Newsletter

Ciao amici, This past weekend brought over a foot of snow and freezing temps to New York. I dislike being cold, but thinking positively, I feel more excited about the Winter Olympics in Northern Italy! I always prefer the winter over summer Olympics because the games are more adventurous.   Which popular winter sport do like the most? Figure Skating: Patinaggio artistico Ice Hockey: Hockey sul ghiaccio Snowboarding: Snowboard Ski Jumping: Salto dal trampolino Speed Skating: P

Ciao amici, I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas!   The end of the year is always a good time to look back at our accomplishments and examine where we want to grow.   As 2025 comes to an end, I’m not only looking back at this year, but at the past five years in my role as a leader in Italian language and culture. While the language itself never changes, I have learned to lean in to my students’ learning styles and intuitively adapt the delivery of my knowledge, creating

Ciao amici, I hope everyone’s holiday season is going smoothly so far, we just have a few days left before Christmas! If you’ve ever been to Italy around Christmastime, you will notice that every piazza, church and home has a nativity scene set up. Big or small, the nativity scene ( Il presepe  in Italian) is a fundamental decoration because unlike Christmas trees or Santa Claus, it originated in Italy.   The first nativity scenes were painted on the walls of catacombs by ear

Ciao amici, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. I skipped Turkey Day this year as I have been in Italy for the past week and half.   My journey started in Catania, Sicily where I walked along the seaside, went wine tasting and wandered around this ancient city. I then spent a couple nights in a village between Florence and Bologna where I got some fresh mountain air. After that, I spent a few nights in Florence catching up with friends and riding a bike all over

Ciao amici, The holiday season is once again on its way! Take some stress out of the season early on and gift your friends and family an Italian experience with Immerse Italy.   Is there someone in your life who loves Italian or needs to prepare for a trip to Italy? Gift a series of private lessons that can be tailored to their needs and interests.   How about a gathering with coworkers, friends or family? A virtual or in-person (if in NYC) themed holiday event by Immerse Ita

Ciao amici, One of the best parts of teaching is having such polite students who want to correctly show manners while in Italy. After mastering "please" ( per favore ) and "thank you" ( grazie ) the next question is often, how to say “sorry” in Italian.   There is no one blanket apology phrase like “I’m sorry” in Italian, to apologize you have to consider the situation.   Scusami  (if you know the person) or Mi scus i (if a stranger) is used in situations where we would say “

Ciao amici, Buon autunno!  I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Fall weather this week.   With the new season and back to school energy in the air, I want to take a look at how some people are using ChatGPT to study Italian. I’ll admit that at first glance, I took it as a threat to my career as an Italian teacher, but it didn’t take long to realize how insufficient, at best, AI is to truly learning Italian.   I’ve explained in the past how using technology as a shortcut

Ciao Amici, May is the month when I do some Spring cleaning on my beginner’s level class plans because it happens every year around this...

Ciao amici,   Buona primavera!  Happy Spring! The days are longer and the temperatures a bit warmer, and I spotted a few clusters of...

Ciao amici, The holidays really snuck up on us this year! We’re already two weeks to Christmas – how is the gift shopping coming along?  ...

Ciao amici,   Buon Giorno di Ringraziamento!   This week, I'm counting all of the things I'm grateful about Italy: the food, wine, art,...

Ciao Amici,   Why take the time and effort to learn Italian, or any language, when we have portable computers in our pockets that can...

Ciao amici! I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.   A few nights ago, I went to see an opera. Being able to listen to the singing...

Ciao amici, I hope that everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend (if in the USA).   It’s the time of year when we pack our bags for...

Ciao amici,   Happy Spring! Did you know that Immerse Italy has been super active on social media? Every Wednesday, I post an...

Ciao Amici,   I hope your 2024 is off to a good start!   I’m finalizing the itinerary for my trip to Italy next week and I can’t wait to...

Ciao Amici, I hope everyone is enjoying this Fall season as much as possible. I cut down on screen time to enjoy nature and the...