It was on August 6, 1991 that the first website in history made its appearance online. The site in question was info.cern.ch and its creator was a gentleman named Tim Berners-Lee. Since then the World Wide Web and online browsing have become indisputably part of our daily life posing as a fundamental tool to say the least.
Everything goes through the network, from the procurement of news and information, to the management of bureaucratic practices of any kind and it seems like we cannot manage without it. It might seem odd to think that the web has to offer that extra oomph to studying. Yet it is so.
In the case of particularly dynamic and evolving learning environments as the languages, the use of online tools can reveal interesting. Studying Italian online for example is an activity that can be benefited by the presence of the network. The web is inherently “interactive” and the study of a foreign language cannot be done only through a textbook. The study of a language necessarily involves a reality but also virtual confrontation.
The web is our window on the world. Through the network we can see videos, articles, books, and resources that put us in touch with the communicative life of the foreign language that we are learning. Many language schools offer their students the opportunity to consult on-line materials and access to learning tools, and content, through the care of their blog. If are studying Italian, we can consult the Italian sites that put us in direct contact with the type of language that is used every day, depending on the sector that interests us. For this reason, a good Italian language school offers its students the tools and resources that help to clarify doubts, curiosities about the origin of the language but also its evolution and especially its use.
Let’s see which are the collateral assets that can be useful when studying a foreign language. Among the online resources that could be employed if we wish to test ourselves, there are several quizzes, which assess our level of learning or basic knowledge in order to formulate a program suited to our case. A good school of Italian generally offers this possibility through its online portal.
Moreover, suppose that we are about to start studying a language, but we also have to organize our hours at work and we do not know precisely how to manage to be always present in class. Some schools offer excellent services to its students through online classes, as effective as those on the premises, and which use quality video-chats. It is sufficient to have Skype or a connection from home or work, maybe at lunchtime to optimize your time!
Obviously the opportunity to follow a course that integrates on classroom lectures with online classes would be the best choice. Having a reference teacher in the flesh to guide you and with whom to confront oneself is still particularly important. We believe that a human confrontation offers that little extra that an exclusively online course is not able to fully give. There are always numerous online resources and it could be dispersive to identify what is useful from what is not. What could be better than combining the advantages of the presence of a “real” teacher with the tools of the web?
In case one had followed a course on site and later had to return home, you can keep in touch with the school, continue to communicate and keep active one’s baggage of knowledge through the web.
In short, the network today is really an inexhaustible mine of benefits for those who are capable of finding what suits their needs best and with the right support of course! There are certain sites or portals, for example, which offer material designed for those foreign students who are approaching the Italian language.