10. Teachers – University of Perugia for Foreigners
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.
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.
posted by Toby1939 at 12:54 PM
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