Italian in the Workplace Seminar
On Tuesday, May 9, 6 Year 9 students of Italian were invited to UniSA’s ‘Italian in the Workplace’ seminar. Along with many other students from schools across Adelaide, we learnt how having Italian as a second language can benefit your career. It was amazing to see how professionals in industries from law, hospitality, and education, to healthcare, tech, and STEM were able to use not only the Italian language but the Italian culture in their everyday lives at work. Topped off with delicious Italian food throughout the day, as well and “speed dates” with Italian mentors and creating career profiles, it was incredible to be reminded how amazing Italian is and how far it can get you.
“I now understand how important it is to continue Italian throughout high school, something I now am looking forward to doing.” Isabella Dragani
“The UniSA seminar was an engaging and enjoyable excursion that was fun, interesting, and extremely informative. I learnt that Italian (or any other language) can influence and improve many jobs and create all jobs run more fluently. This has convinced me to continue learning Italian and be dedicated to the language. I think the most surprising thing that I found whilst on the excursion was that only 22.3% of Australians are bilingual and even less are multilingual. I think this surprised me the most since Australia is a very multicultural country. Because of this small population of multilingual individuals, language barriers that can occur.” Audrey Balic
“At UniSA I learnt some very interesting facts about why Italian is so important and why being bilingual could help you so much in the future. I learnt that not only it will expand your social life with different cultures and make new friends from different countries. But it will also boost your chances of getting employed into a job in the future. It will also make a family holiday overseas much easier if I can learn a language, I will be able to communicate for my family. I learnt that Learning a new language would improve my brain because I would have to possibly change between two languages.” Aiden Grieger
“We heard from people with a range of different careers and ages. They talked about their experiences and how they benefited from knowing Italian jobwise. Personally, my favourite part of the day was when we got to sit down with the mentors as a group and ask questions after hearing how they got to where they are. These people were doctors and healthcare workers, station managers (for radio), teachers, wine makers, and engineers from industries such as space and aviation.” Massimo Marrone
“The day at Unisa was a fantastic experience, which promoted the criticality of learning another language, specifically Italian. I learnt that being bilingual results in better job opportunities and significantly improves one’s cognitive abilities. In addition to this, being bilingual enhances one’s memory, critical thinking skills, and heightens one’s cultural insight. Finally, the key takeaway message from this seminar was to continue learning Italian despite any challenges it may present because it can lead to incredible career prospects, expanded travel opportunities and an overall richer lifestyle. Thank you for organising this incredible excursion!” Jessica Squeo
Maria Pepe-Micholos, Head of Library, Teacher of Italian, Pastoral Care Teacher and
Olivia Andreula, Italian Coordinator, Italian/Religion/English Teacher
