Let's Speak Italian

Parliamoci chiaro, an e-Learning project by ISMU, offers courses at different levels.

Symposium on Italian (Boston, May 9th, 2009)

Symposium "A Sequential k-12 Curriculum for an Advanced and Updated Approach to the Teaching of Italian Language and Culture"
Boston Public Library - May 9th, 2009 - 9:30am

Useful webite for teachers!

Here is a website with online (and printable!) activities and worksheets for your students on a variety of topics:

Italian Verbs Conjugator

The italian verbs conjugation has many difficulties like all the neo-Latin languages due to their abundance and different uses of verbal forms. But now, the conjugation of Italian verbs isn't longer a problem, thanks to a free Italian verbs conjugator.
An Enrico Olivetti Communication leading high quality production, containing more than 12,000 Italian verbs only considering the active form. With the reflexive verbs the total reaches more than 20,000 verbs.

All you need is to key in the tense, either in the active form (i.e.: amare, temere, finire, noi siamo, io vado, che tu sappia) or in the reflexive (pronominal) form (i.e.: lavarsi, vestirsi, io mi lavo, tu ti pettini) and the conjugation table will be immmediately displayed.

Language games

For some extra vocab drills, languagegames.org offers word searches, crosswords and hangman by category, from colors to animals to the weather. These games are effective for students of all ages to reinforce vocab.

Tongue twisters

A great way to warm up a class and work on pronunciation is the use of tongue twisters. The BBC languages site offers some particularly challenging ones.

Rai-junior

Access to Italian public television online also extends to a younger demographic: Rai junior offers kids a chance to follow their favorite shows, as well as games and podcasts. They even distinguish between different age brackets, offering both Rai Kids and Rai Tween, for a slightly older crowd. LESSON IDEA: Younger learners of Italian could benefit from the chance to follow specific programs on a weekly basis, just as they do on American television. It would be an effective exercise in describing people and characters, as well as expose children to native speakers their own age. Choosing a show and dedicating 10 minutes of every lesson (or once a week depending on the regularity of class) to either watching it or doing some type of activity related to it could be a fun way to keep the students' attention. Those students who are particularly interested are also free to visit the website in their spare time.

Racconti di Bambini Stranieri

Racconti di Bambini Stanieri sets forth stories written by children of immigrants living in Italy.

Letteratour

An excellent resource for students of Italian literature, the website Letteratour provides a comprehensive foundation for all levels and areas of interest. Analyses of texts ranging from songs to poems to excerpts from larger works are featured, along with clear definitions and examples of the most prominent literary theories and narrative styles. It is, as the site notes, a "tour" into the world of literature and truly offers a wealth of pertinent information. Upcoming readings and literary discussions around Italy are also listed, and the site offers everything from children's reading activities to word games for the advanced adult.

Briscola and other games

This website for "Italophiles" is designed mainly for children and outlines the rules for classic Italian card games such as briscola and scopa as well as provides coloring pages featuring characters from the commedia dell'arte. It could be useful for teachers of Italian at the elementary school level, as it offers ideas for games and other classroom activities with a cultural component.

Online grammar and pronunciation guide

ProfessorGio.com is a helpful website for students of Italian looking to reinforce what they've learned in the classroom. There are grammar and usage explanations in English, as well as an audio pronunciation guide and games to practice vocabulary. Students are often looking for extra exercises and practice, and this is a good place to send them to reinforce the basic concepts of the Italian language.

Pronunciation help

For beginning Italian speakers, this language guide is both an online picture dictionary and a pronunciation aide. When you put the cursor over the word, it is pronounced aloud. The visual aids are ideal for children, as they can both see and hear the word. Vocabulary covered includes animals, body parts, sports, numbers and colors.

Ancient Rome 3D

Explore ancient Rome...in 3D. This new feature of Google Earth recreates the city around the year A.D. 320 and allows users to explore famous buildings both inside and out and see how the ancient Romans lived. See related article in the New York Times. Even elementary school students would enjoy the interactive aspect of learning about the ancient Romans.

Online dictionaries

Garzantilinguistica
Very good online dictionary. Also includes verb conjugation tables, false friends, and pronunciation help.
Wordreference
Nearly 200,000 translations as well as useful language forums
De Mauro dizionario della lingua italiana
The Internet Picture Dictionary

Best Italian websites

Super Italian websites from a professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa. Grammar aids, cultural activities, travel/tourism, newspapers and magazines, food and recipes, other miscellaneous sites useful to the teaching of Italian.

Lo Straniero

Lo straniero. A monthly magazine of art, culture and society, directed by Goffredo Fofi.

The section 'Education' presents innovative projects such as Celio Azzurro.

Benvenuti a Italian eCenter

Il blog 'Italian eCenter' e' un progetto innovativo, creato dalla professoressa Laurie Shepard a Boston College.

Il blog si propone come un portale attraverso cui segnalare film, libri, mostre, concerti e altri eventi, cosi' come opportunita' di studio e di lavoro.

I destinatari ideali del blog sono italofili, studenti, professori e non specialisti, amanti dell'opera, del cinema, della storia e della lingua italiana, cosi' come turisti stranieri e italiani.

Il blog includera' eventi locali e internazionali, che abbiano rilevanza per la cultura italiana.

Abbiamo deciso di scrivere i post in inglese, ma prevediamo che molti link saranno in italiano o in inglese, con o senza traduzioni o sottotitoli. Come sempre accade in rete, il visitatore segue poi un percorso autonomo.