In the months of March and April with the help of a grant from the IH World Foundation, International House Milan & San Donato provided 12 scholarships for its online Ready to Fly course. The programme was open to all Italian residents under the age of 35 in search of employment and not in full time study.  Candidates were evaluated and selected based on a set of criteria which also included a motivational statement. The objective was to give disadvantaged young people the opportunity to improve their English language skills and to obtain a language certificate.

The programme comprised an intensive 20 hour online course over two weeks, free access to the Online Preparation Support for Linguaskill platform, and a full Cambridge Linguaskill test.

By no design, the course ended up having a uniquely international flavor. Students hailed from Italy, Jordan, Afganistan, Algeria, and Albania while the teachers represented Italy, the UK, Hong Kong, Australia Brazil, Lithuania and Trinidad & Tobago. One of the missions of the founder of IH, John Haycraft, was to bring together different nationalities through the context of English language learning. While this was not an explicit aim of the course, it unwittingly occurred. IH Milan teacher, Veronika, said “I appreciated an opportunity to teach a multilingual group and learn something about my students’ cultures and background.”

Students said, “I love that teachers are very professional and friendly”, “I wouldn’t change anything because they guided me step by step” and “The conversation class was great!” 

Ih Milan looks forward to the next edition of the Ready to Fly course!