Italian adult learning course

I have been most impressed by the quality of the adult intermediate Italian learning course I attend every Wednesday. This costs £80 per term and the course books a further £35. The course teacher is a retired comprehensive teacher of modern languages who runs ours with enthusiasm and skill. There are 10 others in the class almost all elderly. The first hour of the class we study grammar and a dialogue from the course book.

Yesterday for example the teacher translated into English some idiomatic expressions and we had to find the Italian from the text of the dialogue.

There was role-play as the class member and to say the words with the correct emotion.

The only drawback is the choice of film La Vita e Bella we watched in the second half.

Readers might recall this 1997 Oscar-winning film which is a comedy set in a concentration camp.

The lead actor Guiodo (Roberto Benigni) convinces his little son that they are in some sort of holiday camp.

I was not alone in failing to see the humour – one lady walked out – and in the reaction of the group remained stony faced and grim as we witnessed harrowing scenes of a concentration camp.

I did wonder if a comedy was made about slavery or harassment of women what the reaction would be?

I did manage to wind up the teacher.

We were considering the meaning of the word “fregatene” (roughly translated as “I don’t give a monkeys”).

I asked the teacher  if you could use it positively e.g. at our Xmas lunch, when the bill came, could I say “fregatene [don’t worry about it]”.

He replied “No, you would say ‘it would be my pleasure to take it’ … “, to which and I and others chipped  in with “That is most generous of you.”

The teacher has a good sense of  humour and he was the first to laugh, which is more than we did during the film.

More positively, I guess up and down the country exist these courses generating learning, company, and application to many people.