Academic Programs
Benvenuti e bentornati alla Scuola Italiana!
The 2013 session of the Scuola Italiana is offering a wide range of challenging courses to maintain its reputation and long tradition of commitment to high academic standards. This summer besides the introductory courses for the Master Program we are offering new courses on linguistics, cinema, pedagogy, literature, as well as the culture, art and civilization of Italy. This summer we will also launch a specialization in Mediterranean Studies in the M.A. program with three new courses that examine the most significant aspects and manifestations of the Mediterranean Culture from the Middle Ages to present globalization. We also have a new course on Italian American Studies for a specialization offered in this field for the Master program. The motivation and the effort of the staff added to the expertise and the dedication of faculty, drawn from European and North American institutions, ensure maintenance of the School’s high standards.
What makes the Middlebury experience so unique is its long-standing observance of the Language Pledge, a commitment made by each student in writing to use exclusively the Italian language for the duration of the summer session. In spite of the considerable demand this formal pledge places on all, generations of students consider it a most valid and effective learning tool. Adherence to this rule is, therefore, strictly enforced at all times.
To be sure, the success of the summer session is due to a great extent to the fact that students and faculty live under the same roof and take part in all the cultural and social activities sponsored by the School: film screenings, lectures, concerts, plays, dinners, parties, club meetings and workshops. All of this contributes to create a cordial and collegial atmosphere that is very conducive to learning and is unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere.
In 2013, the first four levels of language instruction will also emphasize various aspects of the multifaceted Italian culture. A special feature, besides the afternoon conversation sessions, will be a workshop to prepare a performance to celebrate Giuseppe Verdis’s bicentenary. We also offer a special workshop designed to help undergraduates improve their diction, while learning new idiomatic expressions outside of the traditional classroom setting. Undergraduate students are required to participate in two special writing workshops and are also encouraged to take advantage of the weekly club meetings on traditional and contemporary Italian cultural topics conducted by our faculty and special guests.
At the graduate level two core courses, IT 6550 and IT 6602, will teach grammar and stylistics, emphasizing culture and improving writing and reading. Advanced culture and civilization courses and graduate literature courses will focus on a wide range of topics through various periods of Italian civilization: Italian Cinema, contemporary songwriters, Boccaccio, Renaissance epic, contemporary theater, Verdi, second language acquisition and instruction, and the globalization of criminal organizations. Other courses will focus on Elsa Morante and Vincenzo Consolo, Mediterranean culture, literary critical theory, and the myth of Medea. This summer’s program will also include three introductory courses on the history of Italian literature and culture. The school is proud to announce that filmmaker Mimmo Calopresti will teach a workshop on script writing and film directing.
During the summer of 2013 the Italian School will again supplement its regular six-week graduate program with two intensive three-week sessions designed for teachers and graduate students of Italian, taught by professors of international prominence. Courses on Italian film master Francesco Rosi, Italian American Studies, methodology for second language instruction with a practicum will be offered, while renowned pianist, Cosimo Colazzo, will hold a diction workshop for opera singers and organize the School Chorus.
The summer session will offer a workshop on “La cucina e il vino d’Italia” to better understand the role that diet, cooking and wine have had through the centuries in shaping Italian culture.
A special feature of the 2013 session will be the presence on campus of many professors, writers, and artists as “Special Guests in Residence.” Both students and faculty will certainly benefit greatly from the many contributions that all the instructors and students will bring to the cultural life of the School during their stay at Middlebury.
With such an ample variety of academic offerings and the numerous cultural and social activities that are scheduled, I am confident that the 2013 summer school will be a memorable learning experience for all students and professors. I count on all of us to do our best to make this a most successful and fruitful period of study in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
A questa estate e non dimenticate di sfruttare al massimo ogni evento e di parlare sempre e soltanto in italiano!
Antonio Vitti
Director
The Italian School
Graduate and undergraduate courses in Italian are offered during the summer on the Vermont campus. During the academic year, graduate and junior year programs are offered at the Middlebury School in Florence. Juniors also have the option of studying at the University of Ferrara. All programs of study emphasize both the development of language skills and the understanding of Italian culture. Classes from beginning courses through the doctoral level are taught in Italian, and all summer programs are intensive. We determine placement by language proficiency rather than by length of previous exposure to the language.
A summer at the Language Schools is an intensive one by design. In first- and second-level intensive courses, students can expect to spend four to five hours per day in class in addition to other activities. The demanding pace of the program is sustained through the low student-teacher ratio.
Graduate Degrees
A normal load for graduate students is three courses per summer, to be selected in consultation with the director and the associate director. First-year graduate students are placed in the courses most appropriate to their linguistic proficiency as determined by the results of placement tests taken prior to registration. Some students may be required to take one or more courses at a lower level without graduate credit before beginning a full load of graduate work.
*Only in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the director may students be allowed to be registered in more than 3 (three) courses during a summer session.
Master of Arts: Receipt of the BA degree or the equivalent from a regionally accredited institution is a prerequisite for admission to the MA program. Applicants must have completed course work equivalent to a major in Italian or be able to demonstrate the equivalent level of linguistic proficiency. The M.A. degree in Italian consists of four streams or areas of concentration. Students must select one stream as a major. The M.A. degree is comprised of twelve courses to be taken over a series of summers on the Vermont campus or in a combination of a summer in Vermont and an academic year in Florence. Students who complete degree requirements in Florence must present an independent research project worth two units of credit.
Students must successfully complete a preliminary summer of study (summer of application) on the Vermont campus before being officially accepted to degree candidacy. During this summer, students take three courses, one of which must be a literature course at the 600 level or above, and one of which must be a civilization course.
Admission to the School in Italy is based on performance in the summer courses and on faculty recommendations.
A highly qualified undergraduate student may accumulate a maximum of six graduate units toward a Middlebury M.A. degree before receipt of the B.A. degree or equivalent, but these units may not count toward both degrees.
*Only in exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the director may students be allowed to be registered in more than 3 (three) courses during a summer session.
