Italian Language Courses in Otranto, South of Italy

Scuola Porta D'Oriente, Otranto, Lecce:
The school is situated in Otranto, one of the most beautiful seaside resorts in the South of Italy. Why study italian in Otranto? Here everything is on a human scale: the town, the school, the people; you will not find the mass foreign tourism there is in the big cities. Studying in a small town means that you can speak Italian everywhere and that you will not feel like a "stranger" because people are full of human warmth and special attention to the newcomers.

General Courses :
Each course lasts for a minimum of 1 week up to a maximum of 12 months. Each level follows its own grammar and linguistic program.
THE STRENGTH of our Italian language courses is that the class lessons include some cultural and practical activities such as a lesson about the Apulian homemade pasta course (students will do 3 types of homemade pasta in the kitchen of the school) when in class we will discuss about Apulian gastronomy; a demonstration, on the school’s terrace, of Apulian folk dance (the Pizzica, a type of tarantella) when it comes to the popular tradition of Tarantism. Other practical activities will be proposed during the lessons.
Our Italian language courses in Italy focus on conversation:
Being able to engage in conversation is key when speaking a new language. True mastery of the language comes when one has grasped vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar concepts, and linguistics.
Conversation will be improved by debates, round table discussions and role-plays;
You will learn how to sustain simple and also advanced conversation with natives.

Elementary level:
Acquisition of the ability to communicate in Italian and to elaborate simple information; acquisition of general vocabulary and the use of basic grammatical construction.

Intermediate level:
Acquisition of the ability to face daily situations and to express opinions through the consolidation of grammar and vocabulary

Advanced level (level of specialization):
Acquisition of the three fundamental abilities of language: listening, speaking and writing to express fluently own opinions about complex subjects.

Excellent level:
Level of specialization: analysis and study of the different forms of the written and oral language; lessons focusing on the most important aspects of literature, culture and Italian civilization.

Italian Courses for special purposes:

Italian for children:
The course is addressed to children (from 5 to 15 years old) that want to learn Italian. The course is held by teachers specialized in the teaching to the children.

Business Italian:
To develop own linguistic competence in the sectors of economy and commerce, thanks to a thematic progression completed by audio-visual supports, the study of specific texts, as well as, brief stages with local firms. The option for the Italian of Business includes:

- Italian for tourism and trade operators: the course is structured on practical activities of every day life: the use of telephone, the presence at a meeting, the presentation of facts, the editing of letters and the management of negotiations. The course includes every day an individual lesson that allows the students to fill possible gaps. Brief practical stages (3/4 days) in travel agencies, hotels and tourist offices are also possible.

- The Italian of economy and finance: for economic students and professionals who have frequent commercial contacts with international companies or for people who are interested in marketing and markets. This course will enrich their vocabulary with appropriate technical terms.

- The Italian for managers: engineers, operators of small, average and big firms.

Legal Italian:
The course is for those students who have some knoledges in the field of law and who are interested in the language of law in Italian for professional reasons of for study.
The program focuses on different areas of law (Constitutional Law, Roman Law, Civil Law, Administrative Law, Labor Law, Criminal Law, Public Law).
Analysis of the Italian codes, texts (labor contracts, Italian-type contracts and laws on private contracting, sentences, etc.) to provide students with the basic vocabulary and professional expressions.
On request, included in the course price, are brief stages by a lawyer office or Tribunal.

Italian courses for medicine:
The courses of Italian of medicine and science are designed for those people that work or study in a medical-scientific milieu where people speak Italian.
On request the course includes practical stages. The course aim at providing to the students the scientific and medical terminology to speak and to understand specific texts. Contents cab be decided according to the student's needs.

Italian for Language Teachers:
- Didactic of the Italian language as foreign language: analysis of the different teaching methods and of the materials used in the classroom;
- Communicative approach and phonetics;
- Italian Literature: analysis of texts and methodology: analysis of the most important authors;
- Italian culture and civilization: economical, political and cultural aspects (difference between South and North); the socalled Italian "Mammismo" and its social implications (Mafia, Unemployment,...); the Mafia and the mafious menthality; the Italian politics; anthropological analysis of 3 forms of Italian folklore: the Palio of Siena, the Carnival, the Tarantism.
Other contents can be proposed according to the students' needs.

CILS, CELI and PLIDA Certificate :
The Certifications of Italian as a Foreign Language (CILS, CELI, PLIDA) is the official title that denotes the degree of linguistic competency of Italian as a foreign language.