Dear visitor, thank you for your interest in Cultura Italiana. We offer Italian language courses in Bologna, Arezzo (Tuscany), Manciano-Maremma (South Tuscany), all towns as yet undiscovered by mass tourism. In our schools you will find the typical warm atmosphere of the Italian way of life!
We would be happy to answer any queries by e-mail, fax or post. If you prefer, we can contact you by telephone.
The School
Stella and Erika are permanently in charge of the school: they timetable lessons, programme activities, welcome students and generally oversee student life in the small community of Manciano. They can also help you with any external problems. During the summer there are four teachers working at the school. The school is located in the medieval part of Manciano in Maremma, in the same building as the local library. Manciano is an idyllic, lively village with Etruscan origins, whose beauty has not yet been discovered by mass tourism. It is located on top of a hill overlooking a wide plain that extends to the sea. Tourists in Maremma are usually either Italians who love nature, or people who love art, ancient history and archaeology or rich Italians looking for beautiful countryside to relax in, far away from the chaos of the cities. There are also young people who love sport, horse-riding or hiking and older people visiting the Saturnia spas, where water flows from a volcanic crater at a temperature of 38°. The school was founded in 1986. Teachers are qualified, very experienced, cheerful, relaxed and helpful. Students are divided into levels, and classes are small. At some times of the year there are only a few students, so it is possible to find a class consisting of only one person. If this is the case, the lessons last 1½ hours, plus 3-4 hours homework each day. The student works on his own, and then very intensively with a teacher. Courses in Manciano are for people who want to be in contact solely with Italians, who want to have a close working relationship with their teacher, and who love nature and prefer to live in a quiet place. An Italian course in Manciano is a perfect study-holiday where you can spend time studying, meeting Italians, going for walks, socialising, cooking food and drinking wine.
Classes
Courses begin on Mondays with an assessment test. There are 10 different levels. Each level consists of 20 lesson-hours (50 minutes per lesson), plus 10 hours of extra-curricular programming, per week. The first part of the lesson focuses on grammatical structure and vocabulary, the second part on expression and communication.
Standard classes are of 6-12 students, but the school also offers classes with 3-5, or 2 participants, as well individual classes.
At the end of the course the participant receives a certificate recognised as a professional qualification.
Active
Learning
Classes are taught by professional teachers with experience in teaching Italian as a foreign language.
Students learn the communicative language. Particular care will be given to usage and expression.
Our courses are intensive and each student is expected to do
about 2 hours’ homework per day. This may be done at home, or at school with a tutor.
If the difference of competence within a class is too great, the school will divide the class into smaller groups and reduce the class-time as follows: 4-5 people: three lesson-hours; 2-3 people: two and a half lesson-hours; 1 person: one and a quarter lesson-hour. Working in small groups can be even more pleasant and more effective, and will achieve the same results.
Levels
A 1 and A 2 - 1st and 2nd part Objective: a basic understanding of the linguistic elements necessary for good comprehension of everyday conversation. Means: linguistic practice; comprehension exercises; linguistic context analysis; short conversations; readings from film scripts; newspaper articles and short stories; study of the main grammatical concepts.
B 1 and B 2 - 1st and 2nd part Objective: the ability to converse in sufficientlyaccurately in everyday Italian in all sorts of linguistic situations. Means: reading of articles and literary extracts; speaking and writing on specific topics; oral summaries; written exercises; active use of grammar. C 1 and C 2 Objective: the natural use of the language in all its expressive forms. Means: reading and discussion of articles; literary texts and poetry; written summaries and comments; study of more complex grammatical concepts; idiomatic constructions; neologism; synonyms.
Teaching
Materials
The school provides the teaching materials, including free photocopies. Text-books are lent by the school.
