ITA 300 is designed for students who have successfully completed two years of college-level Italian language study, or the equivalent. ITA 300 focuses on the act of storytelling as a means to stimulate discussion on a wide variety of topics related to the work of Italian 20th-century authors, songwriters, filmmakers, poets, and philosophers. Students will be reading Italian texts of numerous genres, conversing about the themes and topics that arise in these texts, conducting research in Italian, preparing oral presentations, and crafting several writing assignments (critical and narrative).Topics to be discussed, in relation to the readings, will include: Italian emigration and contemporary immigration to Italy; the historical North-South cultural divide; the fate of Italian as a language of culture that is perceived as needing to be defended; organized crime and political corruption in Italy; the politically-engaged role of the Italian writer; Italian pop culture and nostalgia; Italian fashion and gender.
By the end of this course, the student is expected to reach the B2 level, as articulated in the Common European Framework for language learning. Below, in the Learning Outcomes section of the syllabus, please find a description of the specific language skills we will be practicing with in this class.
- Teacher: Fabio Ferrari