Making it fun to teach/learn a language

Anthony Mollica, Professor Emeritus of Education at Brock University, Canada, recently gave a lecture entitled ‘Insegnare/imparare l’italiano? È un gioco ... di parole’, organised by the Department of Arts and Languages of the Faculty of Education in collaboration with Società Dante Alighieri.

Prof. Mollica firmly believes in the principle that language cannot be learned solely through formal practice, and his most recent book, Ludolinguistica e Glottodidattica is the first of its kind to introduce applied recreational linguistics as an approach to second-language learning.

One of the main aims of ‘ludolinguistica’ (language learning through games) is to encourage students to develop their vocabulary and to understand Italian culture better through humour and play. During the lecture he presented examples of problem-solving activities and word games to motivate learners with different levels of language competence.

Prof. Mollica said the key words in teaching are motivation and stimulation because, as George Bernard Shaw once said: “We don’t stop playing because we’re old, we become old because we stop playing”.