Spanish (Sevilla Habla; online)
“I feel a great sense of accomplishment being able to have a full-fledged conversation with my Spanish instructor, to converse with like-minded people at a local MeetUp group, to practice with some native-Spanish-speaker friends, or even to start talking in Spanish with Mexican Restaurant personnel. This is a lot of fun to be able to do, and a way to feel more connected with other people in the world.”
Latin (Green Valley Recreation, Green Valley, AZ)
“I have to admit to being somewhat intimidated when thinking about the class but from the first day onward, I was at ease. We had translation assignments each week, and read aloud from the homework in class. We studied conjugations and declensions, as well as some Roman history. It was great fun and I plan to enroll again next winter.”
Spanish (Boston University Evergreen Program)
“This course gave me a solid head start communicating in the Spanish language. I feel better prepared for an upcoming trip to Spain next spring to attend a wedding near Madrid.”
Hebrew (Pimsleur, Duolingo; online)
“Through these courses, I have significantly improved my Hebrew language skills. My vocabulary has expanded, my grammar has become more accurate, and my pronunciation has become clearer. I believe that this knowledge will be a valuable asset to my personal and professional growth.”
Italian (Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge, MA)
“I enjoyed venturing into use of the past tense, expanding my vocabulary, and conversing with fellow students in breakout rooms.”
French (French Library, Boston, MA)
“At this point, I am somewhat functional as a tourist in France, using basic greetings, asking directions, and dealing with hotels, restaurants and shops. It is a challenging language, but I feel I am making progress.”
Latin American Women Writers (Cambridge Center for Adult Education)
"I loved the authors who used humor and irony to present the horrors of what was happening in their country... This course gave me many hours of enjoyable reading and insights into the lives of women in different countries of Latin America during different time periods."
Cinema and Conversation in Spanish (Cambridge Center for Adult Education)
"In addition to enhancing my Spanish, I continue to learn a lot about films and have new appreciation for things such as lighting, camera angles, sound, etc. I no longer watch them just for the story... I have never felt so comfortable expressing my opinions in class... It is such good practice in speaking... I learned a part of history of my own country that was new to me."
Latin American Literature (Cambridge Center for Adult Education)
"I love the stories, the opportunity to read new authors, the opportunity to have an intellectual discussion in Spanish and the instructor is fantastic. I hope she continues to offer the class with different stories for a long time to come."
"In addition to the opportunity to read new stories and authors, I am meeting and exchanging ideas with different groups of students each term. Most of the students are considerably younger than I am and so often they have different viewpoints from mine."
Italian (Orbit Lingua School in Italy)
"I don't consider myself fluent yet, but I am continually increasing my confidence and will keep trying to improve my skills, thanks to the school and my very skilled teacher Valentina. In retirement, it is important to keep learning, to maintain connections with family, to meet new people, and engage with life. These Italian classes have helped me with all of that."
Italian (private instruction)
"We start each lesson with a conversation about what we have been doing. I am delighted to have the instructor correct my mistakes on the spot. Sometimes these errors turn into mini-lessons on grammar and often lead to an assignment covering that grammatical point... I am really learning a lot from the mistakes I make. My confidence in speaking Italian is growing thanks to these lessons."
Spanish Advanced Reading & Conversation (Cambridge Center for Adult Education)
"I was happy to see that he included many authors that were new to me, and lesser-known stories of those...I was familiar with. As always, the discussions in class were informative and fun."
"There was a number of us old-timers but again there was a nice balance with younger students. They are so much more comfortable speaking than we are. There was one particularly articulate student. I noticed the brass rat on her finger!"