Orvieto Study Trip 2012

On 9 April 2012 three Lower Sixth girls, accompanied by me, set off to spend a week in Orvieto in Italy. This type of study trip has been tried and tested in the past, but we were once again charmed by such a beautiful, picturesque and quintessentially Italian destination. In addition, the trip had a new format this year. For the first time we collaborated with Marlborough College. This proved very successful; their students, two girls, being delightful and mixing well with our students. Their accompanying teacher, Mr Peter Morley-Fletcher, also contributed very positively to the trip with his knowledge of Italian language and culture. The second new feature of the trip was the use of host families, recommended by the Italian language school. It worked very well and the girls remarked on how this was very useful for their Italian.

The students enjoyed five action-packed days of activities to experience life and culture in Italy. The programme included language lessons in the morning and excursions or cultural events in the afternoon. To list a few: we had the opportunity to visit the Duomo of Orvieto and be guided through the masterful depiction of Heaven and Hell inside it; we had a cookery lesson during which we learnt how to make fresh pasta; we explored the network of caves under the town and we descended into a medieval well (and climbed out again!). One afternoon we took a train to Rome to visit as much as possible of the city in the few hours we had available. Amazingly we managed to see many of the most famous sites in one afternoon.

This study trip was a valuable experience; the Sevenoaks pupils practised their language and learnt a lot about the country and its culture. They had the opportunity to acquire plenty of ideas to work on in their preparation for a written assignment which they will complete next year. The collaboration with Marlborough College was a success. Unfortunately the weather was not great, especially during the second half of the week, and it did not show the landscape at its best. Furthermore it affected the whole experience, since Italians withdraw into their homes in the rain. Nevertheless, this was a very successful trip.

Alessandra Symons

Orvieto Study Trip 2010 

On 17 October 2010 a group of Upper and Lower Sixth students, accompanied by Alessandra Symons and Neetha Kunaratnam, set off to spend a week in Orvieto in Italy, approximately 100km north of Rome.

Orvieto is a delightful place, a typical example of Italian town, full of charm and history; an ideal place for our students to experience the essence of Italian life and culture. Its size and position, on top of a plateau, are contained, there is some traffic but not fast flowing, and there are many architectural, artistic and historic sites.

Our time was filled with educational and creative activities: Italian classes on four days, excursions in the town, creative classes of ceramic decoration and cookery and a day trip to Rome. The students were immersed in the Italian language continuously: in the school environment all lessons were conducted in Italian. The school revised and practised themes of the IB syllabus and the lessons were found to be enjoyable and very useful both by beginners and intermediate students. Italian was also used during the guided tours and the creative classes, with translations into English when needed. Even the Lower Sixth students, who have only received minimal Italian tuition so far, were able to deal with spoken Italian.

This was a very successful first-hand experience of Italy and Italian in practice. The students’ vocabulary and fluency have greatly increased and they were also able to absorb some Italian culture.  Their comprehension has also improved significantly and this prolonged exposure to the language should prove very beneficial.

Throughout the week, at the language school, in the hotel, in the restaurants and in the streets of Orvieto, the students’ conduct and discipline was very good, making this study trip an enjoyable experience for everyone concerned.

Study Trip to Florence 2008
On 19 October 2008 a group of Upper and Lower Sixth students set off to spend a week in Italy. The destination of this trip was one of the most famous Italian cities, Florence, in Tuscany. This Study Trip was a new venture for the Italian Department, a change from previous school trips to Orvieto.

The city of Florence is one of the richest in Italy in terms of architectural, artistic and historic sites. Furthermore Florence is not too big and a typical example of an Italian city, full of charm and history ideally suited to present to our students the essence of Italian life and culture. We were treated to a week of artistic delights, delicious food and beautiful warm autumnal Italian sunshine.

The five days in Florence were filled with educational activities and excursions, namely classes of Italian every day in a language school and afternoon outings to museums. We were able to see some of the most famous masterpieces of Renaissance art, from Botticelli’s Birth of Venus to the newly restored Michelangelo’s David to name a few. The central streets and squares of Florence are lined with outstanding buildings and monuments and we were truly spoilt for choice during our stay. During our visits we were assisted by two art historians who made the art and architecture much more understandable. One afternoon we took a trip to an interesting and historically rich town in the vicinity, Siena. Another outing to Lucca or Pisa was planned but had to be curtailed due to the bad health which affected a large proportion of the group. Perhaps the visit to Siena, whose population had been depleted to a third by the plague a few centuries ago, had not been auspicious!

The students were immersed in the Italian language continuously: in the school environment all lessons were conducted in Italian, even the Lower Sixth students who have only received minimal Italian tuition were able to understand their Italian speaking teacher. The school revised and practised themes of the IB syllabus, and the lessons were found to be enjoyable and very useful. Whereas an English speaking guide was chosen for the Lower Sixth, Italian was also used during the guided tours of the Upper Sixth. Their comprehension improved greatly. 

Finally the main objectives of the trip were achieved. The students were able to experience Italy and its language in practice. Their vocabulary and their fluency have greatly increased and this will be very beneficial in the oral component of their future exam. The students were also able to absorb some of the Italian culture which will be tested in the exam. Most significantly the students were continually exposed to the Italian language both visually, on signs and billboards, and as it was differently spoken by individuals. They were thus able to attune themselves to the diverse sounds of the language. At the end of the trip some Lower Sixth students were greatly pleased to realise that they were even able to understand headlines on newspapers. Hopefully this first hand experience of their ability to understand and communicate in Italian has renewed their enthusiasm for further learning the language.