Catholic Education, in collaboration with the Dante Alighieri Society of Canberra, have launched the Italian Assistants Program for Canberra Catholic schools.

The program provides schools with access to high quality Italian teaching resources and professional development opportunities. It also sees the placement of Italian Language Assistants in classrooms to work alongside existing Italian teachers.

The Italian Assistants are mother tongue Italian speakers and have been assisting our teachers in the delivery of Italian lessons, developing teaching materials and helping students with learning tasks.

This term, the Italian Assistants have been working alongside teachers at St Clare’s College, Griffith; Merici College, Braddon; St Mary MacKillop College, Tuggeranong and; St Benedict’s Primary School, Narrabundah.

Italian Language students at St Clare’s College welcomed Abreham Mauri from the Dante Alighieri Society. Abreham spent time with Italian classes from Year 7 through to Year 12 giving them the opportunity to practice their speaking skills.

In Years 7 to 10 classes, Abreham assisted students with their Italian pronunciation, language games and activities to consolidate various grammar points and vocabulary as well as conversation practice. Senior students held a question and answer session with Abreham, asking him about his life and experiences in both Italy and Australia.

Lisa Bourne, Leader of Learning Languages at St Clare’s thanked Abreham for his time and assistance. “Abreham has been a great help to the Italian teachers, creating resources, games, activities, conducting research and generating learning materials,” she said.