ITAL 402U: Advanced Italian II

Introduction
This is one of the four courses which are part of the Full-Immersion Italian Semester Program at the Universita’ per Stranieri di Perugia. The program consists of four month-long courses, such as this one, each awarding 4 credits for a total of 16 semester credits.

The program is designed for students who want to focus exclusively on Italian language and culture through full-time study at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia, for a semester or more. Participants are immersed in an international environment with  university students from all over the world whose primary goal is to become fluent in Italian. This program is intensive and widely recognized as one of the best ways to become fluent in Italian and to fully appreciate everyday life in Italy. Coursework is supplemented by a wide variety of extra- and co-curricular activities offered both by Umbra and the Università per Stranieri.

Students are required to follow classes at the Università per Stranieri and the mandatory weekly recitation sessions at the Umbra Institute. Additionally, students will have the option to attend weekly tutoring sessions as needed. 

Structure
At the end of each one-month course, students are assessed and take an examination to advance to the next course in the progression.  Example: Students that begin at level B2.2 (ITAL 402) will, at the end of one month, advance to level B2.3 (ITAL 403). In some cases a student may be required to continue at the same level if they have not achieved sufficient proficiency to pass to the next level.

Course Description
This is a 4-week-long intensive advanced Italian course offered by the Umbra Institute in cooperation with the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (UniStraPG). Students with four to five semesters of college Italian language instruction might test into the second module of the B2 advanced level (based on the Common European Framework for Languages – CEFR). Weekly recitation sessions and tutorial hours (upon request) at Umbra supplement traditional in-class language instruction conducted at the Università per Stranieri and assure students are prepared for Italian-style university examinations.

The program teaches Italian through student life experiences in Italy and around the world: free time, personal tastes and interests, hobbies, daily life, social life, relationships, shopping habits, eating preferences, describing oneself and others, talking about one’s past, talking about current events. This course places a special focus on teaching the basics about Italy (its culture, its cities, and its territory), as well as Italian traditions and habits. Vocabulary will focus on social situations likely to be encountered, work and professional environments, habits, and social and moral norms.  

Course Objectives
By the end of the B2 level, students can understand standard speech spoken at a normal rate and follow even complex lines of argument, provided the topic is reasonably familiar. They can understand the essentials of college lectures and most TV news and current affairs programs and can understand most films (if in standard Italian). At this level, students can understand articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems and they should be able to read contemporary literary prose. Students will notice that during this level they will begin to be able to account for and sustain their opinions in discussion by providing relevant explanations, arguments, and comments. They will start to take an active part in informal discussion in familiar contexts, commenting, putting their point of view clearly, evaluating alternative proposals and making and responding to hypotheses. They will be able to hold their own effectively in social discourse and understand in detail what is said to them in the standard spoken language. Regular interaction with native speakers now becomes quite possible without imposing strain on either party.

Course Materials
Course textbooks and readings for all levels are determined by UniStraPG Instructors. Local bookshops stock the standard textbooks prescribed for the courses.

Prerequisites
Four to five semesters of college level Italian or Placement test.