Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Italian 2
Teaching staff
By email: aberriolo@uic.es
Introduction
The aim of this programme is primarily to provide students with the skills and knowledge to communicate in Italian with fluency and accuracy. While emphasis will be placed on writing, accompanying linguistic skills such as speaking and listening will continue to be developed. As a continuation of Italian 1, students will be provided with a solid grammatical and lexical base which will serve as the foundation for their future learning.
The programme contains 3 elements that include class-based lessons, tutorials and self study. The teacher-led lessons focus on language analysis and its use, while consolidation of what is being learnt takes place by working in small groups. The emphasis here will be given to oral production. Tutorials will focus on student development and interpersonal skills and will include an evaluated group project. The final part being the self study or ‘distance learning’ element which primarily focuses on consolidating grammar and lexis covered in class, while providing the opportunity for students to improve their speaking through practice.
All three elements have been specifically designed to provide students with the skills, knowledge and resources that will increase their confidence in order to communicate effectively in Italian.
Pre-course requirements
Preferred minimum global level is that of a A2 before the start of the course.
Objectives
Classroom:
To prepare and equip students with the necessary lexical and grammatical knowledge in order to be able to carry out oral and writing activities.
To improve the receptive skills of reading and listening comprehension.
Tutorial:
To develop students’ interpersonal skills and ability to work with others in both native and an additional language.
Self Study:
To develop listening skills as well as consolidating the use of grammar and lexis covered in class, to practice oral and listening comprehension. In addition, students will learn how to utilize ICT and internet based resources in order to learn a language in an independent way. Their learning will be monitored through a LMS (Moodle) platform.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
Linguistic competencies in Italian (competency 67)
Based on the competencies on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages students will be able to:
Oral production:
a. Can tell a story or describe something in a simple list of points. Can describe everyday aspects of his/her environment e.g. people, places, a job or study experience. Can give short, basic descriptions of events and activities.
Can describe plans and arrangements, habits and routines, past activities and personal experiences.
Can use simple descriptive language to make brief statements about and compare objects and possessions (A.2.2)
Listening comprehension:
b. Can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure etc., including short narratives (B.1.1)
Written production:
c. Can write about everyday aspects of his/her environment, e.g. people, places, a job or study experience in linked sentences.
Can write very short, basic descriptions of events, past activities and personal experiences (A.2.2)
Reading: comprehension:
d. Can understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete type which consist of high frequency everyday or job-related language (A.2.2)
Can find and understand relevant information in everyday material, such as letters, brochures and short official documents (B.1.1)
Non-linguistic competencies in Italian
1. To develop interpersonal skills and work in a team (competency 52)
2. To acquire the ability to learn autonomously (competency 53)
3. To be able to self-evaluate their learning (competency 58)
4. To be able to plan and organize their work (competency 64)
- 27 - To be able to read and understand literature on economic and business issues.
- 28 - To be able to work in another language and use terminology and structures related to the economic-business world.
- 39 - To acquire the ability to solve problems and make decisions based on relevant information, applying the appropriate methods and situating the problem within the organisation as a whole.
- 46 - To acquire the ability to understand and participate in conferences and lectures in an academic context.
- 50 - To acquire the ability to relate concepts, analyse and synthesise.
- 52 - To develop interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a team.
- 53 - To acquire the skills necessary to learn autonomously.
- 54 - To be able to express one’s ideas and formulate arguments in a logical and coherent way, both verbally and in writing.
- 58 - To be able to develop self-assessment exercises.
- 60 - To acquire knowledge that promotes respect for other cultures and habits.
- 64 - To be able to plan and organise one's work.
- 67 - To be able to express oneself in other languages.
Learning outcomes of the subject
Students will acquire the competencies above mentioned in a level A2+.
Linguistic competencies in Italian (competency 67)
Based on the competencies on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages students will be able to:
Oral production:
a. Can tell a story or describe something in a simple list of points. Can describe everyday aspects of his/her environment e.g. people, places, a job or study experience. Can give short, basic descriptions of events and activities.
Can describe plans and arrangements, habits and routines, past activities and personal experiences.
Can use simple descriptive language to make brief statements about and compare objects and possessions (A.2.2)
Listening comprehension:
b. Can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure etc., including short narratives (B.1.1)
Written production:
c. Can write about everyday aspects of his/her environment, e.g. people, places, a job or study experience in linked sentences.
Can write very short, basic descriptions of events, past activities and personal experiences (A.2.2)
Reading: comprehension:
d. Can understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete type which consist of high frequency everyday or job-related language (A.2.2)
Can find and understand relevant information in everyday material, such as letters, brochures and short official documents (B.1.1)
Non-linguistic competencies in Italian
1. To develop interpersonal skills and work in a team (competency 52)
2. To acquire the ability to learn autonomously (competency 53)
3. To be able to self-evaluate their learning (competency 58)
4. To be able to plan and organize their work (competency 64)
Syllabus
Topics:
Students will cover topics related to areas of immediate personal relevance such as to talk about themselves, others and family, to describe habits in the past, to talk about customs and traditions, to describe places and housing, to express desires, to give and receive advice, to formulate assumptions and hypotheses, and to express agreement and disagreement.
Language knowledge:
Students will consolidate and develop their knowledge of the present perfect tense, adjectives and possessive pronouns, direct and indirect pronouns. They will learn the imperfect past tense, the past perfect tense, the conditional, the imperative, the gerund, the present subjunctive, the indicative future, and the hypothetical form of indication as well as the relative and absolute superlatives, some regular and irregular comparative forms, the main connectors, some uses of the pronoun "ne" and the relative pronouns "che" and "cui."
Teaching and learning activities
In person
In order to develop the linguistic skills of the students (speaking, writing, reading and listening), a variety of classroom materials and range of activities will be employed using a communicative approach (role plays, task based activities, non-monitored speaking activities). At the same time, students will be expected to actively participate and use their newly acquired knowledge. Authentic materials will be used, for example, videos, film clips and radio programs.
Preparation for self-study using distance learning tools will provide the necessary stimulus and practice for students, allowing them to successfully achieve the objectives of the course. This learning method will form an essential part of the course with the objective of giving students the means and motivation for life-long learning of Italian, in both academic and professional fields.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Teacher-led lessons will be based on the linguistic competencies outlined in the CEFRL (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and will be evaluated in the following way:
Course exams*: 60%
Oral exam: 15%
75 %
4.5 ECTS
The tutorial will incorporate a task-based learning approach where students will be evaluated through a combination of linguistic competencies from the CEFRL and competencies from the degree programme.
Project: 15 %
15 %
0.9 ECTS
The autonomous learning or self study element will include a range of guided activities for students to do or complete outside of class using a Moodle platform. This is designed with the aim of increasing their autonomy with respect to language learning. The Moodle platform will also offer a personalised monitoring system, adapted to the needs and interests of the students.
On two occasions during the course, the student will have to carry out two mandatory language exchanges with Italian students. This element will be evaluated in accordance with the competencies pertaining to the degree programme and/or the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL).
Mandatory language exchanges with Italian students 10%
10 %
0.6 ECTS
Assisting to the 80% of the classes is mandatory.
* A midterm exam and a final exam. It will not be possible to pass the course if the final exam is less than 5/10 even if the final grade of the course is 5/10 or above.
Resit
- The mark obtained with the resit replaces one of the marks obtained during the course.
- The mandatory language exchanges with Italian students cannot be resit because they correspond to the ongoing assessment
- If the student has not done the group work will have hand it in before the resit
- If the student hasn't taken the final oral exam, they will have to do it during the resit.
Bibliography and resources
Class materials:
Online materials for the autonomous learning:
Exercises and activities via LMS (Moodle)
Students will work through interactive self correcting activities:
a) Discussion forum
b) Videos and audio files