School Daze

Student Daze

Liz and I have just finished our first week of Italian lessons at Sorento Lingue in Sorrento.  The school is a 15 minute walk from our apartment, and we arrive by 9 everyday. We have 2 classes a day, and are in school until 12:30 or 1 pm. The first class is grammar and the second is Italian conversation. The school is very professional and the teachers are very good. But it is a huge struggle for me everyday. Things have really changed in the foreign language teaching arena since I last was a pretty lousy language student 35 years ago. I guess they have changed for the better, but I am completely unprepared for what goes on now. Instead of a lecture and maybe a weekly language lab, the entire class is interactive. Since this week only 3 of us are in beginning Italian, every 30 seconds or so I get called on. It is a constant barrage of questions, corrections, and more questions—all completely in Italian. Generally, not a word of English is spoken, except by me in complete frustration. There are frequent lapses into Spanish by all 3 of us students, and the teacher corrects them too. I often have no idea what the teacher is saying. Liz says you are supposed to guess, but I really struggle with that. I don’t know if I have learned much of anything this week, but maybe it will get better later.   Here is a picture of me on the first day of school:

Here is a picture of the school entrance. It is a serious place. I think it is rented from an order of nuns who occupy the second floor and often bless Liz and I in Italiano on arrival.