Building bridges through the Italian language
TORONTO – Ten days ago, ItaliaLinguaCultura hosted a fundraising gala in support of its Italian language program which it offers through the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) International Languages program and with the support of the Consulate General of Italy.
It was an absorbing and impressive socio-cultural event thanks in part to dedicated private sector sponsorship, duly highlighted in the event brochure, the organizational commitment of the YCDSB Chair, Maria Iafrate and her team (Angela Saggese, Fausto Mammoliti, Dominic Mazzotta), and the not indifferent participation of Phil Aiello’s Venu Event Space management group.
Limits of editorial space prevented us, in our previous article (you can read it here), from offering adequate coverage of the substance of the Italian language program, its scope, its impact on the “learners” their learning process, self esteem and the families of all involved. In many respects, the language program is innovative in its vision, development and use of the [now] typical tools available to professional instructors in a classroom: audio-visual, technological innovations, classic substances for creating artistic representations of words and ideas that bring relationships to life.
We trust that in these pages, and in our online edition, you will see what impressed even the most casual of observers. To that end, we have accessed – in Italian and English – original “documents” including speaking notes from Laura Innocenti of the Consulate General, a brief video inspired by Maria Rita Romualdi (here is her introduction to the video) giving an overview of the scope of the e-Twinning language program and testimonials from teachers and parents (Jessica Favia, Luisa Grisonich, Didi Cammalleri, Michelle Solimine, Alicia Scariot and Giuseppina Gerasolo) of participants (testimonials are here).
What comes to the surface is the reality of “an immersion program” wherefrom the cultural experience of the “learners” gives life and meaning to the words they exchange with their counterparts an ocean away. This year, some of the students e-twinned with others from the Istrian peninsula which now forms part of the Dalmatian coastline of Slovenia and Croatia. The nuances of words and language become more apparent and easier to comprehend.
That concept, is also at the base of another partner in the language program, Librissimi, co-ordinated from the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Toronto, which rewarded students from YCDSB last month (here is our article about it).
On this occasion, Corriere Canadese offered complimentary access to the online edition to registered students with their parents’ written permission.
Below is the video “YCDSB – eTwinning – ItaliaLinguaCultura” and, following, a photo gallery of the students’ works on display at St. Gregory The Great Catholic Academy in Vaughan (video and photos provided by the YCDSB)
