Sicilian Project

Free English courses for the very young, a true heritage of Sicily Chronicle, News, Focus Article by: Professor Rosario Faraci 2023 is the European Year of Skills, according to the European Union. At all levels of education and training - in schools, universities and workplaces - the European Commission recommends that all member countries raise the level of the eight key competences of lifelong learning, especially among young people. One of these is multilingual competence, the ability to listen, understand and dialogue in a foreign language. Even better if it is English, the international language of studies and work, whose level of knowledge is still very low, especially among the young people of our land. The Sicilian Project, a 501-C3 nonprofit that raises funds from donors across the United States and around the world to promote scholarships in Sicily aimed at teaching students to speak, think, and write the English language, is carrying out a powerful initiative to educate young people about the English language. It is doing what the European Union recommends to do to raise the level of skills in the world of youth. It has already started and completed two classes in Acicastello at Villa Fortuna, offered free of charge to a total of 40 girls and boys aged between six and thirteen. A few days ago, two more English courses were launched, for twenty girls and boys up to 11 years old; are held in Canicattì, in the province of Agrigento, at the social cooperative Empatia. Between June and July, at the ICS De Amicis in Enna, another course will start, as well as two other classes are scheduled at the Youth Center in Aci Catena and then in Cerami, in the heart of Sicily. The format is very streamlined. It consists of twenty hours per class, distributed over some half days, to allow girls and boys to familiarize themselves with English, learning practically and with original teaching aids the first sentences necessary to dialogue and interact with the guidance of mother tongue teachers that The Sicilian Project has co-opted within its vast network of supporters. All the costs of the training initiative are borne by the American organization at no cost to the participating boys and girls. The non-profit organization intends to create a stable bridge between Sicily and the United States and, as a gesture of gratitude towards his Sicily by the Italian American Alfred Zappala, a lawyer from Boston who has been living in Aci Catena for years, has already promoted other initiatives over the years, most of which are aimed at young people, considered the true heritage of Sicily. An important communicative window on Sicily to make it known to the vast international community, of North Americans in particular, is contained within the very popular web program "You, me and Sicily" conceived and conducted by the American journalist Eszter Vajda.