THANKS FOR SHARING!
4th may 2021
Camilla's reflection
As far as my own experience of learning foreign languages is concerned, I believe that I fit into all 4 points of "The Medicine Wheel".
I have had a strong passion for foreign languages since I was a child. In particular, I like travelling and discovering new places, I am particularly interested (being very curious) in getting to know new cultures, traditions and therefore also the languages of other peoples.
This is the reason why I chose to attend a linguistic high school.
I can say that despite the well-known difficulties that students with DSA like me have with foreign languages, the experience of studying abroad has helped me improve my self-esteem because, by using the language in everyday life, I have not had difficulties such as those I face when learning at school. Thanks to the experinces abroad, even the fears and uncertainties disappeared.
In particular, the first experience I had in England remained in my memory, because it allowed me get organized my daily life, school and relationships with strangers independently, even though I was and still am a very shy girl. I remember the first time I had dinner with my host I was asked what my favorite food was and I told him it was corn and said mice instead...
In addition to experience, which I consider a fundamental thing, other things that help me study languages are: using colors to differentiate topics both on maps and summaries for study, tables, pictures, all compensatory tools that I have always used, listening to songs or podcasts or watching films.
A I don't have a good long term memory and therefore very often anxiety takes over, words don't come to me or words come to me in another language. Sometimes I find phrases or associations with words of my own language associating words helps me remember them.
For example, there is a word in German that never came to mind but once, when I was in Austria with my grandmother, I heard it in one of her sentences and from that moment on I have never forgotten it.
This project was very interesting, because I had the opportunity to get to know strategies of some peers, but above all to reflect on my own strategies and personal experiences, it also allowed me to rediscover and use my technological skills outside the usual pattern of the traditional method.
Camilla Aiello
4th may 2021
Francesca's reflection
My personal experience connected with languages began in the elementary school, when I first had a contact with English words. Then, in the middle school I started studying Spanish and I
became more fluent in English. In that period of my life I reflected and I understood that learning languages was a passion for me, and that I wanted to study them in a deeper way. Now I am
attending the high school, and I am studying three languages: English, Spanish and German.
Even if I’m still not sure about what I will do in the future, I know that languages have been very useful for my life, especially because they have helped me develop another point of view on the
world and discover new cultures.
In addition, I think that the Lincdire project is a great opportunity to keep in touch with people from a country that is far from Italy, in order to share a lot of experiences linked with our language
learning journey.
In my opinion, sharing the story of another person by doing an interview was very interesting, because it made me reflect on my own way of learning languages. Personally, I would like to
improve my self-confidence when I speak a foreign language, because I am a shy person and I don’t express my personal opinion very often. I am afraid of making mistakes, and I know I should
be more confident, in fact I am working hard to improve my behaviour.
Francesca Artusi
5th may 2021
Giulia's reflection
I think studying languages ​​is very important for our life.
They are interesting and useful not only at a professional level but also for discovering the culture of the various countries.
I think we have to practise languages ​​on every occasion, for example next summer I will go to work
as a receptionist in a hotel in the mountains.
This place is full of foreign tourists so I hope to meet foreign people to practise my languages ​​all the time.
I am very excited and I think it is an excellent opportunity to improve my English.
Giulia Barletta
11th may 2021
Viola's reflection
I’m so interested in languages. When I was a child, I was astonished to hear people speak on TV and pronounce sounds different from Italian, this is still the case today even when I listen to songs. In fact I chose a linguistic high school to improve my knowledge of foreign languages. Now I study English, Spanish and French in which I’m B1.
I think I will continue to study languages maybe in a different way and in a different context. I also hope to learn difficult languages such as Russian or Chinese that nowadays are becoming more and more useful and important for the future.
Viola Bosani
5th may 2021
Valentina's reflection
Thanks to this project and to the interview I carried out, I realized that even if we attend different types of schools when it comes to our English learning experience we have lots of similarities with a scientific course.
Thanks to this interview I learned that we all do the same things to improve our English, even if maybe, since I attend a linguistic course, I practice languages a lot. A method that I found really interesting and that I’ll start to use to improve my language, is to download an app from the internet to get the word of the day so that I can learn new words, I’ll start to use for each language I study.
Concerning speaking skills, I agree with the importance of spending periods abroad underlined by my interviewee. My first real experience was when I went to Paris and I talked in French with native speakers, at first I found it a little difficult since the spoke really fast, but then I got used to it and it was an amazing experience because I managed to understand and interact with native speakers and I felt at my own ease.
Valentina Colombo
4th may 2021
Marinella's reflection
Knowing one or more languages is a MUST, it is a personal knowledge and it is can also help in the future life.
Reflecting on my own experiences I believe that learning many languages has been fundamental for the person I am now, I realize how lucky I am to know so many idioms, not only from the linguistic level, but above all from the cultural perspective. I believe that digging deep into a language and the culture of the country is essential, you need to know history, geography, traditions, customs.
One of my biggest dreams is to explore, travel and live in a city, because I believe that it is the only way I could say that I have lived on my skin a language.
I speak 5 languages and one of them is Bulgarian because my parents are from there. I am glad that they have always spoken to me in this language since I was a child and I am also grateful for the fact that although we live in Italy, they manage to maintain their traditions especially during the holidays.
Although I still have some grammatical deficiencies, over the years I have improved since I attend a Bulgarian school, in which in addition to grammar they teach us traditional Bulgarian dance. In fact, when I go to weddings, I often dance these dances and every time I’m ashamed because I’m not able, this makes me understand how important it is to be able to dance in the Bulgarian tradition to feel part of the community.
Growing up in a context where Bulgarian is spoken at home and Italian at school, I still often mix languages. I have to admit that this not only happens to me, but also to my family, for us it is normal that one person asks for something in Bulgarian and the other answers half in Italian and half in Bulgarian. This is the beauty of being bilingual! And definitely means to appreciate what richness of cultures is.
I am convinced that mastering a language fosters our growth, and stimulates us to live and explore this wonderful world!
Marinella Dimitrova
14th may 2021
Beatrice's reflection
My journey with languages started long time ago, but I instantly fell in love them.
I welcomed the idea of my middle school Spanish teacher to attend a linguistic high school, to work ever harder on languages and build a future life abroad.
English was the language I have always felt the most connection with.
Beyond studying it at school, I love to speak and despite all the difficulties that can often happen, I also really enjoy learning from my own mistakes.
When I know or I understand that I’m doing well while talking or studying English, I feel extremely proud of myself and that’s the best feeling ever.
I definitely see myself in a near future, speaking, studying and maybe even working with my favorite language.
Beatrice Dubini
13th may 2021
Susanna's reflection
I had my first contact with languages in kindergarten, because there we started listening to many songs in English and the teachers taught us many new words.
Subsequently, English has accompanied me so far and I think it will accompany me throughout my life, because mastering languages, especially English is essential. During these years I have also had the opportunity to learn new languages such as Spanish and French which I like so much.
Two years ago I had a wonderful experience: I spent three weeks in South Africa speaking English
all the time, at the beginning it was not easy, but then I felt much more confident with the language, in fact I remember I actually started to think in English.
I think languages are beautiful and very important and I hope one day to be able to travel a lot and improve my skills in each language!
Susanna Forloni
11th may 2021
Chiara's reflection
In my personal experience learning languages has been a great journey, I like travelling and I’d like one day to speak several languages fluently. However I have realized that languages won’t choose the faculty of foreign languages at University, of course languages will be an important part of my career, this is why I want to keep learning and practicing them, but my future won’t be based on them. Studying languages at school made me aware of other of the culture and traditions in different countries and this is the most interesting and fascinating aspect, so that’s why I would like to travel and explore other countries. One day I hope I will become a journalist and travel a lot thanks to the linguistic knowledge, meet new people and discover things about history, culture and values of other countries.
The school I am attending opened my mind to the knowledge and awareness of a wider world and I hope new students will be as curious as I am, in order to keep discovering and studying.
Chiara Grisafi
7th may 2021
Greta's reflection
It is beautiful to hear different experiences in our language learning journey.
Other’s people’ story help me find new ways to improve my knowledge of languages and it is really helpful.
I am really into languages and I hope I will be able to speak fluently in the future and maybe to use them in my everyday life.
They are now part of my life, for example I only watch movies in the original language and sometimes I think or dream in English and I believe this a genuine passion that I will cultivate in also in the future.
Greta Limardo
8th may 2021
Giulia's reflection
Hello, I’m an Italian girl and my name is Giulia Lorefice, I’m 18 years old and I attend the linguistic school Ettore Majorana. I study three languages: English, Spanish and German.
I’ve been studying English since I was in the elementary school, so for 12 years. In the middle school I started learning also Spanish. In that period I really loved learning new languages, and for this reason I decided to attend a linguistic school.
At first learning three languages at the same time wasn’t that difficult, because we started from the basics and with grammar, but in the third year everything changed because we started dealing with literature, therefore we started to speak more than the previous two years.
This change was a little bit difficult for me because I wasn’t used to speaking and explaining literary concepts and analysing texts and commenting contents, especially in German, and also my pronunciation wasn’t very good.
However this helped me a lot to improve, now am fluent in Spanish, though I am still struggling with my pronunciation in English and German.
Spanish in few years has become the language of my heart, it’s like it is a part of me, in fact sometimes when I speak in Italian come first to my mind Spanish words than Italian ones, for example with the word white-haired (in Spanish it’s canoso and in Italian it’s canuto). In fact, when I have to study Spanish literature it’s not a burden for me, I find it really helpful and enjoyable because I practise speaking out loud.
However I understand something very important: if you want to become really fluent and understand a foreign language, you have to go abroad. I’ve been reflecting a lot this year, and I think that you can’t learn languages at school only, even watching films or tv series isn’t enough.
That’s why I would like to spend a year in Spain in the future, to master at least one language among those I am studying at the moment which is also my favourite one.
In conclusion, I would like to recommend everyone to interact as much as possible with native speakers.
Giulia Lorefice
14th may 2021
Esmeralda's reflection
I have been studying English since I was six years old and French since I was eleven years old, when
I was thirteen I decided to continue studying foreign languages. I always try to improve my skills,
speaking even when I’m alone, watching movies and listening to music. I think the best method to
learn English or any other languages is to travel in that country and spend some time there speaking only that language, or you can make virtual friends and speak with them in their
language so that they can teach you some words.
Unfortunately I never tried that experience, but I’m looking forward to going to Spain, France or
England.
If I have to say something but I don’t know how to say it, I try to explain myself in other words or
language.
When I’m watching a movie or listening to a song, I usually put subtitles so I can understand better
and repeat words. If I have to choose between a native speaker and a non native speaker I prefer the first one because he has a better pronunciation and he can teach you how to pronounce what you have to say or the synonyms of some words so you don’t seem repetitive. Inmy opinion the
most challenging skill is speaking to someone because you have no time to think about what you have to say while you are writing you have more time because no-one is waiting for an answer.
When I was younger I used some apps to practice my English like Babble or Duolingo, but now I
don’t use them anymore.
To new language learners I would suggest to read, watch and listen to the language they want to
learn everyday and to travel as much as possible.
Esmeralda Monza
13th may 2021
Stella's reflection
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Stella Palfrader
5th may 2021
Irene's reflection
I have loved foreign languages since I started learning English in the first year of primary school.
Unfortunately I believe that Italian schools teach too little English at primary level because children learn
very fast and it would be better to take advantage of this ability when they are still very young. Anyway, at Junior High School I also began learning Spanish and I fell in love with this language too. Therefore, when I
had to decide which High School I wanted to attend, my choice was „ liceo linguistico“. As a third language,
I chose German because it is useful when you apply for a job.
Now I can say that I am happy with my choices because languages are still the most interesting subjects among all the ones I am studying. Besides, I feel that languages are extremely important in our modern world. Globalisation is here to stay and it is essential to be able to communicate with the rest of the world, whatever you do. In fact, especially English is fundamental for your future.
I think that in order to learn languages better it is a good idea to watch movies and tv series (with subtitles
in the original language) and to listen to songs while reading the lyrics. This can really help a student to improve their listening and pronunciation skills. This is what I try to do as often as possible. As for grammar, the only method is constant study with a lot of exercises. Grammar is what most students find difficult and boring, but in my opinion it is impossible to learn a language well if you do not know its grammar. Obviously if you really want to acquire a complete knowledge of a foreign language, you should spend at least some time abroad every year, for example during the summer holidays or, even better, to spend a whole school year in another country.
In the future I think I will go to university and, although I still haven’t chosen a precise course of study, I
know that I would like to learn another language, for example Arabic or French. I admit that I don’t like the sound of Chinese so I don't think I will ever study it despite the fact that it will probably be one of the most important language in the future.
Irene Persiano
4th may 2021
Laura's reflection
I am Laura and I am 17. I attend the linguistic high school at Liceo Majorana Rho, where I study English, French and Spanish.
I have always loved languages, in particular English. I have started learning it at elementary school, where I managed to learn some grammatical structures and simple vocabulary. I kept studying it in middle school, where I got very interested in it and my passion for English grew.
The part of this language I love the most is the speaking part. I like talking to other people and I watch a lot of films in original language, and I also listen to music, in order to improve my pronunciation.
In my school experience, the best method to learn English is including all the parts of this language; you have to know the grammar and how to write, but also the speaking and the listening parts are essential. Personally, the most challenging skill to develop is the speaking one because you have to mix all your grammatical knowledge, but you have to keep the conversation going on too. Especially when you are talking to a native speaker, you have to be fluent and, if you don’t know a precise word, you have to try to explain the concept with other sentences and words, in order to be understood.
From my point of view, one of the most useful things to do to improve our level is to make experiences abroad. This occasion gives you the possibility to meet native people, to learn something about their culture and their costumes. I believe that this is important to become more and more proficient in the language, get to know the language and maybe to find similarities with our own culture.
Furthermore, another helpful strategy is to download some apps, which let you exercise and give you advice to better learn the language. Listening to music is very important too. Maybe we do not understand all the words at first, but we can search for the lyrics and learn them.
As I said before, I love languages and I am studying English, Spanish and French. I believe that learning more than one language at the same time could be very useful and efficient, because you can find similarities among them, for example words or grammatical structures, and this can obviously help you memorize and better understand the language.
I have travelled a lot and I have had the opportunity to meet people from different parts of the world. I have gone to Greece, to Austria, to Antigua and to the Caribbean, and during all these journeys I met English, American, Spanish and French people, and I had the opportunity to talk with them. I managed to understand most of the sentences, and I set myself the goal of fighting insecurity and shyness and talking to these people. Sometimes I made mistakes, but I did not care, because I made me understand by them.
I hope to keep studying languages in my future, and maybe to use them in my hypothetical job. I’d love to travel to different countries and to meet people from all over the world.
Thanks to my interviewee’s experience, I realized how different people’s learning journeys are. I had the opportunity to compare my opinions, my difficulties and my strengths with her, according to our own experiences and passions.
I became more conscious about the fact that I am very interested in using languages in my future and how different life’s episodes and meeting can change a person’s mind, ideas and plans.
I believe that sharing opinions with others can make us more aware and self-conscious about our dreams, our intentions for the future and our skills.
Laura Petrilli
9th may 2021
Chiara's reflection
Speaking many different languages is something ambitious bet very important, especially nowadays in our interconnected world. Speaking a language allow you to make different experiences and it is one of the best ways to discover new cultures and to learn.
Fortunately I had the opportunity to learn three languages English, French and Spanish, I am sure thy will be very important in my future. Working or studying abroad is a special experience I am longing for.
I would like so much to learn other languages, learning languages definitely help you see the world through other eyes and widen your horizons.
Chiara Priolo
12th may 2021
Gaia's reflection
At first, I didn’t know what a Medical Wheel was but, after discovering it thanks to the Lincdire Project, I can finally say that learning isn’t just a programme which involves marks and stressful tests to take. Digging deeper and thinking about everything I’ve been through during my experience at school I confirm that studying is a way to improve myself as a person.
Indeed, I am grateful I am studying at a linguistic school, because facing new cultures helped me to open my perspective in life. My classmates and I matured thanks cultural encounters such as studying literature, taking part in different projects and practising our skills for our future with people from other countries.
As plurilingual beings, we are internationally-minded: we have opportunities to communicate with people from all over the world, as we speak four different languages. I have to admit that each of them has its own complications and might seem divergent, but with all the strategies we have learnt at school we have discovered that they are all linked.
For example, we study German and English and they have a common origin. Or, as we are Italians, we find easier to understand Spanish and to study the grammar.
Moreover, we also have learnt how to behave properly in different situations depending on which country the person comes from.
Unfortunately, in the last two years we haven’t had the opportunity to travel abroad because of COVID, but if the situation improves, we will be able to manage a dialogue and share our thoughts and our cultural background.
Our learning journey was tough, but I am sure that all my mates would agree to what I’m going to say. Thanks to that, we became the people we are today, and we couldn’t ask for more.
Gaia Rizzi
14th may 2021
Elena's reflection
I’ve always loved languages and for sure everything that it’s attached.
I’ve always had difficulties in speaking in my own language. English really helped me, it’s so easy when it comes to it. I can express myself in a better way. My dream is to go to London, a place that feels like home. Whenever I hear speaking or whenever i read this language, I feel complete. these such things happens even with the others languages. It’s amazing how I can speak in Spanish, English and communicate with others. Languages are a part of me and I would never give up on them.
Elena Rondena
14th may 2021
Ana's reflection
I have been studying English since the first year of elementary school and in middle school I also learnt French for three years , but since I had a bad experience with it, when I chose high school, in addition to English and Spanish, I chose German instead of French. So now I study English, Spanish and German.
As I was born in Italy I obviously speak Italian, but also Portuguese. Both of my parents are Portuguese in fact, my whole family is Portuguese and since my sister and I were born it has always been very important for my parents to take us to Portugal. We go to Portugal every year: the whole month of August and during the Christmas holidays. I grew up in Italy but always with Portugal in my heart, which is my happy place and I will always be grateful to my parents who have always insisted on speaking Portuguese to me since I was born and they have never strayed me from my roots.
I find language learning very important, obviously there are certain aspects that I would like to improve: for example I would like to learn to write Portuguese well because I speak fluently, but since I have never attended school in Portugal I have never been taught grammatical. I realized, however, that I have some difficulties in the written part also for the languages I study at school; but on the other hand, having always been rather talkative, I must say that I am quite good at communicating in other languages.
If I have to be honest, this project helped me to "analyze" myself better and to understand what my difficulties are and what my strengths are.
I love to travel and learn new things and language learning is something I will continue to do for sure.
Ana Salgado
12th may 2021
Elisa's reflection
I started learning English when I was a child, at first it was just colours, numbers, then it got difficult in
elementary school and I hated it for a while... I didn’t want to study it; I wasn’t good at all and I didn’t
understand a single word.
My mom noticed it and started making me translate songs. I’ve always been really attached to music and,
even if at first, I didn’t like this new challenge, I got used to it and it helped me a lot.
Since then I have loved English, in middle school it became my favorite subject.
In middle school I also started learning Spanish, it was hard at the beginning, but I got better at it because I
was terrified by my teacher, now I have to thank her for this, but back then I wasn’t very happy to be afraid
of that subject.
I end up studying languages in high school, I added French as a third language…. I can surely say that It was
not my best decision, I love it, but I’m definitely not very good at it, anyway, I’m trying to get better.
To be honest the first two years of high school I wasn’t sure of my choice, I thought I’ve made a big mistake
choosing this school and that maybe I would have been more at my own ease in a more practical school,
but in the third year we started literature in every language and I rediscovered my love for languages.
Even though I’m not the best student and I still struggle with grammar in quite every language, I don’t
regret my choice because I’m studying something I find interesting and it will help me in the future with
every job I will apply for.
Elisa Seravalli
14th may 2021
Elena's reflection
I have been studying English for twelve years, Spanish and German for four years and I
have also studied French for three years in middle school. I’ve
always loved learning of the system of each language because I firmly
believe that grammar is the first part to learn when studying a language. Otherwise, it will
be more difficult to develop accuracy and fluency later.
Certainly, the most challenging aspect for me is speaking a language. I can read and
write very well in all languages, and listening is not that difficult for me, either.
However, I do not speak as fluently as I would like. Many people
told me that it’s related to my personality, in fact, I’ve always been very shy, not a person
who talks a lot because I am very introverted. Although, I’m still growing up and I’m getting better and better at speaking, especially in English, even if I still have to practise a lot.
Unfortunately, I have never had long conversations in another languages, but I met many
foreign people and I speak English with them. However, in these life episodes, I
realised that my difficulty stops me a lot. For example last summer I was coming back from
the beach and there was a foreign couple with a stroller ahead of me, from a northern
country I suppose, and I noticed that a small towel had fallen from the stroller. So I picked
it up and I gave it back to them, but at the moment I really didn’t know what to say in English, I was so embarrassed. I only whispered two words and gave them the towel.
I would like to visit some foreign country and talk to people in order to improve and
feel at my own ease.
For this reason, I also keep practising languages, for example watching tv
series in the original language, also without subtitles, reading some books in English and
listening to foreign music, sometimes looking for the lyrics, when I don’t understand words. This is an important part when it comes to learning languages in my opinion, because grammar is not enough, and the school programs don’t focus on how we can really feel a language in our hearts.
We have to do it on our own discovering which is the best approach. In my experience, one of these methods I use is to write some stories in English, and maybe I will also start with the other
languages. I like it because it connects languages and it is an activity I enjoy and I
never get bored of. That’s why it’s simple for me to write and read a language, thanks to the apps I use and sites I surfed, while in order to practice speaking I need someone to talk to, also because if I am alone, I have no problem. I am still looking for something to enrich my language journey.
Then, I don’t know if what I’m going to do in the future will directly deal with languages, but
something I know is that without them I would not be who I am now. They changed me and
made me grow up, they helped me see the world through other eyes.
Mastering languages gives plenty of opportunities, and everyone has to find their own way…
Elena Zen