An Italian boyfriend that doesn't speak English would probably solve the problem. How about trying to get her into some activity that is outside the school, a sports team, dance class something where Italian only is spoken.

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Problem is at 15 teenagers can be afraid of looking dumb and making a fool of themselves.

I came to Italy as an exchange student at 17 and can remember feeling reluctant to try out Italian for fear of looking silly, so I can relate. Eventually my extrovert personality and need to socialize (plus my then Italian boyfriend) certainly got things moving after a few months. It is extremely difficult for a kid your daughter's age to take that leap unless they are forced to (i.e.: if she has the option of speaking English, she probably won't learn very fast or very well). I was attending Italian school and only knew a few people that spoke English. My son is at the age where he is beginning to feel self-conscious, BUT he is really brave with the language (MORE THAN ME FOR SURE!). Bottom line, your daughter must be in situations in which Italian in the only option! Sleep away summer camps? Theater?

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An Italian boyfriend that doesn't speak English would probably solve the problem. How about trying to get her into some activity that is outside the school, a sports team, dance class something where Italian only is spoken.

All good advice , thank-you. Funnily enough Dance is a thing she loves and she had just made a decision to enroll.....and the italian boyfriend , yep, been there, although it has all fizzled out now as he has gone to USA to study but alas he was one of the ones who spoke brill english anyway!

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Bottom line, your daughter must be in situations in which Italian in the only option! Sleep away summer camps? Theater?

You're absolutely right, guess I knew all this really but sometimes you just need to HEAR it! I resolve here and now to redouble my efforts!!

By the way Jenna, since you are in Torino can I ask if you know anything about the International School there?.....and when are you going to add some more stuff to your blog?!!!

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By the way Jenna, since you are in Torino can I ask if you know anything about the International School there?.....and when are you going to add some more stuff to your blog?!!!

Yeah, I am a failed blogger! The truth is that I want is to be really want to completely REVAMP my blog, visually, in terms of information, ecc..., so until I have the time to dedicate, it will be in its ghost town phase!
When you say International School... my son will be attending the public international school. The American School is outside the city and unfortunately I have only heard negative things about the school (quality of education, teachers, ecc., not up to par). School for my son does not start until Monday, so lets see... so far I have heard very positive things from Italians and expats alike about the public International European school (keeping my fingers crossed!), and the overarching negative feedback relates to the extracurricular offerings, which are out of pocket expenses- us Americans are pretty used to that. Feel free to email me, too!

Hi there!I am Italian married to an Eglishman and lived in England and in other English speaking countries for 16 years, after which we moved to Italy with our two children now 16 and 14 years old.
While in england and in the USA, i was the only parent able to speak italian as my husband never really learned more than a few sentences. This implies that we were always communicating in English.Iitalian was limited to the few hours when the kids were at home. Nevertheless I stubbornly continued chatting in Italian to them, singing lullabies, making them help in the kitchen which was fun and exposed them to a wide range of vocabulary.Both my kids attended school in England and USA until completion of primary education. up to that point they were rather competent speakers of Italian ( although they didn't read)and, of course very fluent in English. Upon moving to italy they immediately attended junior high school. Initially it was a struggle not so much because of the language but because the Italian system is very grammatical while in UK they where not taught the basic of even English grammar! They bravely fought for a year with grammatical analysis and logical analysis and achieved good marks.
My daughter is now attending the second year of "Liceo Linguistico" ( senior high school with emphasis on languages)and she is doing well.Actually the teacher of Italian told me that she has a wider range of vocabulary compared with her italian classmates, probably because she trained her memory unconsciously from a very early age. My husband on the contrary is still fighting italian syntax and hates the phone with every fiber of his body!!!

Where is this school supposed to be?

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Originally posted by alyson:
We're an all English speaking family living in Italy. My 4 year old started Materna last September. She now speaks fluent Italian, this comes from my Italian friends and her school

Hi Alyson- Did your daughter speak any Italian before she started Materna? I know you've been here for a few years. I ask because our 3 year old was in Asilo Nido last year and starting Materna this year. Teachers tell me she understands but isn't speaking yet. Curious as to how your daughter, and others, have started with the language.

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Originally posted by Vicky C:
My partner is Italian and speaks English almost fluently, while English is my mother-tongue and I speak enough Italian to get by.


I'd also really like to hear about your personal experiences.

Vicky

We are in a similar postion, me English, him Italian, one kid, now 8, living in Italy.

I speak English to him and insist on English back. He speaks Italian with his dad, as do I, cos Mario still can't speak English.

He taught himself to read English, I left well alone cos I didn't want to chuck two alphabets at him at the same time so let the Italian one go first in prima, one day he came down with my old penguin "read by yourself~" books and just read it to me. He told me he had been reading them for a while, and there I was thinking of them as bookshelf decoration LOL.

I damn near fell off my chair.

He is no child genius either, bog standard normal (but utterly adorable) kid, so there must be something to the "tranferable skill" principle. He learned the alphbet and how to read in Italian and just managed to transfer those skills over to English.

I read to him every night (stuff like charlottes Web, My Family and Other Animals) and he is only allowed to watch TV in English (I love Sky), what with school and friends putting Italian in a dominating postion I will snatch the opportunity for English where i can find it.

So far, while his English is not perfect, he is doing really really well, he manages just fine with his English cousins and other kids that he meets when we go over and visit.

What I am consdering in the future when he is a bit bigger is a "sleep away" summer camp in the UK, near my sister, just to give him a high octane intensive "push" towards greater fluency.

Hi,

our little experience: we are an Italian couple living in Ireland, trying little by little to pick up the new language and get into a completely different lifestyle.

Our son is now 4, he's here since he was 1, and we started right from the beginning to send him to the Montessori school (that is the scuola materna).

We also never had the Italian tv at home, now he speaks both a good Italian (at home with us) and a good English at school and with his and ours friends. When he wants a DVD movie, he ask always for English while speaking with me about the movie in Italian.

Pretty funny that he started now to correct our accent and our pronounce. :-)

I think what worked well for us was the decision about tellie and school, as I read here on this topic kids are like sponges, and they learn very quickly.