Great news for students who want to boost their Leaving Cert outcome, be more relaxed during their leaving cert time and learn a beautiful language of great use to their future either for work or holiday.
I have been preparing students for their Italian Leaving Cert for 11 years and, thanks to my students committment and my teaching they all passed with either an A1/H1 or A2/H2, grazie a Dio! I usually prepare between 2 and 4 students a year.
Italian is not a difficult language to learn and I am not saying this just because I am Italian, but because I can compare it with English, French and Spanish that I studied in the past and with Gaeilge which I started learning a couple of years ago (for my sins as many of my Irish students say;-)!
Most of my students are English speakers and they find Italian easier in comparison to French, Spanish and Irish especially because Italian pronunciation is very easy. A student is able to read and have perfect pronunciation in 2 hours. In fact, unlike the other languages I mentioned above, we pronounce words exactly as they are written. The name of each vowel is identical to its sound and vowels never change their sounds, even when they are clustered together! This is an amazing feature, trust me!
The most important or, should I say, the crucial requirement about taking Italian for the Leaving Cert is to start early. A language needs time to consolidate and daily practice: we are talking about 15 minutes a day. All this preparation will reward the student who will be well prepared in advance and have more time to dedicate to other subjects.
To give you an example: I prepared E. and A. recently. Two English speakers who didn’t have any second language or Italian. They started attending two years before their Leaving Cert for an hour a week. About 9 months before their oral exam, for a short period of time they attended 2 hours a week; but I hardly saw them after their oral in April, until a couple of weeks before their exam in August. They just kept it up with 15 minutes practice a day and they had plenty of time for their other subjects. They both passed with H2.
If students start earlier (during their second or third year of secondary school), if they have some Italian already or if one of their parents is Italian, there is no reason why they can’t get an H1 as over 35% of my students have done.
If you or your child are thinking of taking Italian in the Leaving Cert and you’d like to help them maximise their potential, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for an informative chat.
Allora (so), hai capito? Did you understand?
Andiamo! Let’s go!