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Italian Studies

Find out what sessions we are able to offer in the area of Italian studies

Interactive Workshop: An Introduction to Italian language (online or in person)

Federica Sturani 

Overview

These sessions are designed for GCSE or A-level students of foreign languages and are an introduction to Italian (prior knowledge of the language is not required). The workshop consists of three stages, lasting up to 2 hours in total:

  1. Presentation introducing students to Italy and its culture and history, including career prospects and concluding with game/quiz to test students’ knowledge
  2. Workshop on language-learning strategies, focusing particularly on cognates words and contextualization for comprehension activities / vocabulary building exercises. In this stage, students work in small groups and activities can be adapted according to the students’ year group (i.e. role-plays on greetings and introduction for GCSE-students; translation activities for A-level students)
  3. Group presentation of work created/completed during stage 2 and feedback.

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of first session and delivery/facilitation of stages 2 and 3. The preliminary session can be provided face-to-face or online, although the following sessions are considerably easier face-to-face.
  • PowerPoint slides with resources.
  • Teamwork activities sheets (these can be used during a facilitated workshop, or employed independently by teachers with pupils).
  • These workshops can also be (and have been in some cases) delivered by our own students, provided that we support and prepare them beforehand.

Topics covered  / relevance to GCSE and A-level syllabi

  • Focused reading, writing, listening and/ or speaking language skills tailored to level
  • Communication strategies in language-learning: cognates, common patterns, visual and verbal context
  • Self-reflexivity in language learning and confidence

Interactive Workshops: An Italian experience (online or in person)

Dr Rosalba Biasini & Federica Sturani 

Overview

These sessions are designed for students in year 8 / 9 (pre-GCSE) and are aimed at creating curiosity and interest towards the study of foreign languages (Italian in our case, but it can be easily adapted to other languages). It is best delivered as a day experience at the University, but some of the activities can be easily moved online. It consists of four stages, lasting up to 3 hours:

  1. Kahoot quiz, a fun introduction to well-known and less-known facts about Italy and Italian. During this stage, students are divided into small groups.
  2. Workshop on communicative language acquisition, focusing particularly on vocabulary building activities followed by interactive games. In this stage, students can be working as a single group.
  3. The challenge. During this stage, each small group from stage 1 is given a challenge which requires them to apply the knowledge acquired in Stage 2. This can take the form of a role-play, or a treasure hunt or a short interpreting task.
  4. Conclusion, including presentation on why studying languages and feedback on previous group work and activities. If the workshop is in presence, there can be proclamation of stages 1 and stage 3 winners

What we provide/deliver

  • Delivery of first and last sessions and delivery/facilitation of stages 2 and 3. All sessions can be provided face-to-face or online in a synchronous mode. Asynchronous delivery will require some adaptation of activities in all four stages.
  • PowerPoint slides with resources.
  • Teamwork activities sheets.

Topics covered  / relevance to GCSE syllabus

  • Focused reading, writing, listening and/ or speaking language skills and topic tailored to level
  • Communication strategies in language-learning: cognates, common patterns, visual and verbal context
  • Confidence in language learning