Face-to-face , first and second term, 60 hours of exercises.

Italian

MHIT1121A - [1 Q. • 30 Ex. • Pond. : 30] Sebastiano Ferrari, Milena Fontana
MHIT1121B - [2 Q. • 30 Ex. • Pond. : 70] Sebastiano Ferrari, Milena Fontana

This course is intended to introduce students to basics and particularities of phonetics, vocabulary and pragmatics of Italian in order to enhance students' listening and oral skills from beginner to intermediate level (i.e. from Breakthrough level, A1 to Threshold level, B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Mastery of the Italian language goes hand in hand with discovering culture of contemporary Italy.

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Language activities will be based on the 4 communication axes identified by the CEFR i.e. personal, public, educational and occupational domains.

On completing this Unit students will be able to:

- understand authentic texts (interviews, news reports, descriptions, dialogues) in order to boost their listening and oral skills though exercises of increasing difficulty (from level A1 to level B1 of the CEFR),

- express themselves fluently and accurately, by means of exercises aiming at improving pronunciation, stress and intonation,

- practice of oral expression (dialogues, descriptions, summaries, presentations etc.) in a range of situations/topics related to everyday life and personal experience (activation of prior knowledge in the domain of vocabulary and grammar also with the aid of intercomprehension between romance languages (FR>IT), use of turns of phrase suitable for a varied set of communication situation,

- have a better insight into social and cultural aspects of contemporary Italy (habits and customs, Italy's regions and cities, etc.).

Face-to-face, First and Second Term, the number of hours' tuition per year is 60 equally divided between the 2 Semesters (30 hours in Semester 1 - 30 hours in Semester 2).Language lab work; pronunciation and intonation exercises with individual correction; exercises focusing on oral expression (individual & pair work) using varied audio and visual supporting materials; including both in-class and home oral comprehension activities.

Continuous assessment, written exam with Mr Ferrari and oral exam with Ms Fontana at the end of Semesters 1 and 2.

Nuovo Espresso 1 and 2 (Alma: Firenze) ; Nuovo Progetto italiano 1 and 2 (Edilingua: Roma); L'italiano all'università (Edilingua: Roma) ; videos and other online resources (Alma: Edilingua, Loescher); P. Diadori, Senza parole. 100 gesti degli italiani (Bonacci: Roma) 1999, etc.