Ecco! Italian Language Learning Resources

The eBook version of the student book provides students with access to a range of materials that can be used offline and online on any device, including:

• on-level audio tracks recorded by native speakers
• chapter vocab lists
• editable worksheets
• grammar explanation animations
• pronunciation modelling videos
• interactive games and cartoon stories
• authentic, fun gestures videos in Uno
• authentic topical interviews in Due.

The activity books cater for a variety of learning styles, with updated engaging activities that enrich key skills. They support:

• consolidation and practice, following the student book progression
• differentiated learning opportunities
• flexible learning with use in the classroom or as homework
• accessible audio for students from the relevant eBook.

The Teacher resources for Ecco! uno and Ecco! due, 2nd Edition include:

• a Teacher Companion book which includes implementation guidance, cultural notes, additional intercultural learning prompts, ideas for extension, consolidation, and kinesthetic activities, answers to student book prompts;
• a Teacher eBook, which includes all of the Student eBook content and media, as well as teaching resources to help make lesson planning a breeze, including:
  • curriculum grids
  • editable chapter tests, and relevant audio and answers
  • projectable activity book answers
  • worksheets answers
  • a download pack of all audio files.

The Senior series includes a student book and eBook versions of the text for students and teachers.

A digital version of the student book, including:

• audio tracks recorded by native speakers
• all audio for the student book
• 3 editable practice and consolidation worksheets per chapter
• editable chapter vocabulary lists for learning and revision
• grammar revision and consolidation animations (years 9-10).

Includes access to all student eBook content valid for the life of the edition, and extra teaching support including:

• all answers for the student book and online worksheets
• curriculum mapping
• suggested scope
• viewing skills implementation guide
• additional resources guide
• all audio scripts
• downloadable audio files.

Learn more about how Ecco! Senior was developed with this video from the expert author team including:

• Gabriella Bertolissi
• Adriana Blazincic
• Carla Catanzariti
• Maria Gaudioso
• Maria Lo Presti.

Listen to the full overview (16 mins)

Teacher eBooks work in both online and offline environments on all devices and unlock content available to educators for the life of the edition, including:

• all Student eBook content
• downloadable audio tracks
• curriculum correlation mapping
• suggested teaching scope and sequence
• chapter tests
• projectable Activity Book answers
• test and worksheet answers
• audio for tests and worksheets
• audio scripts
• gestures and interview video scripts
• teacher weblinks
• teaching notes.

An all-in-one print books which include:

• full Student Book pages with a wealth of teacher support
• extension activities for quick learners
• additional prompts for struggling students
• guidance on formative assessment and identifying needs
• all Student Book answers
• all Activity Book pages with answers
• all audio scripts.

Co-author of Ecco! Senior, Adriana Blazincic has taught years 7–12 Italian in Victoria for the past 9 years. Adriana has been creating her own resources since starting her career as a secondary teacher in order to provide her students with a current, relevant and engaging curriculum. Her goal as a leader and as a teacher is to ignite an interest and a passion in Languages Education by modelling best practice and providing a highly engaging and stimulating teaching and learning environment. As Head of the Languages department at a high achieving government school in Victoria, Adriana oversees the curriculum development of 3 languages including Italian and continues to be an advocate for Languages education.

Carla Catanzariti has been involved in the teaching of Italian in a number of schools for over 30 years. Her roles have included teacher of Italian at Years 7-12, Italian coordinator and Languages coordinator. She is regularly involved in student coaching, course writing, curriculum material development, tests and exams. Carla has also been an assessor for VCE oral and written examinations, and has presented at the VATI congress. She currently teaches Italian at Avila College in Melbourne. Carla has co-authored the Ecco! Due 2nd Edition Activity Book and tests, and Ecco! Senior.

Co-author of Ecco! Senior, Maria Gaudioso has been actively involved in Italian Education for over 15 years. She has taught students in both primary and secondary education, as well as in adult education. She has been involved extensively with NESA as an HSC marker, HSC examiner and curriculum writer, and regularly shares her professional knowledge at conferences. Maria has successfully led Italian Language and Culture Tours and is highly involved in Teacher Accreditation.

Co-author of Ecco! Senior, Maria Lo Presti is an Italian teacher with over 30 years’ experience. She is currently Head of Languages at Aquinas College in Western Australia. Maria has collaborated with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority in various assessment and resource creation ventures like the Judging Standard Project. She is a member of the Western Australian Association for Teachers of Italian (WAATI) and has served as Vice President, Treasurer and committee member. Over the years Maria has presented Professional Learning for her colleagues through Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) and WAATI. In 2019, she was awarded the Outstanding Professional Service Award by the Professional Teaching Council of Western Australia. Maria enjoys mentoring students and networking with teachers from all sectors.

Nancy Posterino has many years’ experience as a secondary teacher of Italian. She was the author of Forza! Tre (2001), a contributing author to the 1st Edition of the Ecco! Uno and Due series and a consultant on the 2nd Edition. Since 2004, she has worked on design and content for the digital learning resources at Languages Online (DET). She is currently a course writer and editor at the Victorian School of Languages. In 2017, she received a Certificate of Merit from the Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Victoria for her contribution to language teaching in Victoria. Nancy came onboard the Ecco! Senior resources as co-author in 2019-2020.

A co-author of the 1st Edition of Ecco! Uno and Ecco! Due, and co-author of the Uno 2nd Edition Student Book and Activity Book, Liana Trevisan has been teaching Italian in secondary schools for over 25 years. She is the Languages coordinator at Loreto Kirribilli and has been active in the Italian teaching community in NSW, contributing to and organising a variety of resources and events for students of Italian.

Lidia Nuzzolese is a native-speaker teacher of Italian and Latin with more than 20 years’ experience teaching in secondary schools in Italy and Australia. Her expertise includes curriculum development, VCE assessment and examination preparation and resource management. She brings in a rich background in classic studies, including Latin, Greek, and History, and has a passion for scriptwriting. Lidia is a co-author of Ecco! Uno and Due 2nd Edition Student Books, Activity Books and the gestures videos. She contributed to the authoring of Ecco! Senior.

Matthew Absalom has been teaching Italian at tertiary level since the early 1990s and is currently in the Italian Studies Program at The University of Melbourne. He is a published author, educator and researcher, as well as having held significant roles in the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA). Matthew has consulted on and provided professional learning about the Australian Curriculum: Languages. He is also an experienced writer of teaching and learning materials for Italian. Matthew worked on the Ecco! Uno and Due 2nd Edition Student Books, Teacher Companions and fonetica videos, and reviewed Ecco! Senior.

Giovanni Piccolo moved from Italy to Australia in 2009. He has worked as a secondary teacher of Italian and Latin in Victorian schools for many years and has taught both languages across all year levels, including VCE. He is a member of the Classical Association of Victoria and has worked as an assessor for the VCE Latin written examination. Giovanni co-authored the 2nd Edition of Ecco! Due Student Book and Activity Book, scope and sequence documents and interview videos.

Marisa Tarascio-Spiller taught Italian for many years in various schools in Victoria. She was a co-author of the 1st Edition Ecco! Uno and Due series, and co-authored the Uno 2nd Edition Activity Book. She dedicates that work to Jonathon Tarascio.

Elisabetta Ferrari has worked in tertiary education in Australia for the past two decades in various capacities. Following university studies in languages and literature at the Università degli Studi di Parma she completed a BA with Honours at Monash University and a Master of Arts in Cinema Management at the University of Melbourne. She is currently working as a lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has also consulted on and offered professional learning opportunities to secondary school teachers of Italian in Victoria along the years. She co-authored the Ecco! 2nd Edition Uno tests and Uno and Due Teacher Companions.

In addition to the above list of authors, we would like to acknowledge the authors of the eBook assets (tests, worksheets, videos, games, animations, scope and sequence and curriculum mapping): Carla Catanzariti, Daniela Russo, Eleonora Pessina, Elisabetta Ferrari, Giovanni Piccolo, Laura Lori, Lidia Nuzzolese, Matthew Absalom, Teresa De Fazio and Valentina Castaldo.

Esther Blood is a passionate secondary Italian teacher with over 15 years of experience in Western Australian state schools. She has worked as a classroom teacher and Head of Languages. Esther has presented workshops for professional associations and has led teacher networks to promote collaboration and best practice in languages education. Esther was a reviewer on Ecco! Senior.

After working in primary and secondary schools in Italy, Silvia Campanella taught Italian in Australia for nearly ten years. For five years she was also a vetter for the Italian VCE written exams and an examiner for both written and oral Italian VCAA exams. She taught Italian at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College until 2016 and was responsible for co-creating and coordinating their sister school program to enhance students’ engagement with Italian language and culture. Temporarily back to Italy she has been working in primary and secondary school, also with students with special needs. Silvia was a reviewer on the 2nd Edition of Ecco! Uno and Due and on Ecco! Senior.

Angela Porro is a secondary school teacher in Sydney who has a passion for languages. She completed a double major in both Italian and English at the University of Sydney. Following her graduation, she also worked in adult education as an English teacher to newly arrived Italian migrants. Angela has been a Language teacher at All Saints Catholic College Liverpool, where she was also the teacher in charge, and more recently at De La Salle Catholic College, Caringbah. Since 2015, she has been the president of the Italian Language Teachers' Association of New South Wales, and is involved in the writing of the Trial Italian HSC Paper for both beginners and continuers. Angela was a reviewer on Ecco! Senior.

Annarita Bardeggia is a secondary school Italian teacher with a passion for languages and has lived and worked in many countries around the world. She has worked as a language teacher at Melbourne Girls Grammar School since 2005. She is also a VCE oral and written examinations assessor and a presenter at the VATI Conference. Since 2014, she has been working as an oral assessor for the CELI Italian language qualification from the University of Perugia. Annarita was a reviewer of the 2nd Edition Ecco! Uno and Due Activity Books.

Dr. Teresa De Fazio has been actively involved in teacher education for over 20 years, after starting out as both a primary and secondary level teacher. She has worked in the area of multiculturalism and social cohesion for several years alongside Government and received recognition awards from both Victoria University and the Modern Language Teachers Association of Victoria for her contributions to education. She is also a Love of Languages Ambassador. She has various publications and continues to write in the area of education. She acted as Intercultural Learning Consultant on the Ecco! Uno and Due 2nd Edition series.