Where Maria started
Maria's grandparents spoke Sorrentino Italian to her as a child (1958-1972). She could understand it perfectly into adulthood but never spoke it; her grandparents died when she was 14. She spent 50+ years 'understanding without speaking.' At 67, retired, with grandchildren of her own, she decided to reactivate.
The placement surprise
Maria's placement test was confusing for the tutor — Maria scored at B1 listening + A1 speaking. Heritage learners often look like this. Her tutor (Antonella Russo, Roman with Neapolitan grandparents) built a custom curriculum that bypassed beginner conversational scenarios (Maria already understood them) + focused on forced production + Sorrentino dialect reactivation.
What the 9 months looked like
Three 30-min sessions per week. Daily 15-min reading of Sorrentino regional cookbook (Maria's grandmother's recipes; reading + cooking simultaneously). Weekend phone calls to second-cousin in Sorrento (Antonella facilitated the connection). By month 6, Maria was conducting whole weekend conversations in Italian for the first time since 1972.
When her granddaughter joined
At month 4, Maria's 10-year-old granddaughter Sofia asked to join. Antonella restructured one of Maria's sessions to be intergenerational — grandmother + granddaughter together. Sofia progressed quickly (kids do); now they speak Italian to each other on Saturdays as their 'thing.' Maria's son joined too — he's at A1, slower than his daughter but committed.