BEGINNING ITALIAN 1 – FLOR 1001
CAPA FLORENCE PROGRAM
Summer Term
Course Description
The course provides a formative program of 48 hours and it is designed for students with no prior experience of
Italian Language. The teacher will explain the fundamental knowledge of grammar, phonetics, morphology and syntax using a functional-situational approach (to learn a rule beginning from its location in a text or context). A part of
the lesson will be dedicated to real situation exercises, grammar drills, consolidation of the material, deepening of
concepts through readings, conversations, role games and listening exercises (through the listening of music and
videos among others) to correct pronunciation.
Course Aims/Objectives
The course provides exercises and instruction for students to understand and to use familiar expressions of daily
events, as well as common formulas to satisfy needs of concrete terms. It also provides the tools to communicate
clear messages in standard language on familiar topics of everyday life. The students learn to introduce themselves
and others and speak about personal interests and everyday activities, to interact with people outside school and
to manage their life in Florence in simple situations as at the bar, at the restaurant etc... and to tell simple past
events.
Requirements and Prerequisites
The students are requested to arrive on time, attend class every day and participate in all activities and
discussions, take notes and review at home. Students must complete daily assignments and study the lesson for
the following class even if they were absent. No late assignment will be accepted. If you feel you need additional
help with a particular grammatical point you can ask your teacher for extra exercises. The use of a laptop and of cell
phones is NOT allowed.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able to:
identify, define, and solve problems; locate and critically evaluate information; master a body of knowledge and a
mode of inquiry; understand diverse philosophies and cultures within and across societies; communicate effectively; understand the role of creativity, innovation, discovery, and expression across disciplines; acquire skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning.
Developmental Outcomes
Students should demonstrate: responsibility & accountability, independence & interdependence, goal orientation,
self-confidence, resilience, appreciation of differences.
Class methodology
The approach adopted relates to the general view of language use and learning provided by the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment edited by the Council of Europe. It is an
“action-oriented” approach insofar as it views language learners primarily as members of society interacting and
accomplishing their tasks in a given set of circumstances and environments.
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The lessons will be held in Italian in order to facilitate the understanding of the basic principles of Italian
pronunciation and to speak Italian in a clearer and more natural way. Authentic materials, such as ads, brochures,
videos, songs, magazine articles, films are used extensively to expose students to contemporary Italian language
and culture. Listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills are integrated into all activities.
Examinations:
There are two quizzes scheduled during the term and a final written and oral exam. Inside each quiz there will be
grammar and vocabulary exercises as well as reading comprehensions or open questions. Both written and oral
exams focus on specific grammatical and cultural elements previously explored in class.
Out-of-class activities
Field Trips: During the semester there will be some field trips to reinforcing vocabulary and uses of the Italian
language. Field trips will be organized during your scheduled time class.
MyEducation
MyEducation and your classes. Through its MyEducation signature feature, CAPA offers you
the unique opportunity to learn about the city through direct, guided experience. Participation
in as many MyEducation activities as you can will provide you with the opportunity to actively
explore the Global City you are currently living in. Furthermore, you will have the chance to collect useful information that will represent an invaluable source for the essays/papers/projects
you will be required to write for your courses.
Integration of MyEducation activities/events in your class’s syllabi. In order to fully integrate
this cultural exploration approach to the Global City into the formal component of your academic instruction, you are requested to report in a written fashion on at least one MyEducation
activity for each class you will take. CAPA’s general objectives for this co-curricular requirement
are to have students develop their ability to engage in their surroundings critically and analytically, and to improve their ability to apply experiences outside of the classroom to the lessons
learned within the classroom. Attendance with a follow-up summary report on one
MyEducation activity will be considered part of the class participation (5% of the final overall
course grade). If there is a class conflict with one of these activities you would like to attend,
please inform your professor at least one week in advance to discuss participation in an alternative activity from the MyEducation calendar of events. Should the MyEducation activity/event you would like to participate in conflict with your class timetable, please contact the
Director of Academic Programs to be formally excused from part of your class or its entirety to
attend the MyEducation activity/event.
Course-related and co-curricular MyEducation activities/events. In each syllabus of the CAPA
courses you take, you will find a suggested list of MyEducation activities and events chosen by
your faculty according to the academic relevancy and consistency to the subject taught. Those
presented as course-related are directly linked to the class, to the extent that they may become crucial for projects/papers/essays you will have to submit for the course they are related
to. Those called co-curricular, on the other hand, represent a general cultural enrichment that
will certainly be a meaningful tool to help you discover some aspects of the Global City, but
that will not provide you with specific information and experiences relatable to the course in
whose syllabus you will find them listed.
Course-related MyEducation activities/events. You should participate in as many as possible
of course-related MyEducation activities listed by faculty. Even if participation is not mandatory
in any of the MyEducation events hereby listed, remember that you will have to produce at
least one MyEducation Report for each of the courses you are taking at CAPA and that these
written reflections will be considered as assessed pieces of work to which each faculty will
award a fixed percentage of the final overall grade.
Co-curricular MyEducation activities/events. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in
co-curricular MyEducation activities too.
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Attending another MyEducation activity/event. Attending another MyEducation activity/event
with follow-up summary report can be considered extra credit.
Reflecting on MyEducation activities/events. Of all the course-related and co-curricular
MyEducation activities and events listed in this syllabus, you have to reflect in a written fashion on ONE of them. It would be preferable to focus on a course-related activity/event, although you are free to choose the activity you like the most or you have been impressed with
the most in term of cultural engagement with the local reality of the Global City and of educational tool to explore specific aspects of it.
For your MyEducation Reports you can choose out of the following different ways of written reflections:
Short essay:
 in English (maximum 1000 words) for the contextual
courses
 in Italian for the Advanced Level language classes students (this will become one of the compositions required)
 for Internship Track students taking the internship in the
local language of the Global City
Report in English
Interview in English with the participants or organisers of the event (the
interview may not have actually taken place, but should be based on actual conversations)
Fiction: a short story related to the event.
 For the Creative Writing classes students should make arrangements with faculty to be allowed to write either prose
or poetry
 For the Literature classes a short story would be the best
way to report
Video shooting only for Cinema and Theatre classes
Film/Play Review (if the event was a film or a theatre play)
Drawing/Painting/Sketch/Small Sculpture (only for Fine Arts courses)
Short account/report in the language classes (only for levels from absolute beginners to post intermediate)
Mini photo reportage with comments in English to pictures related to the
event
Journal entry only for specific courses requiring these kinds of coursework
Further forms of written reflections on the MyEducation activities and events should be proposed and discussed with me and eventually approved by the Director of Academic Programs.
Submission of the MyEducation Reports. Your MyEducation Report must be submitted by the
end of week 12. In order to meet the deadline, you should first email your faculty an electronic
copy of your MyEducation Reports by the due date, and then hand in a printed version of it, so
that faculty will be able to assess and grade it.
Grading and assessment of the MyEducation Reports. In order to pedagogically integrate
MyEducation events and activities in the curriculum, in each of the courses offered at CAPA
world centers there should be tangible traces of how students reflected on the activities they
participated in showing the existence of productive relations between the contents of the formal learning (teaching in class) and informal cultural enrichment (MyEducation events). These
traces are the MyEducation Reports for which each faculty will award students a percentage of
the final overall grade. In this course your MyEducation Report will count ,together with another Italian composition, for a 5% of the final overall grade.
Duplicate submission of the MyEducation Reports. Note that you can “re-use” twice the same
MyEducation event you took part in (one you found particularly enriching or amusing and intellectually rewarding) to write your MyEducation Report on provided that you will choose a different way to reflect on the same MyEducation event. As an example, if you choose to write
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about a cinema night at the Film Festival Giovane at Palazzo Giovane for two different courses,
you are not entitled to submit the same kind of paper written and you have to produce a different one. Therefore, if for this course you will be submitting a film review about one of the
movies screened at the Film Festival Giovane, for the Understanding Modern Italy course you
will not be entitled to submit the same film review, but you will have to report about the film
contents by writing, for example, a short essay or a journal entry. Students attempting to submit the same MyEducation Report to two different courses without changing the way of writing
chosen will be not be given the 5% awarded for the MyEducation Reports.
Attendance, Participation & Student Responsibilities
To the Student:
Please note that the regulations below are very strict for a specific reason, namely to respond
to the expectations of your own colleges and universities. Therefore, please observe these
rules; they are not complicated and simply require your attention to detail.
Class attendance and participation
CAPA has a mandatory attendance policy. Students are also expected to participate actively
and critically in class discussions, and the participation portion of the class will be graded accordingly. Students must read assignments BEFORE the class, and come in on time.
Attendance is mandatory and is taken at the beginning of every class. Unauthorized absence
from class will result in a reduction of the final grade. Grade reduction is incremental and can
lead to course failure. Excessive absenteeism (2 classes in the contextual courses and 3 in
the Italian Language ones) and/or excessive lateness will put the student on academic probation with a written warning. If a student misses more than 3 classes in the contextual courses
and 5 in the Italian Language ones without producing a medical evidence to be excused,
she/he will be automatically given a F.
If you need to miss class for medical reasons or for a family emergency, you must send an email to let the Director of Academic Programs (DAP) know at least one hour in advance of your
class or meeting at the following e-mail: greverdito@capa.org . Note that calling the CAPA Center (Tel.055-2466439) is accepted only if you do not have access to internet. An e-mail is still
required as quickly as you can get access to internet again. You will need to provide evidence
of the reason for your absence. If you miss any meetings without an excused absence by email, your final grade will be dropped accordingly. And when you must miss a class or field
trip, you are responsible to talk to your instructor and make up any missed assignments.
Participation is a vital part of your grade: students are expected to participate orally in seminars, and in online forums and discussions, in a critical and evaluative manner; to approach
professor and fellow students with respect and tolerance; and to actively engage in debate,
while avoiding derogatory or inflammatory comments on the cultures or attitudes of others in
the class.
CAPA Program and Instructor Policies
The faculty expects from your, the student, a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because the value of an academic course depends upon the absolute integrity of the work
done by the student, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual
honor in his or her scholastic work and class behaviour.
A high standard of individual honor means that you, the student, must attend all classes and
never be late (unless with a valid reason). You must be respectful of the professor and of other students by not talking/whispering in class when others are talking or presenting. Persistent lateness or lack of attention in class, ie reading materials other than the work set, may
result in a low or zero grade for participation, and possible referral to the Chief Academic Officer (CAO). No electronic equipment will be used in class, including laptops, phones, ipods,
pads, cell phones, etc, unless you have express permission from the professor or you have
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been instructed to do so. If for any reason a student is obliged to work with electronic equipment, then permission must be obtained from CAPA's Academic Director prior to the class.
Certain behaviours disrupt class, such as a student arriving late, a phone ringing, a student
leaving in the middle of class. Lecturers have the authority to decide policies for their classroom regarding these and similar behaviours that may disrupt the learning environment. All
members of the class are expected to respect the learning environment and the lecturer’s efforts to maintain it.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and Cheating
Plagiarism and cheating will be dealt with very seriously, and will be referred to the Chief Academic Officer.
Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit must be the student's own
original work. If you present, as your own ideas, any material copied or extensively drawn from
the work of others, then you are plagiarizing — unless you give full citations for your sources.
Plagiarism is unacceptable. If it is found, then this will immediately lead to an "F" (Fail) grade
for that particular assignment.
Of course, you may make full use of ideas, arguments and information obtained from books,
journals, websited, etc. but you must make clear in a footnote whose work you are drawing
from. This includes cases of "paraphrasing" where the idea or the thought of another writer is
"borrowed". (Please note that a citation for paraphrasing is academically acceptable. It could
say, for example: "This idea is borrowed from: Author's name, Title, Publisher/Website, (date
you accessed the website), year of publication, page number.")
In addition, copying our own assignment entirely or partially to submit to a second or third professor in another class is considered cheating by duplication. This is unacceptable. The same
is when you copy your own work, that was written for another assignment or in another context (news-journal, website, blog, etc.), without citation. This is akin to plagiarism. While this
does not implicate the writing of others as you are copying your own work, it is misrepresentation in academic terms because the work handed in to the instructor in this class was not originally written for this specific class, but for another publication or platform. Students risk receiving an "F" (Fail) grade for all the assignments done in classes for which they have duplicated their own work. An exception can be given if the student has obtained the professor's
agreement in advance and has correctly provided a reference (citation in text or as footnote or
endnote) to his/her other assignment or earlier work. Students, like any author, are allowed to
cite their own earlier work.
In cases of blatant and intentional misrepresentation, a student will receive a failing grade for
the course and may face disciplinary action before the Chief Academic Officer, which, in extreme cases may result in dismissal from the Program.
In the Italian Language courses students are NOT allowed to use electronic translators for
writing texts in Italian: those submitting compositions and texts of whatever kind translated in
such a fashion will receive a final F grade for the course.
Helpful Resources and Tips on how to avoid Plagiarism
1. You quote it, you note it! An interactive tutorial guide on how to avoid plagiarism and how to cite sources:
http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/
http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/citation.html - if you scroll down,
you’ll find links to all major styles and formats for citing and referencing.
2. How to cite and write a bibliography: Ask your instructor to tell you which
citation format to use (the most common are APA, MLA and Chicago).
The most important thing is to use one citation and referencing format
consistently and accurately throughout your paper.
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Behaviour during Examinations
During examinations, you must do your own work. Unless specifically instructed by the lecturer or instructor, talking during an exam is not permitted, nor may you compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any failure to abide by examination rules will result in failure of the exam, and may lead
to failure of the course and disciplinary action.
Evaluation Forms Process
Midterm and End of term evaluation forms will be submitted electronically: before the final written exam students
will be accompanied in groups by a CAPA staff member to the computer room and there they will submit their evaluation forms online.
Assessment/Grading Policy
Summary of how grades are weighted:
Class participation and homework
Quizzes (2)
Composition (ME – My Education written report)*
Written final exam
Oral final Exam
10%
30% (15% each)
10%
40%
10%
* One of the two compositions will be the ME-My Education report.
Grading scale
Descriptor
Alpha
UK
US
GPA
Requirement
Excellent
A
A-
75+
70-74
95+
90-94
4.0
3.7
Good
B+
B
BC+
C
66-69
63-65
60-62
56-59
53-55
86-89
83-85
80-82
76-79
73-75
3.3
3.0
2.7
2.3
2.0
CD+
D
50-52
46-49
40-45
70-72
66-69
60-65
F
<40
<60
1.7
1.3
0.7
1.0
0
Shows superior use and understanding
of extensive literature beyond the textbook and notes
Shows significant use and understanding of extensive literature beyond the
textbook and notes
Shows a clear understanding and some
insight into the material in the textbook
and notes, but not beyond
Fails to show a clear understanding or
much insight into the material in the
textbook and notes
Average
Below Average
/ Poor
Fail
-
Shows little or no understanding of any
of the material
Textbook


Mina Ricci, Via della grammatica for English speakers, Edilingua, 2011. ISBN 978-960-693-050-8 (€20)
Course reader (€5)
N.B. Students must buy the book and the reader the first day of the course.
Recommended Reading(s)

M. Zollo - A. Wesson, Italian grammar made easy, Hodder Arnold, 2006

An English-Italian pocket size dictionary and an Italian monolingual vocabulary are strongly recommended.
Suggested:
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





Garzanti-Hazon, Piccolo Inglese, 2009, €12,50
Garzanti-Hazon, Mini Inglese, 2009, €7,50
Zanichelli, Il mini di inglese, 2006, €7
Garzanti, Piccolo italiano, 2009, €12,50
Zanichelli, Italiano essenziale, 2009, €8
On line dictionaries: log on to (and register your name etc. for free use):



http://dizionari.repubblica.it/index.shtml#inglese
http://www.garzantilinguistica.it/
http://www.wordreference.com/It/
Week by week breakdown of academic calendar
Italian 1001 – This syllabus may be amended as the course proceeds. Instructors may change the sequence of
steps, add or count out some communicative functions to balance the program with the class feedback. You will be
notified if changes will be made.
Week 1/2
TOPICS / ACTIVITIES










Introduction to the program (syllabus and books)
Italian alphabet – pronunciation
Complete your ID card- Introducing yourself to other people
Asking people their names, ages and where they are from
Numbers 0-100
Greetings
Some useful expressions like “Come si dice “...” (How do you say”...” ?)
Body parts and Colors
Describing yourself and other people (eyes, hair, etc..)
Describing people using some adjectives for the character
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES








Present simple verbs ESSERE and AVERE (to be and to have)
Uses of AVERE and ESSERE
Subject pronouns
Noun singular/plural and masculine/feminine
Adjectives singular/plural and masculine/feminine
Definite articles
C’è – ci sono
QUIZ 1
WEEK 3
TOPICS/ACTIVITIES




Habitual and free-time activities
Vocabulary of the market
Family Members
Time: telling the time and days of the week, the months and seasons
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES




Indefinite articles
Vocabulary for regular verbs
Present simple of regular verbs (ARE/ERE/IRE and ISC verbs)
Possessive adjectives
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WEEK 4
TOPICS/ACTIVITIES





Asking and giving information (on the street)
Analisys of short reading comprehension
“What do they do?” – Describing Professions
Easy dialogues in different stores
Talking about the weekend and free time
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES
 Present simple of the most important irregular verbs (andare, venire, fare, stare,
dare, etc.)
 Uses of FARE (fare la spesa, la coda ecc..)
 Use of some prepositions with verbs of motion and state
 QUIZ 2
WEEK 5/6
TOPICS/ACTIVITIES






Vocabulary of food and drinks at the bar
Ordering something and express your tastes
Inviting someone
Uses of AVERE (Avere fame, sete ecc..)
Talking about past events
Time expressions for the past
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES





Mi piace/mi piacciono (I like)
Modal verbs
Introduction to the Passato Prossimo
ORAL EXAM
FINAL EXAM
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