Download Introduction To Italian

Introduction To Italian
Congratulations on starting your grand love affair with what is one of
the most beautiful languages in the world! It may not seem like a love affair
at first--beginning the study of any new language is a challenge that requires
patience and fortitude. And, unfortunately, the older we are, the more
difficult the task is due to the language acquisition centers in our brains
being closed in adolescence. What we have to do as adult students is develop
new neural pathways and that takes time and perseverance.
What you get out of your study will be directly proportionate to what
you put into it. If you come to class once a week then don't engage the
language until next class, you will not be able to learn much. It may seem
obvious but you will need to take notes in class. I will assign homework
after each class and I suggest you do other things as you can fit them into
your schedule. Engage all your senses: watch Italian movies or TV (U-Verse
offers an Italian language addition, Time Warner does not), study with a
friend over coffee, say the words aloud despite how silly it seems to you,
listen to CDs of some kind.
This class will go right along from Introduction to Intermediate for
those who want to continue to gain fluency. I will have a special section for
Traveler's Italian along the way but my own goal is that you learn to
understand and speak Italian with a degree of comfort and self confidence to
navigate your travels and engage Italians in real conversations--in Italian.
If you continue to invest in time and effort, you will go from thinking
in English and translating in your brain (no other way at first) to thinking
(and even dreaming) in Italian. How fast you get there will be the result of
how much time and energy you put into your studies. (That bears repeating.)
As a group we can have Italian movie nights, pot lucks (speaking
Italian--these will take awhile until we can have conversations), going to
Italian restaurants, cooking classes, and maybe even, if we can do it, a trip to
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Italy together for those who want to do that and don't have another trip
planned. There's no better training than that not to mention how much fun it
would be.
A cautionary word about other Romance languages: knowing one or
more of them is both a blessing and a curse. Generally, they will help in
understanding the concepts of noun gender, use of articles, complexities of
verbs and other things common to all Romance languages (French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Romanian and Latinate dialects like Catalan). However, Italian
grammar is different (it is closest to Latin of them all) and even though you
might hear some words in common, there are many, many false cognates
(words that you think you know having an entirely different meaning) from
one Romance language to another.
I will not be teaching Italian in reference to any other language
(except, by necessity, English) or comparing and contrasting Italian to other
Romance languages. I urge you to leave your other Romance language back
at your house if you can. It does cause interference and will confuse others
in the class if we talk about another language they do not know.
Because this is an Intro class, I will be teaching in English with lots of
Italian sprinkled in. As we move to Intermediate level, we will gradually
switch to Italian immersion as we gain enough comfort to do that.
I am going to give you a list of materials BUT, please do not jump
ahead of assignments. I will be teaching in a certain order and it is not
always the same as the books use. For instance, both of them jump into
Future tense early and Italians don't use it much. That is one of the last
tenses we will tackle. I'll be teaching what is used most first.
I've done the first three lesson plans in advance and they are included
in this packet. I may need to adjust future plans in accord with the pace of
the class.
Va bene? Non vedo l'ora di vedervi. (I can't wait to see you.)
Giuliana
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Materials List
Required for class:
1.) Easy Italian, Step-by-Step by Paola Nanni-Tate will serve as
our text book. Available at Barnes and Noble and through
Amazon. $15 at B&N, maybe less at Amazon. I will not be
teaching this in their chapter order or from it exclusively. Please
don't jump ahead for your own sake.
2.) Italian Verb Drills by Paola Nanni-Tate. This is also available
at Amazon and B&N at about $8.00. As the title implies, this is a
verb work book. Even with this book, the order is not what I will
be using so don't jump ahead of recommendation or you will be
confused and dilute your efforts.
 A notebook to take notes in.
 Pencils
 Eraser (I recommend those click erasers)
You will also need:
1.) an English/Italian dictionary. There are lots of them. I have a
huge one for reference and a small one to carry around and a
pocket one for travel (even I need the dictionary from time to
time.) You only need one dictionary to get by but you will need it.
2.) 501 or 601 Italian Verbs. This is a Barron's Language Guide. I
have an old one (501) that cost $16.99. I'm not sure how much they
are now. This book offers complete conjugations of commonly
used verbs. Don't get freaked out looking at all of them; not all the
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tenses are used (for instance Passato Remoto--or historic past--is
rarely used outside of history books.)
No need to tote these reference books to class.
Nice to have:
Sticky notes.
We will also be using excerpts from Easy Italian Reader by
Riccarda Saggese. ($20 at the usual sources) You may buy it but
that is not necessary. It does have a CD ROM which will help
develop your ear if you do buy it.
Some Italian audio CDs will help you and are nice to use in the
car. There are myriads of them out there.
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Lesson One
Class overview, managing your expectations, and learning goals.
How to use the text book and recommended study aids.
A brief history of the Italian language.
The Italian Alphabet
Letters
Pronunciation
Rhythms and word stress
Sentence Structure Overview
Chapter 1 of "Easy Italian Step-by-Step" (omit final exercise, page 23).
Nouns and definite articles
Masculine and feminine, singular and plural
Personal Pronouns
Descriptive adjectives and their positioning
Starting the Verb System
The big two tenses you must learn (the others are optional)
Introduction to the first conjugation (the so-called 'a-r-e' verbs)
Homework:
1) Finish the exercises in Chapter 1 that we will begin in class (excepting the
final exercise)
2) Complete Pages 1-10 of the Italian Verb Drills workbook.
Both books have an answer key in the back so you can self-check your
homework.
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Lesson Two
Review of Lesson One, Q&A
Chapter 2 of Easy Italian
Interrogative Words
Indefinite articles
The Verbs Stare and Essere (Both are To Be. When to use which one)
Appropriate book exercises.
Introducing the vital verb "Avere"
Introducing Passato Prossimo, the one past tense you must know
Past Participle formation
Which auxiliary with which verb?
Introducing the Second Conjugation (so called e-r-e verbs).
Homework:
1) Finish exercises begun in class
2) Page 13-20, 50-60 in Italian Verb Drills
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Lesson Three
Review & Q&A
Chapter 3 of Easy Italian Step-by-Step
C'e (there is), Ci sono (there are), and Ecco (here it is)
Prepositions and combining them with articles
The Calendar (Days, Months, Seasons, Times of Day)
Possessives with nouns
Introduction to the 3rd Conjugation (so-called i-r-e verbs)
The two forms of i-r-e conjugations (woe is us)
Review Passato Prossimo/ Avere and Essere as auxiliaries and review
formation of the past participles of verbs.
Reading Comprehension
Il cinema (page 56) in text book
Homework:
1.) Finish Exercises begun in class
2.) Pages 21-28 in Italian Verb Drills
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For subsequent lessons, I will give you the lesson plan a week
or so in advance but I need to stay flexible so I can adjust the
teaching to the learning pace of the class in general.
Even the above plans are a guide. We will cover as much
ground as we can but we want to do justice to the subject
matter.
Giuliana
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