Xu Runqiong

handwritten version ✍🏻 – digital version - 🗣 original voice🔈

Translation:

Hello everyone,

I’m Xu Runqiong, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. While I was studying the language in Florence, I happened to notice one of Brandon’s posters on the street and I contacted him.

During the lessons, Brandon doesn’t stick to traditional teaching methods: he doesn’t just explain grammar or vocabulary in an academic way, but uses films, music, and fairy tales to help me learn Italian. Most of the songs he chooses are closely tied to Italian culture and history. While teaching me to sing them, he also tells me about the context in which they were created and the background of the singer. He also recommended many Italian films: by watching them, I can learn Italian in a more natural way. Brandon is also a teacher who pays great attention to pronunciation: in his PDFs, he explains clearly and simply how to pronounce words correctly, and during conversation he constantly corrects my mistakes.

When I was studying at the language school, I didn’t have many Italian friends and therefore had few opportunities to speak Italian in daily life. During lessons with Brandon, however, we are constantly talking and covering many different topics, such as photography, astrology, Italian cuisine, types of bread, Sicily, and much more. This has allowed me to expand my knowledge of Italy. Compared to what you find in textbooks, the things Brandon teaches are much closer to real life, encourage speaking practice, and are more tailored to my personal path.

Also, while I was preparing my portfolio for the entrance exam, Brandon helped me enormously, making my written drafts sound more natural and giving me many different ideas and inspirations.

In everyday life, whenever I have questions about Italy or Italian, I often ask Brandon, and he always responds quickly and patiently. Once, for my portfolio, I was looking for an old television, and he called several second-hand markets to find out if they had a working one for sale. He also helped me find a photo shop in Florence that still develops film rolls. Just last week, I sent him a recording of a professor from the Academy explaining the contents of an exam, and he quickly converted it into text for me, so that I could immediately understand what was required of me. It’s thanks to small gestures like these that Brandon has helped me enormously, saving me a lot of effort.

Brandon also has more than 60 "treasures" in PDF format: they cover pronunciation, grammar, commonly used expressions, and much more. The content is extremely detailed, and for each grammar point, the most subtle differences are explained, with comparisons that help you remember things better. Every time, I find a lot of useful information in them.

When I was living in Florence, Brandon and I went out together several times. While walking through the streets of the city, he would point out to me how to say the names of objects and things we saw in Italian, teaching me common words and phrases that I barely knew how to say. He would patiently listen to everything I said and correct my mistakes. After each meeting, I always noticed a great improvement in my speaking. Plus, he often brought a little gift!

In short, if you’re also interested in the Italian language or simply want to make friends with an Italian, I strongly recommend that you contact Brandon!

Xu Runqiong
January 28, 2025, Bologna