Rutgers World Languages Institute

Summer 2009 Italian

The Italian Language Program offers the possibility of completing all MAT course requirements in Italian in three consecutive summers, or of earning credit for professional development or continuing education. The Program is designed for individuals already teaching Italian, but also is open to prospective teachers at the K-12 school level. Credits acquired through the Italian Language Program may be accepted for state certification. While not mandatory, teachers are invited to apply for the MAT after the successful completion of two Italian courses in the World Languages Institute. Details of the MAT program are available at the Department of Italian or its web site at http://italian.rutgers.edu.

Course Offerings: See also Core Curriculum.

INDEX NUMBERS (for http://webreg.rutgers.edu registration purposes) ARE LISTED IN ORANGE

ADVANCED ITALIAN GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION. (CR. 3.)
16:560:503:G1:94078
N.B. DAY JULY 16-JULY 29
WTHFMT 1:30-5:30 SESSION C
INSTRUCTOR TBA
Emphasis on the ability to write and speak at a variety of discourse levels. Analysis and practice of different registers of daily usage through a number of oral and written activities involving fiction, journal entries, letters, magazine and newspaper articles, and academic papers. Review of crucial grammatical points focusing on the practical application of the communicative, direct approach, which K-12 teachers may implement in their own classes. Conducted in Italian.

ITALIAN LITERATURE OF THE 15TH CENTURY: THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, 1350-1550: PROFILES AND PROBLEMS. (CR.3.)
16:560:615:F1:94081
N.B. DAY JULY 1-JULY15
WTHFMT 1:30-5:30 SESSION B
MARSH
Through a series of multi-media lectures and discussions, this course will examine the principal figures and events of the Italian Renaissance, which gave birth to modern Western civilization. Beginning with “Trecento Literature” (Petrarch and Boccaccio) that examines the emergence of Florence as cultural leader, we will then explore the subsequent flowering of its achievements in “The Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici,” the “Emergence of the Vernacular” with readings from Machiavelli and Castiglione, and then move on to the “Art of the High Renaissance” to view and discuss Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Finally, the role of women in Renaissance Italy will be re-evaluated, and the earth-shaking events that closed the Renaissance will be analyzed. This course will invite teachers to reflect on the values and meaning of a parent culture for today’s world through the investigation of the role of the arts, music and women in society as well as the nature of creativity. The Renaissance is famed as the era of “self-fashioning,” and Italian visual emblems and verbal mottos will suggest parallels to contemporary media, icons, and logos. Conducted in Italian.

THIS COURSE WILL NOT BE TAUGHT ABROAD. PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGES IN SECTION NUMBER, TIME, DATES, LOCATION AND INSTRUCTOR
THE ITALIAN SHORT STORY. (CR. 3.)
16:560:661:S1
N.B DAY JULY 30-AUGUST 12
THWFMT 1:30-5:30 SESSION D
SISLER
~~FLORENCE, ITALY~~
Focus on reading and analyzing short texts in Italian (historical texts, newspapers, magazines, and the literary selections from Verga, Capuana, Rodari, Eco, Moravia, Palazzeschi, Ginzburg). Investigation of this “short genre” within the parameters of contemporary culture, in which celebrated communicative skills include brevity and conciseness. Transformation of oral accounts into written texts, including study of rhetorical and stylistic variations within the genre. Careful examination of reading strategies accompanies the study of existing research into the practice of orality. Oral presentations, composition of short pieces, and one sentence summaries required. Materials used in class may be adapted for K-12 instruction. Conducted in Italian.

TOPICS IN ITALIAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE: LITERATURE, CULTURE & GASTRONOMY OF ITALY. (CR.3.)
16:560:691:B6:94074
N.B. EVE MAY 26-JUNE 25
TTH 5:00-9:00 SESSION A
WHITE
Lexicon, images and metaphors of food have an essential role in the Italian literary tradition, and gastronomy is interwoven into all aspects of Italian culture. Through the reading of short stories, poems, and texts of different genres, the course will highlight the diverse roles and functions of food: as nourishment of body and spirit, as social divider or unifier, as means of seduction or communication, as catalyst for an atmosphere or as a statement of power, as stimulus of memories or projection to the future. Food in children’s literature also will be analyzed and related issues - such as the absence or excess of food and the ethic of food and consumerism - will be considered. The course will conclude with a discussion of the Slow Food Revolution, a movement initiated in Italy and now with world-wide following, and its social, economic, ecological, aesthetic and cultural impact. Excerpts from movies of great directors such as De Sica, Fellini, and Visconti, and slides of classical and modern masters such as Annibale Carracci, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Giorgio Morandi, will be included as essential background. Conducted in Italian.