Dear Students and Dear Followers of this Blog,
when you classes every day with foreiner students, it is possible to gather many different and interesting tips that it would be nice to share. That’s why I decided to create a  Newsletter, for sharing weekly what is coming form our classes. Let’s hope it will be possible (“tempus – really – fugit”), but come on, let’s start!
  • Phonetics Exercise. The Italian language has 5 written vowels (a, e , i, o, u), but actually 7 real vowels are effectively pronunciated. This is because we have an open “e” and a close one “e” , and an open “o”and a close one “o” , so that our vowels respectively are “a, è (open), é (closed), ò (open), ó (closed), u”. 
  • Emma Dante, an interesting and internationally renown playwright from Paelermo. Her dramas are now represented in Europe in different places. I recommend you (from B2 level upwards) to read The Princess Emma, also available in digital format. This book contains a beautiful, interesting and modern reinterpretation of the Grimm’s fairy tales. In particular you will find Sleeping Beauty (“La bella Rosaspina addormentata”), Snow White (“Gli alti e bassi di Biancaneve”, and Cinderella (“Anastasia, Genoveffa e Cenerentola”). Very beautiful drawings accompany the stories.
    (Click on the images for reading)

    Le Principesse di Emma Le Principesse di Emma
    At some points of the text, the authoress make some characters speaking some sentences in Sicilian. It is easy to understand that parts as they are really close to the Italian. Reading them can be particularly interesting and even though it requires a little effort.

  • Ezio Bosso, a pianist who last week was a guest at the famous San Remo Festival. Many have spoken about him and worth listening to his interview and to the songs he played there on the piano (Following a bird).
  • Finally a notation on the two systems of measurement of the temperature between Europe and the United States. As it is known, in Europe the Celsius degrees are used and in the United States the Fahrenheit degrees degree are used. In particular 0 ° Celsius is the point at which the water passes in the solid state becoming ice, and 100° Celsius is the point in which the water passes to the gaseous state becoming air. The very interesting thing is that the two scales, the Fahrenheit and Celsius, are very different, but coincide in one point: -40 below zero. And the American students of the east coast, especially from the north, told me that it was very cold in the recent days…
Alla prossima!
Silvia
 
For any doubt or question, please write me at [email protected]