Italian 110

Required Texts: (available in the textbook section of the Penn Bookstore, 36th & Walnut)

Gruppo META, Uno, libro dello studente
Gruppo Meta, Uno, libro degli esercizi
An Italian Dictionary

Recommended text:

Proudfoot & Cardo, Modern Italian Grammar

Course description:
A first-semester elementary language course for students who have never studied Italian before or who have taken the placement test and received a score below 380. All students who have previously studied Italian are required to take the placement test. Classes are conducted in Italian and emphasize the development of listening comprehension and speaking, with training in reading and writing. The course is organized around oral/aural communicative activities such as role-plays and interactive grammar exercises. In Italian 110 your listening skills will be greatly developed for you will be exposed daily to authentic language spoken at normal speed by native Italians. Some of these are short conversations, songs, and poems. As the semester progresses the conversations will be longer. Your class work will be supplemented with homework using a cassette with a workbook, to further enhance your listening skills. In class you will get ample opportunity to speak, as much of the class period will be spent working in pairs or small groups. You will also be exposed to simple Italian texts so that your reading skills will be developed. These texts will gradually become more complex as you acquire the vocabulary necessary to read at a higher level. You will also be challenged to work on your writing skills, starting with sentences and building up to paragraph -length essays.

Goals:
By the end of this course you can expect to be able to handle some basic needs and courtesies in an Italian setting and to have short, very simple conversations about some things in your own immediate environment: you will know the culturally correct way to greet people and make introductions, order food and beverages, purchase things in stores (clothing, electronics, books, stationery, etc.), give and get directions to get around a city, make phone calls and leave messages. You should be able to describe people and things in simple terms, talk about your family and home, your daily routine your likes and dislikes. You will begin to learn to make simple statements about things that happened in the past and to make plans for the immediate future.

Required Work
Attendance: Regular attendance in class is required. Roll will be taken on a daily basis. You are allowed a maximum of FIVE absences during the semester. Your instructor will talk to you after four absences and send a note of warning to your school office after five absences. After six absences your grade will be lowered. If you are absent it is your responsibility to find out the assignment for that day and be prepared for the next class. Students are expected to come to class on time. Repeated tardiness will be counted towards an absence.
Class Preparation: Daily preparation of assigned work using the Libro degli esercizi and the exercise cassette is essential. Because of the heavy emphasis on the development of oral and listening comprehension skills in this course, it will not be sufficient to study the assignments silently from the book at home. Tape work can be done either in the Multi-Media Center or you can make a copy of the exercise cassette to work with at home. The tape is also available on the 110 homepage on the Internet. You can expect to do up to 1 - 2 hours homework for every hour in class. Your performance on these prepared exercises will be graded.
Written Homework: All written homework (exercises and compositions) must be handed in on time. They will be accepted late only if you are ill.

Tests
Unità tests: At the end of every three units you will have a written test.
Informal quizzes: You will also have very short in-class quizzes which may or may not be announced in advance. (These quick "spot-checks" will count as part of your homework /participation grade, as they provide feedback to the teacher on the quality of your daily class preparation.)
Oral tests: You will have a midterm and a final oral test which will be individually scheduled with your instructor.
Final: The Final exam includes Reading, Writing and Cloze
Note: There will be no make-up tests. If you miss one you will receive a 0.

Final Grade:
Written homework, mini-quizzes - 25%
Class participation - 20%
Unità Tests - 30%
Oral Tests - 10%
Final Exam - 15%

Grading Scale:  

MMETS (Multimedia Center):
MMETS is located in the basement of David Rittenhouse Lab (33rd and Walnut). Teachers may assign listening or recording work in the MMETS center. As a Penn student you also have access to a variety of Italian instructional videos, movies and cassettes for additional listening comprehension practice. A large collection of Italian movies is also in the Van Pelt Library.

The Department Home Page:
Consult the Romance Languages Department Home Page for information on additional resources, such as local radio and TV programming in Italian and sites where you can practice your Italian, pick up an Italian newspaper or magazine or get an Italian cappuccino! The page also has links to selected WWW sites which can enrich your study of the language. The cassette which accompanies Uno, Libro degli esercizi is also on line, for use at home on your computer, or in one of Penn’s computer labs. Each section of Italian 110 will have a class session scheduled into a computer lab at MMETS at the beginning of the semester where you will be introduced to these resources.

La Casa Italiana:
La casa italiana, part of the Modern Languages Residential Program of Gregory House, is located in the Class of 1925 building, 3940 Locust Walk. It sponsors a program of Italian films as well as a weekly coffee hour in Italian which are open to the whole campus. It is also possible to join the residents for dinner. For further details on their activities visit their home page.

Tutoring Support:
Students who wish to have additional help with their language studies should contact the Penn Tutoring and Learning Resource Center at 3820 Locust Walk.
The Center organizes regular sessions for walk-in help in a number of residences in addition to providing one-on-one tutoring.

Language Direct:
This is a new effort of the Wheel Project sponsored by the Modern Languages Program which will provide on-line tutorial help. Students can seek help on their study of Italian by e-mail at any time of day or night and receive a response within 24 hours. Language Direct will also organize on-site tutorials in the Modern Languages House, particularly keyed to major exams such as midterms and finals.

Study Abroad:
The University of Pennsylvania strongly encourages study abroad opportunities for its students. A variety of summer, semester and year-long programs in Italy are sponsored by Penn Summer Abroad (3440 Market St., Suite 100, Tel: 8-7028) and the Office of International Programs (133 Bennett Hall, Tel: 8-4661). The Penn-Bryn Mawr summer program in Florence offers Language, Literature and Art History courses. Among the Language courses is an intensive intermediate course (Italian 134) which affords students who have completed Italian 120 an attractive option for attaining proficiency in Italian in a six-week summer course in Italy.

Italian Language Program Director:

Italian 110 Coordinator:

Helen McFie Simone
Williams 446
898-8449