Garrett Strommen

Italian Class Lesson Plan for Kids and Beginners – Italian Game

Looking for a fun lesson plan to encourage conversation in your Italian lesson? Try this game.

I have been teaching Italian to students of all levels for many years over 15 years and I love using this Italian class lesson plan for kids and adults. This game works well with adults and children alike. This Italian lesson plan can also be adopted for more advanced students. What is the game? Perhaps you have heard of it, “20 questions.”

Italian Lesson Plan Learning through play:

The most important part of this Italian lesson plan is that it is fun and pretty easy to start. It becomes more complex. We start with the idea of the verb “to be.” Many Americans are not familiar with the idea of verb conjugations. Why? Because verb conjugations in English are very simple (for example “I am, you are, he is, we are, you (pl) are, they are” Many people dont even realize they are conjugating verbs.

The Verb to be:

The verb to be in Italian is as follows: “Essere”

I am = io Sono
you are = tu sei
he/she/it is = Lui/lei è
We are= Noi Siamo
Y’all are – voi siete (I like to use Y’all because it conveys the idea of plural “you”)
They are = Loro sono

When teaching any verb conjugation I like to use my hands to help the memorization process. For example, I point at myself “io sono” I point to you “tu sei” etc. Video coming soon.

Italian Adjectives:

The next element of this learning some basic Italian adjectives that can describe people.

Bello = Handsome
Brutto = Ugly
Alto = tall
Basso = short
Ricco = Rich
Povero = Poor
Magro = Skinny
Grasso = fat
Giovane = young
Anziano = old
Intelligente = intelligent
stupido = stupid
Simpatico = friendly
Antipatico = unfriendly
Buono – Good
Cattivo – Bad
Nero = Black
Blu = Dark Blue
Azzuro = Light Blue
Giallo = Yellow
Bianco = White
Arancione = orange
Viola = Violet
Grigio = Grey
Rosso = Red
Verde = Green
Marrone = Brown

If students need more vocab, make them ask in the language: “Come si dice _______”

You will also need some questions that can be asked:

sei un attore? = are you an actor?
sei un cantante = are you a singer?
sei un atleta = are you an athlete?
sei un politico = are you a politician?
sei un Maschio = are you a male?
sei una Femmina = are you a female?
Hai Capelli lunghi = do you have long hair?
Hai capelli corti = do you have short hair?

Now that you have reviewed these expressions you can play the game and see why this Italian class lesson plan for kids works so well. Ask the student to think of a famous person. Students and the teacher take turns asking questions to guess who the person is. For example:

Sei Pronto? = Are you ready?
Si, sono pronto! = Yes, I’m ready!
Sei un maschio? = Are you male?
Si, sono un maschio. = Yes, I am a male.
Sei un politico? = Are you a politician?
No, non sono un politico. = No I’m not a politian.
Sei un cantante? = are you a singer?
si, sono un cantante = Yes, I’m a singer.
Sei bravo? = are you good?
Si sono bravo. = Yes I’m good.
Sei Harry styles? = Are you harry styles?
Si sono Harry styles. = Yes, I’m harry styles.

(BTW Harry Styles takes Italian with us!)

ADAPT THE GAME FOR DIFFERENT AGES AND LEVELS:

This is the basic idea of this Italian class lesson plan – it makes learning fun though play. This plan uses many different teaching methodologies. If you are working with younger students you can print out animals (because they won’t all know famous people) or hand out slips of paper with animals on them so they don’t have to choose. If the students are more advanced, you can can use any object in the world (person, place or thing).

Are you an Italian teacher with private tutoring experience looking for more work? Why not apply for a teaching job with us, or check out more Italian resources here.