Welcome to my portfolio!

This blog is a culmination of not only my Italian 203 course, but of my experience studying Italian for the past two years at Duke. Italian 203 has been by far my favorite Italian class I have taken. I loved being able to further develop my language skills while also learning so much about Italian culture. The cultural learning aspect of this course truly helped me realize how important it was for me to study Italian and got me excited for the chance to use my language skills in the future. I now see that learning another language, while something I found extremely challenging at times, has given me a new perspective on foreign cultures that I would have missed out on if I had not pursued this course of study. Before taking this course, even after two semesters of Italian, I had never planned on making an intentional choice to visit Italy. However, now not only do I feel confident enough in my speaking ability to want to try and further my skills in Italy, I fully intend to visit the country before I graduate. The photo I chose as my heading image is meant to represent this sentiment; as it is a place that a friend of mine was able to visit this past summer. To me, that photo represents all the adventures that await me now that I have the skill of the Italian language.

This portfolio showcases nine assignments from throughout the semester that I feel capture specific aspects of my learning and language development. In each of the blog posts, I reflect on the initial assignment, how I was able to complete each task and how the various projects contributed to my learning throughout the semester. I choose from a variety of assignments, branching through all three units of study; the unit on the body (or more importantly Italian food culture), the unit on spaces and the unit on relationships. While each unit was important to learn the language, with the introduction on new grammatical structures and new vocabulary that I will continue to use, the unit on spaces was my favorite.

I really enjoyed the Nasher museum project in particular as it served as a great connection between American and Italian culture. While I don’t usually get the opportunity to study art and museums during my time at Duke, this project gave me the opportunity to do so! I really enjoyed learning about the various jobs and their roles for the museum and doing so in Italian was both fun and challenging at the same time. As I enjoy volunteering with my local cultural arts office and museums at home, I also enjoyed learning about various Italian museums during this unit. It was extremely interesting to explore the different types of exhibits, more classic and modern that are housed in some of Italy’s most famous museums and the unit only increased my desire to one day have the chance to visit them all!

Being able to put together this portfolio has been a great way to end the semester. Not only can I see how much my language skills have developed, but my portfolio will remain as a permanent reminder of all that I accomplished throughout my Italian journey at Duke.

Grazie!

☼ Kelley