Beginner Italian Mini Course: Starts Oct. 28

This course is specifically intended for self-identified beginners who are looking to get a great start on the fundamentals of communicating in Italian. The course will prepare students to be able to communicate in order to introduce themselves and share a little about their interests and activities. As a result, students will be able to practice Italian pronunciation and develop their speaking and listening skills. Students will be able to introduce themselves, share a little about themselves and their activities, likes and dislikes, and so on. These topics will be presented in a way that also introduces students to Italian culture; for example, likes and dislikes can be coupled with a conversation about Italian food (for example, Ti piace la pizza? Ti piace il caffè? Do you like pizza? Do you like coffee?).

Lauren has been teaching beginner and intermediate Italian language courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the past six years. She also teaches an online Italian Reading and Translation course for academics and professionals, as well as small-group Italian for Conversation classes for adults in Madison, Wisconsin. Lauren received her BA from Syracuse University in 2009, with a double major in Italian and International Relations. In 2012, she completed her Master's degree in Italian Studies at Middlebury College while living in Florence, Italy. In 2013, she joined the Department of French & Italian at UW-Madison to pursue a PhD in Italian literature (her academic research focuses on the theatre of the Italian Renaissance), and anticipates completing her degree by summer 2020. In the Department of French & Italian, she has taught 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd- semester Italian, as well as courses on Italian literature. This past year, she was honored by the department when they nominated her for the PhD Capstone Teaching award through the UW's All-Campus Teaching Awards program. She receives consistent high scores on her student evaluations; this past semester (spring 2019), she received a perfect score (5.0/5.0 on the evaluations rankings) from her students in her 2nd-semester Italian class.