For Anne from Chicago, my favorite email correspondent, who wrote to suggest that, as my articles were sometimes so long, it would be helpful if I stated clearly at the beginning what they were about, to save her the time it took to read them.
And for my mother, bless her, who couldn’t see the point of Wednesday’s article and thought it would be helpful to write and tell me.
So, the topic of today’s post is expressed succinctly in the title (look up!)
And after that there’ll be an afternote, the purpose of which is to promote EasyItalianNews.com and this week’s ‘Book of the Week’ (scroll down to see that).
Per ardua ad astra…
Now then, you’d think that making your own Italian exercises would be difficult, right?
But if you skip all the technical doodahs, it’s actually pretty easy.
When I was a baby teacher and had more time and energy, before there was payroll to worry about, I’d do this all the time for my classes.
All you need is a suitable Italian text, a word processor, and a little imagination!
Here’s how.
1. Find yourself a text in Italian. If you don’t have one, feel free to use something from the club website.
In fact, if you pick something from the page with the audios & transcripts you could even make yourself a listening exercise!
Anyway, just to kill two birds with one stone (Italians say ‘one bean’, how weird is that?), here’s a text from yesterday’s EasyItalianNews.com:
Immigrato si getta nel fiume Brenta e salva aspirante suicida
Ousmane Cissoko,
di 21 anni,
stava andando al lavoro
a Limena,
in provincia di Padova,
quando ha visto un anziano
che si era gettato
nel fiume Brenta
per togliersi la vita.
Cissoko non ha esitato un attimo,
si è tolto i vestiti e,
nonostante il gelo,
si è buttato in acqua
per salvarlo.
Insieme a un carabiniere
arrivato poco dopo,
ha riportato a riva l’anziano
in stato di ipotermia.
“Dovevo fare qualcosa”
ha riportato Cissoko.
“Io lavoro con i pesi,
sono abituato a nuotare
perché sono nato in Senegal,
vicino al mare”.
Cissoko è sbarcato in Italia
esattamente tre anni fa
con un barcone
proveniente dalla Libia.
“Ho ascoltato il cuore”
ha detto il ragazzo.
—
I expect you recognise the format…
So, I’ll fire up my trusty, free copy of ‘LibreOffice Writer’ (why make Bill Gates even richer?) and tidy it up a bit:
—
Immigrato si getta nel fiume Brenta e salva aspirante suicida
Ousmane Cissoko, di 21 anni, stava andando al lavoro a Limena, in provincia di Padova, quando ha visto un anziano che si era gettato el fiume Brenta per togliersi la vita.
Cissoko non ha esitato un attimo, si è tolto i vestiti e, nonostante il gelo, si è buttato in acqua per salvarlo. Insieme a un carabiniere arrivato poco dopo, ha riportato a riva l’anziano in stato di ipotermia.
“Dovevo fare qualcosa” ha riportato Cissoko. “Io lavoro con i pesi, sono abituato a nuotare perché sono nato in Senegal, vicino al mare”.
Cissoko è sbarcato in Italia esattamente tre anni fa con un barcone proveniente dalla Libia.
“Ho ascoltato il cuore” ha detto il ragazzo.
—
There! That looks much nicer, as people keep telling me.
So next I have to decide what to test myself ON.
A simple one is to take out all the articles, like this:
—
Immigrato si getta nel fiume Brenta e salva aspirante suicida
Ousmane Cissoko, di 21 anni, stava andando al lavoro a Limena, in provincia di Padova, quando ha visto ___ anziano che si era gettato el fiume Brenta per togliersi ___ vita.
Cissoko non ha esitato ___ attimo, si è tolto ___ vestiti e, nonostante ___ gelo, si è buttato in acqua per salvarlo. Insieme a ___ carabiniere arrivato poco dopo, ha riportato a riva ___ anziano in stato di ipotermia.
“Dovevo fare qualcosa” ha riportato Cissoko. “Io lavoro con ___ pesi, sono abituato a nuotare perché sono nato in Senegal, vicino al mare”.
Cissoko è sbarcato in Italia esattamente tre anni fa con ___ barcone proveniente dalla Libia.
“Ho ascoltato ___ cuore” ha detto ___ ragazzo.
—
You get the idea, I’m sure. That took about thirty seconds to do, by the way. Once you have the text itself, it’s easy!
To make the exercise more manageable (for yourself, or your friends), you could paste the words you cut out at the top or bottom (un, il, i, etc.)
Or you could not – it’s up to you. BE mean.
What else?
You could do the same thing, but as a multiple-choice test, like this:
—
Immigrato si getta nel fiume Brenta e salva aspirante suicida
Ousmane Cissoko, di 21 anni, stava andando al lavoro a Limena, in provincia di Padova, quando ha visto ___ anziano che si era gettato el fiume Brenta per togliersi ___ vita.
1.) a. un b. una c. il d. la e. i
2.) a. un b. una c. il d. la e. i
—
Or you could mix up the elements of each sentence, EasyItalianNews.com-style, like this:
—
Immigrato si getta nel fiume Brenta e salva aspirante suicida
per togliersi la vita.
che si era gettato
stava andando al lavoro a Limena,
di 21 anni,
quando ha visto un anziano
Ousmane Cissoko,
el fiume Brenta
in provincia di Padova,
—
There are loads of different things you could test (verb conjugations, tenses, linking words, prepositions, and so on) and many different ways you could test them.
Try it. It’s fun!
And the technical doodah part?
Don’t bother. Why waste time with javascripts and all that jazz?
Coding in mechanisms for checking answers and scoring is pretty pointless if you’re only going to use something once.
Make an exercise for yourself, then put it aside for a few days. Along with the original text, so you you’ll be able to check your answers.
Later, when you’ve forgotten the details, take out the exercise and give it a go!
Or better still, exchange exercises with your Italian class, or with friends who are studying Italian.
Pass them around, like we used to do with soft-porn mags when we were kids.
A lunedì.
I soliti P.S.
The first reminder…
Do make time today to read/listen to Thursday’s EasyItalianNews.com bulletin – as there’ll be another tomorrow (Saturday!)
It’s free, so take a look!
Subscribe to get three FREE Easy Italian News bulletins via email each week– that’s free too!
And the second?
Don’t forget the new half-price ebook ‘Book of the Week’ offer, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, one of the classics of Italian cinema.
This ebook version of the classic movie normally sells for £7.99 in our online shop, but this week is 50% off, so just £3.99.
One of Italian cinema’s masterpieces, the Oscar-winning ‘Nuovo Cinema Paradiso’, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, is retold here for learners of Italian.
Growing up without a father in post-WW2 Sicily isn’t easy, but Totò makes friends with Alfredo, projectionist at the town’s only cinema, and develops a passion for movies…
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online at soundcloud.com)
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- comprehension questions to check your understanding
- an Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- download the Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) to check the level and format BEFORE you buy
Your e-book will be emailed to you within 24 hours of your purchase.
Or view all our material for learning Italian on the Catalog page.