Italy – Free Lesson Plan and Worksheets
Lesson
Grade Level: K-2 Activity Time: 15-20 Minutes
Materials
- Italy Brochure
- 1-2 short YouTube videos of Italian operas
- “At the Opera” worksheet
Introduction: Ask children, “What kind of music do you listen to?”
Tell children they’re going to listen to a piece of music today that might be very different from other music they’ve heard. Ask if anyone has heard of the word “opera.” An opera is similar to a play, but all the words are sung instead of spoken. The first opera ever was performed in Florence, Italy. The operas we’re listening to today are in Italian, not English. Each song tells a story. See if you can guess how the person is feeling by their facial expressions
Play a short clip from an Italian opera. YouTube has many free clips. I really like “Siempre Libre” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6EChjmi1vU
After watching the video together, have a discussion. Here are a few ideas for questions you could ask students:
- Does this sound like the music you listen to? How is it the same/different?
- How do you think she’s feeling?
- What might be happening in the story?
Activity:
Play a short clip of an Italian opera. While children are listening, have them draw what the music makes them think of on the worksheet.
Here are a few ideas for free YouTube clips:
- Sad Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmfw17L_Deo)
- Sad O Mio Babbino Caro by Giacomo Puccini (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFLVKaFVGag)
- Happy Ah! mes a mis by Gaetano Donizetti (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIv_0Kj9Gfw)
- Angry Queen of the Night Mozart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP9SX7V14Z4)
Wrapping Up:
- Have students share their artwork with one another.
- How do you think the person singing this song was feeling?
- What did it make you think of?
- Share your picture/story with your friends