Programma Italiano - Italian language and culture courses for foreigners



FAQ We think helpful to show the questions and the comments about the problems that more frequently arise before and during our students' stay. This section is divided into two parts: the first part is a list of questions and answers, they give useful information about Programma Italiano, our method and activities, the second part is a list of suggestions about the important steps before and during the arrival in Italy and the organization of the stay. Please, read them carefully and don't hesitate to make other questions, when you don't find an adequate answer to your doubts. USEFUL INFORMATION BEFORE ENROLLING USEFUL INFORMATION BEFORE LEAVING USEFUL INFORMATION before enrolling After applying for a personalised program, do I need to enroll? No, you don't. We usually complete the enrolment at our site, during the first day of the course and only after the positive result of the Entrance Test, that we value according to our MVO-MVS method. We want to make sure that the proposed program will be successfully accomplished by the students, so we prefer they approve and be convinced from the beginning. Therefore we ask for the payment when students enroll, the first day of their course. This is the usual procedure, but, when students need to get the Visa, we are obliged to ask for the payment in advance, by means of an international bank transfer. Only after that, we will be able to issue the official documents requested, according to the Visa procedure: our declaration of enrolment and our invoice. After receiving the final personalised course's proposal, you asked me to make use of your teaching service "Italian Mail". Is it helpful? Is it really free? Definitely! It is completely free. And making use of it, you can meet your tutor, start practicing our method and help us to know your learning characteristics and your linguistic skills. The "Italian Mail" service is not a software that answers you automatically: behind every e-mail there is your tutor. If I decide to stop a course without ending it because I want to take a vacation, do you give me back the money corresponding to the lost classes? No, we don't. The Direction, only, has authority to decide to give back the money paid for an enrolment and only for serious reasons (health, family, …) We are a cultural institute and our professional nature, like in every university or college, requires discipline and hard work. I like the "Family Courses" idea, but I'm afraid to be alone at the teacher's house: I wouldn't feel safe. You are right. You have always to be careful. For this reason and in order to make our students feel safe, we organize our Family Courses assigning male teachers to male students and female teachers to female students. Moreover, for this kind of courses, we select only teachers that have a long teaching experience and that live in houses that answer to the technical and comfort requisitions, according to our rule. Your safeness is important for us, too. We think that nothing is worse for a cultural and study stay than the anxiety and the insecurity. Anyhow, if this accuracy doesn't yet reassure you, you can choose one of the following solutions: 1. try a P.I. Day, or 2.start an institutional course at school Why Programma Italiano doesn't host students in its campus? The Programma Italiano's activity is too extended and we can't own so many buildings spread in Italy. So we make a virtue of necessity: we select host and tourist operators, we certify them and, as you can see on this web site, we present them. We prefer the boarding-houses and the bed & breakfasts, where people have the same desire to speak Italian. You need to contact them to ask for the room reservation, so you can start practicing Italian. Programma Italiano gains no profits by this, but let its students start living immediately the new linguistic, social and cultural reality, in the town they choose. It's better than speaking English all the time with the room fellow in a campus! Are there classes with 20, 30 students? No, Programma Italiano pursues very seriously the aims stated in the contract of enrolment. It is very improbable to get good personalised results for so many people that are, of course, different in age, culture, language and purpose. Besides, since our courses are really personalised, they can start and end in every moment of the year, but it is inconceivable that, in the world, for instance on November the 14th , 20 students decide to start an Italian language course, with the same purposes and level and it's impossible that they can get a high personalization. How many students can attend a Programma Italiano course? Our courses could be individual or for up to five students. We think that the ideal should be a course for three students. But, isn't it boring attending a course with so few students? First of all we want to point out that people who attend our courses are determined to investigate a new cultural, human and linguistic reality, so they aren't looking for simple amusement. However we know that socializing is very important and didactically efficacious. For this reason, Programma Italiano organises some complementary activities open to our students and teachers, and also to the Italian members of our Programma Italiano Clubs, who are interested in cultural and linguistic matters. Besides we offer some working opportunities, training periods, cultural and sport activities (such as the sport group and the marine group). In these cases students need to practice their Italian not only for amusement but also to communicate with the others in order to live and achieve their goal together. Do adult students really need a tutor? Yes, because living in Italy is very complicated, particularly when you need to face bureaucratic problems. Our tutors are at disposal in order to provide their students with a hospitable reception and to rid them of the typical problems that affect foreigners in a foreign country, so that the students can soon concentrate on their studies. All the travelers have to meet the "stress for change" , the more reason for people who come to Italy to complete their studies or to start a new job. Therefore, the tutors have a great teaching importance, as they help their students to understand and live fully in the Italian environment, being by their side in every situation of the life: they could suggest a good product for the skin to a student who finds our weather too much cold, or they could help a student to find the words to soothe a friend affected by a problem, or another to understand a lease, or they could suggest the best way to take notes during a lecture. Our tutors are teachers who teach Italian following the students all the time of their life in Italy, not only during their classes. Why do you provide courses in many parts of Italy? Because Italy is beautiful should be a taken for granted commonplace. We prefer to answer in a more professional way. Every Italian region presents linguistic differences as if it would be a different nation. This important diversity depends also on the history, the geographic position, the climate, the culture and the social traditions of every single places, but none of them is better than another. Besides "spaghetti", opera and "dolce vita", in Italy there is a wealth of cultural and historical traditions that often represent the ancient origin of our students. Don't forget that the Italian history and culture are also made of the history and the culture of the different people who came to Italy in the past, from the countries that now form modern Europe, not to mention the origin of many people of USA. This part of our cultural tradition is to be known and studied, in order to understand the modern linguistic and cultural Italian set-up. What kind of academic title does Programma Italiano issue? None. Our institute issues an attending declaration, only, but it is the only one able to certify the linguistic valuations according to the MVO method. Our students ask for learning Italian: we try to realize it, planning every course according to the requested limits of time, money and didactics, with patience and carefully. Nothing else is needed. Certifications and titles are not the elements needed to be able to speak a language: we want that our students understand by their own if they achieved their purpose or not. Also our teachers are selected according to their teaching suitability and linguistic knowledge. We don't mind whether they have a particular academic title: we want that they know how to teach the correct Italian accent or the rule of the subjunctive. We don't allow our teachers to use any other method but our personalised teaching method, based upon a serious research that brought to the MVO method of valuation. USEFUL INFORMATION before leaving These are the suggestions that Programma Italiano gives to people who are about to enroll for a course or a cultural sojourn or to leave. All the following suggestions are very important: put them in your bag! Before leaving. Check your documents and your information about the Visa and stay Italian laws. If you are a member of a company, university, or institution and an Italian company, university or institution, invites you, make sure that the embassies know possible agreements between the companies, universities or institutions. If you are about to enter a school or university, check the enrolment terms and the documents you need: it's better to present one document extra now, than to ask for it after, from Italy: you could risk loosing your opportunity because of expiration of time. Check the possibility to transfer the money from your country to Italy. Make sure that your credit card is still valid and that your bank is present in the city where you are going to stay. Read carefully every document we send you by e-mail, particularly our Invitation-Card and try the links we indicate: you can get a clear outline of the Italian services, climate and transports. Print the part of the Invitation where there are the emergency numbers and our address and put them in your bag: they are very important. Check your room reservation and, if you chose a tourist operator suggested by us, you can ask Programma Italiano to make sure that you have it. On the contrary, if you aren't able to find a suitable accommodation, particularly when you are about to stay for several months and you need a rented flat, we suggest you to look for a temporary lodgment and then, after your arrival, you could find a suitable accommodation with our help. If you need particular medicines, put a good provision of them in your bag, or remember to ask your doctor for the description of their active ingredients so that you can find them in Italy: abroad, medicines often change their names and prices, even if they have the same composition. We suggest you to take out an insurance policy that covers accidents and illness in a foreign country. If you want to take advantage of our welcoming service "pick up" we suggest you to indicate it in the special section of our Proposal. We suggest you to give us the phone number of your parents or relatives that we could contact in your country, for urgent reasons. When you arrive. Even if you don't use our welcoming service, when you arrive we suggest you to get in touch with your tutor, indicating or confirming your mobile number and your address. Never trust anybody and make always sure that people, who give public services, are authorized or show a valid identity card: taxi drivers, tourist agents, tourist guides, landlords/ladies, and whoever offers you not required services or products. Turn to your tutor or, in an emergency case, to our Polices (Carabinieri, Polizia di Stato, Guardia di Finanza): they are always at your disposal. Never leave your bugs unguarded: hold everything tight and closed. If you come from an extra E.U. country, you need to go to the Italian Police Foreigners Office by 8 days after your arrival. If you ask your tutor for assistance, he/she will be happy to take you there. Don't give up your tranquillity. Ask for help immediately, the first day of your course: you will be able to arrange a program with your tutor, in order to let your study start without any further interruption. Helpful links for travelling and living in Italy. We suggest the following links to people who want to start knowing our country. They are helpful for those who are about to come and live in Italy, in order to study Italian and our culture. Italy and Europe http://www.europa.eu.int/ http://www.italia.gov.it Italian institutions and laws http://www.quirinale.it/ http://www.parlamento.it http://www.comune.torino.it http://www.comune.genova.it/ Climate http://www.meteoam.it Transports http://earth.google.it/ http://www.viamichelin.it http://www.turin-airport.com http://www.airport.genova.it/ http://www.trenitalia.it Society http://www.ansa.it http://www.istat.it/ Safety and emergency http://www.poliziadistato.it/ http://www.carabinieri.it/ http://www.vigilfuoco.it/ http://www.gdf.it/ Culture and free time http://www.garzantilinguistica.it/ http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/ http://www.beniculturali.it/ http://www.enit.it http://www.icaffeculturali.com ...and don't forget your umbrella!!