Sussex Centre for Language Studies
Open courses in modern languages
Italian Language and Culture – Stage 1
20 weekly meetings, 1.5 hours each
An introduction to the language of everyday situations in Italian. This course is for
complete beginners. There is an emphasis on understanding and communicating. A
course book may be used in class, but other materials will also be recommended
and provided by the tutor.
The course aims to equip students with sufficient language to be able to deal with
simple everyday situations, to include: personal information – family/social
arrangements • directions - time, numbers • travel/transport • food and drink •
shopping • accommodation – homes, hotel • holidays and leisure.
Grammar and functions which may be covered include: gender • case • articles •
partitives • present tense of common regular/irregular verbs • negatives • questions •
descriptions • adjectives • personal pronouns • polite/familiar forms • prepositions •
possessives • idea of future • one main past tense • time phrases/quantities.
You will be given an insight into the culture of Italy within the framework of your
language studies. You will be encouraged to work out your own strategy for study in
line with the syllabus and your own perceived needs. There will be an opportunity to
study personal cultural interests linked to the language.
Course learning outcomes
By the end of the course you will have improved your language skills and be able to
speak in simple phrases to get a message across in a variety of everyday situations.
There may be grammar and pronunciation errors but basic communication will be
possible. You will be able to comprehend and act on both simple written and spoken
stimuli. Simple grammatical structures will have been taught. You will have gained a
better appreciation of the relationships between the language, history and culture of
the country. You will have developed greater confidence and enhanced autonomy in
your language learning.
Teaching and learning methods
Communicative language teaching, particularly tutor-led group work, will guide you
through the basic structures and functions of the beginners' syllabus. There will be
practice in the four skills, listening, speaking, reading and basic writing. You will be
encouraged to develop basic communicative skills, to learn grammatical structures
and to respond to simple written and spoken stimuli. There will be preparation work
set which may be taken from a course book.
Built into the course will be a number of assignments to allow you and your tutor to
gauge progress made. These assignments naturally form part of the course and will
usually be multi-skilled, involving some reading, writing, speaking and listening. It will
be important to complete a learning/study plan and take an active part in the classes
by completing the assignments set. You will be given an opportunity to pursue your
own personal research into a topic of cultural interest which contains some analysis
or debate.
Certificate of Completion
At the end of the course you will receive an individual Record of Learning on
request, giving details of the course and your achievement of the aims and
objectives. If the tutor considers that you have gained as much as possible from the
course, have achieved the learning outcomes and have participated in the assessed
activities, a Certificate of Completion of the course will subsequently be issued, on
request.
Bibliography
Course book:
To be agreed/ discussed with group
Suggested supplementary reading:
Bilingual dictionary:
Large edition Collins with phonetic transcript
For self-study:
Contatti Activity Book (optional)
Breakthrough Italian (Macmillan)
BBC Italian courses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/
Grammar reference:
A New Style Italian Grammar - Leonardo Oriolo (ESB)