Teachers ran out of words to describe their pleased reaction to the Junior Cert Italian exam yesterday. It was "fine", "grand", "nice", "do-able", "straightforward". They would probably have been more fluent in Italian.
Both exams were "grand", said Mr Aidan Farrell, an Italian teacher at Scoil Eoin, CBS Athy in Co Kildare. "Students didn't seem to have any difficulty," he said. "They couldn't have had any problem with the listening-comprehension section in the higher-level paper."
There were "no big surprises" in the reading-comprehension section, which included a piece about vandalism and an item on the handsome Neapolitan, Maurizio Aiello. The written expression section was "very straightforward" and there were no problems with the grammar either.
The tape section on the ordinary-level paper was "fine", he said. "The reading was possibly a little bit more difficult than other years but they should have been well able for it."
Ms Maura McCarthy, a teacher at St Joseph's College in Lucan, Co Dublin, and president of the Italian Teachers Association, said the higher-level paper left students feeling "quite happy". However the piece on vandalism was "quite demanding", she said. The ordinary-level paper was "very student-friendly and the tape was very clear".