Italian Level 1

On successful completion of this module, you will be better prepared to:

• respond to and produce a basic range of spoken language in very familiar contexts;
• respond and produce simple written texts;
• demonstrate the relevant level of intercultural awareness in your handling of everyday social interactions in Italian and your use of language;
• engage with a basic range of digital language-learning tools to support your production.

In this module, you will cover the following linguistic structures:

• present tense;
• present perfect tense;
• articles;
• regular and irregular verbs;
• negatives;
• possessive adjectives;
• prepositions and articulated prepositions;
• adjectives and adverbs;
• modal and reflexive verbs;
• comparative forms;
• introduction to direct and indirect object pronouns;
• impersonal verbs and expressions.

These linguistic structures will be applied in the following topics:

• making contact;
• everyday objects;
• eating and drinking;
• nationalities;
• leisure;
• the home;
• sickness and health;
• everyday life;
• in the town;
• Italian culture, art tradition and history.

In line with MFL communicative and active learning methodology, in-class activities cover all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and include: pair work and group work (dialogue practice, information gap exercises, discussion); individual tasks; discovery and formulation of rules; critical evaluation of texts, audio and video material. Homework tasks give you the opportunity to revise and consolidate knowledge and skills. This approach not only ensures you engage with a wide range of tasks, but also supports different learning styles.

Your coursework will be marked and returned within two weeks. Rubrics and revision guidance (how-to guides) will be included as needed with each coursework. You will receive detailed feedback alongside suggestions for improvement and an overall percentage showing your provisional grade for that assessment.

The module includes formative as well as summative assessment. Homework tasks (theory revision, reading, writing, listening, etc) are set every week on the Virtual Learning Environment, following a flipped-classroom approach to ensure face-to-face time is devoted for interactional learning and communicative skills acquisition. This means that you will be provided with materials to study independently beforehand and then apply these during classroom time. Your lecturer will provide you with support materials and guidance to reinforce topics covered at your own pace.

You will be expected to complete two pieces of summative coursework (set toward the end of autumn term and mid-spring term), which will include revision guidance to ensure you are supported when completing your work and so that you are aware of the assessment expectations. There will also be a 1-hour in-class examination (scheduled at the end of spring term), and one practical - in the form of an oral examination (at the end of spring term or during the summer term). All summative assessments contribute to the final module grade/mark.

• Coursework (25%): Mid-autumn term. Integrated skills set of tasks, covering: listening, speaking, reading and writing (c. 100 words).
• Coursework (25%): Mid-spring term. Integrated skills set of tasks, covering: listening, speaking, reading and writing (c. 120 words).
• Examination (25%): 1-hour in-class test, on the Virtual Learning Environment at the end of spring term, testing lexical/ grammatical awareness and reading/ writing skills (writing c. 120 words).
• Practical (25%): End of spring term. Oral exam, including graded, open conversation on topics seen in class and unprepared discussion (approx. 7 minutes in total).

• 7.5 ECTS points awarded on successful completion of the module.
• Available to take for credit towards your degree, where your department allows. Also available for extra credit. The Module options by department page has a full list of the credit options.
• You must be prepared to attend all classes and undertake approximately 3 hours of private study each week in addition to the assessment.

Coursebook

Nuovo Espresso: Libro studente 1.
Publisher: Alma Edizioni, 2014. ISBN: 9788861823181.

Please note: the Italian Bookshop offers a 10% discount to Imperial Horizons students.

Additional materials

Reading lists and relevant materials will be published on the VLE.