Innovative approaches to teaching Italian.The Potential of Web 2.0 for the creative and efficient teaching of Italian Language in a university context

Web 2.0 and the Italian language: how to develop creative teaching routes through the Internet and the digital world. The presentation will offer a series of ideas on how to benefit from new technologies in Italian language learning (such as social networks, new tablet apps). A variety of activities and practical projects will be presented, some of them suitable for the class and for the language labs, some others more appropriate for specific independent study of the language in e-learning. In a university context, the language learning conveyed in a class usually develops itself in a few contact hours of formal teaching with the students. It is important to give our learners the opportunity to explore the language and also familiarize themselves with it through informal e-learning that takes advantage of a private and social internet space; the web changes perspectives and allows for the creation of a virtual environment, which is equally important and significant for language learning at home: the “community class” and distance learning. Attention will be drawn to the multimedia dimension in particular, and the effectiveness of some apps such as voice thread, tour builder, quizlet, to mention a few, as valuable tools for reinforcing learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom that strategically engage students with oriented tasks aimed at the pedagogical implication of “fare con la lingua.” These activities will also increase students’ metacognitive awareness, self-esteem and individual accountability and give them the possibility to activate different sensory channels simultaneously; last but not least the use of technologies will increase students’ imagination and creativity using a means of communication that perfectly works in harmony with their new dimension of being digital native: students can instantly capture and communicate with their world in Italian. In the new virtual class environment, students can create their own contents through mutual and collaborative tasks and they can interact with peers and their language teacher sharing their knowledge. In this way, Facebook and other social networks turn into collectors of videos, narrations, and commentated photos in the target language. During their acquisition process, students will be guided to observe and notice audio and video and comment on pictures and statements.
Finally, the presentation will define some possible activities to develop in e-learning, addressed to students of Italian involved in their study-abroad program in Italy: an engaging way to encourage students to interact online with other students and faculty members from the domestic university and to share their findings and impressions on Italian society, habits and way of life in the foreign country while they are living their experience abroad.