MELBOURNE - Murphy is the Italian teacher at Hoppers Crossing High School and has won one of two scholarships made available by the society.

Thanks to the scholarship worth $8000, Murphy will fly to Florence in April to attend a 40-hour language course and participate in a series of cultural activities.

“One of the main reasons I wanted to take part in this competition is because it’s been too long since I’ve been to Italy,” Murphy explained.

“Italian events, traditions and culture were becoming too abstract a concept to talk about in the classroom and I felt it necessary to go back in order to have a fresh experience of Italian life and customs.

“I felt the need to give students more current and concrete knowledge.”

Murphy emphasised the importance of bringing her personal experience with and perspective on Italian culture to the classroom.

“For example, I’ve never been to Italy during Easter, so how could I tell the kids about it?” she posed.

Murphy, born and raised in Australia by Irish parents, cultivated a love for the Italian language and culture at a young age when, living in Clifton Hill, she was surrounded by Italians.

“My dad would sometimes take us to Mass on Sundays, and he always chose the service in Italian because it was shorter,” she recalled, smiling.

In high school, Murphy started to take studying languages more seriously before choosing to study Italian at university too, along with Japanese.

After graduating, Murphy spent a couple of years in Japan where she taught English to primary and secondary school children. Once back in Australia, thanks to the Teach for Australia program, she enrolled in a master’s degree in teaching, focusing primarily on Italian.

In Florence, Murphy will not only attend the language course, but also a Tuscan cooking workshop that will “let me incorporate the preparation of Italian dishes into the food technology course at school”.

Murphy will spend a weekend in Amsterdam, where she will go to a concert of performer Mahmood, a favourite among her students.

“The kids are very interested in pop culture and Italian rap music, so I thought it was a good opportunity to see him sing live,” Murphy explained.

“Many of the kids have Arabic origins in our school and they recognise themselves in Mahmood and his music.”

After Florence, Murphy will visit Campania and Naples. The idea of discovering a part of Southern Italy for the first time and hearing its dialects particularly excites her.

At Hoppers Crossing High School, Italian is the only language offered to the 1400 students. In recent years, thanks to Murphy, the number of students deciding to continue studying Italian after Year 9, the last year in which it is compulsory, has grown enormously.

“We decided to move towards a curriculum inspired by Gianfranco Conti’s approach, which is more interactive and conversation-based,” shared Murphy.

“After learning how to say a few sentences, ask questions and answer them, we move on to examine grammar.

“After all, even young children learn by simply listening and repeating words first, and then sentences. Grammar comes later,’ Murphy pointed out.

The methodology adopted seems to work in engaging the children, who receive great satisfaction from being able to speak to each other in another language.

Having made a such a profound impact on a public school’s Italian program, with participation having tripled, it is no surprise that the Dante Alighieri society are sending Murphy to Italy.