The Italians know how to spout.

My Italian true love likes the emphasis on oral exams in the Italian school system. Much better than written exams, she says. My true love is a teacher. Of English. And English literature. Imagine that. An Italian choosing to teach English. I'm learning more about Shakespeare than I ever dreamed I'd know. Because my true love knows Shakespeare backwards and forwards. And she makes it interesting. I've been subjected to her oral exams. Charles Richards, author of the book, 'The New Italians,' says that one reason why Italians have such a gift for language, such a fluency with words, is that their whole lives have been trained for this. 'Their educational system is directed towards verbal fluency,' he writes. 'All their schooling is a test of oral skills. Most examinations are oral, rather than written, and test a pupil's ability to spout cogently on a given subject. These examinations need long, elegantly constructed, well delivered answers. Short, concise responses do not work.' --Jim Broede