Italian Language course in Florence

Are you set on Florence? I started to do Il Sasso in Montepulciano last fall, but my dates didn't work out. There have been positive reviews from other Fodorites. If you do a search you will find the other reviews.
http://www.ilsasso.com/eng/

I'm pretty set on FLorence, as I know that I won't run out of things to do on my own for a week.

I have studied Italian in Siena, and loved it. One of the problems which will be amplified in Florence, is that too many people speak English, and are keen to practice - which rather defeats the object of immersion.

I have not heard of Welcome to Tuscanny so I cannot comment. Their website does not say where is their school, or tuition fee, or how their programs are structured.

I was in Florence this past March and attended the Istituto Michelangelo for 2 weeks (4 hours group class in the morning and 2 hours private lessons in the afternoon). They also offer cooking class, art class, and art history class.

http://www.michelangelo-edu.it/

The school is first rate. Private lesson costs ~28 euros per hour, which is similar to the cost of other schools. The school is just north of the Piaza S. Croce - very convenient.

One more thing: most schools like Michelangelo can arrange accomodation for you according to your preference. So if you want immersion you can ask to stay with a family. You can specify what type of family. For me I requested a family with no kids, and I ended up staying in the apartment of a Fiorentino, just half a block from the school. She made home-cooked meal for me every day for 2 weeks and that was most enjoyable.

Thank you Johnmango,

The school looks grea, as well as the accomodation options. The only problem is that I have only one week, and as far as I can tell, they only offer a minimum of 2 weeks. Perhaps next time...

willit- do you recall the name of the program in Siena?

hi ralston,

thanks for starting this thread. Assuming i pass my italian GCSE [lol] I'm hoping to go oonto bigger and better things next year and am thinking of supplementing my one lesson a week with a course in Italy.

Johnmango - this school looks just the ticket. How do they decide what level you are, and what progress did you amke in a fortnight?

regards, ann

Hi annhig,

One day a week is exactly what I have been doing, and as much as I enjoy it, it is a very slow process. I'm hoping a week of converstion will take me up a notch.

hi rastolan,

same here. i think it gets harder as you get older. though our italian teacher says that we are much more motivated than the 16-18 year olds that she also teaches.

looking at the michelangelo college website, you can do one week one-to-one courses, for a price!

regards, ann

I believe most schools will let you take only private lessons if you stay less than 2 weeks, even though their group lessons are 2 weeks minimum. As far as I know, Il David is the only "good" school in Florence that offers 1-week minimum group courses.

http://www.istitutoildavid.it/

All the schools will start their classes on a Monday. All new students will take a written exam, then the administrator may further test your verbal skills, and then you will be placed accordingly in the level that suits you. If you find that too difficult or too easy, you can always ask for a transfer. So brush up on your Passato Remoto, Imperfetto or Condizionale, Congiuntivo before you take your exam.

Some schools will let you go for one week if you start at the beginning of a two week session.

Annhig

Forgot to answer one of your questions, about progress. Speaking/listening part I would not say that the 2-weeks had helped me a lot. At school I could understand 80-90% of what the teachers said (in Italian), and the same in public places like restaurants, shops because the conversations are simple and short, and shopkeepers/waiters know you are tourist and do speak slowly; but I had a hard time discerning what people are chatting (on the street), or when watching TV because they speak very speak and do not always speak clearly.

Remember we are talking about only 2 weeks. If you want real fast progress I would suggest total immersion there for 1-2 months.

Grammatically I have improved a lot in 2-weeks, because at home I study on my own and do not pay too much attention to grammar. My weakness is Congiuntivo, - I believe people use that a lot more in written form (newspaper articles, books), and at home I was more concerned about learning how to speak/listen rather than worrying about grammar.

Ralstonlan - www.saenaiulia.it

I spent two weeks there and loved it - I have returned twice, and hope to again.

Thanks willit. That looks like another great option.

johnmango-
Thank you for the link to istituto il david. Also looks like a great opportunity. I wish I had a month!

It really helps to hear of personal experiences to help decide which course is best for me. I appreciate all of your imput.

johnmango, and willit - thanks for the links.

as the course I am studying at home is quite heavy on grammar, [and next year likely to be more so] it's intensive conversation that I really need, I think.

johnmango or willit - what was your experience in that regard?

regards, ann

annhig - The classes in Siena were small - a maximum of 6 people. The "normal day" was about 2 hours of grammer based work, then two of more conversational/vocabulary based work.

Having said this, even the Grammer sections were quite intence in terms of talking - 6 in a class gives nowhere to hide. The conversational lessons and the seminars and trips were good experience in terms of "thinking on the spot".

Having done several years of nightschool once a week, and virtually giving up on the Language, the intensive 2 weeks was a revelation to me - I may not have made huge strides in terms of "book learning", but after a few days I was no longer nervous about trying to speak - this, to me, was the great breakthrough.

I realised how much progress I had made when I was on the bus back to Rome - it dawned on me that I was evesdropping on a conversation between the driver and one of the passengers - without conciously translating.

If you have the opportunity to do an immersion course, I would highly recommend it.

hi willit,

that sounds just the ticket. I liked the look of the siena school already and love siena anyway. a few more qs if I may?

did you think that 4 hours a day was enough? what else did you do? [you refer to trips, etc].

where did you stay? [I am attracted to staying with a family in order to have more "immersion"]

regards, ann

Annhig

Don't expect that you'll make hugh improvement after 1-2 weeks, as mentioned before. When you spend half a day in class you will have some chance to practise conversation. But usually in a class of 5-6 people your chance of speaking is limited, but you do get chance of practising your listening skill.

After school when you go to cafe, shopping, dinner you do not really "interact" with the locals. As I mentioned the people at the shops etc. speak slower and speak in short sentences with you so it's not really practising conversation much either. If you have Italian friends in the city you can hang out with in the evening/weekend, that's entirely different.

It all depends on your level: if you do not get much chances of speaking Italian at home, then it is a good experience; but if you already speak some and want to improve further, it is either a longer immersion in Italy, or try what I do below.

The next best thing is to look for language exchange sites where you can find someone to practise with, especially using "skype". I have been chatting this way for a couple of months and my confidence in speaking and listening has improved immensely. Before that whenever I speak on the phone my mind would go blank.

I know this is a travel site - so I don't want to say more. If anyone is interested to "chat" in Italian online please let me know. My email is "John928@telusplanet.net"

annhig - I am a person who concentrates very intensely for small periods of time, so 4 hours for me was fine. Many of my fellow students did an extra hour for a 1 to 1 session each afternoon.

Some days there was a fair amount of homework - normally grammer excercises. There was one seminar each week for all students - these vary - sometimes on an Opera, a popular song, themed art or local history.

There is also an organised trip each week - somewhere relatively local but not easy to reach by public transport.

The school can organise accomadation - often with local familys - I have heard varying reports - some families are excellent, for other students the experience was not as good.

hi john & Willit,

thanks to both of you for your kindness in replying in so much detail, and apolgies to Ralstolan for somewhat hijacking his thread!

i am now quite enthused about this, probably for sometime next year, before i attempt the next lot of exams. the next task is to see if I can persuade DD, whose italian is about the same level as mine, to come with me.

ciao, ragazzi!