OPAL Italian Threshold

Prerequisites

Students should be able to demonstrate a linguistic competence as described in A2 level of the CEFR framework. Furthermore, they must be able to commit to at least 2 hours per week for coursework, in addition to classes.

Course material

S. Branciforte,Parliamo Italiano!, 4th edition, (Wiley).

Course description:

Please note that OPAL tutors will provide a detailed ‘week-by-week’ course syllabus and a self-study guide at the beginning of each term.

Structural content

·  Revision of present tense of regular and irregular verbs.

·  Present perfect of transitive and intransitive verbs.

·  The past participle: regular and irregular forms.

·  Il partitivo: del, dei, della, etc; alcuni, alcune; qualche; un po’ di; ne.

·  Direct object pronouns; agreement of direct object pronouns with past participle; ci.

·  Indirect object pronouns.

·  Combined pronouns.

·  Reflexive and reciprocal verbs.

·  Imperfect tense.

·  Present perfect and imperfect.

·  Progressive tense, present and past.

·  Simple future.

·  The conditional.

·  Disjunctive pronouns.

·  Impersonal expressions.

·  The subjunctive: present and past.

·  The subjunctive with conjunctions.

·  Revision.

Communicative content

·  Introducing yourself.

·  Talking about past actions and events.

·  Handling and changing money.

·  Shopping for food; shopping in special stores.

·  Ordering food and drinks.

·  Talking about routine daily activities; discussing illness and visits to the doctor.

·  Talk about things that you used to do; describing actions, situations and people in the past.

·  Talking about sport.

·  Talking about the future; discussing vacations.

·  Buying clothes and discuss about fashion..

·  Expressing desires, emotions and doubts. Talking about the workplace.

Italian Threshold Assessment framework:

Continuous assessment (participation & coursework) 20%

A one hour 45mns final examination at the beginning of Trinity Term

(listening element in Week 8 of Hilary term): 40%

A project to be presented by the end of week 6 in Trinity Term: 40%

Final mark & recommendation:

50 – 59 Pass

60 – 69 Good pass

70 – 79 Pass with merit

80 - 89 Distinction

90+ - Distinction*

Learning outcomes:

CEFR LEVEL B1

- Can express opinions on professional, cultural or abstract matters in a limited way, offer advice and understand instructions.

- Can give short presentations on a limited range of topics.

- Can understand routine information and articles, including factual articles in newspapers, routine letters from hotel and letters expressing personal opinions.

- Can write letters or make notes on familiar or predictable matters.

Page 2 of 2