Parliamo 2

Group Leader: Martin Jones

Venue: Currently shared in rotation between four members’ homes in Meads

Contact Group Leader for details

Permanent members 9 (No current vacancies)

A waiting list is maintained. Whenever we know if a member can’t make it to a session, those on the waiting list are invited in turn on a first-refusal basis

Parliamo 2 is for people who already know Italian reasonably well and can speak it, although perhaps not to the same level as their reading and listening comprehension. The Group’s current speaking level ranges from pre-intermediate to fluent and, whatever their level, members are encouraged (and collectively helped) to always use Italian when speaking in the group. Parliamo 2 would not be suitable for those at beginner or elementary levels of speaking.

We meet every week for an hour and a half in an open and friendly session in which everyone gets the chance to put their Italian into practice, and hopefully improve it over time. We use a mixture of loosely structured topics which are linked in some way to things Italian. We’re currently exploring L'amica geniale, by Elena Ferrante (both reading it and listening to the audiobook). We also use La Testa degli Italiani by Beppe Severgnini as a textual and audio source.

Other explorations include TV and film snippets, Italian songs and their lyrics, online newspaper articles, and whatever else takes our fancy. All members can contribute ideas for topics.