INTENSIVE LANGUAGE COURSES
Daily activities normally include four hours of classroom instruction plus additional work in the language and computer laboratories. Schedules, texts, and staffing are subject to change.
+ designates courses in the seven-week session.
LEVEL 100
3151-3152-3153 Elementary Italian+
Carozza, Piovesana, Alica Vitti
Designed to provide a solid foundation in both spoken and written Italian, this intensive introduction permits comprehensive coverage of basic structures and vocabulary. Exclusive use of the language in dialogues and drills encourages development of linguistic awareness in a meaningful and dynamic context, while classroom activities broaden the student's view of Italian life and culture. Writing and listening skills will also be emphasized. (3 Units)
* Undergraduate students are also required to participate in three special writing workshops and are encouraged to take advantage of the workshop on traditional Italian dances conducted by our artist in residence, Michela Musolino and to enroll in the theatrical workshop conducted by actress Gloria Di Folco.
Required Texts: Lazzarino, Peccianti, Aski, Dini, In giro per l’Italia. McGraw Hill (2005); Workbook and Laboratory Manual by same authors (2005). First Edition
Recommended Text: HarperCollins Sansoni Italian Dictionary. Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. 3rd Edition. Firenze: Sansoni (2001).
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructors.
LEVEL 200
3251-3252-3253 An Introduction to Contemporary Italy+
Barattoni, Ferralis, Spani
Intended for students at the intermediate level, this course will afford the opportunity to expand conversation, writing, and reading skills while consolidating knowledge of the more difficult points of grammar. The contextual focus of the course is modern Italian culture including history, politics, and literature among other things. Italian films, short stories and essays, will enhance and complete the learning experience. (3 Units)
Required Texts: Daniela Bartalesi-Graf, /L’Italia dal fascismo ad oggi: Percorsi paralleli nella storia, nella letteratura e nel cinema. /Perugia: Edizione Guerra, 2005;
Rosella Bozzone Costa. Viaggio nell'italiano: Corso di lingua e cultura italiana per stranieri. Seconda edizione. (Torino: Loescher).
Natalia Ginzburg , "Le voci della sera" Torino: Einaudi Tascabili, 1961
"Tutti i nostri ieri" by Natalia Ginzburg, Torino: Einaudi Tascabili
La casa in collina by Cesare Pavesi. Torino: Einaudi Tascabili
Lia Levi "Una bambina e basta" Edizione Angolo Manzoni
Recommended Texts: N. Zingarelli, Vocabolario della lingua italiana. 12th Edition. Bologna: Zanichelli (2003); Harper Collins Sansoni Italian Dictionary. Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. 3rd Edition. Firenze: Sansoni (2001).
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructors.
LEVEL 300
Students at the 300 level normally take 3301, 3304 and 3359. Those who have already taken literature may substitute 3371 for 3359.
3301 Grammar and Composition+
Borgotallo, Morena
This course aims at strengthening and developing the intricate linguistic competence that students must possess in order to decipher and produce various verbal codes. Special emphasis will be given to oral and written expressions through a systematic review of complex linguistic structures. The mastery of grammar will be acquired through an intensive practice of a variety of exercises. Readings and discussions of special topics will culminate in the writing of short pieces of descriptive narrative and argumentative prose.
Required Texts: Una grammatica italiana per tutti. Edilingua 2. Livello Intermedio New Haven and London.
Additional material for the course will be provided by the Instructor
3304 Italy's New Social Landscape: Interpretation and Discussion of Important Trends
Borgotallo, Morena
Like any modern institution, Italian society is undergoing sweeping changes that will forever alter the traditional way of life and the ideological framework that shaped the Italian way of being. The aim of the course is to analyze and discuss this on-going process and to predict future trends through a series of discussion and debates based on controversial topics such as emigration, racism, interracial-marriages, cloning, abortion, death penalty and other issues. The students will have the opportunity to improve the conversational skills needed to express their personal views on such topics.
Required Texts: Mercurio, Roberto Fedi & Paolo Fasoli, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005.
Additional material for the course will be provided by the Instructor
3359 Introduction to Italian Literature: Virtù vs. Fortuna from the Middle Ages to Today
Matteo
In this course we will read and discuss texts spanning all periods of Italian literature and exploring all three major literary forms: poetry, prose (narrative and expositional), and theater (in prose and in verse). The thematic thread we will follow through these texts and across the centuries will be the opposition between virtù and fortuna as agents in human affairs and in shaping history: virtù not in its current sense of "virtue" as moral probity, but in its original meaning (derived from Latin vir, man), suggesting manly strength, a form of power derived from personal skills and aptitudes, such as intelligence, courage, boldness, tenacity, and will power; and fortuna standing for any force beyond an individual's control, whether it be fate, destiny, luck, or chance. The struggle between these two forces can be configured and articulated in various ways: free will vs. predestination (whether theological, in the form of divine grace, or scientific, in the form genetic coding), the individual vs. society, nature vs. nurture, or rebellion vs. conformity. We will consider how human agency is perceived by writers and their times. Students will gain an understanding of the sweep of Italian literature, while sharpening their reading and analytical skills, as well as their ability to express themselves in Italian. (1 Unit)
Required texts: Giovanni Boccaccio, Dieci novelle dal Decameron, a cura di Claudio Bura e M. Antonietta Morettini (Guerra, 1997); Niccolò Machiavelli, La mandragola (Garzanti, 2002); Pietro Metastasio, Melodrammi e canzonette, (BUR, 2005); Giacomo Leopardi, Canti e pensieri (Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2005); Leonardo Sciascia, Todo modo (Adelphi, 2003).
3371 Reading Italian Film: Cinema and Culture
Matteo
This course will provide a background for understanding and appreciating the best of motion picture art from Italy. We will discuss and analyze major movies and cinematic trends in Italian cinema, with particular attention paid to how films relate to the social, political, and cultural situation of their time. In such a way, students will learn to look at film critically and enhance their knowledge of Italian culture and history, while improving their language skills. (1 Unit)
Required texts: Piero Garofalo & Daniela Selisca, Ciak... si parla italiano (Focus Publishing, 2005); Antonello Borra & Cristina Pausini, Italian through Film: A Text for Italian Courses (Yale UP, 2004).