LANGUAGES
TRIP TO ITALY - STUDENT REFLECTION
In September this year, a group of Year 9, 10, and 11 students, accompanied by the teachers Nataša Ciabatti and Frank Raneri, travelled to Italy for a study tour and sister school exchange in Palazzolo Acreide, Sicily.
We started our trip in the beautiful city of Venice, where we visited famous Piazza San Marco, Rialto, the Churches full of artwork, as well as the Jewish ghetto, we travelled by ferry on the Grand Canal and walked to the Giardini and Arsenale.
After a few days "getting lost" in the calli of Venice, we boarded a plane to Catania, Sicily. From there, we drove to Palazzolo Acreide, a UNESCO world heritage site in the province of Syracuse, to meet our pen pals! Every day we toured around Sicily, visiting Greek temples and Roman villas, going to the beach and learning about Sicilian baroque, making Modica chocolate like the Aztecs did and making paper from Papyrus like in ancient Egypt! Every night we returned to Palazzolo to go out with our friends at night. Whilst we were there, there was the festival of Addolorata, the streets were filled with people gathering to talk, listen to music, watch fireworks and for the Madonna parade in the streets. We went to school with our pen pals some days, and after, many of us would go to a cafe called Corsino and enjoy gelati or arancini. The food in Sicily was on another level, so good we thought we could never live without such delicious food anymore! Unfortunately, we had to leave Sicily and go to Rome. Rome was full of history and ancient ruins, the highlights being the visits to the Colosseum and the Vatican museum. Now our pen pals are here with us in Australia enjoying their trip, and it has been really great to see them again.
Alex, Chelsea, Sadie, Callum 9A
Link to newspaper article in Italian: http://www.ibleinews.it/giovani-del-footscray-college-melbourne-palazzolo-acreide/
Photos: in front of school, in Venice, with our pen pals, and trekking on Mount Etna.
ITALIAN LANGUAGE MODEL UNITED NATIONS
On 9 August, nine senior students from the Year 11 Italian class proudly attended the Model United Nations Conference hosted at CO.AS.IT resource centre in Carlton. The topic for debate was Combating Climate Change: Committing to global action. More than 60 students representing more than 15 countries took part in this initiative.
A UNAAV Model UN Conference simulated a full-day session of the United Nations General Assembly. The day was conducted entirely in Italian and through role play and debate, students had the opportunity to step into the shoes of country ambassadors. Our students represented China, Malta, and Costa Rica and used negotiation and diplomacy skills to express the views of their allocated country. They interacted with other delegates during the caucus sessions, presented their allocated country’s position to the General Assembly and moved amendments to a Draft Resolution.
ITALIAN PLAY
On Friday 25 October a group of Italian students enjoyed watching the play “Non tutti i ladri vengono per nuocere” by Dario Fo, Nobel Prize for Literature. The play, a witty critique of Italian society, was performed by the students of Italian at The University of Melbourne. While all in Italian, it included an innovative strategy to scaffold understanding for learners of Italian at secondary school level. This was a great opportunity for us to see where Italian can lead us after school.
Nataša Ciabatti - Head of Languages