Two new Italian textbooks in the
making in the Department
The
truism of necessity as the mother of invention accounts in part
for the motivation driving Daniela Melis to write
Pronti Via!, an introductory Italian textbook under contract
for publication by Yale University press. Upon her arrival at
UGA, Ms. Melis was already an experienced Spanish teacher. Yet,
her duties at the Department of Romance Languages required her
to teach her native language, Italian. She was taken by surprise
that the available textbooks in Italian did not reflect the same
degree of pedagogical innovation she was familiar with in Spanish
textbooks. According to Ms. Melis, she found in her supervisor
both support and encouragement to address the need for an instruction
model that stresses the development of various forms of proficiency,
as an alternative to the existing grammar-based approach. Ms.
Melis is pleased with the receptiveness and success of her students
with whom she has been trying out the materials she has written
so far. “I place grammar at the service of an expanded view
of language instruction,” says Ms. Melis. She aims at a
form of instruction that, “develops communication…
connections, comparisons… (which) aim at improving the students’
critical thinking.” Pronti Via! is scheduled for
publication by the end of next year.
Federica
Goldoni has also seen the need for a new Italian textbook.
“My approach relies on the belief that the starting point
of a learning process is the personal ‘microcosm’
of each student, that is, their personality, family and friends,
…everyday routines, .. habits, values, and the society around
them.” Ms. Goldoni has surveyed students of different age
groups, backgrounds and majors, in an effort to identify potential
students’ personal interests and expectations. Her textbook
will enable potential users to practice and enlarge vocabulary
and grammar in an engaging multimedia format, which will use Internet
and an interactive CD-ROM she is working on. Ms. Goldoni’s
textbook includes an annotated instructor’s edition and
a wealth of ancillary materials that include an instructor’s
resource manual, overhead transparencies, a Test Bank of listening-comprehension
tests, testing tapes, a Picture File with photographs related
to topics discussed in class. Il Bel Paese will be a
textbook based on the theoretical tenets of language teaching
and learning espoused by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen. Besides
its thrust for the development of general skills in self-expression,
Il Bel Paese will specifically promote awareness of the
target culture, and skills in critical thinking by means of the
frequent comparative examination of cultural patterns in Italy
and the United States. It will be published by Houghton Mifflin.
The
truism of necessity as the mother of invention accounts in part
for the motivation driving Daniela Melis to write
Pronti Via!, an introductory Italian textbook under contract
for publication by Yale University press. Upon her arrival at
UGA, Ms. Melis was already an experienced Spanish teacher. Yet,
her duties at the Department of Romance Languages required her
to teach her native language, Italian. She was taken by surprise
that the available textbooks in Italian did not reflect the same
degree of pedagogical innovation she was familiar with in Spanish
textbooks. According to Ms. Melis, she found in her supervisor
both support and encouragement to address the need for an instruction
model that stresses the development of various forms of proficiency,
as an alternative to the existing grammar-based approach. Ms.
Melis is pleased with the receptiveness and success of her students
with whom she has been trying out the materials she has written
so far. “I place grammar at the service of an expanded view
of language instruction,” says Ms. Melis. She aims at a
form of instruction that, “develops communication…
connections, comparisons… (which) aim at improving the students’
critical thinking.” Pronti Via! is scheduled for
publication by the end of next year.
Federica
Goldoni has also seen the need for a new Italian textbook.
“My approach relies on the belief that the starting point
of a learning process is the personal ‘microcosm’
of each student, that is, their personality, family and friends,
…everyday routines, .. habits, values, and the society around
them.” Ms. Goldoni has surveyed students of different age
groups, backgrounds and majors, in an effort to identify potential
students’ personal interests and expectations. Her textbook
will enable potential users to practice and enlarge vocabulary
and grammar in an engaging multimedia format, which will use Internet
and an interactive CD-ROM she is working on. Ms. Goldoni’s
textbook includes an annotated instructor’s edition and
a wealth of ancillary materials that include an instructor’s
resource manual, overhead transparencies, a Test Bank of listening-comprehension
tests, testing tapes, a Picture File with photographs related
to topics discussed in class. Il Bel Paese will be a
textbook based on the theoretical tenets of language teaching
and learning espoused by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen. Besides
its thrust for the development of general skills in self-expression,
Il Bel Paese will specifically promote awareness of the
target culture, and skills in critical thinking by means of the
frequent comparative examination of cultural patterns in Italy
and the United States. It will be published by Houghton Mifflin.