Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring
Two weeks ago I wrote a blog post focusing on the Italian nouns that derive from books and theatre plays, today I am exploring the same topic but with a focus on adjectives.
I couldn’t sleep, a few nights ago, and I started thinking about our (ex)Prime Minister – not exactly the right thought to go back to sleep, I know – and I said to myself: “È proprio un azzeccagarbugli“. This weird word comes from Alessandro Manzoni’s I promessi sposi and made me think of all the Italian words that have similar origins.
I have seen many students struggle with this topic. In some cases, they were even advanced students who could use the congiuntivo quite confidently, for example, but would still stumble upon the choice of when to use imperfetto or passato prossimo.
Even when it was only used to share photos, it was a great way to learn new words, improve vocabulary, or practice reading comprehension. Nowadays, with Instagram Stories, Ig Tv, and Reels, it is literally packed with useful content you can use to improve your language skills.
I have decided to do it because, while answering emails requiring more information about the service, I have realized that some of the tips I gave can be applied to language learning in general, and I thought they might be useful for all students.
It just takes some time to memorize all the different pronouns but their use is very straightforward. The same can be said for indirect object pronouns but things become a bit more complicated when you need to figure out whether to use one or the other.
Some of you may remember the Italian writing challenge, back in February. It was a challenge I created to encourage students to practice their writing skills in Italian by doing some daily tasks.
Moreover, I have noticed that many of my students struggle with the same grammar topics and most of them are weak in the same areas, so I have decided to write a series of posts about Italian grammar.
This is a horrible habit and one of the reasons why Italians have such a low command of English but we can’t help it. That’s how it has always been, how it is and probably it’s a tradition that will never change. I am sure the future will bring significant changes in Italian society but movies will always be dubbed.
This week’s blog post is a bit different from the others but, after the success of #tiregalounaparola, I have decided to incorporate more creative projects into this blog.
