Let's Speak Italian

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

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.

Online quizzes, games

Students sometimes look for extra practice or exercises to do outside of class which provide them with some kind of feedback. Languages Online works well for students in the first level of Italian. The site is divided into topics, beginning with "saluti" and ending with "la casa", as well as three separate grammar units. Students are able to take quizzes related to the different topics and receive instant feedback. There is also a listening component and a section devoted to games. This could be an effective supplement to an Elementary Italian course.

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.

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.

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.

XFactor

LESSON IDEA: with the success of American Idol in the USA, it might be interesting to look at the show XFactor, the Italian equivalent, for a cultural comparison. It is also an opportunity for students to hear what's popular in Italy in terms of music at the moment, and they might have fun comparing and contrasting the judges and their styles with those of their American counterparts. Through the course of the year, you could follow the progress of the show online with the students and have weekly updates on the contestants. You could also incorporate lessons involving the actual songs used on the program. Students could even participate in the forums on the website and comment on their favorite contestants, involving them firsthand in modern day Italian culture.

Per i teenager

The website Fuori di Testa could be a useful tool for teachers in the middle and high schools. The site is an online forum in which you can find games, jokes and recipes and see what's popular at the moment among Italian teenagers.

Italian cinema

Films can be both a cultural and linguistic tool in the classroom. Students are introduced to aspects of Italian culture that are not always so clear in the textbook, and they are also exposed to different accents and dialects. On the CinemaItaliano website, you can find a large database of Italian films past and present, which could be useful in preparing a list of appropriate films for your course.

ENIT-The Italian Government Tourist Board

The Italian Government Tourist Board website offers students a chance to further explore Italy from both a cultural and geographical perspective. LESSON IDEA: students have the chance to plan a trip (even just hypothetically), learn about exhibitions, festivals and other events of the moment, and research the country city by city, region by region. A great tool for talking about vacation in the past, present, future or even conditional.

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.

Reseaching Local History for Children

Secondo Circolo, a group of three elementary schools in Sassuolo, Modena, is developing a curriculum on local history.
The objective of the program is to connect children, both native born and immigrant, to the people and traditions of Sassuolo, once the summer residence of the Este family.
Children as young as six are collecting, researching and writing about their local environment and its rich past.
I think that middle school teachers of Italian might find this site very suggestive.