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+
Piovesano, Tillson, Alicia 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)
Students are also required to participate in three special writing workshops and are encouraged to take advantage of the workshops on traditional Italian masks and costumes conducted by Costanza Menghi. Twice a week they will also meet with Carla Guglielmino who has prepared informal meetings to enhance language comprehension and conversation. Students will have plenty of time to chat, listen to music, tell jokes, sing and eat.
Students are encouraged to enroll in the theatrical workshop conducted by actress Gloria Di Folco.
Required Texts:
Percorsi: l'Italia attraverso la lingua e la cultura by Francesca Italiano, University of Southern California
Irene Marchegiani, SUNY - Stony Brook
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Ignazio Silone, Pane e vino. Easy readers, Ashehoung/Alinea, Denmark (1974).
Recommended Text: Harper Collins Sansoni Italian Dictionary. Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese. 3rd Edition. Firenze: Sansoni (2001).
LEVEL 200
3251-3252-3253 An Introduction to Contemporary Italy+
Blad, Marini-Maio, Ryan-Schultz
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. Italian films, short stories and essays, will enhance and complete the learning experience.
Required Texts:
Daniela Bartalesi-Graf, L’Italia dal fascismo ad oggi: Percorsi paralleli nella storia, nella letteratura e nel cinema. Perugia: Guerra, 2005; Susanna Nocchi, Roberto Tartaglione, Grammatica avanzata della lingua italiana. Firenze: Alma. ISBN: 97-888-892-3728-1; Lorenza Mazzetti: Il cielo cade. Palermo: Sellerio, 2000. ISBN 88-389-1795-7
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructors.
Films:
1. La vita e` bella, by Roberto Benigni
2. La notte di San Lorenzo, by the Taviani brothers
3 Ladri di biciclette, by Vittorio De Sica
4. Rocco e i suoi fratelli, di Luchino Visconti
5. Mio fratello e` figlio unico, by Daniele Luchetti
6. Buongiorno, notte, by Marco Bellocchio
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).
**Students are also encouraged to participate in three special writing workshops and are encouraged to take advantage of the workshops on traditional Italian masks and costumes conducted by Costanza Menghi.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)
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 conversational skills needed to express their personal views on such topics. Required Texts: Mercurio. Fedi & Fasoli, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Additional material for the course will be provided by the Instructor
**Students are also encouraged to participate in three special writing workshops and are encouraged to take advantage of the workshops on traditional Italian masks and costumes conducted by Costanza Menghi.
3359 Introduction to Italian Literature Borra
In this course we will read and discuss texts spanning all periods of Italian literature and exploring all major literary forms: poetry, prose (narrative and writing), and theater (in prose and in verse). 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 text: Storia e testi di letteratura italiana per stranieri (nuova edizione riveduta e corretta), a cura di Paolo E. Balboni e Mario Cadorna (Guerra, 2004).
Einaudi (ET Scrittori) 2000 ISBN 8806154702
Rea Ermanno - L' ultima lezione. La solitudine di Federico Caffè scomparso e mai più
Einaudi (ET Scrittori) 2000 ISBN 8806154702
Maraini Dacia – Buio. BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli (collana Superbur) 2000
ISBN 8817680192
*** Students are also encouraged to participate in three special writing workshops and are encouraged to take advantage of the workshops on traditional Italian masks and costumes conducted by Costanza Menghi.
3371 Reading Italian Film: Cinema and Culture
Borra
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 text: Antonello Borra & Cristina Pausini, Italian through film: the Classics (Yale UP, 2006).
Additional reading materials will be provided by the instructor.
The following films will be studied:
Roma, città aperta (1945)
Ladri di biciclette (1948)
Riso amaro (1949)
I vitelloni (1953)
I soliti ignoti (1958)
Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)
La notte (1961)
Divorzio all’italiana (1961)
Il posto (1961)
La commare secca (1962)
Il sorpasso (1962)
Il Decameron (1971)
Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972)
Una giornata particolare (1977)
Tre fratelli (1981)