End-of-Year Ideas for Italian Classes That Go Beyond Review

As the end of the school year approaches, and without any intention to undermine the importance of review-focused, language-specific tasks (reading and writing challenges, grammar and vocabulary recap in the form of jeopardy games or other types of game-based tasks), here are some ideas to shift the focus to each student’s individual learning journey. The goal is to raise awareness of their progress and areas for improvement, to reflect on their journey so far and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and to broaden the field from language learning to the development of intercultural competence.

Projects, Presentations, and Cultural Showcases

A simple last-class activity to have students reflect on their learning journey is sharing a list. Have students individually write down the most challenging / surprising / interesting / easiest / funniest thing in their Italian class since the beginning of the year. Then, have them share their list with the class—or first within a small group. Have the whole class eventually debate and discuss similarities and differences in their answers. Validating everyone’s inputs while highlighting common challenges and conclusions may spark further interest and reassure that the ride is necessarily bumpy, though rewarding.

If during the year your students have completed visual projects, presentations, or if you have any class pictures to share (a class in the park, a display of student’s assignments, or even a set-up you devised for a specific activity), you and your students can collaborate to create a visual yearbook that could serve as a starting point for a class discussion on the points above (what has been challenging, funny, surprising, etc. in the learning process) as well as ways to remember good memories, funny stories, and memorable moments.

To shift the focus to the future while still reflecting on the current journey, have students write a letter to next year’s Italian students, sharing tips and describing what to expect and what to focus on in order to thrive. You can also role-play this task with a Q&A session between “current” and “future” students or by having “current” students teach an Italian class to “future” students.

If you prefer to keep the focus on culture, students may write and share an Instagram review —or record a TikTok video—about a book by an Italian author, or an Italian movie. Or suggest a themed itinerary for a wonderful la-dolce-vita-style Italian Summer.

If, at the beginning of the year, you have enquired about why they decided to learn Italian (if you have not, just do so now), have students discuss as a class if the reasons are still the same, if they discovered new motives why it is important to learn Italian and a new language in general. Stress the importance of developing intercultural competence and have them debate how learning a language contributes to building up this crucial skill.

Always keep in mind that end-of-year activities should celebrate a year of hard work and be positively encouraging to keep the process going. Keep it festive and have students share their future “language plans” to inspire each other. And then, buona fortuna e buona estate!