director, he was sufficiently flexible that he placed me in a different class. If the other three weeks could have been as my second I would have been very, very happy.

33. Scuola d’Italiano [Scudit ] in Rome

2008-11-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

It was Alexander Pope who said, “fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” and with hindsight, I can tell you that I was a big fool. As I mentioned in my last blog, I read Scuola d’Italiano’s [Scudit’s] brochure, I liked what I read about emphasising conversation, and so I signed up without further ado. What spurred me to go to Scudit was the following sentence in its English-written brochure:

Great stress is therefore laid on the spoken language . . ..We concentrate mainly on getting the students to speak ….

Well, I thought, Scudit is the school I have been looking for, because after taking courses in Siena, Perugia, Verona, Vancouver, and at home, I really did not need more of the same. Not that I knew my grammar, but what I didn’t remember I could easily review. What I needed (and need) was conversation and more conversation until I could with ease use the right tenses and find the right word at the right time. I believed, and still believe, that only practice would give me this ease. And here was a school that promised emphasis on conversation.

My mistake (not the school’s) was to think that Scudit was comparing itself to other Italian language schools in Italy. For example, at both Leonardo da Vinci (Siena) and Linguait (Verona) we studied grammar and we conversed. So obviously, I thought, Scudit was offering something very different – a course where (I thought) conversation was stressed and grammar derived from the conversation as the need arose. How else could it offer a different approach? Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Scudit was really comparing its method to the “traditional” old-fashioned approach which, for lack of a better word, I call “academic”. I think this is still quite common for most of us who study Italian in our home country. For example, my first three Italian courses at night school were of this nature – essentially grammar and written exercises. Size of the class is often also a limiting factor. Given this comparison, I would say that certainly Scudit does stress the spoken language.

However, when compared to the other private language schools I attended in Italy, I would say these schools gave more opportunity to converse than Scudit. Like Scudit, both Leonardo and Linguait had a mixture of conversation and grammar. As at Scudit, initial conversation occurred when the instructor asked each of us to recount what we did the previous day. Then the grammar or language lesson began. But unlike Scudit, both Leonardo and Linguait gave over the second half of the morning to conversation. Even the University for Foreigners at Perugia, with its large class, had special hours for conversation.

In short, Scudit does not focus on conversation beyond that practised at the two private schools I had attended in Italy. Indeed, even less so. In fairness, it does not claim to offer anything different from other Italian language schools. Moreover, what it does do it does well enough, and its teachers are lively. But why choose Scudit over another school? Frankly, if I knew then what I know now about the school, I would not have chosen it even though it does a good job teaching. Many reasons come into choosing a school – at least for me, and I will discuss them in subsequent blogs.

32. Finding a School

2008-07-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

This blog is probably appearing late for many of you, who will already have chosen or are already attending a language school in Italy. If so, I apologise, but I do hope it will prove of use to some of you. In one of my earlier blogs I did mention a web site that listed some schools -- http://www.it-schools.com email: italy@it-schools.com. I would like to pass on some information from Mr. Alberto Rossi from It-schools.

In one of my blogs I think I referred to It-schools as an association that vets those schools listed by them. Mr. Rossi has very kindly corrected my error. He points out that “It-schools is not an association but simply a private (little) advertising company …a ‘search engine’ specialised in Italian schools.” There are, instead, two “principal quality checkers” – the Italian Ministry of Education and ASILS, an association of Italian language schools “with some standards about quality”.

The Ministry abolished its vetting programme and has not as yet replaced it with anything else. ASILS is not comprehensive. As Mr. Rossi aptly puts it, “there are a lot of good schools without the recognition of the Ministry as well as a lot of good schools not being part of ASILS. There have been also some bad schools, recognised by the Ministry!” All this brings us back to the original question, how does one find a “good” school, or one suited to your interest?

I’ll tell you how I found the three schools I attended and let you draw your own conclusion. The Università per Stranieri a Perugia was highly recommended to me by a friend, and in my past academic experience I had heard of the University of Perugia. My decision was a no brainer. It had to be good school. Well, if you read blogs 4 - 6, 9,10 you will know just what a terrible learning experience I was subjected to. If you read my blogs and still go there and have a bad experience you have only yourself to blame. You have been warned!

Scuola Leonardo and LinguaIt I chose without advice. I found the It-school site and “mistakenly” thought that it was an Association. I was impressed by the fact that Scuola Leonardo was government approved and of long standing. Little did I know that such approval was outdated. I was toying between Lucca and Siena when a friend told me how beautiful Siena was! And so I chose Siena and had a wonderful experience.

Since It-schools has served me well once, I decided to use it again, and based on LinguaIt’s publicity about teaching everyday Italian I chose it. Again, I have no major regrets. As Mr. Rossi has pointed out to me, some of the schools have been listed for over 12 years and some he has personally visited. I am sure Mr. Rossi would be happy to advise anyone who so needs advice. Personally, I have no problems about choosing a school listed on It-schools. Which brings me to my last point.

In September I will be going to Rome to study. I found the school’s brochure at the Italian Consulate, and I liked what I read about emphasising conversation. I registered. I assumed that the school was part of the It-schools stable, but I have since found out that it is not. Nor is it part of ASILS, and further, it prides itself in not being a member of anything. I have also found other (I hope minor) features a little troubling, but I have decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and attend. You can read about my experience in early November. Let’s just hope I haven’t found another school as bad as the Università per Stranieri a Perugia!

31. Lingua-It: (12) Verona

2007-12-14T11:53:00.001-08:00

I chose to study at Lingua-It in Verona, Northern Italy, because the city is less than an hour from Venice, and close to Padua, Mantua, and Vicenza. It is also an hour away from Lago di Garda, the touted scenic beauty, and in the heart – or near the heart –of the Valpolicella and Soave vineyards.

Verona is a city full of Roman ruins, with a Roman arena at one of its two major piazzas, Piazza Bra. The city has done an excellent job in preserving the ruins, often under glass, which you can see as you walk along the streets or in piazzas. Then there are the straight streets engineered and built by the Romans.

Verona has been described as a “smaller Florence,” and the similarity holds in terms of having a river divide the city into two parts, but it lacks the calibre of paintings one can find at the Pitti or Uffizi palaces. Verona’s collection of paintings is located at the Castello Vecchio and there are some very interesting pieces. But don’t take my word for it since I’m no expert! Apparently, what Verona does have is some excellent Gothic and Roman churches. I must confess that I would not have visited them if two friends who are art historians had not visited me and taken me on a tour of the churches. Unlike Perugia, one has to pay to visit them. If you do visit Verona, I strongly recommend that you spend a day visiting San Zeno, the Doumo, and Santa Anastasia. A good guidebook will list the others that one should visit.

If you are so inclined, you can also visit the home and “tomb” of Juliet of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ fame. I am surprised the city fathers have not hired someone to carve her name on the “tomb”. Still, I can recommend visiting the house where her tomb is located, not for the tomb but for the other artefacts displayed at that location. As for her “house,” well, I didn’t bother . . ..

Do remember to buy a Verona Card. Unlike Perugia, where your card is good for a whole year, in Verona it is good for three days. You can buy cards that last longer but they cost too much. This difference in availability sums up for me the difference between Perugia, a university city of culture, and Verona, a city of commerce. If you are thinking of visiting the sites on a weekend, remember that most of them are closed on Mondays. So do your touring on Friday to Sunday.

What struck me about Verona is its cleanliness and orderliness. It appears as if the sweepers are out ensuring that the city remains clean at all times. In the old city at least, I did not see needles or spaced out junkies and, in fact, the city seems to be a very safe place. I have since heard that there are some bad areas in the outskirts, but then, what city does not have these afflictions? Even the number of hawkers in Verona are few, unlike Perugia, which abounds with hawkers and, I’m told, now (2007) with druggies.

Perhaps one reason for this sense of law and order in Verona is that the municipal government is right of centre. The police are always around the corner to ensure that common sense reigns. When at 5 p.m. the city turns into one large cocktail party as people take to the cafes and bars to have their aperitif, you won’t see drunks or any such stupidity.

Historically, Verona is very much a Northern European city, having been for many years part of the Austrian Empire. Then, of course, there was the less than savoury flirtation with Fascism and Hitler’s jackbooted boys. The proximity to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and its historical connections result in Verona becoming the playland for tourists from these countries. In September the place was crawling with Germans, and probably, at other times too. Of course, the city responds with signs in German and waiters and clerks who will speak to you if not in German then in the international language of commerce -- English. In practical terms what this means for someone trying to practise the language is that Verona may not be the best choice. However, walk away from the tourist centres like Piazza Bra, Piazza Erbe, or the Duomo and you can find restaurants where they will speak Italian to you. But hide your dictionary!

30 Lingua-It: (11) (Verona) vs. Leonardo da Vinci (Siena)

2007-12-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

I attended Leonardo da Vinci two years ago [2005], and many things may have changed since then. I am not including the Università per Stranieri, Perugia, in this comparison because I do not recommend that you attend that school unless you are a masochist! (See blogs 4 - 6, 9,10). However, there are two private schools in Perugia, but I know nothing about them. There is also another school in Verona, named IDEA Verona. I know nothing about this school, except that I did not pursue my enquiry any further when they replied to my questions with stock answers. For all I know, it may be an excellent school.

Size
Lingua-It: Small [approx 30] when I attended
Leonardo da Vinci: Larger, numbers unknown to me but certainly more than 30 when I attended

Year Founded
Lingua-It: 2002
Leonardo da Vinci: 1977

Membership
Lingua-It: Member of Italian Language and Culture schools
Leonardo da Vinci: Member of Italian Language and Culture schools

NOTE: The following is strictly hearsay: that Leonardo da Vinci is old enough to have achieved the government licence, which was then discontinued. Whatever is to replace the licence has not as yet been issued. Hence many other schools, especially the newer ones, lack this licence.

Teaching Philosophy
Lingua-It: No set text book. Emphasis on spoken language based on grammatical subject of the lesson
Leonardo da Vinci: Grammar, established, in-house textbook

Location
Lingua-It: Verona, Veneto, Northern Italy; 1 hour from Venice. Felt very safe. Met a Veronese who was an excellent host. Enjoyed talking to the hosts at the Cafè Tubino
Leonardo da Vinci: Siena, Tuscany. 2 hours from Florence. Felt very safe but Sienese are notorious for being self contained

Common Room /Meeting Place
Lingua-It: Not really, but has a small hall with internet and 4 computers. One minute to local café and bars
Leonardo da Vinci: No Common Room. Does have a terrace where people can meet during class breaks.

Extracurricular
Lingua-It: (Free) weekly walking tours of sites in Verona and weekly showing of films
[Pay] weekly guided tours outside Verona
[Pay] biweekly guided tours of other cities

Leonardo da Vinci: (Free) weekly walking tours of sites in Siena, gallery tours.
(Free) lectures on cooking, contradas, pronunciation
[Pay] weekly motor excursions to other cities but not with a guide

Highlights
Lingua-It: Visit to Vicenza and exhibition of paleochristian art with art historian
Aperitifs at bar

Leonardo da Vinci: Dinner at a farmhouse. Workshop in pronunciation

Bright ideas
Lingua-It: list of restaurants, etc
Leonardo da Vinci: Dinner and workshop – see “highlights”

Weakness:
Lingua-It: cooking classes never materialised
Leonardo da Vinci: nowhere for students to meet [2005]

Strength
Lingua-It: Small, friendly and everyday Italian stressed
Leonardo da Vinci: Only Italian spoken by instructors [2005]. Well established in its ways

Cost
Lingua-It: 630 [2007]
Leonardo da Vinci: 670 [approx.] [2008]

Which School to Choose?
That depends on what you want. If your Italian is fairly advanced, that is, you have covered the grammar (or most of it) I would recommend Lingua-It. You’ll probably go through the grammar again, but this time with an eye on what is important for speaking. If you know little to no grammar and would like a more regimented classroom approach, I recommend Scuola Leonardo.

If you want to be immersed entirely in Italian, that is, where the teachers speak only Italian, I recommend Scuola Leonardo. Of course things might have changed in two years, but I hope not. On the other hand, If you are not fussy about being entirely immersed in Italian, then Lingua-It is your school.

As far as cities go, both are beautiful cities and both inner cities are safe (as “safe” can be). Verona has a right-of-centre government, which, I assume, would be strong on law and order. Siena, on the other hand, has an in-built mechanism – the contradas – to control the young. Frankly, I prefer Perugia to both despite its growing drug problem, because it is a cultural Mecca.

At Siena (2005) you could still try out your Italian with waiters, taxi drivers, clerks, unlike Verona where everyone wants to speak English (or German).

From Verona you can easily visit Venice, Padua, Mantua, and other North Italian cities. From Siena you are not far from Florence and all the other Tuscan towns. However, both Venice and Tuscany are crawling with tourists!

29 Lingua-It: (10) Awarding of Diplomas

2007-12-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

In my “General Assessment” (Blog 20) of Lingua-It, I mentioned as rather over-enthusiastic the practice of awarding “diplomas” accompanied by fulsome praise to anyone who had attended for however long or brief a period. The students don’t have to sit a test, nor do they have to finish the course. So someone who attends for a week is given a round of warm applause and a certificate, as is one who attends two weeks, three weeks, and so on. Everyone -- students and teachers-- gathers together. The instructors make or listen to speeches and everyone applauds each student receiving a diploma. I am reminded too much of cruise ship personnel who exude cheerfulness as they cheer off one set of disembarking passengers while cheerfully welcoming the next set!

I also think of evening classes, subtitled “Study with a Friend,” sponsored by the school board of my city, where at the end of a course one is given a diploma stating that one has attended the course! As befitting the diploma’s true value, namely that it signifies nothing beyond attendance -- these “diplomas” are handed out without any enthusiastic celebration. At Scuola Leonardo, Siena, they don’t indulge in any such make-believe diplomas, because there is a government sponsored examine one can sit when one has reached the necessary level.

Maybe I am too much of a Puritan (or just a grouch). Perhaps some people like to receive a “diploma” however ersatz it might be, or perhaps they need it to take to work to validate their absence. So if you are comfortable with the practice, don’t mind my objection. Frankly, I think the present system undermines any aura of seriousness to which Lingua-It can lay claim. If need be, the school could proffer letters of incompletion stating that the student has completed so many weeks of the course and inviting that student back to finish it at a later date. Those who have finished a course could receive a “diploma” for that level -- provided that the level of that student has been assessed. This can be done by in-class reviews of work rather than any heavy-duty tests. I think such an approach would give legitimacy to a happy and friendly event that could carry some significance but sans the frenetic “cheerfulness”.

28. Lingua-It: (9) Cooking Classes and Other Social Activities

2007-12-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Lingua-It’s advertisement claims to offer “a range of Cultural Courses, Laboratories and guided Tours that, in conjunction with language classes, expose students to all facets of Italian life, language and culture.” Well, maybe. During my four-week stay there were no cooking classes (a touted option), no wine and cooking “laboratory,” and not even a lecture on Veronese cooking. Apparently, the cooking option was a one-evening affair -- a cook and eat activity for which they could not get the necessary number of students when the time came. Perhaps the price was too high. I think the cost would have been about 60 Euros. I found it all very disappointing. Perhaps if the school had arranged a dinner without the cooking lesson there might have been takers. Besides, for a school that advertises its friendliness, I was surprised that it did not sponsor an event that epitomises social togetherness – a dinner. Yet, Lingua-It’s on-line brochure states, “In conjunction with, but independent of, the cooking course, LINGUA IT organises outings to typical restaurants in the Verona area” [Lingua-It’s emphasis]. No such outings occurred in the four weeks of the course I attended. At Scuola Leonardo,Siena, the school arranged a dinner at a farm that was a memorable experience. Although Scuola Leonardo at Siena did not offer a cooking course (2005), they did hold a free lecture on Tuscan cooking, which was most enlightening.

It seems to me that Lingua-It is doing itself (and their students) a disservice by its exaggerated advertisement. For example, under “Wine and Cooking” it states, “LINGUA IT organises cooking courses for those who want to master the great traditions and techniques of Italian gastronomy or those who simply want to satisfy their taste buds. The classes, conducted by qualified teachers, are held in the afternoons or evenings in a fully equipped but welcoming environment.” The advertisement continues, “Each lesson ends with a convivial lunch or dinner in which participants can savour the delights of the dishes prepared, accompanying them with the most befitting and delicate wines of the region.” In reading this advertisement I was left with the impression that I would be signing up for a weekly cooking course. In fact, it was only for one evening but, as indicated above, it did not materialise. If the summer programme differs from the autumn one in having weekly classes, the advertisement does not make this distinction clear.

It seems that the school’s advertisement on the web offers a lot more than it delivers. If classes are dependent on the number of students signing up, that should be made very clear to prospective students. If I were cynical, I would suggest that the school is guilty of making the right gesture to get the credit, rather than trying to make the advertised activity a successful reality. In other words, more advertising than substance. On a more charitable note, one could argue that the young school is still trying to find its rhythm, and like youth, it has a tendency to rush into promises of projects that are sometimes unrealisable. As my yoga instructor would say, “less is best”.

27. Lingua-It: (8) Paid Extra-Curricular Activities

2007-12-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

Paid Tour of Countryside
At Lingua-It there would be a weekly paid tour such as a visit to the annual rice festival; a cantina to taste Soave wine; or an artigiano [hand crafted] grappa or olive oil production. Often these also included a guided tour of a place of interest such as a church. The fee was usually about 20-25 Euros [$30 –35]. Not surprisingly, the most popular was the wine tasting! I think these tours were (and are) good value, because without a car, local knowledge, and connections the students could not have arranged such visits. I also believe that, if run properly, all extracurricular activities contribute towards our learning the language, because we get an opportunity to converse with native speakers. These can be the welcoming “host” or they could be our instructors who lead the tours.

It’s amazing how few Italians one meets socially while attending a school in Italy. In Siena I met no one outside of my host family. In Perugia I had several wonderful conversations with people who chatted with me in the streets. And in Verona I was fortunate enough to have met two gentlemen, one a Veronese, who was most hospitable, and the other was a gentleman from Torino. I still communicate with both. In the ideal world, we would be so engrossed in social activities involving local Italians that we would unconsciously develop a fluency in the language. In other words, our mind would have assimilated the language so that it became second nature to think in Italian. In the real world, we rely on tours, visits, and lectures sponsored by the school we are attending. Hence my reason for attending everything and anything. Besides, against the cost of travelling to Italy, school fees, accommodation, and food, the price of the tours is a mere drop in the bucket.

Paid Visit to Another City
Every other Saturday there would be a major excursion, usually costing about 40 to 45 Euros [$60 – 65]. The first trip was to Vicenza and an exhibition of paleochristian art; the second was to Venice and an exhibition of Islamic-Christian art; and the third was to Mantua, which I had to miss. The guided tours of art and Roman archaeology were excellent because they were led by Enrico, who is an art historian. Certainly, his guided tour of the paleo-Christian exhibition in Vicenza – in fact the whole tour -- was a wonderful, educational experience.

I enjoyed these tours and was quite prepared to pay the price. I did not have to deal with Italian train schedules, tickets, etc., and had the company of a knowledgeable guide. Not all guides are equal, and two years ago I caught out my commercial “guide” in Florence fabricating a story, which she acknowledged when I asked her on the quiet. I noticed the same tendency here as at the Scuola Leonardo, namely a preponderance of “mature” students because of the cost. In 2005, the median price at Leonardo was 30 Euros per excursion, and many of the younger students thought that they could do better on their own. I suspect the same held true at Lingua-It, or perhaps they preferred the discotheques!

The problem for me was the occasional speaking of English by the guides. (See blog 25 “Guided Tours of City Site” for my discussion on the subject of speaking one’s mother tongue or English.) I was told that the reason for the English was that since the students paid for the tour they might feel short-changed if they could not understand the guide. At Leonardo we did not have an official guide -- one has to have a licence in Italy -- but we had a driver. Fortunately, [or unfortunately if you are of that mind] he could only speak Italian, and so at least our excursions were also an opportunity to converse in Italian with him.

26. Lingua It: (7) Free Extra-Curricular Activities (Cont.)

2007-12-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

Film
Each week at Lingua-It there would be a free showing of a film with subtitles. These ranged from old black and white to modern-day classics, and Christian would introduce them with a short preface. The idea of showing a film is excellent, because it can function as a learning tool. Yet, for the three times that I attended, there were so few students that one could count them on one hand and still have fingers left over. Interesting enough, the Università per Stranieri, Perugia [but see my warning about attending this school in blogs 4 - 6, 9,10!] also showed films on Thursdays and Fridays, and they were packed.

Perhaps the films should be made part of the lessons leading up to the showing. If the purpose of showing the film is for more than just entertainment, then there certainly needs to be some sort of integrated response. For a school that prides itself in teaching everyday Italian, it would seem to me that these films would be a good source of such language. Scuola Leonardo did not show films [2005], but they offered other free activities that were interesting and geared to enhance our knowledge of Tuscany and our understanding of Italian. We had a lecture on the contradas followed by a visit to a contrada; we had a lecture on Tuscan food; and for the pièce de resistance we had an afternoon with a drama teacher who made us act out the different sounds of the language! We laughed a lot and we learnt a lot from these extracurricular activities.

25. Lingua It: (6) Free Extra-Curricular Activities

2007-12-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

Guided Tours of City Site
Each week, Lingua-It offered a free guided tour of some facet of Verona such as “Roman Verona,” street murals, or a Roman church. The tour guide was generally Enrico whose speciality is art history. The tours were highly informative and at the end we would adjourn to a bar at Piazza Erbe for the customary Veronese happy hour. At Scuola Leonardo we were also taken on guided tours (but, alas, no happy hour followed!) Both schools deserve full marks for their guided tours of their respective city, but I noticed one --at least to me-- major difference. At Siena, the guide/instructor spoke only Italian – slowly, carefully, and if someone did not understand she would repeat it perhaps a different way. I am certain there were beginners of Italian in the groups, but Italian was the medium. After all, these excursions were also seen as part of the educative experience. With Lingua-It, explanations were occasionally sprinkled with English for those whose Italian was still too rudimentary. I think we have here two schools of thought, and frankly, I plunk for the Scuola Leonardo’s approach.

So what’s wrong with having one’s mother tongue [in this case English] spoken occasionally or hearing it during one’s stay? Anyone who has taught a Second Language to adults, or studied one, knows that the biggest problem students normally have is to speak the language. Sure, part of the problem is our reluctance to make fools of ourselves (or perception of such), but the major part is that we tend to translate from our native tongue into Italian (or whatever language we are trying to speak). We have yet to reach that stage where we can think in the new language. When, or if, we do reach that stage, we become a true polyglot and can switch easily from one language to another.

Unfortunately, most of us who study Italian in our home country don’t spend more than 6 to 10 hours a week with the language, and often less unless we happen to be majoring in Italian at university. And even then the students are encouraged if not required to spend time in Italy. The rationale for the visit is to acquire this ease through a total immersion. Those who spend a long enough time in the country, for example, a year living, hanging out, studying, -- just mixing with Italians -- will acquire or go a long way to acquire this ease. For those of us who come for four or five weeks, nothing but total immersion will help us. Hearing or speaking our native tongue makes it too easy to slide back into thinking in it. Even hearing another language other than Italian can have the same effect. You know that’s happening when you hear Italian with German or English syntax!

It is not easy forcing oneself; after all the lowest energy level is always the most comfortable, and so it is so much easier to speak our mother tongue, but that is not why we attend school in Italy. If the truth be known, there are excellent teachers of Italian in Canada, the USA, Australia, etc. These teachers are usually native Italians, educated at Italian universities with as much to offer as the best in Italy. What they can’t offer, nor the school they teach at, is the total immersion in Italian for the duration of the course.

24. Lingua-It: (5) The Lesson

2007-11-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

Every morning at Lingua-It, the class started with our instructor, Giacomo, asking each of us what we had done the day before. This practice ensured that each of us was forced to speak Italian right from the get go! If we asked a question or if he happened to discuss something with one of us, it took the place of the question. This way he ensured that the class did not stray too far from the main lesson.

The main part of the lesson focused on some grammatical subject. Unlike other courses that I had attended before Lingua-It, Giacomo focused on the practicality of the grammatical subject with respect to everyday Italian. Let me give you an example. I have studied the Conditional in Vancouver, Siena, and Perugia, and engrained in me is the belief that one uses the Conditional to order something at a restaurant or bar. Now, perhaps at Siena or Perugia we might have been told how to order when at a restaurant, but the lesson certainly did not stick, probably because it was not at the centre of focus of the lesson. By his antics, drama, and humour, Giacomo impressed upon us that to use the Conditional when ordering at a restaurant or bar would mark us off as foreigners. I don’t think anyone in the class would ever forget the lesson.

As at the Scuola Leonardo, homework was given and corrected in class the next day. Giacomo was conscientious in going around the table so everyone had an opportunity to participate. In-class work was done the same way, but with the emphasis on what or how to use the grammatical topic in conversation. We also had to listen to audio conversations followed by in-class discussion, and I found this part of the lesson the most difficult. Although I recognise that I just was not up to speed, another contributing factor to my difficulty was the horrible echo in the room. It seems this too was a characteristic at Scuola Leonardo and at the Università per Stranieri, Perugia.

The last hour of the day was given over to another instructor, Ornella, whose function was to play word games with us. The purpose of these games was to increase our vocabulary and to prompt us to speak in Italian. With only 8 in the class, we had ample opportunity to participate, although it seems fated that there would always be in any class a perennial bore who drones on.

At times, usually on a Friday when some students were finishing their stay, the entire school would play some sort of game – either a quiz or a challenge in which groups would have to undertake certain projects like having the group’s photo taken beside a certain statue. The purpose I presume is to make one speak to strangers, either to ask the way if we didn’t know it, or to photograph us, or to solve some lore. These games were fun, challenging, and amusing, but, unfortunately, often only one person in the group would do the talking. I look forward to the day when the school develops a series of scenarios to be acted out in class and in the school, thus forcing one to learn the relevant words for the situation.

23. Lingua-It: (4) The Class

2007-11-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

The class I attended at Lingua-It fluctuated between eight and ten students, with the linguistic majority being German speaking, comprising German, Austrian, and Swiss German. We also had three Japanese and two Brazilians over the course of the four weeks. Everyone could speak some Italian -- I was the weakest -- and all seemed committed to speaking Italian except for the Swiss. Although her Italian was fine, she insisted on speaking German, and all but one of the German speakers promptly responded in German. So while we waited in the morning for the instructor, and sometimes even when the instructor was present, we would be subjected to a constant jabbering in German. As a result, for two weeks, while she was a member of the class, more German than Italian was spoken.

This situation continued outside the school whenever we adjourned to a café or bar. It is very tempting to blame the others who responded in German as exhibiting a wolf pack mentality, but I also realise that once the tap is turned on, it is difficult to turn it off. On the other hand, three different German students joined us for the last two weeks and they spoke only Italian.

Whether it was the wolf pack mentality or just the lack of quality in the first group of students I don’t know, but in a small school, one of the hazards is not being able to get away from the proximity of someone like this wretched Swiss woman. Asking her to speak Italian fell on deaf ears, and perhaps the only recourse would have been to abandon all good manners and tell her outright and forcefully to shut up. Bear this in mind should you ever be subjected to the same nuisance factor. After she left and the other three Germans joined the class there was a distinct improvement in class conversation, and I certainly enjoyed the last two weeks.

22. Lingua-It: (3) Orientation and Testing

2007-11-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

Orientation
On the first day at Lingua-It, all new students gathered in a classroom where Christian and fellow teachers welcomed us, something Scuola Leonardo also did. On the other hand, the Università per Stranieri, Perugia, had no such reception or orientation meeting.

We were supplied with a list of restaurants, bars, cafes, and other useful information. While I applaud them for their thoughtfulness, I must also add that good intention surpassed practicality. The list contained too many restaurants that were way beyond the budget of most students. Nor was the list kept up to date. I ended up finding my own favourite and reasonably priced restaurants. Also, one Internet centre on the list no longer existed, while I found by chance two others not on the list. Still, all in all, the list was useful, but could have been even more useful if efforts had been made to keep it up to date. I would like to point out that in Perugia, the university issued Student Card could be used at Internet Centres to achieve a discount. On the other hand, the Lingua-It, issued card was not recognised at the Internet Centre that I used in Verona, even though it was the same Internet company. Internet rates at Verona are, in my opinion, expensive.

Testing and Placing
As they did at Scuola Leonardo, each new student took a written test and had an interview in which the ability to speak the language was gauged. Nothing hectic, just a pleasant conversation, at the end of which the school placed the students. [Note that at the Università per Stranieri, Perugia, there was no interview, just multiple choice questions with the subsequent fiasco in placing students.] Whoever did the placing at Lingua-It deserves full credit. As the school claims, “always grouped with others of a similar skill level, students need not be fearful of class participation.” Once I overcame my initial hesitation, I certainly did not feel out-of-place in my group, and what is even more important, whenever new students joined the class, there was never any need to stop the lesson and try bringing them up to speed. Unlike my experience at Leonardo, where the class lost almost an entire week while the new students played catch-up, at the class just continued to roll on. The first day ended with a social gathering over wine and pop.

21. Lingua-It: (2) Primary Objective

2007-11-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

Lingua-It prides itself in its primary objective: “The school’s primary objective is to immerse students in the real language of Italy as it is used everyday by Italians.” Certainly, for me the school’s best point was its focus on teaching “the real language” as opposed to “academic” Italian. I came away with a list of 131 pointers gleaned from the lessons on what to use and not to use when speaking Italian.

When I asked one of the four owners to explain the differences in approach, she showed me examples from two “old-fashioned” textbooks. This “old-fashioned” approach to grammar drills involved the student filling in blanks in sentences that bore little relation to everyday life. In contrast, the examples we used were considered more “relevant”. To achieve this relevancy, students were given photocopies of drills selected from different textbooks.

Frankly, I think she was setting up some “straw men,” because no self-respecting school these days would use such antiquated examples as she showed me. Most textbooks these days use examples from life situations. After all, the exercises my class did over the four weeks came from other textbooks. I think that the difference between Lingua-It and say a more traditional school like Leonardo da Vinci is a matter of emphasis. I’ve looked through my notes from both Leonardo and the University per Stranieri, Perugia -- a school that I don’t recommend unless you are a masochist (See blogs 4 - 6, 9,10) -- and noted that each school also discussed the “real language of Italy”. It’s just that Lingua-It focuses on the “real language” in use, which makes it easier to assimilate. Still, it is a difference in approach, and even a difference in content for the student. I look forward to the day when the teachers at Lingua-It decide to write their own textbook based on every day situations.

20 Scuola Lingua-It: (1) General Assessment

2007-11-26T16:51:00.000-08:00

Lingua-It, Verona
From 17 September – 12 October 2007, I attended a four-week course at Lingua-It in Verona. Lingua-It is a young school, only five years old, with a small student population -- during my four weeks it had about 30 students or less. It is owned by four teachers, all of whom were in their 30s or early 40s. Amongst these, Christian is the interactive dynamo, Enrico the tour guide and art historian, and Laura the organiser. I had little contact with the fourth proprietor as she only returned from vacation in my last week. I would like to add that when I was looking for a school I wrote to the two schools in Verona but chose Lingua-It because it took the time to answer my questions. The other school sent me a stock letter as a reply, and I thought if that is all they could do then I certainly would not want to go there.

Advantages and Disadvantages
The big advantage in a small school is, obviously, the teacher to student ratio. Our class was never larger than 10 and, on average, eight. The major disadvantage with a small school is that the heterogeneity in levels can affect the quality of the learning experience. If all students in the school could speak Italian at some level, and were prepared to do so, speaking Italian would be the order of the day. Unfortunately, with such a small number, a group of non-speakers can have a detrimental effect because of proximity. Add to this those who choose not to speak Italian, and the purpose of coming to Italy to learn the language is easily undermined.

Teachers at Lingua-It
All the staff at Lingua-It are young, enthusiastic, and friendly, and the school generates an atmosphere of friendliness. In fairness, so too were the teachers at Leonardo da Vinci in Siena, which I rated highly (See blogs 3,7, 8,11), and I would imagine, a “friendly” atmosphere exists at most -- if not all -- commercial schools. But Lingua-It does try to go one step further. When a group goes on a school-sponsored outing, it generally ends with a drink at the local bar where students and those instructors involved in the tour will sit and chat. Occasionally, I have also seen instructors chatting with students over a drink. Although there is a standing invitation to join the staff for a drink or during lunch, the invitation is really more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Fair enough, since they also need their space.

General Assessment
Let me say outright that I was very happy with the teaching and what I was taught. But I found their awarding of “diplomas” accompanied by fulsome praise to anyone who had attended for however long or brief a period rather over-enthusiastic. I also found troubling a lack of commitment by the school to an ambience in which only Italian is spoken. And I was disappointed by what I consider “bloated” advertising. In fairness, some people may not consider these reservations as significant. Indeed, they may even consider the willingness of the teachers to speak English as an advantage. I certainly had an enjoyable time, and it is important to stress that although the grammar was not new to me, I certainly learnt a lot with respect to what is used in everyday Italian.

19. “Master” Classes for the Over 50

2007-07-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

In my search for a language school to attend this September I came across at least two that offer programmes specially for the “0ver 50s”—also called “Master “Classes”. I queried one of the schools, and the response I received explained that they were not discriminating by age, that these classes were “tailor made to match older students needs” …as an “alternative option for more mature people who would appreciate different aspects of Italian culture and way of life”. They also explained that these classes were “well received.” Well, if you are “over 50” and like that sort of thing, by all means take one of these courses when they are offered. Meanwhile, allow me to give you my thoughts on the matter.

I see NO need for such separation by age, and, moreover, I have to wonder about a school that offers these special classes. How do they treat or even consider students in their standard classes who are "over 50”? Do they consider us slow witted, hard of hearing – you know, on the verge of creeping senility that THEY…MUST…SPEAK . . . IN A LOUD VOICE …AND SLOWLY? What aspects of Italian culture would appeal to the “more mature” only? Pension funds, dying, death, wills?

In the course I attended at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Siena the ages in my class ranged from 18 to the 60s, with two of us taking up the senior status. When the school went on excursions the group again comprised all ages. Each brought his [or her] interest to the classroom and all was accepted. Such diversity helps to expand the choice of topics and points of view leading to a more diverse use of the language. No one felt out of place or out of phase, and the instructors did not have to slow… down … or …SPEAK … IN A LOUD VOICE for us old fogies.

Socially we all got along fine, and I also found my fellow non-North American students –even the youngest—so much more mature than their North American counterpart in the way they handled themselves. I think I would have definitely lost something if I had attended a class of just “Master [euphemism here!] students. My objection was not with my younger European and Asian fellow students, but with those North American students of any age who go to learn a language but insist on falling back on their comfort zone of speaking English outside the classroom.

In Perugia my class also ran the spectrum of ages from 18 to 67. I would like to point out that the person who spoke the best Italian was an American retiree whom everyone liked for his quiet courtesy. Again, we did many things together outside the classroom, but while some of the younger ones might have chosen to go to a disco on some nights I did not. Nor, for that matter, did the other “mature students” or the priests and nuns! This was not a matter of age but of personal preference as I was never attracted to such places. Those going certainly asked us to join. Each student brought something special including his way of looking at life, and age certainly played a role. What a diverse group we were: priests, nuns, art student, economic student, engineers, orchestra administrator, nurse –a real slice of life with a diversity of professions and age.

And here I would like to point out how we older types can play a special role. At Siena and Perugia it didn’t take me long to recognise that some of the younger students were on a very tight budget. The occasional invitation to join for dinner, lunch, or just an ice cream or coffee was always sincerely appreciated. Age was never a barrier, and the relationship was always one of affection. I remember with fond memory that at Siena a young fellow student, who knew that I had a bad sense of direction, insisted on going with me to Florence to help me with my bags and to ensure that I arrived at my hotel without any hitches. Thank you, Bianca!

Instead of cocooning oneself in the comfort of a homogenous group –be it age or nationality—I would suggest that one can get a lot more out of the classes where there are all types of diversity. From my experience, even the youngest was not self-conscious of age, and everyone shared in the common pursuit of learning the language and having a good time. The only contretemps I encountered was with Americans and Australians who insisted on speaking English outside the classroom.

So why the need for “master classes” for the over 50 if not to treat them as lesser beings with diminished faculties? One cynic said to me that it was for romance, in that these classes serve as matchmaking opportunities! Well, if it be so, do remember Hamlet’s admonition: “for at your age,/The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,/And waits upon the judgement.”

18. City Centre versus Suburb

2007-05-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

My ideal situation would be to live in the city centre with the school within walking distance but not in the centre. The last thing one wants to do is commute, especially when an Italian evening bus-schedule in some cities can prove a daunting challenge. I did live close to the centre in Perugia, but it was just too bad that my experience of the university was less than satisfactory. [See Blogs 4, 5, 6, 9, 10]. At Siena I commuted from the outskirts by bus – a mere 15 minutes, but it was long enough to separate me from the evening life of the city. I never did work out the evening schedule, or which bus to take to return home after 8 p.m.!

On the other hand, there could be a drawback if you choose to study at a "tourist" city like Florence and to live downtown. During my two brief visits to Florence I stayed at hotels by the Duomo, which made it wonderful for touristy activities. On my first visit, which took place at the end of May – early June, I did manage to find some restaurants that seem to cater more to Italians than to tourists. Perhaps it was early on in the season, and so I was spared the experience that I was to have on my second trip.

On my second visit in late September –early October, the tourist season – to my surprise – was still in full flight, and I failed to find a restaurant that was not catering to tourists or where the waiters did not insist on speaking English. One of the two restaurants I had enjoyed on my first visit seemed to have increased its prices while dropping its standard. English was the language of the day. Probably because of my poor sense of direction, I never found the other restaurant that I had marked as excellent. I’ve since learnt my lesson and keep addresses of restaurants whose food and ambience I enjoyed! Perhaps if I had been a student in Florence I might have discovered "local" eating places as I did for both Siena and Perugia. And what a pleasure it was to eat at these places – good food and good service. In contrast, I cringe when I think of some of the restaurants I ate at in Florence .

17. Old Buildings

2007-03-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

One feature that many institutions like to emphasise is the "historical" nature of their location. This is, of course, good marketing, especially to those of us coming from the New World. The attraction is that of the "quaint," of knowing that you are rubbing shoulders with "history" with a capital H. However, I would suggest that you ask yourself how much does the historical nature of a building contribute to your learning of Italian? There could be other, less favourable consequences from studying at an institution located in a "historical" building.

The two institutions I attended both boast of their historical buildings. You can find the following description on the web about the Scuola Leonardo in Siena: "located in a historical building, the school offers an incredible location, close to historic monuments, museums, shopping and more." And the University of Perugia for Foreigners describes how "in 1927 the University for Foreigners moved to its own premises, the Palazzo Gallenga, another ancient building, situated in the centre of the city." Other schools also play this "historical" game. For example, here is a description of a school in Venice, ‘An historic building with a wide terrace on the campo hosts the school."

So what have I got against "historical" buildings? Certainly, Palazzo Gallenga at the University of Perugia for Foreigners is beautiful with its paintings, murals, high ceilings, etc. and during the days when no teacher appeared, or arrived late as some so often did, one could with pleasure contemplate the beauty of the ancient classroom. At the other extreme was the "historical building" of the Scuola Leonardo, which was "historical", but the classrooms were just rooms, albeit with high ceilings. Certainly, because of their downtown location the schools allowed the students to experience the "pulse" of the bustling city.

The problem is that the acoustics in both buildings was terrible. The Scuola’s rooms were smaller and some had acceptable acoustics until a truck went past or the garbage cans rolled out, or people in the street started speaking in a loud voice. The same was true of Gollenga. At Gollenga the rooms had such high magisterial ceilings that one was always struggling with an echo. I would imagine that things would be worse in the summer months when the ceiling fan would be turned on. Frankly, I would gladly trade these historical building for a concrete bunker with good acoustics -- or at least, for a small classroom with good acoustics!

16. Conversation: Self Discipline

2007-02-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

Classroom conversation is only one contributing tributary to the ability to converse in Italian. Speaking to one’s fellow students outside the classroom is also very important. In my opinion, too many students switch back to their native tongue as soon as they vacate the classroom. Ways to avoid this is to NOT mix with your fellow countrymen or with others who speak English. It’s not just other native English speakers who pose a threat but also polyglot Europeans like the Dutch, Swiss, and many Germans. However, in my experience, these students are much better disciplined than North Americans or Australians.

For the first week at the University of Perugia my fellow students and I spoke English because the Europeans could speak English and Italian, and easily slipped into one or the other. I asked that the law be laid down, and from the second week everyone spoke Italian [with occasional lapses]. So discipline and will power are very important. If you lack these, another good way is to befriend South American or Japanese students. If I could speak Italian as well as the Argentineans I met, I would be very satisfied. In Siena, I spoke Italian constantly because my friends were Japanese and Swiss Romanisch, so English was not an option. The maxim, choose your friends carefully rings true when you are trying to speak another language!

15. Conversation: Common Room

2007-01-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

Part of the reason for going to Italy to study Italian is that we hope to immerse ourselves in the language, which means that we hope to speak it –however haltingly—both inside and outside the classroom. What this meant for me, and I think for most students, is that, regretfully, we would be speaking mainly with other foreign students. We are surrounded by a sea of foreign students, while Italians or Italian students are as rare as swallows in winter. Given this fact, a major contribution to a student’s conversational skills is the ability to congregate outside the classroom.

Neither institution I attended offered much in terms of a Common Room, but the university did have coffee bars to which we would adjourn during the breaks. This gave us a gathering ground with opportunities to speak among ourselves. The student dining facilities ["Mensa"] also offered another opportunity to sit and chat. Regretfully, the Scuola in Siena had nothing to offer, nor was it interested. When I suggested that a Common Room would be a good addition, the response was "we are not a college." Other excuses offered were that there was a shortage of space, or that when they tried to offer such a feature most students did not use it. In short, the school, or at least the administrator was not interested.

My idea of a Common Room is one where instead of the standard desk and chairs there would be sofas, coffee/drink machines, and magazines and newspapers. As in a doctor’s waiting room, these do not even have to be current. The curious hand will automatically pick up a magazine and attempt to read it. Having the room alone is not sufficient. The school has to encourage its students to use it. If the faculty would use it too, they would help create the right atmosphere. I would have signs saying that "Italian only, please" on each wall. The critical point is that the school must make the Room a central part of its teaching philosophy, because I believe it is here between students and faculty that one can comfortably try to speak the language. Not to have an active Common Room in which students and native speakers (i.e., faculty, staff, or anyone else the school could invite to attend) is to offer only half a language cake, and this applies to all types of schools be they university or commercial. In short, not having a Common Room in a language school is a fundamental pedagogical omission and undermines the activity in the classroom.

14. Conversation: Class Size

2006-12-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

I know there is nothing more deflating than to speak (or try to speak) Italian and the damn waiter or clerk replies in English! No better way to take away our fragile confidence! Still, let’s assume we are prepared to try. In my first blog I mentioned that for those with limited knowledge of Italian an achievable goal from a short stay would be to break the inarticulate barrier and speak not fluent Italian, but halting, limping Italian -- not always grammatically correct, but still Italian! This feat is achievable if we apply ourselves to trying consciously to speak both in and out of class, and it is in classroom situations that we have to break the first barrier. So the type of class we select is most important if conversational skills is our goal.

No matter how wonderful a teacher, if the number of students is large, a person’s time to speak will be, indeed should be, highly limited. An instructor who allows one student to hog the conversation is not doing her job properly. So what is a good number? Or expressed differently, what is a small class? I can tell you from experience that 15 is too large. There were 15 in my conversation class at the University of Perugia for Foreigners. An hour divided by 15 gives 4 minutes per person, if every minute of the hour is devoted to each student speaking. At the University, we had 2 three-hour conversation classes, which means 12 minutes of allotted time per student per session. This amount is not possible, given the need for instructions and preparations, etc. The instructor’s solution was to have mini groups working on a project with the expectation that the individuals in the group would be – actually had to—speak in Italian. One person from the group would be the spokesman. This was probably the best that could be done. Frankly, I don’t think I would have broken out of my linguistic shell if the University had been my first visit to a language institution in Italy.

Fortunately, I attended the private commercial school, Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in May 2005, when the student body was still fairly small. Apparently, the number grows in the summer months, but the stated maximum is 12 per class. We had 8 students in my class, and this number allowed the instructor to hold one-on-one debates. Although we did not have conversation-only classes, each class had a portion of time for oral work. I believe this is where I started to overcome the psychological barrier of finding the right word in time. I also believe that after a month at the university my ability to speak did not improve beyond the level I had attained at Siena. So my recommendation is if you really want to speak or improve your ability to speak Italian through use of the classroom, then choose an institution that offers [very] small classes.

13. Perugia vs Siena

2006-12-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

There are so many wonderful cities to explore in Italy that you should decide what you really want. The great cities like Rome, Florence, and Venice have a lot to offer, but they also "offer" lots of tourists, which means higher prices for accommodation and restaurants, and English-speaking waiters! Milan, I am told, is very expensive because it is the centre of haute couture. Or you may prefer a little town, where the populace are Italian speaking, but with little else to offer besides the town square. Well, that is not as bad as it may seem. If you are close to the tourist areas you can always make excursions. Besides, a month in a small Tuscan town in summer might be just what the doctor ordered! I think it really depends on how hospitable are the townspeople. With this in mind, I will make a brief comparison of two small cities, Siena and Perugia.

Siena is only two hours away from Florence and, historically, the loser in their historical rivalry. If you mention Siena to anyone, the first response is that it is a beautiful city. Indeed it is a small and beautiful city. As with all small towns and cities in any country, there are the "locals" and then there are the "outsiders". Apparently, even in Italy, the Sienese are known for their insularity. While visiting another town I struck up a conversation with an Italian. When I told him that Siena was beautiful but I found the people standoffish, he went into a tirade against them. As he explained to me, they only have time for themselves and that although he lived only a short distance away from Siena , when he attended university there he was always treated as an outsider!

I can understand, if not appreciate, this Sienese insularity. Historically, they are denizens of a city state on a hill often struggling for their independence, and their social fabric is closely knit by their contradas. These function like a cross between a social club and a co-operative, and serve to guide if not control the behaviour of the youth. As one instructor told me, Siena does not need discos because the contradas hold their own dances. Being so self contained, it is no wonder that they appear disinterested if not cold to the large number of outsiders, comprising tourists and students.

Before I describe my experiences at Siena , I do want to make clear that I am writing about Siena in May 2005, and lots could have happened in a year. Who knows, the drug problem could even have taken a grip in Siena as it has in Perugia. Also, during my stay I lived with a family in the outskirts, and so could not frequent the nightspots because of the bus schedule or lack of! On the other hand, there seemed to be a very limited number of bars. And let me also point out that in my dealings I found the clerks, taxi drivers – yes taxi drivers too --and waiters all very honest. In this respect Siena is unlike Florence where you thank the saints if you don’t get ripped-off by a driver.

The Sienese seem to have a total lack of concern for traffic and other pedestrians. Often when I was walking along the narrow street I would encounter a Sienese or a group of them, and if I didn’t get out of the way they would have walked right through me! In North America, if a young person did the same that would be an insult and I shudder to think what would break out. But the Sienese behave in the same way with cars. Often I've seen them just walk along while the car patiently creeps behind, and unlike Perugia, no horn plays! But I think the best example of this indifference to others occurred on a rainy day. We had been standing in the Campo watching the draw for the Palio when the heavens opened up. As I was getting totally soaked I followed the others and made a dash for shelter. There were people standing in the entrance of a shop and there was room for me. However, no one stepped aside to make room for me. I was literally standing out in the rain until I decided on prudence over politeness and pushed my way in. This indifference perplexes me. It seems as if the Sienese populace and the "outlanders" are like oil and water – they may interface but they don’t mix. As a stranger one feels tolerated but not welcomed. As you can guess, outside of my host family, I did not meet a single Sienese with whom I could have a conversation.

How unlike Perugia! It is much more cosmopolitan and consequently the people are more "open". True, it is a larger city with thousands of foreign students and tourists. I had several impromptu chats – one with a gentleman who recognised that I was using an old film Canon camera and so we had a discussion on the merits of the camera. On another occasions, I was watching a young man repair an old view camera, and his boss, a gentleman in his 70s started speaking to me and invited me into his apartment where we continued our conversation. On still another occasion I met a highly intelligent young lady and we had a discussion on literature. More of these and I am sure my Italian would have improved!

Perugia is also a gold mine, and you can find everything from Jazz to coffee bars where the local intellectuals meet. I just know that if I had stayed longer, or if I had spent more time in the cafes and bars I would have met more Italians – a feeling I failed to get about Siena . Despite my having fallen twice on the cobblestoned lanes, I would not hesitate to return to Perugia to study, but not at the university – that was not a good experience.

By the way, each time I fell a Perugian rushed to my assistance. The first time I fell in front of a café, and the barman helped me up and sat me down. Next he brought me ice. The second time I slipped in the rain and a young fellow came to my rescue. In Siena they probably would have walked over me!

12 Private School vs University

2006-11-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

If you intend to take a short-term course in Italy you have a smorgasbord of institutions from which to select your place of learning. Excluding American/British universities or language schools abroad, which are not what I consider bona fide Italian institutions, you can choose between an Italian private school and one of two universities. To get an idea of the number of private schools select the following link: http://www.it-schools.com/. The two universities are the University for Foreigners at Siena and at Perugia.

Price of Tuition
The following comparison of the cost of studying for a month at a private school and a university is based on Scuola Leonardo at Siena [2005] and the University for Foreigners at Perugia [2006]. Prices are in Euros.

Standard Course Euros
University of Perugia 300
Scuola Leonardo 630 [based on 4 weeks @ 560 + registration fee 70]

Contact Hours
Perugia Standard Course 20 hours First Level, 21hr Second, 23hr Third Level
Scuola Leonardo 20 hours per week [Minimum 2 weeks]

Maximum Number of Students
University of Perugia I don’t know the maximum number, but if the intensive course could have 17 then you can be sure that the standard course can have the same if not more.
Scuola Leonardo 12 students [declared maximum]

Intensive Course
University of Perugia 400
Scuola Leonardo 880 [at Rome/ and Florence]
1,260 [Intensive plus 5 hours/week private tuition]

Contact Hours
University of Perugia 27 hours/week
Scuola Leonardo 30 hours/week
25 hours + 5 private/week

Maximum Number of Students
University of Perugia 15 students and was 17
Scuola Leonardo 12 [declared maximum]

Food
University of Perugia 5 Euros buys you a good two-course meal at the canteen. One course [pasta] plus wine costs 2.30 Euros!
Scuola Leonardo No canteen

Lodgings
Depends on what you want: a studio, a room, or board and lodging, and I don’t think there is a major price differential between Siena and Perugia. On the other hand, somewhere like Rome or Milan might cost a lot more. In Perugia it cost me 600 Euros for a month for a studio [bedroom, living room with kitchenette, and bathroom]. In Siena, one month of homestay with a family with breakfast and dinner cost me 1000 Euros.

Summary
The university course is obviously a lot cheaper, but in return, you have larger classes. If you have read my previous blogs you will learn that you can also get some pretty shoddy treatment at the University for Foreigners at Perugia. If you are set on going to a university you might want to check out the one at Siena. But for all I know its Administration may be just as bad.

Although the cost of a standard course is more than twice the price, the total price is not that large to offset the advantage of a smaller class and a responsive system. The big difference is, of course, you can have cheap meals at the university canteen whenever you want to save. If cost is critically important, you can also cook at home if you have or share a kitchen.

If you want the advantages of a small class but don’t want to pay the exorbitant price for an intensive course at a private school, try taking a standard course and arranging a few private lessons per week.
In future I will select a private school because they are more responsive; at least –or at least I hope—I won’t have to deal with a diffident and anonymous administration as I had encountered at the University of Perugia for Foreigners.

11. Teachers at the Scuola Leonardo, Siena

2006-11-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

For the four weeks at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci at Siena I had two instructors: one for the first two weeks and another for the last two. Both instructors were approachable and helpful. I was told that this change of instructors was policy to ensure freshness and reflected the 2-week cycle of lessons. Certainly the instructors were as different as night and day. One was vibrant, organised, and fast-talking; the other seemed tired and not organised, and the content of his classes seemed to be plucked from thin air at the last moment. He was exhaustive to the point of boredom in his supply of examples, but he ran the in-class debates well.

The first instructor taught us the grammatical points for level 3 and usage. She also ran conversational excercises. Her classes were always interesting and fun, and she was always helpful. We had daily homework, which was corrected the next day, often communally. The school only asks for one hour of homework, which consists mainly of filling in the blanks in the textbook.

We also wrote essays, which the instructor corrected. In other words, the classes were interactive in that we were not just receiving data but had to put the information to use. She certainly stands high in my estimation. If I had any criticism it is that I would have liked the first 15 minutes of each day allotted to reviewing corrections as a method of consolidating what we had learnt. In fairness, the instructor was happy to answer any questions raised about the previous day’s work, but it was not a scheduled practice in the class.

I only wished we had had the same instructor for the second two weeks for these were less satisfying. The second instructor struck me as being someone who had taught the course once too often. The reason for this statement is that there was a distinct lack of organisation or purpose, and it appeared to me that he was often just "winging" it. The subject of the day appeared almost spontaneously, that is, randomly. Consequently, he would repeat a topic without even realising that he had already discussed it in a previous class. Then he proceeded to give us every example he could remember. The mental image I have is of someone cramming down our gullets a body of words and their usage. Mercifully, he also continued with our debates, which he ran well.

10. Teachers – University of Perugia for Foreigners

2006-11-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

The second level intensive course I attended at the University for Foreigners at Perugia had four teachers: one for each type of class: language; grammar; pronunciation; and conversation.

Language Class
In this class our instructor kept telling us not to worry about the grammar but to think of using the language. It was not grammar for grammar’s sake but how the rule was used in the living language. I only wished she had stated this clearly in the beginning, or perhaps she did and I didn’t hear her or understand her. Anyway, I finally did grasp this point. We read and did exercises orally, and she would explain meanings and usage of words.

The instructor was vibrant and reminded me of my first instructor at the Scuola Leonardo. The former entertained us, especially with her graphical illustrations, and was responsive to questions. But there were elements that disturbed me. On the rare occasions she gave us homework or a test, they were never corrected the next or following days. At the Scuola, the instructor always oversaw communal correction of our homework, and if we had to write an essay or paragraph, she always gathered them in for correction. There was no essay or paragraph writing at the university.

Reading is important since it allows the instructor to hear the errors in our pronunciation. Instead of having each one read in turn, so that each of us received an equal opportunity to discover our errors, the instructor would ask, “who wants to read?” Naturally, those who felt more comfortable with their spoken Italian, or were more brazen, volunteered. More often than not it was the same group she would ask to read, while the others received short shrift. I discovered that if I were ever to read I would have to volunteer, which I did, but I don’t think the classroom should be reduced to a Darwinian struggle for reading opportunities.

For a long time I thought it was my shortcoming that I couldn’t always follow where the instructor was heading. I was enlightened when I discussed my problem with another student and realised I was not the only one who had trouble following her. She would move from one topic to another without announcing the shift. Even at the Scuola I encountered the same practice. Doubtless a minor fault, but nevertheless annoying, which a lesson in practical pedagogy might well correct. Perhaps an end-of-class student response sheet if not inspection by a senior colleague might improve the teaching skills, but that would be asking too much from an Administration that has a do-nothing attitude.

What was not so minor was this instructor’s tardiness and lack of respect for the schedule. As I explained in my previous blog, she rescheduled our classes and so disrupted the cohesion between language and grammar lessons. Further, by arbitrarily shifting our class hours at the last minute on one occasion, she was not giving the finger to the Administration but to us, because it showed that she really did not care for our welfare. Not all instructors were like her, but she was the instructor for the main body of lessons, so her failings had major repercussions for us. An on-the-ball Administration might have remedied the problem.

Grammar Class
The grammar instructor started behind the eight ball because we had already lost 6 hours of class. Whether it was her fault or the Administration’s I don’t know, but we were not in a receptive mood. She didn’t help matters by arriving a half-hour late on the first day and then, in the middle of the lesson, receive a call on her cell phone. Everything stopped while she had her conversation. Not a good start! But in fairness to her, on all other occasions she was on time and she never held another conversation during the lesson. She was also systematic so that everyone had to participate orally in the exercises. This may sound pedantic, but it allowed all of us to read aloud and demonstrate that we could do the drill. Furthermore, she gave us homework and she would review the work in class the next day. My regret is that she did not also teach the language class. We may not have had as entertaining a lesson, but it would have been highly instructive, as was her grammar lessons. The only drawback was that she was out of "synch" with the language section. Unfortunately, she too, chose to change our class time on one occasion. Nevertheless, I would still choose her any day for her systematic approach

Pronunciation Class
The faulty machinery aside, this was probably our most enjoyable class because of its nature and the instructor. Listening to songs and singing can hardly be called a laborious exercise, but she didn’t just make it fun, for she also taught us usage. Even though I struggled to understand the lyrics, I found it useful, and her sunny nature made it a pleasant experience.

Conversation Class
Although no fault can be found with the pronunciation instructor, I do believe that Catia Mugnani who ran the Conversation class was probably the most responsible of our instructors. She was punctual and she ran a tight ship. Given the size of the class, she had no other option. It would have been interesting to see what she could have done if the class had been smaller in size. Perhaps then we might have had “debates” in which everyone has an opportunity to participate. Given the large size, she was limited to dividing the class into groups and running quizzes, recipes, and explanations on how to go from point A to point B. The problem is that only one member in a group would give the oral presentation, although all were involved in the resolution. In other words, we “spoke” but often sotto voce as we tried to resolve the given problem.

Summary
All the instructors were good to excellent, and my quarrel is not with their knowledge of the subject. I think the language instructor could have been more systematic in her approach – more disciplined even at the sacrifice of entertainment, but she was still an interesting teacher. My complaint is the lack of respect for the students that she demonstrated by arriving late on too many occasions, or with the insouciance with which some showed by changing the time of our lessons. The worst case was the resulting rescheduling of our classes, leading to a disruption and loss of coherence between the language and the grammar classes. Some might counter that ours was an unfortunate example and should not be taken as representative of the one-month courses taught at the University of Perugia for Foreigners. To which I would answer as follows: ours was not the only class where an instructor did not turn up; and most importantly, even if my experience was an exception, it is one exception too many. I am so many thousand dollars out for a less than satisfying experience. When we buy a car, we expect it to work. If it doesn’t, we don’t expect the salesman to tell us that we were just unlucky in getting the one bad vehicle from the assembly line. We expect quality control, which is the responsibility of the Administration. Unfortunately, from our perspective, the Administration was non existent. A student I met on the excursion to Venice explained that a friend told him the quality of the courses had changed dramatically for the worse over the last year as a result of the Administration trying to bring in more students. I could well believe this.

9. University of Perugia – Course

2006-11-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

As I stated in my previous blog, I could almost forgive the absenteeism, lateness, non-functioning equipment, superficial testing, and invisibility of a controlling hand at the University of Perugia for Foreigners if the course and the teachers were outstanding. Certainly, the conception of the course is excellent, and the university being a larger, government institution, offers the use of facilities not likely to be found in a small commercial school. Nevertheless, however well conceived a course may be, it must be judged by the way that it is realised, that is, by the way it is delivered.

The University of Perugia for Foreigners organises one-month courses in Italian language and culture. These courses are divided into two groups: Basic and Intensive. Each group has 5 levels (elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, advanced, superior). The intensive courses last a month and are offered from July through September. “They include additional class hours per week and limited enrolment to ensure a small number of students [my Italics] in each class”. Originally 17 students, my class dropped to 15 after the first week, which was much larger than my class at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci at Siena. Certainly, 15 was too large a number for effective in-class conversation.

The second level intensive course in which I enrolled in September was divided into the following classes: Italian language; exercises in grammar; conversation; and exercises in phonetics for a total of 27 contact hours. The instructor originally scheduled to teach the exercises in grammar was to be the same person who taught the language section. If everything went according to plan, we would be steeped in the language and its usage, work on pronunciation, and we would be drilled in conversation. Even the structure of our timetable showed excellent forethought: 3 hours of language would be followed by 2 hours of grammar. Phonetics came midweek, and conversation at the end of the week, when, presumably, we could practise what we had learnt.

The core of the course was the language and grammar classes, and they were synchronised so that the grammatical points introduced in the language class would be followed by exercises in the grammar class. I assume that this was the reason for having the grammar follow right after the language and the same instructor for both language and grammar lessons. When our language instructor had the schedule changed to suit her, she broke the order of the lessons, and this breakage was exacerbated by having another instructor replace her for the grammar classes. The result was that there was no cohesion between the language and the grammar taught. Besides, the new instructor started after we had missed 6 hours, resulting in a gap between the grammar taught and the language class. I also doubt if there had been any communication between the two instructors as to what should be taught during the grammar lessons. At one point I even had to advise the grammar instructor that we had covered a certain topic in our language class, and so the following class she brought in exercises to cover that subject.

Unlike our original schedule, the new one was not conducive to learning. For example, we now had four consecutive late evenings, and some days we had classes in the late morning followed by a short break, and then back until 7 p.m. On Thursdays, we started at 8 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m. with a 1-hour lunch and a 2-hour break in the afternoon. Although in our original schedule Thursdays was also a long day of classes, it was mitigated by having the other 4 days with either the morning or afternoon off. The problem with the new schedule was that everything was dragged out over the whole day for too many days. By the third week it was hard to attend classes with any enthusiasm. The problem was also compounded by the cavalier attitude of some of the instructors with their persistent late attendance and insouciance with which they would change the time of our classes.

The only class I looked forward to was the phonetics class. It consisted of listening to songs, trying to understand the lyrics, and then singing them back to the instructor. Other times we had to repeat the words, and then listen to our pronunciation. The instructor and her assistant explained words we didn’t know and also gave us synonyms. The class took place in an audio lab, and was certainly enjoyable and helpful. The only hitch was that often more than half the machines were not functioning and we had to play musical chairs to find equipment that worked.

In the conversation class we worked in groups on a project such as explaining our favourite recipe or responding to quiz games. The size of the class precluded the one-to-one debates I had had at the Scuola Leonardo where the class was 10 or even less. Still, the fault was not the instructors but the size and disparate nature of the class. As I had explained in blog 5, the superficial testing given by the school resulted in a class of students with very mixed levels of expertise in Italian.

The University of Perugia offered more in its one-month course than the Scuola Leonardo did, but there were serious drawbacks. The university scored high for its audio exercises, but its conversation class, or even the conversation held in the language class, was hampered by the size of the class and the disparate levels of the individual students as the result of superficial testing. I certainly got more out of the one-to-one debates and the general fact that I had more time to speak at the Scuola. I don’t know what the Scuola does for its intensive course, and so it is unfair to compare the language and grammar offered by the university intensive course with that offered in a standard course at the Scuola. Besides, no matter how well conceived, the University failed miserably in delivering to us a well organised language and grammar section. Perhaps if we had had another instructor to teach both of them to us I might have had a more positive response, but I didn’t. To put it bluntly, my experience at the University of Perugia left me most dissatisfied. I shouldn’t have to attend an institution in trepidation of a crapshoot in which I may or may not have conscientious instructors who keep the schedule they are contracted to teach.

8. Scuola Leonardo: Course

2006-11-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I have left my discussion of courses and teachers until now because I wanted to discuss peripheral concerns that help to shape our experience at the school or university. However, since our main objective is to learn Italian, the quality of the courses and teachers must become our prime concern. Even at Perugia one could almost forgive the absenteeism, lateness, non-functioning equipment, and invisibility of a controlling hand if the course and the teachers were outstanding. And the same holds true for the Scuola Leonardo: no matter how wonderful its ambience and extracurriculum activities, the crunch must be the quality of the courses and the teachers. In this blog I will focus on the course at the Scuola.

The Scuola offers 6 levels of classes from beginner to diploma and one-to-one instruction at an extra cost. Each level is divided into 2 two-week sessions. Each level also has its own book prepared and issued by the Scuola. Grammatical topics are spread over the six levels, which means one learns something but not everything on a topic. For example, in level 3 [Intermediate] we learnt some of the rules for the subjunctive and only the present and past subjunctive.

I must admit that I benefited from this limited approach. If nothing else, they knocked into me when to use the present perfect [passato prossimo] and when the imperfect [imperfetto]. Previously I had confused these tenses with their English usage, but by the time I finished level 3 I certainly knew when to use them and the other grammatical topics that were taught. In short, Level 3 had a limited target, which it achieved, and I suspect the same holds true for each level.

At the end of two weeks we had a change of instructors, heralding another 2-week session. This approach allows for the entry of new students. In fact, the school is so programmed that after every two weeks lessons stop on the third Monday while the school vets the new students and places them. Teaching came to a stop while the testing went on and we waited for the entry of new students. In essence, that Monday was lost.

The time was lost because it could have been better used. For example, it could have been used for organised review or for whatever the instructor plans. The key words are organised and planned. The instructor showed us several short films made in Tuscany. There is nothing wrong with showing us films but it was obvious to me that they were just fillers to mark time. The fault probably lay with the new instructor, who lacked the vibrancy of his predecessor.

The main problem with the influx of new students at the end of two weeks is that on several occasions the class came to a grinding halt while he explained to them something that we had already covered. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with repetition and, in fact, reiteration of grammatical points is doubtless the best way to assimilate them. However, these were not planned revisions, and the class would have to stop its discussion in mid stream while an earlier grammatical point was explained. Not only does this become tedious but it is also confusing because our focus shifts from a half-discussed topic to another. In fact, we spent four out of the five days of the third week backtracking.

The second two-week session focused on word usage and I think it fair to say that most of us were bored. He was certainly exhaustive in giving us every possible example of the topic being discussed. This was too pedestrian, for he might just as well have given out a handout.

Besides teaching us grammar and language, the instructors also made us speak in each lesson. We either spoke to the teacher or to another student. As the class was only about 10 students we had more opportunity to speak than at the University of Perugia where the class had 15 students. We could have one to one “debates”, which was highly beneficial and certainly amusing. We also had one afternoon where a professional actor and teacher gave us an afternoon of pronunciation in which we had to act out the sounds. It was hilarious and highly educative, and it remains a high point for me. We also had optional lectures both in and out of class, where the guide was one of the instructors, and this gave us an opportunity to listen to someone speak and converse with at a pace that we could understand. It is certainly true that at the Scuola teaching was not just one channel -- in the classroom-- but multi channel, often without us realising that we were being taught.

What the Scuola offered they did well: a narrow focus on a set of grammatical rules, which were hammered in durring the two-week session. I just wish that they would offer a seventh level or class which would be a catchall for students like myself who have a fair to good knowledge of the grammar but cannot speak the language. The rules may not be at our fingertips, but we have studied them. I see such a class as repetitive but not repeatable. Students could take this course as many times as they want, but the topics would not be necessarily repeated because they would emerge from the conversation. The emphasis would be on conversation, but as grammatical errors are made, they get discussed, or serve as prompts for grammatical topics, which are discussed fully. Such a class would be more intensive than the six levels, and for those who are not prepared to put in the extra work, they can slide into one of the six levels.

7. Administration at a Small Commercial School

2006-11-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Since there are only two Italian universities that sponsor one-month courses in Italian, my comments about the University for Foreigners at Perugia probably have more significance. On the other hand, I have -- at least so far -- only attended one commercial school -- the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Siena. There are many commercial schools – a quick count from It-Schools.com showed close to 150 and the number seems to be growing all the time. Schools also vary in size, and larger ones, or those in larger cities, may have more or different problems. Or they may not. Despite the maxim that “one swallow does not a Spring make,” I shall still offer my observations based on my limited experience.

The Scuola Leonardo in Siena occupies one floor in a building. This floor has 4 to 6 classrooms – the exact number escapes me now— plus a front office and office for the instructors. There was no need for an orientation because all the classes were held in one building on one floor. But at least they made a gesture at welcoming the new students by having a little reception. Throughout our stay we were also given tours of interesting historical sites in Siena.

The school seemed to be administered by one person, who also oversaw the placement test, which every incoming student had to take. It was a much better test than the one given by the University for Foreigners at Perugia because it examined us for grammar, writing, comprehension, and speaking. It didn’t take her long to recognise that my knowledge of Italian was a jumble – I knew parts of grammar that were considered “advanced” but didn’t know other parts that I should have. If I remember correctly, she interviewed me after the written section to see if I could speak. Then she gave her verdict, with which I concurred. She said that she would start me off in the intermediate level [level 3] and then we would meet again after two weeks, which would be midway through my stay, and we could decide if things were too easy for me or not. As far as I was concerned, she was batting a 100.

The problem was that there was no follow-up after two weeks, which was disappointing as I did find the course on the easy side. I had no objections to remaining where I was if we had discussed the situation as promised. I got the distinct impression that she spent time at the beginning of the course to place a student but then failed to meet with and review the student’s progress. The administrator or teachers should not interpret silence as an indication that the student is happy with the class or level of learning. Most students are too polite to object. If there had been periodical reviews I think the Scuola Leonardo at Siena would have risen that much higher in my estimation.

Compared to the anonymous Administration at the University of Perugia for Foreigners –the administrator at the Scuola was certainly hands on. At least we knew who she was and could speak to her. More importantly, the role played by the secretaries at the Scuola was so much more personal and helpful. They knew what was going on, and so could give help when requested, and one even went out of her way to help in booking a hotel for me in Florence and trying to reserve a ticket for the Uffizi. I certainly left having had a good experience. Any flaws were minor, which if attended to, would place the school even higher up my scale of satisfaction.

On our last day we were given a sheet to fill up concerning our experience at the school, but it was so slanted that it would be unavoidable not to give a positive response – not that I would not have. In fact, I wrote a five page response [at home], which I handed in but I think I was barking in the wind as the administrator was not really interested in suggestions!

6. Perugia: Lack of Interest or Poor Management (2)

2006-11-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

At the University of Perugia for Foreigners, indifference to the students’ interest resulted in the Administration’s failure to oversee the classes. For example, in another class, the instructor had taken ill and had not appeared for several days, but no one from Administration seemed to know or cared. The class had to send a delegation to apprise the secretary that their instructor had not been turning up. I know about their predicament because our delegation met theirs in the secretary’s office when we went to complain about not having an instructor appear for two days. Who was in charge?

Our problem started with a change in our schedule. We had 27 contact hours but spread out so that we had mainly morning classes with one long day on Thursday ending at 7 p.m. Tuesday we had mornings free and classes in the afternoon ending at 7 p.m. I do believe that this schedule reflected a planning decision to ensure that we had some free time. We could participate in activities or even take a bus ride to explore neighbouring towns. More importantly, we could attend the film that the university sponsored each Friday, thus allowing us to develop our comprehension skills. But then our language instructor announced that the given schedule did not agree with her and that she had so advised the university in August. So our schedule was changed to suit her, and we ended up with one that gave us afternoon classes every afternoon with classes ending at 7 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday. Gone was any chance of participating in any kind of activity, whether film or excursion. With our new schedule, the only time for excursions was the weekend, when buses were infrequent.

If I were studying with a famous professor who is juggling research, administration, and public lectures, I could well understand if he needed to change the schedule. I would not mind the inconvenience just to have the opportunity of studying with him. But at Perugia the instructors are neither famous nor professors, and not even permanent staff. They are contract workers drawn from a very large pool because Perugia is the centre for marking Italian language and culture exams for the whole country. Frankly, if the schedule did not suit her, the Administration could easily have found another instructor. She should not be dictating to the Administration and making us adapt to her schedule. The university had an obligation not only to see that we were taught but that we were not made servants to the scheduling whims of the instructor. The only reason she succeeded in having the hours changed was that there was no one in control. Try telling the chairman of the English department at a North American university that you, a sessional appointee, can’t teach the given schedule. I’m sure the response would be that there are others who could.

Not only did the instructor have our schedule changed, she also could not teach all the hours and so had asked for another instructor to take over the teaching of grammar. She claimed that she had given the Administration ample warning and had been told that all was in control. No instructor appeared for two days, and so we lost 6 hours of class time. Finally, in frustration a group of us went to speak to the Secretary. She told us that organising the instructors was not her provenance and that we should speak to the Secretary of Teaching. This lady in turn told us that she was "just a secretary" and that she could do nothing! So we marched into the President’s Office. We explained our predicament to the secretary who met us. She spoke to another secretary deeper in the office. She in turn spoke to us and then walked into the inner sanctum to speak to the President. He -- or she for all I know -- NEVER came out to speak to us. To this day I don’t know who it is. I think it is a Professor Roberto Fedi but it may have been Frankenstein. I will call him "IT" since I don’t know if the President is a male or female. The secretary came out and said that we would have an instructor for the next class, our 6 hours would be made up, and our schedule would be changed. We did get a new instructor, who arrived half an hour late; we NEVER got the 6 hours made up; and we certainly did NOT get our schedule changed. And NEVER did President "IT" or a deputy come to our classes to check if our concerns were met.

6 hours was not the only amount of classroom time we lost. Instructors would often arrive a half-hour late, and the excuse of heavy traffic paled through repetition. As someone said to me, they should know the pattern of traffic, and what is to stop them leaving earlier from home? On the other hand, other instructors were always on time, and one in particular I would like to mention by name, Catia Mugnani our conversation instructor who was always punctual and ran a tight ship. Unfortunately, others were a little too cavalier with our time.

On separate occasions two instructors announced to us that they could not teach us the following day at the given class hour because they had other commitments, and we would have to change our schedule. Their absence was definitely not due to any major domestic crisis like a death or we would have heard about it. One made up the hours on the very last day when half the class was missing. Well, excuse me, but my understanding is that instructors are contracted to teach certain classes at specific hours. They represent the university and have to fulfil its contract with us, the students. We had travelled a long distance at a large expense, and since we were there for a brief period, time was of the essence. We too had a life outside the classroom, and we certainly didn’t want to be treated so cavalierly. If the Administration had been conscientious in its duty it would have overseen the instructors, and made it clear to them that changing the schedule even temporarily was unacceptable.

The Administration’s indifference was also manifested by the state of disrepair of the recording machines we used. If President “IT” had made even a modicum of effort he would have discovered that half the recording machines – sometimes even more than half – were not functioning. Each time we went to the audio-visual room, it became a game of musical chairs to find a recording machine that worked. And this happened for the whole month. Where were the Service Technicians and why were the machines allowed to decay to this point that it became a distraction to the class? To me, the state of disrepair of the machines was symptomatic of the indifference that characterised the attitude of the Administration to the students studying at the University for Foreigners at Perugia in September. This institution’s boast that it has “a long and illustrious reputation” rings hollow in my ears.

5. Perugia: No Orientation and Poor Testing (1)

2006-11-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

If the University of Perugia for Foreigners left an indelible impression on me it is that of diffidence on the part of the Administration. Out of charity, we might say the administrators demonstrated poor management skills. In truth, they demonstrated a remarkable degree of indifference to the concerns or interest of the students. An early example of such indifference can be found in the absence of an orientation programme and in the type of entrance test that was an insult to the idea of conscientious testing.

When I corresponded with the university I dealt with the “Office of Welcome” [Ufficio Accoglienza], but there certainly was no welcoming group when I arrived on campus! Now, I’m not expecting a brass band and a cheering group, but I do expect to have some kind of orientation. It’s not that the Administration does not hold such events, because I noticed that the university was advertising orientation programmes for incoming Italian students when their term started in October. What makes the administrators think that foreigners attending a foreign institution in a strange city would not require some kind of orientation? Classes were not localised to a single central building but held in several buildings separated by a good 10 minutes walk and located on different levels of the Perugian plateau. Instead, we were left to discover for ourselves the city and the university and to find our own way to the various buildings.

Lack of an orientation programme may be trivial in the grand scheme of things, but how do we explain the poor quality of the testing given by the university? Every student had to take a placement test so that the university could evaluate our knowledge of Italian. The “test” consisted of multiple-choice answers to questions on certain passages. Like children who grow up playing computer games, those who grow up with multiple choice tests have an adeptness that others lack. More importantly, multiple choice is hardly appropriate for a course in language. Since the course stressed language, grammar, comprehension, and speaking, the test should check for all these areas instead of just comprehension.

As a result of this superficial testing, our class of 17 was divided into those who could speak but knew no to little grammar, and those who knew their grammar but were weak on comprehension and speaking. Half the class was bored when grammar was taught while the other half dominated when asked to read or speak. If the university had been serious about placing us in our correct levels, the test would have included grammar, comprehension, and an oral test. Anyone who has taught English as a Second Language knows that an experienced teacher can readily identify a student’s weaknesses from reading a brief paragraph and holding an even briefer interview.

The excuse that the large number of entering students -- there were multiple classes --precludes the more thorough testing recommended by me is a lame excuse. First, as I have pointed out, it does not require that much time to test a student for all three areas. Besides, what is more important – placing the student in the correct level or the markers’ convenience? Many of us registered for the course months before the classes started. For example, I registered in May. Early registration gave the university ample time to schedule the tests at set times for registered students with a catchall for late comers. This approach would have given the testers time for a more thorough testing to ensure that students were placed correctly. Instead, those responsible opted for a conveniently superficial method of testing that was inherently inaccurate.

The conclusion is that those who ran the test were too lazy to administer one that could give them a more accurate picture of the student’s ability. Or else it really did not matter, just as it did not matter to the Administration that there was no orientation programme. I suggest that the reason for this indifference is that the university is sitting on its reputation quite content to rake in the euros from those of us who sign up for their one-month course. In short, we were just so many bodies bringing in extra euros.

4. University of Perugia for Foreigners: Cultural Activities

2006-11-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

The other type of institution a foreign student could attend for a short course is a University for Foreigners [Università per Stranieri]. There are two such universities: one is located in Perugia and the other in Siena. I know nothing about the Foreigners’ University at Siena but I have just attended the University of Perugia for Foreigners (Università per Stranieri di Perugia. It boasts a long and illustrious reputation as the oldest Italian institution involved in teaching and research activities as well as in the diffusion of Italian language and civilisation. Unfortunately for those of us who attended the one-month course, a discrepancy existed between reputation and reality.

To put it bluntly, the University of Perugia for Foreigners did NOTHING in terms of extra-curriculum activities for those of us who attended the one-month intensive language course in September this year [2006]. I believe the same held true for students taking other levels of this one-month course, although I had heard that an instructor in one of the other classes did take her students on a tour of Perugia, but this did not seem to be policy. The university claims to organise weekend trips to “the most important cities and guided visits to historical and artistic monuments of Perugia and Umbria” [pg. 25 of the brochure Italian Language and Culture Courses]. It may do so at other times of the year for those in the Erasmus programme, but there were certainly no guided visits to any site in Perugia or Umbria for those of us who attended in September. One of our instructors took pity on us after we had complained about the diffident treatment we had received, and she was kind enough to give us a quick impromptu tour of the Palazzo Gollanga [the main building] on our last day. Otherwise, there were no organised “cultural activities”.

It seems that the university contracts out to two agencies, one of which is Atena. As the university-approved agency, Atena books accommodation for students and sponsors tours of Perugia and dinners at local restaurants. When I enquired from Canada about these activities I was told by Atena that the university also sponsored excursions. In fact, the university has a Travel Agency organise weekend trips. During September none of these excursions was within Umbria, probably because there was little profit in such short tours. I can’t blame a commercial Travel Agency for wanting to maximise its revenue by arranging long-distance trips, and certainly the excursion to Venice was excellent. At 104 euros [± $150 US] it was well worth the price for those who could afford it. Obviously not too many students could, because the bus was far from full. In fact, many of the occupants were not students.

If there were cultural events sponsored by Atena or by any other agency for those of us attending the one-month course in September, the university certainly did not publicise them either by posters or announcements in the classroom. The only announcement concerning the weekend excursions was a notice among other notices on a board as one approached the stairs of Palazzo Gollanga. No notices were displayed in the other buildings where classes also took place. This would have been important because not all students used the Atena or even knew of its existence. In fact, none of us knew anything of what Atena was offering – if it did offer anything in September – and I doubt if my classmates even knew about the excursions run by the Travel Agency if I had not mentioned them. There seemed to be a total disconnect between the two agencies and the university. One would think that if the Administration were really interested in offering cultural activities it would have co-ordinated the offerings of the two agencies and promoted them to the students by class announcements. Instead it did NOTHING.

I believe that the reason for this lack of interest on the part of the Administration is that the university’s main focus is the Erasmus programme. In this programme, European students take the same university courses as their Italian counterpart. The one-month courses help prepare students to fit into the student body, and I believe that those Erasmus students studying with us did indeed have activities arranged for them. However, most of the people in my class were not in the Erasmus programme, but were older, “mature” students. I believe that the Administration saw us as financial fodder to service a cash-strapped university. Such an attitude explains the total lack of interest the Administration showed in the non-Erasmus students both in terms of co-ordinating cultural activities and in overseeing our instruction in the classroom – which I shall describe in a future blog.

3. Commercial School - Cultural Activities

2006-10-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

If participating in cultural activities such as guided excursions and other events is important to you, my advice is to find an appropriate commercial school. Unlike those institutions that are an extension of a university programme from the US or wherever, the Italian owned commercial schools have to compete for foreign students. This makes the schools more receptive to student satisfaction, because the best form of advertising is a satisfied student.

To judge from their advertisement on the Net, commercial schools are eager to publicise their extra-curriculum activities. For example, here is part of an ad I copied, “students are given an introduction to the culture of Bologna by teacher-guides on accompanied city walks and are introduced to the most interesting parts of the city.” Or this one, “Our language school offers excellent language programs and cultural activities since 1980.” Indeed, when it comes to commercial schools and their offerings, there is no shortage of choice. The difficulty is finding one that offers the activities that would interest you.

To judge from my experience at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci at Siena, the school did an excellent job in offering a series of cultural activities. Some events were free, but many were not. At Leonardo we had free mid-week lectures on Tuscan cooking, the Contradas, pronunciation, and guided tours to churches and galleries. Each weekend, the school offered a tour to other cities in Tuscany and Umbria. Generally, the median price of these excursions was 30 euros [2005], and I think the special dinner was also somewhere in that range. In other words, activities were affordable. On the other hand, many of the younger students felt that they could do better by making their own arrangements. From my perspective, I was only too happy to pay what I considered a modest amount and have everything done for me. One caveat here: the tour leaders were not official guides but drivers, and there were occasions when we could have benefited from a knowledgeable guide, but this is cavilling. Certainly the dinner at a local inn was one of the highlights of my stay.

So, if your principal criterion is that you want more than just the classroom and you have decided to attend a commercial school, you need to examine what the different schools offer. In terms of extra-curriculum activities, Scuola Leonardo at Siena should stand high on anyone’s list. But note that the Scuola is also located in other cities, and I have heard that the one in Florence does not offer as much to its students. This is strictly hearsay. Remember too that there are other criteria which you need to consider, and which I will be discussing.

2. Holiday, Study, or Both?

2006-10-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

Once you have decided to go to Italy to study I think the first step you should take is to decide on what exactly you want. Do you want to have a holiday with a little studying? Do you want to study for 99.9999% of the time? Or do you want something that falls between these two extremes? If you are clear in your mind as to what you want you will be in a better position to select the right course and type of institution.

Most students, especially those who might be visiting Italy for the first time want to experience more than just the classroom. Most would like to absorb the “culture” – taste the food of the region [and the wine!], and get to know the city and the neighbouring towns. I also think most people would like a facilitator or guide to explain the features, history, and gossip. The amount of free time available for play will depend first on whether you choose an intensive or a standard course, and secondly, on the attitude of the institution you choose. Most commercial institutions also offer one-to-one classes, and so you can choose to take a basic course, one-to-one, a combination of the two, an intensive course, or some combination that you want and for which you are willing to pay.

Standard courses are divided into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, but as most institutions will test you when you arrive, your entry level will be decided for you. However, if you find your level too easy, you should speak up. Don’t assume that the institution knows what’s best for you. To judge from my experience, neither institution I attended did a very good job in placing me, especially the University of Perugia, but more on that later.

I do believe that even if you take an intensive course, the ability to combine study and play depends less on the course and more on the type of institution that you attend. In this respect, there are two types of Italian institutions that teach the language, namely what I call the commercial school and one of the two universities that teach the Italian language and culture to foreigners. I hope to discuss the pros and cons of each type of institution based on my experience.

1. The Achievable Goal

2006-10-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

Most of us cannot afford the luxury of spending more than four to six weeks abroad. So I think the first question we have to ask ourselves is why are we going to Italy to study Italian? Let’s face it, if it is to study Italian language and grammar, we could save the cost of travel and board by studying in our own country. Universities, school boards, and colleges offer a wide array of classes that would give us a good grounding in Italian. As far as learning to be fluent in conversational Italian, a four to six week course, however intensive, is not going to transform us from tongue-tied earthlings into eloquently fluent Italian speakers. However, if we choose the right place, and if we make the effort, we can at least break out from that embarrassing predicament that we find ourselves in when we try to speak a foreign language. We’ve all experienced it -- we just can’t find the right word and everything goes blank. At least by the end of our stay we should be speaking not fluent Italian, but halting, limping Italian -- not always grammatically correct, but still Italian! Most importantly, we won’t be afraid to speak! Hallelujah!

Now, even if you study in Italy for a longer period, you probably will start by taking a short course either as a primer or for review purposes. And unless you are already conversant in Italian, your target will also be to acquire the achievable goal of speaking unabashedly and without hesitation. In this respect, you share the same need as the short-term student: a school that will give you a good grounding of the language and enable you to speak however haltingly.

Purpose

2006-10-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to assess schools that teach Italian in Italy. I'll be adding articles based on my experiences.