Immerse Italia

Facciamo un corso di italiano intermedio! Ci incontriamo il lunedì online alle 5pm PST/8pm EST 🎉
Studiamo la grammatica, leggiamo, ascoltiamo e conversiamo tutto in italiano! 🇮🇹

Intermediate class starts Monday, April 6th! È ora di parlare italiano 🍝🍷 ✨

Buon Anno a Tutti!!
Happy New Year to Everyone!!

I am continually inspired and overjoyed by my studenti for the passione, dedicazione and entusiasmo that each and every one of you brings to our Italian comunità/famiglia 💚 Grazie MILLE! ❤️

We are starting Italian classes back up the first week of gennaio, so we can serenade the new year in with the beautiful sounds of this lingua bellissima!! 🎶 Parliamo italiano nel 2022! 🇮🇹 🎉

10-Week Courses on Zoom:

~Intermedio: il lunedì alle 5:45 pm PST/ 8:45 pm EST

~Advanced Beginners: il giovedì alle 5:30 pm PST/ 8:30 pm EST

Non vedo l’ora ~ I can’t wait!

La foto: Camerino, Italia; 2013

Playing TOMBOLA (Bingo) in italiano with my wonderful beginning students last night brought me so much joy. Sometimes we just need to slow down, play and laugh! I’m so grateful to my students for making online teaching so much fun 🙏❤️ Grazie mille!

Do you know your numbers 0-10 in italiano?
0 Zero
1 Uno
2 Due
3 Tre
4 Quattro
5 Cinque
6 Sei
7 Sette
8 Otto
9 Nove
10 Dieci

Can you pronounce these letters?
B: beeeee
I: eeeeee
N: ennnay
G: jeeeeee
O: oh!

🤩👌🦋🇮🇹🎉

SUMMER ITALIAN CLASS SCHEDULE🌞

🌊Ready to dive into Italian this summer? Joining a community of passionate language enthusiasts is a great way to start! Together we will build your confidence and fluency in this beautiful language and culture. These small group classes are engaging (powerpoints, visual aids, activities, music...) and so nourishing to the brain, heart, and soul ! 🎶 ☕️ ❤️🍝 🥖🍷

We meet once/week for an hour for 10 weeks starting this week on Zoom. Recordings provided if you need to miss class. Learning materials included.

Spero di vederti presto!
I hope to see you soon!

💚🤍❤️

Message me for more informazione about joining la comunità! 🇮🇹🎶🌏 🇮🇹

Ready to learn italiano?! È ora il momento! Now is the time! 🇮🇹

SUMMER ITALIAN CLASS SCHEDULE—a few spots available!

La finestrella, a window into this enchanted city’s hidden canals. Bologna, a window into my cuore.

A year full of surprises—of linguistic challenges and triumphs, of choral singing in glorious cathedrals, of breathtaking nature, of grandi mercati, of life-changing sunsets from the buildings to the sky, of poetic immersion with Dante Alighieri, of psicologia at Unibo, of English teaching in schools, of adventures with my bici blu, of cooking with my italian roommates, of gelato and vino and pasta pasta pasta, of fate disguised as chance encounters, of deep friendships and adopted famiglia, of le due torri, of beautiful romance, of Melissa (my Italian self), and of travel adventures that always led me back with a smile. The lessons were boundless, but the greatest one of all was that I discovered a new place to call home.

I am eternally grateful for that year. Not only did it provide me with lifelong memories and friendships, but I also have had the ongoing joy of teaching this beautiful language for five years since—a gift that keeps on giving. 🙏👌 Grazie mille, Bologna! Sei una meraviglia 😍

Do you know how to pronounce your ‘C’s in italiano?!

There are 3 ‘C’ sounds to know:
1. The Hard ‘C’ sounds like the English letter “K” (think “cat”).

2. The soft ‘C’ sounds like the English “Ch” (as in “cheese”).

3. The last sounds like “Shhh.”

How do you know when to use each? Look at the LETTERA that immediately FOLLOWS the ‘C.’ See this visual aid for guidance. Looks like a lot to know, but the TRUCCO (trick) is: If you see C+E or C+I, it is a soft ‘C’ as in “Ciao!”

I hope this helps you with your Italian pronunciation! If you’d like to practice la PRONUNCIA (soft ‘c’: pro-NOON-cha!) with our italian comunità (hard ‘c’: Ko-moon-ee-TAH!), you can join one of our 2 new online classes starting next Monday, Jan 18!
Intermediate: Mondays at 4:30pm PST/7:30pm EST
(Advanced) Beginners: Mondays at 6pm PST/9pm EST

Che speciale!! (Kay spay-CHYA-lay)!! Ciao for now!

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BUON ANNO!!! Was your New Year's resolution to improve your italiano?? If you've taken a break from your italiano studies (be it a few weeks or a few YEARS), now is a great time to get back in the swing of it as you join me and our italian COMUNITÀ in sharing in the joys of conversing in this beautiful language together.

DUE (2) new classes starting this month!!
- #1 Intermediate: For those who feel they have a strong level of comprehension and/or speaking, but would like support in fine tuning their current grammar skills and learning new grammar concepts, broadening their vocabulary, and improving conversational ease. This class will be conversation-based.
Meets Mondays at 4:30pm PST/ 7:30pm EST

- #2 Advanced Beginners: For those who have studied with me or another teacher in the past, but would prefer to move at a more relaxed pace, focusing on grammar and vocabulary. Conversation practice will always be included, but clear grammar explanations and review of past material will be emphasized.
Meets Mondays 6pm PST/ 9pm EST

La Descrizione del Corso: In all classes, we will move towards fluency in important grammar concepts (including my favorite---the past tense!). We will converse with one another as a class and in small groups, and, as always, we will explore the depths of Italian language and culture together! Parliamo della musica, delle feste, del cibo, delle tradizioni...!

~ We will meet once/week for one hour on Zoom on Mondays for 10 weeks (from Jan 18- March 22).

In a time of continued isolation, I cannot think of a more special way to unite with one another than connecting weekly on our shared path towards speaking this language we hold near and dear to us. Per favore, contact me if you’re interested in learning more!

Amore,
Melissa

(Image adapted from Italearn)

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Buon Natale a Tutti!!!
È stato molto speciale fare una lezione delle feste invernali in Italia con alcuni dei miei carissimi studenti (di 6 stati diversi!)! Abbiamo parlato delle tradizioni in Italia (come il pandoro, il panettone, gli alberi di Natale 🎄, i mercati di Natale...). Abbiamo visto un video di BABBO NATALE! Poi abbiamo ascoltato Bocelli cantare Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (una carola italiana molto popolare) e poi l’abbiamo cantata noi! Abbiamo imparato il testo di Astro Del Ciel (la versione italiana della canzone “Silent Night,” anche se il testo è completamente diverso) e cantato anche quella insieme ✨🎶 Anche se le feste sono diverse quest’anno, io ho il cuore scaldato, grazie alle persone speciali che ho sempre vicino a me. Vi auguro tutti buonissime feste con il buon cibo, la bella musica, la presenza (anche virtuale) della famiglia e degli amici, ed i cuori pieni di gioia e di pace.

🎄❤️🎄🤗🎄❤️🎄🤗🎄❤️🎄🤗🎄❤️🎄🤗

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!
It was very special having a lesson about winter holidays in Italia with some of my dear students (from 6 different states!)! We spoke about Italian traditions (such as treats like pandoro and panettone, Christmas trees 🎄 and Christmas markets...). We saw a video of SANTA CLAUSE (though his name is better in italian). Then we listened to Andrea Bocelli sing a popular Christmas carol in italian called Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle and then we sang it too! We learned the lyrics to Silent Night (completely different from our English version) and sang it together 🎶✨Although the holidays are different this year, my heart is warm, thanks to the special people that I always have close to me. I wish you all happy holidays with good food, beautiful music, the presence (even virtual) of family and friends, and hearts full of joy and peace.

AMORE,
Melissa
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