Giana Harrington
gharrington@derbyps.org 203-736-5032
Course URL. http://www.derbyps.org/page.cfm?p=581
Course prerequisites
Three years of high school Italian.
Course description and objectives
ILCS 3239 - Italian Composition and Conversation I: Full year
ILCS 3240 - Italian Composition and Conversation II: Full year
Italian Composition and Conversation I/II are meant to be an integration and refinement of
what the student has learned in previous courses in the Italian language This course is taught
entirely in Italian. There will be weekly composition assignments as well as oral presentations.
The objective of these courses is to familiarize students not only with the language but also
with the Italian culture and to help students reach an active command of the written and oral
Italian language.
This course is a college course. UConn ECE is a concurrent enrollment program that allows
students to receive both high school and college credit for this course. The three credits
earned transfer into UConn and many other institutions. Grades below a C are listed as “audit”,
showing only that the student has attended the course. UConn ECE students are non-degree
UConn students and are eligible for a variety of university benefits.
Important ECE deadlines:
Fees are $75 for a three credit course.
Registration forms received after June 30th will be processed during the add/drop period,
August 25th-September 8th. An additional $25 charge will be applied to student bill.
Program fee invoices will be mailed to each student directly from UConn at the end of the
summer.
Program fees are not refundable after September 8th.
University of Connecticut:
Statement of Pedagogical Principles and Practices
Both 3239 and 3240 Italian courses are “introductory advanced courses” whose primary goal is
to help students achieve success in future advanced Italian college. Both courses aim at
helping students master the four skills, and becoming familiar with the Italian language and
with Italian culture, in order to help them focus on more complex content courses in college.
ILCS 3239 Conversation and Composition I
This course is a composition course, as well as a conversation course. In this course, students
will learn specific writing skills, such as taking notes, writing a letter, a narrative, a portrait, a
film or book review, an argumentative essay, a research paper etc. Students will work on
improving their writing skills while reading different types of texts (letters, poetry, short
stories, a novel, newspaper articles, film reviews) and studying their functions and techniques.
The next step is imitation: students practice by writing their own journal, letter, poetry,
narrative, article etc and constructing dialogues that will enable them to converse on various
subjects. Students will also review numerous grammatical problems, lists of vocabulary, and
apply them to their texts and conversations. Class discussions and supplementary readings
stimulate oral use of the language
ILCS 3240 Conversation and Composition II: Regular activities and assessments include:
reading assignments, grammar exercises, making and learning vocabulary lists, writing at least
two versions for each main composition (at least one draft, and one final version), quizzes and
exams. A deeper understanding of the language will enable students to converse with other
students and instructors on various subject matters.
The reading assignments will vary. On the other hand, the amount of writing needs to be
comparable at the college and high school levels. At the high schools, frequent writing samples
assigned throughout the year, along with the final 5-page paper (1500 words), need to amount
to the same number of pages.
Texts
Branciforte, Suzanne; Grassi, Anna. Parliamo italiano! Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2006
Cini, Lucia. Strategie di scrittura. 2nd Edition. Rome: Bonacci, 1998
Aust, Derek; Zollo, Mike. Nuova grammatica comunicativa. Ohio: McGraw Hill, 1998
Addtional readings/texts: selected articles and stories from various authors and medias, as
well as Parliamo Italiano workbook, cd & video.
Homework, tests, and activities
Daily homework assignments will include writing dialogues and/or practicing oral fluency for
brief oral assessments throughout each week. Reading various types of articles (newspaper
articles, websites, reviews, and magazines) will be an important part of the course as well as
being able to write short analysis of the readings. Regular oral and written practice is essential
for improving proficiency in a foreign language. It is very important that you speak Italian at all
times in class, even when working in pair groups. Your participation grade is based on your
attendance and on your willingness to participate actively in class activities. Success in
learning a foreign language requires frequent (=daily!) studying, memorizing and practice using
the language!
Grade breakdown
For 3267, each of the 4 skills, reading, writing, speaking and listening
For 3268, the emphasis is on grammar and compositions. Composition grades should take into
account the rewrites and efforts at self-correction.

Composition: 30%

Oral Presentations: 20%
4 presentations on topics chosen by students /5% each

Homework/Participation: 10%

Midterm Exam: 20%

Final Exam: 20%
Numerical grades are converted into letter grades as follow:
A=100-95
A-=94-90
B+=89-87
B=86-84
B-=83-80
C+=79-77
C=76-74
C-=73-70
D+=69-67
D=66-64
D-=63-60
F=59 and below.
Plagiarism and academic honesty policies.
Written assignments that you submit in this class must be entirely your own work. Should you
need to perform research for a class assignment, you must appropriately cite the work
consulted (INCLUDING INTERNET RESOURCES!) using quotation marks, in-text citations,
footnotes/endnotes and/or a bibliography in the correct MLA format (see The MLA Handbook).
You are not allowed to use online translators to aid in your assignments! If you have any
questions about how to give appropriate credit to sources, please come and see me.
Various policies
Missed or late assignments will be receive a 25 point penalty the first day, and another 25 point
for the next day. Late assignments will not be accepted after the following day without
express approval from the instructor. Exams missed due to valid absences will be taken the
next day the student is in school.
Various tips and methods to learn
Practice, practice and practice. I am available everyday after school for help.
Tentative schedule
These courses meet daily.
ILCS 3239 Conversation and Composition I
Unità Preliminare: Per cominciare
Greetings, introductions, asking people questions and giving and asking phone
numbers.
Unità 1: Visitare: Siamo a Roma
Addressing different people, asking what and where things are, telling someone
your age, describing states of being, negating and telling time
Grammar: present tense regular verbs
Composition: Caro diario: Keeping a journal
Unità 2: Studiare: Impariamo l’italiano
Talking about school, using the plural, expressing position and expressing likes and
dislikes
Grammar: Irregular verbs: andare, venire, uscire, dare, stare & piacere
Composition: Using a bilingual dictionary; il sistema scolastico in Italia verso America
Unità 3: Abitare: Andiamo a casa mia
Talking about the family, asking questions, describing people and things, indicating
people and things, talking about the weather, and doing errands.
Grammar: volere, dovere & potere; irregular verbs fare, dire & bere.
Composition: using lists to write composition
Unità 4: Comprare: Facciamo delle commissioni
Talking about past actions and events, specifying quantities, talking about food,
shopping for food, shopping in specialty stores, handling and changing money,
avoiding redundancy and expressing “there”
Grammar: partitive, direct object pronouns, present perfect and past participles,
Composition: Improving writing skills
Unità 5: Mangiare: Tutti a tavola
Ordering food and drink, avoiding redundancy, describing actions, cooking and sharing
recipes.
Grammar: Adverbs, pronouns, Ci & Si impersonal, conoscere and sapere
Composition: Using models
Unità 6: Rilassarsi: Cosa facciamo di bello.
Talking about things you used to do, describing actions in the past, talking about
hobbies, and sports, talking about the future and discussing vacations.
Grammar: imperfect, present perfect (passato prossimo), progressive tense
Composition: Sequencing and chronological order
Research paper due May 30: 5 page essay
Final: cumulative: week of June 16
ILCS 3240 Conversation and Composition II
Unità 7: Vestirsi: Vestiamoci alla moda
Talking about routine daily activities, discussing illness and visits to the doctor,
comparing people, places and things, buying clothing and talking about fashion,
expressing wishes and request politely, talking about what you and others would do
in different circumstances, giving commands.
Unità 8: Lavorare: Lavoriamo
Expressing desires, opinions, emotions, and doubts, talking about professions and the
workplace, discussing means of transportations.
Grammar: present subjunctive, relative pronouns
Composition: Curriculum vitae, Business letters
Unità 9: Viaggiare: Andiamo in vacanza
Describing past actions, making travel plans, taking a train or plane, expressing doubts,
opinions and emotions about past events, making negative statements
Grammar: past perfect (trapassato prossimo), imperfect subjunctive (congiuntivo
imperfetto), past subjunctive (congiuntivo passato), negative expressions,
Composition: writing an email
Unità 10: Divertirsi: Usciamo stasera
Talking about hypothetical situations, talking about what we wish would happen,
modifying words, talking about theater, cinema, and music, specifying how long
something has been going on.
Grammar: hypothetical sentence (periodo ipotetico), conditional with the subjunctive
(il condizionale con il congiuntivo), suffixes (suffissi), preposition “da”.
Composition: expressing opinions
Unità 11: Leggere: Recitiamo una poesia
Talking about the distant past, expressing opinions about literature and writing,
indicating sequence of events, reporting what others have said, talking about mass
media
Grammar: Remote past, ordinal numbers, direct and indirect discourse (discorso
diretto e indiretto), che and quale
Composition: Creative writing
Unità 12: Sognare: Immaginiamo il futuro.
Discussing politics, comparing cultures, talking impersonally, talking about Italy’s
future
Grammar: sequencing actions, passive voice.
Composition: Organizing an essay
Research paper due May 30: 5 page essay
Final: cumulative: Finals week (June)