Italian Expanded Course Descriptions - Winter 2020
- For day, time, room, and TA information, see our schedule page here or the course search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
- For all courses not listed below, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/ita/
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 stresses communicative and interactive class activities while focusing also on grammatical structures. The syllabus for Italian 002 covers Chapters 5 to 8 of the textbook and the related chapters in the online Student Activities Manual (eSAM). Emphasis is placed on moods and tenses of verbs to increase students’ linguistic awareness (specifically the present perfect, the imperfect and future tenses, and the imperative mood). Students will continue to investigate Italian culture through reading and interactive activities while continuing to improve upon comprehension, speaking, and writing skills. Daily class attendance is indispensable for this course.
Prerequisite: Italian 001.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.
Textbook:
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Donatella Melucci and Elissa Tognozzi, Piazza (with iLrn Access) (Cengage Learning, 2015)
Italian 005. Intermediate Italian (4 units)
Course Description: This is the second course of Intermediate Italian. This course reviews, practices and expands upon 1st year grammar skills in a communicative and task-oriented classroom. Linguistic structures are employed to examine contemporary Italian culture and to make connections between cultures through a variety of in-class activities (oral presentations, discussions and collaborative exercises) and homework assignments (web search activities, weekly blogs and online exercises). Students will also strengthen their critical thinking skills and their understanding of written Italian through the analysis of various texts (journalistic articles, essays and excerpts from literary texts) and with regular writing assignments that reflect on important cultural themes. Italian 005 covers chapters 5-8 of the textbook and the corresponding chapters in the online Student Activities Manual (eSAM). ITA 005 reviews the following grammatical concepts: the pronominal particles “ci” and “ne,” the simple past and future tenses, indefinite adjectives and pronouns, special emphasis on moods (conditional and subjunctive), their respective tenses and their uses.
Prerequisite: Italian 004. Students who did not complete Elementary Italian at UC Davis are encouraged to take the Italian Placement Exam.
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)
Italian 101. Advanced Conversation, Composition and Grammar (4 units)
Margherita Heyer-Caput
Course Description: This course is aimed at improving oral and written proficiency through group discussions and oral presentations in class, weekly compositions and grammar review exercises at home. Students work on linguistic structures in context through close readings of short, modern and contemporary 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. Italian 101 is required for the Italian Major / Minor and will be conducted in Italian.
Prerequisite: Italian 009 or the equivalent or consent of instructor (mheyercaput@ucdavis.edu).
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours.
Textbook: Laura Bresciani, Claudia Donna, and Alessandra Garolla, Amicizia, Affetto, Amore (Edizioni Farinelli, 2012)
Italian 105. Introduction to Italian Literature (4 units)
Margherita Heyer-Caput
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.
Italian 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: Italian 009 or consent of instructor (mheyercaput@ucdavis.edu).
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)
Italian 114. Boccaccio's Decameron and the Italian Novella
Grace Delmolino
Journey to Florence in the time of the Black Death, and discover the Decameron’s timeless tales of rebellious women, misbehaving nuns and priests, magical stones of invisibility, practical jokes, romantic love affairs, pirates, cannibalism, wolf attacks, flying poets, and more!
In course meetings, we will discuss readings from the Decameron and occasionally Boccaccio’s sources and imitators. As we read these highly entertaining stories, we will consider how Boccaccio uses humor and wordplay to slice to the core of issues like gender inequality, socio-economic class hierarchies, the corruption of the Church, and how easy it is to manipulate humans’ perception of reality. TAUGHT IN ITALIAN.
Prerequisite: Italian 009 or the equivalent or consent of instructor (gdelmolino@ucdavis.edu).
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.
Format: Discussion - 3 hours.
Textbook: Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, ed. Vittore Branca (Torino: Einaudi, 2014). 2 vols.