THEMES
1. The Individual
This theme enables the learner to explore aspects of his or her own life, for example, sense of self, personal values, opinions, ideas and relationships with others. At the same time, this theme also enables the learner to study topics from the perspective of others./p>
TOPICS |
Personal World |
Education |
Daily Life |
Sub-topics studied may include, but are not limited to:
- personal information
- home and neighbourhood
- family/friends.
|
Sub-topics studied may include, but are not limited to:
- school life
- future plans and aspirations.
|
Sub-topics studied may include, but are not limited to:
- routine
- food and drink
- interests, leisure and hobbies
- work.
|
2. The Italian-Speaking Communities
This theme explores topics from the perspective of contemporary Italian communities and encourages the learner to reflect on his or her own and other cultures.
TOPICS |
Compulsory Focus Topic
Contemporary Society and Culture |
People and Places |
Arts and Entertainment |
Sub-topics studied will include, but are not limited to:
- contemporary Italian social customs (note: the historical origins of such customs/traditions are not the focus of this study)
- significant aspects of daily life in Italian-speaking communities (e.g. family relationships and structures, school/work and home life, holidays and festivals, food and drink, leisure and hobbies)
- significant aspects of contemporary Italian culture.
|
Sub-topics studied may include, but are not limited to:
- getting around (transport and directions)
- tourist attractions in Italy
- significant geographical and climatic features of Italy
- shopping and eating/dining out
- meeting people.
|
Sub-topics studied may include, but are not limited to:
- media
- cinema
- music and songs
- literature
- sport
- theatre and performing arts
- computer games
- art
- architecture.
|
USE OF ENGLISH
Learners will study a range of oral and written texts in Italian. It may be appropriate in some circumstances to select texts using English. Equally, it may be appropriate for a learner to respond to a text in English on some occasions.
TEXT TYPES
The learner will become familiar with a variety of text types. Providers may introduce the learner to a wider range of text types in the course of their teaching and learning program:
advertisement |
instruction |
postcard |
announcement |
invitation |
report/account |
article |
letter |
review |
brochure |
map |
song |
cartoon/comic |
menu |
speech |
chart |
narrative |
story
|
commentary |
news item |
survey
|
conversation/interview |
note/message |
table
|
diary/journal entry |
profile |
talk (script) |
discussion |
play |
|
email |
poem |
|
VOCABULARY
While there is no nationally prescribed vocabulary list, it is expected that learners will be familiar with a range of vocabulary and idioms relevant to the themes described in the course.
DICTIONARIES
Learners will be encouraged to use dictionaries. It is expected that teachers will assist learners to develop the necessary skills and confidence to use dictionaries effectively.
GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURES
Grammar can be referred to as the organisation of, and relationship between, all the elements that constitute a language as it functions.
There are many different theories of grammar, and a number of different approaches towards its teaching and learning. The categories used below are not intended to promote any particular theory of grammar, or to favour one methodology over another.
Developing the learner’s ability to convey meaning effectively in a range of contexts will, however, necessarily involve extending awareness of the system of structures underlying the language, as well as the ability both to apply and adapt this knowledge.
The following grammatical structures are those that the learner is expected to recognise and use.
Grammatical Item |
Sub-elements |
Example(s) |
Adjectives |
Regular formation
|
|
|
Agreement with nouns |
|
|
Position of adjectives |
|
|
Interrogative adjectives |
|
|
Adjectives that commonly precede nouns |
primo, ultimo, buono, bello, giovane, vecchio, altro, stesso, molto, poco, grande, piccolo |
|
Demonstrative adjectives |
questo, quello
|
|
Possessive adjectives – form and uses, including their use before terms indicating family relationships |
il mio libro, i miei amici, i suoi, etc...
Mio padre, il mio caro padre |
|
Common irregular adjectives |
bello, Fa bel tempo, buono |
|
*Comparative and superlative forms, regular, and irregular types
|
più, meno, -issimo
|
Adverbs |
Formation of adverbs (incidental use only) |
|
|
Formation of adverbs |
|
|
Position of adverbs |
|
|
*Comparative and superlative forms, regular, and irregular types |
|
|
Use of adverbs molto, poco, troppo, bene, male |
|
Articles |
Definite, indefinite articles, use of all forms |
|
|
Definite, indefinite articles, use of their omissions |
|
|
Omission or inclusion of definite articles with titles |
|
|
Partitive articles (some, any) |
di +definite article |
|
*Inclusion of definite articles before nouns used in a general or abstract sense |
|
Conjunctions |
Common conjunctions
|
ma, e
e, ed, anche, ma, però, infatti, quindi, magari, cioè, purtroppo
|
False Friends |
Words that are apparently similar but actually have different meanings |
parenti, sensibile, fattoria, libreria |
Grammatical Item |
Sub-elements |
Example(s) |
Negation |
Use of ‘non’ |
non |
|
*Double negative |
non-mai, né….né, non affatto |
Nouns |
Regular forms, gender and number |
|
|
Common irregular forms (singular and plural) |
|
|
Compound nouns |
l’altoparlante, il portafoglio
|
|
Invariable forms in the plural |
la città, le città, il film, i film |
|
*Use of suffixes |
ino, etto, one, accio |
|
*Use of prefixes |
dis, in, s |
Numerals |
Cardinal, dates |
|
|
Mathematical signs |
più, meno, diviso, per, fa, uguale |
|
Ordinal |
|
|
Fractions |
un quarto, metà
|
|
Time |
|
|
Common measurements |
è alta un metro e ottanta
|
|
*Decimals |
|
|
*Collective numbers |
paio, coppia, decina, dozzina, centinaio, migliaio |
Prepositions |
Simple prepositions (preposizioni semplici) |
a, di (d’), da, in, con, su, per, tra (fra) |
|
Prepositions + definite article (preposizioni articulate) |
dallo, all’, nel, sugli, etc... |
|
Adverbial prepositions (preposizioni avverbiali) |
sopra, sotto, dentro, fuori, davanti a, dietro (a di),
vicino a, lontano da, di fronte a |
|
Common prepositional phrases |
parto per Milano, parto da Milano |
|
*Special usage of da |
Vengo da te |
Pronouns |
Personal Pronouns – subject |
io, tu, Lei, etc...
|
|
Interrogative |
chi? Che (cosa)? Quale?
Quanto?
|
|
Possessive pronouns |
la mia, il mio, i suoi, etc... |
|
Disjunctive pronouns |
a me, per te, con lui, etc... |
|
Direct object pronouns |
lo, la, li, le |
|
Indirect object pronouns |
gli, le, mi, ti, ci, vi, gli, loro
|
|
Reflexive pronouns |
mi, ti, si, ci, vi, ci |
Grammatical Item |
Sub-elements |
Example(s) |
Sentence and Phrase Types |
Italian word order is more flexible than that of English; this may be related to the presence of gender and number markers. However, attention should be given to word order in:
|
|
Verbs |
Conjugation of verbs |
|
|
Regular forms |
|
|
Frequently occurring irregular forms |
|
|
Reflexive verbs, incidental use only |
|
|
Moods: Indicative – present |
|
|
Present Conditional, incidental use only |
vorrei |
|
Idiomatic use of ‘avere’ and ‘fare’ |
eavere fame, avere freddo,fare colazione |
|
incidental use of present perfect (passato prossimo) |
sono stato/a in Italia
|
|
incidental use of imperfect (imperfetto) |
faceva caldo |
|
Reflexive verbs – incidental use only |
|
|
present perfect (passato prossimo) |
|
|
imperfect (imperfetto) |
faceva caldo ieri sera |
|
*pluperfect (trapassato prossimo) |
|
|
future |
|
|
Auxiliaries – ‘essere’ and ‘avere’ |
|
|
*special uses of ‘venire’ and ‘andare’ |
|
|
*Past participles, used as adjectives |
la lingua scritta |
|
Modal verbs (dovere, potere, volere), in required tenses |
|
|
Piacere – incidental use only |
mi piace, mi piacerebbe, mi piacciono
|
|
Sapere/conoscere |
|
|
Imperative (tu, noi, voi only) |
classroom instructions |
*recognition 8 only