Having lived in Australia since 2013 and Sydney since 2015, Panico joined the University of Sydney to deepen her understanding of bilingualism, an interest of hers that developed from her teaching experiences in Italy and London.
The study, along with her role as lecturer at the university, has given Panico a wide-ranging perspective which the teacher shares with her students.
“Santa Sabina College is fertile ground for me to observe bilingual learners, which is useful for my studies,” she points out.
Her research aims to study the conversations of a group of bilingual subjects, analysing them with a multilevel approach.
The study will observe not only the verbal language used but also other elements such as, for example, gestures and eye movements.
“I focus on the way subjects use language switches - the transition from one language to another - and the use of the two languages in spontaneous conversations,” Panico explained.
“The fact that respondents speak spontaneously makes the research innovative, in that the linguistic analysis to be done turns out to be very detailed.”
Panico adds that this approach, which originated in the United States, is based on everyday conversations in order to understand how bilingual people navigate so-called “translanguaging”.
At Santa Sabina College there are many families of Italian origin, so many that teaching the language is considered by the school community to be particularly important.
Part of this is because the very nature of the institution, which is an IB - International Baccalaureate - leads it to consider learning a second language an integral part of a child’s education.
“The teaching of Italian begins as early as Prep and follows the guidelines of the New South Wales Department of Education's Syllabus for Languages,” said Panico.
“The orientation towards an L2 level, from Year 1, sets this school apart from others in Sydney.
“The current program, initiated by primary section head Joanne Giannini, has been in place since last year.”
Panico does not heavily rely on technology, arguing that apps or websites are not sufficient tools for learning a language, as conversations must be meaningful and have value for the people interacting.
“I firmly believe that you have to start from doing, from creating,” she said.
Panico’s approach in the classroom is interactive, based on continually looking for opportunities for students to interact as much as possible.
“I have to keep the interest alive; when we have covered a certain topic or read a story in class and the children have understood the meaning of what I’m saying and are therefore masters of that vocabulary, we switch to Italian.
“For example, with students in Year 3 and 4, I read the story of Pinocchio several times, first only in English and then introducing, as we went along, Italian.
“We finally prepared a bilingual booklet in which, on each page, students wrote one paragraph in English and one in Italian.”
With younger children, however, the teacher gets help from ‘Tobi’, a shy stuffed tiger who does not understand English and only comes out of his den when students sing or speak in Italian.
“Tobi is the idol of all the children, they compete to hold him and ask him questions in Italian,” she said.
Panico uses expertise, knowledge and creativity in the classroom to accompany her students along the path of learning a second language.
