Starting from 2016, Intensive Italian language courses are offered by Pro Terra Sancta to international wannabe Franciscans and theology students.<\/p>\n
Learning Italian is pivotal for them to fully enjoy the Franciscan life and their personal devotional path. The initiative, established by Mons Pizzaballa, current Patriarch of Jerusalem and former Holy Land Guardian, was so successful that young people, the most lively community of Jerusalem and Palestine, wanted to join in.<\/p>\n
Therefore, two new Italian courses were opened in 2018. \u201cThe idea\u201d, told us Marta Ferrari, who teaches Italian and coordinates all the courses, \u201ccame\u00a0from the need of keeping Jerusalem\u2019s youth alive after a fairly difficult year\u201d.<\/p>\n
The project was sustained by the availability of Dar Mamilla guest house, the incessant work of many newly-graduated Italian teachers and by the enthusiastic attendance of a large group of locals. Against all the odds of the current pandemic, all the students, mostly of Islamic extraction, were able to pass their exam and upgrade to Italian level II. They are currently attending online classes. Same goes for Jericho\u2019s Mosaic Centre students, with a sad major difference: the 25 pre-Covid pupils, due to the increased difficulties in accessing to the internet, summed-up to two only.<\/p>\n
The two heroes still standing are motivated by their enthusiasm for Italian language and culture. Italian is indeed very well loved in Palestine: \u201cI was told\u201d, said Marta, \u201cthat the passion for Italian came from us bringing the \u201982 World Cup in Beirut.<\/p>\n
They do perceive us as friends because we are very similar. Both of us are cheerful and open-hearted\u201d. Inspired by the idea of being friendly and receptive are also the condensed and touristic reception oriented English courses taught in Bethlehem: short useful phrases to make tourist feel welcomed are learned by a small group of students, most of them being female.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo them, women in particular,\u00a0 learning a new language is a business advantage, something that opens up so many never-before-seen possibilities\u201d, Marta tells us. Her pupils are eager to practice Italian. They are always on the hunt of new occasions to show off what they most recently learned.<\/p>\n
They are intrigued by the\u00a0 Italian way of life and they \u201cgo bananas for common sayings and slang\u201d. They like to explore new accents and dialects and can see themselves in the variety of cultural identities of the \u201cBel paese\u201d. The only thing young Franciscans moving in Italy to continue their religious journey are complaining about is the monstrous amount of pasta they are eating daily.<\/p>\n
The Covid pandemic has temporary ended some great coming-together initiatives like the Italian Cinema Festival of Bethlehem taking place in the recently inaugurated Mosaic Centre. The situation won\u2019t stop Pro Terra Sancta Italian teachers: a new course for Bethlehem University was recently opened. The first lesson was enough for Marta to put aside all her doubts about online classes: the first enthusiastic attempts of speaking were just as hilarious as rewarding.<\/p>\n
In times of social distancing , learning a new language becomes a way to create new connections and share something important. It is a remedy against loneliness and feeling impotent. It brings joy and an achievable goal. Thanks to online classes Marta re-discovered the change of reaching way many more people she could physically. She also had the chance to reflect on how she personally felt enriched by the teaching experience: \u201cresults are great but I\u2019m not able to make a list of all the even greater people I\u2019ve met along the way. I\u2019m so engage in my students\u2019 life. I\u2019ve been to elopements, weddings, I\u2019ve seen their newborns\u2026 And then we have Iyad and Ahmad (my two students at Jericho\u2019s Mosaic Centre) and our relationship is so marvelous . We truly are friends. As soon as it will be possible to, we\u2019ll all meet at Itad\u2019s house to share a real Bedouin meal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Palestine youth, just like Italian youth , is a blossoming asset. They are the training force that will give voice to this wounded Nation. To keep in contact with young people is to keep in contact with Hope, the hope of the Land we are at the service of. It\u2019s so good to learn the language of our brothers and sisters while waiting to embrace them again once more.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online classes of Italian and English language for young people continue in Jerusalem and Jericho during the Covid-19 pandemic: an opportunity to cultivate a passion and share time during social distancing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":121138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9742],"tags":[],"campaign_code":[],"class_list":["post-121142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n