As the 2024-25 school year begins, South Windsor High School is introducing a new class, AP Italian.
AP Italian is a course the American College Board has to offer. The course is intended to give students expansive knowledge of Italian language and Italian culture at the collegiate level.
Historically, South Windsor High School’s language department has only offered AP Spanish and AP French, with Italian students limited to Italian 4 Honors as the highest-level course.
However, the introduction of AP Italian changed this. Students have described the class as very fun and engaging. They were fond of the idea of challenging themselves and being able to increase their speaking skills in the Italian language.
Senior and a 4-year Italian student, Mark Romano, was able to share his thoughts on the new class.
“Even though it’s molto difficile, I will pull through and lock in,” Romano said.
To prepare for the new class, long-time South Windsor High School Italian teacher, Maria Zaccardelli, attended a summer training workshop. She also sought advice from colleagues who teach AP Spanish and AP French.
Zaccardelli also was able to meet with a curriculum specialist to gather various resources in order to give her students an appropriate AP Italian course.
“It was sort of scary! Before I started teaching this class, I did not know at all what to expect, and that scared me,” Zaccardelli said. “Taking the training course to teach the class over the summer was somewhat comforting, but I really could not visualize how I was going to join all the possible resources together in a way that would not confuse my students.”
An extensive amount of work and effort was put into preparing for this brand new class. Zaccardelli is very optimistic about her students’ capability.
She has already seen massive improvement in her students’ writing, reading and speaking skills, and Zaccardelli can’t wait for the years to come to teach more students about the Italian language and culture.
