Italian at Barnard & Jefferson

• Italian is offered as a FLES program for all students attending Barnard Elementary (K-2)ONCE a week, for 40 minutes.

• Parents of Barnard graduates who would like for their child to continue with Italian can elect to enroll their child at Jefferson, where he/she would continue with Italian in a cohort for grades 3-5.

• All students must be at or above grade level in ELA and Math to be eligible for  the program.  

Italian Teachers:

Barnard: Anna Bruno abruno@nredlearn.org

Jefferson: Marianna Trombetta mtrombetta@nredlearn.org

Salve! My name is Anna Cesaro Bruno, I was born and raised in "Macchia di Montecorvino Rovella", a beautiful Italian village located few miles away from the Amalfi Coast, in Salerno.

Teaching Italian is my passion! I currently teach Italian language and culture at Barnard and at New Rochelle High school (Italian 1) .

BARNARD. My creative interests, like art and theater, are combined in creative lesson planning where children participate and are motivated to learn the Italian language and culture. Children are actively involved in language  through activities, games, art, music, and dance. 
Learning a new language is amazing! Research has shown that children who receive world language instruction benefit in many ways from early exposure to a foreign language.
Grazie! 

My favorite quote:  One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank, nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child.

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Le quattro stagioni

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Carnevale

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Pinocchio

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La pizza Margherita

According to popular tradition, in 1889, 28 years after the unification of Italy, during a visit to Naples of Queen Margherita of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I, chef Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi and his wife, created  a pizza resembling the colors of the Italian flag, green (basil) ), white (mozzarella) and red (tomato) . They named it after the Queen Margherita: Pizza Margherita.

Descriptions of such a pizza recipe, however, can be traced back to at least 1866 in  Francesco De Bouchard book “Customs and Traditions of Naples”. He describes the most popular pizza toppings of the time, which included one with cheese and basil, often topped with slices of mozzarella.

Whatever the real origins of this pizza recipe are, all we know for sure is that Raffaele Esposito's version for Queen Margherita was the one that made it popular. Since then it has grown into one of the most recognizable symbols of Italian food culture in the world.

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Let's set the table!

Kindergarten

Videos and Songs:

La Caccia al Tesoro SHOW. Presented by Incanto Productions and Simona Rodano, the Italian Fairy. Students from 1st and 2nd grade enjoyed the amazing show at Queens Theater. It's a bilingual edu-musical that bring out creativity in your students. Engaging students to become enthusiastic learners. 

COLUMBUS PARADE 2019. TARANTELLA DANCE with Barnard Students

Seventy students from the Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center joined the "Italian Fairy" in dancing the traditional Tarantella dance at Manhattan's Columbus Day Parade 2019. The Grand Marshal of the Parade is Salvatore Ferragamo, and the honorees are the Bruno Brothers and Giovanni Colavita.

The Principal Dr. Cracco, the Italian  teacher Anna Bruno (Italian), the music teacher Chris Stelluti, The President of the PTA Kate Marcado and 80 parents joined the parade. Enjoy the clip here: https://tinyurl.com/y3v3j6x7 Opens in a new browser tab

A message from the Italian Fairy "Celebrating cultures together. There is a BIG message behind every single Parade. Cultures: that’s exactly what this World  is about. And these wonderful human beings and great dancers and other 70 children honored with their talent the beauty of being together on the red carpet cheering for Italy today.  Let's  celebrate with gratefulness and appreciation all the countries in the world! That’s how PEACE and BEAUTY can grow, l believe.

Celebrare le diverse Culture tutti insieme. C’è un grande messaggio dietro ogni parata che va oltre i colori di una sola bandiera. Le culture: ecco di cosa è fatto il Mondo. E questi meravigliosi esseri umani e grandiosi ballerini con altri 70 bambini provenienti da diversi paesi, hanno onorato con il proprio talento la gioia di essere insieme sul tappeto rosso e festeggiare la bellezza dell’Italia. E ci sono ben altri 194 paesi nel mondo che hanno altrettante bellezze tutte da celebrare. Io credo che solo così la PACE  possa crescere. 

WATCH THE VIDEO OF the Tarantella Dance with the students from Barnard school (first and second grade)! 

Photo click here >La Tarantella Napoletana

Tarantella is an Italian dance. The name comes from the town of Taranto in Italy. The workshop brings students into the world of one of the most popular traditional Italian dance. The students wear costumes and dance the Tarantella!