Card Games on Cellphones

An important aspect of Italian culture that many do not often think of is the use of cards in Italian society. At family functions following dinner, it is common that small groups form in order to play cards. This tradition was especially evident when I was in Calabria due to the fact that not one day of  my stay went by without me playing at least one game of cards. I plan on introducing card games into the curriculum when I become and Italian teacher in order to teach my students how to engage in this crucial component of culture. Though it would be possible for me to supply cards to the class, another technological alternative includes the use of cellphones. The Apple iTunes store as well as the Android Marketplace offer applications where many card games such as scopa, briscola, sette mezzo, and others can be played. The apps can be found simply by searching the name of the game and the majority of the games can be downloaded for free. What is even more wonderful is that each application includes a tutorial to how to play the game and understanding the cards themselves. Seeing as how Italian cards are much different than American ones, students may hesitate to engage in the lesson and therefore proper instruction is essential as well as the reinforcement that can be provided through the games via cellphone. Though each region contains a slightly different set of cards, the more commonly used Neapolitan set looks like this:

A foreigner to these cards will obviously not understand that the standing man/lady represents 8, the figure on the horse represents 9, and the king represents 10. Additionally the first and third cards in this image represent 1, which may also confuse students. After making students familiar with the cards and rules in class, they may still have difficulty with playing the game and therefore the use of cellphones to play is a great way to reinforce what was learned in class at home.

I believe that a lesson like this would promote content area literacy for many reasons. For one it promotes cultural literacy because by the end of the lessons the students will be able to read the cards and mentally assign the correct value to each. Additionally, they will be able to reinforce number vocabulary as well as incorporate new vocabulary such as "le figure" (the figures), il cavallo (the horse), il re (the king), and la donna(the lady). Additionally, mathematics is incorporated into this lesson because calculations are vital to many Italian card games. Taking Scopa for example is constantly counting in order to obtain cards and at the end one must count different card categories in order to tally points (if anyone is interested in a more comprehensive explanation of the game please let me know for I would be more than delighted to provide one!). Furthermore, I would also be able to use an informal assessment while the students are playing in order to measure how they pick up on the game, how they work in groups, and how they are using Italian language and culture just to name a few. Overall,  I believe that a lesson like this one, reinforced by the playing of the game at home on a cellphone, would be a create way to promote cultural literacy while ensuring that the students are enjoying themselves.