The Alphabet: Teaching Children Italian Part 2

In this lesson children will be learning about the Italian alphabet and working on pronunciation of each Italian letter. Here we will also look at the differences between the English alphabet and the Italian alphabet.

Explain to the children that there are five letters in the English alphabet which are not included in the Italian alphabet. Although, they are not included they are used in foreign words. These letters include:

• J
• K
• W
• X
• Y

As noted, although they are not included in the Italian alphabet, the Italian language does have words for these foreign letters as they do appear in words which would be foreign to the Italian language.

• J: i lungo
• K: kappa
• W: doppia vu
• X: ics
• Y: i greca

1. Print out the alphabet index card worksheet in media files which will show the alphabet, how to say it in Italian, and how to say it in English. This worksheet is to be cut on the lines and made into index cards. This is how you will start teaching your child the Italian alphabet. Place the card near different same items which start with that letter (you can use English words for now) so that your child gets a visual view of what he or she is learning.

2. After you have practiced with the index cards, go l’alfabeto where the child will learn how to pronounce each letter correctly in the Italian language.

3. Have child practice pronouncing the letters in Italian, with the help of the audio files in step 2.

4. Quiz child with the help of alphabet quiz worksheet found in media files. Ask them these questions on this worksheet and have them point out items which start with these letters. (you can use English words-such as ‘What start with the letter acca?” Acca is Italian for the letter “H”, the child can point out a “Hat”.

After this lesson children will be able to recognize and pronounce the alphabet in the Italian language. Our next lesson will focus on the Italian numbers.