Dr George Cremona, senior Lecturer within the Department of Languages and Humanities of the Faculty of Education, is one of the authors of the new book The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon: From Concert Halls to the Halls of Academia recently published by Routledge. The book was launched during an international conference held at the University of Turin, Italy.
This book, which contributes to the wealth of academic literature about the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) written over the last two decades, consolidates and recognizes the ESC's relevance in academia by analysing its contribution to different fields of study. In this book, Dr Cremona shares insights about the potential of the Eurovision Song Contest to promote values propagated by the European Union within formal learning contexts. This work draws on his school-based experiences linked to the Learning through the Eurovision: A Multimodal Research Project that he launched in 2012.
During his stay in Turin, Dr Cremona was also invited to conduct a number of lessons with foreign language secondary school and high school students in Turin, the host city of Eurovision 2022. These lessons offered students the opportunity to learn various grammar points through Eurovision-related materials.
After conducting the lessons, Dr Cremona analysed the students’ reactions with their Italian foreign language teachers. Similar to indications obtained from Maltese classes, and to others obtained previously from schools in Sweden, Ukraine, Switzerland and Germany, it was once again noted how Eurovision-related materials, when used critically during student-centred foreign language lessons, may serve as an effective pedagogical tool within the selected foreign language learning contexts.