Italian

Salve,

Dear Parents and School Community,

My name is Signora Michieli, and I am delighted to be joining Our Lady Of Good Counsel School as the new Italian teacher. I am very much looking forward to teaching your children this year.

In our classes, students will learn to speak, read, write, and understand Italian while also exploring the country’s rich culture, history, and traditions. From regional customs and celebrations to art, music, and cuisine, we will discover what makes Italy so vibrant and unique. My goal is to create an engaging and supportive environment where students feel confident and excited to learn.

We began the year by learning about Carnevale di Venezia (Carnival in Venice), one of Italy’s most famous and historic festivals.  Students explored the origins of this centuries-old celebration, the significance of the elaborate masks and costumes, and how Carnevale reflects aspects of Italian society, culture and history. 

Our Junior School students have been learning how to introduce themselves in Italian. They are practising common greetings, saying their name, and sharing how old they are. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they begin speaking in a new language!

In the Middle and Senior School, students are developing their introduction skills in both oral and written form. They are creating their own Personal Identity Cards, where they include information such as their name, birthday, nationality, and hair and eye colour. This activity is helping them build vocabulary while learning to present personal information clearly and accurately in Italian.

More recently, the students have continued building on their introductory language skills. After learning how to introduce themselves, they have moved on to learning about the family unit (Family and Relationships).

Students have been learning the names of immediate and extended family members, including mamma, papà, fratello, sorella, nonna, nonno, zia, zio, and cugino/a. They are becoming more confident in identifying and naming members of their own families in Italian.

In addition, students have started learning adjectives to describe their family members, such as simpatico/a, gentile, divertente, and sportivo/a. They are practising how to match adjectives correctly to masculine and feminine nouns.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SF9J7cP-8CIwL9TCy5N9RT3WhN_ghCHV/view?usp=sharing

Students have also been introduced to possessive articles (e.g. mia madre, mio fratello) and are beginning to understand how these change depending on gender and number.

Middle and Senior School students are applying their learning by working towards drawing and labelling their own family trees in Italian, using accurate vocabulary, spelling and possessive forms.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QAkzBZ9S4QaaVPlcTWBeIjk6bNWBMtDC/view?usp=sharing

I look forward to a wonderful year together!

Cari saluti,

Signora Michieli