“La Dolce Vita” 50+ Course

The number of students in the class varied a lot from 4 people to sometimes 12. The level between the students was quite different. Students with already a good spoken Italian together with students who couldn't hardly speak.
After 4 weeks with Valeria, who I appreciated a lot, we suddenly changed teacher to Ida. No idea why. The location at Piazza d'Orologie is great but the classrooms are tiny and the support to write on not very confortable.
As I have booked an intensif course I had lessons with three different teachers during my 5 weeks stay. One week I was alone and had three times the week a 45 minutes lesson, the second week we had been 2 people and my planning was still 3 times at 45 minutes. I complained and was then granted with a fourth lesson whereas the second person had the whole week a 45 minutes lesson. I really never understood how all this was counted as I booked and paid for 30 units per week. I had 5 times 4 units per week in a group (20 units per week) and 2 to 5 times (depending the week and number of students) per week an intensif lesson of generally one unit, sometimes two. According to me, I should have had 10 units every week for intensif lessons. Unfortunately nobody explained exactly how it works. I also personally would have preferred to chose between lessons in the morning or in the afternoon.

I have been attending the scuola for a number of years prior to COVID. This is my first year back and am impressed by how it has grown and improved. The classes/level were perfect for my needs. The instructor, Vanessa, was truly inspiring. I study in the US and truly feel that in the 2 weeks with her, (well, 1 week 1 day- she was sick) I understood more of the grammar than I have in the years here. She was a joy. Having been at the scuola before, I knew the location, and chose my hotel accordingly, right around the corner. Perfect. Going to the Cinecittà was, for me outstanding, largely because I have a long history on stage in the US. The Museo Capitolini was less impressive in part because of the long lines, the massive crowds and I think trying to see too much. Our first outing took us Passeggiata Roma Antica which was long and at the end we were left to find our own way back. Some did well, some got lost. Other than those 2 less than perfect events, everything was exactly what I hoped for on my return to Roma and the scuola.

The school is located in a very central area. There are many good teachers with a lot of experience. The classes are a good size. I think this was a very good experience.

I had a great experience with this language school. The group classes provided a supportive environment for contributing to discussions, which helped build both confidence and fluency. The curriculum effectively covered important grammatical rules of Italian, which was relevant to my level of Italian.

The individual sessions were particularly valuable. They stimulated my thinking process and gave me the opportunity to explore and articulate more complex ideas in Italian. The combination of group lessons on grammar instruction and open-ended conversations significantly enhanced my confidence in speaking.

I experienced one issue during the course, which involved a public transport strike on one of the course days. I had no means to reach the school that day but unfortunately they would not make any schedule adjustments to allow me to make up the time. Instead I was forced to miss one of ten days of class.

The school is in a decent location. I stayed in a hotel nearby. The staff were very friendly and the course books they provided were well thought out.
They offer a series of social activites, like films and concerts that happen in the evening.
I am hoping to take another trip to the school.

The teachers were my absolute favorite part of the school. The location was great for me becasue I had found an Air Bnb just around the corner. My class had a good mix of people from all over so that made it even more exciting. Our teacher had a great read of us and I appreciated that it wasn't all about the book. Many times we had interactive conversations about all things Italy or something of interest that day. Of course the entire conversation was in Italian so we were still learning. Both Katherine and Erica are so enrgetic and that is exactly what is needed for a class. High energy and able to read their students! the only thing that fell slightly short was waiting so close to the start date what time our class would be as we were also attempting to plan some sightseeing and some tickets need to be purchased way in advance.

Our teacher Valeria was excellent and since we were a small group, it wa very effective, we got to learn and talk a lot. The location was good as well, even though we would have prefered to have seats and tables in the classroom.
Also, the material that was dealt, could have been better (now it was a bunch of loose papers). How about a book?
For the next course I would prefer to have one extra lesson per day.

The lessons were conducted very professionally. Teachers were always prepared for classes. The study aids were very useful. I really liked the afternoon activities, I was able to use the language in practice. The school's location suited me very well. The journey took about 20 minutes. I recommend Scuola Leonardo da Vinci

But it was surprised me that the course was taught in Italian. How can someone never knows Italian will be able to understand?

I found the location of the school to be excellent, in the historic center of Rome. The teachers were uniformly skilled and interested in the students and their progress. I liked the facilities and found the activities outside the classroom to be interesting and enriching. I cannot think of anything I would have changed about the experience. My three months at the school moved me from advanced beginner to advanced grammatical studies. That is amazing to me!

Der Unterricht bei Cristiano war etwas Gewöhnungs-bedürftig. Fand es nicht immer ok wie er sich über Studenten lustig macht.

On the 1st day I arrived to school at 09:00 am (as I was informed in advance that my classes will take place in the morning) only to only to find out that there was no place for me in any group as they didn't evaluate my placement test. I sent this test quite late (on Friday while the course was starting on Monday), but still within the given deadline. And anyway, I paid for this course more than 2 months in advance, so I didn't understand how come I was not assigned to any group. Besides, I was looking for a beginners class, so placement should be easy.

In the end I was told to come to the afternoon group as the director informed me that there was no place for me in any of the morning groups for the beginners (which turned out to be untrue as I was speaking with the morning group later and they told me that their group was never full.). I had to change my plans but agreed to that.
I joined the afternoon group for 2 days - the teacher spoke only English all the time and during 6 hours of course half of the group didn't even open their mouth. She seemed not to realise that, as she was not directing questions to anyone specifically, always the same people answered or even she answered herself. Instead of practicing speaking, we were doing exercises from the book, tor example on how to say 15.698 in Italian. When I told openly that maybe we should start speaking - she answered that IT IS TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO SPEAK. Honestly, I didn't know that such old-fashioned approach to teaching a language still exists.

After these 2 days, I joined the morning class for beginners and it was completely different - the teacher (Massimo) was great and presented totally opposite methodology. He spoke only Italian, was energetic, taking care to involve every student and made every student to speak, inventing some fun exercises etc. I would stay in this school only for this teacher, but it is really strange that 2 teachers of same level class present so different methodology It seems that the school just don't care. So to sum up - the class with Massimo was fantastic and if I was to evaluate only this teacher, it would be the highest note, however my overall opinion about the school is poor.

When it comes to to location it is very good, but the school itself is not nice, there is no place to sit and relax while waiting for the classes etc. I didn't use the housing.

The facility is in a great location and the teachers were friendly and helpful. I would say the mix of classroom and one on one was very helpful to me.

We were 8 students in the class from different countries and continent speaking only in Italian, on the same level of knowledge. The teacher was an Italian native..so just perfect, he was very dynamic and wanted us to understand and to participate actively to the discussions. The school was very close to the most famous locations in the center of Rome. The activities proposed were varied, interesting, frequently close to the school .

I enjoyed all the days spent with the Leonardo Da Vinci school

The school is in a great location a few minutes walk from the Piazza Navona in Rome, in a lovely old building with a courtyard and a very friendly and welcoming Concierge each morning. After taking the on-line test, I was put in a class at C1 level. I struggled a little bit at the start of the week but it got better as the week progressed. I am studying for an Italian Intermediate On-line Diploma and the grammar topics we covered in the C1 class at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci are on the syllabus for the second year of the Diploma which I will start in September, so that has been really helpful. The book we used during the week, Livello 5 Cinecitta C1/N9 Parte 2, is excellent with clear grammar explanations and challenging exercises and will come in handy for my Diploma course.

Unfortunately, I am quite deaf and although I wear hearing aids, due to the school's policy of wearing masks it was difficult for me to hear most conversations and talks during the week; however this did not detract from my enjoyment of the week's experience at the school. I was able to talk to the other students in the class during the breaks outside when we could remove masks and continue to converse in Italian.

It had been a wish of mine to experience a week's intensive Italian language learning in Rome and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, attending school in the mornings and then my husband and I explored Rome and its attractions in the afternoons.

I had a great time in Rome! I’ve been staying and learning for two weeks. The school itself is located in an excellent and central area, so it’s super easy to explore the city before/after school or have an aperitivo with classmates close by. After-school activities could’ve been a bit more and better advertised in order to have more students come along to socialize.

My teacher Alessandro was very kind and funny. Class has been a lot of fun! We had two substitute teachers when Alessandro felt sick, the first one was Loridana. I learned a lot during the lessons with her, she was very good in terms of teaching the grammar of the language correctly and explaining rules, helpful tendencies in irregular cases and the overall understanding of the Italian structure. One other substitute teacher however has been quite a bad teacher since she didn’t really come along quite motivational towards us, not even motivated herself. But this has only been one afternoon. The overall experience with the lessons was very good!

I expected a lot since 450 euros is a lot of money. I had to do a test at the beginning to see which class suites me most. I got told that I already knew the passato prossimo. Then when the class began, we were discussing the passato prossimo for 4 days. That felt like a waste of time and money. Also, the pacing was very slow and some students were constantly talking over people which the teachers didn't do too much about.

When students were absent, which is their own responsibility, they would get a catch up that took up a lot of time. I would have liked to exercise talking more.

The lessons were cut short a lot of times because the teacher was tired? I remember 5 lessons ending 10-20 min before the official ending time. One of my fellow students, who started later than me and therefore continued a week after I finished my course, complained to the coordinator and got offered private lessons. I don't think it is fair that I didn't have that option.

After I showed my discontent I was told I could switch class but that I would start over with the booklet, which means I would have had 2 weeks of passato prossimo. I did think the teachers were nice, but I expected so much more of a “intensive course”. Especially one that is this expensive

I was only one week there and also in vacation. The important for me was to speak a lot and end B1. We spoke a lot and I have the feeling that I could achieve the end of B1. I didn't participate to activities.

- the classes were working exclusively with the book
- the teacher was talking a lot and explaining with great patience
- the teacher was very professional, knowledgeable and fun, also enthusiastic (Eva, A2/N2 class)
- the rooms were fine
- the facilities need attention, the restrooms were not in good shape, the coffee machine broke down
- the only one planned activity was then cancelled

The online course was very good structured and contained speaking, grammar and practicing.
I especially liked that the teacher proactively motivated everyone to speak in Italian language, because this is the main lack I am having and I wanted to get more used in speaking Italian.
Even though the course was online, I did not experience any big issues with that. Sometimes we had some internet connection problems, but I would say this is quite normal nowadays.
I was impressed by the possibility to have different zoom rooms in one online meeting, by this we were able to do group work with other students.

I especially would like to emphasize that our teacher Marta was very good!! She explained the grammar feasible, motivated everyone to speak only in Italian and I could learn a lot within just one week.

I am very interested in doing another online Course with the school in the near future.

My expectations were surely met. There are classes in a maximum of 12 students, the form of teaching was very varied and the teacher really good.
Every day there was three hours of intensive teaching and about one hour of homework. The school offered lots of activities in leisure time.
If I should point out one thing that could be improved, then it would be the premises taught in. The classroom was very packed and the acoustics was at times a challenge.

The first day I was put in a class for super-beginners, and the second day my private tutor put me in a beginner-class in which I stayed the rest of the week. I think it would have been better if I had taken a test in advance, so that I would have been put in the beginner-class already the first day. However I adapted quickly to the new class.

The teacher in the beginner-class, Chiara, was such energetic, intelligent and observant and had creative and beneficial teaching methods. She created an open space for us to talk and make mistakes without us feeling uncomfortable. In the group lessons, Chiara asked us questions, and we spoke and listened to the other students. Oftentimes, the questions were about about our everyday life which sometimes elaborated into funny debates between the students. This felt very useful, both when speaking myself and listening to the others.

The private lessons with teacher Romain was a great experience as well. In these lessons we went through grammar and vocabulary on a level below what we did in the group lessons, which was a sort of preparation for the following group lessons that day. We did a lot of written exercises but it was never boring and I learned a lot.

I was very pleased that the whole course, both the private lessons and the group lessons, was in Italian, which definitely improved my understanding skills and my speaking skills more than I had expected. The location of the school was perfect- in the center of everything, and with a walking distance from Trastevere, the area where I lived.

In the classrooms, I would have wished for better chairs, because it was a little bit difficult to balance my notebooks and take notes on the retractable desk plate that was part of the chair.

The activities after school were interesting as well. I attended the pronunciation class, the class about Italian regions and the Campo di Fiori guided tour. The guided tour was more challenging than the others since I had difficulties hearing and seeing the guide.

I've been for a week at the school in Rome, I had a fantastic week though it was sometimes hard in lessons when they were not all classroom students but this was not just in Rome but also in Milan.
Edward my teacher is great, I really liked having lessons with him. The school is very centrally located. Excursions and other possibilities to do were awesome. I also did the art history on Borromini and Bernini, so I learned more about the art of Rome.

The family was also good.

In sum for those who like a big, chaotic traffic, Rome is perfect. I prefer Siena, Florence or Milan. Certainly Siena is more familiar.

I did not miss all Italians, although I learned Spanish a little more than a year. At present we study unreal hypotheses with a plusquamperfect and conditional conjunctiva. The Italian language helps me so much with the Spanish and my teacher told me that I have an Italian accent .....