Target Age: Eighth Grade Italian
Standards Addressed:
1.1: Students will be able to express their likes to the teacher.
4.1: Students will be able to compare the verb “to like” in English with “piacere’s” literal meaning of “is pleasing to” in Italian.
Essential Question: How can I express my likes and dislikes?
Unit Question: How to use the verbs “piacere,” “preferire,” “desiderare,” and “volere” to express wants and likes.
Content Question: When is “piacere” used and how is it formed?
Materials:
*Youtube clip of Italian song
*Smartboard
*Worksheets
*Dessert Cart with labeled food items
Learning Theory Addressed: Behaviorism: Students will be asked to demonstrate a particular behavior (correctly conjugating the verb piacere) and will receive positive reinforcement if they can correctly perform the behavior.
Learner Objectives:
1) Students will differentiate between the English translation of “piacere” ( I like) and its literal meaning (is pleasing to) and how it affects the way we use the verb.
2) Students will be able to repeat the correct pronunciation for each conjugation of the verb.
3) Students will distinguish the use of the third person singular and third person plural forms of the verb by completing worksheets illustrating the concepts presented in the lessons.
4) Students will be able to state their preferences from the dessert cart by formulation a sentence using the correct construction of the verb “piacere.”
Activities:
1) As a motivation, the teacher will start class by stating things she likes about class that day
(students’ clothing or accessories, ect). The students will then watch a brief clip of the song “I like to move it” translated into Italian. They will be asked to make the connection

between the Italian song and the English translation as an introduction to the verb
“piacere.”
2) Students will negotiate meaning of the use of piacere to express likes and dislikes in
Italian. They will be introduced to the concept that in Italian, “I like” is actually translated as “is pleasing to me,” which is why they need a subject pronoun or the preposition “a” before the conjugated verb. Students will also be taught that the verb is only conjugated in the third person singular and plural form because the verb coincides with what is pleasing, not the person who is pleased. These concepts will be presented on a worksheet (in English) with examples in Italian to illustrate each concept.
3) Students will be given a short worksheet to complete in which they will apply what they had just learned to complete sentences. They will only be asked to correctly conjugate the verb, not to construct the entire phrase.
4)
Students will be presented individually with a “dessert cart,” provided by the teacher, which is filled with various singular and plural items. Each student will be asked individually to distinguish what they like on the cart, being sure to use the right conjugations of the verb. All of the dessert items will be labeled so that students are able to formulate their own phrase.