OLMC’s new Italian Language Assistant, Ludovica Casarino, has been busy meeting all the Italian classes from Years 7 to 12 since the start of this term.
Students have loved being able to ask her questions about life in Italy. In one Year 9 Italian class, Amelia and Aprila interviewed Ludovica about her life and transcribed that conversation to share with the wider school community. It has been reproduced below.
Ludovica is currently looking for rental accommodation close to school or to public transport from the end of May until December (and hopefully not too expensive!). If anyone knows of any options that might fit the bill, please contact her by email: lcasarino@olmc.vic.edu.au.
Interview with Prof Ludovica
Where Ludovica was born and where she grew up?
Ludovica was born in Carrara, but grew up in Lerici, Liguria.
Lerici is near the border of Tuscany. Her village is quite small and it is right by the sea. During summer, Ludovica spent a lot of her time at the beach. After she completed middle school, she and her friends from kindergarten all went to different high schools. Ludovica went to one in Sarzana. In Italy they have different types of high schools depending on what students want to study. Ludovica’s high school was called Liceo Classico. At her high school she studied ancient languages such as Latin and Ancient Greek. She also learnt her basics of English there.
A little bit about her childhood?
She went to kindergarten when she was only one and a half. She started so early because her mother worked. Through her kindergarten, she met a group of friends who moved with her to primary school and to middle school. She grew up playing gymnastics, basketball and volleyball. Her favourite sport was basketball and she was quite tall for her age, dominating the game.
The differences she's noticed between the Australian and Italian school system?
There are no uniforms, the Italians always wear free dress. The school day in Australia is longer, in Italy it usually finishes at 1.00pm or 2.00pm. In Italy there are no single sex schools that she saw, Ludovica says that our school is humongous and she often gets lost as most schools in Italy are just one big building that is very overcrowded.
Why did she come to Australia and to OLMC?
Ludovica applied for this position three years ago. She was supposed to go to a school in Doncaster, she had all her flights and visas ready, but then Covid hit. She reapplied in November last year and she got the job again. Her main reason she wanted to come to Australia was to experience another school system and to experience a new country. She loves travelling and Australia was somewhere she always wanted to visit. From Australia she can also explore all the countries nearby.
How is she liking Australia?
Since her move, she’s stayed in Carlton, Ivanhoe and the CBD in Docklands. She loves Melbourne and how everything is always moving. There are always things to do. There are so many new people you meet every single day. One thing that Ludovica does not like about Australia at all, are the spiders. Before coming to Australia Ludovica was worried about wildlife and all the poisonous animals. She was also worried about how far Australia is from Italy.
What are some tips for students studying languages?
- Watch movies with subtitles
- Read easy books in that language
- Practise as much as you can
- Travel
- Make friends from that country
- Do the poetry competition
- Consistency.