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This is most recent syllabus. Your final syllabus will be given during your first day of class
Note: This course was formerly ITLN 411S.
Course Description
ITAL 411 S is an intensive course designed for advanced students who wish to achieve a near-native oral and written proficiency in Italian. This course offers an in-depth study of contemporary Italian culture and language through selected readings, advanced vocabulary study, theme-based class discussions, guest speakers, and cultural activities. Emphasis is placed on strengthening fluency and communication skills. The course will review specialized points of grammar through historical and contemporary literary sources and essay and report writing in Italian. Students learn to use Italian to express themselves with a high degree of autonomy not only in everyday situations, but also in formal, public and academic settings. The course will include a number of activities in which students must interact on a more sophisticated level with native speakers, such as engaging in roundtable discussions, on different aspects of contemporary Italian society.
Course Structure
ITAL 411 S meets four days per week (Mon-Thur) and consists of a morning program of three hours of in-class grammar study, followed by two hours of exercises and conversation in the afternoon. In the evenings and sometimes on Fridays, cultural activities and lectures in Italian are scheduled. For details of these events, please see the accompanying description of the liberal arts cultural component to the program at the end of the syllabus.
Main Grammar Points
The course will begin with a quick review of ITAL 311 S grammar. Through the use of various texts and class discussions, the following grammatical points will be addressed:
- Passato e trapassato remoto
- La concordanza dei tempi dell’indicativo
- Usi di CI e NE
- Dislocazione a sinistra con i pronomi
- La concordanza dei tempi del congiuntivo
- Congiunzioni coordinative e subordinative
- Imperativo formale
- Pronomi relativi
- Condizionale passato: “Il futuro nel passato”
- Condizionale giornalistico
- Futuro epistemico
- Periodo ipotetico
- Forma passiva e impersonale
- Modi indefiniti
- Discorso diretto e indiretto
Course Objectives
At the end of the session, students should reach the level B2+/C1 of the Common European Framework with the ability to express themselves freely and to recognize and understand subtleties in both oral and written language. In practice, the student will be able to:
- understand a significant range of relatively complex texts
- recognize both the explicit and implicit meanings of texts
- interpret texts and restate the main thesis and arguments found in the texts in the student’s own words
- acquire an understanding of stylistic features in written texts
- express him/herself with enough efficiency and fluency to make smooth conversation with native speakers possible in social, professional and academic settings.
Course Materials
– Required Text: A Course Reader that contains the materials to be covered in the course will be made available
– Supplementary Text: Selected exercises and readings from various textbooks and workbooks will be handed out periodically.
– Dictionary: Students are strongly recommended to purchase an English/Italian, Italian/English dictionary. The library also has a number of dictionaries available for consultation.