Class Today

Italian Phrase of the Day:  Come era la sua intervista? How was your interview?

My comment on this: Sono contento che non ha un’intervista particolarmente non nel italiano! I am glad I do not have an interview especially not in Italian!

Class today was stressful. Nicole had promised to get some information about hotels and boarding houses for Sofia and Martino so she spent a lot of the "listening to Italian" time talking about this. Every so often she paused and had each of us in turn say what we had got from what she was saying which is my case was a rather disappointing about 40%. I know this will get better if I keep listening and asking but I want it to get better NOW—right this minute. But that is not how learning works. One stays on a plateau for a period and then the learning takes place again. And about 40% is better than what I understood at the beginning of the last semester!

A really nice young man called Giovanni {well, really Jonathan} moved into our class today from Italian I. He spent last summer in Italy visiting his grandparents and he spoke no Italian when he went there! He said that he had to learn some basic stuff because neither of his grandparents spoke English at all. Oh, and, apparently, they had a HUGE fight about ten years ago and now, although they live in the same house, neither of them says a word to the other one!  So, he and the married couple, Sofia and Martino, are the best in the class at understanding because they have actually spent time in Italy. More and more, I am thinking that a total immersion course is what I need. I talked to la prof again about this and she said she would love to see the websites of the two I like best. So, I will send her the link today, this evening.

When class began, the first thing she asked us was did we have any questions or comments about the homework assignment. I was glad that I was not the only one who had difficulty getting it done. In fact neither Sofia nor Martino had finished theirs. I made the comment that I felt it was too many different bits of information and that there were times when I had to look at the answers in the back because I had absolutely NO idea of what I was supposed to be doing!  Anyway, all we have to do for Thursday is to study the basic raccontino  pictures and the verbs and phrases she gave us for a test. I can do that.

QUOTATION FOR THIS MONTH: If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. — Marcus Aurelius

Until later….