Our Course Objectives
Course Description
Our goal in the French and Italian language programs is to guide you in the development of speaking and literacy skills in Italian through the communicative acts of reading, writing, listening, and creating discourse around texts of all types. We want you to develop to the greatest possible extent a competency in comprehending and producing both spoken and written Italian, as well as sociocultural competency in communicating with people who speak it.
Our course is subtitled Here and Now for a specific reason. Linguistically speaking, "here-and-now" language helps us describe the world around us, our current experiences, and our everyday activities and habits. This is what you should be able to do by the end of this semester. In addition, we will learn some basic information on Italian geography, culture, and society.
This class employs a flipped classroom approach. This means that students are expected to read about, study, and practice course material before coming to class. This allows us to use our time in the classroom as effectively as possible, where you can spend as much time as possible working with and using the language with your instructor and your peers. Canvas will be used to deliver all instructional materials and will serve as the online textbook for this course.
NB: This course fulfills the Foreign Language General Education Requirement (GER) in the Dietrich School of Arts of Sciences.
Expectations and Goals
The main focus of classes is on communication, and we strive for maximum use of Italian in the classroom. Because you might have limited opportunities to speak or hear Italian outside of class, classroom time is devoted to help develop your competency in these areas. This means that your instructor will speak only Italian to you during class, and you will be expected to do the same with your instructor and classmates. Should you need additional explanations or wish to discuss matters not directly related to course content, your instructor will be happy to speak to you in English before or after class and during office hours.
The goals of this course are:
- Speak Italian well enough to describe, narrate, and ask/answer questions in the present tense about a variety of topics related to your university life, your home, your daily activities, and pastimes.
- Comprehend Italian with sufficient ability to grasp the main idea and some supporting details in short conversations (spontaneous or recorded) that pertain to the topics mentioned above.
- Read and understand the main idea and some details of materials (both literary and non-literary) about a variety of topics.
- Write sentences and short paragraphs on familiar topics relating to personal interests and practical needs.
- Begin to develop an awareness of Italian culture.
- Begin to understand how on a basic level Italian functions as a language