1

Italian Language and Culture for Spanish Speakers in Florida: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies Irene Zanini-CordiFabrizio FornaraUniversity of Miami – November 10, 2015

2

The FSU Experience with Italian for Spanish Speakers• Why Italian for Spanish speakers classes?• The FSU Italian Program• Florida’s demographics & FSU student body• Student Type• Course Logistics• Phase 1• Phase 2

3

Italian Studies at FSUThe numbers:• 500+: Class enrollment per semester• 30+: majors, double majors and co-Majors • (Minors cannot be tracked)• 8-10: Average number of graduate students per year• 50+: Number of MA degrees awarded since 2000• 5 ½: Full time faculty

4

• More than 1 out of 4 Floridians speak a language other than English in their homes.

• Fast-growing Spanish speaking population: 3.6 million / 17.9 million are 5+ years old.

• Almost ½ million Floridians speak French creole (Haiti, former colonies).

• Other largely spoken languages are:• Portuguese (from Brasil)• German • Vietnamese

Census Bureau Figures (August 2013)

• Florida’s population is 23.2% Hispanic. The most important groups are:• Cuban-Americans (Miami Dade)• Puerto Ricans (Orange, Seminole)• Colombian, Venezuelan, and

Argentinians (Southeastern Florida)• Nicaraguans (Miami Dade)

• Large historical Latino Population in the Tampa area:• Spaniards, Cubans, and Italians.

• The Mexican-American presence is quite small.

5

FSU Student Body CompositionRace Female Male TotalAmerican Indian Native Alaskan 82 50 132

Asian 539 516 1,055

Black 2,176 1,248 3,424

Hawaiian Pacific Islander 10 5 15

Hispanic 3,124 2,502 5,626

Non resident Alien 788 909 1,697

Not reported 329 359 688

Two or more races 493 341 834

White 14,221 11,967 26,188

TOTAL 21,762 17,897 39,659

6

Dr. Frédérik Latty’s observationsLes élèves de langue latine apprenant le français présentent souvent des profils similaires :

1. une compréhension très dominante;2. une grande aisance et fluidité à l'oral;3. une correction d'expression assez moyenne, voire faible;4. une acuité auditive assez similaire aux élèves venant d'autres langues (anglo-

saxonnes notamment);5. une prononciation assez moyenne.

Tous ces éléments me semblent liés (et c'est la raison pour laquelle j'ai choisi de les classer dans cet ordre).

7

Italian for Spanish Speakers: Phase 1

Objective: • To be able to offer the 3 language levels of Italian for

Spanish Speakers every semester.

Class organization:• Same textbook as regular ITA1120;• Coverage of the same program;• Instructor is free to structure syllabus, customize content,

devise exams;• Reduced contact time, class worth 3 credit hours.

8

Fall 2012:• FOL 3930-01: 14 studentsSpring 2013: • FOL 3930-01: 10 students• FOL 3930-02: 10 students

Summer 2013 Advertising Campaign

Italian for Spanish Speakers: Enrollment

Fall 2013:• FOL 3930-01: 20 studentsSpring 2014: • FOL 3930-01: 18 studentsFall 2014:• FOL 3930-01: 21 students

9

Italian for Spanish Speakers: Advertising

1. Emailed class description and flyers to all undergraduate advisors on campus;

2. Emailed all students enrolled in ITA 1120 for the Fall inviting them to switch class if they were fluent in Spanish;

3. Emailed all Spanish majors, co-majors, and those taking the Spanish for heritage speakers classes;

4. Emailed all Hispanic student organizations on campus;5. Plastered catchy posters around campus (Students Union,

International Students’ Global Center, etc.);6. Emailed previous students asking to advertise with their

friends.

10

Italian for Spanish Speakers: Phase 2

Objective: • To attract Spanish-speaking students by “compressing” two

semesters in one.

Class organization:• Equivalent to the second semester of Italian (the same

grammatical objectives are kept);• Emphasis on intercomprehension;• Regular language class time: four 50-minute sessions per

week, 4 credit hours;• No textbook: Material customized by instructor;• Grammar reference book, Juntos (Donato et al., 2014).

11

Differentiated InstructionClassrooms with students who come from very different learning backgrounds, or those in which students have very different levels of proficiency.

(Oxford University Press ELT)

12

Multilevel Instructional Strategies

Instead of creating different lessons with different objectives for the different proficiency levels, teachers teach to the middle and then assign different, appropriately leveled tasks.

13

Multilevel Classroom Advantages:• Students learn at their own pace• Students learn to work in a group• Students become independent learners• Students develop strong relationships

with their peers• Students become partners in learning

(EnglishClub.com)

14

Multilevel Classroom (cont.) Challenges:• Finding appropriate teaching resources and

material• Organizing appropriate groupings within the class• Determining the individual needs of each student• Ensuring that all students are challenged and

interested• Enforcing L2 only policies when teacher is

occupied and students are working in small groups or pairs

(EnglishClub.com)

15

ApproachMixed intercomprehension and theme-based approach

The intercomprehension approach emphasizes the similarities among languages (Doyé, 2004) and accelerates acquisition by sensitizing learners to the linguistic bridges that link Italian with Spanish and English (Donato et al., 2014).

Active – or even passive – knowledge of Spanish (and English) helps students to easily understand and use Italian language features.

16

Approach (cont.)Mixed intercomprehension and theme-based approach

The theme-based approach helps students make sense of the content of the course by organizing it in thematic units.

Real life situations that are meaningful and interesting to students.

17

Structure of the Course• Four credit course, four weekly meetings• Face-to-face class with an online component• Six thematic units• Flipped classroom model

18

Structure of the Course: ModulesEvery unit has several modules:• Two or more lexical modules• Two or more grammar modules

Not rigid blocks: All the information is integrated in the learning material and class activities.

19

Structure of the Course: Modules (cont.)

In every unit:• Lexical macro-theme (leisure activities)• One or more micro-themes (sports, hobbies)• Core grammar module (present tense:

irregular verbs, simple future tense)• Other grammar modules (temporal

expressions, prepositions, adverbs)

20

Structure of the Course: Assessment

Course Components Grade Percentage

Thematic units (6) 60% (10% each)• Core Grammar Module 4%• Other Module 2%• Unit Final Activity 4%Written Production (3) 9%Oral Production (Parliamo + news + oral exam) 9%Participation (classroom + Facebook) 12%Final Project 10%

21

Structure of the Course: Online• BlackBoard site of the course:• Grammar and vocabulary tutorials: Video,

VoiceThread, PowerPoint, PDF• Activities: Links to open educational resources and

online learning tools (Quizlet, Duolingo for School) • Quizzes

• Facebook page:• Intercomprehension activities• Thematic activities

22

Structure of the Course: Classroom

Classroom activities:• Intercomprehension activities:

• Individual, small groups, whole class• Thematic and grammar activities:

• Individual, small groups, whole class• Like-ability, cross-ability groups

Typical class schedule: • Warm-up: Whole class• Intercomprehension activities: Variety of groupings• Leveled tasks: Variety of groupings• (Whole class)

23

24

Online

25

Blackboard: Grammar Tutorials

26

27

Blackboard: Vocabulary Tutorials

28

Blackboard: Activities

29

Blackboard: Activities (cont.)

30

Facebook Page

31

Facebook: Intercomprehension Activities

News: • Modeled on EuRom5 (Bonvino et al., 2011)• Authentic, current, short, related to ItalyLayout:• Instructions + title translated in Spanish• Questions (Italian)• Vocabulary box (Italian to Spanish)• Link the sourceMain sources:• ANSA• ItalyNews

32

33

Facebook: Intercomprehension Activities (cont.)

Videos and audios:• Same structure as the news: • Instructions + title translated in Spanish• Questions (Italian)• Link to the source

Language and Content:• Authentic linguistic inputs• Snapshots of Italian society and culture• Focus on “an Italian point of view” Sources:Short movies, cartoons, movie clips, ads, recipes, songs

34

35

Facebook: Thematic Activities

36

Classroom

37

Warm-Up: Oral Production Parliamo!:• Daily activity, whole class• Answer one or more questions• Theme-based questions• 15” per student• Students prepare their answers at

home• 4% of the final grade

Mercoledì 27 gennaioCosa indossi oggi? Di che colore sono?

Giovedì 28 gennaioCosa compri di solito al centro commerciale? Quanto costa?

38

Intercomprehension: NewsItalian news presentation in class:• Everyday, a student present an Italian news in class;• From Italian news agency websites (ANSA, ItalyNews).• Before class: • Post on Facebook with questions, vocabulary box, link.

• In class: • The presenter translates the title;• Students read the news and try to answer the questions;• The presenter helps his/her classmates’ comprehension.

2% of the final grade

39

40

Thematic and Grammar Activities

• Small group and whole class activities• Like-ability and cross-ability groups • Theme-based activities (when possible)• Suited for different grammar topics• First input, then student production• Different modalities and learning objectives

41

42

Thematic and Grammar Activities (cont.)

43

Thematic and Grammar Activities (cont.)

44

Thematic and Grammar Activities (cont.)

45

Thematic and Grammar Activities (cont.)

46

47

Questions?