Italian 3 (Level 4)

Course Overview

Please note that each weekly session will be two and a half hours in length and run from 6pm to 8.30pm (please disregard any other timings on this page).

The interactive short course Italian 3, leading to *CEFR stage B2 (Upper Intermediate)/A-level+, is aimed at developing your language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in Italian to an advanced level of ability. It will also help you gain further insight into aspects of the culture and society of Italy. You will consolidate your knowledge of tenses and learn to use more complex sentences and structures, as well as idioms and expressions. You will be working with longer texts from a range of media, including news and current affairs programmes as well as films.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• understand extended speech and lectures and follow even complex lines of argument provided the topic is reasonably familiar
• understand most TV news and current affairs programmes
• understand the majority of films in standard dialect
• read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writers adopt particular attitudes or viewpoints
• understand contemporary literary prose
• interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible
• take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining your views
• present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects related to your field of interest
• explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options
• write clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects related to your interests
• write an essay or report, passing on information or giving reasons in support of, or against, a particular point of view
• write letters highlighting the personal significance of events and experiences.

Assessment consists of continuous (20%), listening in-class (20%), written in-class (35%) and oral in-class assessment (20%) and class participation (5%).

As a student on this course, you will study alongside Birkbeck students enrolled on one of our undergraduate or postgraduate courses, giving you the opportunity to network with a range of Birkbeck current students whilst you learn.

* Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Please note: this is only an approximate equivalence.

This can be taken as a standalone short course or as part of:

• Culture and Language (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese) (Certificate of Higher Education)

Credits: 30 credits at level 4