At the ELLCI School- Italian language school in Milan - we always try to accompany our lectures with recreational and fun activities, which help students gain self-confidence. As we know, often the biggest problem is just understanding and expressing yourself correctly: while grammar creates security and is conceived by most learners as a comfort zone in which to take refuge, talking means really getting involved and having the courage to make mistakes. For this reason, our teachers strive and continuously update themselves to offer their learners a wide range of communicative and linguistic experiences.

Everyone agrees in believing that grammar is a solid basis for making your way through the jungle of Italian, it is also true that too many notions clog the brain and do not lead to any satisfactory result. What you have to do is lead the student to try, to make mistakes in order to self-correct and start over and above all not to be afraid. Practicing conversation in a systematic way can prove to be a challenge for teachers: speaking without a specific objective, can be useful in some cases (communication exchange, socialization), but it is often necessary to work towards communication goals, a very important incentive for teacher and learner! A technique often adopted by ELLCI teachers is to ask students to prepare thematic presentations to be presented in front of their class.

Last week, for example, we asked the C1 class to choose a region of Italy to talk about. This student in the photo decided to bring Sardinia, "her Sardinia" as she called it, which is also one of the most fascinating of the our country. We note first of all the affection that binds her to the country where she studies, the first impulse to choose to study with commitment. And below, we emphasize the importance of this activity: a job of this type gave her the opportunity to prepare herself at home, to carefully choose the topics to be addressed starting from her preferences and to organize a speech. Without obsessively puzzling over grammar, he was able to do research, self-correct and focus on the communicative message. She managed to speak for more than ten minutes in front of a group of people, in a language that was not hers, without worrying too much. After the presentation, the teacher was able to work on the material produced by the student and correct where necessary. Giving space to both language and communication skills makes ELLCI a solid school appreciated by students, in which the goals are achieved with pleasure and dedication.

For more information on our courses, visit our website: www.ellci.it, write to us at [email protected], or call us at +39 02 29 53 13 59