Introducing Hebrew Language and Culture in an Italian High School as a key for multicultural intercomprehension

At the high school “M. Gioia” in Piacenza several experiments in teaching unusual languages were held during the last decade: from Arabic (also curricular - see Astori 2004 and 2010) to Chinese, to Russian (since 2006), and among ancient languages Sanskrit (Astori 2012b), as well as minority languages and cultures: from the pilot project about the Dogons (see D. Vignola, http://www.donatellavignola.com/dogon/, 2002) to Kurdish (“Competence and knowledge for a European citizen: towards a common certification”, 2007-09 biennium - see Vignola 2009a, b), not neglecting a focus on Italian as L2 (Vignola 2009c, Torresan 2009; a general framework of the vanguard glottodidactic activities at the aforesaid school is provided by Vignola 2001 and Astori 2012a). In the 2005-07 biennium it was developed the “Judaism” project, consisted in the teaching of the rudiments of Jewish language and culture inserted in the curricular formative process of a secondary school programme. Such a project – enriched by the mounting of an exhibition – proved paradigmatic as regards the way of providing “multilingual education” by school: among the primary purposes of the project there was to educate students to multiculturalism through the knowledge of one of the oldest minorities in Europe and of its history as an emblematic example for any relationship with the Other, concurring to open minds to the value of “socio-cultural diversity”, and more generally speaking to sensitize of the right to diversity as an opportunity for enrichment and exchange (see D. Vignola, “Oggetti di pregiudizio: tracce di vita ebraica fra tolleranza e rifiuto”, http://www.donatellavignola.com/pregiudizio/). Purpose of this paper is to brief – within the more general context of the educational activity of school in the socio-linguistic field – on the way this project was conceived and developed, and to discuss aims and achievements.