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Why study Italian in Rome?

Because in Rome even the stones talk, and they tell of centuries of history and breath-taking art, but by listening to them it also becomes much easier to understand the language of Italians today as the modern Romans speak the type of Italian that is closest to current standards and television pronunciation.

The Est Ovest school is located in a 19th century building in the heart of the city, just a stone's throw from the Roman Forum and the Coliseum, easily reachable using the underground and other means of public transport

What's different about Est Ovest courses?

Intensive courses: ideal for those who wish to combine their studies with a short break in Rome or who prefer full immersion in the language in order to learn Italian quicker.

Extensive courses: for those who live or study in Rome and prefer to attend just a few hours of lessons per week.

Very small groups (maximum seven or eight students, according to the course): the freedom to participate to the full, ask questions and seek explanations, without the risk of feeling lost in a numerous, chaotic class.

Affordable prices: we are able to offer expert teaching at extremely competitive rates, because the school is tutor-run.

  
 
 Special art and literature courses, with original, innovative programmes, aimed directly at learning the language.

Our teaching method includes a balanced integration of the communicative and grammatical approaches. We place equal emphasis on the activities required for learning to speak, understand and organise a coherent conversation in Italian.

Our aim is to teach an alive and current language that is used daily to work and communicate.

Expert, well-prepared and motivated teaching staff. All our teachers have university degrees and speak fluent English (some also speak Japanese, Chinese or Russian).

Experience the magic of Rome: we organise guided outings to the main places of artistic interest in Rome and the surrounding area, as well as day trips to the sea, evening dinners and night-time walking tours around the heart of Rome.

Est Ovest is a small, welcoming school that adapts with ease to the needs of each and every student. It involves and advises its pupils, making the most of their existing language skills, offering tailor-made teaching programmes, even on the basis of the students mother tongue. At Est Ovest you will never feel lost in a crowd of students and will always find someone ready to solve all the practical aspects of your stay in Rome.

If you have fallen in love with Italy's culture and have a flair for learning languages, an Est Ovest course is just what you're looking for. Our courses favour active rather than passive learning, cultural and linguistic reflection and stimulating intellectual exchange between students and with tutors.

Very small groups (a maximum of 5 people) create the ideal conditions for a full-immersion study of the Italian language. Our intensive courses give you an opportunity to proceed in a quick but not suffocating rhythm. The teachers keep your attention alive by using different kinds of activities: listening, comprehension, reading, speaking and writing. Among the teaching tools are original materials taken from mass media and everyday communication.The use of movies, TV programs and advertisements allow a deep and up-to-date approach to studying Italian.Also one of our goals is to link the process of language learning with acquiring a wider knowledge of Italian culture. Italian art and culture are frequently discussed during the lessons, and part of the course (3-5 hours) is held in historical sites: our school is just a five- minute walk from the Roman Forum, and we have a special work path called "rebuilding ruins by words".

Enrollment fee and final examination are included in the price.

EXTENSIVE COURSES

For those who live in italy

• Our aim is to teach the modern, live language that is used in everyday life.
• We use original materials taken from the media, and, for the advanced courses, the best literary works of the last century.
• You can begin to understand Italian simply by watching TV and speaking with friends. Our courses, though, help you to write and speak correctly and to enrich your vocabulary.
• We help you to unlock linguistic skills you already have but do not use because of shyness, or because you don't know "why they say it this way".
• Grammar is the most useful instrument for all people who want to learn faster and better. With us, you study grammar, but without being bored.

These courses are designed to meet the needs of people who reside in Italy or who want to improve their knowledge of Italian gradually. A highly competitive price combined with the seriousness and the quality of teaching are the tremendous advantages that we offer our clients

COMBINED COURSES

Students may integrate an intensive course of any level (4 hours per day) with 10 individual lessons (we recommend one hour per day but it is also possible to request an alternative timetable).

This solution is particularly useful in two cases:

1. For those students whose mother tongue is very different from Italian, who feel that they need specific help in resolving doubts and fully taking on board the subjects dealt with during group lessons;

2. For students interested in specific social and cultural subjects (art or history, fashion or cookery) or for those who wish to improve their vocabulary concerning the sector they work in.

5 IN 1
Italy and her culture reflected in everyday language

Why do you like Italy ?

Whether you are thinking of Michelangelo’s masterpieces, Fellini’s films, Verdi’s Operas, the Divine Comedy or a magnificent plate of spaghetti, this is the course for you.

Sometimes even a good knowledge of the language is just not enough to fully understand the Italians when they talk about things that are very abstract, or on the contrary, very familiar: there is always something missing, that specific cultural knowledge that one can only really learn by living here for years. This is a course that tries (as far as possible) to concentrate those years into 50 hours, to give you in short, a course to … make you feel Italian! (at least for two weeks).

One day the topic will be art, the following lesson on music, another literature, the next cinema and the last day will focus on cooking and enjoying a meal that has been prepared together. The second week it is back to the start again, with interesting new proposals and interesting variations on the same subjects.

ITALIAN AND ART
This course offers all the magic of ancient and baroque Rome transferred to linguistic aims. An outdoor-indoor course, which starts early in the morning with visits to places of exceptional artistic relevance (churches, museums, archaeological sites) and continues inside the classroom, where stones and colours become words. Our studies take into account the things that have just been seen and includes descriptions, comments and parallels. Intermediate/advanced level.

ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Italian language through the words of avant-garde writers.
Casting aside the structures of the language as a key to learning its rules: interpreting, de-constructing and re-constructing texts of Marinetti, Gadda, Pizzuto, Celati, Testori, Manganelli and others. Advanced level only.