1) MINISTERIAL PROGRAM for HIGH SCHOOL in ITALY

 

TWO-YEAR SUMMARY

In the first two years of high school, students will first be obliged to fill any gaps in grammar and syntax, in the oral and written use of the Italian language. In addition to this, the student will improve and sharpen the tools of written production and
oral in the Italian language at your disposal, increasing your expressive effectiveness. This is achieved in particular by creating themes in various forms, such as text analysis, short essay, newspaper article, and so on. How long
concerns Italian literature the themes of the origins of the Italian language will be addressed, from Latin, to the volLari, and to literary Florentine, both from the historiographical point of view and from the point of view of the actual reading and analysis of original texts. 

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FIRST HIGH SCHOOL

Prose and poems by authors from the 14th to the 20th century, including foreign ones. L'Aeneid in good Italian version.

SECOND HIGH SCHOOL
Prose and poetry as above. The Betrothed. Of the mastery of our language; the ability to evaluate works, the sensitivity in examining natural processes, movements of the soul, concepts, will henceforth be demonstrated by the students in collective competitions for precise and beautiful expression, and in individual written drafting.

SUMMARY of the THREE-YEAR PERIOD

In high school the more strictly historical method, which will be followed in the study of the three literatures, will allow a more critical penetration of ancient and modern civilizations and their relationships. The study of literature will be accompanied by readings of documents and passages characteristic of the style of both individual authors and entire eras (for ancient literatures the direct documentation will be completed by the reading of good Italian translations) on the basis of these readings, once at times we will come to sober observations on the authors, to grasp the salient and distinctive characteristics of the authors and of the eras, and to provoke precise oral and written formulations of their feelings and judgments from the students. On the other hand, appropriate grammatical, syntactic and lexical remarks will not be overlooked.

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THIRD HIGH SCHOOL
Some medieval prose and poetry that prepares you to understand the origins of the Italian language and the transition to primitive vernacular poetry, also in relation to musical expressions (lauda, ballad, sonnet, etc.). From Provençal poetry to "Dolce Stil Novo". Italian prose of the thirteenth century. Dante and Divine Comedy. Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio. The main prose writers of the fourteenth century. humanism. The main authors of the second half of the fifteenth century: Poliziano, Pulci, the Magnifico, Leonardo, Pontano, Sannazzaro, Boiardo. In addition to the most significant passages of the cited authors, more particular attention will be paid to the reading and historical, linguistic and aesthetic commentary of at least 20 cantos of the first cantica of Divine Comedy, of Petrarca's most beautiful lyrics, of a good selection of short stories by Decameron.

FOURTH HIGH SCHOOL
The major authors of the early sixteenth century: Ariosto, Machiavelli, Guicciardini; other lyric and prose writers. Satirical and burlesque poetry. The rate. The seventeenth century and its characters. Marinism. Lyrics of the seventeenth century. Historians and critics. Galileo Galilei, Vico. The eighteenth century,
Arcadia and Metastasio. Historians and critics. Civil and artistic renewal. Goldoni, Parini, Alfieri.
At least 20 of the songs will be read and commented onPurgatory, passages from Machiavelli's works, especially from Speeches  on the first decade of Tito Livio, song of theOrlando Furioso and of Jerusalem Liberated, a tragedy by Alfieri and a wide choice of Life, book by Parrini and passages from Day.

FIFTH HIGH SCHOOL
The nineteenth century, Vincenzo Monti, Ugo Foscolo. Romanticism, Leopardi, Manzoni. Writers and poets of the Risorgimento. Politicians, G. Mazzini. The second half of the nineteenth century; literary currents and orientations. Positivism and Verism, G. Carducci, G. Pascoli, G.
D'Annunzio. Poets and novelists, Fogazzaro, Verga. the twentieth century, L. Pirandello. Literary criticism.
In the third year of high school, the study of literature must be carried out above all through the direct reading of texts. It will be compulsory, in addition to reading and commenting on at least 15 cantos of Paradise, to read theYou hate, of Sonnets, of Sepulchres, of steps
of the Grazie, as well as some of Foscolo's literary prose; knowledge of Leopardi through the reading of at least 15 cantos and some Moral operetta, and that of Manzoni through the reading ofAdelchi, of the highest lyrics and Promises
Newlyweds. Direct knowledge of Carducci must be as broad as possible for the educational nature of his patriotic and human poetry. The reading of a large selection of literary prose by De Sanctis and a novel by Verga is also required.
In the last two classes of high school a serious gap must be filled: that of ignorance of foreign literature. At least one hour a week should be dedicated to the study of foreign literatures, particularly French, German, Russian, English and American: from Chanson de geste to the comedies of Molière, to Balzac, to Victor Hugo, to Stendhal, to Flaubert, to Maupassant; come on Nibelungenlied toArminio and Dorotea, at Faust of Goethe, or some of Schiller's tragedies; to Heine's lyrics; from Gogol to Tolstoy, to Dostoievsky, to Gorky, to Shakespeare, to Dickens, to the great lyric poets of the nineteenth century; from Emerson to Poe, Melville. The use of the school library will benefit this study, through which the students will acquire knowledge of foreign literatures in their masterpieces.
 

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2) PROGRAM for HIGH SCHOOL classes of SUPPLEMENTARY COURSES

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In the United States, two factors were considered:
- The duration of secondary school is 4 years in the US (from 9th to 12th grade) while it is 5 years in Italy (from the first to the fifth high school, or from the fourth high school to the third high school). This means that after the fourth year of "our" high school, the
students in the US will enroll in their first year of college. This consideration led us to bring together the two-year classes in a single year, followed by 3 years. Students who return to Italy from the US during their high school years return with an extra year to go:
if they return at the end of 10th grade, they will still have to attend Italy for three more years before taking the final exam. So they graduate a year later than their American peers.
- Italian authors were privileged. A less in-depth knowledge of grammar is required, but extreme importance is given to the complex structure of the sentence, both in writing and speaking. Enrichment of vocabulary is very important.

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