Italian language course: Exploring and learning the language of love and romance

Exploring and learning the language of love and romance
Teaching and learning of Italian revived at Laurier Senior High School

Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of articles on education published by the Courrier Laval Weekly News in the interest of providing useful information to Laval families with school-age children.

While Italian has long been acknowledged as an important language for college and university students in the study of literature, music, theatre, history and much more, it has also in our times become increasingly useful in planning careers in professions related to Italy's influential role in today's global community.

Italy can justifiably boast of possessing one of the world's top economies and is a leading member of the G8 group of the wealthiest democracies on the planet. Not surprising that American, Canadian and other world-wide multi-national companies have offices in Italy.

All this to illustrate that multilingual candidates are in increasingly higher demand by employers world-wide.

Closer to home

Laval's Laurier Senior High School, of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, is extending a unique educational opportunity to its students to study the Italian language course.

Although the school did offer Italian in the 1970s when it was known as Laval Catholic High School, it has been more than 25 years since the opportunity to learn a language other than French or English was last offered to the student clientele.

In this latest revival of the teaching and learning of Italian, classes will focus on a comprehensive approach that will enable students to read, write, and speak the language while simultaneously gaining knowledge of Italian culture and history.

Classes will be conducted in Italian, with a minimum amount of English to be used at the very beginning for needed support. Students will be encouraged, motivated and trained to conceptualize in Italian rather than fall into the stifling trap of translating or substituting words.

A comprehensive application of grammatical and syntactical functions will be employed by the students in both their written and conversational exploration of the language.

Stepping up

The students of the Laurier Senior High School Italian course will be guided step-by-step from basic to advanced usage, in the process savouring 'slices' of Italy through a taste of cultural aspects, language and contemporary daily life.
Of course, the pleasure of the Italian language will be stressed, whereby the learning of it will be achieved in a most enjoyable and congenial atmosphere.

Italy is a painting of love, and I'm certain that the young people who'll take the course will love this new adventure into Dante's language of romance.

Tantissimi auguri a Laurier Senior High School e a Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board per questo bel gesto. A presto! Ciao a tutti!