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Ciao Rita

 This weekend as I was watching Italian TV (RAI) on cable I found out that an Italian student from Hunter College, Rita Morelli, was murdered. She lived on the East side on E120th Street and also worked, as many students do, as a waitress at Caffe’ Buon Gusto. She was killed last week, the day before Thanksgiving. I learned about her senseless death from Italian TV and reading the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, online. All weekend I searched for information on local TV stations, and major papers and with dismay realized that there was no mention of her death. She was no news worthy and such a brutal murder, the body which was found sprawled in a pool of blood, has gone unreported. Over the weekend I saw local TV stations reporting on cats being stuck up a tree, or about CT, where they experienced some power outages. This story was not covered by the local stations (as far as I was able to see) and thus, these few lines. We want to remember the life of a young woman who came to America with a luggage full of dreams. A vivacious gal with a passion for foreign languages and music who was a student at CUNY. Ciao Rita, people we do remember you and we do miss you.

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Anglicisms in Italian and W i dialetti!

 

 Tutte le settimane controllo sul sito del Corriere della Sera per leggere le pillole di saggezza che Severgnini dispensa dalla sua rubrica “Tre minuti una parola“. Trovo questa clip (sorry Mr. Severgnini!) molto divertente e facile da inserire come elemento culturale all’interno di uno dei nostri corsi di italiano. L’argomento: “gli orrori” (li definisce proprio cosi’) che facciamo quotidianamente usando un inglese italianizzato.

Altri video che vorrei consigliare per i nostri corsi sono le pubblicita’ prodotte dalla RAI in occasione del 150˚ anniversario dell’unificazione italiana (1861-2011). Il mio preferito è il primo video, il quale mostra tutta la ricchezza dei dialetti italiani, ma anche la loro l’incomprensibilità! Provate a capire quello che dicono ! Ho fatto vedere questi due video ai miei studenti i quali li hanno accolti con molta simpatia. Buona visione !

   



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