Project by: Sofia Giglio (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Jessica Prohias-Gardener
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Jess Prohias-Gardener
Description of the Project:
Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):
Final Reflection on Learning:
As I began to start my practice on Learning Italian, I was a little unmotivated and just doing the 10 minutes a day and nothing more. I wanted to learn the language however I couldn’t pass some of the levels on Duolingo and I was getting frustrated. Later on the next week, though, I began to start to reflect on what I learned and started writing down some notes in a small notebook. It was really nice to write out everything I had learned because on paper it looks like so much more than I thought I had learned in my head. At the time, I guess I didn’t even realize how much I was learning and I began to feel stuck. However, with writing it down it gave me a better understanding of all of the things I am learning and how much I have actually accomplished. I think throughout this whole process I have learned a lot in Italian, when my dad speaks to me in it I no longer get frustrated and instead want to actually understand him. I have also learned that I am a very visual learner and that writing it down in a notebook really helps me. I pretended as if it was my notebook for Spanish class and I had to write down vocabulary and conjugations. Because I have now been practicing consistently for a long time during this quarantine, I have almost turned my Duolingo time into part of my routine. It is something that has stuck with me and something that I do almost everyday now and think that I will continue to do. I am really excited to learn Italian now and hopefully become a better speaker or maybe even fluent. Overall, learning Italian was really important to me because it is something that my whole family speaks, now having a way to communicate with my grandma is really awesome to me and I know she will be very proud of me. The Italian culture is something that is really important as I love my heritage and I have a very Italian family, so missing out on actually speaking Italian was very frustrating for me. Although I don’t get to go to Sicily this summer because of Corona, I can still practice for future times. I am very excited as well as now being able to talk with my cousins in Sicily, that is probably the most exciting part of this for me because they don’t speak English. I am very proud of all the learning I did during this time and for the future Italian I will learn!
Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant):
In these past weeks I have began to use Duolingo to start practicing and getting to know the basics of the language, I took some notes to remember the conjugations and extra vocabulary. I was able to get up to level 3 on the app for Basics 1, Basics 2, Phrases, and Possession, and I got up to level 2 on Food, Plurals, Animals, Food 2, Clothing and Questions. I have practiced around 10-15 minutes a day to make sure that I keep the language fresh in my brain.
Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant):
I have continued to practice 10-15 minutes a day on Duolingo and take notes. I have started to focus a lot of my notes on vocabulary like food, animals, family, and occupation. I am trying to speak more Italian to my family in order to practice it and have it more normalized in my life.
Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant):
I did the usual routine of practicing my Italian everyday on Duolingo. I have gotten to level three on many of the sections and am hoping to get even higher after school is over. I decided that I felt experienced enough to have a conversation so I spoke to my family friend in Italy about the current health crisis and what it is like there. I tried to formulate proper sentences and carry a conversation, although it was quite difficult.
