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Mar 26,2006 - Apr 2,2006 |
5 -The birth of Italian language in Britain
A unique high school in Newcastle continues tradition initiated in 19th century
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2002-08-18
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Teacher Carol Shepherd
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CUMBRIA — Things went like this: one day Gosforth High School, in Newcastle, decided to introduce a linguistic curriculum and thus become a Language College. It obtained grants from the government and from private citizens, and offered classes in Spanish, German and French. It also decided to add a second language to its satellite middle schools, and in order to choose which one, students and teachers were polled. Almost unanimously they chose Italian.
“Then we had a problem,” says Carol Shepherd, language teacher and co-ordinator of the initiative. “The lesson schedule was completely filled by regular lessons; how and where could Italian be inserted? Then we thought about breakfast. In summary, interested kids would come one hour early and would have breakfast all together; the lesson would start during the meal and be completed in class. The idea caught on, not just among the students who enthusiastically accepted to arrive at 8 instead of 9 o’clock, but also among our sponsors who decided to pay for the breakfast in addition to the teachers. Since then our lessons are called ‘breakfast-Italian’.”
The experiment was to last for one year, but after three it’s still going on with increasing success. “It’s unique in Britain,” says a proud Shepherd, and then she asks whether I would like to tour the school and speak with the kids. Initially, they are somewhat awed by the presence of a foreigner who speaks the language they have just begun to study. That foreigner sits down among their desks, and addresses them in Italian by speaking slowly and simply; and when he realizes that they do not understand, he translates into English. Breaking the ice is easy when one speaks of Italy with children who recently returned from trips to Venice and Florence. That’s where they met with their peers of the Scuola Media “Guido Cavalcanti” in Sesto Fiorentino; now they are exchanging letters, postcards and promises of future meetings.
“About 250 children enrolled,” says Shepherd. “Very few of them are of Italian origin. This means that this is not an initiative aimed towards immigrant families, but to everybody. It really was a great success.”
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