Grazia

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms Grazia Scotellaro in March 2008. She was working on her project “Viaggiando in Italia”, and I helped her with the recording of some material. Later on, in July 2008, I attended some of her classes on Computer Technology applied to Teaching, and I was very impressed by the content of her lectures. In fact, I was studying e-learning at the time, and her work represented that implementation of e-learning theory that I was looking for. We decided to work on her project “Viaggiando in Italia” in semester 2 2008, using it in my classes of Italian. At first I thought that the ideal group of students would be the one formed by those enrolled in their 4th semester of Italian language study, that is Ital2006. They reacted positively, but it needs to be said that the content and the activities proposed had particularly positive outcomes for the students of the 2nd semester of Introductory Italian. We started working with them in semester 2 2009. They were exposed to real- life material, real-life recordings, and real-life situation, were they had to interact through oral or writing activities. They were involved in individual activities and group activities. They had to produce recordings and podcasts that were then shared with other students and teachers on web-ct. They had to start a blog on their own journey through Italy,so they had the opportunity to imagine their own travelling experience, write about it, share it with their peers in a “thinkpad”, and comment on it with them in a chat. All this was presented in a very flexible way, which means that ideally they should come to classes and start the proposed activity there, but they could keep working on it on their own. They could also pick the activity up from the start from elsewhere, following the instructions given by the lecturer on webct. The possibility of using social networks that the students are particularly familiar with on a daily basis made them feel in contact with a reality that was less virtual and stiff than any other form of simulated communication inside the classroom. Even those who were the least familiar with computer technology, or who were inhibited in talking and experimenting with the practice of oral or written language, were curious, at first,engaged then, and very active, as a result. There are several ways the ideas of Ms Scotellaro might be put in practice. For example, in the Program of Italian, we have begun working at a project related to the teaching of the course of Italian for Opera Singers and Opera Lovers. I believe that Ms Scotellaro is a terrific asset for the entire School of Languages, and this is the reason why I fully support her being nominated a Visiting Fellow for year 2010. Canberra, 2.12.2009 Grazia Micciche’ Lettore, ANU, SLS, Italian Program