Italian language school for foreigners Learning Italian language Italian language schools in Italy
Our Italian language school is located in the historic centre of Florence in Piazza Santo Spirito, one of the finest squares of the city and one of the favourite meeting points of Florentines and of our students.
The surrounding neighbourhood is very lively and is home to many artisan workshops as well as restaurants, bars, artist's ateliers and wonderful open air markets.
In the summer all of its piazzas host cultural events such as concerts and plays.
Why us?
Our school of Italian language is medium sized and that allows us daily contact with all our students, to spend time with them and to look after them with care throughout their stay with us.
Our groups are small and learning is therefore interactive and quicker. The teacher is able to take into consideration the needs of each individual student. The atmosphere is relaxed, informal and open.
Our foreigners students come from all over the world which favours the possibility of communication in Italian and stimulates flexibility and creativity.
Furthermore, as communication is the basis for the method of teaching to learn Italian language, great attention is paid to oral expression and the use of other languages are kept to a minimum.
Our accommodation is situated in the city centre within walking distance of the school. Not having to depend on public transport is particularly useful when returning home from an evening out.
The attention to the evolution of student needs pushes us to continually renew and improve our courses. As well as our Italian language courses we offer arts and crafts courses directly in the workshops of artists and artisans, specialised courses in jewellery crafting and design, music and singing courses for Opera lovers and singers, Italian cooking lessons for professionals and amateurs and a great variety of activities, some cultural and some just for fun.
The courses and activities are in Italian and the therefore become a stimulating occasion for putting into practice newly acquired communication skills.
Centro Machiavelli's students
Students who attend Centro Machiavelli come from very different countries and are also differentiated by their previous learning experiences. When the Italian language school was born, the majority of students came from Western European countries and the sharing of interests, study habits, ways of relating was largely facilitated. Today, many students come from the Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This calls for reflection on the cultural aspects related to the profession of teaching Italian as a foreign language and training methods of the group that are necessary to be able to put everyone at ease and interact with other members of the class. In addition, it requires great care in selecting materials, topics of conversation, group activities, so as to involve and affect different students. The common thread is, however, a love for our country and its culture in the broadest sense, as traditional and classic culture, or popular culture, music, crafts, film and cuisine.
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Even the reasons vary; from university students who take advantage of their stay in Italy to enhance their oral communication skills, to those who decide to live in Italy for any given period and need to acquire the elements of the Italian language that will allow them to survive in our country. In addition there are all those who study Italian for business reasons, related to marketing our products abroad or the opening of offices in Italy by foreign companies or multinationals.
Another sector at the Italian language school Machiavelli is public sector employees from foreign countries that invest the hours of training required by their contract of employment in the study of Italian language. In particular, over the years, the school has established relationships with foreign entities that do in-service training, such as Bildungs Urlaub from the cities of Hamburg and Berlin, as well as private companies such as Philip Morris, and with the Italian Cultural Institutes abroad and universities that regularly send students to the school.
Il Centro Machiavelli also has the patronage of the Municipality of Florence to participate in the language training project for citizens from outside the European Community.
Italian courses offered by the school also take into account the different needs of students, from the time they have available for their course to the different paces of learning, related to the mother tongue. While a Spanish student, regardless of the level of education, takes a month to reach a level of knowledge of Italian which we consider intermediate, a Japanese student takes six months to reach the same level. The variety of types of students and their interests has therefore required a solution which is effective, flexible and adaptable in terms of organization of courses, timing and methodology.
An important factor is the pre-existing knowledge of Italian language and culture that is assessed when the students arrive at our institution. The course beginning test allows us to evaluate the communication skills of the students and to place them in one of six levels accordingly. For some students the path to learning Italian language in Italy will necessarily be longer, and this is especially true for Asian students whose learning time and promotion to the higher levels is slower.
Copyright © 1999 - 2012 • Centro Machiavelli SRL, Piazza Santo Spirito, 4 - 50125 Florence
Email: school@centromachiavelli.it • 
centro.machiavelli • tel. +39 0552396966 • fax +39 055280800
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