Presenting Francesca La Sala
- 1-8 May 2027
A novel approach to language learning
Learn Italian immersed in one of the most beautiful and interesting regions of Italy, nestling between the Apuan Alps (where Michelangelo found his precious marble) and the majestic Apennines, the mountainous backbone of Italy. Enjoy your stay at a beautiful ancient watermill, lovingly restored, with views over the river, the gardens and the mountains. Savour a journey through history, nature and rural traditions in unspoilt Lunigiana and visit the stunning seaside villages of the Cinque Terre.
A question a lot of people have been asking about The Watermill’s Italian Language course: is it suitable for all levels of ability in speaking Italian? And the answer? An emphatic, “Si!”.
This is because of the special approach we developed with our colleagues from the prestigious language school in Florence, Langues Services and with our friends and teachers, Francesca La Sala and Serena Orselli. Its philosophy and method are inspired by the work of Professor Bertrand Schwartz of Paris University, the educationalist who overturned the concept of teaching to adults, proposing an approach that develops not only theoretical knowledge but practical know-how as well.
The aim is to enhance the personal qualities of each student, tailoring the teaching to their needs and ambitions and establishing mutual, active and confident relationships, where the student is the true protagonist in the course. The motto is ‘action first, knowledge after.’
Our philosophy and method are inspired by the work of Professor Bertrand Schwartz of Paris University, the educationalist who overturned the concept of teaching to adults, proposing an approach that develops not only theoretical knowledge but practical know-how as well. We treat you as individuals you are, with unique life experiences, and we aim to tailor our sessions to your specific needs and ambitions. In the week you are here we want to broker mutual, active and confident relationships with your tutor and with the Italian Language, relationships where YOU are the true protagonist.
Our aim is to make the learning process as natural as possible. Imagine you’re abroad and you’re having a lovely dinner with a group of new friends: you’ll try your best to communicate effectively. You’ll try to pick words, meanings, maybe comparing sounds; you’ll use your primary senses to try and understand; your effort to observe and listen will be at its best, you’ll use your intuition, your imagination and your memory. If someone sitting next to you at a table doesn’t understand when you do, you’ll translate for them, and that word or that phrase will remain in your memory more than a thousand others repeated by heart reading a grammar book alone in your house.
Mixing up different levels can be a powerful resource, where those who know more will be encouraged to be pro-active and ‘teach’ what they know to those who know less. Everyone becomes more confident and motivated to push themselves further forward.
To guarantee the highest quality of the teaching/learning process, your group at The Watermill will be small. Then, when we do the ‘formal’ lessons (about 20 hours during the week), you’ll be divided into even smaller teams, so that we can cover a certain grammar issue at different levels and from different points of view.
How will we find out about you and your needs? Every participant on the course will be asked to fill out a form, a sort of CV of your knowledge of the Italian language, to find not only about the Italian courses you took and to understand your level, but also to learn about the kind of ‘relationship’ you have with the Italian language, and your interests and hobbies… so that your tutor can prepare a course plan that suits your needs and expectations. Of course many things will be changed, improved and decided together, once we meet at The Watermill, and start to know each other.
We can’t wait to meet everybody – and improve our Italian, too! Ci vediamo!
Meet Francesca La Sala
Francesca loves meeting people of any age or culture. She is also a nature lover and deep connoisseur of Lunigiana, where she was born and raised. Francesca has an artistic background and a passion for the figurative and graphic arts, particularly from the Renaissance period and from prehistory, which adds a further dimension to her teaching.
“More than 10 years ago – in 2014 – Lois, Bill and began designing Language Holidays at the Watermill. The idea was simple: to create a vacation immersed in the authenticity of the rural Italian region, Lunigiana – the land of my ‘foremothers’ – contemplating the nature of the Apennines and the Apuan Alps from the gentle valley of Posara. Our aim is to help you learn the Italian Language while getting to know the locals, and finding out more about the culture through art and the regional tasty dishes.
“Teaching Italian Language at the mill is an opportunity for me to share my memories and my knowledge as well as my love for this beautiful rural area. We’ll learn in a relaxed way: by chatting using everyday vocabulary, picking wild herbs in the garden, going to the local market and sharing local recipes – generally getting to know each other better and having fun.”
Francesca has taught Italian professionally since 2006. She currently lives in the Casentino region of Tuscany, just to the east of Florence, working as a tour guide with AIGAE (Associazione Italiana Guide Ambientali Escursionistiche) and organising excursions and treks with nature-related activities – such as wolf-howling in the Casentino Forest Park – around Liguria, the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, and the Apuan Alps. Previously she was an English-speaking representative of Backroads Travel (US), providing hiking and bicycle tours in Italy, France and Costa Rica.
