Julia Gillard on languages in Australian schools

An interesting article appeard in The Age newspaper on March 24, 2008, in which Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, discusses her plan to revive languages in Australian schools. The article, titled “Language skills push for schools”, can be found here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/language-skills-push/2008/03/23/1206206926099.html.

Scholarships for study or research in Italy (2008/2009)

The 2008 call for applications for scholarships offered by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 2008/2009 academic year has been published.
The scholarships can be used for one academic year (i.e. 6, 9 or 12 months) or to attend short-term programs (1, 2 or 3 months).
These scholarships can be used for study or research purposes at Italian educational institutions, including:
• Universities
• Academies of Fine Arts and Conservatories of Music
• Restoration Schools
• National Cinema School
• Research Centres or Laboratories
• Libraries, Archives, Museums and other public institutions.

Information in English about scholarships for Australian citizens can be found at this address: http://www.scientificambitalia.org.au/Australiancitizens.htm. For Italian citizens living in Australia, the relevant information in English is at http://www.scientificambitalia.org.au/Italiancitizens.html. For those who would like to access information in Italian published by the Ministero degli Affari Esteri, the relevant page is at http://www.esteri.it/MAE/IT/Ministero/Servizi/Stranieri/Opportunita.

Easy readings in Italian

If you would like to refine or maintain your reading skills in Italian but are frustrated by the difficulty of some of the texts that are available online, you might want to try one of the following websites:

• “Dueparole.it. Mensile di facile lettura”. There are 20 issues available for viewing and/or downloading. It appears that no issue has been published since 2006, and there are no reading comprehension activities – just short articles reporting on news items in a very simple language. http://www.dueparole.it
• “Altafrequenza”. Similar to “Dueparole”, in that this site also offers short articles on current affairs, in plain language. Last issue available also dating back to 2006. http://www.alta-frequenza.it/
• “Comprensione di testi” blog: offers reading comprehension exercises at various levels of difficulty. Most texts are taken from articles published in Italian newspapers, to which vocabulary lists have been added, although there are some easier texts that have been written for the site. The URL is http//comprensioneditesti.blogspot.com

Some website offering activities for learners of Italian as a second language have several reading comprehension activities. You might want to try:

• Materiali didattici, by Roberto Tartaglione: http://www.scudit.net/mdindice.htm”
• Lalita (click on the eye glasses for visitor access) : http://www.ciid.it/servlet/LoadLogin?lingua=it

There are also specialised magazines for students of Italian (requiring paid subscription but providing a free issue as a sample), offering reading comprehension activities as well as audio versions of the articles recorded by native speakers:

• Il Girasole, http://www.saenaiulia.it/_multimedia/girasole/index_it.php
• ItaliaItaliano, http://www.italiaitaliano.co.uk/

 

Books, stamps, stickers and more

If you have been looking for gadgets for language students (or even for yourself!) and have found it difficult to source them, you might want to take a look at The language centre’s catalogue. The language centre is based in Perth, and stocks not only language coursebooks and references for teachers (e.g. books full of suggestions for language activities), but also calendars, pencils, eraser, stickers, stamps and other gadgets in your language of choice.

Language and cultural exchange

LACE (Language and Cultural Exchange) is a program linking students of languages other than English with elderly members of the community who have that language as motehr tongue. This is so that students may practice conversational skills and learn about the culture of the language they are studying directly from a person of that specific ethnicity.

This opportunity is also available to former students.

If you are interested in being involved on this innovative program, please contact:

Christine Gamble

LACE Coordinator-Ethnic Link Services

Uniting Care Wesley POrt Adelaide Inc

Postal address: PO Box 3032 Port Adelaide SA 5015

Telephone: 08 8440 4212

Email: cgamble@ucwpa.org.au

Improve your Italian listening skills online

Many websites now offer materials for learners of Italian which include listening comprehension activities. Some of the best ones we have found are:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian
• http://www.italica.rai.it/lingua/corso.htm
• http://www.learnitalianpod.com

Other resources involving listening, but not necessarily graded, or exercises are:

Il narratore.it: classic and contemporary literary works, read by professional actors, at http://www.ilnarratore.it (then click on “archivio audio gratuito” if you do not wish to subscribe)

RAI’s TV site, which allows viewers to choose from videos of the latest programs, at http://www.rai.tv/dl/raitv/home.html

RAI International’s “Qui si parla italiano!” program (all episodes can be viewed online): http://www.international.rai.it/quisiparlaitaliano/

Learn languages online with the BBC

The BBC maintains an excellent website for language learners, with many resources, including on-line courses with audio and comprehension exercises. The starting point is at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

French on-line resources

Here are a few French sites of interest for learning and practising the language:

• The French journal from TV5 with transcription (broadcast every day on SBS) http://jt.france2.fr/20h/
• Learn French from music clips and video interviews and exercises http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/musique/francophone.php
• How do French speaking people interact? Short videos on every day life and intercultural communication http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/webtv/video-3191-Ou_Quand_Comment.htm
• French Blogs http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/blogosphere/fiche_blog.php?id_blog=74
• TV5 Welcome page to get in touch with French news all over the world http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/programmes/accueil_continent.php
• French pronunciation and exercises on nasal vowels http://www.hku.hk/french/starters/fonetik/fiche05web.htm

Lonely Planet’s “Juego del los idiomas”

Lonely Planet offer a game to test your language competence in several languages – the site is in Spanish, which adds to the learning experience . The URL is: http://www.lonelyplanet.es/guiasparaconversar/juego.htm

Audio Books in Spanish

LeerEscuchando.com offer free audio books in Spanish - a great resource for learners of Spanish!  The URL is: http://www.leerescuchando.com/home.html