ITAL 490S Advanced Italian: Grammar, Syntax & Conversation III
C1.3 Level (CEFR)

At a Glance
Credits: 6
Contact Hours at Università per Stranieri: 72
Co-curricular cultural activities: 20
Prerequisites: At least five semesters of college-level Italian and Placement Exam
Università per Stranieri Faculty: TBD
Umbra Faculty Mentor: TBD
Language: Course and activities taught entirely in Italian

Course Description
This is a 4-week special Advanced Italian course offered as part of the Summer Intensive Italian Language & Culture Program. US university students with at least five successful semesters of college-level Italian will most likely test into the C1 level (CEFR) and receive a total of 6 credits for their studies in Italian advanced Italian Grammar, Syntax, and Conversation. 

Students will be enrolled at the prestigious Universita’ per Stranieri di Perugia and study alongside international students representing over 100 countries. The in-class language instruction conducted at the Università per Stranieri is supplemented by tutorials and workshops at the Umbra Institute and a rich series of cultural co-curricular activities by Umbra faculty at the Umbra Institute. For more information about the Universita per Stranieri click here.

Course Objectives and Outcomes
This is a particular course in Advanced Grammar, Syntax and Conversation, that is usually not offered in standard Italian Language programs in the United States, but is perfect for students preparing to become teachers of Italian or wanting to undertake graduate studies in the humanities. It is designed to take students from being competent speakers of the target language to explain to them the nuances and subtleties of the language that make the difference between a very good user and a near-native speaker. Students in this level will delve deeper into the intricacies of syntax, learn more grammatical exceptions, and be exposed to more idiomatic expressions. Students at this level will become able to use the language not only socially, but also professionally and academically with a certain degree of sophistication. They will also notice that they start to recognize not only implicit but also explicit meaning in longer and more demanding written and verbal texts.

Weekly Course Structure
Language Class (at UniStrPG): 9 hours
Skills Development Lab (at UniStrPG): 4 hours
Pronunciation & Spelling (at UniStrPG): 1 hours
Co-Curricular Activities (Outside of Classroom) 3+ hours

Prerequisites
Four to five semesters of college-level Italian or Placement Test.

Activities at the Umbra Institute
Students enrolled in the Summer Intensive Italian Language & Culture Program will have access to Umbra Faculty members beyond their private and group tutoring session during a vast series of cultural activities designed to improve their language speaking skills in a natural environment while introducing them to practices of daily life and the cultural offerings of Central Italy. These activities include the following:

• Traditional welcome dinner;
• Tandem nights with Italian university students;
• Day-Trip in Umbria or Tuscany 
• “Serate in cucina”- cooking with faculty members or local experts;
• Trips to local festivals (e.g., typical Central Italian “sagre”, Perugia 1416);
• Guided tours of Perugia and Assisi;
• Visit to local winery with tastings;
• Lecture series on historical and current topics of Italian culture;
• Outdoor Cinema nights and live musical performances in Italian;
• Farewell Festa

A final co-curricular activities series schedule will be provided during orientation.

Main Grammatical Structures Covered

An extensive review of all grammar structures studied in B1.3 and:

Nomi

• mutamento di significato col mutare del genere, con conservazione della medesima forma
• nomi maschili in -o e femminili al plurale in -a
• nomi con doppio plurale
• nomi invariabili al plurale:

• femminili che terminano in -tà, -tù,
• monosillabici
• alcuni nomi maschili in –a ,
• nomi femminili abbreviazioni di altri nomi
• nomi femminili in -ie 

Articoli

• Omissione dell’articolo davanti al possessivo in espressioni fisse
• Articoli che nominalizzano ogni parte del discorso 
• Assenza dell’articolo in proverbi, telegrammi, titoli di rubriche, intestazioni e insegne, nelle enumerazioni
• Assenza dell’articolo in locuzioni verbali

Aggettivi

• precisazione sull’uso dei superlativi assoluti di uso informale
• superlativi idiomatici
• superlativi con prefissi
• aggettivi che esprimono in sé una qualità intensa e sono privi di superlativo assoluto
• superlativi in –errimo
• superlativi in –entissimo

Pronomi

• proprio come possessivo riflessivo e con un verbo impersonale
• dimostrativo codesto, usi regionali e burocratici
• dimostrativi tale, simile, siffatto nel linguaggio scritto
• stesso, medesimo come rafforzativi e nell’uso proprio
• espressioni verbali che possono o devono essere accompagnate da pronomi atoni 

Verbi

• ripasso e riflessione sull’uso della forma passiva con l’ausiliare venire
• la costruzione andare + participio passato
• la costruzione andare + gerundio per indicare il ripetersi di un’azione
• condizionale passato come disponibilità impedita
• si impersonale con i verbi pronominali

Preposizioni

• funzioni di alcune preposizioni
• Locuzioni prepositive
• Locuzioni prepositive

Avverbi

• consolidamento dell’uso del comparativo e del superlativo organici
• avverbi alternati
• preposizioni usate come avverbi
• locuzioni avverbiali

Congiunzioni

• uso di e al posto di ma, però
• uso della congiunzione doppia e/o
• Locuzioni congiuntive

Frase semplice e complessa

• • ricapitolazione della subordinata condizionale e del periodo ipotetico, selezione e concordanza di modi e tempi verbali
  • Congiunzioni alternative al se: qualora, ove, purché, casomai
  • frasi comparative di maggioranza, uguaglianza e di minoranza, con indicativo o congiuntivo
  • ricapitolazione e approfondimento dell’uso del ge-rundio presente e passato nelle subordinate causali

• concessive introdotte da pur, pure, anche pur
• condizionali
• temporali
• modali
• frasi nominali
• frasi impersonali seguite da soggettive all’infinito o al congiuntivo