Italian Program

The Middle School Italian Program offers courses for native and non-native Italian speakers. The Italian Media is an independent program created to help students prepare for the Italian Government Terza Media exam, which is essential to apply for certain kinds of employment or enter the Italian secondary school system. The amount of time allotted to the program, which includes math, science, history and geography, as well as Italian language, is twelve periods per week: four periods for Italian, four for science/mathematics, four for geography/history. Other times may be set for additional specialist classes such as art and music.

The methods of instruction used by the teachers allow students to achieve an interdisciplinary appreciation of Italian language and culture. Books and material are selected from required Italian Government educational resources; these enable students to successfully pass the Government exams, and to easily integrate into the host country culture. The method is based on the use of different forms of instruction to stimulate a student's development, such as whole class lessons, class group activities, research and projects. Resources available are videotapes, textbooks, computer access, class trips and a small class library. Children benefit from a variety of material and educational activities, and opportunities offered by visits to Florence.

Assessment is done according to standards of the Italian system, but grades are reported from 1-7 following whole-school criteria. Grades are communicated to families by report cards and progress reports.