Four Coffee Break language experts, two teams, and a five-day race across Europe by train. In Episode 2 the teams leave Milan and cross the border into Switzerland, heading for Lugano, where the language is still Italian.
New to On Track? The race began in Venice: watch Episode 1 first.
How the race works
At every stop: language challenges. In this episode the teams guess the height of Milan’s Duomo, write an opera outside La Scala and act out William Tell in Italian.
Before every journey: coins for the next ticket. Every challenge is worth coins, and coins buy the ticket to the next destination.
At the end of every day: a race to the finish line. The team with the most wins over the five days takes the overall title.
Team Green is Francesca from Coffee Break Italian and Pablo from Coffee Break Spanish. Team Blue is Max from Coffee Break French and Thomas from Coffee Break German. Mark sends the teams off each morning and waits for them at the finish line.
A little language from day two
- Anche questa borsa è marrone. This bag is brown too. From the hunt for ten handbags in the Galleria. Marrone is the same for masculine and feminine nouns, so it’s una borsa marrone and un cappello marrone.
- Mi piace il tuo stile. I like your style. A compliment in the same challenge, and a handy one to borrow.
- Nel lago ci sono molte barche. There are lots of boats on the lake. From the drawing challenge at Lake Lugano, along with onde (waves) and barche a vela (sailing boats).
The companion podcast
After each episode, one of the teams tells the story of that day in their own language, in a short text written for learners. We read it through, talk about the language in it, then read it again. Each one comes with a free handout. Watch the episode first, because there are spoilers!
Keep going
Episode 3 is on YouTube next Sunday at 5pm UK. Can’t wait that long? It’s already on Coffee Break TV, and you get 20% off with the code ONTRACK20: pick your language and the code is applied for you.
Want to learn alongside the teams? The On Track companion courses in French, German, Italian and Spanish follow the race stop by stop, and everything about the series is on the On Track page.
On Track is brought to you in collaboration with Teachable. The On Track companion courses are hosted on Teachable. Future course creator? Find out more here.