Improve your Italian language skills in a full cultural immersion!

​​​Teachers might need to improve their Italian skills for many reasons, like teaching students, communicating with migrant children who stopped in Italy, or implementing a partnership with Italian schools. In addition, in a world so multicultural and connected, the knowledge of different languages is always a helpful strength.

The new course “Intensive Italian Language Course for Education Staff”, designed by ELA trainers took place in Palermo from 29/10/2023 to 04/11/2023. The participants, who came from France and Hungary, were in an intermediate B1/B2 level group, with Emeline from Lycée Saint-Louis, Anne and Myriam from Lycée polyvalent Jean Moulin and Katalin from Veszprémi SZC “SÉF” Vendéglátás-Turizmus Technikum és Szakképző Iskola.

​The course was an immersive experience in Italian culture and language through dynamic and practical lessons and activities in Palermo, a multiethnic city so rich in culture and history filled with traditional food and historical buildings. During this week, the group had the chance to discuss a large variety of topics in Italian, as a result practising the language and gradually feeling more comfortable speaking it. With different assignments, they improved all aspects of the language, including comprehension and expression in writing and speaking.

​Through the study of grammar topics such as tenses, conjugation, adverbs and vocabulary lessons, the participants immersed themselves in activities about work, culture, travel, hobbies, dreams, and public speaking. All the activities were very practical and based on life experiences and necessities. This practice-oriented learning method was very useful for the participants to understand more easily and use what they learned.

​They started the first day of the course by presenting themselves and the other participants through a job interview exercise, and the group also had the opportunity to discuss different school systems depending on their countries. Then, working in pairs, they simulated a planned trip, preparing a luggage, to diverse locations from Northern to Southern Italy. They got familiarised with the different and numerous Italian dialects and increased their oral comprehension through listening practices.

​ICT can be an important ally for language learning, so for this reason the group got to learn vocabulary and make creative presentations about their hobbies using online tools, which gave them a ton of ideas for their classes. They also got into the subject of food and cooking by translating recipes and recognising the names of ingredients needed for them. Moreover, they took some time to express themselves on the subject of public speaking and ways to make it better.

​Ultimately, since it is fundamental in society, time was also part of the programme and gave a chance to talk about desires, plans and dreams, which the participants turned into a nice bucket list in Italian. We hope that they will still use it in the future!
Overall, participants had a fun and productive time while making significant progress in Italian! In the end, they acquired a richer vocabulary and beautiful memories and relationships through this experience.

​Discover more about this course here.