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AIFS Study Abroad in Rome, Italy
Summer 2021
Course Descriptions |
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A minimum of 10 students must enroll for classes to be offered.
SESSION 1: 3 WEEKS
These 45-hour courses are taught at the Rome Global Education Center by highly-qualified local instructors. CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level is indicated along with course code. | Italian Language Courses | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 111 – A1 (3) | | Course Title: | Elementary Italian I | | Course Description: | | A thorough introduction to the Italian language for absolute beginners or students with little previous experience, the course teaches essential vocabulary and grammar and develops students’ ability to communicate in an authentic linguistic context. | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 112 – A1/A2 (3) | | Course Title: | Elementary Italian II | | Course Description: | | This course is designed for students with some knowledge of Italian. Starts with a review of basic grammar and vocabulary before progressing to more complex structures and functions. Conversation is a central part of every class, with opportunities for all students to practice listening and comprehension of authentic material as well oral and written production.
They will also have a greater awareness of Italian culture and society.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 210 - A2/B1 (3) | | Course Title: | Intermediate Italian I | | Course Description: | | In this course students develop their ability to communicate effectively and accurately, making use of expanded vocabulary. Students practice conversation and improve listening and oral production skills in an authentic Italian context. The course covers cultural elements of the Italian society and lifestyle. Reading and writing exercises improve skills in understanding prose and writing letters and messages with appropriate vocabulary. | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 211 - B2 (3) | | Course Title: | Intermediate Italian II | | Course Description: | | This course builds upon the abilities and knowledge acquired in Intermediate Italian I and develops them to enable students to understand and respond to complex lines of written and oral arguments.
Students review complex grammar structures and work regularly on reading, composition, phonetics, syntax, and style assignments. Constant conversation practice enables them to communicate competently in Italian.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 310 – B2/C1 (3) | | Course Title: | Advanced Italian | | Course Description: | | This course prepares students to use advanced grammatical structures and vocabulary, and enables them to interact with the Italian world at a sophisticated level. Students practice understanding of complex lectures and arguments, in both written and oral form. They are expected to become fluent and spontaneous in their verbal interaction, as well as capable of presenting an argument, orally and in writing. | |
| Courses Taught in English | | | Course Code and Credits: | ARH 320 (3) | | Course Title: | Roman Art and Civilization: from Antiquity to the Present | | Course Description: | | This course surveys the history of Roman civilization from antiquity to present times with special focus on Rome’s material cultural, artistic and architectural evidences. The Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, as well as the modern and the contemporary features of Roman art and civilization will be analyzed, also through frequent visits of churches, museums, and other places of artistic interest. | | | Course Code and Credits: | HST/POL/SOC 330 (3) | | Course Title: | Italian Mafias: History and Evolutions | | Course Description: | | This course examines the multifaceted world of the Italian Mafias from the historical, social, cultural, criminological and political points of view, between the period of the Italian unification and today. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, the relationships between the Italian and the American Mafias, the connections between Mafia and politics in Italy, personal relationships in the context of the mafious organizations. | | | Course Code and Credits: | PSYC 310 (3) | | Course Title: | Cross Cultural Psychology | | Course Description: | | The course explores human behaviour from the social point of view and in a cross-cultural perspective, both in theory and in practice. The focus will be on Italy and the Italians. This course in cross-cultural psychology, through elements of sociology, ecology, anthropology, biology, sociology, gives students the opportunity to discuss the shaping and deployment of human attitudes, behavior, values, communication process and social organization. Specific attention will be devoted to issues such as the individual vs. the social, mental health and cross-cultural communication. Students will engage in field research, conducting interviews on topics related to their own study abroad experience while visiting various locations in Rome and Italy. The research as a practical tool of the course, and the course itself, aim at providing students with the opportunity to apply methodologies of inquiry focusing at studying how relationships and behaviour in cross-cultural contexts take shape. | | | Course Code and Credits: | SOC 310 (3) | | Course Title: | Italian Culture: Facts, Customs and Traditions | | Course Description: | | This course develops an understanding of contemporary Italian culture and style, also touching the role of religion, politics, as well as the fashion industry. A variety of approaches from other disciplines, such as social and cultural anthropology as well as micro-economy will help analyze the topics at the core of the course. Italian society will be analyzed in all of its major components in order to see how a specific type of Italian style has been emerging in contemporary times. The shaping of a specifically Italian cultural identity will be examined and discussed. Visits to major Roman sites are an integral part of the course. | |
SESSION 2 - 4 WEEKSThese 45-hour courses are taught at the Rome Global Education Center by highly-qualified local instructors. CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level is indicated along with course code. | Italian Language Courses | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 111 – A1 (3) | | Course Title: | Elementary Italian I | | Course Description: | | A thorough introduction to the Italian language for absolute beginners or students with little previous experience, the course teaches essential vocabulary and grammar and develops students’ ability to communicate in an authentic linguistic context. | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 112 – A1/A2 (3) | | Course Title: | Elementary Italian II | | Course Description: | | This course is designed for students with some knowledge of Italian. Starts with a review of basic grammar and vocabulary before progressing to more complex structures and functions. Conversation is a central part of every class, with opportunities for all students to practice listening and comprehension of authentic material as well oral and written production.
They will also have a greater awareness of Italian culture and society.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 210 - A2/B1 (3) | | Course Title: | Intermediate Italian I | | Course Description: | | In this course students develop their ability to communicate effectively and accurately, making use of expanded vocabulary. Students practice conversation and improve listening and oral production skills in an authentic Italian context. The course covers cultural elements of the Italian society and lifestyle. Reading and writing exercises improve skills in understanding prose and writing letters and messages with appropriate vocabulary. | | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 211 - B2 (3) | | Course Title: | Intermediate Italian II | | Course Description: | | This course builds upon the abilities and knowledge acquired in Intermediate Italian I and develops them to enable students to understand and respond to complex lines of written and oral arguments.
Students review complex grammar structures and work regularly on reading, composition, phonetics, syntax, and style assignments. Constant conversation practice enables them to communicate competently in Italian.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | ITL 310 – B2/C1 (3) | | Course Title: | Advanced Italian | | Course Description: | | This course prepares students to use advanced grammatical structures and vocabulary, and enables them to interact with the Italian world at a sophisticated level. Students practice understanding of complex lectures and arguments, in both written and oral form. They are expected to become fluent and spontaneous in their verbal interaction, as well as capable of presenting an argument, orally and in writing. | |
| Courses Taught in English | | | Course Code and Credits: | ART/COM 310 (3) | | Course Title: | Photojournalism: Rome Reportage | | Course Description: | | Both communications and journalism majors as well as photographers will benefit from this course, the aim of which is to foster practical skills and advanced knowledge of photojournalism through the works of major contemporary photographers and through the exploration of the city of Rome. Students will engage in the production of assignments related to the real world of photojournalism. The only technical requisite for the course is to bring to class a DSRL - digital reflex - camera along with a laptop equipped with a photo editing software. | | | Course Code and Credits: | ARH 210 (1) | | Course Title: | Italian Art: Selected Topics | | Course Description: | | The class is taught on site in Rome and during field trips to Venice, Florence and Naples.
This course covers selected topics in Italian art, especially pertaining to painting and sculpture, up to the Renaissance and the Baroque ages. Early Italian art from the Etruscans and the Romans up to the early modern times will be considered in their art historical contexts; key topics will be covered such as artistic patronage as well as other social, religious and cultural developments. Students write a project paper based on a topic agreed with the instructor and related to field exploration.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | COM 321 (3) | | Course Title: | Italian Style in Made in Italy | | Course Description: | | The place of Italy in today’s world economy is relevant. This course aims at exploring the evolution and the features of consumption of goods and services in Italy. A variety of approaches from other disciplines, such as social and cultural anthropology as well as micro-economy will help analyze the topics at the core of the course. Italian society will be approached from the point of view of consumer society to see how a specific Italian style has been evolving in specific areas such as fashion, industrial design, advertising, sport, food and beverages. The shaping of a specifically Italian cultural identity as related to all those aspects will also be examined and discussed.
Visits to major Italian companies will be integral part of the course.
| | | Course Code and Credits: | GENDER STUDIES/SOC/PSYC 310 (3) | | Course Title: | Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Rome | | Course Description: | | This interdisciplinary course analyzes ancient Roman conceptions of gender and sexuality within the context of contemporary debate and scholarship. Using a broad range of ancient sources (both textual and material) and contemporary scholarship, students will examine ideas relating to masculinity and femininity; male and female roles in public and private life; non-binary gender identities; hetero-, bi- and homosexuality; the impact of gender and sexuality on different aspects of life and culture in ancient Rome; the use and misuse of Roman ideas about gender and sexuality in contemporary debate. Visits to museums and archaeological sites will illustrate how ideas about gender and sexuality shaped public and private space, architecture and art. | | | Course Code and Credits: | HST 310 (3) | | Course Title: | The Rise, Fall and Legacy of the Roman Empire | | Course Description: | | This course explores the entire history of Rome, from its legendary founding by Romulus and Remus, to the Republic period leading to the expansion of Rome throughout Italy and Europe, finally establishing the most powerful Empire of ancient times, eventually becoming Christian. From the rise of the Roman civilization to its transformation and subsequent dissolution, the fall of the Roman Empire under the arrival of the Germans will be discussed with its opening towards the dark ages of the early medieval periods. Major archaeological sites in Rome will be visited and will host lectures and discussions. The course will cover topics such as the evolution of Rome and its architectural as well as political structures, the causes of the rise and fall of the Republic, Augustus as the first Roman emperor, the conquests of the Romans and the peculiarities of Roman civilization, religion in Rome, the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire and the cultural and material legacy of Rome. | | | Course Code and Credits: | HST/REL 310 (3) | | Course Title: | Comparative Religions | | Course Description: | | The course explores the entire panorama of world religions, from a comparative perspective and using methodologies from various, related disciplines. Ancient Roman, Greek, Eastern religious traditions, as well as the three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – and the polytheistic religious systems - Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism – will be discussed and analyzed along with current developments and the “new-age” religions. Religious, historical, anthropological, sociological, philosophical approaches will be considered to discuss the evolutions of religions and central religious issues, such as the problem of evil, free will, the construction of organized religious institutions, and the shaping of religious identities. | |
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