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Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Compose an Italian essay on topics of general interest over a broad
range of personal and societal issues.
2. Hold a conversation and speak extemporaneously on a wide range of
personal topics, with correct pronunciation and few grammatical errors, using a variety of tenses for the past, present, and future.
3. Comprehend Italian spoken naturally on a wide range of daily and cultural
topics.
4. Comprehend the general meaning of most short fiction and non-fiction
written in Italian with some the use of a dictionary.
5. Present personal interpretation of fiction and non-fiction selections
orally and in writing.
6. Produce and employ with relative ease: most regular and irregular
verb conjugations, subject and object pronouns, present past, future
and conditional verbs.
7. Produce and employ with relative ease: definitions, synonyms and/or
opposites of a broad range of Italian verbs adjectives and nouns.
8. Produce and employ with relative ease most everyday Italian vocabulary
and common idioms.
9. Produce correct pronunciation of familiar Italian words as well as
most unfamiliar ones.
10. Summarize and explain the contents of various texts, including providing their own basic interpretation.
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A. Vocabulary and grammar related to a variety of communicative tasks, including:
1. Discussing career and life goals.
2. Expressing hopes, dreams, and aspirations.
3. Describing a place to live and how to find it.
4. Describing vacation activities and travel plans, including making transportation and hotel arrangements.
5. Giving and taking orders and instructions, including directions around town
6. Identifying various places to shop depending on items desired, including food, clothing, services, etc.
7. Identifying various parts of the body, including issues related to health and well-being.
8. Describing common ailments and giving and following health-related advice.
9. Expressing opinions on health and environmental issues.
10. Discussing Italian politics and Italy's role in the European Union.
11. Taking about contemporary Italian society and its issues.
12. Taling about Italian people around the world.
13. Conveying information about hypothetical, improbable, or contrary-to-fact situations.
14. Conveying causal (if/then) and subjective information.
15. Making comparisons of equality and inequality, including superlatives.
16. Ingtroduction to the "passato remoto," for purposes of recognizing and comprehending the historical past in authentic texts.
B. Specific elements of grammar include:
1. Review of the imperfect vs. "passato prossimo," the future and commands
2. Past and present conditional
3. Double object pronouns
4. Comparatives and superlatives
5. Imperatives
6. Review of adjectives and indefinite pronouns
7. Review of various pronouns and their use
8. Review of reflexive and reciprocal, inlcuding use with direct object pronouns
9. Impersonal expressions with the infinitve
10. The present and past subjunctive, including the imperfect
11. If clauses and the subjunctive
12. The subjunctive's relationship to the indicative and to various tenses
13. "Se" clauses and hypothetical, improbable, or contrary-to-fact sentences
14. Conjunctions that require the subjunctive
15. The "concordanza dei tempi" in the subjunctive
16. Other uses of the pronouns "ci" and "ne"
17. Recognizing the "passato remoto" and its function
C. Information related to key aspects of Italian culture, including related vocabulary, such as:
1. Geography, history, and distinguishing characteristics of various Italian regions not already discussed in Italian 1 or 2
2. Women in Italy
3. Work and careers, including workplace issues
4. Italian language and impact of globalization (Italenglish)
5. Italian transportation and hotel systems
6. Travel habits of the Italians
7. Contributions to Western history and culture
8. European Union and Italy's ambivalent relationship
9. Role of the piazza, "la bella figura," the lottery, etc. in Italy
10. Contemporary issues in Italy, such as slow food, organic, agriturismo, and other qualtiy-of-life movements
11. Italian health system
12. Italian immigration and emigration
13. The changing face of Italy
14. Italian fashion and shopping
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Typical assignments include:
1. Reading from the textbook and instructor-assigned materials (averaging 20-25 pages per week).
2. Memorizing vocabulary and/or verb conjugations (averaging 60 - 85 terms per
week).
3. Completing assigned exercises in textbook and/or workbook (averaging 10 exercises
per week).
4. Completing language laboratory activities and/or writing reports (averaging
2 hours per week).
5. Reviewing material for in-class participatory assignments and/or quizzes and tests (averaging one hour per week).
6. Quizzes and exams, as indicated by the instructor (examples include vocabulary/reading quizzes, chapter tests, mid-term and final exams, etc.)
7. Short compositions (2-4, averaging 150-400 words each).
8. Oral participation, group activities, and assigned projects.
9. Brief written and/or oral responses to short fiction or articles of cultural interest.
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Percorsi: L'Italian attraverso la lingua e la cultura by Italiano/Marchegiani (textbook, student activities manual, online MyItalianLab), 1st ed.,
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.
Instructor prepared materials
