Dedica for School
Dedica continues to focus very closely on the younger generations, organizing special events reserved to students and designed to give them the opportunity of getting to know the major players on the international literary stage.
If schools are to play a central rôle in the education of young readers, a major contribution to achieving this aim can be made by organizations which are outside the school itself and have been created with the aim of promoting literature: this is demonstrated by the many years of success enjoyed by the READING WITH DEDICA project.
The project is aimed at two different categories of recipient:
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Words in centre stage
One of the key features of the festival is that its guests, all important figures in the international literary panorama, represent a wide variety of cultures, many of them affected by problems which are hard to resolve. For those participating in the project, therefore, understanding the views of the authors hosted by Dedica and their country of origin is an excellent way of understanding the value of serious literature as well as the complexities of the world in which we live.
The cornerstone of the event lies in the interpretation of the individual and is accompanied by moments of reflection about the work of the guest, their personality and their country of origin, at first guided by those who have researched and come to understand the author and later by the teachers of the individual classes. Further analysis is possible thanks to the possibility of attending the various events organized by the festival. This type of in-depth analysis ends with a discussion between the writer and the students.
Words and images for Hisham Matar
There will also be an elective activity: students, whether individually or in groups, can take part in the WORDS AND IMAGES FOR… ideas contest, in which they are asked to translate the sense of what they have learned into written, graphic or multi-media form. The award ceremony will be held at the Municipal Town Hall, and the winners will receive their prizes from the guest author.
Over the years, teachers have consistently shown their appreciation for the potential of this project as a way of giving their students an appreciation of good literature that can bring them a greater knowledge and understanding of the world in which others live.
Five schools in Pordenone and the province will take part in the 2020 festival: Liceo Leopardi-Majorana and Liceo Grigoletti (Pordenone), Liceo artistico Galvani (Cordenons), Licei Le Filandiere and ISIS Sarpi (San Vito al Tagliamento), for a total of 23 classes and 460 students.
PRIMARY AND JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
Punto e basta?
What’s the point of being a full stop?
The project aimed at these students has been assigned to Associazione 0432, which specializes in educational activities for young children. Working together with the Pordenone Civic Library, the project also comprises a series of bibliographical ideas for the different age groups.
The project consists of two sections which have been created on the basis of the difference between the listening skills and attention span of the participants, but share the same interactive approach and the fact that the starting point in both is Hisham Matar’s Il libro di Dot. The younger children (6 to 8 years old) focus on images and visual learning, while those in the 9–12 year age group are also introduced to other works which encourage them to extend their interest to the discovery of the themes to be found in Libro di Dot.
This initiative is very popular with many teachers for the way in which it engages the children and for its perfect alignment with the objectives of the school: that of encouraging younger children to read and to realize that reading is also vital in coming to understand themselves and others.
Schools taking part in the 2020 festival include the Da Vinci, Gozzi, Narvesa, Odorico da Pordenone, Rosmini primary schools and the Pasolini and Centro Storico di Pordenone junior high schools, for a total of 33 classes and 840 students.