My name is Walter Lentini. I’m from Tuscany, Italy. I have been living in Malta for a year and I have just finished my seven months of English course at AM Language school. After my graduation, my purpose was learning English abroad. I was looking for some schools in Ireland but a friend of mine recommended Am Language School in Malta, which was the school where she had studied a couple of years before a few days later I was talking with an English teacher in my town and, as well, she mentioned the same school. I thought “IT WILL BE MY SCHOOL!!!”. I booked two months of lessons.
I arrived in Malta and my English was terrible, so I started in pre-intermediate. I was too shy to take the risk to speak. I got into my class and I had to introduce myself: I thought “What am I doing here?”, but day by day I improved and improved and in a couple of weeks I was speaking with everyone. After 7 weeks I passed my test, moving up to Intermediate. I decided to extend my experience here and now my level is Advanced. I have had many teachers and I am not able at all to express a preference. All of them represent an important part of this experience. I tend to say that Seema, Lisa, Philip and Caroline are like friends (and actually they are), Tania and Michelle are like aunts; Loraine and Simone are like mothers and, last but not least, Sandro, is our Daddy. Therefore, a big family. I met them outside; we ate together; when I had some problems or worries they were there to listen to me. I was forgetting who was maybe the most important for me: Rebecca. Although she is very young, the effort and the patience that she puts in her lessons is admirable. She was my first teacher and gave me all the basis to move up quickly. As I said, the most challenging part for me was speaking, but once I broke the ice, I started talking as much as possible and it was sometimes difficult to stop me….I made and I make mistakes, but the more we make mistakes, the more we learn. And spending time with others is a good way to learn, because they can help us when we don’t know a word and we do the same for them. Now my challenge is the listening, but is commonly difficult for everyone. Apart from my teachers, I really enjoyed spending my time – in class and at home- , with people from different countries and cultures. I was afraid at the beginning, asking myself “…What happens if I don’t make friends?” It was a stupid question: all the time I was surrounded by fantastic people. I had never had dinner alone for example. I remember my first week… I was at home alone and Seol ah, a Korean girl (at that time my classmate), came to my flat to invite me to join her and her friends in a school activity. Now she represents a foundation for me, a friend always close to me when I need. And day by day I made new friends, people that I am still in touch with. So the most memorable thing of this experience is that my world became bigger and bigger and bigger. When I arrived in Malta I couldn’t imagine that in the future I would call weekly a person in Korea, in Turkey and everywhere. And now I would like to say that if I did it at 36 years old (and I was really terrible), you can do it as well. Living with others, being far away from whom you love, being not able to speak at the beginning, are all things that scare everyone. Bear in mind it is worth every minute! What you can get could have an infinite value that you will never forget. Finally believe in yourself and you will achieve.