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The Italian Language School in Italy Leonardo da Vinci presents the "Academic School Year in Italy" program for the year 2009: a special course for people who want to live in Italy and learn the Italian language and culture.

The "Academic School Year" is a 32 weeks language and cultural course for students who wish to experience living and studying in Italy.

The course consists in 480 lessons of a standard language course, 80 lessons of exam preparation and you can choose two Italian language diplomas between the 'Firenze' Diploma AIL: DELI-A2, DILI-B1, DILS-B1, DILS/DILI-B2, DALI-C1 (elementary, intermediate and/or advanced levels).

To the other side the Academic part consists in 80 lessons of Italian Civilisation and History, Art History, Business Italian, History of Italian and Fashion Design.

Finally there are 10 hours of tutoring for the final thesis which will be discussed and evaluated.

So as you can see the "Academic school year" is not a classic Italian language course but it combines an Italian language course with Italian culture classes at the Leonardo da Vinci Italian language schools and its syllabus also includes fundamental elements of level C2 of the European Language Portfolio (CEF).

Lessons are only taught in Italian from the very beginning.

At the end of the general course you will have to write an essay on a topic of your own choosing, with the help of our school library and of a personal tutor (10 lessons). This will be assessed as part of the final test. That task accomplished, you will have progressed from beginner to connoisseur of Italy and its language and culture.

The duration of the whole stay is 32 weeks and you can also choose to study in one of the four most beautiful cities in Italy: the capital Rome, the world famous Florence, the quiet and beautiful Siena and the cosmopolitan and lively Milan.

From a qualitative point of view the Scuola Leonardo is one of the leading language school in Italy and it was among the first institution in teaching Italian as second language officially authorized and regulated by the Italian Ministry of Education.

It is member of FIYTO (Federation of International Youth Travel Organizations) and the European Federation of Schools, which is an advisory branch of UNESCO.

It has been also a founding member of AIL (Italian Language Academy) and of ASILS (Association of Schools for Italian as Second Language).

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci is one of Italy's largest provider of in-country Italian courses in Italy since 1977. It is present in the most beautiful cities of Italy (Florence, Milan, Rome and Siena).

Each year the company welcomes students from 60 countries to its Italian language schools.

If you want to spend a long time in Italy by learning and improving your knowledge of Italian culture and language this is the suitable course for you.

Starting dates for the Academic School Year Course in Italy:

From 22 September 2008 to 22 May 2009 (including three weeks of Christmas Holidays where no courses are held).

For more information about the program visit the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci specific webpage on the

Academic School Year: http://www.scuolaleonardo.com/gap-year-in-italy.php