Our Italian Language Courses: where the Italian Language and Italian Culture come together

By simply studying the language of a country you are exposed to a whole range of cultural traits specific to the country and ingrained within the language itself. At Italia 500 however, we also like to view culture in a much wider context, which is why we reserve part of each lesson to the study of the cuisine, art, history, lifestyle and the customs of one of the most beautiful and fascinating countries in the world.

At Italia 500, the Italian language and Italian culture are so intertwined that the transition from the language component of each class to the cultural component is almost seamless and they both reinforce each other.

The real life dialogues we study in class are generally set in areas of particular interest in Italy, which we then visit and explore in further detail in our cultural segment. As we visit each area, we look at its history, and examine a particular film director, painter, composer or writer. We might also focus on the cuisine, wines or customs peculiar to the area. We then examine an aspect of Italian society such as television, family life, leisure, friendship, work, etc.

The cocktail of language and culture is exhilarating, really does make the classes much much more interesting, and at Italia 500 we know that the more you enjoy the learning experience, the more quickly and more easily you will learn the language.

To really give you a feel of the places, the people, and the issues, we use an enormous amount of visual material such as slides, extracts from documentaries and films, and our own videos shot specifically during our visits to Italy.