Italian

The ITALengAMERICA program connects students from Italian high schools and universities with their counterparts at partner institutions in the United States and Canada. These students meet virtually once a week, on Sundays, from 11:20 am to 12:30 pm ET (5:20 pm to 6:30 pm GMT), for a total of up to 10 hours. The meetings take place in virtual breakout rooms on the ZOOM platform, with discussions conducted in Italian for the first half hour and in English for the second half.

During these sessions, the program coordinator and the professors will not be present, as the students will take on the role of “tutors,” guiding each other in correcting grammar and vocabulary errors while supporting language practice. This peer tutoring approach allows for mutual learning and engagement. However, the program coordinator and professors will have the ability to join the breakout rooms at any time to monitor progress and provide assistance if needed.

Weekly conversation topics will be assigned at the start of each week and will focus on practical, everyday subjects. These range from simple discussions on family, daily routines, and hobbies to more in-depth comparisons of Italian and American holidays, traditions, and popular culture, such as TV series or movies. Students are expected to prepare thoroughly in advance to ensure that conversations are structured, thoughtful, and linguistically precise.

The program will conclude with a final evaluation session. Professors from the American partner universities will assess the Italian students’ proficiency in English, while professors from the Italian institutions will evaluate the American students’ command of Italian. This final assessment will also include a review of the programs strengths and areas for improvement.

​Students who maintain an active attendance rate of at least 80% (equivalent to 8 hours) will be awarded a Certificate of Attendance. Continuous monitoring will be conducted not only through live online participation but also through the administration of interim and final questionnaires via Google Forms.