85639 - Italian Language Pass/Fail Test B1

Learning outcomes

This course is intended for students who have already a general knowledge of the Italian Language, advisably at level A1/A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Students who will attend B1 (intermediate) language will improve the 4 skills – listening, reading, writing, speaking. Therefore, they will:

• acquire new vocabulary

• strengthen already known grammar rules and acquire new ones
• develop reading and discourse strategies to gain and/or improve their confidence in speaking.
• understand and categorize accounts of events in texts related to personal life (such as e-mail messages, letters, job resumes, phone texts, etc.) and put in practice the main points of usual speech about topics of everyday use, such as those about work, school, politics, leisure, etc.
• focus on comprehension of oral and written texts, in order to understand radio, TV programs, films, videos, and other media materials of professional importance; decodify texts (readings, newspaper articles, instructions, directions, etc.) that are frequent in every day or job-related language.
• explore themes dealing with Italy and its culture, within the wider context of the EU and the rest of the world, so to be able to manage most circumstances that are likely to arise while travelling in those areas where Italian is spoken.

Course contents

This is a blended course; it aims at the preparation necessary to achieve the B1 level as requested to pass the language proficiency test.

Program Italian B1

1. Grammar

• uses and functions of the definite and indefinite articles
• irregular noun forms
• forms and usage of the adjectives buono and bello
• dimonstrative adjectives: questo/quello
• possessive adjectives and pronouns
• adverbs of manner, time, place, quantity
• indefinites (indefinites adjectives/indefinite pronouns)
• personal pronouns (stressed and unstressed forms)
• direct and indirect object pronouns
• direct object pronouns with past participle (es. li ha comprati, l’ha vista, le ha fatte)
• double object pronouns
• particles ci and ne
• relative pronouns (chi, che, cui, il quale/la quale ecc.)
• comparatives and superlatives (relative and absolute) regular and irregular
• present indicative tense of regular and irregular verbs
• passato prossimo: use of auxiliaries, past participle agreement and irregular past participles
• imperfect (imperfetto): forms and use
• use of imperfetto and passato prossimo when talking about past events
• past perfect (trapassato prossimo): forms and use
• choice of auxiliary verb in compound tenses of modal verbs (dovere/volere/potere)
• simple future and future perfect tense: forms and use
• conditional present and past: forms and uses
• imperative (informal and formal)
• subjunctive: present (forms and use)
• construction di + infinitive vs che + subjunctive (es. spero di trovare vs spero che troviate)
• passive voice: with essere, with venire, passive si
• simple and compound prepositions
• prepositions with places and time
• use of prepositions with the most frequent aspectual verbs: cominciare/iniziare a, stare per, finire/smettere di, continuare a…
• coordinating conjunctions: (sia…sia, anche, ma/però/tuttavia; inoltre, né…né; o/oppure; altrimenti, invece, cioè, infatti, perciò, così, quindi/dunque, insomma; non solo…ma anche)
• subordinating conjunctions: (causal: poiché, perché, visto che, dal momento che, siccome; final: affinché, perché; temporal: mentre, quando, dopo che, appena, fino a che; concessive: benché, sebbene, malgrado, nonostante, anche se).

2. Vocabulary

• Everyday life (shopping, transport, food and drink, fashion, music, cinema, family, relationships, free-time activities, hobbies, money, etc.)
• The world around us (climate, pollution, politics, wildlife, travelling for job, vacation, etc.)
• Working and Studying (ambitions, student life, job interviews, exams, internet, social media, etc.)

Readings/Bibliography

Textbook and exercise book:

•Bozzone-Costa, Ghezzi, Piantoni, Nuovo Contatto B1, Loescher Editore 2015

•Nocchi S., New Italian Grammar in practice (A1-B2), Alma Edizioni, Firenze, 2015

Recommended additional material:

•La Cifra, L., Italian grammar in use, Hoepli Editore 2017

•Mezzadri, M. CD-ROM: Italian Interactive Grammar Edizioni Guerra, Perugia 2009

•Collins Italian Dictionary, 2nd edition, HarperCollins 2005

•Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Ed. Zanichelli.

Online learning resources:

The CLA Website E-CLA [https://e-cla.unibo.it/course/index.php?categoryid=22] - sedi della Romagna provides the following resources:

• Materials open to all users (Materiali didattici ad accesso libero [https://e-cla.unibo.it/course/index.php?categoryid=25] – select Italiano L2)

Teaching methods

This is a blended course with in-class lessons (24 hours) and self-learning activities (24 hours). Students will be offered guidance in self-study and will have access to Unibo’s e-learning platform.

A communicative approach is used. Although all four skills (speaking, reading, listening and writing) are practiced, there is a main emphasis on reading and listening.

Assessment methods

Pass/Fail (idoneità) test structure: WRITTEN TEST CONSISTING OF 3 PARTS

• Language use/vocabulary section with multiple choice questions and fill in the blanks.

• Reading comprehension section with multiple choice questions
• Listening comprehension section with multiple choice questions

The pass threshold for the test is set at 60% and the maximum time allowed to finish all sections of the test is 90 minutes.

Teaching tools

Besides the text books already listed above, students, at times, during class, will use internet, a variety of media, such as videos, films, music, radio, newspapers, and the e-learning Platform.

Active and willing participation to classroom activities is essential.

Students will also have to perform short in-class presentations, in the form of power points and/or lectures. 

 

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Boero