C1.1 (25 hours)
Course Description
Topics – Unit 1: “How Much Italy Is in You?”; Unit 2: “New Literature”
Grammar Aspects – Review of previous content; some suffixes for forming the superlative; some prefixes used with verbs and adverbs; simple future and future perfect in negative sentences; subjunctive in dislocated clauses; cleft sentences; pseudo‑cleft sentences; temporal and interrogative cleft sentences; trapassato remote.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, the student will be able to:
- Read texts, listen to and understand audiovisual sources focused on Italians’ social habits, beliefs, and cultural characteristics, as well as the history of Italian literature, contemporary literature, and its authors.
- Talk about Italians’ social habits and compare them with those of their own country; discuss luck and misfortune; address stereotypes in Italy; describe Italians’ characteristics; analyze literary genres from both historical and contemporary perspectives; and explore new literary trends.
- Communicate on topics related to Italian social habits, discuss literary genres, express concepts connected to the themes studied in class, and support their opinions with contextualized examples.
This course is intended for those who already have a knowledge of Italian sufficient to access this level, or for those who may benefit from a review starting here.
Textbook and materials
Maria Balì and Irene Dei, Nuovo espresso 5. Libro dello studente e esercizi. Corso di italiano C1. Con CD-Audio: C1 (Firenze: Alma, 2017). Units 3-4.
C1.2 (25 hours)
Course Description
Topics – Unit 3: “Head in the Game”; Unit 4: “The Great Beauty”; Unit 5: “Good Eating”
Grammar Aspects – Sequence of tenses in the subjunctive to express anteriority; sequence of tenses with the main clause in the present conditional; regional uses of the verbs essere/stare and avere/tenere; some uses of the subjunctive in independent clauses; some uses of the present and past participle; simple future and past conditional to express posteriority; past conditional + imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive; adjectives buono and bello.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, the student will be able to:
- Read texts, listen to and understand audiovisual sources focused on sports culture, with particular reference to Italians’ relationship with sport, regional variants of Italian, the world of Italian art, visual arts, regional gastronomy, high‑quality food, and its related terminology.
- Talk about sports, communicate intentions and desires, give suggestions in the present and past, recognize some regional variants of the Italian language, and provide a clear description of an event or a series of events.
- Express opinions on sport and sports culture, use more complex adjectives to describe a person, place, or situation, express concepts, opinions, doubts, emotions, commands, hopes, and hypotheses, supporting their opinions with contextualized examples.
This course is intended for those who already have a knowledge of Italian sufficient to access this level, or for those who may benefit from a review starting here.
Textbook and materials
Maria Balì and Irene Dei, Nuovo espresso 5. Libro dello studente e esercizi. Corso di italiano C1. Con CD-Audio: C1 (Firenze: Alma, 2017). Units 3-4-5.
C1.3 (25 hours)
Course Description
Topics – Unit 6: “Words in Music”; Unit 7: “How Cool Are You?”
Grammar Aspects – The polyvalent che; double relative pronouns chi and quanto; stylistic variants of hypothetical sentences; se with temporal and causal value.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, the student will be able to:
- Read texts, listen to and understand audiovisual sources dedicated to music and its vocabulary, Italian musical genres, the world of fashion and its terminology, and current trends.
- Correctly understand and use terminology related to Italian gastronomy and music; talk about haute cuisine; discuss the world of music and musical genres using appropriate terminology; gain awareness of some “incorrect” forms used in everyday Italian; understand the different meanings of homographic words.
- Express opinions on haute cuisine, starred restaurants, contemporary musical genres, fashion and its world, clothing, and styles.
This course is intended for those who already have a knowledge of Italian sufficient to access this level, or for those who may benefit from a review starting here.
Textbook and materials
Maria Balì and Irene Dei, Nuovo espresso 5. Libro dello studente e esercizi. Corso di italiano C1. Con CD-Audio: C1 (Firenze: Alma, 2017). Units 6-7.
C1.4 (25 hours)
Course Description
Topics – Unit 8: “Everyone to the Opera!”; Unit 9: “Women of Italy”; Unit 10: “Italian (Changes Me)”
Grammar Aspects – Present and past infinitive; review of the gerund; da and per + infinitive; the adverb addirittura; other uses of the preposition da; hypothetical sentences with implicit hypothesis; hypothetical connectors; pleonastic use of non; some discourse markers; idiomatic superlatives; some pronominal verbs; imperative mood in indirect speech.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, the student will be able to:
- Read texts, listen to and understand audiovisual sources on theatrical performance, opera, the theme of women and their position in the Italian workforce, women’s rights, famous women who shaped Italian history, and the way the Italian language changes in an era marked by globalization and social media.
- Communicate using terminology related to fashion and Italian slang; talk about trends; understand the history of Italian opera; discuss theatrical and operatic performances; analyze and interpret statistics on female employment in Italy; talk about how a language evolves within its social and political context.
- Share personal tastes related to opera and performance, supporting opinions with contextualized examples; express opinions on female employment; formulate hypotheses and suggest possible ways to improve social conditions under discussion; express opinions on the emergence of neologisms.
This course is intended for those who already have a knowledge of Italian sufficient to access this level, or for those who may benefit from a review starting here.
Textbook and materials
Maria Balì and Irene Dei, Nuovo espresso 5. Libro dello studente e esercizi. Corso di italiano C1. Con CD-Audio: C1 (Firenze: Alma, 2017). Units 8-9-10.