Love of Learning Italian: Year 7 Projects

I am very proud of my group of students that dedicated their time, research and skills to produce a 3D or 2D representation of Italian culture. Students were given the task to reflect upon which part of Italian culture interests and inspires them the most. Is it architecture? History? Inventors? Geography? Art? Food? Students were encouraged to think divergently. This involved collaboration, inquiry, curiosity, experimentation, imagination and lateral thinking. I did not want to receive 30 Colosseums! All students displayed enthusiasm and excitement throughout this task. It is a beautiful thing when you see students eager to learn more about another culture and dive into the depths of knowledge creativity. Congratulations to all my students who challenged themselves and created an amazing representation of Italian culture. A special thank you to parents and other family members for assisting their child with the resources, wood cutting, gluing, colour printing, clay moulding and cleaning up the mess! Grazie tantissimo!

1450 Likes! 317 Comments! The Project that became International!

Sienna Busby (Year 7) is to be commended for her extraordinary efforts for her Italian project. From the beginning, Sienna knew that she wanted to portray her family’s Italian heritage. She came to me and told me many stories about her Nonno (Grandfather) and the many traditional, authentic experiences she has shared with him (sauce making, sausage making, gardening, Nonno’s favourite music). It became obvious that Sienna wanted to reignite her Nonno’s story. Sienna united her family together to talk openly about the project and Nonno’s life. He was nine years old at the time and very sad to leave his family, however, he wanted to be with his father who migrated three years earlier. Sienna and her family collated personal and sentimental items that represented her Grandfather’ journey to Australia. In the 1950s it was extremely difficult for Italian migrants to leave their small villages, family members and lifestyle to come to Australia, a land many knew very little about. They did not know the language and there were Italians who arrived in Australia unsure of which direction to take. Many migrants were only allowed to bring one suitcase. Sienna used the original suitcase from her Nonno’s journey in 1955 and packed it identically. Inside were extraordinary black and white photographs of his family, one shirt, a photo album, one pair of shoes, a statue of the Holy Mary and an orange. The story behind the orange is heart-warming. After boarding the ship, Sienna’s Nonno cried as he saw his Uncle waving goodbye from the docks. His Uncle threw him an orange (from his orchard but also considered a treat back then) to stop the tears! All students are encouraged to have a look at the display in the school library.

Sienna and her Mum were very passionate and proud of this project and decided to post pictures of the suitcase to three Facebook’s Italian Group sites (Calabrese Australia; Delianuova leri ed oggi; Nonna’s Calabrese Recipes) and this post made a great impression on many other Italian people, young and old. In addition, Sienna’s project was discovered by a journalist of Allora Newspaper, based in Sydney where she has participated in an interview about learning Italian and the importance of her Italian project.

Congratulations! Complimenti! Grazie anche alla famiglia Busby.

Maria Pennington
Teacher in Charge of Languages