Course goals
In this course students will develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Italian and an
understanding of Italian culture. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be
able to:
- provide basic information in Italian about themselves, their families, interests, likes and dislikes,
and daily activities;
- participate in a simple conversation on everyday topics (e.g., weather, meeting new people,
school, shopping, etc.);
- read edited texts on familiar topics; understand the main ideas, and pick out important information
from "authentic texts" (e.g. menus, signs, train schedules, etc.);
- fill in forms requesting general information, write letters and postcards providing simple
information;
- provide general information about Italy (e.g. geography, weather, food, etc.);
- use and understand essential vocabulary related to everyday life (e.g. days of the week, colors,
numbers, months, seasons, telling time, stores, family members, modes of transportation, etc.)
- pronounce Italian well enough and produce Italian with enough grammatical accuracy to be
comprehensible to an Italian speaker accustomed to speaking with non-natives.

Course Requirements
Homework assignments include written as well as oral assignments.
Regular language laboratory attendance and completion of the Lab exercises is required.

Homework must be legible and tidy. It must also show improvement by your not repeating the
same mistakes over and over. Homework is corrected and marked, and counts towards your grade
(see grading policy.)
An absence is not an considered an excuse for not doing your assignment. Get the phone
numbers of at least two classmates during the first week of class. If you are absent, call them up to
find out about the assignment.
All written homework and lab work is due on the day assigned and will not be accepted late unless
there are exceptional circumstances.
All essays must be submitted on the due date. No late work will be accepted.
Quizzes, announced and unannounced, emphasize the material contained in a chapter, but also
includes listening comprehension, reading comprehension, dictation and writing.
The lowest grade on a quiz is dropped. There are no make up quizzes. If you miss a quiz, it will be
counted as your lowest grade and dropped. If you miss another one, you get a ‘0’.
Exams include a Midterm and a Final Exam. Each exam has a written and an oral part to test your
overall communicative abilities. During the semester you will have speaking assignments to build
your speaking abilities.
Essays will be written every two weeks. Students are expected to write 50 to 100 words on an
assigned topic, using vocabulary and structures they have learned and practiced in class. Essays
will be graded on comprehensibility, content/information, use of familiar vocabulary, and
grammatical accuracy. Each essay will be written twice. The first time, students will receive
comments about content and grammatical errors. The second time, students should incorporate
the instructor’s suggestions and make corrections. The final grade will be an average of both
grades.
Class participation involves listening to your teacher and to your classmates every time they speak;
speaking only Italian in class (gesturing is OK too!); taking notes, and showing your progress in the
homework by not repeating the same mistakes.
Improvement is a very important part of the course and you are required to actively work on it. After
your homework has been given back to you from your instructor, you must spend time reading your
teacher's indications and comments, and making the corrections requested of you.
Attendance
You are not allowed more than four absences during the semester for classes which meet four
times a week, and two absences for classes which meet twice a week. After the fourth (or second )
absence, your attendance percentage of the grade will be lowered as follows:
0-4 (0-2) absences for any reason: A
5-6 (3) B
7-8 (4) C
9-10 (5) D
11 or more the student will have to drop the class
We make exceptions for religious holidays you must observe.
A doctor's note does not represent an excuse for an absence. Doctor appointments, interviews
and such are absolutely not accepted as excuses. You are responsible for making them outside of
class time.
Lateness
Late arrivals disrupt the class. Also, you are expected to stay till the end of every class. Early
departures are not permitted unless you have a very special reason and you inform your teacher at
the very beginning of class.
Your final grade is based on:
Attendance and participation 20%
Homework (written, lab) 20%
Quizzes 10 %
Compositions 15%
Midterm 15%
Final Exam 20%

Your final letter grade will be calculated as follows:
A+ 100 plus
A 94-100
A- 90-93
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D 65-69
F 0-64

TUTORING SERVICES
Some students will find that they benefit from the aid of a tutor.
Students who need tutoring can go to the Learning Center in 508 Lewison (854-4097) as early as
possible in the semester to request FREE tutoring . COFFEE AND CONVERSATION
Caffé e conversazione is an informal group that meets once a week in Hamilton. The group, open
to al levels including beginners, provides an informal setting to practice Italian and to meet other
students, as well as some native speakers, of Italian. All studying Italian and all Italian speaking
students on campus are invited. Ask your instructor for hours.

STUDY ABROAD
The Italian department offers its own Summer Program in Scandiano, for students who have had at
least one year of college Italian.
Students who have completed at least three semester of college Italian can study in Bologna for a
semester or a year. The department also sponsors semester and year programs in Padova,
Florence, Rome,Venice and other places.
For information on study abroad, Columbia students should contact Prof. Jo Ann Cavallo (Hamilton
501, x4-4982) and Barnard students should contact Daniela Noè (Milbank 316, x4-5481.)