AS and A Level Italian

AS and A Level Italian
This course is designed for second year students who have completed the GCSE course during Year 1 or for students who have a grade B in GCSE Italian. Students who are linguistically able and prepared to work exceedingly hard can begin the AS course at the same time as the GCSE course, enabling them to complete GCSE and A Level in 2 years.

What does the course consist of?
For AS Level you will study the following topic areas:

• Youth culture and concerns
• Lifestyle: health and fitness
• The world around us: travel, tourism, environmental issues and the Italian-speaking world
• Education and employment

For A level you will study 3 more topic areas;

• Customs, traditions, beliefs and religions
• National and international events: past, present and future
• Literature and the Arts

You will study units 1 and 2 for an AS level and units 3 and 4 to complete the full Advanced Level.
Unit 1:
in which your spoken Italian will be assessed. You will prepare one of the AS topics of your choice.
Unit 2:
in which your ability to understand written and spoken Italian will be assessed. You will also have to write approximately 200 words in Italian in the form of a letter, report or article.
Unit 3:
an oral examination in which you will be expected to use the language of debate and argument to discuss an issue of your choice.
Unit 4:
this unit requires you to demonstrate skills in advanced level Italian writing and translation from English into Italian. The unit will also require you to demonstrate evidence of independent advanced level Italian language reading and research of a chosen text, play, film or topic that links to the culture and/or society of an Italian speaking country, countries or community.

What else do I need to know?
Lessons will include listening practice, reading a variety of texts and articles, discussions, presentations and role plays, as well as comprehension tasks, essay writing and for Advanced Level, translation.
You will have access to listening facilities, audio and video cassettes and the college IT network. A range of books and magazines is available in the College library. We strongly recommend that you buy a large dictionary for use at home. We plan to run a visit or exchange to Italy at least every other year.