BUONGIORNO!

Salve a tutti! (Hello everyone!)

Firstly, UN GRANDISSIMO RINGRAZIO, (a very big thank you), to everyone in the St Fidelis school community for una fantastica giornata italiana, martedì scorso, (a fantastic Italian Day, last Tuesday). This event takes place at our school, (every 2 years), to celebrate the Italian culture that is in our community and to showcase how it has enriched the children’s cultural understanding.

All the behind-the-scenes effort shone brightly through the children's laughter and joy throughout the day! The feedback from students, staff and parents was certainly a very positive one! I would like to share just a few comments made by some children, as well as include some photo highlights, (many photos were taken but unfortunately couldn’t include all of them). 😊

“This was my best day at school ever!”

“I had so much fun.”

“Why can’t we have Italian day every year?”

“I liked the parade”

“I liked the magician the best.”

“I liked the waiter’s race.”

“I like the Tower of Pisa challenge”

“I liked the chicken dance.”

“I loved eating the pizza!”

“Yummy cannoli”

“Playing soccer was the best.”

Ringraziamento

(Acknowledgement)

I would like to thank all the following people that helped make this day a fantastic one for all:

to the staff, for your support in making the day run smoothly and successfully, plus some great costume ideas, the spaghetti, meatballs and passata ladies - bravi!
to the P&F, especially to Baker’s Delight Coburg, the Village Bakery and O’Heas Bakery, in assisting with the children’s Italian lunch options, buonissimo!
to the incursion act - the Great Aramando, the Italian magician - Bravo!;
to the parents, for assisting your children with their amazing costumes…a sea of verde, bianco e rosso, as well a venditori di gelati, calciatori, cibo italiano, gondolieri, Mario e Luigi, e tanti, tanti altri costumi! Bravissimi!! 👏👏

A special mention also to the following:

Edith T in 2SH, for her fragile egg pasta costume…loved the pasta accessories! 🍝
Leo B in 3BP and Veronica K in 5/6NT, for their amazing giant Barilla pasta boxes 🍝
Arnold M in 3BP, for his amazing table and spaghetti bowl costume 🍝
Xavier V in 3BP, for his velocissimo Ferrari costume 🏁🏎️

Also to Kimberley Mercuri, (Frank B’s mum, 1OB), for making an amazing St Fidelis Italian day torta, (cake), for 1OB and the staff to enjoy, grazie! Also, a lovely poster made by one of the mum’s, Monique Cook, (Florence C’s mum, 2NA), for creating a gorgeous poster as part of Florence’s costume, summing up the day…

And lastly, un grandissimo ringrazio ai ragazzi, (a huge thank you to the children), for your 100% participation and enthusiasm. Grazie mille!! 😍

The Term that was…

I’d also like to mention in this newsletter article what great work the children have been doing throughout this term…my focus for the younger grades especially, has been on improving their vocabulary, including expression and pronunciation. This has been done through singing, listening, speaking, role playing, as well as playing language games in the Italian classroom, which in turn of course enables confidence, enjoyment and of course language learning!

Foundation:

Learnt about how to say different names of colori (colours) in italiano, in conjunction with the story of L’orso Bruno (Brown Bear). Along with identifying primary colours and how to make secondary colours and finally learning how to say their favourite colour in italiano is…il mio colore preferito è…

Grade 2:

Learnt about how to ask and respond to how they are feeling day to day and learnt about different emozioni, (emotions), Come ti senti? through songs, role plays and games as well as recording their feelings in their workbooks.

Grade 3 & 4:

Continued extending how to count in italiano, grade 3 up to trentuno, (maximum number of days in one month) and grade 4 up to cento, (100). They consolidated learning about days of the week and names of months, the origin of the names of the days of the week and the months. As well as asking and responding to questions about age and birthdays, ie. Quanti anni hai? Quand’è il tuo compleanno? The students did this through various listening activities, as well as role plays and written responses.

Grade 5/6:

Focused on a cultural unit on Italia - the country, the people and the places. They were given further insight into Italy’s location, its neighbouring countries, le regioni e capoluoghi, (regions and regional capital cities) and its government system. The students were also asked to research and present either a regional presentation of their choice, or plan a trip to Italy, outlining a 2 week itinerary, visiting at least 4 Italian cities.This will be presented next term to their class peers. I’m looking forward to seeing their presentations.

As you can see it has been a busy term for us all. So at this point, I’d like to wish everyone buone vacanze e buon riposo a tutti! (Have a good rest and holiday break everyone). 🙂

Until next term…Arrivederci!

Signora Rosa 🌹

Grade 2

Buon giorno a tutti, Throughout the term, the children engaged in a variety of enjoyable and meaningful learning experiences that helped them develop their understanding of the Italian language and culture. The children explored the following: Colori- Colours: Through songs, games, stories and hands-on activities, the children developed their vocabulary and practised recognising and naming a variety of colours in Italian. They enjoyed using these new words to describe objects and create colourful pieces of work.

Festa della Mamma- Celebrating Mother’s Day – The children learnt vocabulary and phrases associated with family and created special messages and activities to celebrate their mothers and the important role they play in our families.

Ave Maria- Hail Mary Prayer: As part of our faith and language learning, the children were introduced to the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) prayer. They practised key words and phrases in Italian and developed an appreciation of how prayer connects people around the world.

La Mia Famiglia – My family: The children learnt the Italian names for family members and used simple sentences to talk about their own families. Through songs, games and picture books, they built confidence using everyday vocabulary. Eg: fratello, brother, sorella, sister, papa, dad, mamma, mum nonno, grandpa, nonna, grandma.

Italian Day– The children enjoyed celebrating Italian Day by exploring the traditions of Il Carnevale, one of Italy’s most colourful festivals. They learnt about the history and customs of Carnevale through stories and children’s books and discovered how people celebrate with costumes, music and parades. As part of this learning, the children designed and created their own vibrant masks, inspired by traditional Venetian masks, and expressed their creativity through art and craft activities.

These experiences provided opportunities for the children to develop their Italian vocabulary, deepen their understanding of Italian traditions, and celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Italy in engaging and meaningful ways.

Arrivederci a presto.

Annette Gasbarro

Parish News