DISTRICT GETTING ITALIAN STUDIES.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - Buon giorno, Lancaster. Eastside School District first-graders will spend 25 minutes a week studying Italian - because the Italian government will pay $25,000 to the district for helping Italy promote its native tongue. Eventually, district officials hope to add French and Italian at Eastside's Cole Middle School, where Spanish Spanish, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, issuing from Spanish Lake, S Ont., Canada, NW of Sudbury, and flowing generally S through Biskotasi and Agnew lakes to Lake Huron opposite Manitoulin island. There are several hydroelectric stations on the river. is taught now. ``It's part of an effort to bring in a world-class curriculum. That includes world language at an early age,'' Superintendent Greg Riccio said. ``Italian will enhance the arts and give them a base in Latin.'' Schools in San Pedro, Burbank and the Pico Rivera Pico Rivera (pē`kō rĭvĕr`ə), city (1990 pop. 59,177), Los Angeles co., SW Calif., SE of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers; inc. 1958 with the union of Pico and Rivera into one community. area have already signed up for the Italian language Italian language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Italy and San Marino, and one of the official languages of Switzerland, Italian is spoken by about 58 program, which is part of a three-year agreement reached in 2004 between the Italian consulate Consulate, 1799–1804, in French history, form of government established after the coup of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9–10, 1799), which ended the Directory. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The program is the first of its kind on the West Coast sponsored by the Italian government, said Maria Vittoria Cifone, director of the consulate's education office. The program already exists on the East Coast. ``We all agree that learning other languages is an important part of our experience, and we promote Italian,'' Cifone said. ``From my point of view, whatever the language, the more languages we speak, the better we communicate with people.'' Fondazione Italia, a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. that promotes the study of Italian in southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , will work with the consulate in organizing Italian instruction courses. Consulate officials will help Eastside find an Italian language instructor, Riccio said. The Los Angeles County agreement also calls for a training program for teachers, a resource center for the teaching of Italian organized in collaboration with a local university, and ongoing initiatives to promote exchanges of students and educators and to provide professional development activities. The Eastside board at last week's meeting approved supporting Italian language instruction in the primary grades for the 2005-06 school year. ``If you are comfortable with learning language in the first grade, when it's reintroduced in the seventh or eighth grade, it's more comfortable for the students. If you can get children to like sushi at age 5 to 8, they will eat it later,'' Riccio said. Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion