15. Conversation: Common Room
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.
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.
posted by Toby1939 at 5:50 PM
