Italiano al Sackler - by Matthew Da Silva

The students of Harvard’s Italian 96 class are taking a field trip. However, they won’t be alone. Students of the advanced language class are taking Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students from Cambridge’s Graham and Parks School on a field trip to the Sackler Art Museum.



The Harvard students have been teaching the "bambini" Italian all semester long as a part of their class. In a few weeks, the semester’s work will culminate in a field trip to the Sackler.


To integrate the Italian language with the beautiful artwork the Sackler, the students have been rehearsing lesson plans that are both engaging and educational. From playing Italian “I-Spy” with still-life paintings to pointing out the parts of the face on a little girl painted by Van Gogh, the students have managed to make the artwork of the Sackler come to life – in Italian!


One student plans to create an entire story about a statue that is filled with seemingly random objects, while another will help the story of Aphrodite come to life. In each student’s presentation, integration of the Italian language is key. As the students they are working with have only been taking Italian for a couple of months, it is a difficult task to blend Italian into exciting lessons that the preschoolers and kindergarteners will find engaging. However, the students of Italian 96 have constructed brilliant lessons that combine the museum’s artwork with the Italian language in a fun, interesting manner.


While teaching youngsters a foreign language can be difficult on its own, policing a group of four and five year olds in a fine art museum is no easy task. However, the students, with help from their instructors and museum staff, have worked hard to ensure no mishaps will occur.


With excellent teaching, an exciting lesson plan, and beautiful artwork, the Italian 96 field trip to Sackler Museum promises to be one of the highlights of the academic year – both for the kindergarteners, and the college students.