Madrelingua Italian Language School
Italian courses in the historic centre of Bologna, Italy, or online from your home or office!
Aga is taking an Italian course at Madrelingua Italian Language School in Bologna, and was happy to be interviewed about her experiences and to answer all my questions!
Thank you Aga…First of all, let’s talk about your expectations and your first impressions when you arrived here… [Read more…]
A word that you really need to know if you’re planning to take an Italian course in Bologna is “Aperitivo”.
What does it mean? Well, it involves choosing a bar where, when you buy a drink in the evening, you are allowed to eat whatever you want from the buffet: snacks, pieces of pizza, pasta and desserts. You’ll be amazed at the variety! [Read more…]
If you want to learn Italian, have new experiences and enjoy wonderful food and nice weather, Bologna (the “red”, the “learned” and the “fat”) is a marvelous place to choose for your “Italian adventure”.
Once experienced, you’ll never forget Bologna’s famous porticoes, which can save your life when the Italian sun comes out, nor the many “piazze” and the great parks.
In years to come you’ll have memories of hanging out in “Piazza Maggiore” or “Giardini Margherita” in the evenings and at weekends, eating icecream and watching the people pass by.
Ok, ok, it’s going to be brilliant…but let’s go back to the beginning. Just how did I discover the perfect city for my “Italian adventure”? [Read more…]
Summer’s finally here, but if you haven’t yet organised this year’s Italian study holiday, it’s still not too late!
There are many wonderful Italian locations to choose from, whether in cities, on the coast, or in the mountains, but once you’ve decided where to go, and googled a list of Italian language schools in your chosen destination, how will you know which one to choose?
Get it right and you’ll surely have a wonderful time and learn masses. But get it wrong and you could end up paying more than necessary, wasting your time, or even ruining your whole vacation!
So, to help you make the right decision, we’ve put together this very short five-point guide. Ideally, you’ll want to make sure the language school you pick meets all of the following criteria: [Read more…]
Didn’t want you to miss out on this, as we always get people asking us AFTER the offer expires whether it is still valid. It won’t be.
The 20% offer on summer Italian courses in Bologna, Italy ends TODAY.
All you have to do to get this great saving is to pay a €120 deposit by the end of today. If you have a credit card or Paypal account, it should just take a few seconds.
And if for whatever reason you don’t make it to study Italian in Bologna this summer? [Read more…]
How can I continue to improve my Italian once I’ve returned home?
You’ll make a lot of progress in the time that you spend studying Italian at our language school in Bologna. But how can you make sure that everything you’ve learnt won’t just slip away once you return home to your usual routine? [Read more…]
What should you do to prepare for your Italian study vacation?
Obviously you’ll get more out of your Italian course in Italy if you are already in the habit of studying, or if you have taken the time to review things which you may have studied previously, for example on other courses.
But many people only study Italian for the duration of their study vacation, not before or after, and that’s just fine too!
Assuming you already know some Italian, there are a number of things that you could do in the weeks or months before your course which will help you get the absolute maximum out of your time in Italy. Here are a few suggestions: [Read more…]
Will taking an Italian study vacation mean I’ll have to do homework?
Your teachers will set homework: it’s a part of their job to give you every chance to get the most out of your time in Italy. But it’s entirely up to you whether you do it or not!
The exercises or other tasks that you do after class will help you to consolidate what you have learnt, identify problems, and participate fully in the next day’s class.
But you may be tired after the morning’s classes, or choose to spend the rest of the day sight-seeing or socialising in Italian with other students. Only you can decide what your priorities are. [Read more…]
How much will your Italian improve during an Italian study vacation? Obviously, the answer will depend on many factors, but the most important one is the length of your course. The longer the course, the more you will improve.
If you take the 20-hour per week class, which is what we normally recommend, the minimum length course of one week will not make a vast difference to your level, though it’s an excellent way to begin and much better than nothing at all! [Read more…]
A common question is: how do you teach using only Italian? I don’t know any Italian! I won’t understand anything!
Clients asking us this may come from a Spanish- or English-speaking country, or be from Germany, or Russia, or Japan. Sometimes there is no way for them even to ask the question, as they know neither English nor Italian, so they bring along a friend, boyfriend, or employer to ask for them.
Change the question around though, and imagine: how could we teach every student effectively if we DIDN’T use only Italian? We could ensure that all of our teachers spoke excellent English (they don’t), but we certainly couldn’t assume that to be true for all of our students. Could we expect the teacher to speak the language of every student in the class (Swedish, French, Portugese, German, Russian and Japanese today…)? Obviously not. [Read more…]
