ONLINE LANGUAGE COURSE
“Italian Language for Summer Vacation”
LIVE COURSE with Dr. Erin McCarthy King
Dates: May 31 – June 14, 2023
Schedule: Wednesdays
Time: 2:00 – 3:15 pm ET | 11:00am – 12:15 pm PT |
7:00 – 8:15 pm London
Contact Hours: 3 Hours 45 min
ONLINE LANGUAGE COURSE
“Italian Language for Summer Vacation”
Course Description:
This is a thematic language course, focused on summer and leisure activities in Italy. The grammar covered in this course is intended for all skill levels, and covers present and past conditional verb tenses, the imperative, prepositions, and the future tense. This course will help you to talk about summer activities and vacations and will cover a song and a cultural topic related to summer each week. All are welcome!
Course Objectives:
Virtual Classroom: Full access to an online educational platform with discussion forum, videos of recordings, syllabus, and exercises.
Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ON-LINE LANGUAGE CLASSES
Complete syllabus will be provided upon registration.
WEEK 1
– Wednesday, May 31: Tormentone estivo – la musica e il ballo in estate
GRAMMATICA: il condizionale presente e passato
This class will investigate the phenomenon of “tormentoni estivi” and will look at vocabulary and grammar associated with Italian music in the summer. The first lesson will talk about what “tormentoni estivi” are and we will listen to some older and newer music. We will review vocabulary associated with a beach vacation and we will review the future tense as it appears in the lyrics. Students will have access to a Quizlet to practice vocabulary and a worksheet to practice what they have learned about the “tempo futuro”.
WEEK 2
– Wednesday, June 7: Andiamo in spiaggia!
GRAMMATICA: imperativo
Week 2 will begin with a summer song and will look at the lyrics in both Italian and English. We will talk about a summer vacation destination, “la citta’ d’arte”, and we will review the vocabulary associated with a vacation with an urban, cultural, and artistic focus. The grammar lesson will focus on the conditional tense and making polite requests. Students will have access to a Quizlet to practice vocabulary and a worksheet to practice what they have learned about the “tempo condizionale”.
WEEK 3
– Wednesday, June 14: Mare o montagna?
GRAMMATICA: preposizioni e il tempo futuro
Week 3 will begin with a summer song and an examination of the lyrics in both Italian and English. We will also look into the question, “Mare o montagna?” and see how Italians choose between a beach vacation and a vacation to the mountains. In order to compare and contrast these choices, we will learn about how to form comparatives and superlatives in Italian. Students will have access to a Quizlet to practice vocabulary and a worksheet to practice what they have learned about the “comparativo e superlativo”.
Erin McCarthy King, Ph.D. has been teaching Italian Language and Literature since 2004. Erin earned a combined B.A. and M.A. in Italian Language and Literature from Yale University in 1998 and then her Ph.D. from Yale in 2009. She has taught Italian as a Lector at Yale and as an Instructor at Sacred Heart University, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, The Hopkins School, and is currently an affiliate faculty member at Fairfield University. Erin has published several articles, including “The Voyage of Columbus as a ‘non pensato male‘: The Search for Boundaries, Grammar, and Authority in the Aftermath of the New World Discoveries” © 2012, and has presented several conference research papers including “The Logic of the Clock: Dante’s Similes of the Horologe in Paradiso X and XXIV” and most recently, “Language and the Expansion of the Ecumene in the Mondo nuovo of Tommaso Stigliani.” Erin serves as an alumna interviewer for Yale College Admissions and as a member of the Yale Alumni Schools Committee. In her spare time, Erin and her husband are very busy parents to their four children.