Ciao Italia

Online Resources
for
Teaching Italian

Colosseum
Home Page
Curriculum
Communication Strand:
Communication tasks in varied social contexts
Language Strand:
Practise structures, intonation and grammar of Italian
Culture Strand:
A look at Italian cities, festivals, music, sport and food
Cultural Awareness
 
Site Description
 
Features

Live broadcasts from RAI

Tune in to one of seven stations by clicking on one of the coloured tabs under the header 'Ascolta Radiorai'

  • Genuine source of material
  • Live radio broadcasting a wide variety of material
  • Seven radio stations and an international service
  • Some nice material: I stayed listening for an hour while researching other sites

 

  • Don't try this at home...without broadband
  • Children in Fifth or Sixth Class won't have much of a clue what presenters are talking about
  • Forward planning would be recommended to find suitable programme material

La Repubblica newspaper

Will it rain in Sicily today?

 

  • Genuine source material
  • Find out what's topical in Italy, or read their take on international news
  • Useful source of pictures
 

 

  • Text difficult for children to understand

Italy Inside Out

This website accompanies the TV series Italy Inside Out. Both the website and TV series focus on five key locations and the places around them

  • Features Rome, Venice, Milan, Lecce and Sicily
  • Provides links to BBC and genuine Italian sites which feature eclectic items like Carnevale in Venezia or recipes from Puglia
  • Many of the sites are in English
  • Very suitable for project work: lots of pictures and scope for divergent research
 
  • Some of the links don't work
  • Linked websites feature content which are more suited to adults (Net Nanny won't be needed) eg Federico Fellini's fanclub

Panoramic Views of Venice

Informative Venetian hotel website

  • 8 beautiful iPIX views of Venice
  • Text in English describing the locations featured
  • Links to other Venetian websites
 
  • No Italian vocabulary on the website
  • Link provided to online Space Invaders game: keep an eye on those kids supposed to be researching Venice!

BBC History Programmes

Interactive history based on
Pompeii: the Last Day and
Rome's Arena of Death

  • Vividly presented child-friendly topics such as gladiators, slavery, Vesuvius...
  • Interactive activities eg choosing suitable weapons for a gladiator: will he survive with the arms you select?
  • Detailed articles in English
  • Game Death in Rome: play the part of a Roman sleuth
 
  • Download times: is your ISP provider from Pompeii?
  • Articles can be too detailed for younger children

Virtual Tour of Ancient Rome

Project material on Rome and other sites in Italy

  • Lovely pictures and information in English on historical sites and monuments
  • 17 different panoramas to choose from
  • Links to similar sites exploring Florence, Pisa, Naples and Venice in the same way
  • Other links to sites of varying degrees of usefulness
 
  • You'll need Quicktime
  • Download times can be long
  • Make sure children don't have access to your credit card details: there are links for booking accommodation in Italy

Italian Steps: an insight into contemporary Italian culture

  • All sorts of facts and information from driving habits to food festivals
  • Written in English, but includes relevant Italian terms such as ristorante, autostrada etc
  • Linked to Steps, which are slideshow Italian lessons based on Italian life, such as breakfast at a roadside café. These slideshows feature native speakers, and provide the script in English and Italian
 
  • The fact files are wordy and text-driven, and resemble a guide book (but without the pictures)
Homefinder website
  • Lots of images of Italy
  • Thumbnails lead to large-size images
  • Watch the credit card: the properties here are for sale
Juventus Football Club
 
  • Up-to-date soccer info and pictures in English
Caravaggio
 
  • Detailed article in English on the artist with links to all of his most famous works
Rai Sport
  • All the latest Italian and international sports news
L'Italia e le sue Città
  • Links to websites featuring images, regions, cities and maps of Italy
Music
  • Want to download an audio clip of Vasco Rossi? (ugh): Sample some Italian artistes and check out the top 20
TV Guide
  • Tick a box and find out what the Italians are watching on any of their terrestrial channels
Ferrari
 
  • Sexy cars and information in English or Italian (or German, if you're so inclined)
 
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