Supporting Educational Courses for Immigrants in Italy

Related projects

• Promoting Social Inclusion and Employment with "Il Faro" (Mother project)
• Professional courses for immigrant youth in Italy: cook’s assistant, baker, gastronomer
• “Building Hope” – Supporting Professional Training Courses For Disadvantaged Women And Youngs To Help Them In Finding A Job
• Sustaining “Il Faro” Training Courses for Young Immigrants in Rome
• Improving Socio-economical Conditions of Youth Through Vocational Training Courses and an Orientation Help Desk
• Language Courses, Vocational Training and Guidance for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Italy

Project location: Italy
Project start date: October 2009 - Project end date: October 2010
Project number: 2009-43
Beneficiary: Fondazione Il Faro di Susanna Agnelli

April 2010 - Final Report

The project "I work, therefore I am - Supporting educational courses for immigrants in Italy at the Fondazione Il Faro", which was supported by Nando Peretti Foundation, started in January 2010.
The aim of the project was to improve the integration conditions of a group of young immigrants, living in the province of Rome, through the harmonisation of three elements: language, culture and work. For this reason the project was structured in three main steps: an Italian language course, a number of seminars and meetings meant to improve students' knowledge about Italian culture, history and social framework and a professional waiter course.
Twenty students, from 17 to 27, were selected considering their motivation, vocation and a minimum understanding of Italian language. They came from 9 different countries: Moldavia, Peru, Venezuela, Romania, Albania, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Germany, Philippines. The admittance examination consisted of a first test of Italian language and a written exam about the preliminary knowledge of the waiter career. Then the students had an interview with the tutors in order to evaluate their oral comprehension level and their work motivation.
During the first step, the students attended Italian lessons to increase their basic knowledge of the language and facilitate the involvement in the professional class. Early difficulties, caused by the different linguistic comprehension level, were easily overcome and the students could learn specific vocabulary of the professional field they were going to be trained in.
At the same time, the students took part in meetings with people representing Italian business and public administration. The Foundation also facilitated meetings with young Italian students from a secondary school of Formia, in order to promote an intercultural dialogue between Italian and foreign young people. Finally, to widen their knowledge of Italian history and culture, Il Faro arranged some guided tours in interesting historical sites of Rome, such as the Coliseum, the Imperial Forum and the Roman Forum, the Church of Trinità dei Monti and the Spanish Steps and Saint Peter's Square.
The 150 hours professional course was divided into a theoretical part of 56 hours and a practical one of 94. Lessons concerned, among other subjects, hygiene and safety regulation in job sites, personal hygiene rules, client reception, the order, structure and different menu kinds, tools for room and bar service, Russian service, English service, French service and the table clearing, room setting, mise en place, the pouring of wine, the organization of the bar team and the exceptions to service rules. At the end of the course the students could visit a famous resort and experience a real day of job.
Lessons were regularly given by teachers Ettore Palanca and Franco Rinella, assisted by tutors Michela Arioni and Mikel Dedndreaj, who facilitated the good course of both theoretical and practical lessons.
Daniele Ortenzi and Roberta Capobianchi set, supervised and equipped efficiently the rooms and laboratories used during the course; the secretarial office was managed by Eliana Brisetti and Roberta La Marra.
The participation of the students was facilitated by giving them monthly travel cards.
Before the project start up, an information campaign had been developed in order to make people aware and to involve young immigrants. At the end of the professional course, many students could keep using labs and consult with teachers to get ready to oncoming