Giulia's story

Giulia Trama is a 12-year-old English language student from Italy who is in year two at Eugenio Pertini middle school in Trapani. In May 2023 she obtained the Trinity ISE II certification, passing the Listening & Speaking and Reading & Writing modules in the same session.

We spoke to Giulia and Enza Novara, who is the school's Trinity exams coordinator, about Giulia’s impressive achievement.

Giulia started learning English quite a lot earlier than many of her peers.

“I began to learn English when I was three by watching Mickey Mouse DVDs first in Italian and then in English.”

This early exposure meant that Giulia was already able to start preparing for a one of the higher GESE grades when she started at the middle school.

‘Thanks to my school I got my first Trinity GESE grade seven certification last year in my first year of middle school.’

Enza Novara, who supported Giulia in her preparation, shared her pride in Giulia’s achievements.

"In my 30 years of teaching, it's the first time I've ever met a student with these extraordinary language skills. Her parents are not native speakers, and she never had any experience abroad before starting to study with us.”

“For this reason, I believe that Trinity exams have helped her to make progress and prepare to reach a B2 level at just 12 years of age".

Last year Giulia participated in Erasmus plus projects with other partner secondary schools from Lithuania, Spain and Poland and also in virtual mobility from Bulgaria and Estonia.

We asked Giulia what she has got out of preparing for Trinity’s English exams.

“The Trinity exams have especially helped my writing preparation, because I can express myself well in English.”

“The topic of my last Trinity exam dealt with cultural differences and highlighted the benefits of learning a new culture and the problems that cultural differences can bring about."

Enza told us what she appreciates about preparing students for Trinity exams.

“Ours is a suburban school and certificate exams make the difference - we’ve had experiences of pupils with learning difficulties and with special educational needs who have passed the Trinity GESE exams.”

“This year for the first time we have prepared for the ISE Foundation exam. All this would not be possible without the support of our Headmaster Maria Laura Lombardo who believes in us a lot and pushes us to seize opportunities.”

“Giulia will be an example for all our students, so we are very proud of her score and now we are preparing for ISE III”.

"The Trinity exams have especially helped my writing preparation, because I can express myself well in English"

Find out more about Trinity Integrated Skills in English (ISE)
More Trinity success stories