Trilingual encyclopedias help Ukrainian children integrate in Italy

An encyclopedia for three worlds. A multilingual encyclopedia, considered the first, is currently helping Ukrainian children to fully integrate into the Italian school system.

It has 8 volumes and each entry is presented in Italian, English and Ukrainian.

It is aimed at primary school children, but its main objective is to help Ukrainian students feel fully accepted in the classroom with their new peers and teachers.

Asia Graziano, project manager at Scripta Maneant Editions, explained how the concept started. “The idea was born out of a concrete need. We wondered how, on our small scale, we could contribute to the school, education and cultural integration of newcomers, Ukrainian children who came to Italy and Europe.

It contains hundreds of topics conveyed to children from different backgrounds through not only books, but also interactive content, audiobooks, smartphones and multimedia interactive blackboards.

Professor Olimpio Tullio explained how these books are used in the classroom. “For example, we started from the solar system, analyzing what the sun is and this is written in Italian, English and Ukrainian. We talked about it, then we used the book to study eclipses.

“We tend to think of the school as a community, a community of teaching and a community of practice,” said Filomena Massaro, director of the Polyvalent Institute 12 in Bologna.

The project also takes care of the needs of all the children in the class. Project manager Laura Lopardo said no child should be left behind.

“We were concerned about these children who might have learning disabilities. Therefore, we printed it with a specific large font.

Throughout Italy, dozens of schools and around 500 public libraries have adopted the trilingual encyclopedia.

Watch the Euronews report in the player above.

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