Winter 2009

WINTER 2009 COURSES

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LOWER DIVISION COURSES
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Students attending these courses will learn the language with an emphasis on communicative, interactive classroom activities.  Students will come into contact with the language not only through drills and exercise, but also via games, role-playing, and active class participation.  The overall goal of these courses is to provide the students with "survival" skills in the target language and, at the same time, acquaint them with Italy and its culture.  Also, these courses emphasize listening and speaking, and employ specific proficiency guidelines in determining the students' oral level during their coursework and and the end of the course.

ITALIAN 1: Elementary Italian 
Gustavo Foscarini in charge
5 units: 5 hours in class sessions and one hour in language lab

The syllabus for Italian 1 comprises the preliminary chapter and chapters 1 through 7 of the textbook, and the related chapters in the Workbook/Lab manual.  In this course you will learn pronunciation, and formal and familiar use of the language in introduction.  You will also learn how to ask and answer questions and ask for simple directions.  Definite and indefinite articles, nouns and adjectives, plural formation, indicative present of the verbs, numbers, days of the week, months, seasons, how to tell times, weather-related expression, use of the prepositions, and many idiomatic expressions will give you the ability to communicate at the basic level.  The use of the imperative in familiar commands will be introduced and then continues in Italian 2. Short dialogues, daily practice, conversation and use of videos make class attendance indispensable.

 

CRN Days/Time Location

39334

M-F 10-10:50am

141 Olson

39335

M-F 9-9:50am

107 Wellman

 

Textbooks:
Aski/Musumeci, Avanti
Aski/Musumeci, Avanti: Workbook/Laboratory Manual

 


ITALIAN 2: Elementary Italian
Gustavo Foscarini in charge
5 units: 5 hours in class sessions and one hour in language lab
Prerequisite: course 1 or consent of instructor

The syllabus for Italian 2 comprises chapters 8-13 of the textbook, and the related chapters in the Workbook/Lab manual. This course will increase the student's awareness of tenses and moods of the verb in Italian language. The descriptive past (imperfect) is introduced and contrasted with the recent past (present perfect). The imperative and its use in conjunction with pronouns is another important aspect of the language emphasized in Italian 2. Reflective verbs, direct and indirect object pronouns, adverbs, and possessive adjectives and pronouns will increase the students' knowledge of reading, understanding, speaking and writing in Italian. Dialogues, and daily language drills make class attendance necessary.

CRN Days/Time Location

39336

M-F 10-10:50am

1120 Hart

39337

M-F 11-11:50am

1120 Hart

39338

M-F 12:10-1pm

1116 Hart

39339

M-F 1:10-2pm

1116 Hart

39340

M-F 3:10-4pm

101 Olson

 

Textbooks:
Aski/Musumeci, Avanti
Aski/Musumeci, Avanti: Workbook/Laboratory Manual
  

ITALIAN 5: Intermediate Italian 
Antonella Bassi
4 units
Prerequisite: Italian 3 or consent of instructor

Course Description: Review of grammar and syntax through written exercises and readings of short prose works. Intended to develop the linguistic foundations of students who have completed the first year language classes.

CRN Days/Time Location

39341

39342

MWF 12:10-1pm

MWF 11-11:50am

167 Olson

251 Olson

 

Textbooks:
Crescendo!, Italiano, F. and Il. Marchegiani Jones
Quaderno degli esercizi e manuale d'ascolto to accompany Crescendo!, Italiano, F. and Il. Marchegiani Jones

 


 

 

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UPPER DIVISION COURSES
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ITALIAN 105: Introduction to Italian Literature 
Margherita Heyer-Caput
4 units
Prerequisite: Italian 9 or consent of instructor.

 

CRN Days/Time Location

39350

TR 1:40-3:00pm

1132 Bainer

 

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the principal movements, authors, and works of Italian literature from the Middle Ages to the present. We will focus on close readings of representative excerpts from masterpieces of medieval, renaissance, baroque, romantic, and modern authors within their historical and cultural context.

This course is required for the Italian Major/Minor and will be conducted in Italian. The format will combine lectures and group discussions. Students will contribute to class activities with oral presentations on an author or an aspect of Italian cultural history. GE: ArtHum.

Textbooks: P. Balboni e M. Cardona, Storia e testi di letteratura italiana per stranieri. Perugia: Guerra Edizioni, 2004. (UCD Bookstore)

 


ITALIAN 114: Boccaccio
Margherita Heyer-Caput
4 units
Prerequisite: ITA 9 or consent of instructor

 

CRN Days/Time Location

53414

TR 9-10:20am

267 Olson

 

Course Description: Through close readings of representative novellas, this course explores the universal themes of fate, love and, most importantly, ingegno (intellect, talent, wit, and more) as they are interwoven in the perfect narratological architecture of Boccaccio's Decameron (1349-50). By means of textual analysis, we will enjoy Boccaccio's unsurpassed art of storytelling in the historical context of the rising bourgeoisie of early modern Italy, the development of humanism, and the disastrous plague of 1348.

This course fulfills the literary period requirement (Early Italian) for the Italian Major/Minor and will be conducted in Italian. The format will combine lectures and group discussions. Students will contribute to class activities with oral presentations on a specific text, theme, or aspect of Italian cultural history. GE: ArtHum.

Textbooks:
Required: Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron. Milano: Garzanti. (UCD Bookstore)
Recommended: Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron. Trans. G.H. McWilliam. London: Penguin. (UCD Bookstore)

 


ITALIAN 150: Italian Cinema
JoAnn Cannon
4 units
Prerequisite: Humanities 10 or consent of instructor

 

CRN Days/Time Location

39352

 

TR 10:30-11:50am

M 7:10-10:00pm

1130 Hart

106 Olson

 

Course Description: This course is an introduction to Italian cinema from 1945 to the present.Through the study of Italian cinema, Students will acquire a knowledge of Italian history and culture of the twentieth century. This survey course will analyze major works by such Italian directors as Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Wertmuller, Bertolucci, the Taviani brothers, Germi, and Benigni. Prior to the screening of each film the student will be given a brief over-view of the career of the director in question. We will situate the film in its particular historical and social context. The film will also be studied in relation to particular genres or film movements (such as neorealism, comedy Italian style, etc). Films are in Italian with English subtitles. The course will be taught in English. GE: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.

Week 1:     Film: Paisan, (1945), Directed by Roberto Rosselini
                Lecture/Discussion: Italian neorealism; Italy in World War II, the Resistance movement
Week 2:     Film: The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 1948)C Directed by Vittorio De Sica
                Lecture/Discussion: Postwar Italy and the problems of reconstruction
Week 3:     Film: Seduced and Abandoned, (Sedotta e Abbandonata, 1963) Directed by Pietro 
                Germi
                The Rise of the Comedy Italian Style
Week 4:     Film: The Conformist (Il conformista, 1970) Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
                Reexamination of fascism from perspective of 1970.
                Discussion: The Conformist Intro. To Fellini
Week 5:     Film: Garden of the Finzi Contini, 1971 Directed by De Sica
                Persecution of the Italian Jews and the implementation of the racial laws.
                Discussion: Film: Garden of the Finzi Contini
Week 6:     Film: Night of the Shooting Stars (La Notte di San Lorenzo) The Taviani Brothers, 1982
                Discussion: The Night of the Shooting Stars
                Introduction to Scola We All Loved Each Other
                Midterm Exam
Week 7:     Film: We All Loved Each Other So Much Directed by Ettore Scola
                Lecture/Discussion: We All Loved Each Other So Much
                The failure of the economic and political establishment; rethinking the dreams of post-war Italy in light of contemporary realities. Comedy Italian style.
Week 8:     Film: Love and Anarchy Directed by Lina Wertmuller
                Lecture/Discussion: Film: Love and Anarchy
                Introduction to Wertmuller. The question of political commitment in 1970's Italy.
Week 9:     Film: Life is Beautiful (La vita e bella, 1998) Directed by Roberto Benigni
                Lecture and Discussion. The Holocaust in literature and film
Week 10:     Italy Today/Italian Film Today/Gianni Amelio

Grading:
Midterm exam ---- 30%
Final exam ------ 30%
Term paper ------ 30%
Class participation/Group presentations - 10%

Final/Term Paper:
Paper should deal with one of the filmmakers we have studied in class (De Sica, Rossellini, Germi, Fellini, Bertolucci, Tornatore, Benigni, Scola) or whose work is covered in the textbook (Wertmuller, Antonioni, Rosi, Comencini). Paper should deal with a film we did NOT see in class but which appeared from 1945 to the present. I will ask you to identify the filmmaker and film on which you plan to write your paper no later than week 7. You will need to do some initial research on your topic by week 8. You will participate in a group presentation on your topic during week 9. Detailed instructions on this assignment will be given in class.

Paper must be 8 pages (double spaced). Films to be studied may include Garden of the Finzi Contini (De Sica), Two Women (De Sica), Ciao Professore (Wertmuller), Christ Stopped in Eboli (Rosi), Divorce Italian Style (Germi), Love and Anarchy (Wertmuller), La strada (Fellini), The Leopard (Visconti). Asterisk indicates films on reserve in the instructional media lab on the first floor of Hart Hall. Others are available at Blockbuster, 49er Video, etc.

Textbook:
M. Marcus, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism.

 


ITALIAN 192: Italian Internship
Margherita Heyer-Caput, Coordinator
510 Sproul, &#109heyercaput@ucdavis.edu 
3-12 units
Prerequisite: ITA 9 or consent of the instructor

Place: Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco; Italian Cultural Society, Sacramento
Days/Time: TBA
CRN: TBA

The Italian Program offers two internships in conjunction with the Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco, and the Italian Cultural Society, Sacramento. The internships are officially recognized by the UC Davis Internship and Career Center (http://icc.ucdavis.edu/iccdocs/ucool.htm). While at the Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco, interns will collaborate with the Director and his assistants in organizing and advertising a variety of cultural events offered throughout the year, at the Italian Cultural Society, Sacramento, interns will be engaged in instructional and administrative activities related to the teaching of Italian language and culture. Both internships are not paid but transportation costs will be reimbursed. The internships are variable-unit courses. However, in accordance with the guidelines of the ICC a minimum of ten hours per week for ten weeks, equivalent to three units, is required. Therefore, it is essential that students begin their internships in the first week of instruction. Interested students are strongly encouraged to contact Professor Heyer-Caput for information about the application procedure no later than December 12, 2008.

Grading:
Pass/No Pass

 


ITALIAN 197T: Tutoring in Italian
JoAnn Cannon
1-4 units
Place: 424 Sproul
Time: TBA
CRN: TBA

Prerequisite: ITA 9 or consent of the instructor.

The tutor will assist elementary and intermediate students of Italian with grammar review and improvement of writing and speaking skills. Tutoring in Italian is a variable-unit course. Typically tutors offer two to four office hours per week. Two hours are equivalent to one unit, four hours to two units. It is essential that students begin their tutorships in the first week of instruction. Interested students are strongly encouraged to contact Professor JoAnn Cannon for information about the application procedure no later than December 12, 2008.

Grading:
Pass/No Pass