More to Italy than Pizza
Exchange student from Italy shows off her cultural presentation at her American high school

Anna shares the real Italia with Alabama community

During International Education Week, I shared a bit of my culture with my American school. I started the activity by asking people in my class what they knew about Italy. The answers were pretty much the same: pizza, pasta, and Mamma Mia! So, to change their minds, I gave them a presentation about my culture.

I introduced myself in my native language and shared where in Italy I live. I also talked about my friends, school, and other facts about Italy. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised that everyone was paying attention. They were involved and curious.

After the presentation, we played a Kahoot! game about Italy, and they all did pretty well. After the game, I showed them a video about me and my experience here so far. Then, I showed them how to play a card game called Briscola.

I'm thankful that my program gave me the opportunity to share my country with my community here.

Then, I had them try some authentic Italian snacks that my mom sent me; they all said they were delicious and that I should bring more. Another thing that I shared with my class were recipes that my grandma uses for Christmas dishes. I was very happy to see that they were all taking notes!

Lastly, when I went home, I invited some of my friends over and cooked pasta al ragù and tiramisù for them. We all had a great evening—I even taught them a few phrases in Italian! I'm thankful that my program gave me the opportunity to share my country with my community here. Hopefully, they enjoyed it as much as I did.

—Anna (Italy), hosted by the Alred family (AL)