I believe this can be done better by introducing an Italian American/Italian Studies Program, rather than an Italian Language Program.

With that said, perhaps it is being done because it is politically easier to get a Language program adopted rather than a Studies program, I will try to understand.

If The Italian Language Program can be used to teach BOTH Italian AND Italian American History and Culture, I would be somewhat placated.

I continue to believe the Studies program is far more important than the Language program.

What would you rather leave your children, merely the Italian Language, without any understanding of what the History and Culture of Italian/Americans and Italians are?

For what benefit? To order better in an Italian Restaurant, or to Travel more easily in Italy? How Shallow. It is better they know the Italian History and Culture on both sides of the Atlantic, the trials and the tribulations, the triumphs and the tragedies.

Better they know the sacrifices their ancestors made for them, than how to conjugate a verb, or memorize a vocabulary.     
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Sons of Italy Launches National Adopt-A-School Italian Language Campaign

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2003 – The Order Sons of Italy in America is launching
a new “Adopt-A-School Program,” a national initiative to start and sustain
Italian language courses in American schools and universities. The program
was requested of OSIA by the government of Italy.

OSIA is urging all its chapters, members and supporters coast to coast to
assist by working with their local school principals and boards, teachers,
students and parents to offer Italian language courses. OSIA chapters are
also being encouraged to provide scholarships for Italian language students
and purchase Italian textbooks, tapes, videos and other necessary materials
to donate to their schools.

“OSIA’s efforts toward language promotion are at the forefront of the
cultural movement to preserve our Italian American roots,” said Robert
Messa, OSIA national president. “Learning Italian is one of the best ways
young Italian Americans can discover their heritage and those not of Italian
descent can learn about the culture of the nation’s fifth-largest ethnic
group.”

OSIA members and non-members alike who are interested in starting or
enhancing an Italian language program can send for the free how-to kit
“Start Italian in Your School!” to guide them in their efforts. The kit
contains step-by-step instructions on how to lobby school officials, survey
students and find funding.

To receive a kit, send a large (9 x 12), self-addressed envelope with $1.50
in stamps to: Italian Language Kit, OSIA, 219 E St. NE, Washington, DC
20002. The kit can also be downloaded from the OSIA Web site at
http://www.osia.org/public/YISD/COPILAS_kit.pdf.

Contact Michael Greto, OSIA director of youth and Italian studies, at
202/547-2900 or mgreto@osia.org for more information or to obtain the free
language kit.

Established in 1905, OSIA is the oldest and largest national organization in
the United States for men and women of Italian heritage. Today, it has more
than 575,000 members and supporters and a network of 700 chapters coast to
coast. OSIA works at the community, national and international level to
promote the heritage and culture of an estimated 26 million Italian
Americans, the nation’s fifth largest ethnic group, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau.
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Press contact: Diane Crespy
               202.547.8115
               dcrespy@osia.org
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NEWS - For Immediate Release