Six memos for teaching Italian as a foreign language: Creativity, storytelling, and visual imagination in the language classroom

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.10.133

Keywords:

FL TEACHING PRACTICES, STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES, CREATIVE WRITING, TECHNOLOGY, ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Abstract

By combining pedagogical, linguistic, and literary perspectives on creativity, storytelling, and visual imagination with their application in the language classroom, this article proposes storytelling and creative writing techniques in teaching Italian as a foreign language (FL). The main objective of this contribution is to provide some concrete examples on how creative approaches can be incorporated in Italian language courses at different proficiency levels. Therefore, the procedures and the theoretical assumptions of three creative projects involving communicative means such as mimes and gestures, and technological tools such as Twitter and meme generators, will be illustrated in detail and put in relation to linguistic research on creativity.

Author Biographies

Elena Emma Sottilotta, University of Cambridge

Elena Emma Sottilotta is an Italian and English certified language teacher and has taught in Italy, England and the United States. In 2017-18, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge, as a recipient of an Arts and Humanities Research Council scholarship and a Vice-Chancellor’s Award. Her research interests hinge on comparative literature, creative approaches to language learning, and implementation of storytelling and creative writing strategies in the FL/L2 classroom.

Danila Cannamela, Colby College

Danila Cannamela is an Assistant Professor of Italian in the Department of French and Italian at Colby College. Her scholarly work focuses on avant-garde literature and environmental humanities, on which she recently published a book, The Quiet Avant-Garde: Crepuscular Poetry and the Twilight of Modern Humanism (2019). In addition, she has research and teaching interests in the use of social media and technology in L2 classes, WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) pedagogy, and strategies that allow for the integration of cultural aspects in language classes.

Cover Image for Volume 6 Issue 1 August 2019

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Published

2019-08-31

How to Cite

Sottilotta, E. E., & Cannamela, D. (2019). Six memos for teaching Italian as a foreign language: Creativity, storytelling, and visual imagination in the language classroom. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 6(1), 37–55. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.10.133

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Research Articles - Regular Issue

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Copyright (c) 2019 Elena Emma Sottilotta

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.