Il Centro - Twenty years of Italian language courses in Milan

Back in the 1980’s Enrica Cavo and Luisa Turolla started giving lessons in Italian as a second language, and quickly understood they had a passionate interest in teaching. They soon realized that even in a international city like Milan, there was no school that dealt exclusively with teaching Italian to foreigners.
More than a school was needed – the two young women envisioned a linguistic and cultural center with a human side and a welcoming familiar atmosphere. They wanted to experiment with new methods, produce learning tools and provide teacher training in the field of Italian as a second language.
So in 1986 they decided to open the Centro di Lingua e Cultura Italiana per Stranieri, which quickly became known as Il Centro. The school’s first home was near Milan’s Public Gardens – just two classes and an office.
Gradually, thanks mostly to students spreading the word, Il Centro has grown both in terms of space and in terms of the range of courses it offers. Its current address is in an aristocratic historical building in Via Brera, 11. There, for the past decade, Il Centro has retained its warm ambience while becoming a point of reference for people who want to study Italian and for those who want to teach it.
Il Centro is certified by the Ministry of Public Education and therefore meets all health and safety standards required by the National Health Service (ASL). In 2004 Il Centro was awarded ISO 9001:2000 Quality Mark which guarantees the quality of a teaching process developed in the course of over 20 years.
Il Centro is a member of the Association of Italian Language Schools (ASILS).

Today Il Centro offers a wide variety of Italian language and cultural courses for students from all over the world. Students can choose among groups that meet 5, 3 or 2 times a week, for either 2 or 4 hours per day.
Students with time constraints related to work or other commitments can also opt for individual lessons that can be scheduled to suit their needs.
Group courses have a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 students per class, and course content is closely aligned with the students’ real needs.
At the elementary levels, for example, we emphasize oral Italian over writing and grammar. The forms and vocabulary needed to deal with common situations related to shopping, public transport, bureaucracy and such are introduced.
When selecting teaching methods, we favor those that permit a modular approach to the communication needs of individual students, including differentiation of the materials employed. We try to utilize cultural differences to the advantage of all participants through the exchange of information and experiences that can be used in group activities.
Learning materials include not only the most recent Italian language textbooks, but also worksheets developed by Il Centro’s staff. These use passages from authentic Italian, both spoken and written, as well as games, video-based activities and grammatical summaries extracted from real-life experience and indicative of the differences between Italian and other languages.
Outside classroom hours, students may also work on their Italian during cultural-linguistic activities organized in the afternoon or do individual work in the self-study lab.

Il Centro
Centro di lingua e cultura italiana per stranieri
Via Brera 11
20121 Milan
Lombardy
Italy

Tel.: ++39-02-8690554 (or ++39-02-8690754)
Fax: ++39-02-8690754

www.ilcentro.net
ilcentro@ilcentro.net

Il Centro, the Italian Language and Culture Center for Foreigners, was founded in 1986. It quickly became a fundamental point of reference for foreigners needing to make a smooth adjustment to life in an Italian city.
Il Centro caters to the needs of people who need to communicate and offers a great variety of classes such as group courses, individual lessons, courses for business people, cultural courses and extracurricular activities like film screenings with aperitivo, monthly lunch parties, guided tours and treasure hunts in the neighbourhood.
Open all year round and located across the street from Milan’s finest art collection, the Pinacoteca Brera, the school is part of an area steeped in the artistic collection, where private galleries and other boutiques beckon on the way to your lesson.
When you arrive, Il Centro’s up to date mother tongue teachers put the emphasis on speaking skills.
Whether you are taking an intensive, semi-intensive or long-term course, they are dedicated to ensuring that you can communicate as soon as possible. More advanced students should remember that Il Centro also organizes courses to help them prepare for the Cils and Celi examinations.
You’ll find a friendly welcome at Il Centro. We are happy to assist our students in any way we can, from helping you to find lodgings to indicating a good restaurant.

This release was published on openPR.