Winter 2015

EXPANDED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Please click here to see the Winter Schedule as a PDF
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LOWER DIVISION COURSES 
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ITALIAN 002: Elementary Italian (5 units)

Course Description: Italian 002 is the second course of Elementary Italian.  Students in this course will continue learning the language in a setting that emphasizes communicative and interactive class activities, e.g., games and role-playing, while focusing also on form (grammar exercises).  The syllabus for Italian 002 comprises Chapters 6 to 11 of the textbook, and the related chapters in the Workbook/Lab Manual (which is available online).  More emphasis on moods and tenses of the verb will increase the students' linguistic awareness with contrastive study of present perfect, imperfect, and past perfect.  The future tenses will also be introduced. Students will continue to explore both the language and culture of Italy and increase their reading, understanding, speaking and writing skills. Since the study of a foreign language is different from the study of other disciplines, daily class attendance is indispensable in this course. Unjustified absences will cause a student’s participation grade to drop, and his/her overall grade will suffer accordingly. Just as important as daily class participation are homework assignments.  Laboratory is required, and instructors will collect and grade the lab work as scheduled in the Syllabus. Failure to comply with the lab requirements will result in a failing lab grade.

Prerequisite: Italian 001 or consent of instructor (jgrossi@ucdavis.edu, ccgomez@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

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

Textbook:

• Janice Aski, et al., Avanti [3rd Edition] Bundle (McGraw Hill, 2011)

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ITALIAN 005: Intermediate Italian (4 units)
Carmen Gomez

MWF 10:00-10:50A
217 Olson
CRN 78955

Course Description: This is the second course of Intermediate Italian. The purpose of this course is to review and practice 1st year skills while introducing new grammar structures and expanding vocabulary in a communicative and task-oriented classroom, where language and culture are inseparable.  Students will strengthen their language skills through a variety of class activities (oral presentations, collaborative exercises to critically understand written and spoken Italian) and homework assignments (online lab and workbook).  Students will also engage in writing activities (compositions) and receive individualized feedback through tutoring sessions.  Movie clips, videos and music are fundamental learning tools in this course.  Italian 5 covers chapters 5-8 of the textbook, and the related chapters in the Workbook/Lab Manual.  First-year grammar review includes: the verb “piacere” and similar verbs, contrast of future and conditional.  New language structures include:  the remote past, the subjunctive mood, and relative pronouns.

Prerequisite: Italian 004 or consent of instructor (ccgomez@ucdavis.edu). Students who did not take Italian 004 at UC Davis are encouraged to take the Italian Placement Exam. 

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): World Cultures.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Laboratory - 3 hours.

Textbook:

• Elissa Tognozzi and Giuseppe Cavatorta, Ponti: Italiano Terzo Millennio Bundle (Cengage Learning, 2012)
   

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 UPPER DIVISION COURSES
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ITALIAN 105: Introduction to Italian Literature (4 units)
Margherita Heyer-Caput

TR 12:10-1:30P
146 Robbins
CRN 78964

Course Description: This course provides 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.

ITA 105 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: ITA 009 or consent of instructor (mheyercaput@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy and World Cultures.

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

Textbook:

• Paolo Balboni and Anna Biguzzi, Letteratura Italiana per Stranieri  (Guerra Edizioni, 2008)
   

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ITALIAN 131: Autobiography in Italy (4 units)
Carmen Gomez

MWF 12:10-1:00P
25 Wellman
CRN 93422

Course Description: This course will examine the many forms of autobiography in Italian literature, culture, and history. Through assigned readings and texts spanning formal autobiography, memoir, and oral history, students will critically investigate the practice of narrating oneself (or a collective self), considering the ways in which ‘real’ events are reshaped and manipulated through recollection and representation. Theoretical articles, focusing on literary criticism and history, will complement readings each week. The course will be framed within Italian contemporary history (in particular from 1940 to 1968) with a special focus on women's personal and political representation in Italy and on the importance of ‘testimony’ during and immediately after the Second World War, touching upon the advent of Italian Neorealist literature and film.

Prerequisite: ITA 009 or consent of instructor (ccgomez@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

• A Course Reader
   

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ITALIAN 198: Advanced Conversation, Composition and Grammar (4 units)
(This course will fulfill the Italian 101 requirement)
Margherita Heyer-Caput

TR 9:00-10:20A
261 Olson
CRN 93757

Course Description:  This course is being offered to allow students to fulfill the requirement of ITA 101, which is required for the major and minor and will be conducted in Italian.  This course is aimed at improving oral and written proficiency through group discussions and oral presentations in class, wekley compositions and grammar review exercises at home.  Students work on linguistic structures in context through close readings of short, modern and conemporary literary texts included in the course textbook.  Participants expand vocabulary and enhance conversational skills while discussing cultural changes in today's Italy, with particular attention to human relationships as they are portrayed in contemporary narrative and film.  Audiovisual materials (songs, film-clips, etc.) will regularly complement class activities.

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor (mheyercaput@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): None.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours.

Textbook:

• Laura Bresciani, Claudia Donna, and Alessandra Garolla, Amicizia, Affetto, Amore (Edizioni Farinelli, 2012)