Yabla

As a requisite for READ 411, I am required to complete a tutorial with a middle/high school student who demonstrates need and assistance with learning Italian. In order to complete this I tutor a Sophomore Italian III student at my old high school during her lunch and study periods. In between periods I usually sit in classes that my high school Italian teachers instruct and observe/assist them as needed. Today my cooperating teacher used an interesting video technology called Yabla who's aim is to completely immerse students into the Italian language and culture through video. A link to the Italian website is found here but Yabla also offers its services to many other languages including Spanish, French, Chinese, and German. 

Though my cooperating teacher pays monthly for use of this website, she says it is worth every penny! The videos on the site allow students to to submerse themselves in Italian culture and hear the vocabulary they study being used in real life situations. The site also offers a variety of documentaries that also serve for cultural instruction. Additionally, since the videos are filmed throughout all regions of Italy, the students have the opportunity to hear the many dialectal differences and accents that can be attributed to different parts of Italy. Another helpful tool is that Yabla offers removable subtitles in both the target language and English. What is even more beneficial is that if one does not understand any particular word, they can click on it in the subtitles and a dictionary with the definition of the word and all of its uses pops up in the right hand corner. Additionally, every video also comes with comprehension activities that the students complete interactively as a class.

Furthermore, my cooperating teacher has just discovered that Harvard uses this website to create classes and assign assessment activities. As a result she is currently looking into the steps that she can take to create classes for her Italian III classes so the students can benefit from Yabla at home free of charge. Overall, I was very impressed with this website and plan to use it in the future and hope that all language teachers and students can benefit from it as well.