3. Commercial School - Cultural Activities

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?

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

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

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