Any ideas for AP Italian?

Question

Hey guys!

I am an AP Italian teacher, and my students aren't as motivated. Do you know any good techniques that motivate students to read and speak in Italian?

What sort of stuff do teens like? What should I teach more of?

Please give me some ideas, all of them will be welcome.

Thanks again.

Answer 1

Well, I certainly never took Italian nor did I ever take an AP course in my chosen language of French, but I have a few suggestions. Teens like to speak while the teacher is speaking, correct? I always got in trouble for that. How about this.. Let the students speak while you are speaking if they wish but make them do it in Italian, no English spoken. Obviously teens change every decade or so about their interests and what not so I don't really know about teens anymore, but I do know that they will always want to speak, so let them speak but let them speak in Italian. Let them ask you about words they're not sure of that would relate to their daily lives in order that they feel that they are encouraged to apply the Italian language to their daily lives. Obviously kids aren't going to feel that motivated to speak a language they have no use for in any other place except for your class so make it fun, make it so that they can apply it outside of class. My French teacher and I spoke in French all the time outside of class about everyday things that we could speak about in English but in order to better learn French we spoke French and then when I stumbled with an English word she taught me the word to replace it. Try it out.