Lesson 7: L'alfabeto

How many letters are in the American English Alphabet vs. the Italian alphabet?
What letters are used in the Italian alphabet when spelling foreign words?

-1.1 Engage in conversations
-1.2 Understand language
-1.3 Present information
-4.1 Compare languages, pronunciation

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the Italian alphabet and phonetics as a foundation for effective communication, while simultaneously developing high-school-level cognitive strategies. Students will be able to identify, pronounce, and spell Italian words using the 21 standard letters and 5 "foreign" letters to communicate effectively in interpersonal situations. The lesson is designed to move students from basic recall to strategic thinking.

DOK 1 (Recall): Students identify and name the letters of the Italian alphabet and provide their standard sounds (e.g., “A is always /a/”).


DOK 2 (Skill/Concept): Students apply phonetic rules to decode unfamiliar Italian words and categorize letters based on their sounds compared to English (Language Comparisons).

DOK 3 (Strategic Thinking): Students engage in Error Analysis. Given a list of misspelled or mispronounced words, students must explain the phonetic rule being violated and justify the correction.

DOK 4: Students choose five "Sophisticated" letters (like Z or X) and research 5-10 high-level academic words starting with those letters that could be used in an SAT-style essay

Intentional groupings where students decode a text for 1) literal meaning, 2) phonetic patterns, and 3) structural comparisons to English roots. Focus on the 21 standard Italian letters using high-frequency cognates. Utilize visual & Auditory "Chunking" of letters

Summative assessment on the alphabet including letter recognition, decoding and spelling.

Formative assessments on the alphabet including letter recognition, decoding and spelling.

Google Classroom/Google Forms

Prego textbook