Introduction

I chose to study Italian for a few reasons. First, I needed to fulfill my language requirement at duke. Second, my sister took the class at duke and recommended it. Lastly, I am Italian. Going into Italian 101, I felt like I would understand cultural aspects of Italian because I had traveled to Italy, but now I realize, like the stereotypical American, I didn’t learn about Italian culture on my trip at all. Italian 101 and 102 focused mainly on grammar and vocabulary, with some cultural aspects sprinkled in.

 

Entering Italian 203 I was unsure what to expect. I heard there was only one test so I was interested in seeing what assignments the class was made up of. The assignments were mainly group projects, video blogs, and Tesinas. These projects and blogs focused on Italian culture, not just verb tenses and grammar like the previous two courses. I included group project presentations, video assignments, as well as worksheets and Tesinas in my portfolio in order to show the different ways in which I learned to express ideas and opinions in Italian.

 

A narrative thread throughout my portfolio is gaining knowledge about Italian culture. This thread shows up in Comparisons, Cultures, Connections, and Communities. In all of these sections, I talk about a different aspect of Italian culture that I learned using different mediums. Cultures is a Tesina about the advantages and disadvantages of Slow Food, showing my writing ability. For Comparisons I used my interview with Alessandro, and talked about the differences between Italian and American sports as well as stereotypes that Italian people have about Americans. In Communities I used an oral exam where I talked about what a learned about Bologna. In Connections I used a worksheet based on an interview with an Italian who studied in America. These sections all show times where I learned about Italian culture and was able to demonstrate the knowledge I learned through different mediums.

 

Another thread is being able to express events and opinions from my life in Italian. This is contained in Communication I, II, and III, as well as in the grammar and vocabulary reflections. In Communication I talk about a memorable interview that I watched on TV, and comment on the tone and what I remembered most. In Communication II I presented on what the Nasher museum should do as the “esparto di marketing”. Communication III is a little different then the rest of the items in my portfolio. It contains the video of an argument I had with someone during class. I think this is my favorite piece of the portfolio because it was a spur of the moment event and displays how I can now articulate my ideas using Italian.

The other two pieces of the portfolio left are the grammar and vocabulary sections. These sections apply to both of the threads. Without ability of Grammar and Vocabulary it would be impossible to understand and articulate ideas in Italian correctly.

 

As I said earlier this class was mainly focused on projects. This made the class fun at times but difficult to coordinate at times. In the end, I feel like group projects were a good thing because they allowed for multiple perspectives to be voiced on the topic at hand that I would not have learned. Additionally the group projects helped me learn more vocabulary because people have different vocab words that they used most and are most familiar with, so it helps to talk to those people about Italian and hear their chosen vocabulary.

 

I feel like through Italian 203, I learned a lot about Italian culture. I also grew to understand the language better through learning things like si impersonale and condizionale. My portfolio is designed to show this knowledge that I gained in Italian 203 in various ways through different types of media.