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Read Teacher Reviews Written by Bob
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Score: 5 Teacher: Alessandra Paganin By: Bob L November 24, 2010 Lead Acquired: November 24, 2010 Hours of Instructions: 250 |
Wonderful teacher living in a very friendly community I am a 78 year old retired American physician. I have taken Italian language lessons from Ale Paganin for almost three years on Skype. In September and October of 2012 I traveled to her village of Esino Lario, rented the apartment that she makes available for her students, and took eight weeks of intensive language training from Ale. After returning to the United States I continue to take language lessons from her on Skype. Ale is a very pleasant young woman and a highly skilled language teacher. Learning a new language is difficult for most of us and particularly for me at my age. Ale understands this and has always been gentle but persistent in correcting my many errors. She keeps me focused on the fundamentals of the Italian language, and I am learning not only what to say or write but also why I do it, which I appreciate. Learning Italian is going to be a long journey for me, and I am happy to know that Ale will be my guide and companion on this trip. Ale provides an apartment that is located on the ground floor of her home in Esino Lario. This home is located in a section of Esino Lario that probably dates to the medieval period with stone homes located on narrow winding streets. The Italians consider these portions of their towns and cities to be national treasures and maintain them carefully. The apartment she provides is quite spacious with a kitchen, dining and sitting area on the ground floor and a large bedroom and bath on the second floor. The apartment is comfortably furnished in the Italian style. The kitchen area is small but quite adequate for meal preparation. A pellet stove kept the apartment quite warm during the occasional days of cold weather that I experienced. Esino Lario is a small, very clean, and well maintained village located in the mountains a short distance from the eastern shore of Lake Como. The town sits in a hilly valley surrounded by large mountains. There are sections of the village that are quite ancient and other sections that are more modern. The town has basic amenities such as a medical office, pharmacy, banks, grocery stores, small clothing store, barber, hairdresser, and a news stand. There are three nice bars in the village that I used for a coffee or a sandwich. There is an excellent and relatively inexpensive restaurant in the town that I used extensively for dinners during my stay in Esino Lario. The cook’s Italian style pizza is quite different from American pizza and is wonderful! I came to Esino Lario to learn some more of the Italian language, which I did. I also came to Esino Lario to learn something about Italians by living with them outside the usual tourist areas of Italy. I returned to the United States very impressed with the country and with the many people that I met during my stay in Italy. Without a single exception I was treated in a warm and courteous manner by every Italian with whom I had contact in the town. Within two days of my arrival at my rented apartment three of my neighbors brought me produce from their gardens as a welcoming gesture. Everyone that I passed in the streets gave me a smile and a buon giorno. In the stores, bars, or restaurant the Italians would patiently tolerate my terrible Italian and sometimes gently correct me. Four different families invited me into their homes for a meal or a drink. The director of the local museum gave me a personal and private tour of her museum. I discovered that the attitudes and values of these Italians are very similar to those taught to me when I grew up in a small Midwestern town in the United States. I like the people that I met in Esino Lario very much. I hope to return to the village at some future date for more personal lessons from Ale and to again see the friends that I made in the community during my recent visit.
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