French, Italian, and Spanish Placement Tests
If you are planning to take an elementary French, Italian, or Spanish class and you are a new student, freshman or transfer student, or you have not yet begun the elementary language sequence on the Ann Arbor campus, you must take the placement test in order to register for the correct course. You must register for the class into which you have been placed.
If you have registered for a class prior to taking the test, you will still be required to take the test in order to verify that you are in the appropriate level class.
If you have already taken French, Italian, or Spanish 101-232 on the Ann Arbor campus, or if you have already taken the placement test once, you are not eligible to take the test again. For questions regarding the LS&A language requirement, please see a general academic advisor or call POINT-10 (764-6810).
Please Note: With the reduction in the number of classrooms throughout LS&A, departments must limit the number of classes offered between 10 am and 4 pm. There will be more classes open before 10 am and after 4 pm. Please take advantage of the opportunity to register for these classes and avoid the "Lottery" (see 2b below).
Instructions for students requesting overrides for French or Spanish 101, 103, 231, or 232.
1. Try to find a section that will fit into your schedule, since the Department cannot guarantee every student
a space in a section of his/her own choice.
However, do not register for a class that
you cannot attend. You will not be eligible to
override into the section of your choice if you are registered
for any section of 101-232, even if you cannot
attend that section.
2. As it states in the Time Schedule any registered
student who misses one of the first four
class meetings will be dropped from the course, thereby leaving
some open spaces for those students who have been closed out.
If there is absolutely no section open which
will fit your schedule, you should follow this procedure:
(a) Start attending the section you would like to get into on the first day of class. You will receive a Proof of Attendance form which must be signed by your instructor every day. You must attend a class every day, but it does not need to be the same section. All students must take action through T-T Registration to make sure their official schedule of courses matches the courses they are taking.
(b) On Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m., there will be a meeting in the basement of the MLB, rooms to be announced later, for each of the above courses. At these meetings, students will be assigned to remaining vacated spaces in the most fair and equitable manner possible, using a lottery system. At no time, however, will any class be allowed to exceed 25 students. Students must bring their printout of classes and the Proof of Attendance form to the meeting!
3. Please note that you will not be allowed to change sections at these meetings. Beginning Wednesday, September 11, Elementary French Language Supervisors will hear requests for section changes and fill those requests to whatever degree is possible.
4. Please ensure when adding with the override that you also add modifiers for pass/fail, etc.
Take me to the Fall Time Schedule
Elementary Language Courses
Students who intend to continue a language begun in high school must take the Placement Test to determine the language course in which they should enroll. Italian 102 is NOT open to students who have begun instruction in high school. It is strongly recommended that students who began Italian at another college or university also take the placement test. Students must check with the Course Coordinator for any exceptions to the Placement Test level.
101. Elementary Italian.
No credit granted to those who have completed or
are enrolled in Italian 101. (4). (LR).
This course is task- and content-based and incorporates grammar
in a functional use of language through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Vocabulary and structures are practiced in class through communicative activities. Cultural awareness and listening
skills are further developed through audio-visual materials. Evaluation
criteria include: regular attendance, oral participation, in-class
work, homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
102. Elementary Italian.
Italian 101. No credit granted to those who have
completed or are enrolled in 103. Italian 102 is NOT open to students
who have begun instruction at the high school level. Open only
to students who have completed 101 at the University of Michigan.
College or university transfer students who have received credit
for one term are encouraged to enroll in Italian 103. (4). (LR).
This course continues the presentation of essential of the Italian
language and attempts to broaden the student's knowledge of Italian
life and culture. It is task- and content-based and incorporates
grammar in a functional use of language through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Language use is encouraged through variety
of communicative activities. Instructional methods include authentic
readings in Italian (short articles from newspapers and magazines)
and audio-visual materials. Grading is based on regular attendance, oral participation, in class-work, homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
103. Accelerated Italian.
Assignment by placement test. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in 102. (4). (LR).
Italian 103 is an accelerated course for those students who wish
to develop their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills
at a rapid pace, while being introduced to various aspects of
Italian culture. The material covered in this one term course
is equivalent to that taught in two terms of elementary Italian
101 and 102. Evaluation criteria include: regular attendance, oral participation, in-class work, homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
205. Italian Conversation
for Non-concentrators. Italian 102. (1). (Excl).
Offered mandatory credit/no credit.
Italian 205 emphasizes fluency and self-expression in conversational
Italian. This course is designed for students who have had at
least two (2) terms of Italian and are interested in acquiring
a certain facility with the spoken language. Class work consists
of reading materials from various sources (magazines, newspapers, short stories, etc.) which are discussed in class. Use
of the language laboratory provides additional conversational
material on various aspects of Italian life. Classes meet twice
a week. There are no examinations, and the grading in on a credit
basis only. Success in the course is determined on the basis of
attendance, homework, and participation in the classroom activities.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
231. Second-Year Italian.
Italian 102, or permission of course supervisor.
No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled
in 112 or 230. (4). (LR).
This course reviews grammar, gives student an insight into standard
modern Italian through the reading of articles, short stories, and literary excerpts, and increases student facility in speaking
and writing Italian. Content based themes further develop student's
cultural awareness and encourage him/her to formulate opinions
on issues of interest. Communicative skills are emphasized through
class discussions and oral reports based readings or current events.
Compositions are required. Audio-visual materials are incorporated.
Grading is based on regular attendance, class participation, oral
reports, compositions, homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
232. Second-Year Italian, Continued. Italian 231 or permission of course supervisor.
No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled
in 112 or 230. (4). (LR).
This course aims at a further development of each student's speaking, reading, and writing knowledge of Italian, including increased
facility in both conversation and oral comprehension. There is
a continuing review of grammar within the functional use of language.
Various genres of literature and journalistic prose are read and discussed, and occasional short papers are required on these or
other related topics. Oral presentations on contemporary issues
are also required. Grading is based on regular attendance, class
participation, oral presentations, short papers, home assignments, quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
Courses Taught in English Translation (without language prerequisites)
150. First Year Seminar
in Italian Studies. Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year
Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU).
Section 001 – Society and Its Discontents. In this course, taught in English, a small group of incoming students will have the opportunity to read and reflect upon a select group of texts, both fiction and nonfiction, written in Italy at different times, that all comment upon and critique their own social and political
context. At issue will be problems of immigration, both to and from Italy, the mafia, tensions between North and South, unification
and regionalism, Italy's cultural and political relations with the rest of Europe, and its use and interpretation of the past.
Authors to be read in reverse chronological order will include
Levi, Sciascia, Verga, Leopardi, Manzoni, Goldoni, Campanella, Machiavelli, Aretino, Alberti, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante.
The course will require active participation, two essays (4-6
pp.) and a final exam. No prerequisites. (Cornish)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
310. Italian Cities.
(3). (HU). May be repeated for credit with permission
of instructor.
This course will have an interdisciplinary aspect, as it will
include the study of history, art, music, philosophy, and politics
as well as literature. At the same time, the literary production
of a single Italian city will be emphasized along with its role
in literature, Italian or foreign, written about it. Venice, Florence, and Rome are the most obvious candidates for a course of this
nature, although others, such as Naples or Palermo, also provide
rich possibilities.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
433/MARC 439. Dante's
Divine Comedy. A knowledge of Italian is not required.
(3). (HU).
Open to concentrators and non-concentrators alike, this course
is devoted to a reading of one of the monuments of Western literature, Dante's Divine Comedy. An exile from his native Florence, Dante levies an intense critique of his own late medieval Italian
society as well as a profound meditation on European culture, broadly conceived, in its merits and its failings. This narration
of a journey through the many layers of the afterlife is both
a personal testimony and a public reckoning. From the clash between
a recently rediscovered pagan inheritance and the imperatives
of a modern world view, Dante salvages what he can, in terms of
science, ethics, poetry, and political thought, from the wreckage
of past civilizations as well as from the crisis of his own.
The poem will be read in all its three parts, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, in facing-page translation
in order to benefit those who know some Italian as well as those
who do not. Attention will paid therefore to the language of Dante's
poetry, a revolution in its own right, and to his manipulation
of numerous sources of inspiration – Virgil, Ovid, Statius, Lucan, the Bible, Augustine and other Church fathers, medieval romantic
and lyric literature, scientific and theological treatises, and examples from ancient history and contemporary society. The format
of the course will consist of lecture and discussion, and evaluation
will be on the basis of class participation, three exams, and two short essays (4-5 pp). (Cornish)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
359. Italian Culture
and History to the Eighteenth Century. (3). (HU).
Section 001 – The Italian Renaissance: Cultural Spaces, Imaginative
Places. This interdisciplinary course, taught in English, examines the cultural worlds of the Italian Renaissance (1450-1600)
from multiple perspectives. We will study this revolutionary time
in the history of Europe as levels of culture, including court
culture, religious culture, women's culture, artists' culture, cross-cultural encounters, and material culture. We will study
contemporary texts alongside other artifacts such as maps, paintings, and music. Our readings of contemporary sources will be informed
by perspectives provided by modern historical, anthropological, feminist, and psychoanalytical writings. Major themes include
issues of power and gender, visions and versions of reform, and the politics and patronage of the court. Readings will focus on the views and voices of individuals who played a central role
in the formation of the society and culture of Renaissance Italy.
Readings will be in English translation with the original Italian
available upon request. No knowledge of Italian required. (Gallucci)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
Other Language and Literature Courses
235(362). Intermediate
Italian. Italian 232. (3). (Excl).
Italian 235 is a content-based course which uses culture as a
stimulant for oral and written communication. The main objective
of the course is to develop student's ability to support opinions, oral and in writing, in a coherent manner. The theme of this course
is Italian cuisine and its influence on the cultural landscape
of Italy. The role of food in Italian society is studied through
selected readings from literary works, newspapers, and magazines, as well as through viewing of videos and films. Class format includes
discussions, oral presentations (3) and medium-length papers (4).
Active class participation and regular attendance are included
in the final grade. This course is conducted in Italian.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
340(360). Contemporary
Italian Culture. Italian 232. (3). (HU).
Readings, screenings, and topical studies relating to contemporary
Italian culture in a wide variety of contexts. Possible themes
include political life in Italy after electoral reform, the role
of mass media in Italian society, and the changing role of women.
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
471. Commedia dell'arte
and Goldoni. Italian 232. (3). (Excl).
This course will survey the plays of Italy's most famous dramatists
from the Renaissance to today. We will begin with the ribald comedy
of Pietro Aretino in Renaissance Venice and conclude with the
revolutionary comedy of the 1998 Nobel-prize winner for literature, Dario Fo. We will examine the conditions of production (historical
and cultural contexts) which generated these works in addition
to analyzing their conventions, innovations, and rhetorical strategies.
We will discuss what made these works avant-garde in their own
time and how their ideas and visions of theatre have influenced
subsequent generations of playwrights. Readings include literary
texts as well as works of criticism and film. Taught in Italian.
(Gallucci)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
University of Michigan | College of LS&A | Student Academic Affairs | LS&A Bulletin Index
This page maintained by LS&A Academic Information and Publications, 1228 Angell Hall
Copyright © 1998 The Regents
of the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA +1 734 764-1817
Trademarks of the University of Michigan may not be electronically or otherwise altered or separated from this document or used for any non-University purpose.