Archive | Uncategorized

I’m happy to tell you that we are all set for our new Italian Beginners class starting next week!

Remember that this class gets booked up very quickly, so I’d recommend to book your place to avoid disappointment. 
You can find all the details here www.italiancork.com/italian-beginners-italiancork/

All upcoming classes will be listed here with all the details currently available. Often future classes will not be available to book until closer to the start date. If you would like to be updated on a class, please enter your email and the level you are interested in on the blue bar at the top of this page and we will let you know when that class is ready to book.

More info?

Email Carolina at carolina@italiancork.com or phone on 0879588375 if you have questions.

What is the best way to consolidate a newly learned language? What is the best way to become fluent and enjoy this language? 

To speak it, trust me!

But how can we speak the language if we don’t know where to start? 

Fluency classes’ purpose is to provide my students with a structured ‘language gym’ with language aids (vocabularies and sentence structures), my assistance and a relaxed environment to practise. These kinds of classes are always small sized to minimise ‘performance anxiety’ and maximise individual attention. As we learn a lot from our mistakes, they are welcome as great resources from which everyone can benefit. After each lesson students can go over the notes and all the resources we used. In fact, I will email everything after the lesson, including some voluntary homework. 

Students can do some voluntary homework to revise the lesson and they can email it on to me. I will check it and email them back with corrections. In this way we won’t use our precious Fluency class time to check it, and those who decide to do it will benefit from their individual feedback. 

Fluency classes are different levels, so that all students can find their ‘language gym’ to practise depending on their own level and needs. 

The idea behind Fluency classes comes from my personal experience, not only as a teacher, but especially as a language learner. Italian is my native language, but I learned French and English as an adult and I have been learning Gaeilge for a while… 

My language learning experiences have led me to develop these fluency classes to fill the gap between learning the individual elements of a language, and being able to use it fluently while enjoying the great experience of speaking it!

I received a few text messages this week from my Leaving Cert students… they all did very well and one of them passed it with H1: Complimenti Emma! 

It took me a long time to go through the Italian -> Irish credential translation process be registered as a teacher by the Irish Teaching Council, but it was especially important to have it this year.  Especially when the Leaving Cert was cancelled because of Covid 19 and because of my Teaching council registration I became a primary source of evaluation for the students I was preparing (and giving grinds) for the Leaving certificate under the current government marking scheme.

I achieved my masters degree in Educational Sciences from the University of Turin and, as I was a mature student, I really knew what I wanted: to be a teacher and to pass on to my students the joy of studying, learning and empowering their lives through it. I have been a teacher for more than 20 years, but for the last 11 of them, I have been teaching Italian in Cork. Italian for adult education (College of Commerce, Dante Alighieri and ItalianCork), Italian for children (primary schools and Piccolitalia) and Italian for Leaving Cert preparation. I have been constantly refining my methodologies, sharpening my tools and winning over my students’ motivation 😉

Giving our children the opportunity to learn one or more languages is a great advantage not only for future work opportunities and travel, but for their Leaving Cert. A couple of years ago, Jack, one of my Leaving Cert students, told me something remarkably interesting: ‘I am very lucky Carolina (he  was talking to me in Italian, obviously) because I know many languages. I am not as stressed out as my classmates and I don’t have to work as hard as they do’. In fact, he took French, Italian, Spanish and Irish for his Leaving Cert and and passed all of them brilliantly. 

When starting early enough, lessons can be spaced out without overburdening parents and students. In fact, they can learn and enjoy their Italian daily, effortlessly and in a fun way through games, and interactive tasks in the comfort of their homes. Nowadays, we can even have our lessons online as they work very well. Their Leaving Cert preparation starts from day one though without them even knowing it. Every single word, verb and idiomatic expression we learn is thought out to gain higher marks. And we get to the exam completely ready and unstressed! Just remember, the sooner the easier. 

If you are interested in your children taking up Italian, just get in touch (carolina@italiancork.com or 0879588375) but remember that spaces are limited and that… the sooner, the better 😉

Only two of our six new classes have places remaining

Upper Beginners Fluency Plus Class

Starts Wednesday August 19th
7 lessons – €80

Our regular Fluency Classes are designed to provide a relaxed and fun environment where we use our Italian as much as we can. Mistakes are very welcome as they are great opportunities to improve everyone’s Italian. For this reason we work in pairs and small groups (classes are limited to a maximum of 10 students) not only to ensure that everyone will actively take part in the class but also to minimize ‘performance anxiety’. During our next 7 classes we are going to work on conversational tasks which are practical, useful and fun: ask for information, buy train tickets (and get on the right train), buy bus tickets, talk about ourselves and the weather. We will watch videos and listen to audio to work on our listening and comprehension skills, learn new vocabulary and idioms. Role playing will give us the opportunity to put in practise all we learn and have a bit of fun with it!
Fluency Plus means that there is a bit of grammar included in our classes. An ‘easy to digest’ pill before starting our conversational activities. In fact, we will have some grammar to consolidate what we learned in our Beginners Class. Therefore, we will ease our way into our conversation mode and we will also get ready for our next Continuation Class, starting in October. 

Intermediate Fluency Class

Starts Tuesday August 18th
7 lessons – €80
Best suited to students who have previously completed Continuation class (2 modules), or an Intermediate class or are already fluent in another romance language,
We will be working on the past tense, our vocabulary, useful expressions and Italian idioms. At the start of each lesson we will do activities to revise the previous lesson. There will be no grammar but just reminders as we go. We will use real life situations to solve problems such as renting a house, or asking for information to become more fluent and confident in our Italian

How do our online classes work
For our online classes, we are using a fabulous new video teaching tool (Zoom) that allows students to join and interact remotely. It even allows me to break the class into little breakout groups for conversation practice, allows me to go from group to group advising and assisting and then bring everyone back together just like in a regular class. The tool has a free app for whatever devices you prefer (phone, tablet, computer, laptop) that is simple to install and use (links and instructions provided). A few minutes before each lesson, you will receive a link for our class by email that will magically transport you to our virtual classroom (like teleportation in Star Trek).

What makes them great
I wasn’t sure how well it would work before I tried it but now I love it and having taught all my classes using it for a couple of weeks, my students really love it to. Some have even said they prefer it to regular classes. And not just because of the social distancing, there are a number of other advantages that I hadn’t thought about either: 

• All the notes I write in class o the whiteboard (notes, new words, grammar references) are automatically saved by the program. You can see them in the app when I write them but I also email them to you after class as a reference.
• No more missing out on what I or other students say because your too far away from them. You just turn up the volume. The sound and video are fantastic quality
• I can share all the documents, grammar pages, newspapers and reference material directly so they just pop up on screen for you. I can also make notes on them directly and of course email them all to you after class
• Sit in your favourite chair, have a cup of tea (or vino) and relax during class. And wear whatever you want. We learn best when we are comfortable
• We can watch movies and other videos, play games directly through the app. We don’t even need to switch off the light
• The App is free, no login or signup process, no technical ability required

Happy to help.

Email carolina@italiancork.com or call 087-9588375 with any queries you might have

Two Fluency Classes and a Beginners Class

Book for yourself or invite a friend but don’t wait as class size is limited to ensure everyone gets to participate fully

Beginners Class

Starts Monday April 20th
10 lessons – €130
Learn, use and enjoy your Italian from day one in a fun and friendly class with a qualified,  experienced, native Italian teacher. Class size is limited so book now to avoid disappointment

Upper Beginners Fluency Class

Starts Wednesday April 22nd
8 lessons – €90 (see note below)
Best suited to students who have done a Beginners or Continuation class previously. We will use real life situations, such as shopping, check-in and check-out, talking about the weather, and many others, to gain fluency and confidence in our use of Italian. Using supports like flash cards, videos and role playing in a relaxed and fun class with a maximum of 10 students ensures that everybody actively participates in the lessons.

Intermediate Fluency Class

Starts Tuesday April 21st
8 lessons – €90 (see note below)
Best suited to students who have previously completed Continuation class (2 modules), or an Intermediate class or are already fluent in another romance language,
We will be working on the past tense, our vocabulary, useful expressions and Italian idioms. At the start of each lesson we will do activities to revise the previous lesson. There will be no grammar but just reminders as we go. We will use our Italian to solve real life situation such as renting a house, complaining about something or visiting a pharmacy to become more fluent and confident in our Italian.

How do our online classes work

For our online classes, we are using a fabulous new video teaching tool (Zoom) that allows students to join and interact remotely. It even allows me to break the class into little breakout groups for conversation practice, allows me to go from group to group advising and assisting and then bring everyone back together just like in a regular class. The tool has a free app for whatever devices you prefer (phone, tablet, computer, laptop) that is simple to install and use (links and instructions provided). A few minutes before each lesson, you will receive a link for our class by email that will magically transport you to our virtual classroom (like teleportation in Star Trek).

What makes them great

I wasn’t sure how well it would work before I tried it but now I love it and having taught all my classes using it for a couple of weeks, my students really love it to. Some have even said they prefer it to regular classes. And not just because of the social distancing, there are a number of other advantages that I hadn’t thought about either:

• All the notes I write in class o the whiteboard (notes, new words, grammar references) are automatically saved by the program. You can see them in the app when I write them but I also email them to you after class as a reference.
• No more missing out on what I or other students say because your too far away from them. You just turn up the volume. The sound and video are fantastic quality
• I can share all the documents, grammar pages, newspapers and reference material directly so they just pop up on screen for you. I can also make notes on them directly and of course email them all to you after class
• Sit in your favourite chair, have a cup of tea (or vino) and relax during class. And wear whatever you want. We learn best when we are comfortable
• We can watch movies and other videos, play games directly through the app. We don’t even need to switch off the light
• The App is free, no login or signup process, no technical ability required

Pay what you can

Happy to help.

Email carolina@italiancork.com or call 087-9588375 to know more or with any queries you might have regarding these classes.