27. Lingua-It: (8) Paid Extra-Curricular Activities
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.
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.
posted by Toby1939 at 10:45 AM
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