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First cultural approach: Commedia dell'Arte, made in Wilhelmshaven

  • Venetian masks - created in Wilhelmshaven

    (The "Commedia dell'arte" as first approach to culture of our partners)

    There is a link from younger Greek and Roman comedy (Menandros, Plautus etc.) to the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" - a good chance to introduce continuation of ancient literature in Italian culture to the German project group. And to learn a little bit of the language of our partners :)

    Step 1:

    The students from Wilhelmshaven were introduced to the Commedia dell'arte by pictures with a "Who is who?" quiz in the Latin lessons. They tried to combine description of the characters with the given pictures.

    An example:

         

    (You can find all materials on the page -> materials )

    Step 2:

    Each student choose a character and created a mask for it. This was done during the Art lessons. It was a modern interpretation of the characters. For example, also Colombina, who is traditionally without mask, got a "face" which represented her "double" character: on the one hand the sweet little dove (the meaning of the name "Colombina"), flirtatious and soft, on the other hand the clever one who knows how to pull the strings and how to get rid of "him" again...

    (Paula as Colombina)                         

    Step 3:

    The students from Wilhelmshaven tried to describe themselves as their chosen character in simple Italian - using their knowledge of Latin as help to write down some first sentences in the language of their partners.

    (You can see some of our short videos of this activity on the page -> gallery)

      (preparing short sentences in Italian)

    Step 4:

    Time to introduce the home made masks to the Italian students. This was part of the first face to face students meeting (C2) of our project in january 2019:

       

    Step 5:

    Now it was the turn of the Italian students to match the pairs picture - description, guided by their German partners:

    Step 6:

    But the English worksheets contained new information also for the students from Wilhelmshaven: the origin of the characters. The German students - guided by their Italian partners - had to add this new information into a map of Italy, a short introduction to the topography of the partner country. - This map would travel to Wilhelmshaven again, counting backwards the days until the visit of the Italian students to Wilhelmshaven in March.