It`s February the 4th of 2010, I`m in London and I`m writing from an internet cafe in Archway. The weather is cold outside and grey and I`m quarreling with the keyboard of this PC because it`s a little bit different from mine: 20 minutes to find the way of write the "@" !!!!!!!!
Until now, these days have been so intensive and full of contrasting feelings. I`m enthusiastic but at the same time I`m scared because I`ve got a lot of problems to get the others to understand my English. It`s difficult for me to finish an english sentence because I`ve studied English when I attended high school but then I never had the opportunity to have an english conversation with someone in Pistoia. I`m so sorry for the guys that are obliged to talk with me, I know that it`s an exhausting thing but I`m so rusty in english conversation!!!! But I want to take this like a challenge, trying to do the best that I can do ( especially after 1 drink)!!! ;)
There is another challenge for me: the fried food!!! So so so good! But I think that tonight I`m gonna have a vegeterian, purifying dinner!!!!
I gotta go...
bye.
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Hi Irene, well done for managing to start your blog and input your first posting!! May i please tell you that i think that your english (for an Italian) is excellent!!! I understand you perfectly!! Perhaps you dont speak as fast as you would had you been talking in Italian!! But at this point, we understand you fully and thats what matters!! If you spend the next 10 days talking in English, you will see how your english will become much more fluent. Here you raise a very very important point - language and the self-confidence to speak in a foreign language. This is probably one of the biggest issues that holds students back from applying for exchanges!! How best to tackle this problem? in your Pistoia campus or at the Florence university at large? It would be interesting to see what you think about this!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading more of your postings :)
Irene, Michelle is right. In my experience as coordinator of Erasmus exchanges, often students don't dare to expose themselves to a different language and culture, they need a lot of encouragement. How would you do this in developing the toolkit? Would you, Irene and the others, sign up for some volunteer work at our international office and at your campuses to stimulate fellow students to take up the Erasmus adventure?
ReplyDeleteDear Michelle and Laura,
ReplyDeletefirst of all... THANK YOU! I know that my English is a sort of nightmare ;) and I`m happy that you`re recognizing my attempts. Often I feel like I`m the only one out while the others are all in because of the language but I don`t surrender! This is the most important thing,I think.
In Pistoia at the moment we don`t have Erasmus student and this is also the reason why I never have the possibility to practice my English... by the way.
I think that an Erasmus student must have the bases of the language of his Erasmus` country and pass the language exam first, but the country must also give him the chance to improve it with free language courses. I know that these things just exist in our university, the problem is that often these things, especially the language exam, aren`t really serious and the students go abroad with a mild idea of that country`s language. I`m obviously talking about the Erasmus experiences in general.
Erasmus students maybe prefer learning the language "on the road" and it`s an important way to do it but I think that an Erasmus Office should spread more the importance of knowing since the beginning that foreign language so to waste no time!
I think that we will talk again about this also because of the tool kit.
kisses...
Irene, you touched a very crucial point that, you are right, it should be in the toolkit. Indeed, an Erasmus student must possess a basic knowledge of the the language of the host country at arrival. Then, the offer of free language courses will be only to improve. In our Erasmus selection process, students who give as their main motivation for going on an Erasmus exchange "learning the language" get lower marks. The ability to communicate in the host language is mandatory especially when you enter clinical practice. If students do not understand what they are told, the clinical practice has to be downgraded to a passive observatorship. Erasmus students should be encouraged to attend LLP Language courses which are provided in the host country before the study period starts.
ReplyDelete