Italian

Course summary

Italian is a vibrant language and comes with a rich cultural and historical heritage from ancient Rome and Renaissance art and literature to modern design and cuisine. If you love the arts, music, fashion, architecture, design and food then Italian is a great choice and may open many career windows around the world. Italian is the closest of the Romance Languages to Latin so once you have mastered it you will find learning other Latin-based languages easier. Language learning will help improve competence in English too. Ashbourne’s Italian teacher Cristiana shares her enthusiasm and passion for everything Italian, especially contemporary literature and art. She uses original resources and introduces students to a wide variety of topics using a multimedia approach. There is plenty of room for discussion, listening, reading and writing practice. Students are encouraged to use Italian as much as possible from the beginning of the course to build their confidence and fluency. You will learn the skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing – necessary to express yourself fluently in Italian. At both AS and A levels students will develop these skills by exploring a range of social, political and cultural topics which include education and employment, lifestyle, health and fitness, the world around us (e.g. tourism, transport, environment) and youth culture (e.g. music, technology, relationships). A-level students will also undertake a research project on a topic of their choice to illustrate their proficiency in Italian. They will learn how to translate from English to Italian and produce extended written work on a range of topics relating to the culture and society of Italian-speaking communities.