Academic School Year - "Gap Year"

3 weeks in -- Really enjoying instructors and class - all online but immersive experience and group is learning at great pace -- Also having some fun! Highly recommend.

L'école est très bien placée dans le centre de la ville. Les cours et le matériel d'enseignement sont de qualité. Les professeurs à l'écoute et attentifs à mes besoins.
Il a fait froid dans les classes le lundi. Peut être le chauffage est à l'arrêt pendant les week-ends.

Parmi les activités j'ai beaucoup apprécié la proposition de nous emmener ensemble dans un restaurant près de l'école avec un excellent rapport qualité/prix. C'était au début de mon séjour. J'y suis retourné seul au moins 6 fois en deux semaines pour y prendre mon déjeuner. J'ai pu aussi profiter grâce à l'école d'une visite guidée très intéressante dans un musée.

L'hébergement était très bien et à une distance pratique de l'école avec un métro sans changement. Les hôtes parfaits. Je n'aurais pu souhaiter mieux.

Si je reviens à Milan, je retournerai dans cette école.

I learnt so much, the teachers were lovely and I got to meet people from all over the world that share the same interest of learning Italian!!

Cours et professeurs intéressant et ludiques, mon niveau d’italien a beaucoup progressé et j’en suis ravis.

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci is a very welcoming and fun school. They have a lot of activities for making new friends and a methodology that embraces all students in the classroom. I am very glad with my experience. Something that surprised me a lot is how the school holds meetings to assist students in the practical aspects of their stay here in Milano. Moreover, both tutors I was allocated with were amazing and made us learn with a lot of care, making the classroom a safe space for all. I think the only issue I found was that classes happened only by the morning - if there were more flexible times, I'd be more than glad to join. Also, the location is great since it is quite near the metro Crocetta - I'd just complain about the coffee machine that often does not work, and the few quantity of bathrooms for all students. Truely recommend it!

I liked the classes because my fellow students were so good and active at speaking Italian also in the pauses. And the teacher Fabiano had a good arrangement for oral activity, except for Georgia, where there was less scope oral activity. What I did not like was that I had paid for 30 lessons, but only got 23.

I enrolled for 6 weeks as to cover B1 level. I had a quick chat with Veronica and immediately sent me to B1 class, they were already in their second week at that level. I spent two weeks at B1 class and then was upgraded to B2 with 4 weeks left. Spent another 2 weeks at that level and took the test with a satisfactory grade. I had to leave Milan suddenly because I had job interviews in Madrid, where I had to stay for two weeks waiting for call backs. I returned to Milan and wanted to show up to school and finish the remaining 2 weeks of classes but was denied. I truly think that this is extremely inconsiderate taking into account the amount of money I spent and how improvised my entry to B1 level was. I expected my money back at the very least. Very poor customer experience, will not recommend this school to my fellow international ex-pats.

I did an intensive course, in a group in the mornings followed by a class with another student and a teacher to train conversaton.
The intensive class was really good as the teacher made us speak and helped us improve our knowledge of the language.
The lessons in the mornings were less effective. Our teacher was very friendly and helpful but he talked a lot. So I definitely learned to decode uickly spoken Italian more easily but had very little opportunity to speak it myself or do exercises with ohter students.
I didn't participate in the afternoon activities as I had booked some sights in advance.
The location: the school is centrally located, which is great. Sometimes the noise from the gym downstairs made it very difficult to listen to the teacher or another student.
IHousing: My landlady was very friendly and my room was beautiful. The housing was really great.

Buongiorno. Mi chiamo Anzhela Stapleton e sono la mamma di Zlata. Per quanto riguarda il programma che mia figlia Zlata Vorontsova ha fatto presso la vostra scuola, noi valutiamo che sia stato abbastanza buono.
A Zlata e' piaciuta l'atmosfera scolastica e l'approccio che hanno avuto gli insegnanti.
A scuola lei si sentiva accolta e l'interazione con gli insegnanti era leggera e piacevole. Mia figlia ha acquisito una buona conoscenza della lingua italiana e ha fatto un'esperienza fantastica.
Pero' vorrei rilasciare una recensione negativa riguardo la famiglia, raccomandata da voi, che ha ospitato mia figlia Zlata Vorontsova.
Questa era la sua prima esperienza lontana da casa per studiare e vivere indipendentemente. Purtroppo, l’inizio della sua convivenza con la famiglia ospitante e’ stata negativa. Zlata non ha avuto la possibilita’ di utilizzare servizi come cucina, soggiorno e Manuela ha limitato l’orario dell'uso della doccia (fino alle 21).
Nonostante il costo del servizio, non proprio economico, mia figlia non aveva liberta’ di fare anche le cose più semplici come riscaldare una tazzina di te’ o recarsi in soggiorno per vedere la tv per cambiare ambiente. In un certo senso si sentiva prigioniera nella sua stanza.
Inoltre la signora Manuela entrava quasi ogni giorno nella sua stanza che non e’ rispettoso della privacy di mia figlia.
Lei non si sentiva accolta e l’atmosfera non era amichevole e famigliare. Pertanto veniva spesso ripresa con messaggi Whatsapp poco gentili dalla sig.ra Manuela.
Il mio consiglio a voi e’ che se raccomandate queste abitazioni bisognerebbe che ci sia più umanita’ verso gli studenti e non pensare solo ai soldi altrimenti gli studenti possono fare a meno di queste proposte dalla scuola e usare airbnb.

I liked the environment of the school and the dynamic methodology. The teacher was really good, with great energy to maintain the students engaged. The extra class activities were also interesting, offering us the opportunity to keep practicing the language while knowing different spots of the city. I definitely recommend this experience!

I recommend the school very good to learn Italian, you also meet many friends, the activities of the school are excellent

The school was perfect for what I was looking for: all those who work there do it with sympathy and willingness.
I liked the teacher very much, as I have already said, I improved my Italian in a dynamic and very fun way

This was a great experience, the teachers were very helpful and good at teaching the Italian class. I felt like they put me in a more advanced class than i should have been. The location of the school was very far from my host family where i was staying, i had to take 2 buses to school and the host family were not a big help, they gave me the directions from their house to the school by bus on a peice of paper written in Italian! So i am there to learn italian and the point is i didn’t understand the directions. I missed the bus multiple times. The breakfast was not good at all, it was dry toast with jam which i didnt eat at all and they continued to give it to me every morning without bothering to ask what kind of breakfast do i like. I felt like they were a little cold. Also where they lived was so out from the city at night walking home it felt a little scary.
But the school was good. They should also teach more speaking italian for traveling.

I attended the Dolce Vita course. We had lessons in the morning and went on outings in the afternoon or evening. The classes were fun and the teacher was very good. I won’t forget what I learnt. The outings were interesting and our guide was very helpful and well informed. I was disappointed however that no arrangements had been made to visit the famous fresco of the Last Supper by Leonardo do Vinci which we discovered was booked up. As everyone who comes to Milan wants to see this fresco I would have thought arrangements could have been made early enough to get tickets. Also it would have helped to know the programme for the course before arriving. I was given a sheet of paper with details of how to find the school on the first morning by which time I had found the school! However overall I would definitely recommend this school to foreign students .

There is no point of substantial critique. I had a very good time in Milano. The location was perfect. I chose my room with airBnB in Navili very close to the School. I took a bike given by my host for no costs to ride to the School. Navili is only 2,5km away from the school. It is a lively area with many Pubs und Restaurants. Nice place.

My teachers Giuliana and Fabiano were excellent teachers. Clear, friendly, well prepared, experienced. I could spend only 2 weeks there. I would have wished to spend 3-4 weeks for the language but my holidays were not long enough.

The classmates were international (China, Scandinavia, Germany, England, Netherlands, Argentina) and all explanations were done clearly in Italian. Drinks and snacks were available for low costs.

I highly recommend the School without restrictions