Language school Koinè Center Lucca

I came here for the first time 10 years ago and since then I have been back several times, and my italian has improved quite a bit since my first visit in 2013😊 To me Lucca and Koine and the teachers there almost feel like family now. And it is fun to meet new( and old) friends from all over the world. If you want to make the most of it during your stay, I recommend you take a class in the morning and private lessons in the afternoon.

I hope to be back soon again!

I have loved every minute of my Italian course and really appreciated the high standard of teaching and the interesting topics , plus the patience of the teachers . It was good value for money and I hope to come back soon . The atmosphere of the school is very welcoming.

My experience of Koine’ language school was fantastic, excellent teachers , interesting course work and a very well organised and friendly school . Thank you .

Their way of teaching the Italian language is great, having group conversations right from the beginning definitely is the best way to learn it fast, and in the meantime learn all the grammar together. The staff is very friendly and welcoming, it's just a great place to learn

Going there, knowing nothing about the Italian language, I couldn't imagine that just after the first couple of lessons, I could have already started participating in conversation.

Professional environment, fun methods of teaching & a very friendly staff, totally recommended !!

I would recommend this school without any hesitation. I took there several courses and met so many interesting people from around the world.

I am absolutely convinced that everyone who want to study Italian regardless of age and also wish to get to know really more about Italian culture, art and cuisine will surely appreciate this school.

This school offers not only really a wide range of courses (also specialized education programs for teachers) but also interesting cultural activities, where you can not only improve your language skills, but you can really learn more about architecture, literature, film, music, cuisine etc. due to the high professional level of lectures and discussions. This is because the teachers of this school are also specialized in different topics. They have its own highly effective teaching methods and materials and especially regularly train its own teachers who, besides other things, constantly encourage students. And what more, it is situated in the historic city centre of the beautiful Lucca and has very nice and bright classrooms, and a cosy kitchen for great cooking lessons.

Don´t hesitate to see their website, send them an email or simply call them. You will most certainly be pleased with its professionalism, friendliness and flexibility, as I have always been.

I‘ve studied Italian in Hildesheim, Germany, for some years. I went to Lucca in October 2017 to take a course in Italian at the Koinè Center. It was my first Italian course in Italy. We were some ten students from Hildesheim. We all loved the course. It was a great and fascinating experience. We learned so much in only a week‘s time.

The staff at Koinè are excellent. They are very friendly and enthusiastic teachers. The lessons are well prepared and interesting, because of a variety of methods and topics.

In addition to the morning lessons our teachers offered us an excellent touristic programme: excursions to the surroundings (thermae of Roman times, Villa Reale and its beautiful park), degustations, music etc. Fantastic events!

I chose a private accommodation instead of an hotel. A very friendly couple prepared delicious meals in the evenings, and we had long and interesting conversations with our meals in Italian language.

It was a marvellous time and definitely not my last course at Koinè.

Petra Lieb-Mohn, Hildesheim, Germany

I spent four weeks studying at Koine Center in Lucca earlier this summer, and overall it was a great experience. I had a homestay with an extremely sweet local woman, and my Italian indeed improved dramatically over the course of the month (definitely assisted by the face that I studied a lot outside of class every day).

The location of the school and my homestay were very convenient in the center of the city. There were three levels of students while I was there - absolute beginners, intermediate (where I was- for students with some knowledge but a limited vocab and difficulty speaking with ease), and an advanced class.

In four weeks, I had three different teachers (each for at least a whole week). Two were excellent. My final week, the teacher was much less skilled and we really got the feeling he was just going through the motions. There was a lot of dead time in class, and he often seemed unprepared for our activities. However, I believe he may have just been a sub and did not seem like a regular teacher at the school. That week was a bummer, but based on my experience and what i heard from other students, the other teachers besides this man were excellent.

Something that contributed a lot to my experience at Koine were the excellent afternoon activities, like tours of Lucca with different topics, or day trips to nearby cities. These were free of cost (unless you needed a train or bus ticket), and fabulous without exception.

One final thing that would have improved my experience would have been an additional class for the skill level between intermediate and advanced. There was a very large range in the skill levels of students in the intermediate class, which is still effective for learning, but can be frustrating when one person is comfortable in a wide range of tenses while the other is still learning very basic ones, or when there's a wide difference in the amount of vocab you each know. I think more frequent testing to regulate which students are in each class, or another level in the middle, could remedy this. However, teaching and learning from each other is a part of the language class experience, and overall the classroom content was effective, fun and interesting.

Overall Koine in Lucca was a great experience, and I'd potentially come back, though I want to try other schools as well.

I recommend this school, where I have been to spend time learning Italian for the past 3 years, as a highly professional yet informal place to go. Whilst I cannot refute the knowledge of Joseph, I can say that the style of learning worked for me.

I was put into a middle level group the first year, then subsequent higher levels the following years, so can only give my opinion of these levels.

You have opportunity to do listening activities - designed to stretch and improve the ability to pick out the meaning of normal conversations; discussions around text where you work in groups to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words based on the context; general discussions of points studennts want to raise, and many more...All this is done under the direction of the teacher, who (whilst not correcting every mistake a student makes) rephrases answers or clarifies points and generally steers the conversations.

The afternoon sessions are tours (both free and paid) which give further opportunity to train the ear to the normal conversations, and whilst these are for everyone regardless of level, they are useful and well attended by all levels.

Only Italian is spoken and this, along with a stay with a fabulous local couple, meant my Italian made rapid improvements every time. I don't know the 'science' behind why it works - there is no formal grammar teaching (although the 1:1 sessions available are tailored to whatever you want) - but work it does for me and many others.

The whole "full immersion" experience works together - the best experience coming from morning sessions, 1:1 sessions, afternoon activities and staying with locals all done together in the stay (though I appreciate the cost is more, and I only did private lessons once to give me a boost in certain areas) Outside of the school I spent time to look over what we had cone that day and understand new words or grammar so that if I had any uncertainties I could return the next day with questions. These were always welcome as everyone can benefit - either from learning themselves too, or from explaining a point - which is not easy in a second language!! To an extent you get out what you put in, and homework above any given, can only help your learning.

As for the lady on the desk....fabulous Angela. She was so helpful in booking tickets for anything that I wasn't sure how to go about doing. She will find information for you on various events, make calls, print stuff - I don't want to set a precedence that this is always done as Anglea's job is vast and involves much more than just us students...we are many and obviously can't always expect this. But I can say that she will go out of her way to help if at all possible...and it's usually possible for this very accommodating lady.

I have had such great times at Koinè Lucca that I really wanted to try to put another side to Joseph's. I am just sorry that his experience was not as good as mine! All I can advise is try it and see and I am sure you will find what I did!