Italian Opera and Culture: Puccini, Rossini and Verdi

This instructor guided course is divided into six modules to be completed over a 6 week period. Participants can expect to spend anywhere from 8-10 hours per module on the assignments and readings.  Please email the instructor through Schoology if you need additional time to complete the work.  

Course Description 

This online course is designed for teachers who wish to learn about three famous Italian Operas and their composers in order to improve and refine their language skills in Italian and to develop practical lesson plans for the classroom. The course is designed around three great Operas: Tosca, The Barber of Seville and La Traviata. Given the popularity of these Operas, students and teachers who are familiar with the Opera can focus on the language and the arias without having to decipher the plot.Those who are not familiar with these three Operas, will have the chance to learn the plot and story and then focus on the language and music.  Emphasis will be on comprehension, vocabulary building, improving listening and writing skills, in addition to Opera analysis and discussions on the composers and the history of the Opera in Italy.  Students will also listen to and analyze the most famous arias from each Opera.  Group work will be in the form of discussion boards and lesson plan development. Conducted in Italian with occasional readings in English.

Course  Rationale 

Learning about Italian Opera will add a powerful tool to your toolbox that will not only strengthen, but enrich your study and teaching of Italian at the middle and high school level.  In order to fully appreciate the richness of Italian culture, knowledge about the Opera is important.  This course will enable teachers to become familiar with three famous Operas so that they can teach these Operas to students and in turn bring Italian culture into the classroom!

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