The Italian Cultural Institute and the Department of Italian of the University of Malta were both venues for the Italian Language in the World Week, which opened last Monday and ended yesterday, held under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Accademia della Crusca and the Ministry for Italians in the World.
The cultural and academic activities were officially inaugurated by the Italian Ambassador, Dr Alvise Memmo. The first conference, on Insegnare ed apprendere l'italiano tramite la letteratura e il cinema, was given by Professor Joseph Eynaud, head of the Italian Department at the University of Malta.
Professor Eynaud stressed the need to make the teaching of Italian more attractive to students and therefore the use of modern literary and cinematographic texts in the classroom.
Professor Eynaud's book Ciak! Si legge, published by Cesati in Florence was officially launched that same evening. The book in fact is an approach to textual analysis and focuses on various reading and writing skills.
Professor Franco Chiarenza, vice-president of the Einaudi Foundation and Professor of Comunication Studies at the School for Journalists (LUISS), delivered the second conference on Tuesday on Il linguaggio dell'informazione dei mass media italiani. Professor Chiarenza emphasised the fact that television had in fact brought about linguistic unity in Italy and readership had increased due to the modernisation of information.
The University of Malta hosted Professor Mirko Tavoni, director of ICON, Italian Culture on the Net, on Wednesday. Professor Tavoni introduced the virtual campus of the Italian language and culture which offers degree courses in Italian Language and Culture for foreigners online. The degree is a three-year course comprising 180 units and students study on-line under the tutorship of Italian professors.
ICON is a consortium of 23 Italian Universities ranging from Catania to Venice and is an e-learning institution offering the possibility for students who cannot attend university to obtain a degree through the latest Internet techniques. ICON also offers courses and certification in Italian Language and Culture at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
ICON also offers courses in written Italian for professional purposes, for continuing education and updating of foreign teachers of Italian. Professor Tavoni informed those present that ICON was offering special rates for subscription until the end of this year as part of the Italian Language Week: 650 euros for University, 500 euros for schools, 70 euros for individual teachers.
Prof.ssa Marina Morbiducci, reader within the Department of Italian, in the evening presented the Giornata del lettore d'italiano, a video display of the department's academic and cultural activities for the past academic year.
Prof.ssa Morbiducci showed interesting video clips of learning situations both in and out of the classroom environment. The Italian Ambassador then presented certificates and books to five students who had written the best assignments on the theme, L'italiano - perchè?
La versatilità creativa delle espressioni dell'italiano nella pubblicità was the theme of the conference delivered on Thursday by Dr Alberto Cattani, director of Social and Institutional Communications at the Prime Minister's Office. The lecture highlighted the linguistic and social implications of publicity slogans, texts and videos.
Prof.ssa Gabriella Alfieri of the University of Catania concluded Italian Week on Friday with an interesting and stimulating topic - Valutare la competenza testuale scritta: la prosposta dell'ASLI (Associazione per la Storia della Lingua Italiana).
All cultural and academic activities came to an end yesterday with an open day at the premises of the Italian Cultural Institute on St George's Square, Valletta.
Teachers and students visited the Institute's library and the video-audio facilities and had informal talks with the director of the Institute, Dr Rosanna Cravenna, who has so expertly organised Italian Language Week in Malta.