This case study explores the cognitive and emotional development of a university student using the schema of a complete orienting basis of action (SCOBA) in her learning of Italian as a foreign language. The article follows Marie, a 19-year-old undergraduate student, as she used a SCOBA that illustrated the concept of Genre and Register in typified situations. Marie's lived emotional experiences and how she overcame her struggles while learning and using Italian are analyzed through the concept of Perezhivanie. Framed in sociocultural theory, the analysis of different data sources from classroom instruction and study abroad demonstrates how the student's use of the SCOBA was an essential aspect of her cognitive and emotional learning process. The data analysis shows how the SCOBA, as graphic representations of orienting activity inlaid in a concept-based instruction pedagogy, guided Marie's oral interaction from a dependence on the tool to her independent use and transformation of the tool. This article contributes to the sparse empirical research on SCOBA use by documenting Marie's progress in language learning as an example of Perezhivanie, a lived experience, of the SCOBA.