Eighteen associations from the north-eastern Italian town of Trento have launched a network that coordinates Italian courses for foreigners. Their goal: To compensate for the elimination of government language courses after the implementation of the 'Salvini Decree.'
The network "Rete italiana a Trento" (Italian Network in Trento) was created so that volunteering entities already active on the ground can better coordinate their efforts. The eighteen associations involved - which include Ama, Amici dei Senza Tetto, Centro Astalli, Coop Samuele, and Kaleidoscopio - hope they can increase the number of Italian language courses for foreigners in the Trento area together.
Coordinators say that the goal is to compensate for the fact that many government courses for migrants are being eliminated. This was decided by the provincial council after the national security and migration decree - also known as the Salvini Decree - was introduced last fall.
Since September 2018, 192 people, including professors, pensioners and students, have offered 670 hours of group lessons through the "Rete italiana" project.
Allow volunteers to meet and share experiences
The network aims to allow different volunteers and organizations to get to know each other, so they can pass on different didactic methods - for example through workshops.
They are planning to create a calendar for all weekly activities held weekly in Trento for the teaching of Italian and then put this on flyers to hand out to foreigners, social workers and volunteers.