When it comes to the Academic School Year at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Italy, the lessons are in Italian right from the start: our teaching focuses on communication, allowing you to learn Italian in a natural way, through a study programme that combines development of communication skills with in-depth study of the morphosynthatic structures of the language.

At the end of the course, each student will be required to complete a final thesis, on a topic linked to Italian culture (art, history, Italian business.)

 Gap Year: detailed programme

1- Linguistic component

480 lessons of the intensive Italian language course (4 lessons a day, 20 a week, from Monday to Friday), 80 lessons to prepare the AIL diploma.

2- Culture component

History of Art (24 lessons)
Business Italian (12 lessons)
Italian Fashion (12 lessons)
History and Civilisation (32 lessons)

The programme begins with 240 lessons of the intensive Italian language course. In this part, your personal Italian skills will evolve and improve, from beginner and/or basic level, to achieving an intermediate level.

In addition to the Intensive course lessons, a month before the date of the DILI-AIl certificate exam, 40 extra lessons dedicated to exam preparation will be organized.

In the second part of the 'Gap Year' programme, with the students having already achieved a good level of language ability, linguistic horizons will be broadened.

Now, the intensive language course will put more emphasis on written language, communication skills will be perfected and grammatical skills will be consolidated (the programme will be carried out in 240 lessons including 4 weeks of preparation for the advanced DALI-AIL exam.)

In this second part of the programme -due to the linguistic skills already achieved- culture lessons dealing with a wide breath of topics, are added to the Italian language classes:

History of Art (24 lessons)
These History of Art lessons offer a thorough general introduction, to the beauty of Italian art. They conclude with two guided visits to admire the concepts learnt in class. For a detailed programme, click here.
Business Italian (12 lessons) These lessons aim to inform students about the commercial business world, playing particular attention to the language used in this sector, to its specific vocabulary and to writing bureaucratic documents. For a detailed programme, click here

Business Italian (12 lessons)
These lessons aim to inform students about the commercial business world, playing particular attention to the language used in this sector, to its specific vocabulary and to writing bureaucratic documents. For a detailed programme, click here.

Italian Fashion (12 lessons)
The fashion lessons focus on and analyze a sector where Italian 'genius' is combined with the concepts of trends and elegance. The course aims to illustrate and to reveal some of the secrets behind the 'Made in Italy' label. For a detailed programme, click here.

History and civilisation (32 lessons in 8 weeks)
Who we are, where we come from, what our roots are and our system of values. The Italian history course and the civilization lessons aim to teach students about the mix of Italian traditions and about the changes that characterize contemporary Italy.

At the end of the course, students must write an essay on a topic of their choice, with the help of our school library and of a personal tutor that will assist them for 10 lessons.

This short essay will be assessed as part of the final exam.