Learn a language in Italy: 3 different approaches

If you are traveling in Italy I have three suggestions for learning Italian that are not the standard classroom technique:             Caffe amici, a home stay and a total immersion.

Italian was never spoken in my New Jersey Italian American home.
Until I  attended a University abroad program in Florence I never heard Italian spoken so fast, so loud and with such expression!

A perfect way to immerse yourself into a local culture is to speak the  language.   Language lessons offers an instant sense of belonging and often new friends both other travelers and locals.

On a 3 month sabbatical in Sorrento, Italy I joined a class of other travelers for instructions offered ONLY in Italian.   Previously I have taken classes and listened to audio files that asked you to repeat phrases, parroting the speaker.  

Sant'Anna Institue had a different approach.    I look forward to trying a home stay with Monica and a week at the amici caffe.

Sorrento, Italy, Sant’ Anna Institute    www.sorrentolingue.com
While spending several  months in Sorrento I joined their  program designed for adults.   Students from all over the world and at all levels of proficiency were attending classes and participating in the variety of cultural activities offered.   The entire class is offered in Italian, English is not used as par of the learning process.
                                                 Contact Olga Stinga for details on your Learn Italian adventure, info@santannainstitute.com. 
Individual or group lessons are available.  In addition to their 50+ program this year they offered a December program including a home stay with a host family….a total immersion during Christmas.  A program during Easter is being planned.  The processions in Sorrento  during Easter should not be missed.

Full day language tours are offered.  Cultural events offered to students include  local art shows, concerts, visits to Pompeii, Herculaneum,Naples the Amalfi coast, Capri, and  cooking lessons.  Olga tells me they just added a voice course with a local soprano. Share your interest with Olga and SASI should be able to find an Italian experience for you.


Caffe con Amici
Puglia, Italia.  PARLIAMO ITALIANO in Puglia

Enjoy a one or two week Italian Language Immersion in Puglia for Italian language lovers.  Participants will combine not only Italian lessons but also the exploration of Puglia:  one week in the  South, the Salento, one week in the Trulli area in the North.
In addition to conversation lessons by two local instructors, students will enjoy a special activity “caffè con amici”. organized conversations with local Italians to improve vocabulary and spontaneous speech.

photo credit:  http://sudandfood.style.it/files/2012/04/Cisternino.jpg In designing this program, Ylenia Sambati from YLTOUR quotes: “ I was thinking of a great opportunity for students to experience Italy at its best: not just learning Italian but also living this language immersion as the trip of a lifetime. Sometimes during these campus you only have a limited number of visits during the week: in our cultural programs, students will daily explore and improve their Italian. It will be educational and fun”.

 All levels of Italian language are welcome, as well as students of any age.  Accommodations are in self catering flats.  Contact info@yltourcongressi.com for dates and cost.



Home Stay
Venice:  Learn Italian with a weekend home Italy
The perfect combination of travel treats:   cooking, language and living with a family


Venice: Italian Language Homestay


Experience life with a Venician family, learn Italian and take a cooking lesson, the perfect immersion!

Monica Cesarato is a trained teacher and an accomplished cook as well as a guide for Venice.  But Monica can show you parts of Venice not in the tour books.

You are not a tourist when you see a town or city with a local.

This home stay includes all meals in her family home, 12 hours of Italian language lessons, a 3 hours cooking course in a real Italian kitchen and a 3 hour Tour of Venice. Spend a weekend as an Italian not a tourist!
      Contact her at http://www.monicacesarato.com/blog/homestay/


As I discover other travel and learn opportunities I will share with you.