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First Italian Playgroup for Under-4s in Cambridge

Cambridge, 12th November 2007 – “Il Girotondo” (Italian for “Ring-a-ring-o’-roses”), the first playgroup for bilingual Italian-speaking children under 4, launches today.

“Il Girotondo” follows the successful format of British parent and toddler playgroups with the use of songs and nursery rhymes; it aims to give young children the opportunity to learn and practice Italian whilst playing and having fun. The founding committee is a group of four Italian mothers, Rosanna Norman, Serena Olsaretti, Claudia Peverini and Daisy Sadleir who have been collectively living in the UK for almost 40 years.

The meetings will take place on Monday afternoons - lasting one hour from 16:00 to 17:00 - at Ross Street Community Centre, Cambridge, CB1 3UZ.

The hour is divided into three parts respectively dedicated to songs, nursery rhymes and games. Each section is led by one of the parents who organises the activities with the aim to encourage the children to speak Italian and hear the language from a native speaker.

Rosanna Norman commented: “We are all passionate about our heritage and our language and believe in the importance of passing on our passion to our young children. Although we all speak to them in Italian at home and give them regular access to audio-visual and printed material in our mother tongue, we felt it was necessary to create a suitable forum where our children could enjoy these activities as a group”.

Claudia Peverini added: “Currently the playgroup is entirely self-funded, so we only ask all participants for a small contribution – typically £1.00 - towards room hire to cover our costs. We are confident that other Italian parents of young children living in Cambridge will welcome this initiative and join “Il Girotondo” very soon”.

Italian playgroup celebrates its first birthday

Cambridge, 12^th November 2008 – “Girotondo” (Italian for “Ring-a-ring-o’-roses”), the first playgroup for bilingual Italian-speaking children under 4, enters its second year.

The playgroup has been increasing in popularity within the Italian community in Cambridge, its meetings (even during half term) are strongly attended and participant numbers have grown substantially. Two of the original four-strong organising committee have had to step aside due to changes in personal circumstances, but the remaining founding members, Rosanna Norman and Claudia Peverini, have worked hard throughout the year to keep Girotondo moving forward.

Rosanna Norman commented: “We are absolutely thrilled with the success of the playgroup. It has literally grown from strength to strength. We didn’t imagine it would be so fulfilling! It’s a moving experience seeing all the children grow together and become friends. In addition, all our activities and events celebrating traditional Italian festivities were very successful indeed”. Rosanna went on to say ”This summer we started a close co-operation with the established Cambridge Italian Club which organises Italian classes for bilingual Italian-speaking children age 5 to 12. This collaboration, amongst other things, has also brought two internationally renowned Italian puppet theatre companies to Cambridge.”

Claudia Peverini said: “I think we can proudly boast that probably we know most of the Italian families with small children living in Cambridge! Having identified a need common to most of these families, we have also put together a database of Italian babysitters to aid our members, albeit we have no direct involvement in the relationship between the babysitters and the families.

As the playgroup is still entirely self-funded, we have had to increase the token fee – £2.00 per child or £3.00 per two or more children from the same family - towards room hire and teaching

materials to cover our costs. Claudia concluded: “We are really happy to see all the children playing and communicating in Italian and we truly hope they carry their enthusiasm for the language and culture with them in the years to come”.

The meetings take place on Monday afternoons lasting one hour from 16:00 to 17:00 - at Ross Street Community Centre, Cambridge, CB1 3UZ.

**To enable parents who work full time to attend the playgroup, Girotondo held its first Saturday meeting on the 18^th October and will be meeting again on Saturday 15^th November from 10:00 to 11:00 at Romsey Mill, Hemingford Road, Cambridge, CB1 3BZ.**

Giochi, canzoni e fiabe per bimbi italiani a Cambridge