Caleidoscopio is an open and free online program to learn and teach Italian at the intermediate level. Caleidoscopio was published as a textbook by Pearson Education between 2014-2021. Caleidoscopio can no longer be purchased, but is now available as an open access educational resource.
Caleidoscopio is more than just an online textbook: the program includes audio files, testing programs, answer keys to all exercises, teacher's note, Student Activity Manual, glossary, and a sample syllabus. With Caleidoscopio you have access to your own personal language lab!
All components of Caleidoscopio are downloadable by instructors and learners alike.
Please note that images by Alamy and Shutterstock, and texts not authored by Daniela Bartalesi-Graf and Colleen Ryan cannot be redistributed outside your institution or modified. Teachers may share the contents of Caleidoscopio with theri students.
How can I access Caleidoscopio?
We ask interested instructors and learners to fill out this simple registration form. This will also allow us to know how many instructors and students use this program. Also, we may use your email to contact you should we have any updates or changes in the program. However, we will not share your email address with anyone.
Within 72 hours from registration, we will contact you via email and share with you the web link to access the rich content of Caleidoscopio!
Who is Caleidoscopio designed for?
Teachers of Italian anywhere (high schools, colleges, universities, private schools, cultural centers) who are seeking a free teaching resource at the intermediate level to offer their students for free in lieu of a textbook. Since all components of Caleidoscopio may be downloaded, teachers will be able to use them as they are or adapt them to fit their learning objective. Teachers will also also be able to upload any components of Caleidoscopio to the Learning Management System in use in their institution (Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, Sakai, etc.) and share Caleidoscopio with their students.
Students of Italian at the intermediate level anywhere (high schools, colleges, universities, private schools, cultural centers). If their teacher has decided to adopt Caleidoscopio in the Italian curriculum, students will be able to access the program via their school Learning Management System (Blackboard, Moodle, Canvas, Sakai, etc.) or via personal registration.
Individual learners of Italian at the intermediate level anywhere. Caleidoscopio is an excellent resource for self-study. Individual learners have everything they need to advance their knowledge of the Italian language and culture: audio files for oral practice and answer keys to all exercises to test their progress, a complete Student Activity Manual and testing program, and much more to gain further practice. We ask individual learners to complete this personal registration form. Within 72 hours, they will receive via email a link to Caleidoscopio.
What will I find in Caleidoscopio?
Caleidoscopio offers an innovative and interactive review of Italian grammar at the intermediate level, while exposing students to a “kaleidoscope” of cultural subjects through a variety of arts and media. In each chapter of Caleidoscopio you will find:
two cultural readings exploring one Italian region;
two long audio files (Ascolto);
three literary readings;
grammar review on two topics;
presentation and discussion of two films (one feature film and one episode of La meglio gioventù by Marco Tullio Giordana).
Caleidoscopio was created following these guiding principles:
• Regional Organization: Each of the eight chapters explores one Italian region. Specifically, Caleidoscopio features three regions from the north (Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, and Veneto); two from the center (Tuscany and Lazio); and three from the south (Apulia, Sicily, and Campania). Italy’s twelve additional regions are also explored, through the Viaggio virtuale in the Student Activity Manual (SAM), which fosters student-centered discovery learning through percorso scritto and/or percorso orale activities.
• Unique Focus on Cultural Content and Interdisciplinary Orientation: Each chapter explores a region through the lenses of literature, art, history, popular culture, and cinematography. However, the presentations of these topics are not simply “local” or “regional.” For instance, Chapter 8, on the Veneto, does not merely present St. Marco’s Square, gondolas, and Carnevale. Rather, these topics, and others pertinent to the region, intertwine with academic subjects and issues of general interest, such as gender (the first female gondolier), history (how Venice was founded), art history (the significance of works by Tintoretto, Tiziano, Veronese, and Palladio), the history of the language (the etymology of words such as “ciao” and “ghetto”), or current political/environmental issues (industrialization and global warming). Moreover, the literary and film selections address issues of general interest, such as class and gender relations (Goldoni’s play La villeggiatura, Soldini’s film Pane e tulipani), or the changing nature of friendship (compagnia) throughout history (Meneghello’s Libera nos a malo).
• Thorough Interconnection of Culture, Literature, Cinema, and Grammar: The five sections of each chapter integrate language and cultural content continuously: the cultural introduction (La regione) prepares students to contextualize the authentic readings (Le letture) through a guided analysis of photographs, vocabulary, and topics; and the authentic readings, in turn, offer different viewpoints on socio-cultural issues already raised in the introduction. The readings also present authentic examples of the grammatical structures in that chapter or others already reviewed, so that the Tema grammaticale and Ripasso breve sections are not detached or isolated from course content. The film (the first of the two in the Percorsi cinematografici) is yet another window on that region’s unique identity and it strategically reintegrates the chapter’s topics and themes.
Below is Caleidoscopio's Table of Contents:
1. Lazio
2. Emilia Romagna
3. Sicilia
4. Lombardia
5. Toscana
6. Puglia
7. Campania
8. Veneto
Student Activities Manual
Testing program
Appendice
Mappe dell'Italia
Glossario
Indice analitico
Fonti dei testi e delle immagini
Sample syllabus
Teacher's notes
Below you can preview the Table of Contents of a sample chapter (1. Lazio):
CAPITOLO 1 - LAZIO
Questions? Please write to:
Daniela Bartalesi-Graf, Senior Lecturer, Wellesley College
I look forward to hearing from you!