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Italian I

Course Name: Italian I

Course Code #: H5032

Prerequisite:  None

 

Grades 9-12    Level: Academic Year: 5X Credits: 5

 

Course Description:  This course is designed for students who are beginning their study of Italian. Students will be introduced to the Italian language and culture via thematic units of study that focus on common informal settings and aspects of daily life. Emphasis is placed on listening and speaking with reinforcement from simple readings and some writing. Students will actively apply communicative skills through paired and small-group interactions simulating real-life scenarios. This course is for students who have never taken Italian or have been recommended for this course by a World Language teacher.

 

Throughout the course emphasis is placed on using the language communicatively in authentic situations.  Italian will be used at a target of 90% of the time by the instructor as he/she leads the class through student-centered activities that actively engage the learners in producing Italian in meaningful contexts.

 

This course is for students who have never taken Italian or have been recommended for this course by a World Language teacher.

 

Course Proficiencies:  Students who successfully complete this course will have developed the ability to communicate at the novice-high proficiency level in three modes of communication:  

  • Interpretive - the ability to understand spoken and written communication within appropriate cultural contexts; 
  • Interpersonal - the ability to engage in direct oral and/or written communication with others; and 
  • Presentational - the ability to present, orally and/or in writing, information, concepts and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers with whom there is no immediate interaction.  

 

In addition, students will have developed Intercultural Communication skills at the Novice proficiency level. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages has defined these novice skills in terms of “Can-Do” statements.  In this course students will target the following “Can-Do” statements for Intercultural Communication:

  • In my own and other cultures, I can identify products and practices to help me understand perspectives. 
  • I can interact at a survival level in some familiar everyday contexts. 

 

Lastly, students will acquire language skills in the five areas outlined in the National Standards for Learning Languages:  Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities, also known as The Five C’s of world language education.

 

Alignment to New Jersey Student Learning Standards:

The New Jersey Student Learning Standards include Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards, as well as nine K-12 standards for the following content areas.  These areas include: 21st Century Life and Careers, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Visual and Performing Arts and World Languages.  The standard for language learning in New Jersey reinforces the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills that are targeted across the standards for each content area.  

 

The 2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standard for World Languages is as follows:

7.1 All students will be able to use a world language in addition to English to engage in meaningful conversation, to understand and interpret spoken and written language, and to present information, concepts, and ideas, while also gaining an understanding of the perspectives of other cultures.  Through language study, they will make connections with other content areas, compare the language and culture studied with their own, and participate in home and global communities.

 

This standard is further divided into proficiency levels and three strands, one for each mode of communication. The proficiency levels are in line with the national performance descriptors as released by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign languages.  These guidelines indicate six different levels of proficiency that can be expected at the K-12 level of language learning. Throughout the course, students will be working to demonstrate proficiency at the Novice Mid level in all three modes of communication including: interpretive communication, interpersonal communication and presentational communication.  The specific standards for this course are outlined below within each mode of communication.


 

Interpretive Mode 

 

The student will be able to:

  1. 7.1.NH.IPRET.1: Identify familiar words and phrases in culturally authentic materials related to targeted themes. 
  2. 7.1.NH.IPRET.2: Understand the main idea and occasionally infer the meaning of some highly contextualized, unfamiliar spoken or written words, phrases, and short sentences in culturally authentic materials related to targeted themes.
  3. 7.1.NH.IPRET.3: Respond and act on a series of oral and written instructions, directions, and commands. 
  4. 7.1.NH.IPRET.4: Recognize some common gestures and cultural practices associated with target culture(s).
  5. 7.1.NH.IPRET.5: Identify some unique linguistic elements in the target culture.
  6. 7.1.NH.IPRET.6: Interpret some common cultural practices associated with the target culture(s). 
  7. 7.1.NH.IPRET.7: Comprehend some familiar questions and statements from short conversations and brief written messages from informational and fictional texts that are spoken, viewed and written.
  8. 7.1.NH.IPRET.8: Demonstrate comprehension of brief oral and written messages using contextualized culturally authentic materials on global issues, including climate change.

 

Interpersonal Mode 

 

The students will be able to:

  1. 7.1.NH.IPERS.1: Exchange basic information by recombining memorized words, phrases, and sentences on topics related to self and targeted themes to express original ideas and information. 
  2. 7.1.NH.IPERS.2: Ask and respond to questions on practiced topics and on information from other subjects. 
  3. 7.1.NH.IPERS.3: Make requests and express preferences in classroom settings and in various social situations. 
  4. 7.1.NH.IPERS.4: Give and follow a series of oral and written directions, commands, and requests for participating in classroom and cultural activities. 
  5. 7.1.NH.IPERS.5: Imitate appropriate gestures, intonation, and common idiomatic expressions of the target culture(s)/language during daily interactions.
  6. 7.1.NH.IPERS.6: Using information from brief oral and written messages on global issues, exchange information with classmates and others about global issues, including climate change.

 

Presentational Mode 

 

The students will be able to:

 

  1. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.1: Recombine basic information at the phrase and sentence level related to everyday topics and themes. 
  2. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.2: Create and present brief messages using familiar vocabulary orally or in writing. 
  3. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.3: Describe orally and in writing people and things from the home and school environment.
  4. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.4: Tell or retell stories from age- and level-appropriate, culturally authentic materials orally or in writing. 
  5. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.5: When speaking and writing, use simple sentences and try to connect them with a few transition words. 
  6. 7.1.NH.PRSNT.6: Tell or write a few details about the impact of climate change in the target language regions of the world and compare those impacts with climate change in the student's community and/or different regions in the United States.

 

Evaluative Criteria:  Teachers utilize student observation checklists, daily participation in independent, paired, and/or collaborative group tasks, quizzes and tests, oral/written performance-based assessments, integrated performance assessments targeting interpretive, interpersonal and presentational modes of communication, projects, and student self-assessments to monitor and evaluate the progress and achievement of the above stated proficiencies.