Recommended Reading
Whatever your age and level, songs can be used in the classroom and at home to reinforce vocabulary and grammatical structures, to expand your vocabulary by learning new idioms and collocations, and for fun. They can reveal a bit more about Italian ways of life and ways of thinking. Moreover, the association of music, rhythm and melody with lyrics is an extremely powerful medium that will transport you into a different world, and will help you learn and memorise vocabulary and expressions in a fun and effective way, with a little bit of effort the very first time, but easily and naturally after the first listening.
Here's a selection of songs with beautiful poetic lyrics in easy Italian that I use with my High School and adult students starting in their second or third month of learning Italian.
- Jovanotti & Michael Franti: "Sunshine".
- Jovanotti: "Bella"
- Riccardo Cocciante: "Passeggiando in bicicletta"
- Riccardo Cocciante: "Poesia"
- Lucio Battisti: "Perchè non sei una mela?" - genial lyrics by genial composer Mogol, a true poet. Great song for learning new adjectives.
- Zucchero: "Donne".
What to do:
- Key in title and singer on Youtube, watch and listen. Videoclips can sometimes make it easy to understand the meaning of the lyrics.
- Look up the lyrics on websites such as www.angolotesti.it.
- Print out the lyrics and read
- Use a traditional dictionary or an online dictionary to look up the new words or
- Get help from your Italian teacher or tutor.
- Sing along and enjoy!
Songs can inspire you to learn a bit more Italian, reveal the beauty of the Italian language and can be poems set to music.
Singing is good for language learning and for the soul!
