TravelChick

Syrian Dialect Classes at the Italian Institute NOT in Italian

I just started Syrian dialect classes at the Italian Cultural Center here. Knowing that the classes are at the Italian Cultural Center, one might assume that the classes are in Italian, but that's where you'd be wrong. They're in English. Unfortunately, an older Italian woman who showed up for class Sunday evening made this assumption. She spoke no English, which made class rather difficult for her. A nice Italian woman I've met before, Melena, tried to help her out by doing some translation for her, but this obviously wasn't the solution.

After learning some question words, like who, what, when, where, and why, our teacher walked around the room and asked us to read them off the board. She asked the Italian woman to repeat after her and the woman translated the words into Italian. We couldn't help but laugh, although we truly felt sorry for her; it was cute. After the teacher moved on to work with another student, she noisily rattled on in Italian, presumably talking about how she thought the class would be in Italian, not English. She left during the break and didn't come back.

This class is great. The teacher is really good, she allows you time to form your answers and to sound out words, she calls on people individually and works with them, and she explains things very well. In contrast to my Arabic class at the language center at the University, which this month has often made me unhappy and upset because my teacher stinks, I feel positively buoyant after my dialect class. The contrast between the two classes has made me realize just how important having a good teacher is.

posted by Travel Chick @ 3:05 PM