What can we do to help you learn Italian?

The Online Italian Club is here to help you learn Italian.

But it’s new, and we are not sure HOW best to help you.

What would be most useful for you? Exercises? Downloadable resources? Videos? The forums?

We have some resources to invest in making this club better, but we’d like to know what you want before we decide how to proceed.

So could you do us a favour? Could you leave a comment on this post (go to the bottom of the page) and tell us what you want from the club?

You can write in English, in Italian, or in your own language (we’ll surely find SOMEONE who can help us read us your ideas!!)

And what about the FORUMS? If you haven’t participated in the discussions there, could you tell us why not? What would you like to “talk” about there?

With your help, we want to make our Online Italian Club a fantastic free resource for learners all over the world… you just need to tell us how to help you and we’ll get started!

SI Gordon says

September 21, 2011 at 12:38 pm

Daniel

Thank you for the offer to contribute to the development of the online club. The online club is a forward-looking initiative and as you recognize, has considerable development potential. The existing forums serve a good social function in that they enable members to interact and chat with the staff and among themselves, on occasions using Italian.

I sense however that you are keen to develop further the online club’s potential as a means of teaching, learning and improving the members’ abilities in the Italian language. The challenge will be to increase the use of the site as an environment for teaching and learning Italian while retaining the spontaneity, informality and sociability of the chat forums.

Here are a few thoughts on possible ways to develop the site further

Currently the strength of the site is its inclusivity. Whatever one’s language competence, the site encourages and enables rapid and relatively spontaneous interaction among all members, whether in Italian or English. It is well worth continuing with the flexibility provided by this relatively open-ended approach – where members can suggest topics for discussion etc. It has the potential to grow an on-line community of members interested in learning and improving their Italian. While recognizing that some of the discussions have a natural “shelf live”, could some be kept open for a slightly longer period as, due to other commitments, it is not always possible to contribute promptly?

Perhaps one way of introducing an additional element of progression into the chat forums would be to identify in advance some specific upcoming topics. This could enable interested members do some thinking/research/preparation etc. before contributing to the resulting forum. This could lead to more in-depth discussions and perhaps more challenging use of the language – with the potential for increased learning through the identification of some key grammar or usage points that might occur within the discussion. For example, at the end of the discussion, one of the teachers could review the members’ posts and identify an aspect of language usage that could be improved – providing examples/practice exercises etc. This could be done without embarrassing a specific contributor and it has the potential of introducing a “learning and improvement” dimension into the chat forums.

To move the club beyond this basic “chat” facility and to develop the learning potential of the site, I am sure you agree that it is important to recognize that club members have varied levels of competence in Italian. In order to meet their differing needs, it would be useful to employ a variety of approaches, pitched at a range of levels. Perhaps the levels you use in the school (eg. A1 – C2) could be used to underpin the online provision so that progression is built into its structure. The levels could be signposted in the various exercises and activities thus enabling club members to use the site at a level they deem appropriate while also being able to plan for progression in their learning. Your existing practice of providing booklets of graded exercises already reflects this approach.

The site can work both as a resource for individual and cooperative group study.

For use on an individual basis, I think it would be helpful if the architecture of the site provided flexible learning pathways so that the learner could identify and construct his/her own course of study. For example, a range of activities/exercises etc., could be set out on a matrix, appropriately labelled for level etc., then individuals, through picking and choosing activities, could construct progressive courses of study to suit their needs. The site itself could suggest such courses of study and signpost a range of possible pathways/combinations of activities to support them. Where appropriate, the provision of answers to exercises etc., would enable the learner to self-check work and even complete progress tests at specific points on the course. Naturally it would be of vital importance that the learner always had the option to seek help/advice from the teachers. You already have some of this infrastructure in place in your provision of exercises etc.

One advantage of this approach is that learners can work at their own pace while monitoring and recording their progress in the course. The school could also monitor this progress and if appropriate could advise on the direction of the individual’s future learning. This approach could be aligned to the existing accredited courses offered through the school.

Further, from the school’s point of view, this sort of provision would provide feedback on the site’s effectiveness in promoting learning. I think that individual learners would welcome this kind of flexibility and potential for progression while being able to access high quality support from the school.

With regard to developing cooperative work, what about identifying a specific focus for a set period of time – say a week? This “topic” approach has the potential to integrate a variety of approaches. There could be “core level” work accessible to all club members complemented by “extension activities” for those who wish to work at more complex and sophisticated levels. The focus could be on particular aspects of Italian life, society and culture: something making the news in Italy, current issues in Italy (serious and not so serious), stories from Bologna, some specific grammatical or usage points, information in a variety of texts including extracts from newspapers, magazines, literature etc. There is potential to use video material to introduce the topic and to act as a resource/stimulus for specific aspects of the topic (say a teaching session on a grammatical point, a filmed discussion/conversation, filmed or audio interviews etc.). There could be a variety of tasks including reading, listening (including songs, music and other audio material), viewing and writing. Where appropriate, links to specific online sites could be used to stimulate and/or inform activities and discussions. A discussion forum could be an integral component of this approach – during and at the end of the topic – as a learning forum where the users could share ideas and, through their interaction, help each other to learn and reflect on their learning.

I realize that a lot of the above is aspirational and not the sort of thing that can be implemented in a short period of time! However, online learning is a fast developing field and it is great that you are seeking to extend Madrelingua’s provision in this area. These ideas are offered in support of your initiative.

Tanti auguri

Comments

Tavishi Khanna says

September 19, 2011 at 7:26 pm

I think videos with subtitles in both English and Italian would be great idea. Also, songs help one learn fast. So, a few ‘canzoni’ with subtitles would be a great hit too.
Karen Drage says

September 19, 2011 at 7:35 pm

Vivo in campagna, e così la mia connessione e troppo lento. Non è possibile per me di vedere streaming video. In questo caso riesco solamente usare il forum e esercisi
grazie
saluti
Karen
MaryTeresa Branton says

September 19, 2011 at 8:06 pm

Yes, a variety of songs with italian subtitles would be good.
What about an italian colloquial expression or proverb of the week? (Possibly with explanations in italian.)
- MaryTeresa Branton says
  
  September 20, 2011 at 8:36 am
  
  Actually I think I meant idiomatic expressions there, such as the English one, ‘to follow a red herring’ meaning to be distracted from the main issue by something that seems important but is irrelevant.
SI Gordon says

September 21, 2011 at 12:38 pm

Daniel

Thank you for the offer to contribute to the development of the online club. The online club is a forward-looking initiative and as you recognize, has considerable development potential. The existing forums serve a good social function in that they enable members to interact and chat with the staff and among themselves, on occasions using Italian.

I sense however that you are keen to develop further the online club’s potential as a means of teaching, learning and improving the members’ abilities in the Italian language. The challenge will be to increase the use of the site as an environment for teaching and learning Italian while retaining the spontaneity, informality and sociability of the chat forums.

Here are a few thoughts on possible ways to develop the site further

Currently the strength of the site is its inclusivity. Whatever one’s language competence, the site encourages and enables rapid and relatively spontaneous interaction among all members, whether in Italian or English. It is well worth continuing with the flexibility provided by this relatively open-ended approach – where members can suggest topics for discussion etc. It has the potential to grow an on-line community of members interested in learning and improving their Italian. While recognizing that some of the discussions have a natural “shelf live”, could some be kept open for a slightly longer period as, due to other commitments, it is not always possible to contribute promptly?

Perhaps one way of introducing an additional element of progression into the chat forums would be to identify in advance some specific upcoming topics. This could enable interested members do some thinking/research/preparation etc. before contributing to the resulting forum. This could lead to more in-depth discussions and perhaps more challenging use of the language – with the potential for increased learning through the identification of some key grammar or usage points that might occur within the discussion. For example, at the end of the discussion, one of the teachers could review the members’ posts and identify an aspect of language usage that could be improved – providing examples/practice exercises etc. This could be done without embarrassing a specific contributor and it has the potential of introducing a “learning and improvement” dimension into the chat forums.

To move the club beyond this basic “chat” facility and to develop the learning potential of the site, I am sure you agree that it is important to recognize that club members have varied levels of competence in Italian. In order to meet their differing needs, it would be useful to employ a variety of approaches, pitched at a range of levels. Perhaps the levels you use in the school (eg. A1 – C2) could be used to underpin the online provision so that progression is built into its structure. The levels could be signposted in the various exercises and activities thus enabling club members to use the site at a level they deem appropriate while also being able to plan for progression in their learning. Your existing practice of providing booklets of graded exercises already reflects this approach.

The site can work both as a resource for individual and cooperative group study.

For use on an individual basis, I think it would be helpful if the architecture of the site provided flexible learning pathways so that the learner could identify and construct his/her own course of study. For example, a range of activities/exercises etc., could be set out on a matrix, appropriately labelled for level etc., then individuals, through picking and choosing activities, could construct progressive courses of study to suit their needs. The site itself could suggest such courses of study and signpost a range of possible pathways/combinations of activities to support them. Where appropriate, the provision of answers to exercises etc., would enable the learner to self-check work and even complete progress tests at specific points on the course. Naturally it would be of vital importance that the learner always had the option to seek help/advice from the teachers. You already have some of this infrastructure in place in your provision of exercises etc.

One advantage of this approach is that learners can work at their own pace while monitoring and recording their progress in the course. The school could also monitor this progress and if appropriate could advise on the direction of the individual’s future learning. This approach could be aligned to the existing accredited courses offered through the school.

Further, from the school’s point of view, this sort of provision would provide feedback on the site’s effectiveness in promoting learning. I think that individual learners would welcome this kind of flexibility and potential for progression while being able to access high quality support from the school.

With regard to developing cooperative work, what about identifying a specific focus for a set period of time – say a week? This “topic” approach has the potential to integrate a variety of approaches. There could be “core level” work accessible to all club members complemented by “extension activities” for those who wish to work at more complex and sophisticated levels. The focus could be on particular aspects of Italian life, society and culture: something making the news in Italy, current issues in Italy (serious and not so serious), stories from Bologna, some specific grammatical or usage points, information in a variety of texts including extracts from newspapers, magazines, literature etc. There is potential to use video material to introduce the topic and to act as a resource/stimulus for specific aspects of the topic (say a teaching session on a grammatical point, a filmed discussion/conversation, filmed or audio interviews etc.). There could be a variety of tasks including reading, listening (including songs, music and other audio material), viewing and writing. Where appropriate, links to specific online sites could be used to stimulate and/or inform activities and discussions. A discussion forum could be an integral component of this approach – during and at the end of the topic – as a learning forum where the users could share ideas and, through their interaction, help each other to learn and reflect on their learning.

I realize that a lot of the above is aspirational and not the sort of thing that can be implemented in a short period of time! However, online learning is a fast developing field and it is great that you are seeking to extend Madrelingua’s provision in this area. These ideas are offered in support of your initiative.

Tanti auguri

SI
Carlo Romani says

September 26, 2011 at 12:28 am

Fourms are good they help stimulate thinking, so these are a must.
I think what would help me are short stories, jokes or easy readings. Beginners would have one to two paragraphs. Intermediate half to three quarter pages and then for the advanced, there could be suggested readings.
Another help would be able to hear spoken words. I can make out words but I also need to hear them.

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