Oakham School Trip to Urbania

24-31 October 2009

5 sixth form students of Italian left Oakham on Saturday 24th October for Urbania in the Marches region of Italy. We returned the following Saturday – Halloween. The students stayed with host families who gave them bed, breakfast an evening meal and the opportunity to gain an insight into Italian family life.

The students had lessons in the morning and excursions and activities organised in the afternoon.

In next to no time the students were communicating with their host families and the locals (this is very impressive given that the students had only been learning Italian for 6 weeks). It was a pleasure to see the students grow in confidence and improve their language skills in such a short time. Urbania, the town in which we were staying is beautiful medieval citadel. It is not a tourist destination and so provided an ideal opportunity for students to practise their language.

We did a number of things:

• Visted Urbino, a city famous for being at the centre of the Renaissance and the artist Raphael;
• Went to Fano, a charming sea-side resort favoured by Robert Browning;
• Went to a well-known truffle festival in Aqualagna
• We also visited a pottery workshop and a theatre in Urbania, where the students were able to have a go at the potter’s wheel.
• We visited the mountains with a guide and saw eagles flying in the wild.
• Went to an excellent Italian restaurant
• Attended a cookery class which entailed our having to make dinner and then eat it.
• All of the students behaved impeccably, learnt a great deal of Italian and were a fine advert for the school.