Cactus staff review: Italian 10-week evening course, Beginner 3

Our Operations Intern at Cactus Language tells us about her 10-week Italian language evening course in Brighton

When I arrived in Brighton 12 weeks ago, I was very happy to hear that I would have the opportunity to participate in one of Cactus’ evening language courses. I have always been extremely fascinated by languages, so much so that when I was 15 and in the 10th grade of school, I was learning 5 different languages as my school offered a wide range of both obligatory and voluntary language classes.

As I had learnt Italian for two years, I decided to register for the Italian Beginner 3 course in my first week at Cactus Language. In my opinion, Italian is one of the most beautiful and colourful languages in the world and listening to people speaking Italian makes me think of lovely Italian towns, amazing landscapes and sunny and carefree holidays.

The 10-week Italian course was the perfect chance for me to refresh and engage in the Italian language again. The lessons not only provided me with this excellent opportunity but also allowed me to meet some new and interesting people who were also studying Italian for a variety of reasons. I really appreciated getting to know some of them personally and forming friendships whilst learning the language. The atmosphere in my classes was very lively and a lot of fun.

Our native teacher Roberta was great and extremely enthusiastic. I was fascinated by the way she taught with a wide variety of methods and materials so that the lessons were never dull. I especially enjoyed how the tasks seemed to relate to real situations, such as working on and presenting Italian dialogues during ‘un viaggio in Italia a Roma’. She easily managed to keep everyone involved and coped well with the different abilities of the class. If anyone was unsure about something, she was always happy to help and, if necessary, explain again using examples to make it clearer.

Having a native speaker of Italian as a teacher was a huge advantage, and it really reinforced what we learnt. I benefitted from the fact that Roberta only spoke English where clarification was needed and used Italian for the rest of the time in the lessons to communicate with us. Further to this, it improved our listening skills and she encouraged us to speak Italian at every chance to advance our speaking skills and especially our pronunciation. The tasks she set us were well balanced between all the disciplines, reading, writing, speaking and listening. I also appreciated that we always had the possibility of homework and that Roberta gave us good advice for self-studying at home during and after the course.

Given the opportunity I would definitely do this course again, as it was a great experience, and if I was staying for longer, I would definitely continue with my Italian course at the next level. I feel that I have made progress with my Italian and I hope to get the chance to use it again soon.

The course really inspired me to travel to Italy and to visit the country.

Grazie Roberta!

If you would like to follow in our intern’s footsteps and take an Italian language course, then Cactus offer a variety of courses throughout the UK, US and in Italy.