We have returned to Anzio after two weeks of language school in Ascoli Piceno, located in the southern part of the Marche region. We chose this location for a language school for 2 main reasons: it is in an area of Italy we had not been to before and would provide an opportunity to do some exploring, and also because it is an area where there are not many English-speaking tourists, thus forcing us to use our Italian language skills each day. Both of these proved true.
Valerie and I were in different classes as her level of Italian is on the conversational level,
whereas I am a beginner. My class consisted of 4 students; a young couple from Australia (Ben and Jacoba) and a young student from England (Michael). Ben and Jacoba work in the TV production industry; Ben has Italian citizenship via family ties, while Jacoba is trying to get the proper papers to be able to work in Italy. Ben has an uncle in Ascoli Piceno with whom they are staying. They decided to move to Italy even though they have never visited here before, only heard about the lifestyle from family members. Michael was born in India and his father is English while his mother is Canadian; he stayed with his mother who has been living in Ascoli Piceno for the past year. They were interesting, fun classmates.
We met from 3PM until 7PM every weekday and had homework daily. The class was completely in Italian, including directions on what we were to do for homework. We had one teacher for the first 2 hours and another teacher for the last 2 hours (fresh teachers, tired students). Linda was our first teacher and she is a native Ascolana who lived in Germany for 8 years. She was very patient with us and always had a quick smile. Our second class segment was taught by Stefania for the 1st week and Alessandro for the 2nd week. Both are natives (from Ascoli) who were also very patient with us. All of the teachers showed skill in talking at a pace so we could try to understand. A good interaction developed with all of the students and teachers which made this a pleasant experience.
In these two weeks we covered many basic features of the language from verbs and verb conjugations as well as masculine and feminine nouns. They also discussed current, relevant phrases and events such as the World Cup. Classes involved a lot of repetition to imprint this information into our brains. This has given me a base for learning Italian and now it will be up to me to build on my language skills.
Valerie and I were in different classes as her level of Italian is on the conversational level,
whereas I am a beginner. My class consisted of 4 students; a young couple from Australia (Ben and Jacoba) and a young student from England (Michael). Ben and Jacoba work in the TV production industry; Ben has Italian citizenship via family ties, while Jacoba is trying to get the proper papers to be able to work in Italy. Ben has an uncle in Ascoli Piceno with whom they are staying. They decided to move to Italy even though they have never visited here before, only heard about the lifestyle from family members. Michael was born in India and his father is English while his mother is Canadian; he stayed with his mother who has been living in Ascoli Piceno for the past year. They were interesting, fun classmates.We met from 3PM until 7PM every weekday and had homework daily. The class was completely in Italian, including directions on what we were to do for homework. We had one teacher for the first 2 hours and another teacher for the last 2 hours (fresh teachers, tired students). Linda was our first teacher and she is a native Ascolana who lived in Germany for 8 years. She was very patient with us and always had a quick smile. Our second class segment was taught by Stefania for the 1st week and Alessandro for the 2nd week. Both are natives (from Ascoli) who were also very patient with us. All of the teachers showed skill in talking at a pace so we could try to understand. A good interaction developed with all of the students and teachers which made this a pleasant experience.
In these two weeks we covered many basic features of the language from verbs and verb conjugations as well as masculine and feminine nouns. They also discussed current, relevant phrases and events such as the World Cup. Classes involved a lot of repetition to imprint this information into our brains. This has given me a base for learning Italian and now it will be up to me to build on my language skills.
Ascoli Malatessa Porta
1 comment:
I like your new design-a Pauline creation! We'll be there Monday.
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