REFERENCES

by

University of Delaware

(summer Program 2009)

represented by Prof Giuseppina Fazzone

Students Comments

COURSES: List the course by name and number, then comment on the content, activities, usefulness, relevance to the site, etc. Name the instructor for this course and comment on organization and preparedness, clarity of assignments and grading, feedback, accessibility, etc.:

Italian 106

·         I learned so much it was an amazing class. I only had three people in my class and felt like i was be privately tutored. My skills increased at such a rapid pace. My professor was great very patient and a good teacher. The content of the course was very relevant to our speaking/ living situation. Our professor taught us useful speaking vocabulary and phrases not just from the book. INSTRUCTOR: Nunzia from Sorrento Lingue was always fully prepared with lesson plans. She kept class very interesting (it was a 3 hour class) honestly I enjoyed going to class and it went by very fast. She was always providing us with worksheets or supplements and was continually mixing up learning mediums so we would not get bored also so speaking became more second nature than writing which was more important to me.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         I thought the class was wonderful. Having only 3 students in a 3 our class was a great thing because it was basically private tutoring for us. There could be a little less review in the first few weeks and more learning of new material. INSTRUCTOR: Nunzia from Sorrento Lingue, made an effort to get the students involved in more than just textbook work. She asked us what we ate for dinner every night, what we did the previous evening, and what we were going to do that day. She was never negative to us when we were wrong, which made for a more positive learning experience.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

Italian 107

·         Italian 107 was the most exciting class. The professor was extremely interactive and she wouldn't move on to a different topic until she was positive that we understood the information. She took us to an open market where we were able to interact and learn with the people from Italy and that really helped. INSTRUCTOR: Luana. She always cam extremely prepared and organized. The grading was fair and fast and if we ever had any questions she would almost force us to ask her so she could make sure we understood.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         I took Italian 107 at Sorrento Lingue was an exceptional learning facility with incredible teachers and the fact that I only had 2 other classmates made the class seem more like a tutoring session more than an actual class, which was great. My 107 teacher Luana was very patient and she found clever ways not to give in and speak english to us when we didn't fully understand her. INSTRUCTOR: Luana, my 107 teacher had only missed one class the duration of the month due to her daughter's illness but besides that she was prepared and on time and had an agenda everyday. She was incredibly organized, usually grading our tests the same class we took them and giving us our grades before we left. She was always attentive and connected with her students as both a teacher and a friend while still keeping the classroom a place to learn and not a place to joke around in. She was a phenomenal teacher.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

 Italian 206 Culture Through Conversation

·         This class was very useful for improving my speaking skills. I was able to communicate with the people of Italy better. INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Esposito was a great professor. She always made class interesting and the oral presentations made us learn a lot about the history of Sorrento.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         This course focused on conversational Italian, and was taught by one of the faculty members provided by the Sorrento Lingue Language Institute in the city we were staying in. In this course we were provided with a packet of readings and given oral presentations to complete based on these readings. I thought the setup of this course was very helpful because it taught us the history of where we were staying as well as helped us to improve our conversational Italian skills. INSTRUCTOR: Instructor: Luana Esposito Our instructor for this course was very well prepared, and always had the best interests of her students at heart. The assignments were very clear and her grading was fair, and overall I felt her classroom techniques created an atmosphere of ease and allowed us to converse in Italian in a more natural and relaxed way.
COURSE RATING: 4 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 4

·         We learned the history of Sorrento. It was awesome I loved the course. The teacher was awesome here, very enthusiastic. And we went on mini field trips which was cool. INSTRUCTOR: Luana. Very clear and nice and helpful. We spoke a lot in class and it really helped.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         This course was taught by a professor on site and was very helpful in learning the Italian language, since that was all that was spoken during class time. I also found it useful that we spoke about Sorrento in the present and its history and could actually relate what we were speaking about in class to where we were. The class provided useful information however could have used more day to day vocabulary and conversation topics for when we were outside of the class room INSTRUCTOR: Luana Esposito: The class was organized in a way that was easy to understand. We first discussed the history and then present day Sorrento and topics that went along with this. Assignments were presented clearly and we were told ahead of time when and what would be due. After oral presentations we were asked questions and given feedback. She made the class interesting by relating class discussions to the things we saw and did every day on our own and with our other Italian class 208. the classroom was always a comfortable environment for speaking and students were encouraged to discuss the topics and help one another with vocabulary.
COURSE RATING: 4 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         We talked about the history of Sorrento and the culture of Italy through conversation in Italian. I felt it was very useful and I good way to learn about culture and history while learning how to speak in Italian. INSTRUCTOR: Luana Esposito. I felt the course was very organized and the assignments were explained well. I felt the grading was fair and we learned a lot in the month we were there.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         This class was great I learned a lot and I am not longer afraid to speak to strangers with my Italian. INSTRUCTOR: Luana was great she was good with keeping the 2 and half hour class from being bored
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 4

·         The content was very relevant to the location of the class. Learning about Sorrento while studying there was a lot more interesting. The activities were very helpful to help build my Italian skills. INSTRUCTOR: Luana Esposito. The class was very organized. At first it was hard to understand assignments because she did not speak much english but it just made it more of a challenge for the students and helped us out in the long run.
COURSE RATING: 4 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

·         This class was very good, it was completely in Italian, which was a great way to be fully immersed in the language. We learned about the culture and history not just of Italy, but more centered around the city that we were staying in, Sorrento. We were able to take trips around town to see the history that we had been learning about in class as well as experience the present culture. INSTRUCTOR: Luana- From Sorrento Lingue. She was a very good teacher for this course. Not only did she have experience in teaching the language but she was very knowledgeable about the history of her city.
COURSE RATING: 5 INSTRUCTOR RATING: 5

CULTURAL ASPECTS: Do you feel that your exposure to the culture of the host country (or countries) was adequate? If so, what aspects of the program helped to achieve this? If not, what should be done in the future to foster a greater degree of cultural assimilation and understanding?

·         I felt that my exposure to the culture was amazing through this program. Living with a family I felt I really got to continue speaking the language and was exposed to a lot more culture. Especially through the style of living and getting to speak with my host sister about how she lived. I am so happy we stayed with families opposed to in a hotel.

·         I do think the exposure I had to the Italian culture during my stay in Italy was adequate. Staying with a host family who spoke solely Italian definitely helped to improve my fluency and also helped us to be able to take part first-hand in the culture of the family we were staying with. I would definitely recommend the use of host family stays for future programs because it definitely influences the learning experience a great deal.

·         I think that this program was the perfect amount of culture exposure. I wish we would have had time to go to Venice and Milano, but I think staying in one place for 3.5 weeks was the perfect opportunity to assimilate ourselves into Italian life.

·         I felt that our exposure to the country was adequate. The fact that our host parents did not speak English gave us a chance to not be tempted to use English and to practice our conversational skills.

·         I was exposed to the culture greatly because of staying with a family. This increased my degree of learning the true culture of the Italian people. It also helped in avoiding tourism.

·         The Italian culture was evident wherever you looked, it was completely different than America. Most of the Italian Residents did not speak English so it encouraged the students to constantly practice the language with their host families and various vendors and marketers in Sorrento.

·         Living with a host family was probably the best part about going to Sorrento. It gave us freedom but also taught us responsibility. It was great living with a family because it forced you to practice your Italian.

·         I believe I saw as many amazing sites as I could have during my stay. Living with a host family was one of my favorite parts of this trip because I was able to be fully immersed in their culture and be a part of their family. Every excursion was a great showcase of how amazing the country is.

HOUSING: Elaborate on the positive and negative aspects of your accommodations. Please be specific and list by name or site the apartments, hotels, host families, dormitories, etc. that were used for accommodations.

·         Loved the family and location. The place we stayed was nice, had our own entrance, mini kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

·         Positives- -real authentic food - seeing how real Italian families live -speaking more - an amazing location -making friends with the family

·         I stayed with the Izzo family who lived just outside of Sorrento in Sant'Angelo. My family was great, they always made us eat constantly, cleaned our rooms, and took great interaction with us. Our host mom did not speak any English which made my Italian so much better in the end. My roommate and I shared a large room with a great view which suited us well. My only negative comment would be the walk. It took us anywhere between 30 - 40 minutes to walk to school everyday. 

·         I loved staying with a family. It helped me assimilate into Italian culture and also helped a lot with my Italian. I also liked the small class size to take ITAL106. I enjoyed getting to know the 13 other students on the trip, who were for the most part, nothing like me.

·         All aspects of our accomodations while living with the host family in Sorrento were positive. The apartment was a great location and close to everything we needed. The bedroom and bathroom were always accessible and comfortable. The food and meals provided every day were fantastic and always satisfying. Overall living with the host family enhanced my experience abroad and I am really glad this program included a host family stay. It was almost like we had two different study abroad trips all combined into one, since we stayed with families in southern Italy and then went to the city of Rome.

·         We stayed with a host family during our time in Sorrento. It was nice to have interaction with people from the country on a family basis. They were very nice to us and it was fun to watch soccer games with our host father.

·         I stayed with the Santoianni family and our living conditions were more than suitable. We had a separate apartment on the side of their apartment where we were provided with two beds, closets, wardrobes, desks, toilet, shower, refrigerator, and a balcony.

·         Sorrento was the ideal place to send us because barely any of the native Italians could speak a word of English, so you had to use your skills on a day to day basis. We stayed with our families for about 3 weeks and then we went to Rome for the last week, which nearly all the Italians we came into contact with simply spoke to us in English. Living in Sorrento for the 3 weeks was undoubtedly more beneficial.

·         I lived with a family for the majority of the trip, with the exception of the last four days when we had our excursion to Rome. I had an amazing time living with the family, and would give anything to go back.

HOUSING: Would you recommend that these accommodations be used on future UD travel programs?

·         Without a doubt, especially with a host family and not some four star hotel where your not challenged to speak Italian each day. Sorrento was also the ideal place for many short excursions like Pompei, Capri, Napoli, etc.

·         Yes, I would. In my opinion, living with a homestay is the best part of the study abroad program.