This is my PPT presentation which I have used to present my micro-teaching lesson on Italian Hand Gestures, during my PTLLS course for the Level 3 Award in Education and Training at Richmond Adult College, on the 29.11.2016. I am keen to say that all materials have been found online, but the presentation has been made ad hoc for this occasion entirely by myself.

1. “SOME THINGS REALLY
SHOULDN’T BE
EXPRESSED IN WORDS”
ITALIAN HAND
GESTURES
Elisabetta Incollingo

2. Aims
 To explain the history and origin of the language of
gestures
 To classify the most common gestures and create an
activity to engage students
 To perform some of the most common gestures to
show how to use the hands to make meaningful
gestures

3. Learning outcomes
 To summarize why italians use hands gestures and
what type of gestures they are
 To identify how and when to use hand gestures
 To perform at least 2-3 favourite gestures according
to your own likes or what you can remember the
most

4. Types of gestures
Psychologists of communication have identified
lots of different types of gestures, but mainly we
distinguish among:
 Pantomimic, representation (theatre,
affection)
 Pictographic, related to shape
 Deictics, associated to the context (toddlers
way)
 Beat, enhance speech
 Symbolic, culturally shared (typical)

5. Italian hand gestures
 What do you think italian gestures are?
 They are symbolic, because they are culturally
shared for their meaning within the population
and could not be understood by another
BUT BE CAREFUL…
1. They can only be used in informal situations,
(eg. talking to family or friends)
2. Normally, they are used to describe an external
situation
3. They are used to express something we cannot
communicate with words

6. 1 Hand, 2 Hands,
1 Finger…
 Italian hand gestures can be done by using 1 finger,
two fingers, 1 hand, 2 hands, arms and other parts of
the body, including face expressions…

7. Just to warm up…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW91Ec4DYkU
1. How many hand gestures have you spotted?
2. Have you ever seen them before?
3. Do you remember their meaning?
Now… let’s pretend to be italian!

8. Group Activity: Mix & Match
 Working together, try to match the pictures
with their meaning
 Now try to match them with the description
(look for the numbers…) 
 This is a self discover approach, so don’t worry if
you get it wrong, the point is for you to:
- Communicate to the group
- Finding solutions together
- Be engaged and discuss point of views

9. Results and feedback
We are now going to:
 Assess your prior knowledge by seeing the right
matching between the picture and the meaning of
the gestures
 Explain and perform together how to use them and
when

10. Picture 1 The Meaning
“What do you want?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mamma mia!!!”
“Where are you going?”
Beside these, it is also widely used in
many contexts when talking about
something that is unreal, or real but
kind of silly.
Picture 2 The Meaning
2.1 “You’re scared eh?”
Or
2.2 “It’s crowded, full of people, too
busy” (place)

11. Picture 3 The Meaning
“Delicious” (food)
“It’s done perfectly” (something very
good, done well)
Picture 4 The Meaning
“Very good, tasty, yummy” (food only)

12. Picture 5 The Meaning
“Perfect!” (Well done)
It can also be used ironically to mean
something that has happened as
planned.
Picture 6 The Meaning
“If I catch you…” (threat)

13. Picture 7 The Meaning
“Nothing left”
“We have none”
Picture 8 The Meaning
“Enough!!!”
“Stop!”

14. Picture 9 The Meaning
“I don’t care about what you’re saying”
Picture 10 The Meaning
“You’re crazy”…
Or
“What you’re saying is not acceptable”

15. Picture 11 The Meaning
“You’re clever”
“You can look forward to what happens
next”
“Sneaky”
Picture 12 The Meaning
“Stealing”
“Doing something behing someone’s
back”

16. Formative Assessment
 Can you explain what is the need of italian gestures?
 Can you name a couple of types of gesture?
 Can you perform one gesture and address its
meaning?
Production: one student picks a picture and
performs the gesture, the others must guess.

17. Thanks for the attention…
 I hope you have enjoyed this lesson and hopefully
next time you go to Italy you can pretend to act the
“italian way”! 
 There are a lot of videos on youtube if you want to do
some practice or see a more expanded list of
gestures, by typing: “Italian Hand Gestures”
Goodbye for now