INSIDE OLLI
The Lobby of 160 Spear Street,
OLLI's Location in Downtown San Francisco
Photo by Kathy Bruin
OLLI's Location in Downtown San Francisco
Photo by Kathy Bruin
An Interview with Ruth Weinberg,
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Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: Ruth Weinberg has been the leader of the Italian Conversation Interest Group since March, 2021. Here is an interview with Ruth where she discusses the purpose and typical activities of the Group. The interview was conducted by Mike Lambert, a member of the OLLI community since 2015.
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Mike: Ciao, nuovo Amico! . . . . Did I get that right? I had high school Latin many years ago!
Ruth: I took high school Latin too. I hope you enjoyed learning it as much as I did. Also, you should say amica not amico as the vowel ending indicates gender: o is masculine; a is feminine.
Mike: Tell us about this Italian Conversation group. What is its focus?
Ruth: The focus is simply to share Italian conversation with others. Participants need to have the ability to speak Italian at an intermediate level. We do not do any teaching or focusing on learning language skills.
Mike: When and where do you meet?
Ruth: We meet for an hour or so via Zoom on Friday afternoons at 4:30pm. Although we have also gotten together for dinner a couple of times now that we are not restricted because of COVID.
Ruth: I took high school Latin too. I hope you enjoyed learning it as much as I did. Also, you should say amica not amico as the vowel ending indicates gender: o is masculine; a is feminine.
Mike: Tell us about this Italian Conversation group. What is its focus?
Ruth: The focus is simply to share Italian conversation with others. Participants need to have the ability to speak Italian at an intermediate level. We do not do any teaching or focusing on learning language skills.
Mike: When and where do you meet?
Ruth: We meet for an hour or so via Zoom on Friday afternoons at 4:30pm. Although we have also gotten together for dinner a couple of times now that we are not restricted because of COVID.
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Mike: Tell us about some of the activities that you and the group engage in during your meetings.
Ruth: We have a structure that we try to follow. The person preparing the topic leads the group, but we always start out “con un po' di chiacchiere”--with a bit of chitchat.
One week there is a quiz, which I usually prepare. The second week one of our participants, Emilia, selects a brief reading in Italian that she sends to us all and we discuss that. The third week of the month is just open discussion on any topic led by anyone in the group who wants to. We end the month with a short grammar exercise prepared by Laura, followed by conversation. If there is another Friday in a month, we just discuss what’s happening with us or the world or something interesting that we’ve recently done. The only rule we have is that our topics must relate to Italy or Italian.
Mike: How many OLLI members are currently active in the group?
Ruth: Currently there are 8 members although at one time we were up to 10. All of us except one member have Italian heritage, at least on one side of the family, and are either first or second generation. One member was born in Italy, and another lived there for several years. We all have traveled in Italy and many of us have family there.
Mike: What is the gender mix of the current members?
Ruth: We are mostly female. Currently there is only one man, but we did have three men at one time. I’d love to have more men participate and mix things up a bit.
Mike: How long has the group been active?
Ruth: We’ve been active since COVID so late 2020/early 2021 is when we had a functioning group.
Mike: How do you and the group members evaluate personal progress in the meetings?
Ruth: We don’t really have any evaluation system. If someone is struggling a bit, we try to help but in reality, our focus is not to learn Italian but to converse in it.
Ruth: We have a structure that we try to follow. The person preparing the topic leads the group, but we always start out “con un po' di chiacchiere”--with a bit of chitchat.
One week there is a quiz, which I usually prepare. The second week one of our participants, Emilia, selects a brief reading in Italian that she sends to us all and we discuss that. The third week of the month is just open discussion on any topic led by anyone in the group who wants to. We end the month with a short grammar exercise prepared by Laura, followed by conversation. If there is another Friday in a month, we just discuss what’s happening with us or the world or something interesting that we’ve recently done. The only rule we have is that our topics must relate to Italy or Italian.
Mike: How many OLLI members are currently active in the group?
Ruth: Currently there are 8 members although at one time we were up to 10. All of us except one member have Italian heritage, at least on one side of the family, and are either first or second generation. One member was born in Italy, and another lived there for several years. We all have traveled in Italy and many of us have family there.
Mike: What is the gender mix of the current members?
Ruth: We are mostly female. Currently there is only one man, but we did have three men at one time. I’d love to have more men participate and mix things up a bit.
Mike: How long has the group been active?
Ruth: We’ve been active since COVID so late 2020/early 2021 is when we had a functioning group.
Mike: How do you and the group members evaluate personal progress in the meetings?
Ruth: We don’t really have any evaluation system. If someone is struggling a bit, we try to help but in reality, our focus is not to learn Italian but to converse in it.
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Mike: Tell us a little about your background. Where did you grow up and where did you go to school?
Ruth: I grew up and went to school in Buffalo, New York. Once in the Bay Area and after my children were in school, I attended San Francisco State to finish off my Bachelor’s degree and then got my Master’s degree there also. At SFSU I was part of the editing team for the National Woman’s Anthropology Newsletter and was also one of the editors for the book Women Anthropologists published by Greenwood Press. This was the first textbook on the role of women in anthropology. As a graduate student I was active in the Tiburon Archaeological Research Group (TARG).
Mike: What kind of work have you done prior to leading this Interest Group?
Ruth: Professionally I was an acquisition’s editor in medical and scientific publishing. I was privileged to work with several of the early AIDS researchers. And I am proud to have served as the publishing liaison with both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Heart Association.
I’ve enjoyed volunteering for many years and have participated with an organization called Global Volunteers. With them I taught English language skills to high schoolers in Portugal, Italy, and Sicily. I also led book groups for freshmen and sophomore students when I lived in Sacramento, and I volunteered as an usher for the SF opera and ballet for 19 years. I currently volunteer on the OLLI Council and with the Marketing and Fundraising Communications Committee.
Mike: How did you end up leading this OLLI Interest Group?
Ruth: I had been studying Italian here and in Italy for a while but found during COVID that my Italian literature class on Zoom just didn’t work for me. I was aware of the OLLI French and Spanish language groups, so I contacted Kathy and inquired as to why there wasn’t an Italian group. She replied asking why didn’t I start one. So, I wrote up something that I hoped would appeal to people who loved to speak Italian. Kathy included it in her weekly newsletter and several people responded.
Mike: How does an OLLI member who is interested in participating in this Italian Conversation group get started?
Ruth: It is fairly simple to join our group. Interested OLLI members should contact Kathy, and she will direct them to me. I prefer this to having my email posted. After a brief email exchange or phone calls, we can determine if the group fits what the interested party is looking for.
Mike: Grazie, Ruth, for sharing this information with Vistas & Byways.
Ruth: I grew up and went to school in Buffalo, New York. Once in the Bay Area and after my children were in school, I attended San Francisco State to finish off my Bachelor’s degree and then got my Master’s degree there also. At SFSU I was part of the editing team for the National Woman’s Anthropology Newsletter and was also one of the editors for the book Women Anthropologists published by Greenwood Press. This was the first textbook on the role of women in anthropology. As a graduate student I was active in the Tiburon Archaeological Research Group (TARG).
Mike: What kind of work have you done prior to leading this Interest Group?
Ruth: Professionally I was an acquisition’s editor in medical and scientific publishing. I was privileged to work with several of the early AIDS researchers. And I am proud to have served as the publishing liaison with both the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Heart Association.
I’ve enjoyed volunteering for many years and have participated with an organization called Global Volunteers. With them I taught English language skills to high schoolers in Portugal, Italy, and Sicily. I also led book groups for freshmen and sophomore students when I lived in Sacramento, and I volunteered as an usher for the SF opera and ballet for 19 years. I currently volunteer on the OLLI Council and with the Marketing and Fundraising Communications Committee.
Mike: How did you end up leading this OLLI Interest Group?
Ruth: I had been studying Italian here and in Italy for a while but found during COVID that my Italian literature class on Zoom just didn’t work for me. I was aware of the OLLI French and Spanish language groups, so I contacted Kathy and inquired as to why there wasn’t an Italian group. She replied asking why didn’t I start one. So, I wrote up something that I hoped would appeal to people who loved to speak Italian. Kathy included it in her weekly newsletter and several people responded.
Mike: How does an OLLI member who is interested in participating in this Italian Conversation group get started?
Ruth: It is fairly simple to join our group. Interested OLLI members should contact Kathy, and she will direct them to me. I prefer this to having my email posted. After a brief email exchange or phone calls, we can determine if the group fits what the interested party is looking for.
Mike: Grazie, Ruth, for sharing this information with Vistas & Byways.
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