Winter 2012

WINTER QUARTER 2012 COURSES

 

ITALIAN 1.ELEMENTARY ITALIAN (5 Units)

Course Description: This course is an introduction to Italian language. 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 listing and speaking, and employ specific proficiency guidelines in determining the students' oral level during their coursework and at the end of the courses. 

The syllabus for Italian 1 comprises the Preliminary Chapter and Chapters 1 through 6 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. Short dialogues, daily practice, conversation and use of videos make class attendance indispensable.

Attendance and participation: The study of a foreign language is different from the study of other disciplines and is based on some specific requirements of which the most important is students’ involvement. Students enrolled in Italian 1 need to come to class on a daily basis in order to benefit from the exposure to the language. They also need to come to class prepared, i.e., having done the assigned homework, but especially ready to participate in the daily activities, be they games, role-playing, conversation, drills, etc. For this reason, after three unjustified absences, any further unjustified absence will cause a student’s participation grade to drop, and his/her overall grade will suffer accordingly (see below for grading system and grading scale). Laboratory is required. Instructors will collect the lab work (i.e., Esercizi Orali) as scheduled in the Syllabus. Failure to comply with the lab requirements will result in a failing lab grade.

Course Placement: Students who have successfully completed, with a C- or better, Italian 2 or 3 in the 10th or higher grade in high school may receive unit credit for this course on a P/NP grading basis only. Although a passing grade will be charged to the student's P/NP option, no petition is required. All other students will receive a letter grade unless a P/NP petition is filed. For more information, please contact the instructor or the Italian staff adviser directly.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.

Texts:

• Janice Aski & Diane Musumeci, Avanti: Beginning Italian - 2nd Edition (Textbook)
• Janice Aski, Diane Musumeci, & Carla Wysokinski, Avanti: Beginning Italian - 2nd Edition(Workbook/Laboratory Manual)

 

 

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ITALIAN 2. ELEMENTARY ITALIAN (5 Units)

Course Description: The syllabus for Italian 2 comprises Chapters 7 to 10. More emphasis on moods and tenses of the verb will increase the students' linguistic awareness with contrastive study of past perfect and present perfect, future perfect, and "simple" future. The conditional (present and perfect), the present of the subjunctive, the passive form and the impersonal constructions of the verb, superlative and comparative structures, suffixes in nouns and adjectives, more uses of prepositions with nouns and verbs will complete the basic knowledge of Italian and increase the students' ability in reading, understanding, speaking and writing, short compositions. Daily class attendance is indispensable in this course.

Attendance and participation: The study of a foreign language is different from the study of other disciplines and is based on some specific requirements of which the most important is students' involvement. Students enrolled in Italian 2 need to come to class on a daily basis in order to benefit from the exposure to the language. They also need to come to class prepared, i.e., having done the assigned homework, but especially ready to participate in the daily activities, be they games, role-playing, conversation, drills, etc. For this reason, after three unjustified absences, any further unjustified absence will cause a student's participation grade to drop, and his/her overall grade will suffer accordingly (see below for grading system and grading scale). Laboratory is required. Instructors will collect the lab work (i.e., Esercizi Orali) as scheduled in the Syllabus. Failure to comply with the lab requirements will result in a failing lab grade.

Prerequisite: Italian 1 or Consent of Instructor.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.

Texts:

• Janice Aski & Diane Musumeci, Avanti: Beginning Italian (Textbook)
• Janice Aski, Diane Musumeci, & Carla Wysokinski, Avanti: Beginning Italian (Workbook/Laboratory Manual)

 

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ITALIAN 5: INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN (4 Units)

Course Description: This is the second course in the Intermediate Italian series. Student will continue to review grammar and syntax through written exercises and short prose works. This course is intended to develop the linguistic foundations of students who have completed the first-year language classes.

Prerequisite: Italian 4 or Consent of Instructor.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Texts:

• Francesca Italiano and Irene Marchegiani, Crescendo! (Textbook)
• Francesca Italiano and Irene Marchegiani, Crescendo! (Workbook, Lab Manual)

 

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ITALIAN 105. INTRODUCTION TO ITALIAN LITERATURE (4 Units)
Prof. Margherita Heyer-Caput, &#109heyercaput@ucdavis.edu

(MWF 10:00-10:50, 101 Olson) CRN 83452

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.

Prerequisite: Italian 9 or Consent of Instructor.

GE Credits (Old): None
GE Credits (New): ArtsHum, Oral Skills, World Cultures, and Wrt.

Texts:

• P. Balboni and A. Biguzzi, Letteratura italiana per stranieri (Perugia: Guerra Edizioni, 2008)

 

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ITALIAN 119. ITALIAN LITERATURE OF THE 19th-CENTURY (4 Units)
Prof. Margherita Heyer-Caput, &#109heyercaput@ucdavis.edu

(MWF 12:10-1:00, 261 Olson) CRN 53667

Course Description: The course will focus on the historical and philosophical frame of the literature of the nineteenth century in Italy. In particular, we will examine the deep connections between literary genres such as lyric poetry (Leopardi), historical novel (Manzoni) and short story (Verga), the literary movements of Romanticism and Verism and the complex process of the Italian unification or "Risorgimento." In-depth readings will include Giacomo Leopardi's Canti (Songs, 1831), Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi (The Betrothed, 1840-42), and Giovanni Verga's Cavalleria rusticana (1880). Furthermore, the course will feature the screening of films inspired by the texts chosen, and a video recording of Mascagni's opera Cavalleria rusticana (1890) based upon Verga's short story.

Prerequisite: Italian 9 or Consent of Instructor.

GE Credits (Old): None
GE Credits (New): ArtsHum, Oral Skills, World Cultures, and Wrt.

Texts:

• Required: Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi (Milano: Mursia, 2007)
• Recommended: Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed. Translated by Bruce Penman (New York: Penguin Books, 1972)

 

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ITALIAN 192. ITALIAN INTERNSHIP (1-3 Units)
Prof. Margherita Heyer-Caput, &#109heyercaput@ucdavis.edu

CRN @ (Note: Stop by in 213 Sproul Hall to receive the CRN)

Course Description: The Italian Program offers two unpaid internships for academic credit in conjunction with the School Office, Consulate General of Italy, San Francisco, and the Italian Cultural Society, Sacramento. The internships are officially recognized through the UC Davis Internship and Career Center (http://icc.ucdavis.edu/). At the School Office of the Italian Consulate, San Francisco, interns assist the Director in cooperating with Italian and Californian institutions to foster the study of the Italian language in K-12 education.

At the Italian Cultural Society, Sacramento, interns engage in instructional and administrative activities related to the teaching of the Italian language and culture. The internships are variable-unit courses. In accordance with the guidelines of the ICC a minimum of ten hours per week for ten weeks, equivalent to three quarter 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 by the end of Fall Quarter 2011.

Prerequisite: Italian 9 or Consent of Instructor.

Grading: Pass/No Pass Grading

 

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Other Courses

FILM STUDIES 120. ITALIAN-AMERICAN CINEMA (4 Units)
Prof. Juliana Schiesari, &#106schiesari@ucdavis.edu

Lecture: TR 3:10-4:30, 2016 Haring
Film Viewing: T 5:10-8:00, 2016 Haring
CRN 53667

Course Description: The main focus of this course will be the cinema of Martin Scorsese. We will study his "gangster" films not only in the context of his Italian-American experience in New York but also through the lens of marginalized ethnicities ( Irish and Italian). We will also analyze his other films which depict the struggles of isolated individuals whose only answer to life's events seems to be violence and brutality (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) and, yet, seem to find redemption in the most contorted of situations. We will also consider how gender is constructed and manipulated in a world of hyper-masculinity. And while the main focus will be the cinema of Scorsese, we may also consider other films by Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, and others.

Prerequisite: Film Studies 1.

GE Credits (Old): ArtHum, Div, and Wrt.
GE Credits (New): None.

Texts:

• Robert Casillo, Gangster Priest: The Italian American Cinema of Martin Scorsese (Univ. of Toronto Press, 2007)
• David Thompson, Scorsese on Scorsese (Faber & Faber, 2004)
• William H. Phillips, Film: An Introduction (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009)