This portfolio consists of several writings, projects, video blogs, and exercises that I have done over the semester that have helped me in my study of Italian. The pieces I have chosen span over the three major units we studied in class: the body as symbolized through food, space as symbolized through cinema, and relations as symbolized through art. Coming into Italian 203, I had a good grasp of the vocabulary we had learned in Italian 101 and 102 and a good grasp of the grammar we had learned: presente, passato prossimo, imperfetto, condizionale, futuro tenses. I was able to speak and write short paragraphs about specific topics we had learned, but I struggled with writing and especially speaking about topics that were tangential or lengthy. While I could repeat what I had learned, I had difficulty expressing myself in Italian in new ways in new subjects. This semester, through writings, video blogs, and group projects I practiced my ability to express myself in Italian as I would normally and use what I knew to expand on topics I hadn’t studied extensively. This increase in fluency and ability to adapt in Italian is very important, as if I want to gain any fluency, I must be able to hold conversations about different ideas and formulate my thoughts about different subjects in real time.

My portfolio encompasses listening, longer writings, and oral communications. All three elements are important for fluency. Practicing my ability to write longer pieces increases my ability to formulate ideas in Italian and read longer pieces in Italian. Listening to native Italian speakers talk in real time increases my ability to understand spoken Italian and my ability to hold a meaningful conversation. Speaking in Italian for video blogs and presentations betters my pronunciation and increases my ability to formulate my thoughts in real time. Both speaking and listening skills are crucial to effectively communicate in Italian

We were able to explore Italian culture much more this semester than in earlier Italian classes. Our first group project, the interview, gave a fascinating snapshot into Italian culture around food. My group and I interviewed an organic farmer named Paolo who talked about his experience with organic food and why he liked small, local, organic farming among other topics. For my extra research, I read up on contrasting opinions on organic food in Italy. This project allowed us to explore more deeply a specific topic in Italian culture that we could then compare to our own experiences with organic food in America. I found this project very useful in my study of Italian, which is why Communication I, Comparisons, and Cultures all pull from it. We also got to explore Italian cinema this semester. My group watched “Pane e Tulipani,” for our project, and it was very interesting to see the differences in style and tropes from Italian to American cinema. Outside of class, I attended an enrichment activity on fashion and learned a lot about the differences in women’s fashion in Italy versus America. The differences in goals, philosophies, and practices were fascinating.

Overall, Italian 203 has taken all the specific knowledge I had learn in earlier classes and integrated it together with increases exposure to Italian culture to increase my ability to speak, write, and understand Italian holistically. To further my fluency, I will need to actually go to Italy and immerse myself in the culture and the language.