Languages Department Spotlight
Our Languages students have been busy immersing themselves in Italian language and culture this term!
Year 7 students created fantastic posters about the traditional Tarantella dance from Southern Italy. The entire cohort also participated in an exciting incursion with "I Taranti" an Italian folk music and dance group, where they learned about the history and legends behind this traditional dance. According to ancient beliefs, people thought that dancing and singing to the music could help cure the effects of a tarantula spider bite. Students thoroughly enjoyed the performance, joining in with the dancing and singing, and should be congratulated for their excellent behaviour throughout the incursion.
In Year 8 Italian, students are learning how to talk about their daily routines and tell the time in Italian, while our Year 9 classes are exploring the concept of Made in Italy and Italy’s influence on fashion, design and industry.
Our Year 10 Business Immersion class has been studying Civics and the Australian Government. Students are currently preparing political rallies to present their own political parties, which will soon be voted on by our senior students.
Meanwhile, VCE Year 11 and 12 students are busy preparing for their oral assessments and have participated in a variety of enriching cultural experiences this term. These included a Commedia dell’Arte incursion featuring the performance Bromance in Naples, as well as the Year 12 Community Excursion to the Willow View Centre, where students connected with elderly members of the Italian community.
At the Willow View Centre our amazing Year 12s supported the elderly members of the Italian community, entertaining them with conversations, songs and shared meal preparation. Mario, 91 years old, invited us to join them again, delighted by the kindness and positive energy brought into the Center by our students.
From Dana, one of our Year 12 Italian students:
Excursion to Willowview Center
On Thursday we had the amazing privilege of working, speaking and cooking with 4 elderly Italian members of the Willowview Center. After a short bus and train ride we made it to the center and began our introductions- in Italian of course! We were split into 2 teams, 5 students and 2 Italian members- Pomodori Rossi e Pepperone Verde. We then began with a guessing game where we had to describe ingredients for a pasta and antipasto in Italian and the Willowview Members had to guess what we were explaining. Then we began to prepare a proper Italian feast : a caprese salad, melon and prosciutto, olives, carbonara, spaghetti with red sauce and gelato to finish it off. We chatted and ate the food for an hour and by the end we were all very full and happy. The students then sang ‘Sarà perchè ti amo’ and the Italian members joined in with big smiles on their faces. We then surprised them with an Italian rap song called ‘Hey Ray’, with our sunnies and backwards caps we rapped and our teacher fell to the floor with laughter and the Italians had smiles from ear to ear. It was amazing to see how much joy we brought to the Willowview members and the helpers and it was an incredible immersive experience to help improve our conversation skills. After many songs and delicious food eaten we said ‘arrivaderci’ (goodbye) to the Willowview Italians, with smiles on everyone’s faces and the next visit in the works. This was an amazing day and a really nice bonding experience for everyone involved.
Comedia dell’arte incursion
Italian and Theatre classes from year 8-12 gathered in the auditorium to watch this amazing performance. From the singing to the laughs this performance had bromance and topics very relevant to issues in the world today. The masks added to the characters' personas like Arlecchino and Pantalone and the puppets added to the running jokes. This performance involved everyone in the audience and we all had a great time. Colombina was a crowd favourite as she stood up for her rights and saved Napoli from corruption.
We are also very proud that 10 students across Years 9–12 will participate in the Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition at The University of Melbourne, where they will recite poems in Italian. In bocca al lupo ragazzi!
Additionally, five of our Year 11 students will represent Thornbury High School at a simulated United Nations conference early in Term 3, where students will debate and propose solutions to help save our oceans from pollution.
Term 2 certainly couldn’t get more Italian than this!
Chiara Florio
Head of Languages