I apologise up-front if this posting sounds self indulgent…tune out now (I hope you don’t!!) if that bugs you.

For a cranky, dopey, near ‘middle aged’ stranieri ignorante, learning italian ‘e molto difficile.

If you’re a mature aged student, you know what it’s like…
By the end of the day, the office has fried your brain, the train home is packed, it’s pouring rain so your bags are saturated and FORGET about trying to get a seat.
And when you walk in the front door at the end of the day with 12 hours already on the clock, the kids are all over you (OK, OK, my gal is only 6 so she still thinks it’s neat to hug Daddy! I know it won’t last, but hey…don’t burst my bubble!) and there’s a list of things to do a mile long.
Your wife (husband, partner, I’m sure you get my drift…) is tired, wants to vent and it’s the first time you’ve seen each other since same time yesterday!

And all that before you even DREAM of looking at an italian verb conjugation chart…

So what do you do?
How can you get motivated?
How can you spark the love of language that will grab you by the gut and hold you, driving you to find moments, snippets through the day that together, build a crazy, musical tapestry that gets inside you and shapes you for life, life, LIFE?

I was blessed to meet the best goddamn tutor On The Planet and I really want to pay my own tribute to him.

Antonio Montemurro from Diamond Creek, Melbourne …the daggiest, scruffiest, most uncultured Neopolitan on earth…has changed my life.

He’s inspired me.
He’s sparked the love of language.
He’s taught me to look within and fall in love with the fruit sellers, the mafiosi, the market men, the caffe drinkers, the romantics, the bus drivers, the waiters…the rich, glorious mix of people, places, sounds and smells of his own Italy.
He’s taught me that language is not just words on a page or grammar drills..it’s the smells, sounds, poems, sights, people, history and traditions.
He’s taught me that language is layered, dynamic, swirling…ALIVE!

He’s also taught me the single most important phrase for an Australian student - “Dario ‘e sempre in ritardo”. If you know, you know.

But he can keep the San Remo Song Festival! Diabolical.

Now, if only he can teach me how to remember new vocab…