Differences in Italian vs US soaring instruction?

Stephen Thomas wrote:

PTS? isn't that another TLA?

Now what the hell is TLA?? And please don't answer with yet another
obscure acronym.

To the original questions: I don't know the Italian habits either, but I
know one thing: Never, never assume any habits as granted. Eg. at my
airfield there are two soaring clubs, and even the procedures of these
two clubs differ substantially. (Such as, when winch launching, whose
responibility is it to observe final (wing hoder vs start observer), who
does the radio with the winch driver (start observer vs. pilot) etc.)
Then, nobody here around considers rudder waggling to be any signal at
all. Everybody waggles with all control surfaces and with the airbrakes
just as a prestart check. (All our gliders are radio equipped, something
thing that *we* take as granted.) The big problem is, you can't just ask
people what their habits are, because they are so used to them that they
are no longer aware that these are habits.

Formal cross country preparation? I have no idea what you mean by this.
Usually I have a rough plan, go up and then fly this plan or change it
according to weather situation and mood. My only "plan" is to always
stay within gliding range of a landeable field.

PTS landing? Whatever this may be, a landing is considered correct if
the glider is smoothly put down within the first 60 meters of the
runway. No, we have no name for this.

Bottom line: I would recommend that you just go through the whole
routine with a foreign pilot. Encourage him to comment your procedures,
whether they meet what he has done or whether they differ or whether
they are entirely new to him or whether he misses something. Like this,
you both will learn something.

Stefan