Sicilian Culture: News: Rufus King Students Welcome Italian Class: HS First in the State to Offer Language

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Rufus King Students Welcome Italian Class: HS First in the State to Offer Language
By Sam Schulhofer-Wohl, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - - To the many roads that lead to Rome, add another: classes at Rufus King High School.
The high school on Milwaukee's north side became the only one in Wisconsin where students can study Italian when it launched introductory courses in the language this fall.
Italy is an important business destination, Principal Thomas Balistreri said, but many students are saying buon giorno to a new language for less serious reasons.
My boyfriend at the time went to Italy last year, and he said it was a good experience," said Marshaye Lewis, 15, a sophomore at King, adding that her interest in Italian outlasted her interest in the boyfriend.
Balistreri, an Italian-American, said adding the language to King's existing offerings of French, Spanish, German and Latin has "always been a great dream."
It became a reality this year when enrollment rose at King, allowing Balistreri to hire an additional teacher, and a non-profit group that promotes the study of Italian gave the school a $25,000 grant.
The two sections of introductory Italian attracted 53 students. King officials hope to add advanced classes next year and the year after that, until Italian is wrapped into the school's upper-level International Baccalaureate program.
The plans make King unique in Wisconsin, said Paul Sandrock, a foreign language consultant at the state Department of Public Instruction.
"There are no public high schools that are teaching Italian," besides King, he said. "We have commonly taught languages and uncommonly taught languages -- Ojibwe and Hebrew and Mandarin Chinese -- but none have reported teaching Italian."
However, students can study Italian at Spring Harbor Middle School in Madison, Sandrock said.
The Italian students at King range from freshmen to seniors. Many are veterans of other language classes.
The students' background in other languages helps them learn Italian, teacher Alison Deneka said, because they already know basic concepts such as what it means to conjugate a verb.
"It's easy since we know Spanish," senior Angela Howard, 17, said.
Too easy, sometimes.
In one class exercise, Howard and fellow senior Kate Gordon, also 17, had to make up a dialogue about dancing in nightclubs.
"Balli en discoteca?" Gordon asked. "Do you dance in a disco?"
"No," Howard said.
"Perche?" Gordon asked. "Why?"
"No me gusta bailar," Howard tried to explain.
"Hey, that's espanol!" Gordon protested.
UPDATE
From: Dona DeSanctis, NIAF:
"It was the National Italian American Foundation that committed $25,000 to help establish the AP program in Italian. We gave a grant to Chris Kleinhenz, chair of the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI), who picked a committee that developed the proposal which was sent to the College Board last year.
The College Board is now considering establishing the program in Italian, but it needs to get a healthy response from high schools around the country that offer Italian to see if they are interested in it. [It costs about $1 million to set up a new AP program].
The College Board is sending out a survey to these principals this month.
Now the NIAF is working with AATI, Matilda Cuomo, the Sons of Italy and the Italian Embassy. We are collecting mailing lists of these schools and writing to the principals to tell them about the survey and their need to respond immediately.
If your network activists live in near a high school that offers Italian, please urge them to call the principal to tell him to please fill out the survey and return it immediately to the college board.
We are at a good point, but the battle is far from over."

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