ITAL110 Elementary Italian I

Department of Language & Literature: Italian

  1. Course Number and Title

    ITAL110 Elementary Italian I

  2. Number of Credits

    3 credits

  3. Minimum Number of Instructional Minutes Per Semester

    2250

  4. Prerequisites

    None

    Corequisites

    None

  5. Other Pertinent Information

    Students spend between six and nine hours per week outside of class learning vocabulary, reading, completing writing exercises and compositions, working on pronunciation, preparing oral presentations, and working with the multimedia files that accompany the text.

  6. Catalog Course Description

    In this course students learn the basics of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Italian. It stresses oral proficiency, correct pronunciation, listening comprehension, and grammatical accuracy, as well as the cultural and historical backgrounds of the Italian-speaking countries.

  7. Required Course Content and Direction

    1. Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students will:
        1. acquire and demonstrate an elementary degree of competence in the four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing;
        2. recognize and respond appropriately to most common spoken situations;
        3. demonstrate basic mastery of written Italian; and
        4. explain some common aspects of life in the Italian-speaking countries.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        3. Category I
        Cultural Perspectives
         Students will:
        1. compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices.

        Category III
        International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives
         Students will:
        1. articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities:

      Grammatical topics

      The present tense of regular and stem-changing verbs
      The present tense of essential irregular verbs
      Verb piacere
      Word order, sentence structure, and interrogatives
      Adjectives and Bello
      Questo and Quello
      Possessive adjectives
      Modal verbs
      The present perfect tense to express past actions

      Vocabulary and social contexts

      Greetings describing oneself and meeting others
      Telling time and dates
      Life in Italian schools and universities
      Basics of Italian geography/the city
      Family and home life
      Food and grocery shopping (weights and measures)

      Cultural contexts

      Geography and history of Italy, including major cities and monuments
      Levels of formality and linguistic variation in address
      Italian manners and customs
      Italian cuisine, family life, and school systems

    3. Assessment Methods for Core Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students
        1. take quizzes and tests;
        2. complete assignments, such as short compositions and grammatical exercises;
        3. perform listening comprehension exercises; and
        4. participate in oral interviews and/or presentations that assess proficiency levels.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        1. Cultural Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests which examine the cultural topics presented in the course and in which they compare, contrast, analyze, and /or defend differing world views and practices of some Italian-speaking people.
        2. International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests in which they articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    4. Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Students:

      Students utilize text, workbook, and multimedia resources for first-year proficiency-based Italian program. See course format.

  8. Teaching Methods Employed

    Section VIII is not being used in new and revised syllabi as of 12/10/08.

Review/Approval Date - 3/98; Core Goals/Objectives added 4/04; Revised 4/2011