Overview

The following is intended as a guide for teachers and students of Italian in Alberta's K-12 curriculum who are looking for resources to supplement their teaching and learning of the language. The resources listed below are not intended to be a comprehensive list of resources that may be available: rather, they are designed to illustrate the various types of materials that are available online as well as in the Herbert T. Coutts Education/Physical Education Library.

Please see the Suggested Search Strategies and Terms for more information on finding other materials. For other relevant resources, refer to the guide International Languages Program--General Resources.

Evaluation and Selection Process

The resources in this guide were selected on the basis of their credibility and value in meeting K-12 curriculum goals in the teaching and learning of the Italian language, specifically the extent to which they can contribute to students' listening, reading, writing, and speaking ability in Italian. The Alberta curriculum also emphasizes the importance of developing students' cultural sensitivity towards different cultural traditions, lifestyles, and values, so resources related to these aspects have also been compiled in this guide. When the authority of the resource cannot be definitively verified, this has been noted in the annotation that accompanies each resource. Types of resources range from print to electronic materials, with varying levels of interactivity.

The following guides were used to assist with the evaluation of these resources:

• Curriculum Materials: Evaluation: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/subject/curriculum/evaluation/index.cfm
• Critical Evaluation of Resources on the Internet: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/criticalevaluation/index.cfm

While attempts have been made to include links to web resources that have been kept up-to-date, please note that not all of the links on those web resources' sites may work. Teachers are advised to familiarize themselves with the materials suggested in this guide in order to determine their suitability for their aboriginal and international language students.

Terms of Use

Any resources listed in this language guide should be used for personal, educational, and non-commercial purposes only. When these resources are used in the classroom, teachers are advised to acknowledge their use by providing an appropriate citation, where necessary.  Teachers can consult the general guidelines provided in the appropriate style guide to determine how to cite a specific type of print or electronic resource.

Technical Requirements

To play the video and audio files on these websites, certain software requirements must be met. These may include Flash, Shockwave, RealAudio, and/or Windows Media Player, but all of these are freely available for downloading from their official sites. In some instances, the site will prompt the user to install the appropriate application or plug in. For other languages such as Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese, the characters may not display properly unless the computer is set up to support these texts' scripts. As well, text input/output capabilities are required for interactive exercises that ask for these kinds of characters to be entered.

Contents

• Alberta Education Documents
• Resources from our Library
1. Textbooks
2. Reference Tools
3. Fiction and Folklore
4. Italian History, Culture, and Society
5. Multimedia
• Suggested Search Strategies and Terms
• Search Parameters
• Keywords
• Subject Headings
• Web Resources
1. Teaching and Learning Materials
1. Instructional Materials
2. Student-Centered Materials
2. Italian History, Culture, and Society
3. Online Reading Materials
1. Fiction, Fairy Tales, and Fables
2. News and Magazines
4. Reference Tools
5. Multimedia
1. Online Radio, Television, and Video
2. Podcasts
6. Games
7. Sites Specifically for Children, Youth, and Teens
8. Italian Associations and Organizations
9. Portals

Italian: Programs of Study
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/languages/default.asp
Available online from Alberta Education (http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/).

1. Textbooks

Branciforte, S., & Grassi, A. (2002). Parliamo Italiano! (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - PC 1112 B73 2002
Approved by Alberta Education for use in Alberta schools, this set of resources presents Italian within real-life and cultural contexts in order to facilitate students' learning of the language. The textbook itself is thematically organized with key objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter. As suggested in the review on Alberta Education's website, teachers are "advised to provide students with additional materials showing a more balanced representation of society--materials that show people with disabilities as actively involved in the community and that show positive interactions among various racial and ethnic groups." This set of resources comes with the following: student text, instructor's annotated edition, instructor's resource manual, workbook, sound cassettes, CD-ROM with user's guide.

Lazzarino, G., Peccianti, M. C., Aski, J. M., & Dini A. (2004). Prego!: An invitation to Italian. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - PC 1128 L43 2004
Approved by Alberta Education for use in Alberta schools, this textbook "integrates history, literature and art in order to make language learning more fun and to facilitate learning about Italian culture" (qtd. from Alberta Education's website). Accompanied by a student workbook and a lab manual, this textbook comes in a student's and an instructor's edition of the textbook.

Merlonghi, F. C., Merlonghi, F., Tursi, J. A., & O'Connor, B. R. (2002). Oggi in Italia: a first course in Italian. (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - PC 1112 M56 2002
Approved by Alberta Education for use in Alberta schools, this set of resources consists the following: student's text, instructor's annotated edition, instructor's resource manual, workbook, lab manual, video manual, three cassettes, and a CD-ROM with a user's guide.

Clari, M., & Love, C. E. (Eds.) (1995). Collins mondadori nuovo dizionario Inglese : Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. (Rev. ed.). Glasgow, UK: HarperCollins.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum Reference - PC 1640 C65 1995 1 (No loan)
Includes useful examples to illustrate how the words are used.

Hippocrene children's illustrated Italian dictionary: English-Italian, Italian-English. (1999). New York: Hippocrene Books.
UA Coutts Curriculum Reference - PC 1640 H57 1999 (No loan)
Includes coloured illustrations.

De Paola, T. (1975). Strega nona: An old tale. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - PZ 8.1 D43 S915 1975
A Caldecott Medal Honor Book in 1976, this story is about a man named Big Anthony who decides to show the townspeople how Strega Nona's magic pasta pot works.

Vittorini, D. (1995). The thread of life: Twelve old Italian tales. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Kids.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - PZ 8.1 V5 Th 2003
Illustrated by Mary GrandPré, this collection contains twelve classic Italian fairy tales.

Blashfield, J. F. (1999). Italy. New York: Children's Press.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - DG 417 B58 1999
Part of the Enchantment of the world series, this book describes the history, geography, plants and animals, economy, language, people and culture of Italy.

Powell, J. (2003). Italy. Columbus, OH: Waterbird Books.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - DG 417 P68 2003
Ideal for younger children, this colorfully illustrated book introduces them to Italy's geography, lifestyle, culture, and so on.  It is part of the What's it like to live in--? series.

Waldman, N. J. (2004). The Italian Renaissance. San Diego, CA: Kidhaven Press.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum - DG 445 W28 2004
With coloured illustrations and maps, this book (part of the Daily Life series) provides an overview of the Italian Renaissance that covers topics such as people's daily lives and the cultural context in which they lived. Important personages of the era are highlighted.

Parliamo italiano!: an introductory Italian multimedia CD-ROM. (1998). Hollis, NH: Houghton Mifflin.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum Media - PC 1121 P37 1998
Approved by Alberta Education for use in Alberta schools, this resource is a "self-study learning tool designed to develop listening comprehension of the Italian language and awareness of Italian culture within the context of interactive computer activities" (qtd. from the U of A library catalogue). Contains a CD-ROM and a user's guide.

VocabuLearn beginners Italian = VocabuLearn principianti Inglese. (1993). Carlsbad, CA: Penton Overseas.
UA Coutts Basement Curriculum Media - PC 1112.7 V63 1993
Contains one sound cassette and one booklet.

• Library: To get results from the Education library only, set this to "University of Alberta HT Coutts Education." Otherwise, leave the setting at the default "ALL" or set it to a different library location.
• Language: Italian (this will retrieve resources that are written in Italian)

• Italian Canadians
• Italian culture
• Italy folklore
• Italian language
• Italy history

• Italian language--Study and teaching--Audio-visual aids.
• Italian language--Textbooks for foreign speakers--English.
• Italian language--Grammar--Study and teaching.
• Italy--Juvenile literature.
• Italian language--Dictionaries--English.

Resources for Modern Languages - Italian
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://www.caslt.org/teachers/teachersmodern.htm#italian
Part of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) website, this website includes Flash activities as well as other links to resources for teaching Italian. These resources are in the following categories: reading; grammar; Italian through music; vocabulary proverbs; idiomatic expressions, and sayings; listening; and technology and second language learning

Italian: 100 Web Exercises
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://web.uvic.ca/hispanital/italian/italian100/index.htm
Useful for teachers and students of Italian, this site includes exercises and quizzes on vocabulary, numbers, verbs and other parts of speech. Tests from the text Prego! are also on this site.

BBC - Languages - Learn Italian
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/index.shtml
This site provides numerous resources for learning Italian, with clearly defined modules and topics. Audio and video files, interactive activities, and reference tools such as grammar tips and pronunciation guides will help to develop people's comfort and proficiency with the basics of the language. Illustrations from practical, everyday contexts as well as the Italian context are provided. People can test their comprehension skills with the website's quizzes.

Language Guide: Italian Pictoral Vocabulary Guide
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://www.languageguide.org/italiano/
Contains Italian vocabulary in several subject categories with audio clips. To hear the pronunciation of the Italian word, students can move their mouse cursor over each corresponding picture.