AN INTERVIEW WITH MATILDE, A STUDENT OF OUR SCHOOL WHO HAS CARRIED OUT A PROJECT WORK WITH AN IRISH SCHOOL.
1 What was the project about? How long did it last?
The journalism course took place in the week from 18th to 22nd January, so it lasted 5 days. It was a project about journalism which taught me how to develop a basic website, how to report news, how to distinguish reliable sources from the fake ones and partially showed me what the profession of the journalist consists of.
2 What skills have you improved?
As it was a journalism course, I improved my communicative, collaborative and digital competences: I learned how to basically create a website and the qualities it must have in order to be appealing but also practical at the same time, such as high-quality pictures, captivating short captions and a clear structure.
3 Was it helpful to improve your English language skills?
Absolutely. I can only say my communicative skills got so much better: I understood that the key of communication consists in vivid descriptions, with no need to wander off and even if I’m not brilliant at it yet, I’m really trying my best. And believe me, trying is always appreciated.
4 Was the Irish accent hard to understand?
Actually it wasn't. I did not bump into great difficulties when it came to deal with the Irish accent, probably because I’ve watched many British TV series and so I’m a bit used to British accent that it’s not that different from the Irish one. But I can tell you that the tutor was super kind and if someone didn’t understand something, she explained it again with no problem at all.
5 Did you get the chance to meet new people?
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic I had to attend the course online and not in presence, so the only two new people I was able to “meet” were the tutor and the journalist that explained my classmates and me a bit about her job on the last of the project.
6 Was it interesting to interact with a foreign teacher?
Of course it was. To my mind interacting with a foreign teacher for a student, in particular for a language student, is a great opportunity. Finally, you’re able to put your skills into play and feel closer to what you’re studying. It actually feels like all these years spent studying finally become concrete and it feels like you can see, you can feel, you can understand your improvement and your progress in the language through your studies.
7 Has this project helped you to discover new aspects and curiosities of the English language?
I’ve learnt that the English language is much more pragmatic than the Italian one, so it’s more suitable in order to write journalism articles and sum up the news. The Italian language tends to wander off a bit because it’s much richer of lexical and syntactic structures are more complex while the English one is much more concise and incisive.
8 Would you like to do the same project in other languages?
I’d suggest doing the same project in other languages as long as the students have a good level of the language because if not, then there’s the risk that you don’t understand the instructions and you just focus on trying to understand what the tutor says and you’re not able to enjoy completely all the other aspects of the project, and that would be a shame.
9 Would you recommend this kind of experience to other people?
To this question I can only reply “yes”, “yes”, “yes”, because as I have probably already mentioned above I had only enjoyed this project work, the tutor was totally helpful for any kind of problem or curiosity and personally it made me grow a lot in terms of relationships with others. I’d suggest holding it in presence, though, once the pandemic is over: I’m sure it will be even more interesting.
10 What did you like the most? And what didn’t you like?
The recording of the video-interview was the part I enjoyed the most of the entire project: it was a simulation of an interview with a celebrity and I had to perform “the one and only” Justin Bieber.
The worst part was probably the fact that I had to spend many hours in front of the computer and unfortunately, my eyes get easily tired when I watch an electronic device for a long time, so that wasn’t the best for me. But this is just an exception and I can only be very proud of myself and extremely thankful for this experience which taught me how to better myself and improve my relationship with others.