EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES
“Sorrento Lingue Open Day”
web site: www.sorrentolingue.com
Languages…your passport to the world
On 26th September, Sorrento Lingue celebrated the European Day of Languages, set up by the EU in honour of linguistic diversity, plurilingualism, and the learning of languages throughout the whole of one’s life. The convention kicked off with a video greeting from Koen Dillen, current Belgian Euro MP (student of Italian at SL in 2007). The 
Euro MP sent his regards to those present, thanked the school for having chosen to celebrate the 26th September in a worthy fashion, focusing on the fundamental role that languages and interculturalism play in modern-day European society as an instrument of knowledge between peoples, and an instrument of professional and economic development.
Sorrento Lingue Director, Cristiana Panicco, then praised the EU’s commitment to plurilingualism, in a speech that centred on the knowledge of foreign languages in Europe and in Italy (the most commonly studied languages, the people with the greatest propensity to learn languages …) on the motivations that lead people to learn a new language, and on the need for student mobility on a European level, if young people are going to “come out of their shells and get to know the world”. Neither did she neglect to speak about the professional and educational opportunities offered by the European Union (Erasmus, Leonardo, Comenius and Grundtvig projects, from which SL has obtained official recognition) and served up some statistics on the importance of languages as a competitive instrument in the world of work, both in Italy and abroad (especially in an area that relies heavily on tourism, such as Sorrento and the Sorrento Peninsula.) Representatives from the town councils of Sorrento, Piano di Sorrento, Sant’Agnello and Meta, from the Sorrento Foundation, the Cypraea Cultural Association and the Sorrento Consortium of Hoteliers, ATAPS, all put in an appearance. It became clear just how aware everybody was regarding the need for Italy - and Campania in particular - to catch up in terms of our young people’s linguistic skills. The authorities who spoke said, in particular, that they would be prepared to support less well-off families financially in linguistic training for their children, with study grants, for example. Sorrento Lingue’s initiative for setting up a Linguistic Observatory in Sorrento, was also well received. The aim of this would be to propagate a whole new linguistic culture and to coordinate training projects for teachers and students alike.
The event was also a chance for SL to “open” its doors to the public: throughout the whole day, the school’s language teachers were on hand to give demonstration lessons open to everybody, which meant that those who took part could appreciate the modern methodologies, not to mention the professionalism, of our teaching staff. Many students from the schools of the SorrentoPeninsula (primary, middle and senior) took part in these lessons, along with their foreign language teachers.
Throughout the general hustle and bustle, from the morning onwards, the boys and girls went away with a highly positive impression of the dynamic and communicative methods used here at SL, tailor-made to a wide range of requirements and for all target age groups. One of those who took part won a raffle and will be following a free English course at Sorrento Lingue.
