News from the Italian Rooms
Ciao a tutti!
It has definitely been a busy term. The students were involved in many language building activities.
Preps are having so much fun learning Italian, especially having met our class friend Pinocchio. With his help, and through engagement with the text, ‘Ecco Pinocchio' they have learned the names of body parts in Italian, played games and have even made their own marionette puppet of Pinocchio. Look out for him!
Grade 1 students are very intelligente, they have been practising to count and many of them can count beyond venti (20)! This term the focus has been on learning the names of I mezzi di trasporto (modes of transport) and we have really enjoyed singing along to the Trasporto song. Many of the trasporti names sound or look similar to those words in English such as elicottero, bicicletta, motocicletta, aeroplano and autobus. Can you guess what these are?
Grade 2 has been learning about cibi (food). They have enjoyed listening and joining in the shared reading of ‘Mangia! Mangia!’, the story of a bambino (boy) who feeds his dinner to his pet cat because he would prefer to eat pane (bread) and Nutella. Through the story and games, we have learnt the names of many foods as well as how to express our likes and dislikes.
Grade 3 has built on their knowledge of days and months, to be able to write and recite the data in Italian and recognise the seasons in Italian. The English (and Italian) month names find their roots in the ancient Roman calendar, which originally had only ten months, not the twelve we know today. The students also learnt that settembre (September), ottobre (October), novembre (November), and dicembre (December) are named according to their positions in the Roman calendar, indicating that they were the seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth months of the year. Did you know that in June it is inverno (winter) in Australia but in Italy, it is estate (summer)?
Grade 4 students have been learning about il corpo (body). Through the song, ‘Testa, Spalle, Ginocchia e Piede’ and games such as Kahoot and Memory, the children have learnt the names of body parts and have extended their knowledge to be able to translate short texts and to write a group of sentences to describe their mostri (monsters).
It has been all about animali in Grade 5! We have been playing games to learn the names of the animals, revising the definite articles (il, la, lo, l’) and have worked our way to describing what the animals look like, eat and where they live. Our posters look amazing!
The highlight for Grade 6 was writing a letter in Italian to the students at Preston West Primary School. We have spent the term looking at examples of letters, learning common phrases and translating texts, all to lead us into writing our own letters. In the letters, the students introduced themselves to their amico or amica di penna. They included information like their age, likes, dislikes, family members and their names, pets, favourite subjects and hobbies, as well as making their own envelopes. They are awaiting with anticipation to receive their reply letter!
Tanti saluti e buone vacanze!
Signora Perrone and Signora Langley
