As Dianne Hales said, Body language in Italy is the most important part of making your point. Hand gestures are to Italian conversation what punctuation is to writing. Hands become exclamation points, periods, commas, question marks”. Gestures are indeed an essential part of the Italian culture and integral to Italian communication in everyday life. We will analyse some of the most common Italian gestures and use their meaning to reinforce vocabulary and structures used in everyday language.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

TEXTBOOK

• Tutor supplied material

COURSE OUTLINE

• Some of the most common Italian gestures from both a cultural and a linguistic point of view
• Meaning and use of gestures so that they can be understood and integrated in everyday interactions avoiding cultural misunderstandings
• Analysis of the gestures linguistically - starting from their meaning and providing verbal expressions that can accompany them
• Create a short conversation using only the gestures learned in the course

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Have a better understanding of some of the most common Italian gestures and their cultural meaning
2. Use some Italian gestures in everyday conversations like native speakers would do
3. Reinforce and expand vocabulary
4. Revise and consolidate some grammar and language structures