My Learning Experience in Venice

By Tammy H. – Guestblogger from Venice
My two weeks in Venice went by too fast. I've learned so much, walked everywhere and seen so many wonderful sights. My school for Italian language and culture has a dedicated staff and lively, well-trained teachers. I felt a warm welcome on the first day when I received a folder full of practical information for new comers and an orientation session about Venice. The teachers make learning fun with small group work and pair practice, with interesting and realistic reading passages about life in Italy while teaching grammar. There are different cultural activities every afternoon or sometimes in the evening. A teacher would take us on a cultural walk to different parts of Venice each time. I'd always remember the time we were invited to a teacher's beautiful and spacious private home. We had a glass of wine with some biscotti while listening to her talk about Dante and recite dramatically two of his poems. I told her I'd just visited Dante's tomb in Ravenna the previous Sunday. On my second and last Friday at school, one of the teachers had us sing along some lovely Italian songs. That afternoon, we learned how to make tiramisu, and then we all enjoyed tasting it.
Unlike my Florence school where most students tend to be younger and more fun loving, my classmates and schoolmates in Venice are more mature and serious about learning Italian. Many of them are returnees for the second or third time. Others stay for weeks and months. I was enviously impressed! During break time, we would go down to the coffee shop next door for a cup of cappuccino and chitchat in Italian. Among my nine classmates were a retired civil engineer from Germany, a doctor from Spain, a young engineer from Belgium, a shiatsu massage therapist from Austria, a teacher from Korea, an office worker from Japan, a business consultant from Colombia working in England, a lawyer from The Netherland, and a university student from Poland now living in Germany. With such a diverse group, we had lots of fun sharing stories with each other and learning so much from one another in addition to practicing our Italian.