La Recita di Natale: Year 1 Perform The Christmas Story

To share the cultural experience of learning the Italian language with the wider community, Year 1 students presented the story of the Nativity with a traditional song: “Tu scendi dalle stelle” on stage at School assembly and for the Senior Citizens in our local Parish.

Unbeknownst to us, there were native Italian speakers in the audience! When the children sang this song, it brought back many happy childhood memories for the Parishioners of Italian heritage. Their feedback to the children was: “You may not have the real Italian accent but your pronunciation is very, very good.” And so, Year 1 students brought “Joy to the World” to our School and Parish Community.

Learning to read, understand and speak in Italian to retell the story of the Nativity, the students could demonstrate the key aspects and concepts below, as documented in the Australian Curriculum for Languages. With reference to the Achievement Standard: F-2, they identified similarities and differences in the cultural practices of Italians and Australians; they experimented with and approximated Italian pronunciation; and they differentiated between statements and questions according to intonation.

Listen to our talented Year 1 students perform their Nativity play.

Communicating

Informing: 

Locate specific items of information in texts using early literacy skills.

• Key concepts: text, observation, number, meaning.
• Key processes: noticing, decoding, selecting.

Creating:

Participate in shared reading/viewing of short imaginative texts and respond by drawing, miming, performing and other forms of expression.

• Key concepts: story, imagination, response, character.
• Key processes: participating, responding, predicting, performing.
• Key text type: narrative/story.

Create stories and perform imaginary experiences.

• Key concepts: performance, expression.
• Key processes: miming, performing.

Reflection: In the words of Nelson Mandela: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”