Scuola Leonardo Da Vince part due

Well, I am beginning my third week of school. On Friday I had my first test covering the first 2 weeks of material, and I made an 86. I was happy with this given how the day went, and the fact that I don’t know prepositions. I missed a couple of other things on the test which were primarily nerves, but the prepositions, I just don’t know. We knew there was going to be a test, but had no information on the format etc. When we arrived for class on Friday, we had a "substitute" teacher for grammar. This really threw everyone for a loop! The way that she spoke Italian was very different from our usual grammar teacher.....probably a different dialect, but I could not understand a word she was saying! She went through the exercises very quickly, and did not give time for us to correct our responses. All of us in the class were looking at each other and thinking "What the hell?" Needless to say, my confidence was greatly shaken at this point. We had our break and I looked over some of my material and tried to calm myself.

A man came into the class and asked in Italian who was leaving the class after today. Again we all looked at each other as none of us were planning to leave. He continued to talk to us in Italian, and started passing out a paper. We were surprised because at this point, we had not seen either of our regular teachers, and were unprepared for this. At that point, Francesca, our conversation teacher came into the room. The man was in the incorrect classroom!

I can’t really remember the last time I had to take a test, but I do know that I have never been very good at it. I sometimes rush and overlook details, and other times get so nervous I can’t think. I had both of those things happening, but it turned out okay.

I bought two text books in English covering Italian Grammar to help me with the prepositions, but still no luck. The teachers responde, "piano, piano, prepozitiones e molto difficile". Yes, I agree with that!

Anyway, the score of 86 officially gets me into level 2. My classmates are all the same. There have been a few students who did not start with the class that have "popped" in for a day or two at a time. I think this is because if you have had Italian Language courses before, they test you and then place you in a class, if the class is not a good "fit" for your skills, then you can change classes.

The Australian girl in my class is a real annoyance! She is very young, probably 21. She says she is there because she just finished university and she doesn’t know what she wants to do, so she is traveling. Please! The reason she is an annoyance, is because she comes to class once in a blue moon, always late, and leaves early. She didn’t take the test on Friday, but is moving on through the class as if she did. My personal issue with this is that when she doesn’t understand something, which is often since she is never in class, I have to explain it to her because I am the only other English speaker.

Today in class I had a conversation in Italian with a German and a Japanese person about cities in our respective countries that we like. Amazing!