Welcome back to a new school year! I hope it started well for all of you! Mine was fantastic, with students back for two days before the Labor Day weekend. Along with all of the beginning of year tasks that we have as teachers, one of the most important ones that I complete right away is to plan for my absence. We cannot always know when we will be absent, or whether we will be sick when we call out (or how sick we will feel) and so we need to have a few ideas ready to go. If your school district is like my school district, you don’t always know who is going to sub, or even if there is going to be an actual sub available; in my school, my students often wind up in the cafeteria with one sub to about three or four whole classes. And students don’t always have access to their computers or even to wifi. It’s important, therefore, that your sub plans be easy for students to manage independently. In this post, I’d like to share a few ideas that are good for reinforcing and extending learning, and absolutely not just throw-away “busy work” plans.
1. Numbers practice
Ask your novice low to novice high, intermediate, or advanced students to either list what they see in the classroom or out the window or in their bedroom (for novice level students) or to write ten sentences using one number (written as a word) in each sentence. You can also ask students to use one or more specific verbs if you have just taught a grammar point. Make sure to provide paper if your students do not have a dedicated Italian notebook or carry their own looseleaf paper.
Some anticipated student answers could be:
Novice: albero, finestra, parcheggio, macchina …
Intermediate: Io vedo un albero. (I see a tree.) C’è una finestra. (There is one window.) Ci sono tre macchine rosse. (There are three red cars.)
Advanced: L’aula contiene ventisette banchi. (The classroom includes/contains/has twenty-seven student desks.)
2. C’è/ci sono
Directions to students: Use this construction to write 10 complete sentences about what you see out the window, in your classroom, or what there is in your school or home. Begin with the number zero (or one).
Two examples of what students might write (if they are looking inside a room that has no windows):
Ci sono zero finestre. (There are zero windows.)
C’è una porta.* (There is one door.)
*Obviously if you haven’t yet taught how the indefinite article changes based on the gender of the item being listed, you should expect, and accept, the grammatically incorrect: C’è uno porta.
3. What do you do on weekends? What did you do this weekend?
Ask your students to check off what they do on the weekend/did this past weekend (for novice level students) and/or write a sentence using each of the activities (especially if you have taught the Mi piace…/Non mi piace… construction) or to write ten sentences using this list and conjugating the verbs in the present or passato prossimo tense, depending on your students’ level.
List of possible activities (with verbs in the infinitive – remember to conjugate the verbs in the passato prossimo!)
fare i compiti leggere un romanzo (a novel)
avere problemi comprare quaderni
preparare il pranzo guardare la tivù
mangiare mele giocare con gli amici
dormire otto ore
Some anticipated answers:
Novice: Mi piace mangiare mele. Non mi piace fare i compiti.
Intermediate: Non ho fatto i compiti questo fine settimana. Ho fatto zero compiti il fine settimana (passato). Ho comprato cinque quaderni per la scuola.
Advanced: Non dormo mai otto ore perché ho sempre troppo da fare ma, sabato, ho potuto dormire dieci ore! Finalmente!
4. Chi è? Describe someone in your class
Directions to students: without naming the person, write at least 10 complete sentences describing someone in our class, both physically and in terms of personality (carattere). End your paragraph with “Chi è?” and ask your classmates to guess who you wrote about. Remember: a complete sentence includes one conjugated verb per idea!
Some anticipated student answers might be:
Novice: Ha i capelli lunghi. È atletico/atletica.
Intermediate: Ha i capelli lunghi e ricci. È atletico/atletica ma non fa sport di squadra.
Advanced: Sa fare bella figura. Ha i capelli lunghi, ricci, e ben mantenuti. È atletico/atletica ma non fa sport di squadra; invece, preferisce gli sport solitari, individuali.
5. I cinque sensi (The Five Senses)
Directions to students: write as many complete sentences as you can about what you can observe with each of the 5 senses individually. Sentence starters include:
(Io) vedo …
(Io) sento …/ (Io) ascolto …
(Io) sento puzza di … / (Io) sento odore di … / (Io) sento aroma di …
(Io) tocco e sento qualcosa di (aggettivo)…
(Io) assaggio e sento sapore a/gusto di …
*Note that sentire can mean: to hear, to feel, to smell, to perceive or to taste, depending on the context.
**Note to teachers: I have had students that could be trusted to complete this assignment in a school appropriate and relatively fun but mature manner, but I have also had students that I could not trust to do this assignment in a way that would not make me blush! You can always tailor this assignment to your class and your students!
Some anticipated student answers could be:
Novice: Io vedo una lavagna.
Intermediate: Io sento uno studente parlare.
Advanced: Io sento qualcuno strillare in corridoio.
I hope these ideas are helpful to you in your planning – and, honestly, I hope that you are not sick all year! Please let me know in the comments if you these resonate with you, or if they are too trite or too common (you may already have these in your own teacher’s toolkit), and how they work out if you try any of them. Also, please share your own go-to, favorite substitute lesson tasks or activities! Have a fantastic first almost-full week of back to school!
Project-Based Italian 