News from the Italian Room

Buongiorno!

I often get asked by the students “why do we have to learn Italian?” The simplest answer is that learning a second language is fun. It also unlocks parts of the brain that you would not otherwise use as well as also helping with learning everything else.

The curriculum is delivered focusing on three components of the language which help us to speak, read and write in Italian. 

These areas are:

• Phonics which focuses on the pronunciation of sounds which make up words.
• Vocabulary, the meaning of words and their translation to English.
• Grammar where we explore formal and informal language, the gender of nouns, the order in which we write words and the construction of simple sentences using the correct structure. 

Last semester, the students worked on speaking, reading and writing something about themselves. Sentence writing in Italian evolves from a word, to a phrase and then a simple sentence with more complex sentences being written by the time a student reaches Year 6. 

The junior classes introduced themselves and wrote about their feelings while the middle and senior classes introduced themselves and wrote about the activities they might like and dislike to do at home and school. 

Cosa ti piace fare a scuola? What do you like to do at school? Cosa ti piace fare a casa? What do you like to do at home?

The following work is an example of the progression of written language from Foundation through to Year 6.