linguistics – Project-Based Italian

Translanguaging in the Italian Classroom: A Practical Introduction for Italian Language Teachers in the United States

Student hands with red painted finger nails holding a pencil in right hand, ready to write in an notebook that has bubbles in which "hello" is written in various different languages

What Is Translanguaging? If you teach Italian in the United States, you already know your students bring a rich mix of languages into your classroom. Many speak English at home, others speak Spanish, Mandarin, or even Italian dialects passed down from grandparents. For a long time, conventional language teaching wisdom said: keep the target languageContinue reading “Translanguaging in the Italian Classroom: A Practical Introduction for Italian Language Teachers in the United States”

Understanding Onomatopoeia: Sounds That Speak

Upper left hand corner: black silhouette or icon of a person with hurt knee saying Ahia in a speech balloon; lower left a ringing yellow bell with the caption Din don; lower right center, comic explosion graphics saying Bang, pum, boom; lower right corner: wow; center right a locomotive in black and white with white smoke from its smoke stack and grey smoke near the wheels stating ciuf ciuf; upper right corner: a yellow face emoji with full cheeks and holding a bitten apple, with the graphic caption gnam gnam; upper right center: comic explosion graphics, one on top is yellow and red with the word Vlan! and the lower one is a red explosion graphic with the comic bubble word Slap! in light blue.

What is onomatopoeia? Crack! Brrr! Mmmm! These sounds, representing actions, are onomatopoeic. In one blog I found this statement about onomatopoeic words: “…there is another way to make us understood without using meaningful words: onomatopoeias…” but I would argue that onomatopoeic words are very much meaningful as they are a helpful way of showing, notContinue reading “Understanding Onomatopoeia: Sounds That Speak”