Italian culture alive in St Columba community
22 November 2022
St Columba’s School in Bayswater welcomed an Italian cultural program, aiming to broaden students’ understanding and exposure to new cultures.
The success of the program was recognised as St Columba’s Principal, Art Lombardi won the inaugural WA Association of Teachers of Italian’s Principal’s Award, for advocating for Italian in 2021.
For the past few months, students have had the opportunity to celebrate the Italian language and culture with events organised including Italian Days, pizza, pasta and gelato days, Italian Family Night, including Mr Accordion Man, and so much more. Parents got involved too – helping to make spaghetti sauce or biscotti with the students.
“I really enjoyed Nunzio’s story and how he cooked pizza for Pope John Paul II. I loved the pizza. I could taste the difference and I could taste the smokiness. It was cool to see the portable oven and interesting to learn all the facts about temperature the oven had to be and stuff like that,” said Matthew Lu, Year 6.
“When a teacher brings excitement and enthusiasm to learning, we see high engagement from our students. Our Italian program is something everyone in our community sees as a wonderful addition to our curriculum. It brings a joy and sense of fun to who we are at St Columba’s School.”
St Columba Principal Art Lombardi.
“I loved that my Nonna could come to show my class how to make pasta. She said that she was going to make a different pasta and not ravioli, so I was excited because I’ve never seen her make tagliatelle before. She showed how to add so many eggs and how to mix it, and how to put the flour first so it didn’t stick to the table. My mum came to help too, and I was the leader of the line for the class having turns to turn the pasta handle,” said Ava Scali Year 3.
“It was my first time tasting that type of pasta sauce and it was so delicious. I took notes on how to make the pasta too, but I think I might need some help,” said Harriet Webb, Year 3.
“The Italian Day was the best time ever. We sung That’s Amore at assembly and did the actions too. The gelato was the best and I memorised how to order my gelato. It was so delicious. All my friends and teachers dressed up for the occasion,” Giorgia Trevenen, Year 4.
Principal Art Lombardi said studying the Italian language has helped students broaden their intercultural understanding:
“Studying Italian gives students so many opportunities to broaden the way they see the world and they can easily see the influence the Italian community has had on Australian society, but more than this the influence of all cultures within our community.
“When a teacher brings excitement and enthusiasm to learning, we see high engagement from our students. Our Italian program is something everyone in our community sees as a wonderful addition to our curriculum. It brings a joy and sense of fun to who we are at St Columba’s School.”
