This is the first entry in a weekly log of recording the activities of the OK computer course. OK computer Italian is a composition and conversation course of the third semester or second year level. In fact, the ten students who are formerly registered for the course have either completed two semesters of intensive Italian or have completed three semesters of the normal sequence. In a couple of cases, students have moved laterally from another 200 level culture course. The first meeting of the course was entirely devoted to familiarizing the students with the goals of the course, but, in particular, with the on-line site. This session, and only this session, was conducted in English so as to facilitate efficient communication on the unique technical characteristics of the course.
One half of the class time was spent discussing the methodology and the goals of the course. The other half was spent conducting a preliminary evaluation of the students' Italian, as will be described below. The instructor began by describing the advantages of video-based language instruction and emphasized that the use of authentic Italian film and television video in the course represented its unique characteristic. The instructor proceeded to illustrate the architecture of a sample unit, so as to better illustrate for the students the multiple uses of the video clip as primary texts for the course.
The unit dedicated to the "cappuccino" clip was used to exemplify the standard structure of the units. Emphasis was placed on the connection between the structure of the units and the skills (besides writing composition and conversation), which were to be the focus of the course, especially listening comprehension, grammatical knowledge and cultural knowledge. The exercises, which are associated with the various segments of the individual units, were also quickly demonstrated. Following the brief (fifteen minutes) discussion of a sample unit, the syllabus was briefly discussed, and, in particular, the methodology and evaluation standards for the course.
It was made clear to the students that, although the course time would primarily be dedicated to conversation and composition, a thorough grammatical review was also an important aspect. In fact, on a weekly basis, students would be responsible for the grammatical instruction and exercise material directly available from the syllabus. The exercise material, however, is self-correcting, and the grammatical units contained in the syllabus are relatively unproblematic, or ought to be for this level. Therefore, it is expected that the students will independently study and master the grammatical points constituting the review grammar contained in the course. It should be noted that a course packet containing photocopies of all grammatical review pages from the site was made available to the students, so as to facilitate their consultation of the review grammar off-line.
The discussion of the syllabus also provided the opportunity to emphasize one of the unique methods to be followed in the course and, specifically, the development of students listening comprehension skills, including transcription and translation of clips. In fact, students will be put into groups to practice transcribing raw video clips later in the course as a part of independent projects, leading to final examination, which will include the transcription and translation of not-previously viewed clips.
The discussion of the syllabus emphasized the support role provided by the on-line site. The on-line site is to provide a support function in relation to conversation, which is to take place during the classroom time, and composition writing, which constituted another major focus of the course. Stated simply, students will consult and spend time watching videos, reading the cultural material on the site and completing exercises in all areas independently of and as preparation for classroom activity, which will primarily consists in conversation and occasional viewing and transcription of clips in relation to compositions and conversations.
In the second half of the first meeting, the instructor played three more or less randomly selected video clips and asked the students to subjectively give a percentage for what their level of comprehension was. The instructor then played the "Italiano" video clip once and then repeated that video clip and asked the students to transcribe a strophe from that song and to translate it. The instructor then administered a test of approximately 100 points, which consisted of the listening exercises of the "Italiano" video clip and the grammatical exercises connected with the first grammatical point to be treated in the course. In the future, a more formal pre-test battery will be prepared, but it was thought that this kind of a pre-test could serve some purpose.
Finally, students were asked to prepare an index card for the next meeting stating their name, e-mail, how they came to study Italian, what particular aspect of Italian culture particularly interested them, what authors of Italian literature they were familiar with and what music CDs that had purchased during the summer. These cards serve as the focus of the second meeting of the course.
While students were entering the class on the second meeting, I showed video clips randomly from the video clip archive, which is part of the syllabus and suggested that students freely explore the video clip archive for materials of interest. Then, I turned off the computer and conducted the rest of the second meeting without any use of the site. My intention was to avoid the students' perceiving that the course was excessively mediated by the computer method. In fact, it's my goal that the site will support and make more valuable the classroom time dedicated to student conversation and discussion. Each of the students was asked to take his or her place in turn in front of the class and was subjected an interview-type presentation. Using the cards that they had prepared, I gave brief preliminary introduction of the students and then encouraged other students in the class to ask questions and to engage the individual in conversation. Each student became the focus of conversation for approximately five to seven minutes. The instructor ended the second meeting by assigning the viewing and study of the "Italiano" video and associated cultural discussion of "Luoghi Comuni". The instructor asked the students to prepare a composition of 250-350 words describing stereotypes about Italians and where they come from. This will be the topic of conversation at our next meeting. The compositions at this stage of the course are directly preparatory for topics of conversations to be addressed in subsequent meetings.