Index
An introduction
Current Spring student composition
Learning Italian a glimpse in a classroom
After class Activities
Italian cooking seminar: Delizia al Limone and Limoncello
“Spaghettata”
Guided tour of Ostia Antica
This newsletter was written to give others an insight into a day in the life of current participants in World Link Education's Italian Language program in Rome.
| |
|
The general atmosphere in the program can be described as one where the focus is very much directed to ensuring all students feel very much at home during their stay. This is obvious from the first minute one enters the school and is greeted by the receptionists or other students, in a friendly, familiar manner.
On the one hand, there may be around 300 students at any one time. In fact, on average there are 370 students in Spring, and 370 in Autumn with about 650 students in Summer and 350 in Winter!
On the other hand, however, the Academy really gives the impression of being small in the sense that a true community feeling exists, where, although being part of the whole group, each individual is valued and respected for what he/ she has to contribute.
This fits with the saying that although Rome (with a population of 3.5 million and the hundreds of cultural events, concerts, operas, exhibitions, number of restaurants, cinemas, theatres and museums it offers) is the biggest city in Italy, compared to other capital cities such as London or Paris, Rome remains small in certain ways.
For example, the fact that the Academy is situated in the centre of the city means that students can easily reach the school from all over the city. The locations of all the accommodations range from a few minutes walk to the school to a maximum of 30 minutes by bus or underground, which considering how long it can take to travel in other capital cities, is rather amazing.
The Pope at the Palm Sunday service at the Vatican |
Spring in Rome |
View of Foro Romano and the rest of Rome in the background |
|
| |
|
While on our excursion walking around the ancient city of Ostia Antica, a student remarked: “Isn't it wonderful to get to know people from so many different parts of the world?” Her rhetorical question reflected the fact that the composition of the students is extremely varied, combining a range of different educational, professional, cultural and religious backgrounds as well as people from different age groups.
For example, 22% of the students are between the age of 16 -20 , 35% (the highest proportion of students) are in the 21-25 years age bracket and 23% fall into the 26-35 years age range, while 20% of the students are older than 35.
The multicultural composition of our program participants is part of what makes it such an interesting program. Indeed, there are students from Germany (16 %), Sweden (12 %), the United States (11%), Japan (10%), Korea (9%), Switzerland (9%), Austria (8%), Great Britain (6%), Spain (5%) and other countries as well.
With regard to the general occupations of the program participants, 40% are students, 35% are office-workers, 10 % are executives and 5 % are teachers, with the rest of the student body composition being made up of people from a wide range of diverse occupations.
All of this simply illustrates that our program brings together people of different ages, from all over the world, from different professional, educational, religious and cultural backgrounds who all share a common goal of having come to Italy to learn the Italian language as well as experience the many fascinating and exciting aspects of Italian art, culture, history and society.
Jens and Noa from Sweden |
Andrea from Switzerland |
Lindsey from Australia |
Group photo |
Jen in front of Foro Romano |
We are from all over the world |
|
| |
There are two things that immediately strike you when you are in class: how multicultural the makeup of the class is and how everyone actually seems to be enjoying learning. The teachers seem to know exactly how to stimulate class interest and get everyone to pay attention effortlessly.
The main reason for this lies in the philosophy of teaching: a variety of techniques are used in class which transform the classroom into a forum for discussion and active learning, already from the very first class, where one might normally think it is impossible to say or communicate anything.
For example, dramatization is used with students learning real life situations, having to use their imagination to think up what phrases would be used, etc. In one of the classes which had only been learning Italian for 3 weeks, the teacher started to mime a scene from a typical everyday part of Italian life, giving clues by making gestures that the class already knew and understood in order to create a story and build on the students' already existing knowledge and thereby consolidate their foundations of the Italian language. From the start, the students were actively involved in the miming and had lots of fun guessing and figuring out the right word or the exact verb form, etc and then, by dividing into small groups of 2 or 3 got to play out the scenes they had all contributed to making.
It was a perfect example of how skilled the teachers are at using particular language teaching techniques to make learning active and fun and above all how the professors are able to aim their teaching directly at the right level to ensure that language comprehension is maximized.
|
| |
|
One of the many advantages of studying the total program is the possibility to participate in many social and cultural or historical activities that are organized free of charge.
There are seminars every week, on a wide variety of topics ranging from Italian cooking, cinema and literature discussions, or interesting talks and presentations on various towns and regions of Italy, etc. Three times a week, film nights are held, where students watch Italian movies and thereby get a great taste for an important part of Italian culture. Once a month there are also bilingual workshops where participants can benefit from exchanging in free conversations with Italians.
Every Saturday different sightseeing trips in and around Rome, ranging from world famous museums and spots such as the Roman Forum, the Vatican, etc to guided tours of particular quarters of interest, walking tours of significant areas in Rome, are organized.
Of course, there is also a social evening held every other Friday evening and it is a great way for students to enjoy traditional Italian cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere and thereby get to know the other students even better. (see the Risotto night below)
Finally, the out of Rome excursions by coach are offered once a month on Saturdays (for example to Pompei, Napoli, Assisi and Spoleto, etc) and in summer, trips to the seaside, providing yet another opportunity for students to really get the most out of their stay in Rome, by seeing important areas in the Italian capital's surroundings. These coach excursions are available at an extra charge.
Every month, a Calendar of Activities is provided outlining the many interesting excursions, films, and activities arranged. |
| |
|
At about 5:30pm on Thursday, we assembled in the student club for the seminar of the week, which was on Italian cuisine. We were about to learn how to make two essential elements of many Southern Italian Sunday lunches: the Delizia al Limone (a wonderful lemon dessert) and the “aperitivo” or “digestivo” called Limoncello, a pre or post-dinner drink made out of lemons, alcohol, water and sugar. Like all good cooking demonstrations, the cook (Chiara) had already made the dishes the night before so that we could all see and try what the final product should taste like. What was really fun though was the step-by-step guide illustrating the simple techniques used to making these desserts. We left feeling that we could actually do this at home!
Chiara also distributed the recipes so we could experiment on our own and what most of us found really interesting was that we were literally tasting a part of Italian culture and tradition as well as putting their knowledge of the Italian language into practice: the vocabulary words as well as the verb forms etc learnt in class all came in handy to read and understand the recipe and therefore be able to reproduce a traditional dessert from Southern Italy.
Chiara added to the relaxed and friendly atmosphere by telling us little stories of what her mother and grandmother used to do or say when they made the Delizia and how their special way of making it had been passed on to her. In a sense, apart from getting to taste a yummy dessert (which we were all of course more than happy to do), we also got the feeling that Chiara was sharing a part of her (and much of the South of Italy's) cultural background with us, which made it all the more memorable.
After the Delizia, we all sampled the “limoncello” which many of us had already tried in bars or pubs, since it is found in nearly all places in Italy serving alcoholic drinks. Making a “limoncello” is actually rather simple. It is just that it is very time consuming because the lemons, alcohol, sugar and water take time to mix perfectly together. You could see all the students thoroughly enjoying themselves watching how the mixture is meant to progress through the different stages to finally result in the pre-dinner drink they are used to seeing when they are out having a drink in Rome.
“Limoncello” is actually one of the most commonly made drinks in the whole of Italy, with many people making it in their homes, for friends and family and you could tell many students were inspired to go home and make it themselves…
Yet again, Thursday's cooking seminar brought out very interesting cultural differences between countries, while at the same time giving students a deeper understanding of Italian culture.
The cooking seminar |
Chiara serving up her delizia |
Students tasting the delizia |
|
| |
|
Ingredienti:
80 grm di ricotta a persona
20 gr di zucchero a persona
biscotti pavesini (6 a persona)
limoni biologici
Preparazione:
Lavare 3 o 5 limoni biologici (a seconda della grandezza) asciugarli bene e grattugiarne la buccia stando attenti a non grattugiare la parte bianca perchée eéè amara).
Mettere 480 grm di ricotta di mucca in una terrina. Aggiungere 120 grs di zucchero e mescolare con un forchettone di legno finché lo zucchero non è completamente sciolto. Aggiungere la buccia di limone grattugiata, lasciandone un po' da parte per dopo. Preparare del succo di limone in un piccolo contenitore.
Prendere un vassoio e spalmare in modo uniforme uno strato molto fine di crema. Sistemare i pavesini a formare uno strato, intingendoli prima uno ad uno nel succo di limone.
Attenzione: è importante intingere nel succo solo la parte inferiore del biscotto per evitare che il gusto aspro del limone diventi troppo forte.
Dopo aver sistemato il primo strato di biscotti, spalmare sopra di questi uno strato di crema, questa volta abbastanza consistente.
Procedere come prima con un secondo strato di biscotti e poi di crema.
Coprire il docle con della pellicola trasparente e lasciare in frigo almeno per due ore (il dolce risulta ancora più buono se preparato la sera prima per il giorno successivo).
Prima di servire spolverare la superficie del dolce con la buccia di limone grattugiata rimasta. Si consiglia di sevire la Delizia al Limone accompagnata da un vino dolce e frizzantino. Ricetta per il Limoncello
Per fare il limoncello ci vogliono pochi ingredienti … e molto tempo!
Ingredienti:
75 cl di alcool
75 cl di acqua
750 gr di zucchero
6 limoni non trattati
2 foglie di limoni
Preparazione: lavare bene le foglie ed i limoni utilizzando una spazzola. Asciugare bene. Utilizzare un pelapatate per sbucciare i limoni senza asportare la parte bianca della buccia (è amara). Mettere in un contenitore di vetro la buccia, le foglie e l'alcool e lasciar riposare per 4 giorni in un luogo fresco e buio.
Scaldare l'acqua fin quando non bolle. Spegnere il fuoco ed aggiungere lo zucchero mescolando fin quando non è ben sciolto. Filtrare usando un passino.
Filtrare anche l'alcool senza le bucce ed unirlo all'acqua e zucchero.
Far riposare per 14 giorni in un contenitore di vetro al buio e al fresco.
Il limoncelle è pronto, non rimane che gustarlo!!! |
| |
|
Ingredients:
80 grms of ricotta per person
20 grms of sugar per person
sponge “finger biscuits”(about 6 per person)
3 to 5 organic lemons
Preparation:
Wash 3 or 5 lemons (depending on their size), dry them carefully and grate the lemon rind (but be careful not to grate the white part because it is very bitter).
Put 480 grms of ricotta in a bowl and add 120 grms of sugar. Mix the ricotta and the sugar with a wooden fork or spoon if you wish until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the grated lemon rind to the mixture, leaving a bit to the side for later and put all the juice of the lemons in a little container.
Take a cooking tray and spread a very fine layer of the ricotta mixture on its surface. Then place the sponge biscuits in a line or whatever formation you want to form a bottom layer covering the entire tray and make sure you dip the biscuits slightly one by one in the lemon juice before putting them on the tray.
Note: it is important to only dip the bottom part of the sponge biscuits to avoid the taste of lemon in the dessert being too strong and bitter.
After having finished placing the first layer of biscuits on the tray, spread another layer of ricotta mixture (this time quite thick) over the biscuits.
Repeat what you did earlier by forming a second layer of sponge biscuits (with the bottom parts dipped in lemon again).
Finish up by spreading one thick layer of the last of the ricotta mixture over the second layer of biscuits, so that they are all well covered and then cover the whole dessert with plastic foam wrap and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours (note that the dessert tastes even better when it is made the night before and left to rest overnight in the fridge since the sponge biscuits have time to soak up the flavours).
Before serving the dessert, sprinkle the top layer of ricotta with the remaining grated lemon rind. It is now ready to be eaten!
It is also recommended to serve the Delizia al limone accompanied by a sweet, sparkling dessert wine!
Recipe for the “Limoncello”
“To make “limoncello” you don't need many ingredients but you need lots of time! ”
Ingredients:
750 ml of pure alcohol
750 ml of water
750 grms of sugar
6 organic lemons
2 lemon leaves
Preparation:
Wash the lemon leaves and the 6 lemons carefully using a brush and then dry them very well.
Then, using a potato peeler, peel the lemons but without including the white parts which are very sour.
Once you have peeled all 6 lemons, put the lemon peel, the leaves and the alcohol in a glass container and let it rest for 4 days in a cold and dark place.
Heat the water until it boils. Turn off the heat and add the sugar and mix it all together until the sugar is completely dissolved. And then sift, filter the mixture of sugar and water through a strainer to get rid of any lemon pips.
Then also filter the alcohol mixture from the container, so that the lemon rind is left out and add the alcohol to the water/sugar mixture.
Leave the whole mixture in a glass container for 14 days, in a dark and cold place.
The “limoncello” is then ready to be served.
Note: it is best served chilled! |
| |
|
On this Friday evening, it was time for the “Spaghettata”, a free social evening with dinner organized for our program participants to meet with native Italian students. We all got a chance to mingle and talk to each other at the tables, before going to get their meals, which were served straight out of the kitchen where a genuine Italian cook (who is the head chef of the Academy's café/bar) had prepared some real Italian food for us all. On the menu tonight was a fantastic risotto with all sorts of vegetables and of course parmesan cheese. There was also bread to go along with it and white and red wine as well as water and juice to drink. The risotto was fantastic: so simple and so good that most of the students soon went for second and third helpings! There was also a generous selection of Italian sandwiches (“panini” in Italian), which had also been made especially for the event.
Basically, the “Spaghettata” turned out to be another opportunity for us to chat and mingle with one another. Once again, the multicultural composition of the students was obvious and added to the vivid discussions they were having while enjoying the good food. It was soon past eleven o'clock and many of us decided to party on elsewhere at different places around Rome. Some moved on to Campo de' Fiori and danced or went to have a drink and talk.
Friday night's “Spaghettata”, with such great company and food provided a different forum for students to spend time with and get to know each other better outside of class and was generally regarded by all as a really fun way to spend the evening.
Spaghettata:
Great food, great company |
A beeline to the risotto |
Getting to know one another |
|
| |
|
On Saturday morning we assembled outside the Academy ready to go on the excursion to Ostia Antica. We were met by our guide for the day, the lovely Francesca who is also a professor at the Academy as well as having majored in Archeology at university. We walked to the closest underground stop and caught the metro to another station where we swapped to a train and 30 minutes later arrived at Ostia Antica.
This ancient Roman port city was founded by the Romans at the mouth of the Tiber River in the 4th century B.C. and was strategically important for defence and trade. Most of the inhabitants were merchants, sailors, other navy officials, artisans, workmen and many were foreigners, both free people and slaves, who spoke different languages and practiced different religions. In fact, recently a synagogue was found in the area! The city was used mainly as a navy base but it also became an important passage way to Rome for important representatives of cultural and political life at the time. Barbarian invasions and the outbreak of malaria led to the abandonment of the city and it slowly became buried underground which explains why the ruins have been so extraordinarily preserved.
Ostia today is like it was then: an entire city, in its shape and outlines, and the excellent condition of the ruins gave us a very good idea of what life must have been like for the people in this period of Roman history. However, an interesting fact is that it has recently been discovered that the actual real port of the city was founded by Claudio (often called Claudio from Ostia) about 2 ½ kms away, exactly where the present Leonardo da Vinci airport is located!
We walked around the Ostia Antica grounds for most of the morning, in rather cool but beautifully fresh air, and got to see the theatre, the forum, the two main streets of the ancient city, the basilica, the temples, the baths (including a roomful of stone toilets), the different levels of houses (both of the very rich inhabitants of the city as well as the poorer ones), shops, the laundries, the restaurant/ taverns, etc. Our guide Francesca told us fascinating stories of how the city functioned at the time (which sometimes was unbelievably close to how things are done nowadays, such as the existence of the bars and the public toilets as well as the restaurants, etc) and the rest was left up to our imagination…
The guided tour was a perfect mixture of information about the ancient city, but not too much, so that we could absorb what we were seeing. Most of us were blown away by the fact that what we were seeing was so ancient, as well as the sophistication of the Romans, and how little modern society has changed since then.
At the end of the visit, we all felt like we had experienced a part of what life during the Roman Empire was like and were very curious to learn more about this very interesting period of Italian history.
Jen at Ostia Antica |
Just one magnificent example |
Magnificent view |
|
TOP
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)