Internal structures - ITASTRA
ABOUT US - ItaStra, not just a language school
Founded in 2007 within the Department of Humanities at the University of Palermo, the Italian Language School for Foreigners (ItaStra) is characterised by its innovative approach to teaching and research.
ItaStra is not simply a school of Italian language and culture offering Italian courses throughout the year, special programmes in literature, advanced grammar and sociolinguistics of contemporary Italian, and workshops in Italian and cooking, photography, cinema and theatre. It is also a place of encounter and human and professional growth for students from all over the world, as well as teachers and Italian university students doing their internships. Within the school, multilingualism, the exchange of different experiences and cultures, solidarity, and social commitment are practised.
For years, ItaStra has been active in researching and implementing educational and training courses aimed at the linguistic and cultural inclusion of learners with a wide range of profiles based on international agreements such as those linking it to Chinese universities.
ItaStra has organised and participated in critical educational projects in collaboration with various local, national and European institutions. Since 2012, based on a social inclusion programme developed in agreement with the Municipality of Palermo, it has welcomed many unaccompanied foreign minors (up to 2,500 to date) who have arrived on the coast of Sicily. Over the years, thousands of young migrants have participated in a large-scale project involving many of their peers from the University of Palermo as interns. Together, inside and outside the classroom, they are engaged in artistic activities, discovering the local area and exploring crucial aspects of the contemporary world.
ItaStra has also developed other wide-ranging programmes, partly funded by the Region of Sicily and national and European institutions, aimed at the social and linguistic inclusion of migrant children, young people and adults, including victims of trafficking, living in Palermo.
These projects have resulted in a series of events and plays that have brought this experience to a broad audience.
The encounter and fusion of art, theatre and storytelling, involving hundreds of young people from African and Asian countries and other young Italian and foreign university students, between hands that paint and stories contained in literary classics, is repeated every year, leaving a significant mark on the classrooms and common areas of the Convent of St. Antonino, where the classrooms, library, reading room, front office and ItaStra secretarial office are located.
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