A full immersion project in Italy’s culture
Have you ever thought about the number of idioms in your language that relate to food? There must be literally hundreds. Well now, think about Italy and its unquestionable obsession with food. Of course, every language is steeped in with culinary habits, but rarely are they so interwoven like the Italian language is with its cuisine. We’ve got a veritable cornucopia!
A mosaic of ingredients
Siamo alla frutta”, “Essere di buona pasta” or “Rigirare la frittata”. These are just some examples found in every-day spoken language. We simply could not survive without these expressions. And did you know that often the words for different ingredients change from town-to-town (even towns that are a mere stone’s throw from each other)? So our linguistic-culinary dimension is even further enriched.
Food nourishes culture
At Artelingua we feast on this inestimable wealth, and quite naturally, the linguistic foodies of our school chose to whip, blend and fold these ingredients into a unique full-immersion course called #Gusto.
Food nourishes our culture, and so we are not merely offering the typical horderve of cooking classes. Artelingua’s #Gusto programme is a banquet celebrating the bond between language and food. It is a full-immersion project aimed at highlighting the immense cultural heritage of culinary traditions and values found in Italy.
By signing up to #Gusto you will discover the many facets that food acquires when presented as a vehicle to transmit meaning and symbols in the world of cinema, history and even in religion. Food is an undisputed character in most Italian movies; it was thanks to Umbria’s local crops that the Longobards ended up altering their culinary habits when they settled here and founded their Dutchy; and finally, it was among the silvery olive trees from which the genuine Umbria olive oil is produced that St. Francis set off on his mystic path-. Artelingua loves it when our students appreciate the linguistic flavours that accent some of the most complex of frescoes and religious iconry.
Learning with Gusto
This is the scaffolding around which we built our 33hr full-immersion course #Gusto. It includes both indoors and outdoors hands-on activities – starting from a guided tour of Spoleto’s medieval alleys to saviouring its history together with some of its local food specialities at the end of the itinerary. And to add a pinch of spice to the mix, there’s a visit to the archaeological museum to learn about the ancient Romans’ food customs.
Artelingua’s motto is “con gusto”. because when we say “we do something con gusto” we mean to fully enjoy and appreciate something, and to take genuine pleasure and amusement from it. Learning with gusto is the best way to approach every learning opportunity we come across, filling it with joy and making the most out of it.
Right now we are biding our time, cooking and baking our way through in the Corona Virus lockdown. We are looking forward to happier times when we get to welcome you again and share the pristine Umbrian countryside and our flavoursome history with you. This will help yours and our spirit soar again. But for now, why not subscribe to our newsletter and experience a new flavour of Italian?
Each week there are fun learning activities including recipes, and word games, news and idioms all of which are available for download from www.artelingua.it.
They will certainly cheer your day up and perhaps give you food for thought.