1. 1 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES Italian relevant Law: Presidential Decree of 31st August 1999 No.394: Teachers’ Council defines, in reference to fluency level of each foreign pupil, the necessary adaptation of study programmes….

2. 2 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES Learning times Strategies Tools Suggestions

3. 3 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES Starting from respect for the phase of silence, keeping in mind that experts indicate 5 years as necessary for learning a language Enhancing the scope of interaction, which, of course, is different from learning

4. Useful suggestions can be found in the work of Gabriele Pallotti about stages of learning, not only on how to work, but also on how to face mistakes that seem to nullify what was taught. Gabriele Pallotti – A.I.P.I., Associazione Interculturale Polo Interetnico TITLE: Imparare e insegnare l’italiano come lingua straniera Editore Bonacci pagine 90 + video 4 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES

5. 5 Example of learning stages for Italian as a foreign language (G.Pallotti)‏ Tense: basic verb>past present perfect>past>future Agreement: articles>attributive adjective>predicative adjective>past participle Negative: no>non>nothing/nobody>neither> at all

6. 6 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES Effect of the theories on learning Italian as a foreign language on evaluation 2 objectives of evaluation : communication skills fluency (syntax) Traditional evaluation is based on number of mistakes, while we should learn to evaluate progress, that is capacity to access and expose meaning

7. 7 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES Types of mistakes: Phonological: muntain Lexical: taked Grammar: yesterday I sleep To plan, it is necessary to understand what type of mistakes are made It is necessary to schedule what to correct and when. Use CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) to plan this process.

8. 8 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES why evaluate Initial evaluation to create a profile, diagnose student’s needs and plan customized paths Dynamic evaluation to monitor progress, mistake signal advancement (frequent, for example a path like: taken taked taken)‏

9. 9 TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES strategies and suggestions Always remember that for non-Italian speakers Italian is together object/tool for learning Facilitated approach to essential contents by associating whenever possible text and images Establish customized paths Offer simple and clear concepts Use few synonyms Often repeat given information

10. TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES strategies and suggestions In mixed ability classes ( MAC) traditional teaching methods cannot be effective, because the mere verbal and one-way approach limits comprehension possibilities, while cooperative learning and peer tutoring seem very effective. 10

11. TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES In the opinion of Ekwall and Shaker (in Ginnis 2002: 24) people remember: 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they hear and see, 70% of what they say, 90% of what they say and do. 11

12. TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES strategies and suggestions Cooperative learning and tutoring facilitate learning from the linguistic point of view from the relational point of view from the affective point of view The teacher becomes a learning facilitator who raises the interest of pupils. 12

13. TEACHING IN MULTI- CULTURE CLASSES strategies Choice of task/s then becomes very important, looking for attractive ways, indicating an interesting goal and constantly assisting the various groups, which must be made of 3-4 pupils chosen according to the presence of a driving element, two average members and one in difficulty. important 13

14. TEACHING IN MULTI-CULTURE CLASSES In the perspective of highly mixed ability multi-culture classes, the most relevant advantages of this kind of work are: study advantage, especially for non-Italian or weak Italian speakers; improvement of the class climate and of ethnic relations; improvement of social, cognitive and affective development of all students; improvement of self-esteem and self-control capabilities; improvement of motivation levels and of the pleasure of being in the class; prolongation of the task concentration time; improvement of self-esteem 14